Reconditioning

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Deep in the everfree forest, in the long-abandoned Castle of the Two Sisters, a dark force stirred, and prepared. Nightmare Moon is back, and plans to bring about eternal night once more! However, something is off. Her normally nebulous galaxy of a mane is instead just locks of dark blue hair, and her onyx fur is lacking its normal luster.

This is because she had to recreate her body, using up almost all of the power she had gathered since the accursed Elements of Harmony tore her and her old self, Luna, apart an unknown years ago. Hard to keep track of time when you don’t have a body, or any conventional means to experience the material world. All that she can be sure of, is that doppelganger the Elements created is still around, and generally healthy.

She knows this because there is a connection between them, for all the differences between them, they were once one and the same. Nightmare Moon could only guess that he counterpart hasn’t noticed the connection, for surely if she did, they would not have left her alone for the past month that she has had a body, resting and preparing for the next step of her new plan.

For there is a problem, she is weak. Even in the month she has been back, mostly resting, she isn’t much stronger than her Sister’s - Nightmare Moon mentally snarled at the thought of her - protege. The purple unicorn - Trixie or something, she’s sure it began with a T at least- was certainly powerful, but she was just that, a unicorn. Leagues below Celestia and her. Shouldn’t have gone easy on her. Shouldn’t have underestimated her. Nightmare Moon mentally berated herself. While she was indeed comparatively weak after breaking her seal and taking care of her sister - She STILL doesn’t take me seriously. Wouldn’t even put up a fight, just sat there while I sealed her. - she should have still been able to annihilate her and her friends, but instead she tried to scare them off, or break them up such that they would not be able to wield the Elements. That plan backfired horribly, and by the time she stepped up her game, the Elements were in their grasp and she was as good as defeated.

This brings her back to what she’s doing now. She needs a way to get her power back even faster than otherwise, for while she could hide out for a couple decades as her power returns, it not only grated at her pride, but increased the chance of Luna noticing the connection between them, as her end got stronger. So as soon as she got her body back, and had the power to do so, she started scouring the library for any useful information, old spells or forgotten rituals that were locked away for various reasons. She found several things already, but none of them of use to her, requiring things she did not have, or things she’s not willing to sacrifice.

However, she found one. Instructions for a ritual to summon a powerful familiar and bind them together. Having a familiar had many upsides for a Mage, including a guardian to protect them, a servant to aid them, and more importantly here, as a magical focus. Lesser familiars serve mainly as a pool a mage can store magic in and retrieve later, while stronger ones could actually help in spell-crafting. However there is a grade above that, for very powerful familiars not only serve the previously stated functions, but increases the power of the mage as well, and accelerate their growth.

There is a down-side however. In that the binding goes both ways, and if one’s familiar is too strong, it could take over. This was one of the reasons why familiars fell out of style, and was a risk Nightmare Moon was willing to take however.

The ritual was rather intricate, involving complex runes drawn in the casters blood - another reason Familiars fell out of style. Modern mages are a bunch of wimps. Back before the creation of Equestria, while she and Celestia were exploring the world, blood rituals while few were not that uncommon - and candles placed just so. Those were arguably the hardest part, having to sneak into towns and steal them while lacking most of her magic.

There was another part of this ritual that was different from usual rituals however. Unlike the normal binding ritual for Familiars, and the reason this one was locked away, was despite all the intricate set-up, it does not take any magic at all from the caster. This is because, unlike almost all other rituals and spells, the work is not being done by the caster, but something else. What is very poorly understood, and through the ritual they are, for the lack of a better term, making a bargain with this unknown entity. In exchange for a fair sized chunk of power - and should the caster lack sufficient power, it would be more than happy to take something else, something precious to you - it will give you a powerful familiar to aid you in your goal, whatever it might be. Nightmare hoped she had enough power, how much was not thoroughly described, but her desire was great enough that she would be willing to put up with such sacrifice.

Everything in place, Nightmare took a calming breath, and with a stomp of her hoof, activated the ritual by speaking words of an unknown language “Bi amidral, ükhliin Khaalga ni üzegchdiin urialj baina. Minii möröödöl biyelüülekhed tuslamj khariud ni minii amidral, minii biye sanal bolgoj baina.” With the last syllable uttered, Nightmare suddenly found herself unable to move, paralyzed. Slowly, a large set of intricately carved stone slabs shimmered into being before her in the center of the circle, before they opened like a gate, revealing a deep blackness. Then, in that blackness, a number of slitted eyes opened and gazed at her, and she could feel them gazing into her very soul, judging her worth. Then, after what felt like days, a deep voice that sounded like it came from all directions sounded out “Offer accepted.” Then, out of the darkness sprang a number of black and rushed at Nightmare, who was unable to move as they darted past her head on either side, and wrapped around the base of her wings, before violently RIPPING them out, Nightmare unable to even so much as scream, before retreating with their prize back into the darkness. Then, once they were gone with her wings, the eyes closed and disappeared, before the doors slowly swung shut, and the gate shimmered out of existence, leaving behind a short hunched over figure on the floor. Nightmare was unable to investigate it further however, was as soon as the door was gone she collapsed to the floor screaming in pain.

Alex stirred, and this confused him greatly. Ever since his “defeat” at the hands of Heller, all he could experience was darkness. No, darkness was not accurate enough, nothingness. There was a spanse of nothingness in between Heller and now, a nothingness that defied any measure of time. He could have been there a second, or eons. As consciousness slowly returned to him - and wasn’t that a odd concept, he rarely ever sleeps, and even then he was woke up he came awake instantly - , and his senses expanded and he became aware of the sound of hoof-steps a small distance away from him, and they reverberated oddly. Out of habit, used a skill picked up from a bat in a castle in Europe, and let out a soft, high pitched chirp unhearable to almost any creature but himself, and was flooded with detail when it returned. He was apparently sitting in a bedroom of sorts, a stone one at that, judging by the how cleanly the sound reverberated. As consciousness further returned, he opened his eyes, and confirmed what his ears told him. A stone bed-room with a rather fancy looking four poster bed, various book-shelves, and a number of other things you would expect to find in a bed-room, all decorated in various shades of blue or black, with some silver trimming. He himself was situated cross-legged on a blue pillow in one of the corners of the room. Though, while clear of dirt or dust, it all looked aged, like it was sitting there for a couple centuries. Alex tilted his head, and let out another chirp, this one low pitched, again well below human hearing. Low-pitched sounds aren’t as good for clear pictures as high-pitched ones, but are more able to penetrate walls. What he got back confirmed his suspicions, he got a fuzzy picture of a large series of more stone rooms, all surrounded by open air, and with such information concluded he was in a castle of sorts.

Preliminary investigation done, he turned his head to the hoof-steps, having gotten closer, and currently situated on the other side of the door to this room. Right on cue, the door pushed open and in walked a black unicorn with a blue mane. Its mid-section was heavily wrapped in bandages, the top of which were starting to turn pink.

“What the fuck.” he mumbled to himself, accurately surmising his opinion of the situation.

The Unicorn turned its head towards him and spoke “Good, you’re awake, I thought I felt something. I was beginning to get worried that that thing left me with a useless familiar.”

Before she could go any farther, Alex interrupted her (guessing by the tone of her voice, and the shape of her body. Knowing some animals, it could be a male) “What the fuck are you?”

The black unicorn was obviously not expecting that, backing up several steps in surprise. “You can talk! Quite crudely too. That is quite rare. I guess I wasn’t cheated after all.” She said, sounding quite displeased when mentioning his language. She then trotted over to her bed and laid down on it facing him, trying to act like the wounds on her back weren’t bothering her, she’s good too, if Alex was anyone else he might have been fooled. “This certainly makes some things, especially till we get use to each other. Now, I have some questions which I think I’m entitled to, considering I paid with my wings to get you.”

“Your wings?” Alex asked, still quite lost. He’s usually more on the ball than this, but then again, usually he isn’t having conversations with black unicorns.

“Yes” Blacky replied, throwing a sad look over her shoulder towards the red spots on her bandages. “They were the price to get you as my familiar, and hopefully you will turn out to be worth it. While you aren’t the most… powerful looking creature, I rather hope I got something good for such a price.” She finished, giving Alex a evaluating look.

