Empty halls yawn in front of the mare as she trots down the long granite corridor. Here and there she passes small colonnaded vestibules that empty into closed door proceedings rooms, catching glimpses of ponies gathered together in huddled crowds. Many were dressed in their finery, spic and span with crests, coats, and even jewelry to mark their station. Suddenly, she was regretting the choice of the charcoal grey sweater with the frayed hem and stubborn gravy stain. It was kinda made up for by the gaudy onyx and silver crescent amulet on a lanyard looped around her neck. Even so, it made her look like she was going to be on the Q&A panel at a Daring Do convention, not sitting in the high court chambers of the Canterlot courthouse. Twilight's posh headache of a friend might have had a point after all. So, thank the stars that so many of those ponies are so focused on their own issues that she herself escaped notice.

That's good. The insanity of the past few months had been hard to deal with; ponies on the streets whispering and glancing her way whenever she was out, her name was on the front page of newsprint from Canterlot to Vanhoover... okay maybe not the headlines, but her name was there. And then there was that nosy journalist mare who'd had the gall to snap pictures of her when she got into the shower.

A grunt of irritation escapes the mare as she shoves her glasses up her snout and blows her bangs away from her eyes for the umpteenth time, only to take in a sharp breath as the form of a too-close pony materializes barely a hoofstep in front of her face. Her drifting thoughts had made her nearly meander straight into a gold-clad guard stallion. Moondancer quickly skitters past, keeping her head down to ignore the evident glares of haughty smugness that was sure to meet her if the other ponies caught sight of her little mistake.

She trots by awkwardly trying to look down and not be recognized, only to realize she'd shoved her way through a crowd of ponies in her haste to get through.

'Oh well.'

Moondancer turns into the hallway, a wide vestibule with dozens of ponies cluttered around the nave of the Canterlot Courthouse's supreme court room. She'd found her way after all. Okay, it was more by accident then intent, but nopony had to know that. Or that she'd stopped for cherry danish on her way to the courthouse.

All the surrounding benches had long since been taken, and the general milling and excited talking poured out in an indistinct sea of sound. Moondancer glances around, hoping to spot at least somepony that was familiar, but knew full well that her friend-ish, acquaintance, associate, or whatever, was probably inside already.

The Unicorn was just one of probably forty ponies in that round, a few were very obviously reporters and journalists given the paperfilly caps and camera harnesses. A flash of yellow and blue in that circle gets Moondancer to cringe, remembering the eager face of the mare staring in her bathroom window. Yep, that had given her nightmares for about a week.

Scampering through the masses, bumping a few aside with her saddlebags, she passes straight towards the dual doors dominated by the great seal of the Equestrian crown. A flash, a moment of recollection stirs as the Unicorn's mind conjures images of enormous marble doors surmounted by a pair of piercing eyes in the midst of a monochromatic wasteland... then it was gone.

A pair of guards opens a door with a squeak to allow her entrance. Moondancer ignores the stairwells to the left and right, choosing to trot straight down the center aisle. The stark divide between light and dark steals the fine details away before Moondancers eyes could adjust, thus she's left with only a single mesmerizing picture: a radiant gold and ruby coated mare stands amid a chamber of utter darkness, illuminated alone under a solitary pool of sunlight shining from the unseen heavens.

“-and accounts are specifically and technically accurate, but without any real context, it's been misinterpreted by the council.”

But where once there was a certain air of confidence and warmth, Sunset's voice rings with a stilted echo of some rehearsed and practiced drone. It was a sound utterly foreign to the mare's more soulful imploring resonance. Sunset Shimmer's red and gold fur practically glows, the augmented sunlight winking off a small silver chain on her neck as she inclines her head to meet the gaze of the unseen individuals.

“The sources that the council has drawn from, miss Shimmer,” A stallion's tight controlled drone emerges from the darkness in front of Sunset. Though, it wavers at 'miss' like he'd been forced to bite into a lemon, “are direct notations and quotes pulled from her majesty Princess Sparkle's own notes about the incident. Would you say that Twilight Sparkle, princess of Equestria, duchess of Smithshire, and lady of house Sparkle, is the kind of pony to severely mischaracterize events in her personal records?”

