“Have you found anything, Scarlet?” Blaze asked while he walked in the shadows of the cave they were sneaking into.

“Only a bunch of precious gems, nothing much,” answered Scarlet Boulder at his side. Her talent was their main source of vision in the dark caves just outside Canterlot.

“They have come this way…” Golden Breeze said a bit behind the group. “It’s not always there’s such a strong magic appearing suddenly out of nowhere…”

“The irony of the date also keeps returning to my mind…” Ice Sapphire said.

“You mean the Summer Sun Celebration in four days?” Lightning Dash asked.

“Not just the Summer Sun Celebration, but the Thousandth Summer Sun Celebration,” Shining Armor commented. “I catch the Princess reading aloud about it recently by accident. The Mare in the Moon.”

“That old ponies’ tale?” Scarlet Boulder asked.

“And if that’s not just some ponies’ tale?” Lightning Dash asked. “After all, the Knights of Harmony were supposed to be too.”

“Then what would that be?” Golden Breeze asked. “Some crazy pony to destroy the world?”

“The right name is Nightmare Moon,” said a deep male voice from behind the whole group. When they turned, there was a stallion and a mare stopped there, both of them smiling.

“She’s the rightful ruler of Equestria and she’ll take her place after Celestia try to stop her,” the mare said. Both of them wore some kind of armor which none of them could properly place as to belonging to a faction or another.

“And after she’s free, nopony will be able to stop her,” another mare said, this one from deeper down the cave which caused them to turn once again just to look at two other mares, also wearing those same armors.

“We came here to see if Celestia had any strength at all to stop our Queen, but it seems a waist of our time…” the last mare said with a giggle.

“Who are you?” Ice Sapphire demanded.

They all laughed. “You don’t need to know our names!” the stallion answered.

“A question shall always be answered,” from deeper within the cave, another mare, no, a filly by her size, walked out to greet them. “Don’t you dare to forget the teachings of our Mother or I shall remind you…”

“Oh no, thanks… Sorry ma’am…” he answered, the laugh in his voice replaced with sheer fear.

The filly, if Lightning Dash was any judge, had only about twelve years old. She was pitch black with a dark grey mane and tail, both her deep turquoise eyes almost shining as the young unicorn looked at them.

“However, it’s very rude to demand identification without presenting yourself first.”

Lightning Dash was about to say something when Blaze stepped forth, “What is this joke about, Dusk?”

The unicorn filly chuckled, “Good to see you again, cousin. I’ve heard you never lost the faith…”

“My belief is not the matter, Dusk,” Blaze said. “Anyway, you’re far too young to be there, what does it means?”

“Don’t you call me young, Blaze!” Dusk said somewhat angrier. “For I alone can end all six of you right away.”

Tense seconds split by. It was unnoticeable even to Lightning Dash himself, but the moment his eyebrow moved less than two millimeters but still more than one, the unicorn mare from behind him laughed.

“That won’t work,” she said with a chuckle after that. “Since you’re not going to present yourselves, I shall start then. My name is Night Cloud, one of the children chosen by our great Mother to protect and grant her return safely.”

“What you said?” Scarlet asked, not sure if she was following.

“Mother? You claim to be Children of the Night?” Blaze asked, not taking his eyes from Dusk Shield. Knowing that all the others would be looking at him if not for the enemies, he explained, “My mother told me that long time ago Princess Luna blessed a few ponies with some of her powers. They become known as the Children of the Night.”

“And I was gifted by our Mother with the ability to hear your thoughts!” she laughed again. “That won’t work either! I can hear every plan you start making!”

Noticing that the ponies were giving in, the aggressors stood taller and all of them grinned, “I can almost taste their fear…” said an earth pony mare.

“Don’t tease them, Night Poet,” said the still grinning stallion at Dusk’s left. “Don’t mind her, she always have some kind of poetic nature. By the way, my name is Onyx Star and the last two members of our group are Midnight Blossom and Dusk Shield.”

The two ponies that were behind the group slowly walked around the Knights of Harmony in direction to the other three of them. Night Poet took the extreme right of the group as Night Cloud took the left. They now could see the group composed of two unicorns, Dusk Shield in the center and Night Cloud at the extreme left; two earth pony mares, Midnight Blossom and Night Poet, both at the right side of Dusk Shield; and a pegasus, Onyx Star at Dusk Shield’s left. All five of them held strange black and dark blue armors, with subtle differences in their shape, very much like the Harmony Armors of Lightning Dash and the others.