Alex almost had to stifle a laugh “Yeah, I’m powerful alright.”

Still giving him a evaluating look, she asked “What ARE you exactly? In all my travels, I have never seen a creature like you. Your upper appendages and torso are reminiscent of a minotaur, however the face and legs are wrong. And if you were one, you would be the scrawniest minotaur I have ever seen.Even their kids have more muscle than you.”

Alex smirked “Whatever I want to be.” He replied, in what he thought was a vague answer.

Apparently it was less vague than he hoped. “You are a shape-shifter then? Would certainly explain your weird look.”

Alex’s smirk faded, surprised she actually believed that. Do they have shape-shifters here, wherever they are. “Of a sort.”

“Hmm.” Blacky let out a thoughtful hum, still looking him up and down.

After a moment of silence, Alex prompted “And since I answered your question, why don’t you answer mine? What are you?”

“I am a Alicorn. More specifically, I am Nightmare Moon, Rightful Queen of Equestria!” The newly dubbed ‘Moony’ replied, voice full of pride and smugness, obviously expecting Alex to be impressed.

For his part, all he did was lift a eyebrow, and give a teasing smirk before replying “So I’m in the presence of deposed Royalty. I guess this is a honor, Moony.”

At hearing that, all of the pride fell off Moony’s face, before giving him a rather fierce glare. “My name is Nightmare Moon. I will not accept you calling me by anything else, except maybe ‘Your Highness’, ‘Your Majesty’ or even ‘Master’. But, under no circumstances, can you call me Moony.” She replied, voice dripping with anger.”

Alex being Alex, just smiled bigger, before replying “Whatever you say, Moony.”

The surrounding forest was filled with excessive yelling for the next half hour.

This insufferable creature! Nightmare mentally fumed. If she had the strength, she would put it in its place. However, the ritual to summon it took not just her wings, but all the power she gathered as well. It has been three days since she summoned it, and she only just has gotten enough power to walk around the castle, and even then she was drained afterwards. And, in those three days, the creature didn’t move once besides when she was miraculously able to drag it to her old bedroom. She had gotten rather worried, till during one of her exercise walks she felt something in her mind. A Familiar and a Mage share a connection that allow for sharing of thoughts and power, however the one between her and her familiar is still immature, so currently all she could tell was it was coming awake. With all the speed she could muster - a slightly faster than normal walk - she hurried back to her room to check on her familiar.

This brings her back to the present, her laying huffing and puffing on her bed staring at her insubordinate familiar. It had insisted on calling her that insufferable nickname, and seemed to only draw pleasure from her anger. Nightmare tried to intimidate it and command it to cease, but all that ultimately did was drain the little energy she had left after her walk.

Her familiar raised an eyebrow at that, and commented “You must be pretty out of shape to be so exhausted just by yelling at me.”

“Due to recent events I have lost most of my power, “ she huffed “ and the ritual took what little I had left. So… “ She paused taking a few more deep breaths “So I have to regain my power.”

“Hmm.” Her familiar hummed thoughtfully, rubbing it chin, and then said “You keep calling me your familiar. Explain what that means.”

“Well,” she began, having regained her breath, “a familiar is a creature bound to a mage, and is meant to serve, and defend the mage when needed.”

“Yeah, fuck that.” With that bit of course language it stood up on surprisingly thin legs, and turned to the door. “I don’t work for no-one lady.”

“What!?” Nightmare darted to her hooves in panic. “Don’t go!” And right then, her legs gave out from under her and she collapsed to the ground.

Her familiar just looked down at her with a blank face for a moment before saying “Normally, I’d eat you-” at that she froze, eyes widening while all the blood rushing away from her face in fright “- but I’m feeling lenient. Now I’m leaving, don’t try to stop me.” With that, he turned around, open the door, walked out, and closed it.

Nightmare stayed like that for several long seconds, unable to even think in face of what just happened. Her familiar just left her. Didn’t even have it for a week, not even a hour since it woke up, and it just left her. The familiar she lost her wings for left her. Her last hope of achieving her dreams, and it left. Nightmare Moon started to cry.

Alex stood outside outside the castle, facing a conundrum. Namely, a emotion he is largely unfamiliar with and has only felt with one other person before, guilt. It was ever so slight, but it was there, which confused him greatly.

As always with such situations, the voices in his head were no help.

Pushing the matter aside for now, he continued on his way, for a casual stroll through the surrounding forest and ultimately to see what there is to see. He always could just run, that would get him around so much faster, or jump and see all there is to see from up high. But neither of those thoughts appealed to him, for they were way too quick, and quite frankly, Alex wasn’t quite sure what to do now, and wanted the time to think.

For what WAS there to do. He had already accomplished all of his goals of his old life, all the ones that mattered to him anyways. Blackwatch was going to collapse within a week after his management of it, filling it with psychopaths and generally making it do so many unsavory things, and then arranging for the world’s greatest leak to ensure that it would be shut down completely and utterly, and a good number of their agents thrown into jail if not executed for their crimes. Dana was safe, or at least as safe as he could get her, with Heller. While the man’s a brute and a idiot, with language that would make Dana blush, he was still sorta a nice guy. He wouldn’t abandon her. He even took a crack at saving the world, to try to quiet that feeling of Noblesse Oblige, and while he didn’t succeed, he did leave someone else with the ability to do so, so it’s not Alex’s responsibility anymore.

He stopped for a moment observe a Manticore - which are apparently a thing here, wherever here was. It’s certainly not Earth, a quick glance at the night sky confirmed that - sleeping in a cave, having not heard Alex’s silent approach. Alex suppose he could travel the world, seeing what there was to see, and while the thought held some interest, Alex felt it wasn’t the answer. For what would he do after he’s seen all there was to see? He would be back to where he was now, with no idea of what to do next. And he rather doubted he would somehow wind up on a third world with more to see.

A quick strike to the neck finished off the manticore, before Alex dug in, observing the collected DNA for interesting developments and sequences. The poison was rather interesting, striking and neutralizing a targets nervous system, simultaneously removing their ability to run, and breath leading to a slow painful death if the Manticore didn’t do it itself. But ultimately nothing he didn’t already have. It's the wings that truly interested him, why in the world did it have wings? Or why did Moony claim to having had some as well? Unless the wings were absolutely massive, and in the manticore’s case it wasn’t, they should not be able to produce enough lift to glide let-alone take off. However no matter how he looked at the sequence, they were normal wings.

This annoyed Alex, not liking something defying explanation, even though he admitted he was one such case. He should not be able to do what he does, yet somehow he is able to pack together flesh to a impossible density, and somehow decrease his mass for limited periods of time without decreasing how much of him there was, and he has no idea how the Hive-mind works despite having extensive personal and ‘donated’ experience with it.. This also annoyed him greatly.

Turning the majority of his attention back to the real world, he found himself nearing the edge of the forest, and when he reached it he stopped and looked around. He could see a short distance away a hamlet, or maybe a village, it might be big enough. Off to one side was a GIANT Tree, towering over the hamlet. However, the buildings looked off, squatter than you would expect of a house, a normal sized guy would have to constantly be ducking their heads inside them, and have to double over to get through the doors, so definitely too small for Alicorns.

Thinking back on the conversation with Moony, Alex guessed that based on the fact that she wasn’t overly surprised he could talk, only moderately so, that Alicorns aren’t the only intelligent species, and as such this hamlet must be of some other species.

Then when his eyes strayed a short distance up, and noticed a cloud house, that sealed it. He was going in for a closer look. Creeping into town, Alex shifted his form to that of a cat, to be less noticeable. Into the closest building he went, and in one of the rooms he discovered a mint green, diminutive Alicorn with a harp tattoo on his butt, though how tattoos work through fur he has no idea.. Or, as further investigation discovered, a Unicorn perhaps, given the fact that she neither had wings, nor did it look like she had any scars on her back where they might have been. In another room he found a tan horse-like creature lacking both horns and wings, and had purple and blue stripes through its mane. It looked similar to a pony, though its a proportions were off, Alex decided to call it a Pony for lack of a better term.

