Chapter 4: Nothing Lasts Forever
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There was a pause in the conversation when Luna finished speaking, her displeasure apparent. Moon Trot felt a little foalish for how snippy she had been towards Twilight Sparkle. Twilight felt disappointed that there was magic she would never be allowed to know. Hoity Toity was just plain uncomfortable in the conversation that he wasn't entirely apart of now.
One pony who was having a smashing good time, however, sauntered over during the tense moment to try and spread the smiles.
"Twilight!" Rarity said, a grin plastered across her face. She was intoxicated, and Moon Trot rolled her eyes at what she considered an unsavory sight. "Oh Twilight you simply must come and speak with Fancy Pants, he wants to discuss that dress I made for your part- oh HELLO Princess Luna!" she said, reaching out to pat the princess on the shoulder, apparently just noticing her, "Oh and Hoity Toity too! What a wonderful get-together...and who are you?" she asked Moon Trot.
"I am Moon Trot," came the reply, "I am-"
"Moon Trot? You mean like that dance move where you move backwards but step forwards? Oh I love that! I cannot do it myself but I've seen it done at some of Pinkie Pie's parties and she can do the moon trot magnificently!"
The Princess clamped down on the flash of irritation that surged through her at the unsolicited pat; instead Luna concentrated on keeping her voice even as she spoke. "Greetings ..." She managed evenly enough. "We trust thee - you - are enjoying this occasion?"
Subconsciously, her magic flared to life and levitated a glass from a passing unicorn waiter's levitating tray. Without too much difficulty the Alicorn downed its contents and sent it back on its way without much more than a moment's pause. It was obvious she would need a great many more of these to get through this night.
"I'm certain she can," Moon Trot said to the inebriated Rarity, "Why don't you go find her and ask for a lesson?"
"Oh no, she's not here in Canterlot," Rarity said, shaking a hoof dismissively. She stopped and tapped her chin, "Then again," she continued, doing similar to Luna and using her magic to retrieve another martini, "I'm not so certain. She's quite the oddity. Why, one time we were throwing her a surprise birthday party..."
Twilight stepped away from Rarity and Moon Trot as the story continued. She looked to where Hoity Toity had been but the stallion had walked away, leaving the conversation where he wasn't involved. She looked to Luna and gave a nervous smile. "So, Princess," she began, "Um, what brings you to this party?" she inquired.
"Night Court hath - has - been typically quiet this night ..." The Princess replied eventually, managing to force her attention away from the marble-white unicorn now deep in a very random, very energetic retelling. "We - I - thought it best to continue thine - my - integration by meeting our little ponies and engaging in small-talk, the retelling of amusing anecdotes and the consumption of fermented vegetable products. We - I - understand that this now passes as the primary means of entertainment of ponies; pretell, do ponies still dance or hath that too slipped to the wayside?"
"Are we mingling successfully?"
Twilight nodded attentively as Luna spoke, genuinely interested in the princess's day. "Yep, dancing is pretty popular, but it tends to depend more on the atmosphere. Like here I'm not sure there's going to be any dancing unless somepony who doesn't care about social appearances talks to the DJ and gets some good music playing, and even then they might be the only one shaking their flank."
"You're mingling well," Twilight continued, "If you want I can introduce you to some of the ponies I met tonight."
"...A rock! Can you believe it? A pile of rocks!" Rarity said, laughing enthusiastically, one hoof leaning against Moon Trot's shoulder.
"Ehm, excuse Rarity your Highness. She made a great business deal with Fancypants and wanted to celebrate...a little too much maybe."
"Quite," Luna replied, an eyebrow raised as she regarded the Element of Generosity curiously. A devilish thought crossed her mind, only partially fuelled by the alcohol she'd consumed. "Indeed Twilight Sparkle, bring us to thy - your - acquaintances so that we might converse and engage in fun."
"Moon Trot is more than capable of ensuring Rarity's safety," The Princess waved with a dismissive hoof. "Is that not right, Minister? Indeed - we art leaving her in the best possible company."
Moon Trot's eyes widened a bit when she heard she was going to be left to look after Rarity. She glanced at Rarity, then at Luna, then at Twilight, then at Rarity again- who was still talking, now about Diamond Dogs- and gave Luna a pleaing look before resigning herself to her own problem; she had insisted that Luna come, and now she was paying the price, it seemed. She gave Luna and Twilight a nod then turned a less than excited expression back to Rarity.