'I know that voice.' thought Moondancer. Why did it conjure up nightmare sensations of not studying for tests, teeth falling out, and showing up to late to class in a pair of lacy stockings?

“Not typically, no.” Sunset barely flinches, but Moondancer spots the muscles in her rump and hind legs flex - not that she was looking - but manages to keep her tail from flicking in annoyance. That wouldn't look good for story-starved reporters.

Moondancer knew it was a half-hearted answer, and evidently, so did the interrogating stallion, “I see. Was this incident typical, or atypical of Princess Twilight Sparkle when she, and I quote, wrote 'that the very presence of such an extraordinary relic under our very hooves, represents the potential for a clear and present danger. It is now a known unknown force, linked with potent magics the likes of which we have seldom glimpsed except in passing since the Pre-Classical era.' She then goes on to say that the incident, and again I quote, 'does not differ substantially from some of the magics and patterns witnessed during the Summer Sun incident of one-thousand CE.' That same Summer Sun incident, need I remind you, which saw the return of Nightmare Moon to Equestria.”

It gets a sniff of anger from Sunset as a stormy glint forms in her eye, but as she goes to reply another cultured voice intercedes. “Chancellor Neighsay," Moondancer draws in a sharp breath as all the horrors of Morality 101 and that utterly soulless husk of a father-bucking professor crashes down on her like a neutron star. "Would you kindly not indulge in casting vague aspersions on national treasures or our princesses, please? This is not a trial, it is a public inquiry to determine just what occurred during the events of Fruicember the sixteenth through twenty-ninth and how it relates to the object now called...” a rustle of parchment gets Moondancer's ears to perk up, “Object Two-Ninety-One, the Luminal Mirror.”

Moondancer's eyes had finally adjusted, and she finds herself peering at the speaker in the chairpony's seat; Canterlot's Liege Mayor, Fancy Pants. The Unicorn stallion still smiles as he looks over the floor, ignoring the sharp glare from Neighsay on the level below him. He was on the extreme left, with four other ponies taking up the rest of the judicial bench. In Celestia's absence, Fancy Pants was probably the best they could hope for.

Neighsay's severe turquoise eyes glint in the darkness giving him a nearly demonic glare. “It is also convened to determine if it's appropriate to approve its continued operation, Chairpony Fancy Pants.”

It was all deeply cult-like to the Unicorn. Moondancer creeps to a spot she knew was waiting for her, just on the inside of the chamber on the left hand side. It was a lone gallery bench where supporters would be close at hoof. Moondancer takes a seat, her hip bumping a small bundle of bound papers that was the only other presence on the long bench. It was a good thing too, her day/night vision had always been terrible and slow to compensate. Only now could she see at least a hundred ponies staring at Sunset from their spots in the galleries above, three tiers like a school gymnasium let them watch some of the biggest trials and accords in modern pony history.

Sunset stands right in the center, under the scrutiny of six regally attired magistrates glaring down from their perches behind the bench. There was Fancy Pants, Neighsay, then two other unicorn mares and two Pegasi whose names she should probably know but frankly, didn't. Enduring the figurative slings and arrows of the Canterlotian nobility was trying, as Moondancer knew from experience defending academic papers, but Sunset Shimmer stands with a resolute stiffness that all but invited the world to try and fight her.

Neighsay's right eye lofts before he twitches a hoof onto a small desk lamp, flicking the dull light on and inspecting something behind the lectern lip. “But in the light of making peace: I apologize if you feel insulted, miss Shimmer, we were merely trying to understand just what the implications are for ponies near and far. It was not a personal slight, and no offense was meant, if that's how it was understood.”

'Horse apples, you knew exactly how that sounded.' Moondancer scrunches her nose.

“None taken.” Sunset mutters reflexively with a sigh, as if it were depressingly routine.

Neighsay's voice clips back just as imperviously, “But I would still appreciate further.... clarification.” he flips back and forth over a few documents, glancing aside away from the magister's bench to something that Moondancer can't catch a glimpse of. “Is it true that you, yourself, have a great deal of experience with the object in question?”