And so Alex went, taking quick tours of most of the buildings in town, and discovering more Unicorns and Ponies, and even a number of Pegasi. The last building he visited, that he was a bit surprised to discover was infact a building, and it was the giant tree. A good bit of it was hollowed out, into a rather large mansion. That wasn't the most interesting part however, it was the fact that it was way bigger inside than it had any right to be. Another annoying fact Alex had to tuck away before it annoyed him too much. Exploring this tree-turned-mansion, Alex was rather happy to find it had its own library, filled with books, and was further pleasantly surprised to find they used English for their writing. While consumption was a better method of information gathering by far, Alex has come to the decision that he will take things easy this time, go about things the slow way. As such, he liberated himself a good number of promising sounding books, turned back to human to help him carry it all, and made his way out just as the sun was rising. So as to not be seen, he poured on a bit of speed, and was hidden in the forest before anyone saw him.

Nightmare Moon laid on her bed, having crawled back there a hour or so after her familiar left her. She was morosely wondering what she is suppose to do now. Even at her strongest, she was at best a match for Celestia if she fought seriously, and now it wouldn’t be just Celestia she would have to fight, but her doppelganger Luna as well, and while she might not be as strong or vicious as Nightmare use to be, she isn’t a pushover either. And it’s only just a matter of time till her counterpart noticed their connection, so she wouldn’t even have her full strength. She put her all in this plan, to get a familiar to help her, fight along side her, spend time with her. She sacrificed all of her left over power, and even lost her wings for this plan, and it fell through immediately.

Nightmare was broken out of her somber contemplations by a tingle in the back of her mind. It was something she remembered feeling once before, only a couple of hours ago. Her head popped up and stared at the door hopefully, when it opened and in came her familiar.

“Hey, I got bored and I-” He was cut off after Nightmare practically pounced on him and gave him a giant hug.

After a few seconds, she heard him grind out. “Get. Off.” At that, realizing what she did, she hurriedly backed off, blushing.

“Sorry, I was just so happy you came back.” She replied.

He just glared at her for a moment, causing her sink further into the ground, before saying “As I was saying. I got bored, and decided I might as well help you till I find something better to do.”

Nightmare didn’t know what to say or do, her emotions and feelings all tangled up after the events of the past few days.

Just then her familiar turned around and headed toward the door saying “I’m going to explore the castle, while you get rest. You are exhausted, and we can’t get stuff done with you like that.”

“Wait!” She called out, causing him to pause and look over his shoulder at her questioningly “Well… I don’t know your name.”

He just smirked again, and kept walking for a moment before calling over his shoulder “I’m Alex.”

Alex sat in the castle’s library - apparently he didn’t have to steal those from that tree mansion - reading through a book on Equestrian history. It had been about ten hours since he left Moony’s room, so he was expecting her to get up sometime soon.

Almost on cue, the black alicorn came trotting in, with her refined and and imperious air back to her that she had when he first woke up, so he assumed she was able to get her emotions mostly under control. Good, emotions make it hard to work efficiently, and requires more careful handling of the person to get the desired results.

“Greetings.” She said before taking a seat in a cushion across from him. “If you are going to be assisting me in taking back my throne, then it would behoove me to have an accurate assessment of your capabilities.”

Alex raised an eyebrow at that, considering how much he should tell. He decided he might as well hang around the mare and help her, considering he truly had no goals of his own. That said, he also won’t be helping to his full capabilities, because then things would be too easy. No matter what she wanted, money, fame, power, war, or revenge. Alex was sure that if he fully applied what he could do, things would probably be over before a full day had past, a week at MOST.

Considering this, he replied with a short answer. “No.” He likes messing with people.

“Excuse me?” Moony replied, offput by his negative response.

“I’m not going to tell you what I can do. I’m going to leave it a surprise.” He said, with his practiced smirk.

At that, Moony’s frown turned into a glare “You’re being obtrusive on purpose.” she stated.

In response he just shrugged and replied “If things are too easy, then they would be over and done with before you could have fun.”

Moony then grumpily turned her glare to the wall, seeing it was having no effect on Alex.

“Which brings me to a very important question. What is your goal? Hard to help you if I don’t know what you want.” Alex said.

Hearing this, Moony turned back to Alex and declared “I will bring about eternal night.” The way she was looking at him, she obviously was expecting him to be impressed, and Alex will again disappoint her.

All he did was raise his eyebrow once again, and commented “You never struck me as the genocidal type.”

Moony obviously wasn't expecting that, given how she almost fell to the floor, before recovering and looking at him with a bewildered look “What?”

“I assume you do know that plants need the sun to live. Causing eternal night would deprive the plants on this side of the Hemisphere of the sun, and they will die. Then all the animals who eat plants will die, having nothing to eat. Then all the animals who eat those animals will starve as well. In short order, almost everything will die.” he stated matter-of-factly.

Moony looked positively flabbergasted at hearing that. Then, in a small voice, she responded “I- I never thought-”

When she closed her eyes and a few tears slipped out, Alex couldn't help but roll his eyes. Seriously, what’s so objectionable about killing lots of people? “Right. Well, since we apparently aren't doing that, what then? What else do you want?”
“I- I don’t know.” Moony replied haltingly “That’s been my goal for the last 1000 years, I don’t know what else to do.”

“Take your time figuring it out. I got plenty to read.” Alex uncaringly replied, gesturing to the rest of the library, before returning his attention to the book in hand.

Nightmare sat in the Castle’s Library with her familiar, Alex, doing some introspection, trying to come to terms with herself.

Why DID I want eternal night? I know that plants need light, why did I never realize that? she thought to herself. She thought back to before she took on the name Nightmare Moon, and thought about how everypony adored her “perfect” Sister and her “wonderful” day, and shunning her and her night. She remembered pleading with her sister to let her night last a while longer, so that ponies might experience and come to love it like Celestia’s day.

Was that why I wanted the Night to last forever? So that they would have to experience it and its wonders and come to love it? And then, maybe me? That thought was certainly a blow to her pride, yet she couldn't say even to herself it’s untrue. So is that what I truly wanted? For ponies to like and appreciate me? She spent several long moments pondering on this, and found that it was true.

After affirming it a couple more times to be sure, she turned her attention back to her familiar, who was on his third book. “Alright,” she began softly, nervously “I think I figured out what I want.” Closing his book and turning his attention to her, he gestured for her to continue. “I- I want ponies to like me, to appreciate me.” She said, haltingly.

“Really? Is that it?” He replied, and Nightmare felt a swell of embarrassment and anger at him. “I was expecting something more actiony, like revenge or conquest, or usurping the current Queen and/or King. But whatever.”

Putting his book aside, he then leaned over, propping his upper appendages - arms she think they are called - on his knees. “Well, in that case, I need a history lesson. It’s gonna be hard to run PR when I don’t know what I’m dealing with.”

“Well,” Nightmare began, suddenly feeling nervous again about sharing the details of her past. “As you know, I currently go by the name Nightmare Moon, but I use to be known as Luna…”

And so the History Lesson began.

In a Tree Castle, a pretty purple pony princess awoke. She sat up, stretched while letting out a giant yawn, and got out of bed. Looking in the mirror to see her mane is a mess as usual in the mornings, she cast a quick spell she made that instantly straightened her name and combed her coat. She so loved that spell. With that done, she trotted downstairs to her kitchen, where her number one assistant was making breakfast. On her way, however, she felt something off. Stopping, and turning around, she noticed a book missing from the nearby bookshelf, one from her personal collection.

“Spike! Have you been reading Equestria: A History!?

“Nope!” She heard from down the hall. “Why you ask!?” he yelled back, still in the kitchen.

“It’s missing!” She responded.

“Well, didn't you tag all your books with a spell to help you find them!?” He yelled questioningly

“Oh yeah.” She said softly to herself, before casting the locator spell. Following it, it lead her right to the window, where she was confused to find it indicating it was in the Everfree Forest. “What the hay?”