Twilight giggled a little. She looked around and spotted Fancypants and his wife, Fleur de Lis, speaking to one another. "Here," she said, leading Luna towards them. As they drew near the other two ponies noticed them and altered their stance so as to be inviting and inclusive to Twilight and the Princess. "Princess Luna, these are Fancypants and his wife, Fleur de Lis." Twilight introduced, "Fancypants, Fleur, allow me to introduce Princess Luna."
"We - I - am charmed to meet thee ... You," Luna corrected herself, angling her long, tapered horn downwards in greeting. "We - I - am led to believe thee ... We mean, I mean you ... Know Twilight Sparkle well, Pretell, how did thou come to know the Element of Magic?"
Inwardly, the Princess sighed with the effort of constantly correcting her speech. It was positively exhausting; to second-guess every single phrase for fear she would slip into the old ways and be embarrassed and yet ... Here she was, talking as if a foal learning language for the first time. It was most frustrating.
The two well-to-do unicorns returned Luna's bow at the greeting. "The pleasure is ours, your Excellence." Fleur answered. "I have only come to be young Twilight's acquaintance this evening. My husband met her at his garden party a little less than a year ago."
"Charmed" Fancy Pants said, "Yes I first met Miss Sparkle at my own gala in the month of August past. It coincided with her birthday party no less, is that not simply wonderful? She was showcasing a new style of dress that Rarity had made for her. Earlier today I had the luxury of making a purchase order of several such outfits for my beloved Fleur de Lis." He turned to his wife and nuzzled his cheek against hers affectionately. "Since then Miss Sparkle has been a welcome guest for all of her visits to Canterlot"
"Regretfully we hath - I have - not attended many social functions and thus, this is the first opportunity had to familiarise myself with those ponies closest to the Royal Court."
Levitating another glass to her lips, the Princess drank it as quickly as she could maintain her grace. "Any friend of the Elements of Harmony is, of course, a friend of us - I. Pretell, what doth thee - you - and thy wife do as a profession? We must admit to being struck by her beauty; she doth carry herself in much the same way our sister does."
Fancypants beamed with genuine pleasure at the compliments from Princess Luna. A genuine pony, he rarely felt the need to embellish or lie. Honesty, not necessarily blunt honesty, had gotten him quite far in business.
"Dear Princess you flatter us with your compliments!" He said joyfully, "I am but a simple jeweler-"
"Oh hush my dear," Fleur de Lis cut in, "Pardon my husband's humble nature. He's no simple jeweler, he's the jeweler. Anypony who is anypony aspires to own one of his beautiful masterpieces. Why," Fleur looked Luna up and down, flank to nose, hoof to horn, "I do believe his great great great grandfather is the one who crafted your tiara."
"My word," Fancypants said, adjusting his glasses and leaning a tad closer to Luna, "I do believe you are right my dear! How wonderful! My ancestor served the Royal Night!" He put a more appropriate distance between himself and Luna and bowed once more, "Your highness, it would be a great pleasure if you would permit me to examine your headdress." he said.
Without the slightest real effort, the Princess levitated the tiara free of her astral, star-sparkled mane and passed it over to the gushing unicorn's own magic. Inwardly though, a wave of melancholy washed over her. She could not recall who had crafted the royal tiara of the night ... In fact, Luna could not even recall when she had first worn it. Where had it come from? What tale did it once have to tell? As she pondered, she was once again forced to acknowledge the greatest pain of all. For immortality was in itself a curse, when one saw the passage of centuries in the same way anypony saw the passage of months, or even weeks.
Luna glanced around, and down towards Twilight. In time, she would forget this young unicorn; so eager, so gifted and hungry for knowledge. It was only a matter of time, before she would not even remember Twilight had existed at all. All things passed into shadow and death ... Except Luna and Celestia. They were eternal. They were forever.
... And yet, forever seemed such a very long time.
As Fancypants began to examine the tiara, muttering comments about craftsmanship and techniques he recognized and ones he did not recognize, Fleur smiled at Luna, ready to continue the conversation. "To finish with your latest inquiry," she said once she believed she had Luna's attention again, "I must agree with my husband about your earlier compliments. I am a fashion model and my work is in my appearance and poise. To be compared to Princess Celestia is a compliment I had never yet received, and to have it come from Princess Luna gives it more meaning than any other pony could hope to achieve."