Sunset sighs and nods, “Yes, I currently consider my home on the other side of the mirror. Like I said before. Twice.” She scrunches her muzzle.

“But you are, indeed, from Equestria?” An old grey nag of a Pegasus mare opposite Neighsay asks sharply.

“Again, yes.” Sunset's tail visibly twitches in irritation this time.

“So why did you leave?” The Pegasus asks again, getting a very notable inhalation from Sunset.

Another sigh from the upper judicial bench precedes at least a short reprieve as Fancy Pants admirably keeps his calm and jovial mien, “Perhaps it is best we took a short recess before the Princess's scheduled appearance. Ten minutes should do.”

Sunset bobs her head in deference and relief as a gavel strike releases them all from the cult-like proceedings. Sunset quickly turns to leave the powerful spotlight, her hooves clopping on the flagstone floor as the darkness starts to dissolve with the sudden flare of lights from wall sconces and a great chandelier hidden high up among the vaulted rafters.

“You, uh, did pretty good out there.” Moondancer offers awkwardly, making Sunset jolt in surprise.

The fiery Unicorn mare laughs in relief, “Oh, it's just you. Sorry, you scared me for a second. Can't-” she blinks obviously and squints, “quite see yet. The light's just like any other spotlight, you're basically blind. I know they said it's so you aren't distracted by a crowd, or lack of one, but mare does it get awkward. Fast.”

Moondancer quickly and quietly reaches into her saddlebag, pulling out a pair of thermoses and offering one in her arcane grasp. “Yeah, my dissertation was like that too. But the door only opened twice and I think it was for Professor Folly to take a smoke break while I went over the importance of Pre-Ponynesian lay line structures.”

“Never tried smoking, but it sure sounds like a time to pick it up.” Sunset winks and nudges Moondancer in the barrel as she takes a seat alongside the Unicorn mare. “Kidding. Kidding.” She sighs in relief as the pair of mares sit on the empty bench. The lights swell to reveal the masses of ponies in the stands and several aids conversing with the noble magisters.

“Well I thought it was interesting.” Moondancer huffs and looks over, pony watching awkwardly as she nudges her glasses up.

“I'm sure it is. Get together with Starlight and Twilight and I'd probably have to wheel in a food trolly or you'd starve to death.”

The cream-coated mare snorts, a smile flickering around the edges of her lips, “Sounds like fun: cart in nachos or cart out Trixie and I would seriously cut you in on next year's grant money.”

Sunset's deep cackle isn't the most delicate or discreet, getting at least a few reporters in the front gallery to look over them and snap a few pictures. “Nice. Though that's more Spike's department, at least according to him rather than Twilight.” Sunlight shifts, uncapping the thermos and sniffing its scalding hot contents, “Speaking of Twilight.” She still smiles, but a slight strain of hesitation emerges.

Moondancer just shakes her head. “She said she was afraid she'd do more harm than good if she came. I mean, it was her personal correspondence that got us into this.”

“I don't blame her, she's the stenographer ponies' princess after all. It's only natural she'd write everything down for the record.” Sunset blows across the thermos rim and tentatively takes a sip of the proffered drink. Her ears flick up and she glances over in surprise, “Buck me sideways, salted caramel latte?”

Moondancer's self satisfied smirk swiftly disappears behind the lip of her own thermos. “What, you thought I'd come anywhere near here without a buzz?”

Sunset downs a draught from her mug and hisses back a sigh of discomfort from the heat. “Moony, right now you may be my favorite pony.”

Moondancer sighs, looking up into the galleries, “We're so gonna get hobbled here, aren't we?”

“You expecting three hours of ponies making sniping shots at you choosing to live in another dimension while casually implying that your princess patrons are either monsters or antisocial outsiders too?” The fiery hued Unicorn stares down into her mug and lofts her brow before continuing to blow little ripples across the surface.

“Only if they find my fan fiction.” She pointedly ignores the little cough and splutter from Sunset. “But then, those wouldn't be the weirdest questions I'd expect to hear.” Moondancer returns to sipping her drink and setting her somewhat distant gaze on the judicial bench before blowing her bangs out of her face with a little huff.