Author's Note

That incantation was Mongolian, just to be different. It means (according to Google Translate) "I call for a audience with The Gate of Life and Death. I offer my life and my body in exchange for aid in accomplishing my dreams". And yes, it was inspired by The Gate from FMA.

Anyways, this is my first story, and I hope you like it.

Chapter 3

Nightmare Moon was trotting through the Castle, humming a happy tune to herself. Why? Because it finally seemed that her sacrifice in the familiar summoning was paying off. She was surrounded with a swarm of rocks held in her telekinetic grasp, a feat she would not be capable of doing yesterday.

If she had to guess, her magical reserves is back up to about that of a average unicorn right now, and everyday it was growing. She decided to take advantage of her re-claimed strength, and started tidying up the castle, picking up rubble and placing it into piles for later disposal. Plus, it was excellent exercise, to further aid her magical growth.

Nightmare Moon came to a stop and deposited the rocks in a pile off to one side as her thoughts went to her general situation. Her regaining her magic was nice, but she still had no idea what to do to accomplish her goal. Celestia was always the more diplomatic of the two of them, and after completely botching the talk with Trixie a few days ago, she was at a complete lost at what to do, and feared that it was hopeless. The one time she mentioned it to her familiar, he just shook his head and called her a quitter, and walk away yelling over his shoulder that when one decided to do something, they should not stop till they do it.

Speaking of her familiar, that buzz in her head that she has come to associate with him was getting stronger, presumably him returning from latest foray into the forest. That seems to be all he does, read books, or explore the Everfree. She tried to warn him it was dangerous earlier, but predictably he ignored her.

Almost on cue, the doors to the hallway she was in opened, and in walked Alex, and with his ever-present smirk, greeted “Hello Moony. I see you manage to not get yourself killed while I was gone.”

“Yes. A miracle I can do anything without you around.” Nightmare Moon sarcastically replied with a roll of her eyes.”

He nodded his head sagely, and walk past Nightmare Moon presumably on his way to the Library to keep reading.

Nightmare Moon considered the buzz in her head, and before Alex could reach the end of the hall, gave it a experimental poke.

Alex just got back from his latest bout of hunting, and has by now collected the genes of a good number of new creatures that didn't exist back on earth, including a lizard with a chicken head that turned his foot to stone before he ate it, a giant eel that lived in a cave that tried to eat him, and a giant blue transparent bear that had floating white dots in it. That last one was especially confusing to Alex, cause the illusion was only skin-deep, and a cut quickly revealed normal bear-meat underneath. And once again, with all these creatures’ DNA did not seem to indicate anything other than a rather weird lizard, and giant eels and bears.

Alex decided to blame it on magic, and filed it away for later investigation before it irritated him too much.

His hunting did serve another purpose however, as it allowed him to keep an eye out for any ponies looking for Nightmare Moon, and since her fucking it up with Trixie, a number have been combing the Everfree, but they never went very deep, for apparent fear of predators.

Soon they will need to do something, but Alex was trying to come up with a good idea of what. The easiest thing to do would be to walk right into town and announce their presence quite loudly. However, said idea was dangerous, not to him, but Moony. While he could crush any offense they might put up, he’s not as confident in his ability to do it while protecting her, and if she died, he wouldn't have anything to do again.

It was these thoughts he was pondering when he returned, teased Moony to disappointing little result, and continued on his way when he felt something in his head over the voices, something he hadn't felt in a week and honestly didn't expect to feel for a good number of years if he kept with his current goal.

A infected.

He instantly whipped around facing the direction he felt it, with his arms slightly spread ready to attack, only to find a surprised looking Moony. “What the fuck did you do.” He growled.

Moony blinked twice, before answering “I was checking to see how strong the mental connection is. It has apparently matured a good bit.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” He said, relaxing his arms and standing up a straighter.

“A familiar and it’s mage share a mental connection. Do you mean you haven’t noticed my presence in your head as well?” She said, tilting her head slightly.

He just rolled his eyes. “I’m use to ignoring the happenings of my mind. How much can your receive from the link?” Alex said, changing the subject.

“Currently, all I’m getting is a buzz. As it grows stronger, we should be able to send more across though.” When she finished talking, Alex felt her send a crude idea across “[Understanding]?”

Telepathic communication has its ups and its downs, as Alex learned while testing it with his Evolved during his half-hearted attempt to save the world. It is just about useless for transmitting speech, for how each person interprets words and meanings varies too much, however it is excellent for transmitting the underlying details. For example, while one can’t send across ‘ocean’, one could communicate the concept of water and vastness, of salt on the wind and rolling waves. In some ways, it was a better, purer form of communication, but by it’s nature it lacked abstractness.

With this in mind, he compiled a response message, and ‘said’ “[Understanding]. [Caution]. [Exploration of Depth]. [Dangerous].”

Moony took a step back, shaking her head, obviously unprepared for thoughts to be placed in her head. “Wait, what?” She said, confused, still shaking her head.

“It means don’t look too deep in my head. Don’t want you going crazy.”

“W-Why would I go crazy?” She said, still offput and shaking her head.

Alex just ignored her, and turned back around and started walking out. “And with this development, a idea has come to me.”

“Wait, where you going?” Moony said, breaking out of her confusion and trotting up to him.

“To put it simply, I’m going to turn myself in, and gather information from the inside.”

“What!? Are you insane!?”

“Nope. I can handle myself, and besides, you can keep an eye on me with that link.”

Moony came to a stop and let out a big sigh. “There’s no stopping you, is there?”

“Nope. See ya later.” Alex said, waving over his shoulder.

“We have combed 50 kilometers deep into the Everfree, and so far have found no trace of Nightmare Moon. I am hesitant to send parties deeper, for the Everfree is rife with danger, and if an accident happens we might not be able to get a pony out in time.”

“I understand. Keep current search patterns.” Twilight said with all the prim and properness she could muster.

She sat in her throne room, a room separate from the strategy room where she and her friends gathered to do harmony business.

“As you command, your highness.” With a bow, the captain turned and walked out, the doors closing with a heavy thud.

Once he was gone, Twilight let out a heavy sigh. Despite being a princess for a number of years now, she still isn't use to being addressed as such.

She stood up, stretched, and walked down the short series of steps leading to her throne pondering the situation. Currently her friends were staying in the castle, so that they were ready and could activate Rainbow Power at a moments notice. But the problem was they didn't know WHERE to use it. Couldn't just use it on the whole forest, it didn't work that way. And they have been completely unable to find Nightmare Moon, manually or with magic. So, for now all they could do is wait while the guards search. A situation Rainbow was decidedly unhappy with.

Right when she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard a oddly familiar voice behind her say “Nice place you have here.”

She whipped around to find a strange creature lounging in her throne eating a apple. “Has a nice nature theme to it. By the way, here’s your books.” It said, through a mouthful of apple, gesturing to a small pile of books beside the throne.

“Wha-? Bu-? Who are you?” She stuttered, utterly confused.

It took a particularly noisy bite of the apple before saying “I’m the guy who stole your books. And I’m here to spy on you. So go about your princess stuff, pretend I’m not even here.” It said, waving dismissively at her.

“Spy on me?”

*CRUNCH* “Yep.”

“Why wou-” She began, before being interrupted by another loud *CRUNCH*

“Why-” *CRUNCH*

“Why would you-” *CRUNCH*

“...”

“Why would you s-” *CRUNCH*

“Whywouldyouspyonme!” She hastily said before the aggravating creature could take another bite.

“To get information, idiot. Really nice acoustics by the way.” The creature said flippantly, taking one final *CRUNCH* before tossing the core behind the throne and proceeded to pick its teeth.

“And why are you telling me this? Aren't spies suppose to be sneaky?” Twilight said, with more than a trace of anger in her voice.

“Because I’m not a idiot like you, Star-Butt.” It said, as if it was stating the sky was blue.

“I am NOT an Idiot!”

“Considering the fact that you have yet to figure out my identity, despite hearing my voice and me giving you the ever so useful hint that I stole your books, I say you’re a idiot.”

Suddenly, it clicked where she heard that voice last. ‘Sorry, but I can’t let you do that.’

“You- You’re with Nightmare Moon!” She shouted, taking a few steps back in a mixture of shock and fear.

