“Well that’s convenient.” Celestia said. It was a week until the estimated return of Nightmare Moon and Twilight was standing in front of her, asking to have a few days off of training. The Night’s Guard, the mercenary group Twilight was a part of, asked for her in Ponyville.

“What’s convenient?” Twilight asked.

“The file they sent along says you’re going to Ponyville. I was going to send you there tomorrow. Take Luna with you as well, won’t hurt to send her a day early as well. She can probably help out with your mission, or rather missions of this briefing is correct.” Celestia explained.

Twilight was contracted to do a series of minor and major work all in one trip. Her tasks were to collect and deliver incredibly rare and dangerous to get materials to the local alchemist, assassinate a series of corrupt leaders in order to reinstate the mayor the village needs, defend against a small assault from the everfree creatures estimated to take place within the next few days and to slay a particular member of the Night’s Guard that greets her upon her arrival.

She will have to tell them from one of the two there, and apparently she’ll know which one. There will also be a few members of different races joining her.

“Let Luna know that we’ll be leaving in three hours and that I’ll be in my room getting ready. Also, tell her to be ready to kick some ass if need be.” Twilight said as Celestia handed the briefing folder back to her. Celestia nodded with a smile and Twilight turned and left.

“Still here?” Luna called, knocking on the astronomy tower door as she opened it. Her question was answered by a peculiar sight.

Twilight was in the middle of the big room, surrounded by weapon and armor racks.

“Ah, good, you’re here.” Twilight said, turning around. She was wearing armor herself. It was a full set of armor, though the material was unknown to Luna. It looked like a sort of glassy metal with a very dark purple coloration. All of the weapons and armor were made from it. She wore a cloak that was more like a mantle in that it covered her entire body. The hood was currently down.

The set’s helmet was incredibly intimidating. It looked like it was a skull, though not quite human. The gauntlets had talons, though they were strange indeed. The things were more like claws than armor.

The entire thing was very slim and looked so form fitting it couldn’t possibly fit anyone else. All of it was intricately engraved with strange designs and symbols, most likely glyphs. The material still intrigued and baffled Luna. Twilight guessed what the confused look was for.

“It’s a type of crystal created by melting obsidian with magic and pressurizing it, using magic to pack it into what I call Black Crystal. I can adjust things to fit you if you’d like, you’ll need to be better equipped.” Twilight explained, pulling her helmet off. There was a strange tattoo on her face now, around her right eye. It looked like a crescent moon.

“And this is the mark of a veteran Night’s Watch. Pick any armor and any weapons you like and I’ll bind them to you and set them aside to be stored in a dimension you can access.” Twilight continued. Luna was still a little confused, but she browsed everything. She hard armor and weapons of her own, but it was in severe disrepair after a thousand years.

In the end she settled for armor that, except for the helmet gauntlets and boots, was nearly identical to Twilight’s. The last two were rather normal, but the helmet had a removable mask that looked as if someone had taken a perfect mold of a fox’s face. For weapons she chose a rather elegant longbow, though it had no string an an empty quiver, and a dual bladed staff called a Glaive.

“What are your weapons?” Luna asked. Twilight answered by causing all but one rack to disappear. There was a Nodachi, a long two handed katana, and very strange and intimidating bow with an empty quiver on the rack. There was a very simple battle scythe, seemingly made of simple black wood and steel. The thing gave off one of the darkest and most intimidating auras Luna had ever felt. It caused her to shiver.

“Don’t worry, she only hungers for those I tell her she can.” Twilight said softly. She tied the Katana around her left side and secured the bow on her back. Instead of walking over to where the scythe was and grabbing it, she simply raised her hand and it flew to her. She proceeded to put it into place next to the bow on her back. There was no magic involved in it, though. That much Luna was sure.

“It’s almost time to leave, isn’t it?” Luna asked, trying to shake off a very dark feeling. Twilight simply nodded and replaced her helmet, which was more like a mask.

“Prepare yourself, we’re about to enter a dimensional hub. Only members of the Night’s Guard use it. I doubt even you have walked across the dimensional planes and pathways.” Twilight said, her voice being filtered through the mask. It came out as what sounded like a whisper that echoed through your mind. It actually unnerved Luna, but she shook her head and stepped up next to Twilight.

“Please, who do you think perfected the method 1200 years ago?” She said.

“This is different, Luna. Do not speak unless you must, do not wander and stick with me. Whatever you do, do not take your mask off until we are on the train. There are certain members of the Night’s Guard who would slaughter anything without the mark.” Twilight warned lowly, her whispered voice making the message all the more frightening.

“I understand.” Luna said simply, replacing the fox mask. Twilight simply nodded. gradually but quickly, parts of her armor and cloak started to glow with the energy of her magic. Parts of the bow glowed as well. Twilight turned back towards her as she started to float in the air, and suddenly an image flashed through her mind.

A memory of a being

A being from more than a thousand years ago that nearly cost the world its existence.

The first and, presumably, last Reaper.

This was different, though. The being before had red coloration where their magic glowed, Twilight’s was of her own pure lavender. The same horrifyingly powerful presence was still there, and Luna was almost afraid to find out just how powerful the creature giving it off was, but there was no sense of hate and destruction and evil.

She let herself relax as a strange hole appeared in the air. That hole grew quickly to become an intricate doorway. The black ‘hair’ of Twilight’s helmet, as well as the hems and edges of her attire, seemed to fade slightly and shift. They were almost ethereal. Dimensional magic always had that effect, though in this particular case it seemed to actually complete her look. She touched back down the the ground, beckoned with her head and opened the door.

Luna followed without hesitation, though whether or not that was because she was actually afraid to disobey Twilight or she was just ready for it she couldn’t decide. Twilight put her hood up, hiding her mask, and stepped through. It seemed like she was floating, though. Luna was right behind her and once the two of them were in the door vanished. There wasn’t even a magical residue left afterwards.

Author's Note

So this story has now taken a completely unexpected turn
but I've been reading too much backwards through the mirror and a lot of old ideas are resurfacing.
plus I found this artist, Nekro, and I just absolutely love their art