The Royal Gardens seemed to shimmer with subdued power in the starlight, a wilderness of natural beauty tucked into a corner of the royal castle. Two Luna Moths floated by on a gust of nighttime air and ascended over the heads of three white unicorns, their ghostlike figures striding confidently through the courtyard surrounding the gardens. Even with the nearby Guards, Rarity still felt ill at ease walking outside of the castle for her meeting with Princess Luna. As of late, the Princess of the Night was known for strict formality in meetings, either at the lightly-attended Night Court, or private dinners conducted at the castle. It was quite a contrast against her sister, Princess Celestia, who had always preferred inviting ponies to tea, sometimes taking tea a dozen times a day.

The Royal Guards matched her shining white coat and pace exactly, three ghostlike white bodies moving through the shadowed courtyard until they stopped at the private vine-covered entrance to the Private Royal Gardens. The black entryway made out of two intertwined yew trees seemed to beckon to her, the faint sounds of nighttime animals lending a surreal air to a myriad of soft floral scents borne out on the light breeze.

“This is as far as we go Ma’am.”

“What?” Rarity squinted into the darkness. “Where’s Her Highness?”

“Inside the Royal Garden at the Pavillion of the Moon. We were ordered to wait out here while you go in alone.”

Not without some degree of hesitancy, Rarity trod gingerly down the narrow pathway into the fragrant darkness of the gardens. Still dressed for a much more formal meeting, Rarity’s delicate shoes crunched on the gravel walk while she carefully levitated her flowing skirt away from the vegetation. As the path continued under the vine-covered trestles and hedges, the stygian darkness seemed to swallow her up. Only the gentle scents of the surrounding flowers and the gentle breeze allowed her to continue to pick her way forward, one dainty hoof placed in front of another while trying to stay on the pathway.

A Proper Lady does not mutter beneath her breath. A Proper Lady can treat this type of meeting with Dignity and Respect. A Proper Lady— She cut off as she walked through a spiderweb. “Yech! I need a pith helmet and a machete!”

A faint chuckle came out of the darkness, sounding horribly like Nightmare Moon for a moment. “We beg pardon for our oversight, Lady Rarity. Not all of our subjects can see in the dark as we do.” A faint glow began to arise, showing her to be in a large open area with a dozen dim lanterns shedding a soft lunar glow about the gardens. And that glow revealed a sight that stunned her to the core of her being.

Radiating from the open-sided building in the center of the clearing were a series of low hedges in an open star-shaped pattern, each totally surrounded by a myriad of blooming flowers of every color and type. An errant breeze brought her the scent of evening primroses, asphodelus and columbine, mixed with an overtone of moon flowers that spread into a tapestry of white shimmering blooms surrounding the clearing with reflected moonlight. Dark shrubs of jasmine and lilac opened their petals to the moonlit sky, and the flittering shapes of moths and bats darted from one bountiful bush to another. Off to one side of the pavillion was an obsidian fountain gurgling and bubbling cheerfully, the water shining like purest silver in the waning moonlight as it traced its way through the moss-covered rocks of an artificial stream into a small pool with golden ripples below the surface.

The delicate webs of spiders made a light tracery of silken threads across every bush, a glittering dew-laden veil across the face of the sparkling garden which seemed to draw the light of far-off stars all the way down from the sky and across the glittering quartz chips scattered throughout the gravel paths. Rarity felt like she was standing in the middle of Luna’s night sky, surrounded by stars. She could not help but step forward a few paces to get a better look, placing her hooves on a smooth flat rock that fit perfectly into the pathway, with only four widely-spaced dents around the outside edge to hint at its purpose.

“It’s… beautiful. Princess Luna… is this all yours?”

The shadows of the pavillion momentarily parted as Princess Luna stepped out, her smile growing as the oblivious white unicorn continued to gaze about the garden, lost in its beauty.