“Ding Ding Ding! And finally Star-Butt gets it, and it only took me spelling it out to her! Wow, ain't she smart!” It announced as it stood up, arms in the air as if it was addressing some invisible stage audience. Once it was done, it collapsed back into her throne, and lazily waved at her saying “Now that introductions are out of the way, go back to pretty purple pony princess duties, and pretend I’m not even here.”

Right then, the doors to the Throne Room slammed open and a couple guards ran in. “Princess! Is everything alright? We heard shouting and-” Right then they noticed the creature, and quickly placed themselves between her and it, leveling their spears in it’s direction. “Stay right there!”

“Oh, do you want to die? Come over and I would happily help you.” The creature replied with a malicious grin.

A few of the guards looked like they would take it up on its challenge, but Twilight quickly interceded. “Hold it. I will handle this.” When she said that, her horn flared and she grabbed the creature and heaved.

...Only for it to remain unmoved, despite being surrounded in Twilight’s magic aura. “You ain't getting rid of me that easily. If you want that to work, you are going to have to lift hard enough to rip this chair out of the floor.” It mocked her.

Twilight changed tracks, and tried teleporting it, only for it to once again fizzle out, as it seemed to be physically fused to the chair. “I don’t even know what that was, but it apparently didn't work.”

“Why are you just sitting there!?” Twilight barked, upset that the villain wasn't doing anything actively villainous. Her conscience would not let her just blast it, it hasn't DONE anything yet besides trespassing and aiding Nightmare Moon. If it fought back, she could do something.

“I TOLD you, idiot. I’m here to spy on you, not kill you. Your guards though, if they have a death wish, I’m all too happy to grant it.” It replied with a roll of it’s beady eyes.

Twilight was gritting her teeth in anger. What’s was worse, she didn't know what to do! What do you do when the bad guy does nothing but sits there, doing nothing more serious than trespassing and insulting them?

She huffed, and with a flash of her horn, she created a sound-proof bubble around the creature, before ordering one of the guards “Go get Celestia.”

“Yes, your highness.” He snapped a quick salute, and ran out the door, leaving Twilight and the other guard to wait, keeping an eye on the creature.

Alex was quite pleased with himself. He was able to not only sneak into the castle around all the guards, but he got into the throne room, and deposited himself in the throne mere moments after Star-Butt left it. What’s more, Star-Butt seemed to take pride in her intelligence, considering how quickly her mood soured when he called her a idiot. He has also confirmed that they, or at least Star-Butt, is a bit of a goody-two-shoes, not initiating violence despite him stating he’s aligned with Moony, and is here to spy on her.

And bonus, Star-Butt is quite easy to irritate. This should prove fun. He hasn't had any chances to piss off the leaders of nations before.

He currently sat in what was probably suppose to be a sound-proof dome. It was rather good, but useless against Alex. He can read their lips, and even if he didn’t, their conversation vibrated through the floor, allowing him to decipher what was said.

Currently, they were rather tensely waiting while a guard goes to get Princess Celestia. ‘Wonder why Celestia, and not Luna. Is she secondary to Celestia? Or do they not trust her to deal with Moony?’

As if summoned by the thought, there was a flash of golden light, and Celestia appeared. Alex decided to call her Whitey, hoping she was as irritable as Star-Butt.

“What’s going on?” She asked Star-Butt, her eyes instantly locking on Alex.

“It appeared behind me in my throne, and identified itself as the creature I heard in the cave. I tried to detain it, but was unable to remove it from the throne. It also claimed to be here to spy on me, and not fight.” She accurately summed up.

Whitey’s eyes glanced over to Star-butt for a moment, before returning to Alex. “Can it hear us?”

“No, I made the bubble soundproof.” Star-Butt said, a hint of pride in her voice.

They were silent for a couple moments, as Whitey considered Alex, and then she said “Let it hear us. I wish to question it.

At that, normal sound once more returned to Alex, and he did not miss his opportunity. “Hello Whitey, nice to meet you. Certainly a big one, aren't ya?”

That left Star-Butt sputtering, and the guards looked positively enraged, but sadly Whitey’s face stayed unchanged. Looks like they hold her in quite high esteem. Well, atleast he found another way to infuriate the normal pony, even if not Whitey herself.

“Greetings. And in case you didn't know, my name is Celestia, not Whitey.” She said regally.

“I know your name, Whitey. I have to ask, where’s your sister? Are the two of you NOT equal in power?” Alex said, prodding for more information.

“She is currently unavailable. Why are you here?” She asked, brushing his question aside.

“As I told Star-Butt over there, I’m here to spy on you.”

“And why would you spy on us?”

“Oh, would you look at that. You are asking the same idiotic questions Star-Butt did, just a few minutes ago.” Alex said, with a condescending smile on his face. “Well, you see, when you spy on people, you gather information on them.” He slowly explained, as if talking to a small child.

THAT got a twitch from one of her eyes. “And why do you want information on us?” She asked, voice as calm as always.

“It’s hard to make a good plan when you don’t know much about the situation.”

“And what’s your plan?” She asked, obviously hoping he was some two-bit villain who tells everyone his plan.

“Now, why would I tell you that. If you want to know that, you will have to ask Moony herself.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment on the name. ‘Wonder what she thinks of my nickname for Moony. It will be rather hilarious if she thinks it’s a term of affection rather than irritation. Can’t wait to see Moony’s face if they bring it up.’

“And where is Moony?”

“In the Everfree. Not going to say anything more specific than that.” Alex said with a wave of his hand. “Feel free to look around. But be careful. The forest is a big and scary place.” He said mockingly. He picked up that ponies don’t like the forest for some reason, and feel that exploring it is a very risky undertaking. ‘Can’t really blame them I guess. They are rather easily killed.’

“Yes. Well, if you are going be to like that.” Her horn suddenly glowed bright, and the world turned white for a moment, and when it faded, Alex found himself floating in the middle of the room. Five more bright flashes announced the arrival of four rather thick manacles and an equally thick metal collar which shrunk down to size on him. On further inspection, he found them covered with runes, which seemed to be faintly glowing. “Those will prevent you from using any magic you might have. Now come along. You are going into time-out till you are more cooperative.” She said teasingly, probably trying to get back at him for his earlier jibes. It’s a good try, but since Alex doesn't even USE magic, he’s not hindered by the binds at all, thus rendering her talking to him like a child ineffective.

She turned around and trotted out of the room, with Alex in tow. He of course couldn't just let time pass, so he struck up conversationally “So, how many Princesses are there anyways? Moony didn't know about Star-but back there till I found her in the forest, so has there been any other additions to the royal family while she was away?”

Sparing a glance back, she replied “Now now, that would be too easy, me just telling you everything. How about a deal, I tell you something, you tell me something.”

“HA!” Alex couldn't help but laugh. He was starting to like Whitey, she wasn't just strong, but smart. Unlike some other idiots he could name. She is going to make a fun opponent. “I might just take you up on that offer later. First I want to try other sources. This place had a rather extensive library last time I was here.”

“That it does. But you won’t be able to read any of it in your time-out corner.” She replied, once again mockingly.

“We will see.” Alex said ominously, putting his hands behind his head and for now content to float in silence.

Chapter 4

“So this is it?” Alex asked when they arrived. “Seen better.”

It was a room about two stories underground, lit up by crystals placed in the walls. One of the walls were a series of cells, blocked off with iron bars. Each cell had a bed, and a hole presumably for doing one’s business.

“Yes, and it is where YOU will be staying till further notice.” Celestia said, depositing him in one of the cells on a bed, the door slamming shut behind him. “Now behave, and we will see if you can get out early.” She nodded to some of the guards who followed them, and two took up position in front of his cell watching him, and then she left with the rest.

Alex waited till she she was a fair distance away, before turning his attention to the guards left. They stared at eachother for a few moments, before Alex felt a tingling in the back of his head. “[Safety?/Concerned]” Moony still hasn’t gotten too good at making messages, but considering this is only her fourth one, Alex decided he couldn’t fault her too much. Not everyone was a genius like him. “[Safe]. [Observe] [Capability]” he sent back, along with the steady stream of sensory information he has been giving her since he left, filtered of course so that she could understand it. It appears that the magical restraints that were supposedly on his manacles and collar didn’t affect their connection much. ‘I wonder how she’s handling having two separate streams of sensory information at once.’