A slow grin parts Sunset's muzzle, “Hey, you did your mane today! I guess miracles do happen after all.” Moondancer's cheeks flush as she sinks further into her sweater's collar. “No no, it looks good. I was wondering why you looked a little different. It's kinda like Twilights, but not. It suits you."

“Y-you too.” Moondancer's eyes narrow to pinpricks and she stares unblinkingly at the magister's bench at the front. It was better than admitting that she'd flinched from a pair of scissors and her bangs had come out uneven as a result. Any shorter to even it up and she'd probably look like she was suffering from mare pattern baldness.

'You were doing so bucking well, filly. Get it together, get it together!'

Screaming internally, the awkward mare just sits on the bench as Sunset massages her throat with a hoof and sips her drink. The general murmurs and glances from the crowd got the Unicorn to clear her throat with a groggy cough, glaring up at the flash of a camera.

“So, what did I miss?” Moondancer asks, cradling her drink in both hooves and tugging down the hemline of her sweater with her magic.

“Aside from reading from some of the other girl's depositions? Did you hear Rainbow's?” Sunset actually smirks, biting her lip.

“No, why?”

Sunset tries to keep her voice from tumbling into a stilted giggle. “Because all you could hear was the pause and a pen scribbling out her 'inappropriate language'. She probably lost about a third of her whole testimony.”

“Yeah that sounds like what I heard when she got into it with AJ back at my place.” Moondancer flicks her muzzle and looks down into her thermos.

“Was I there for that?”

“No, you tied a sheet around a bedpost and snuck out the window.” Moondancer tries to huff but a dull smile still brightens her face.

Sunset flashes a sheepish grin, “Riiiight. Umm, sorry about that.”

“It's fine. I mean, it is the first time somepony snuck out of my bedroom using something ripped straight from Daring Do.” Moondancer shrugs.

“Really?” Sunset lofts a brow, then bites her lip to stifle a laugh as Moondancer shoots her a sour glare. “Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it . I just.... actually I'm not quite sure where I was going with that.”

“Sorry, hmm? Oh, you will be. You wiiiiill be." Moondancer wrinkles her muzzle, but a chortle slips out with a somewhat self-deprecating sigh that said 'I know'.

It's a longer, quieter moment among the general murmuring of ponies in the gallery, seated off-center in the empty presentation room, but the two ponies did find themselves in something approaching comfortable silence. Two Unicorns sit drinking in the middle of the Equestrian high court building as reporters and nobles mill in the stands.

“I'm still glad that you came.” Sunset smiles and lets the worries and stress bleed away.

“Hey, anything for a fellow 'Knight of the Moon', right?” Moondancer smirks with a fugitive sideways glance.

Sunset just prods Moondancer's medallion hanging around her sweater-protected neck. “Anything for a friend.” And elbows the mare lightly in the ribs.

Her companion chuckles a little and sighs, nodding a bit as she lowers the thermos to a comfortable spot on the bench edge in front of her. “Yeah. Y'know, if you're staying around, feel free to sta-”

THUMP

Both ponies jolt as the wide doors rock back on their hinges, slamming into the granite walls and echoing through the entire hall. A snort of deep set feral irritation greets them, and a chill washes across Moondancer's neck, prickling every single hair on her nape and running a chilly touch up her spine. Her heartbeat quickens, and with a stiff jerk, she glances back towards the doorway.

Like a living shadow, the Princess of the Night stalks through the vaulted corridor. Something was different, the enlarged platinum perytal armor encasing her chest shines with a cold glossy blue burnish. A shine reflected in the two spaulders covering her withers as they shift with every step. Each fluid movement ends in a punctuating clack as armored greaves and plated boots strike the hard flagstone. She isn't the only one. Four guards follow in her wake, one of each of the three tribes and a Thestral in full representation of her subjects. Each wore indigo lacquered plate emblazoned with a crescent moon.

Without so much as a glance, her fluid steps take her straight into the round that Sunset had occupied just a few minutes before.

The magisters on the bench shoot a few hasty looks at one another, the Princess's entrance being impossible to overlook or ignore.