“Our garden is beautiful indeed. My sister hath spent many centuries seeking out the most beautiful of flowers, those that bloom both in day and night. Over the years of my banishment, she has crossbred and improved all of the species that you see here tonight, even this one.” She indicated a relatively plain-looking plant topped with a huge dried bloom fully the size of a small pony.

“This flower is called Queen Of The Night. It blooms but one night a year, on the night of the Gala, and on that night its beauty outshines all others.”

Luna caressed the dry flower softly and blinked away a tear. “My sister did create this garden upon my banishment centuries ago, and tended to its upkeep since. She never gave up hope that I might one day be freed from my imprisonment and return to her side. Until this night, no commoner but the gardeners—and your yellow pegasus friend—have set hoof inside.”

Shaken out of her reverie, Rarity looked around nervously with one hoof over her pristine white hat. “The animals that live here are not...”

Luna smiled and waved a hoof in dismissal. “Fear not for thine raiment, Lady Rarity. My sister hath trained the animals to avoid elaborately dressed ponies in her gardens.”

“Thank you, Princess. I had actually expected to meet you in more formal circumstances, but this—” She waved about the garden with an expression of stunned fascination. “This is far more beautiful than any room in the castle. I am honored beyond all my expectations.”

“Thank you, kind Rarity. Although it feels most strange. Standing here, seeing you stand upon the very stone where my sister did raise the moon in my absence, makes me look back in time to the nights she stood there in your place.” A gentle breeze seemingly came out of nowhere, making Rarity’s lace scarf flutter behind her as if it were an ethereal mane. An icy chill went up her back at the thought of standing where Princess Celestia raised the moon for a thousand years, the same moon that imprisoned her sister Luna and the creature known as Nightmare Moon. Luna simply looked at Rarity with an unfathomable expression in her immortal blue eyes.

“She speaks little of that dark and lonely time. I have spent a thousand years away from this world, but to immortals such as us, centuries can seem as short as the blink of an eye. And now, having been back in the presence of my sister for nearly a full year, the time seems to crawl. My sister believes it is time for me to be brought fully back into ruling at her side as Diarch, much as it was before. However, given the events of the past, many others believe it would be unwise indeed to allow the Court of the Night to be brought back to equal status with Day. Our advisors caution us against this idea as a hasty thing, most fearful of their status. Or perhaps they honestly doubt my ability to hold this power without slipping back into… old habits.” The Princess looked up in the sky at the waning moon with a look of sorrow and regret.

“They wish me to hold an inferior office instead, subordinate to the Day in all regards. In their words, when I have grown to meet their expectations of trust, I would be grudgingly given slightly more power. But they would never see my power to be equal with my own sister. To be honest, I can see their concerns. However, my sister and I are united in our opposition. If I were to bow to their demands now, there would never be a time when I would meet their expectations. It would always be later, and I would never again be considered an equal with my sister. You have a sister, yes?”

“Oh yes, a darling little filly. I believe you met her on Nightmare Night. Um. Briefly.” Rarity tried not to look nervous, but Luna seemed to be placing a great deal of confidence in her. She was just a designer from Ponyville, not some Royal Advisor. True, she was a fantastic designer as well as the bearer of the Element of Generosity. But still, it made her uneasy for the Princess of the Night to be baring her soul to her in this way.

“What would you say,” began Luna quietly, “if others demanded that your little sister were never to exceed you in any regard? That she must be kept suppressed, held back at all times lest she become a danger, perhaps even imprisoned away from all who she loved?”

Anger stirred in her chest. The faintest echo of Nightmare Moon’s shadow seemed to live again in the garden, and Rarity spoke from the heart of her whirling emotions. “Never! Nopony will ever do that to my darling sis—” She took a breath to calm down and regain her poise. “Ah… I would certainly discuss things with these poor misguided ponies and correct their misconceptions.”