He took a deep breath, and held it for a moment, his lungs secreting a special something, before he breathed back out. He did this for a few minutes more, watching the guards slowly grow more relaxed, and their eyelids drooping, and then suppressing yawns. Finally, their eyes drifted all the way shut as they leaned against each other for support, fast asleep.

Standing up, he clapped his hands, before announcing to no-one “Alright, time to start redecorating.” Suddenly, a web of tendrils starting growing out from under his feet.

“Celestia, isn’t it foalish to keep it here? It’s stated purpose is to spy on us after all.” Twilight worriedly asked her mentor Celestia.

“Possibly, yes.” Celestia conceded. “But where else would we keep him? In Ponyville, surrounded by innocent ponies? Up in Canterlot, so far away from where we currently are? Better to keep him right by us, so we can act if he does anything.”

“Why don’t we just use Rainbow Power on it, take care of it before it does anything?”

“Because, if we do that, we lose any lead we might get on Nightmare Moon, and possibly scare her deeper into hiding. He stated he’s here for information, hopefully we can get information out of him as well.” She calmly stated.

Twilight hummed thinking it over, and decided that Celestia was right, as always. “How do you know it’s a male, though?”

“I don’t.” Celestia shrugged. “Just a guess. Better than just calling him a it repeatedly.”

Twilight blushed and looked away. “Right.”

“Please go inform your friends of our new guest, though advise them to not go see him without one of us there. I must go and inform Luna of this development.” Celestia said, before with a flash of light she was gone, presumably up to Canterlot.

Twilight let out a sigh, thinking over how she’s going to explain this decidedly weird creature to the girls. She is going to have to be careful with Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, both liable to rush over right away before she could fully explain, which would not be good, for while the creature said he wasn’t here to fight, he seemed all to happy to give one if people attacked him, and someone in league with Nightmare Moon is not to be underestimated

She entered the guest room designated for the rest of the Mane Six, and only Rainbow Dash was currently there, snoozing on a cloud near the ceiling.

“Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said, giving her a telekinetic nudge. “Wake up, I got some information.”

“Guh.” She gushed, rolling over and burying her head in the cloud. “Can’t whatever it is wait till later?” She complained, waving a hoof at Twilight dismissively.

“No.” With a flash of her horn, she dispersed the cloud, leaving Rainbow to fall a few feet with a shout before she instinctively flared her wings and caught herself.

Letting herself float the final few feet towards the floor, she threw Twilight a irritated glare. “Alright, I’m up. What is it?”

“Hold on, need everypony here.” With that, she sent out a magic pulse, which caused the necklace around Rainbows neck, fashioned resemble the Element of Loyalty, to glow blue. It’s a little something Twilight made after the girls complained about being stuck at the castle, and Twilight realizing though they might be needed at any moment, they weren't needed constantly. If they were needed, Twilight could send out a signal, causing the gems to glow, certain colors for different levels of priority. And if they pressed the glowing gem-

“What’s up!?” Pinkie energetically asked as soon as she was teleported in.

“Wait for the other girls.” Twilight simply said.

“Okie Dokie.” She said, before trotting over to Rainbow Dash and sitting down.

One by one the rest of the girls appeared, as they finished up whatever they were doing, until they all arrived. Twilight cleared her throat, and started to pace in front of them. “Alright, girls. I called you here to inform you of a new development. Recently, we captured a spy of Nightmare Moon. He- yes Pinkie?” Asked Twilight as Pinkie’s hoof shot up and frantically waved for attention.”

“Who’d help Nightmare Moon?” She asked with a slight frown set on her face.

Rainbow scoffed. “Obviously somepony who needs some sense knocked into them!” She shouted with her hoofs slamming together.

“Oh please darling let Twilight finish, we can get to teaching this pony some manners after she explains. Then we can decide how much sense he needs knocked into him.”

Twilight gave a small laugh and scratched the back of her neck. “Well actually we don’t know what it even is, I just started calling it a he because it sounded less insulting.”

The girls looked at each other then back at her. “Eh sugarcube what do you mean you don’t know what it is?”

“We literally have no idea what it is, it like a slim version of a Minotaur, but it has no horns or snout, and it’s legs are wrong.”

“Ooo! Ooo! Where is he?” Pinkie excitedly asked, hopping up and down.

“Currently we got him locked up in the dungeons.” Twilight said, gesturing vaguely downwards. “Locked up with the strongest anti-magic wards we got. But girls, none of you should go visiting him without either Celestia or I there with you, we’re trying to keep what he can learn to an absolute minimum. I mean it Pinkie.” Twilight turned to give the mare a stare, but couldn’t find her. “Uum. Where’s Pinkie?”

“She left as soon as you said ‘dungeons’.” Rainbow Dash informed her.

“Buck.” Twilight stood still for a moment, before taking off at a gallop out the doors and down the halls, her friends scrambling to catch up.

‘Really, this is too easy. Maybe I should have physically snuck out instead?’ Alex thought to himself, as he sat in his newly furnished cell leafing through his borrowed book on the historical happenings of the last millennia. The castle’s books are rather outdated, after all.
His cell now sported a lush red carpet, a mahogany bookshelf filled with books, a king-sized bed with a intricately quilted cover, a fancy painting hanging above, a plush lounge chair, and a gently gurgling fountain built into the corner of the room filled with ice cold water directly from an aquifer a few hundred meters down. All made of biomass, meaning he could change it in an instant.

Alex allowed himself a smug smile at the feelings of shock and awe he was getting from his connection with Moony. Apparently while they had shape-shifters, they were not nearly on level with him. ‘This should certainly surprise them. I’m suppose to be a prisoner, yet here I am, in the lap of luxury, and I somehow acquired all this and installed it without them noticing.’ Alex thought to himself, looking at the snoozing guards ‘Really, too easy.’

Suddenly he felt a presence beside him and he reached out to grab it. “Hel- guk!” said the pink mare (Look at that hair. Bedhead it is.) that somehow popped out of his bookshelf, whatever she was going to say cut off by his hand around her throat.

“How did you get in there?” He said as he looked at his bookshelf, but as he thought, there were no tunnels or holes or anything. Belatedly he noticed Bedhead pounding on his arm, and when he looked back, noticed her face turning blue. Deciding that he might as well let her breath so that she could answer, he let her go, dropping her to the floor.

She hit the floor with a meaty thwack, and rubbed her throat with her hooves, taking deep gasps of air, occasionally going into short coughing fits, all the while fixing him with a frightened stare. Maybe he should have been a bit more careful, people talk more freely when they aren't afraid, but oh well, he knows how to use fear.

He took as step towards her, prompting her to scooch back as fast as she could, but she quickly ran into the bars of the cell and was unable to go any further. He kept approaching, till he towered over her, shoulders squared to further emphasize how much bigger he is than her. “Well?” He prompted, in case she forgot he asked her a question.

“I- I- I took one of my Pinkie Tunnels” She whimpered, and Alex absently noted that her hair was wilting, getting flatter and flatter

Curious, he bent over and shoved his face in hers, causing her to flinch heavily, slamming her head against the bars. And more importantly, made her hair wilt noticeably faster. “Pinkie Tunnel?”

“They go all over the place” She said, able to keep the stutter out of her speech this time.

Interrogation time was sadly over, as the rest of her friends he heard running for a while now finally arrived slamming open the door, spilling in and circling his cell. For his part, he didn’t move besides to raise his head and look at them.”Well, hello. Certainly took your time.” he taunted.

“Get away from her!” The Rainbow-haired Pegasus (That one’s easy, Gay-Pride) yelled.

Shrugging, he stood up straight and walked to his chair and took a seat. Star-Butt’s horn lit up, and the Cell Door opened which the Bedhead quickly took advantage of and joined her friends, the Door being slammed behind her. “Pinkie! Are you alright” cried the Yellow Pegasus (Hmm, tougher. According to Moony, she’s the Element of Kindness. Doormat maybe? Bears further observation) when she noticed Bedhead’s neck, sporting a darkened splotched the shape of his hand, the other mares echoing similar sentiments. For her part, she just grabbed Fluttershy and started crying into her withers.