Fancy Pants, as chairpony, replies first with his usual garrulous warmth. “Aaaah, your majesty. Princess Luna, thank you ever so much for agreeing to speak at this inquiry. Your perspective would be positively invaluable.” He inclines his head, followed swiftly by the others as the voices from the gallery are suffocated in an instant.

Luna says nothing, her cyan eyes gaze sweeps across the mass of ponies before she glances back over her withers as Moondancer and Sunset. The blood freezes in Moondancer's veins, propping her up, eyes wide at the utterly disinterested mask on the Alicorn's muzzle.

“Of course. We have come to reconcile the issues and return the project to full operation.” The princess's tonal plunge brooks no argument, and for a few moments, silence pervades the hall.

“Y-yes, well that is the objective of this council inquiry on behalf of the Equestrian citizens safety commission.” Fancy Pants says with only a hint of a falter. “I suppose we can begin at your leisure, Princess.”

Neighsay snorts at that, swiftly catching Luna's attention. The Princess of the Night merely glares, her frigid gaze letting him know that she considered him little more than an infinitesimal mite. “You may begin your questions.”

In an instant, the packed chamber was as silent as a tomb. Everypony present knew the weight of the proceedings, but something about this was different: Luna's host went unarmed, but it was definitely a display of power. She wasn't merely a common pony that they could chase with drivel and frustrating inconsequential lines of questioning. Already, the air felt chilly and hostile.

“Of course.” Fancy Pants nods and looks to the other magisters over the proceeding, each trying not to squirm in their seats as they shuffle papers or look over small missives.

Sunset looks back and forth, inspecting Luna's armored guards and whispering in Moondancer's ear, “I don't like this.”

Neighsay is the first, the stallion sniffing as he reads from a sheet of parchment when the lights dim. “Princess Luna, would you call the incident related to your action and inaction around the period of Fruicember sixteenth to twenty-ninth an attack on the citizens of Equestria?”

“Yes.”

A sharp and pervasive silence creeps into the hall.

Sunset licks her lips as Moondancer whispers, “Stars above, this is going to go bad, fast.”

Neighsay, after blinking back his surprise at the stonewalled response, clears his throat, “Would you please elaborate?”

“The notes that the council purloined from the personal archives of Twilight Sparkle, and that of her correspondence with Our sister, are incomplete. 'Tis true that the incident was an attack on the ponies of Equestria, albeit indirectly. One in which, only We could resolve.”

“Maybe not.” Sunset whispers back to a skeptical Moondancer.

“Why would that be the case?” Neighsay quirks a brow when he notices there was no forthcoming response.

“Because you are not a Dream Strider.”

The stallion snorts, “With the appropriate amount of magical effort-”

“The Warmaster would have killed you.” Luna's sharp reply comes out almost bored, and would have remained that way if Moondancer didn't see the glittering sparks dancing in her eyes. “Through Our diplomatic efforts, and Our efforts alone, the Mirror is secure.”

Luna was amused.

The Pegasus mare at the opposite end hesitantly pips up, “Anypony called 'the Warmaster' doesn't sound like the kind of pony that we should associate with.”

Luna scoffs, “He is no Zebraic warlord, nor griffon monarch, he is the Warmaster. And he is my friend.”

Neighsay stares as a Unicorn mare next to him glances to the entrenched noble, then back to the princess. “Princess Luna,” she begins, trying to lean forward to hide the quavering squeak as Luna's lighthouse-like gaze sweeps across her, “Princess Twilight called this 'a potential clear and present danger,' and made reference to it linked with potent magics from the Pre-Classical era that were already related to another incident you were involved in-”

“Both of which threatened the citizens of Equestria, both include dark magic, and both are directly related to yourself.” Neighsay's interjection causes both to freeze, the amusement dropping completely from Luna's eyes. “Princess Luna, it is an open secret that you were, and still are, injured from the ordeal. So, what guarantees do we have that the situation is indeed resolved and that you can fulfill your duties?”

Fancy Pants' magister's gavel slams down several times but it was far too late for that. Sunset's ears droop as her eyes widen, “Ooooooh buck.”

“'Tis resolved because We say it is.”

“Chancellor Neighsay,” Fancy Pant's warning tone spoke volumes. “Do I have to remind you about casting aspersions?”