Luna chuckled. “You even sound like her when angry. Truly, it is for your appreciation of beauty and nearness to the heart of my sister that I summoned you. I have a task that I believe worthy of your finest effort. First, allow me to introduce Laminia, my Royal Hoofmaiden and a fellow dress designer of quality.”

It seemed as if the darkness beside Luna simply unfolded into a sleek charcoal-grey pony with large golden eyes and a pair of leathery wings tucked back along her flanks. The dark apparition stared emotionlessly at the white unicorn from her place at Luna’s side where it was almost impossible to tell her apart from the shadows.

Rarity, to her credit, only froze up momentarily upon seeing the sleek Night Pegasus before bowing her head with proper respect for the Diarch’s personal Hoofmaiden. She had only seen any of the Nocturne race once before, for a brief glimpse during Nightmare Night, and even Twilight Sparkle seemed woefully uninformed on their history or proper place in the social order.

“Laminia, this is Rarity. She is a friend of my sister’s and, as the bearer of the Element of Generosity, one to whom I owe my very existence.” The dark mare’s eyes seemed to glow in the darkness as she returned the respectful bow.

The Princess of the Night turned her glittering blue gaze back onto Rarity with a look of remorse. “For freeing me from the grip of Nightmare, I truly owe you a debt that can never be repaid, but I fear now I must add to that debt. We have been absent from the Court of the Night for a thousand years, and although many things go out of style and back in over time, a thousand years is just a bit... much for fashion.”

Rarity’s mouth made a little “o” of delight and her eyes lit up.

“You do see,” continued Luna. “The Court of the Night must convey the true power of not just myself, but both Royal Sisters. My sister has the very cream of the elite jumping through hoops for her in the design of the daytime servants and staff clothing. But once they begin to design for me they suddenly become… stupid. Worse than stupid, I believe some of them are intentionally producing designs to make our Court look like a laughing stock in hopes that perhaps I will simply withdraw from their sight.”

“That’s dreadful,” blurted out the horrified fashionista. “If that’s not a crime against fashion, it most certainly should be!”

Luna smiled thinly. “That is the attitude I desired. I wish to offer you a Royal Patronage for a limited time so that my Night Court might be attired in clothing suitable for our newly reacquired place in the Diarchy. Would you accept?”

Rarity’s gasp of delight could not be blocked, even with her delicately placed hoof. “Would I? Of course I would! But... Your Night Court must have hundreds of members, from servants all the way up to guards, and courtiers, and lesser nobility, and… it would be an impossible task for just one, even if I were to work forever!”

“True, that is why we are not asking you to design for each and every member of the Night Court, but instead to produce a broad theme. An idea, a basis for the rest of the designers to work from. Something so glorious and powerful—” Luna’s thin smile became predatory “—that they will be forced to incorporate portions of it into my sister’s Court Dress. And thus in the dance, the Moon will lead the Sun for a change.

“And as for only one of you, I was hoping to rectify that with a gift.” Luna made a gesture and Laminia seemed to flow out of the shadows to the white unicorn, as if she were merely a shadow changing her host. “I hereby offer to you my personal assistant, sworn to me by blood and oath, to assist you in whatever way possible while you are at my assigned task.”

“A s—” The word ‘slave’ caught in Rarity’s throat. The practices of ponies a millennia ago was not one of her strong points. Could the Princess have restored practices that had died out hundreds of years ago? Rarity cleared her throat with a bit of theatrical coughing before continuing with a question that was also partially a plea. “A servant?”

“I would prefer you to think of her as an apprentice. There are still apprentices in this day, are there not?” At Rarity’s rapid nod, the Princess continued, “Her talent is strong, very strong. I was within a hairs-breadth of wearing a most magnificent gown of her design to the Grand Galloping Gala until I lost my nerve due to an uncultured lout spreading scurrilous slander. And as an example of how the circle turns back upon itself, I understand you avenged my lost honor upon the worthless carcass of that detestable stallion, by splattering his pristine hide with cake and calling him names such that the courtiers still talk of it.”