"I daresay this Tiara carries its years," Fancypants said, levitating it back to Luna for her to control once more, "If you will accept my offer, your Highness, I can come by the Palace tomorrow evening and polish it up properly. Not that whomever has been taking care of it has done a poor job; for its age it is in amazingly good condition, but I daresay I could return it to its original splendor in a few hours time."
"We - I - would be privileged to allow thee ... You ... To carry out your work upon our royal vestments. It seems oddly fitting that the colt of the stallion who once fashioned our symbol of office will take on his father's legacy once more. It hath - has - come full circle as the Moon and Sun are prone to do."
The Princess felt content as she took the Tiara back into her magical possession; though she could no longer remember the pony responsible for crafting it, perhaps a penance could be paid in having Fancy Pants carry out work upon it. In some small way, she hoped that would provide a fairness.
"Fleur!" A voice sounded over the background sounds of the party. A mare in a garish outfit with stark white hair shoved her way between Fancypants and Fleur de Lis, her face inches from the pink unicorn's, "You are late vor ze photoshoot! I explicitly told you Eleven in ze evening, sharp! Eet iz now Eleven Oh Vive!"
"And I told you that I was attending Jet Set's party and we would have to reschedule," Fleur returned hotly through clenched teeth, "And this-"
"Nopony reschedules one of my photoshoots!" the pony said dramatically, "I inseeest you come to da studio enimal mehr!"
"Ah-hem," Twilight tried to cut in, "Um, Miss Finish?"
"Not now!" Photo barked.
"This is Princess Luna," Fleur said, shoving Photo Finish's head around to see the Princess, "And the pony you just rudely-"
"Ahhhh!" Photo Finish said, stepping up to Luna's face, "Zhe is perfekt! Vondabar!" She put both hooves on Luna's cheeks and turned her head one side to an0ther, "You! are going to be ze next star!" No sooner had she finished the sentence than did two of Luna's Lunar Guards drop from the sky and tackle Photo Finish to the ground.
The next few moments passed in a frightening blur. The Alicorn felt her conscious mind dissolve into a series of animalistic impulses; surprise that she felt the uninvited hooves of another upon her face and anger at such impudence. Fury - this pony clearly had only the most superficial idea whom she was dealing with. Would such dismissive interest be directed towards Celestia? Why must she endure the constant disrepute that seemed endemic to the night and the Moon. Fury gave way to surprise as her Guardsponies appeared from the rafters themselves, spurred into action by the grievous breach in protocol of touching the Princess of the Night.
The sudden surge of emotion however, had a most regrettable effect. Momentarily stunned, Luna's magic subconsciously surged to protect its master but at the cost of the tiara it had otherwise levitated. Faster than anypony could react, the priceless vestment of the office of the Princess of the Night fell to the hard marble floor, whereupon it broke in three pieces with a loud crack that rose well above the commotion.
The sound of the tiara smashing caused the party to come to a complete halt. The city itself seemed to mute and the night drowned out all sounds, but only for a moment. The stillness came to an end when a pinned and highly irate Photo Finish shouted to the stars "Unhand me you brutes! How dare anypony handle Photo Finish in this way!" After that outburst the party seemed to come back to life, but with much more focus towards Luna, her guards, and the other ponies in the immediate vicinity.
The appearance of the guards and the sound of the tiara breaking was enough to get Moon Trot to escape Rarity's conversation and return to the side of her Princess. "What is going on?" she asked, now alert and once more attentive to Luna's needs. There was an alarmingly high, but short, squeal as Fancypants dove to the shattered remains of the tiara and gingerly tapped at them with his hooves, his face nearly touching the shards as he looked them over with the expression one might expect when a master jeweler see's a true work of art destroyed before his eyes.
The guards rose up off of Photo Finish, but she was shackled to them, her hair was a mess, and her glasses had a crack in the left lens. Fleur de Lis had facehooved at the actions that her employer had taken, and now she was trying not to laugh at the ruined appearance of the mare she had a distinct distaste for.