Following Lightning Dash’s lead, the Knights of Harmony also lined and a staring contest had started. They haven’t summoned their armors as yet, but they would as soon as the situation called for it. Dusk Shield gave a step ahead, not much worried about what could happen to her as she smiled.

“The six of you against the five of us? This is not going to be a fair fight. We’re not in the same league.”

“And why do you say so?” Lightning Dash called, also stepping forward with all his confidence.

“For starters you don’t have your armor. And understand I’m not talking about a junk piece of metal that I can fold like paper. Second, it took you all four minutes to track and follow us down here.”

“You shouldn’t be so sure about yourself, Dusk Shield, right?” Lightning Dash said with a challenging smile. “I assure you we’re stronger that we look.”

“Oh, that I know… after all you did track us down. I only mean to say that with this level of guards, Mistress Nightmare Moon’s return will not be much of an event. If I were you, I would start saying your farewells to the sun, for when she returns, the night will be eternal!”

“We won’t let that happen,” Lightning Dash said, not lacking in confidence for a second. “We’ll stop every single one of you and then we’ll stop Nightmare Moon herself.”

Dusk Shield just looked deeply into Lightning Dash’s eyes, “Well, if you say so… Sadly, we really have to go. But I’ll leave Midnight Blossom here so you can have a taste of our true powers. Blossom, do not kill them outright. It will be fun seeing them trying to stop our Mother’s return.”

The earth pony mare at Dusk’s right nodded and smiled, “As you wish, my Captain.”

“Captain?” Blaze asked somewhat surprised.

Dusk Shield chuckled, “Yes, Captain Dusk Shield, second in charge of Nightmare Moon’s army, the Nightmare Shadows.”

And in the next second, along with four rather loud laughing, a deep dark smoke circled the whole group and in a flash of light, they were gone, all but Midnight Blossom. She still was smiling in front of them. “Sorry, but I’ll have to finish this quickly. As Dusk Shield said, we have some important missions to fulfill.”

Lightning Dash then chuckled, “Know what, Midnight Blossom? We had felt your presence straight away as you came. It took us this long to come after you because we were reporting to the Princess.”

“Bluffing will get you nowhere, pegasus.”

“Oh, but I’m not…” he then focused his mana as started doing all the others and, with a single flash of light, every single one of them were with their Harmony Armors covering their bodies. Upon seeing the armors, Midnight Blossom’s eyes shot open in surprise. “Well… We can do this the easy way or the hard way… Which one you pick?”

Midnight Blossom quickly turned and started to run deeper inside the cave. In a quick reflex, Ice Sapphire pointed her horn at deeper inside the cave and shot a single light blue beam of energy. Out of nowhere, a wall of ice blocked the runaway’s path from top to bottom. Shining Armor approached the unicorn mare.

“Haven’t you said that creating ice out of nowhere is absurdly high demanding on your mana flux?”

“It really is demanding. For average unicorns, that is, and both of us know we’re not average,” Ice Sapphire grinned. “I know your sister have the magic to spare, but would she be able to keep that spell for herself?”

“You do have a point.”

“You guys, let me take care of her,” Blaze called already walking towards Midnight Blossom. “I’ll bring her as a prisoner in no time.”

Lightning Dash nodded, “We’ll let her for you. The others, though, we still have four others to track down and arrest!”

With that, only Blaze stood and, as soon as the others were out of earshot, she glared at Midnight Blossom, “You’re damn stupid for appearing in Canterlot!”

“Okay so we underestimated you. A mistake that they will cover up once I’m not back to them!” she replied.

“Underestimating us? That’s not what the matter is. You’re dumb idiots for not waiting!” Blaze shot her an angry glare, but wasn’t menacing to hit her anymore. “You should wait for my call to strike. Our Mother is going to be back in a matter of days and I haven’t gained enough of Celestia’s trust as yet. It takes time, lots of time, and since she decided to bring the Knights of Harmony back, that has been near to impossible.”

“W-what…?” Midnight Blossom looked, now puzzled more than anything.