The White Unicorn (Hmm, well combed name and coat. Lots of conditioner in the mane making it sparkle. Speaks with a cliche noble accent, and careful dictation. Ms Snooty it is.) turned towards him and snarled “You Monster! What did you do to her!?”

“Hey!” Alex replied, voice filled with mock offense. “She snuck up on me. One should never sneak up on a predator. She’s lucky I didn’t accidentally kill her.”

She just glared at him harder, and after a few seconds, he moved his attention away from her and to the others. “Ignoring Ms Snooty since she’s being such a dick right now, welcome to my humble abode.” Alex said, stretching his arms indicating his lavish furnishings. “I know it’s not much, but I did my best with what I had to work with.”

Finally, it seemed that Star-butt noticed, and her jaw promptly dropped. “Wha- How did you get all this? When?”

“The guards got it for me.” Alex said, indicating the snoozing guards. Judging by Star-butts reaction, she didn’t notice till now. Man, her situational awareness is horrendous, especially considering she’s a member of a prey species. If they are all this way, no wonder it was so easy to sneak in. “They were very handy, and tuckered themselves with how eager they were to help.”

“Wha- What did you do!?” Twilight stammered. “Those manacles should prevent you from using any magic at all, frankly I’m surprised you’re standing! And even if you could use magic, they are designed to send a signal when you try! And I know you haven’t left your cell, the warning spells and still in place and untriggered!”

Now that was informative. “I told you, dumb-ass, those guards did it for me.”

“Hey! Don’t speak to her like that!” Gay-Pride yelled, drawing Alex’s attention back to her, and he was pleasantly surprised to find her a roiling ball of anger. ‘Now if I poke that I’m likely to get some interesting reactions.’

“And why shouldn't I? She quite consistently misses the obvious, even things I said just a few moments ago.” Alex said, as he casually walked closer to the bars.

“You are working for Nightmare Moon, and you hurt Pinkie, there’s no way in Tartarus I’m going to let you insult my friend!” She yelled back, flying closer to the bars herself.

“Rainbow, don-” Twilight began to say, till Alex cut her off before she could ruin his fun.

“And who are you to tell me what to do, little Ms Gay-Pride?” Alex taunted, grabbing the bars and leaning his head through the space in between, patented smirk on his face.

“RAAAAGH!” Gay-Pride yelled in rage, flying forward as fast as she can and solidly decked him in the face.

*Crack*

“AAAAH!” Gay-Pride shrieked as she fell to the floor, clutching her quite evidently split and bleeding hoof. Alex wasn't even budged.

Alex smirked, stepping back from the bars as the five of them rushed to their friends side. “THAT is why you don’t mess with an apex predator.” Turning around he casually strolled back to his chair saying “You can go now. I’m done with you.” Turning back around, he sat down and picked up the book he set down earlier, and looked Star-butt in the eyes, “I have some reading to get back to.” And with that, he ignored them as they carried their injured friend out.

Author's Note

Sorry for being so long. I am apparently a really bad procrastinator, even on thinks I like doing.

Chapter 2

“You’re bullshitting me.” Alex interrupted Nightmare’s tale. “You’re telling me that magic is not only a real physical force, but you and your sister moved the Sun and Moon across the sky?”

“Yes. Why is that hard to believe? Who moved them in your world?” She wasn’t completely sure what ‘bullshitting’ meant, but she could guess from context.

“NO-ONE! The moon revolves around the planet due to gravity and it’s own velocity, and the sun didn’t revolve around the earth at all, but instead the other way around!”

“Hmm. How unusual. But that’s how it works here. How else did you think I was going to bring Night Eternal?” Nightmare replied, confused.

With a big sigh he began with “There are lots of ways to simulate eternal night. Volcanoes tend to fill the air with lots of dust and ash, that can take decades if not centuries to clear. Get a particularly big one to erupt, and it could fill the entire Atmosphere.”

“Well, anyways, it doesn’t matter much anymore, now that I have changed my plans. Now-”

“Hold it. Someone’s coming,” Alex interrupted, and quickly stood up and walked out, ignoring Nightmare Moon questioning him. By the time she stood up and reached the door, he was no-where to be seen.

Once again cursing her currently magicless state, she trotted back towards the cushion she was sitting on, and proceeded to wait.

Alex stood hidden in a tree watching as a purple Alicorn with a large purple and green lizard on her back crossed the old rope bridge spanning the chasm surrounding the castle, pondering what he should do. It would be annoying if she discovered Moony, since that would remove any planning time they had, and also lose the ability to control her initial reveal. He would kill her, but from what Moony said, Alex had a feeling that Alicorns are important, and her sudden absence would also draw a lot of attention.

A plan rapidly formed, and as she got close, Alex stepped out of the tree, landing noiselessly in front of her, eliciting a yelp from both her and the lizard. Interesting.

“Go away.” He stated bluntly.

Rapidly collecting herself, the Purple Alicorn replied with “Oh, um. Hello.” she gave a nervous smile. “I’m here to collect some of my books, which someone found their way into that castle over there. Can we please pass by? I promise we won’t be long.” She said, obviously put off by Alex’s stature and generally scary appearance.

“No. Go away.” Alex repeated, noting that she was including the lizard creature, who upon further observation, seemed to be sapient.

“Hey!” The green lizard thing interjected. “You can’t talk to her that way! She’s a princess!”

“Don’t care. Go away.” Alex stated resolute, his earlier suspicion of Alicorns being important confirmed.

“Better watch it. I’m a dragon! If you don’t move, I’m going to burn you.” The ‘dragon’ threatened, letting loose a small bit of flame for emphasis. Judging by the Alicorn’s expression, she did not approve of the threat.

Before she could say anything, Alex responded “Bring it.” With a fierce grin spreading across his face. If the dragon had a death wish, Alex was all too happy to help him out.

“Spike!” The Alicorn shouted in surprise, her horn glowing with a similar glow surrounding ‘Spike’, before he was apparently dragged behind her. She then turned an apologetic grin towards Alex, and said “Really sorry about that. But we really do need to collect our books.”

“Still don’t care. Go away.” Alex responded, blunt as ever.

At that, her grin faded away, and was replaced with a glare. “You were the one who took them, weren’t you.”

“Yes. Now for the last time, go away.” Alex warned.

“No. We aren’t leaving here without our books.” She stated, stomping her hoof. From behind her Spike yelled out “You tell him, Twilight!”

Alex just shrugged. “Have it your way.” He then blurred forward, wrapping his hands around each of their necks, and ‘gently’ slammed them to the ground, applying pressure to their Carotid Arteries, completely cutting off blood flow to the brain. In just a second, they were both out like a light. Alex held it for a moment longer, before picking them up and tossing them on his shoulder, carrying them towards the castle.

“Hey Moony. I got a gift for you.” Roused from her contemplations, Nightmare looked back to see her familiar walking in with a purple pegasus over one shoulder, and some purple lizard over the other.

He callously dropped them on the ground in front of her, and she had to withdraw her earlier conclusion. “You sure you don’t want to rule or something? According to the pint-sized dragon,” He said, nudging said creature with his foot “claimed that she’s a Princess. They would make some prime hostage material. If we play it right, and your sister really is the bleeding heart you made her out to be, we could probably get anything we want with them.”

Nightmare sat amazed at the sight of the apparent Alicorn before her. Apparently she, her doppelganger and Celestia weren’t the only ones anymore. And if her memory didn’t fail her, she was the same purple Unicorn who wielded the Element of Magic against her who knows how many years ago. Things must have certainly been interesting while she’s been gone.

“I also took the liberty to make sure they don’t remember meeting me, so we can also dump them somewhere if you want.” Alex continued, as she was busy thinking.

That shook her out of her reverie. “You can do mind magic!?” She nearly yelled in shock.

“It’s not magic, and it’s only effective to prevent short-term memories from becoming long-term.” He replied, not looking away from the dragon that he hunched over and started poking.