But the Unicorn straightens his posture and looks down the bridge of his muzzle. “We have certain rules in modern Equestria, your majesty. Rules that delegate and entrust the well being and protection of the ponies of this land to the nobles and sheriffs. It's only through inquiries such as th-”

“SILENCE, BEFORE THOU ART SILENCED!” The princess's lip curls as her hackles rise. “Do not PRESUME to lecture us! Thy worries, like thy titles, mean nothing to Us! We have not gone through tartarus and back to let a cadre of imbecilic bureaucrats try to grapple with forces beyond their ken. We deal with this, because only We are capable of it.”

Fancy Pants clears his throat, “Surely ourselves, or of course, Princess Celestia can share more responsibility while you hea-”

“Thou wouldst never be able to look the Warmaster in the eye. He would dismiss thee as foals, and rightly so. Further, it would make Us look hapless and helpless; and we shall not appear weak in front of him. And if Sister were to become more involved, and need the magics and aid of the weaker caste, then They would pounce on that weakness like a Manticore on a spring lamb.” Luna snorts in derision and straightens her neck, “There is none but I that can guarantee the safety of the Mirror.”

“Is that why you're forming this officially unofficial organization? The Knights of the Moon?” Neighsay wrinkles his brow.

“Tis an ancient and proud order.”

“One disbanded in the first few years of the Celestial era as a danger to Equestrian unity.” Neighsay's remark resounds as clearly as a professors diatribe.

“We do not recognize the decision, it is within Our power to reinstate whomever We wish to Our council."

A moment of complete dead stillness is broken by Fancy Pants' awkward cough. “Unfortunately it is more... complicated, than that.”

The Alicorn's muzzle twitches into a sneer. But before she can bite back, the Pegasus nag at the end of the magister's bench replies, “Princess Luna, can you provide insight into the strange reports coming from the San Palamino observatory since your...incident, beginning on the twenty-ninth of Fruicember?”

"Pray tell, what reports?” Luna replies just as sharply as before.

But her reply peaks the Pegasus mare's attention, “The reports of strange messages sent to the San Palamino audio-acoustics research station? Surely you've seen them?”

Neighsay clears his throat, “They were privy to the research of Canterlot University's academics department. We haven't been able to decipher much meaning from the audio logs beyond their content via linguistics spells.”

“Such was withheld from Us?!”

For the first time, Neighsay furrows his brow and squints as if to ask if it was a joke. “It is not typical procedure for the University to inform the Crown of any developments until we can form at least a preliminary report.” The Alicorn's teeth audibly grind in frustration. “We can have all the reports forwarded to your office, immediately of course. Though I do believe that the researchers in question are scheduled to appear in Canterlot for a findings summery before the University board, so we can depose them if you wish.”

With a stamp, the princess growls, “Then do so.”

Neighsay inclines his head with a frank nod, evidently a signal to summon a young Unicorn page stallion from the gallery to attend him. The chancellor quickly writes a missive to stuff into the aid's satchel before waving him away.

Fancy Pants takes a breath and nods, “Of course. Now, the council would like to know your perspective regarding the entire incident. Princess Luna, would you please relate the events of the Luminal Mirror incident, from the beginning, to the council.”

Moondancer tilts her head towards Sunset's, whispering quietly. “Didn't you just bucking do that?”

“Yeah.” Sunset sighs and rolls her neck, “Sweet Celestia, today's gonna be a long day.”

“Lucky us,” with a faint clank of metal, Moondancer withdraws another pair of sealed thermoses, “Like a good filly scout, I came prepared.”

"You were in the filly scouts?"

Moondancer smirks and sips her drink, ears flicking at the far-stronger cocktail she'd made the second time around, "Never said I was."

Author's Note

The amount of time me and me mates spent discussing and arguing the merits of Julian/Gregorian vs. Revolutionary calendars was astounding.

For the record, it's a hung jury but everyone sided with the 'revolutionary' naming convention on a 12 month span... and I just happened to have picked one of the worst sounding original months in Gambit. Hail late summer, the month of fruit...

Also eh, guess we're back in action.