“You didn’t get the memo? Our Mother always had one of her children inside Celestia’s numbers. I am Cardinal Shadow Blaze, leader over the Nightmare Shadows and the pony in charge of assuring our Mother’s return. But you still may be useful out of battlefield…”

Midnight Blossom bowed at hearing Blaze’s presentation, “Yes, Cardinal. Whatever you say, I shall follow…”

****

An hour later, all six of them, all without their armors, were in front of Celestia in her throne room. The Sun Princess was wearing her typical mask while dealing with her subjects while she watched the doors to the throne room close and leaves them alone. Silently casting a privacy spell on the door and the windows, Celestia looked at them.

“I’ve heard you came back with a prisoner. What’s his or her name and objective?”

“The name, your highness, is Midnight Blossom. She was a member of a group of ponies which aims at the return of Nightmare Moon. They called themselves the ‘Nightmare Shadows’,” Shining Armor said. “The group is composed of two unicorns, two earth ponies, one of which is Midnight Blossom, and a pegasus. One of the unicorns, by the name of Dusk Shield, is the actual leader of them. They insist on calling Nightmare Moon their ‘Mother’.”

“What?” Celestia asked surprised as they never saw.

“They left open that Nightmare Moon has more followers than just the five of them,” Blaze continued, “a group that was once known as the Children of the Night.”

“I see. You’ve done well. I will interrogate this Midnight Blossom personally. Meanwhile, you take care. If these Nightmare Shadows appeared once, they can appear again.”

“Yes, your highness!” all six knights chorused to Celestia, before turning around to leave.

“Captain Shining Armor, I would like to trade a few words with you if you have the time,” Celestia called.

Leaving Shining Armor to his talk with Celestia, the other five headed out of the castle to their typical hangout, a pub where most of the Royal Guards would spend their free time and money.

Besides it wasn’t a luxurious place, they did have a nice service, the prices were fair and each table was surrounded by a privacy spell: to everypony else, even if they yelled, all they would hear was a voice among others, as if they were at the public market. After making their orders as soon as they sat down, they all stood in silence.

“The Nightmare Shadows…” Lightning Dash commented after a long time.

“Do you think they will try something?” Golden Breeze asked. “I mean… if Midnight Blossom was any indication, we can take them one on one, right?”

“Hope for the best while planning for the worse,” Blaze called. “If there’s a possibility for them to show up at the Summer Sun Celebration, we shall be ready. What information we have about it?”

“The usual,” Ice Sapphire answered. “The Princess will be publically visible in the same place as ever and at the usual time.”

“Maybe we should suggest her to change the place for the ceremony?” Scarlet Boulder asked. “I mean, it’s not like all Equestria doesn’t celebrate together, but we could set the main event somewhere else?”

“But where? Which place will be able to hold such an important decision in so little time?” Golden Breeze asked.

“Upon hearing Princess Celestia’s name, they’ll all agree, even if the time were shorter than it is,” Lightning Dash answered.

“Then we gotta pick up a place as quick as possible…” Scarlet Boulder said. “Anypony have any idea?”

“Ponyville,” Lightning Dash and Blaze called simultaneously. They then looked to one another in puzzlement. Lightning Dash was the first to speak then, “Care to explain?”

“Simple logic. Ponyville is the closest town to Canterlot. When you’re running, nopony expects you to stay that close from the original supposed place,” Blaze said. “And you?”

“Ponyville was founded originally by earth ponies, but nowadays, has about a third of its population composed by each race, alicorns excluded, of course,” Lightning Dash answered. “And that’s something that Princess Celestia valorizes above all else.”

“Then we can unite both the aspects in the same solution!” Ice Sapphire said as the situation got a bit tenser.

Blaze shot a last glance at Lightning Dash before getting up, “I’m going back to my quarters.” And without further comments, he left them without even drinking his order.

After a few seconds, Lightning Dash got up as well and left some bits over the table. “Pay mine and his.”

“Wait! Dash!” Golden Breeze tried, but the other pegasus was already crossing the doors of the bar.

In the streets, flying as fast as he could, Lightning Dash just scanned the city for the rust-red pony. Upon seeing the trace of Blaze, Lightning Dash dived and prepared to give a punch on his face. When the attack connected, Blaze was thrown sideway until he reached a wall.

“You know something you’re not sharing with us!” Lightning Dash said angry.

Blaze got on all four hooves and looked back at Lightning Dash, cleaning a bit of blood from his lips, as the other ponies around them watched both curiously.

“And hitting me in the face is a very good way of making me share what I’m hiding, if there’s something to hide,” the rust colored pony answered.