“Blueblood?”

Luna laughed, an open and relaxed full-bodied laugh that echoed around the garden without even a trace of Nightmare Moon, merely the expression of complete joy. “The proper form of address for my nephew is ‘Prince Blueblood, Duke of Canterlot,’ although I understand one of his peers addressed him as ‘Duke of Cakealot’ a few days ago. It was most humorous. And now I may both acquire raiment suitable for my court while heaping ashes upon the pride of a fool. It is a ‘two-for’ as I have been told. Most pleasurable indeed.”

The Princess of the Night took on a solemn expression and turned to her servant. “This important task shall not be without sacrifice on your part. You are not to treat this as a demotion, only a brief time away from me at a task which I would only entrust to my most faithful of followers. I am trusting you, as my sister does place her trust in me. In addition, while at the side of Lady Rarity, I expect you to learn the arts of grace, beauty, and court behavior, so that you may better perform your duties when you return to the castle and resume your position at my side.

“And, you are hereby ordered to expand your personal horizons and not simply hide in her house while in the care of your new...” Luna paused, apparently attempting to find a proper substitute for ‘Mistress.’

“Friend,” interrupted Rarity with a smile. “I absolutely refuse to take her as some form of subordinate. I insist on working with her as an equal. I wouldn’t have it any other way and you should not either!”

Laminia spoke for the first time, a soft and velvety voice that seemed well-matched with the dark and mysterious looking Nocturne. “It is only right that I serve Her Highness’ will. It was She who made our race on the Night of Creation, and—” Her voice hesitated “—her sister who ensured we were not destroyed upon her fall, so that we might serve her again now that she has returned. Whatever the Princesses command, I will do.”

“That reminds me,” said Luna gesturing to one side where a large, armored Night Pegasus seemed to just materialize out of the darkness, leaving Rarity to wonder just how many other dark ponies there were in the garden.

“Since Laminia is a member of the Royal Household as my Hoofmaiden, it would be appropriate for us to provide some sort of protection for her while she is away from Canterlot. This is Pumpernickel, the youngest of my Night Guard. He will be your protective detail while my Hoofmaiden is in your employ. Or partnership. Or however you decide to arrange things.” Luna cleared her throat. “He will also be responsible for a certain amount of physical therapy for my Hoofmaiden. She has only recently regained the use of one wing and will need daily exercise, and preferably a certain amount of self-defense training. It is our opinion there are entirely too many ponies who just run around like idiots whenever anything disastrous is happening. Some proper training should alleviate this concern. As for the rest, he has already been fully briefed on what to expect and how you are to be treated.”

Pumpernickel stood silently quaking in his armor, facing the Royal Princess of the Night alone in her private audience chamber. “In a little less than an hour, we expect to be speaking with Rarity in the Garden of the Moon. You will be quiet, and not say a word during… all of it. Do you understand?”

*nod*

“Very well. We will be sending you with my Hoofmaiden, Laminia, to Ponyville on a set number of tasks, which you will not interfere with, or offer any of your advice to either of them regarding their tasks. Instead you will obey their orders in these tasks as if they were my own. Do I make myself clear?”

*nod* *nod*

“While in Ponyville, it will be your exclusive duty to keep my servant safe, exercised, and in good spirits. I do not wish any repeat of the behavior she exhibited during my… recent breakdown. In the event of any problems sufficient to warrant a return to Canterlot, you have my full authority to bring her home however you can. I do not expect any trouble. It is a fairly quiet and peaceful small town—” Luna looked directly at Pumpernickel with a gaze that seemed to go straight through his eyes to burn holes in the back of his skull “—but in the event she is killed or injured, your dead body had better be in front of her. Or it will be. Do I make myself clear?”

*nod* *nod* *nod* *nod*

“Good. Now return to your place and… try not to say anything stupid. Try very hard.”