"Vat is the meaning of this?" Photo asked the guards, pulling against her shackles. Moon Trot knew her queue and stepped up to Photo Finish and gave her a hard look.
"You assaulted her highness, Princess Luna. As such you are under arrest." Taking a step back and half turning so that Luna would be able to see Photo Finish's angry and somewhat frightened look, she continued, "Your Majesty, what shall her punishment be?" she asked.
Twilight Sparkle had watched everything happen and felt it was her duty to step in, albeit a little subtly. She tiphooved up to Princess Luna and tried to whisper in her ear "Don't be too hard on Photo Finish. She's...an oddball, yes, but she's just extremely passionate about her work. With those glasses and the lighting, I can't even be entirely certain she knew who she was talking to."
Silence fell as everypony at the party looked at Luna, waiting for her to pass judgement.
The expression upon the Alicorn's face was utterly unreadable. Slowly, the Princess sank down until her eyes were but a few inches above the shattered remains of her vestment. Without bothering to glance away, she commanded her Guardsponies to action. "Bring her here, to her knees, to see what she hath wrought."
Without delay, the Guardsponies roughly pushed Photo Finish forwards and down onto her haunches. At the same time they levitated away her bizarre coloured glasses, and for the first time the Earth Pony looked into the eyes of a Princess.
"This tiara hath survived more than thee can know," Luna began. "It survived hoof-to-hoof combat with Discord, whence we danced a deadly duet with him atop Mount Canter two thousand years before thy parents were even born. It survived the coming of the Nightmare, and it survived Discord's return and the Changeling invasion of our city. And yet ... Photo Finish, is it not?"
The Princess stood, " ... And yet, it could not survive thee. This is our oldest possession, save our sister herself. Nothing of our life remains to us that is older than this. Yet, thee hath destroyed it utterly."
Luna closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. "For though we are filled with anger at thy actions, we remember that as a Princess, we exist to safeguard thine little ponies forever. We will therefore protect thee even when it is thy own actions which bring about our displeasure and our sorrow. We will protect thee from thyself. Guardsponies - take her from this party, from which she hath surely outstayed her welcome, and release her without further redress from the castle complex."
Twilight's expression went from nervous to fearful as Luna began to speak to Photo Finish, and the fear in the eyes of the Photo Finish was as plain as anypony could see. Moon Trot stood there with an almost completely dispassionate expression, but as Luna built up to the climax of her speech she, too, began to show signs of worry. However, when all was done being said and the Lunar Guards began to escort Moon Trot away, the ponies all present began to relax.
"Von moment," Photo Finish said to the guards. She turned and looked back at Princess Luna, the fear in her eyes replaced with gratitude and sorry. "I apologize." she said, then the guards continued to move her from the party.
"Princess Luna that was so kind of you," Twilight said, smiling up at the royal pony. She glanced around where the other ponies were watching the Princess, though their demeanor were more relaxed than before. Moon Trot had moved away from Luna and Twilight and found the DJ of the party and whispered in the mare's ear then made her way back towards Luna.
"Alright everypony," A high voice called over the microphone, getting Twilight's attention.
"Is that..?" she began to ask, looking towards the sound system.
"Its time to paaaaaaaaaaarTAY!" Pinkie Pie yelled into the microphone before kicking a record onto a record player. The silence was drowned out by loud, upbeat tunes and the bright lights around the party dimmed somewhat as multicolored lights began to blink on and off.
The Princess quickly found Fancy Pants and his wife. "Know that it is our intention, immediately, to commission thee ... You ... To craft a new symbol of our - my - office to replace that which has been unfortunately lost. Cost is of no option; we ask only that thou design something that might last for two thousand years, as thy - your - great grandpony hath done."
Levitating the broken shards of the tiara up from the marble floor and wrapping them in a silken, cobalt-blue napkin the Princess presented them to the couple. "It seems only right to us that they rest with thee - you - and not us ... I. Thou art free to auction them off, or donate them for display, or merely keep them as part of thy collection - as you see fit."
A pained expression passed over the Princess. "We are greatly vexed and saddened to have lost it," She almost-sighed. "We hath been together for a great many years millennia ..."
Truly it was so - nothing lasted forever ... Except an Alicorn, seemingly.