“You’ve been acting weird for quite some time now, Blaze. Since you learned that trick to be more exactly…”

“Are you suggesting I have a secret agenda?”

“Don’t you?”

The pegasus and the earth pony keep their instances, glaring at each other. None gave in any and both were ready to summon their armors at the first notice of action from the other.

“Enough!” the voice of Princess Cadance took the attention of both of them. As Lightning Dash and Blaze turned towards her, they noticed she was followed by Shining Armor. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“Princess Cadance?” Lightning Dash asked.

“Glad to see you can remember her face, Dash. But you didn’t answer her question,” Shining Armor answered.

Then both of them bowed to the Princess. “Raise you two,” Cadance said shaking her head. “And answer my question once and for all!” Cadance had to hold herself not to let slip a ‘damn question’ after the scene.

“Not here, dear. Let’s go to the bar with the others and you can have a private chat with them there,” Shining Armor said. He understood the hesitation in both of them: it was a matter common ponies shouldn’t know about.

Cadance sighed. “Alright, let’s get going,” upon seeing Blaze’s muzzle moving, she hastily added, “ALL of us.”

****

“So that’s what happened…” Shining Armor commented after they joined the others at the bar. He cast a glare on the table almost on the other side, which was actively avoided by anypony but those already inside, and those three were Lightning Dash, Blaze and Cadance.

“Well… since he got his armor, Blaze has been acting weird and all,” Golden Breeze said. “Not that it seems he’s against us but--”

“There was also his perform at the cavern when we were following the Shadows,” Ice Sapphire said. “He already knew about the group and more importantly, he knew one of them!”

“That alone doesn’t prove much, though,” Shining Armor said. “At least, the other ponies saw me and Cadance coming there, so it will take some time to reach Princess Celestia’s ears and even so, it will be already solved by then, so it’s unlikely they will have any punishment.”

“Save being lectured by Princess Cadance, of course,” Scarlet Boulder completed with a giggle.

At that isolated table, Cadance let out a heavy sigh. “Since after I accidentally run into your little secret, Aunt Celestia told me so much about you. And you can’t imagine how much she is happy with your progress. What, in the name of love, gave you reasons to doubt each other?”

“You wouldn’t understand, Princess…” Blaze said.

“Drop the ‘Princess’ thing, okay? Damn it! I’m your friend! I have beers with you; I go shopping with the girls! Hell! Don’t look at me as if I’m superior or something! And besides I am Lieutenant in the Knights of Harmony, I’m not here as an amazon right now! Tell me what kind of bug poisoned you against each other!”

One of them looked at each other angrily and back down the table before replying, together by the way, “We had the same idea…” Then they focused their death glares back at each other, grinding their teeth.

“See! That’s what I’m talking about! We never agreed before and now this happens twice?” Lightning Dash screamed, getting ready to start another fight.

Before Blaze could answer, Cadance’s horn ignited in a bluish aura and suddenly the head of both ponies flashed in the same light blue aura. Suddenly, their eyes filled with surprise, as they felt an anger that weren’t their own. Looking at Cadance, they saw her gaze disapprovingly over them.

“What happened?” Lightning Dash asked.

“I’m punishing you, in my own way, of course. If there’s one thing I do not withstand at all, that is friends fighting over nothing,” Cadance answered. “Until the Summer Sun Celebration, you will have a special link: you will share each other’s emotions. If one gets angry, you will feel that, if he’s afraid, you will feel as well. And before you ask, there’s nothing at all you can do or say to shorten this time. Until the sun rise in the Summer Sun Celebration, your link will withstand.”

“You can’t do that to us!” Blaze said.

That got a raised eyebrow from Lightning Dash. He felt… fear? Of course, he wasn’t happy with that but it seemed like Blaze have something to hide. Maybe this punishment won’t be that bad after all…

Author's Note

Now let's start with some light plot. A cliché one with some betrayal in the foreseeable future, and the true bad guys behind this first part of the series. Nightmare Moon is about to break free and her minions already started making their moves. The time for the first real big battle is about to come! And I get someone there that's quite excited about it! Lightning Dash, care to share a few words?

“Wow... When you think that things are getting better... What's this mission General Celestia is giving us? Is she really thinking we're strong enough for that? And we have so little time to prepare! I'm really thinking we'll have a hell of a time this mission... Anyway, at the very least, I got to see my sister one last time! Next chapter of Knights of Harmony is Ponyville”