The jeweler and the model were bobbing their heads to the music and watching as Hoity Toity showed off some heretofore unknown break dancing skills beside Pinkie Pie. When Luna came to them they both gave her their full attention. Fancypants opened his mouth to tell Luna how truly sorry he was that such a piece of work had been shattered, but before he could speak Luna spoke first. He looked at the pieces and used his magic to take them when Luna had wrapped them up. He could see how much the tiara meant to her, and though he knew it would be difficult he had to make the appropriate offer.
"Your Highness," he said, inclining his head, "It would be the greatest honor of my career, nay, my life," he was interrupted when Fleur made a soft winnehing noise, and he chuckled, "The second greatest honor of my life, pardon, to fashion you a new headress in my own design, and I can already imagine its form as I look upon you," he said as his eyes glittered with thought, "But I would be utterly remiss if I did not inform you that your current treasure is not insalivagable. I could repair it to its state as though it were freshly crafted, or near enough, and it would certainly last another several lifetimes with you." He offered her a smile to show his sincerity of the statement.
"Perhaps then, thou - you - could undertake both. Our sister has a wide selection of accessories and accentuations, alas we ... I ... Do not. It would please us greatly, if you would consider undertaking to repair our favoured vestment whilst creating a new piece worthy of our return."
Beyond walls and mortar, the Moon reached - and passed - its apex. From this point on it began to fall downwards, relentlessly tracking towards the end of the night and the beginning of a new day. The energy which had so infused Luna began to slowly dissipate, and fatigue would set in soon. Still, she forced herself to focus on the wider party. She set about appropriating another drink and doing her utmost to stifle a headache brought on by the "excitement" thus far.
Fancypants' eyes grew large and he had all the excitement of a young foal on Hearthswarming's Day Morning. "My Princess, I shall undertake the privilegege post-haste! I shall fashion you all manner of exquisite finery as befitting the Princess of the Night! I shall not let you down, you have my word as a Gentlecolt." He said with a bow. Fleur bowed as well and the two made for the exit from the party, one pony tired from the evening and the other's blood pumping so furiously as to prevent sleep for the remainder of the night.
Moon Trot saw the Moon in the sky and looked to Luna and saw a weary look cross her face. She approached her and bowed quickly. "Princess Luna, it is soon time to see to the positioning of your stars," she reminded Luna. Though Moon Trot truly believed that she was better out here, socializing, she needed to be true to her duties and thus she had to remind Luna.
Finishing her drink, the Princess nodded distractedly. "Yes ..." She acquiesced, "We shall see to thine stars ..."
Stopping to bid farewell to Twilight, the Princess easily moved to the doors courtesy of the sudden path that opened up in the direction she travelled. As they cleared the building, the Princess glanced upwards and ran her gaze across the night, as if ensuring nothing untoward had happened in the few hours spent socialising. Some stars were not to be left to their own devices; indeed they would skip across the sky with terrific, bright trails and bring all manner of needless attention upon themselves.
Moon Trot walked with Luna from the party. Three of the guards approached as they left and Moon Trot headed them off,asking what they wished. They wanted permission to remain behind, off the clock and she gave it to them; they had done their duty in a fantastic fashion and had earned the break. There were more Lunar guards around and it was good to reward good work.
When they returned to the palace entrance and began to ascend towards the balcony where Luna would work, Moon Trot cleared her throat. "I'm terribly sorry Your Highness," she said, "But may I request an early retirement for myself for the night? I would like to wake up early tomorrow and begin to learn the dances you mentioned earlier."
"Thou art dismissed from this night's service," Luna nodded, as they completed their ascent and arrived at the reading office of the Ministry of Stars & Sky. An enormous circular chamber high and against the side of the Tower of the Moon, it was dominated by an enormous, gilded-silver telescope that sprouted dozens of knobs, levers and gauges all of which fine-tuned and focused the colossal mirror - hidden away at the end of the device which leaned far outside and into the chill night air. Two great semi-circular bookcases ran around the circumference of the room, framing a marble-polished tapestry of the constellations on the floor.
Heading inside, the Princess took up a soft cushion aside a desk upon which dozens of scrolls and tomes were piled. The minutes quickly became hours and, as her eyelids grew heavy and her attention wandered, the Princess of the Night uncharacteristically gave in to the same sleep that had taken not only her sister, but all Equestria