“Hmm.” Nightmare hummed thoughtfully, wanting to know more, but had a feeling that her familiar would decline saying anymore.

She really had no idea what she should do with them. Alex raised a good point, if Trixie really was a Princess, and her status as a Alicorn certainly lent credence to that, then she had a strong negotiating tool against her Sister. Heck, considering that she was her Sister’s protege, she’s a strong negotiating tool regardless.

But did Nightmare truly want to go down that route? With her new goal of being appreciated and loved by her subjects - ‘They aren’t you subjects anymore’ a niggling voice in the back of her head reminded her - then that course of action would be a bit counter-productive, but not completely prevent her goal, and really, if she got back in power there was a lot more she could do.

Keeping that in mind, she considered other options available to her. She could request her familiar to drop them off outside the forest, so they could arouse on their own and not remember the slightest of what went on, giving Nightmare Moon more time to prepare and plan her own reveal.

Or, she could let them wake up here, and talk to them now. Try to convince them of her new goals. This would probably be the hardest approach, but also have the best possible outcome if it did succeed. If she proves successful, she might get Trixie on her side and vouch for her to her Sister and that doppelganger. However, if she fails, then they will know that she is back, and would likely then come after her to re-banish her, dashing any hopes she has of achieving her dream.

‘Though’ a thought occurred to her ‘Since my familiar can apparently erase new memories, that means I can try talking, and if that doesn’t work, have him make it never happen.’ At that, her mood brightened considerably.

“I- I would like to talk to them.” She stated.

Alex turned his head towards her and said “Really? Alright, whatever.” He stood up, picked them up, and turned towards her “Where we doing this? Right here probably ain’t the best idea.”

“Why not?” Nightmare asked, confused.

“Control of information. They will know you are back, but not where you are. At most, they got the vague idea that you are in this forest, maybe. The forest is rather big, and would take work to search, work that would be rather noticeable and allow us to leave with a sizable head-start if need be. A cave would probably be good. There are lots of caves.” Alex elaborated, while walking towards the door, acting like Trixie and the dragon didn’t weigh anything.

“That sounds reasonable. And so you know, this forest is called the Everfree.” Nightmare concluded, trotting along.

Twilight groaned as consciousness returned to her, her head pounding. The last thing she could remember clearly was setting off into the Everfree with Spike to find out what happened to her books, and after that events turned into a blur.

Slowly she pushed herself into a more upright position, and looked around to see that she was in some cave, a few magic torches here and there providing light, with Spike a few feet away, seeming to still be unconscious.

“Greetings, Trixie.” She head Luna say to her left. Why did Luna call her Trixie?

“Luna? What’s going o-” She started to ask, turning her head, only to come to a stop when she saw who it was that was speaking to her.

Nightmare Moon sat on the opposite side of the cave, apparently having been waiting for them to wake up. Despite having not seen her in five years, Twilight could never mistake her for anyone else. But, something was…. off. Her mane wasn’t the bilious nebula it use to be, and was instead a normal dark-blue mane, and her wings seemed to be … missing, her abdomen wrapped in white sheets.

“Luna!” She darted to her hooves, ignoring the - thankfully receding - throb in her head. “What happened!? What happened to your Wings!? Why are you Nightmare Moon!?” She exclaimed, fighting down the urge to run to her. “Please! You don’t have to do that again! You are lov-”

“SILENCE!” Nightmare Moon roared, making full use of the Royal Canterlot Voice, it being further amplified by the fact they are underground.

When the ringing stopped and Twilight uncovered her ears, Nightmare Moon continued “I am NOT the naive copy the Elements placed in my old body. I am Nightmare Moon.” She emphasized with a stamp of her hoof.

‘Nightmare Moon’s back.’ ‘She’s separate from Luna.’ ‘Luna is a replacement.’ ‘What does Nightmare Moon want with me?’ ‘Would the Elements really do that?’ ‘Is she going to cause Eternal Night?’ ‘What happened to her wings?’ These thoughts and more were running through Twilight’s head, and unable to process it all, Twilight eloquently replied “W-what?”

Nightmare Moon took a deep breath, and released it. “As you can see, I have returned. And now that I’m back I-”

“You’re going to cause Eternal Night?” Twilight asked, still a bit at a lost of what to do, but slowly working through her thoughts.

“That was our original plan, but-” That was far as she got before she was interrupted yet again.

“Celestia will stop you. However you plan on doing it, she will stop you.” Twilight replied on instinct, her thoughts mostly under control now.

At the mention of Celestia, Nightmare Moon’s expression turned into a snarl. “Celestia is weak, and cares only for herself. If you think she can stop me, you’re foalish.” Nightmare Moon barked back.

“No. She will stop you. I will stop you. I don’t know what happened, but you can’t have nearly a fraction of your power, given your current state.” Twilight replied, her horn flaring up as she fell into a wider stance, ready for a fight.

“Sorry, but I can’t let you do that.” She heard someone say right by her ear, before she felt a rap on her neck, and once more knew only darkness.

Alex stood over the re-knocked out Trixie, having stepped in before she got physical. He looked over at Moony and summed up “You fucked up.”

She frowned at his coarse language and blunt statement, but ignored it, and sighed. “Wipe their minds and drop them off outside the forest. The conversation didn’t go nearly as well as I hoped.”

She turned around and started walking out only when Alex, with a grin, replied “Nope.”

Whipping around, she shouted “W-what?!”

Not even turning to face her, he picked up Trixie and Spike, and replied “I said I’m not going to make this easy. You fucked up, and now you have to live with it. This will make things interesting.” With his packages over his shoulder, he turned towards the door as well and walked past Moony before she broke out of her stupor.

“B-but that went horrifically! She still thinks I want to cause Eternal Night!” She protested, hurrying to catch up with Alex.

“I know. You fucked up.” He replied, keeping his practiced smirk firmly on his face.

Behind him, Moony let out a big sigh, before asking “Do you have to make things difficult?”

“I’m not. I’m actually helping, but just not making it easy. If I wasn’t here, you WOULD still be hooked on the Eternal Night plan, and up against them on your own.” He replied.

With another big sigh, Moony replied “I suppose you are right there. Just why must things not be easy?”

“Because, if things were easy, they would be over with, and there would be nothing left to do. And unlike mortals, we can’t just wait till we die.”

That gave her pause, before she changed subjects and picked up the tid-bit of information he dropped for her, eagerness obvious in her voice to know more about him, considering how little he has been telling her. “You’re immortal?”

“Yep.” He replied, purposefully not elaborating how immortal he is. Most people can’t shrug off losing 99% of their body after all.

“And I don’t suppose you will tell me how you were reclining on the CEILING back there?” She asked.

“Nope.” Alex said, smirk still firmly in place, doing it’s job to annoy Nightmare with how little he was telling her, and that he was doing that on purpose just to annoy her.

“Uuugh” Twilight groaned once again, as she regained consciousness. This time she found herself in a muddy ditch beside what she assumed was the Everfree Forest. Glancing around some more, her attention was drawn by a very loud snore, helping her locate Spike a few meters away, laying on his back and absolutely covered in mud.

Stumbling to her feet, and grimacing at the feel of mud covering her wings, she gave herself a quick shake to try to dislodge what she could. It predictably wasn’t that helpful. Releasing a big sigh, she sludged over to Spike, and started shaking him. “Spike. Wake up.”

He snorted, and rolled over, swatting her hoof away. “Five more minutes.” he mumbled.

“No Spike. Now.” She picked him up with her levitation, and started shaking him.

“Fine!” He groaned dramatically, opened his eyes a fraction, gave her a once over, and asked. “Uh, Twilight? Why are you covered in mud?”

Putting him on her back, she replied “You are too.” Then, with a flash of light, she teleported out of the ditch and looked around to see where they were.

“Huh.” She heard him reply. “What happened? Last I remember we were entering the Everfree to find some of your books that somehow ended up there.”

“Nightmare Moon has returned, and she kidnapped us. We have get back to Ponyville so you can send a letter to the Princesses.” Twilight hurriedly responded, before teleporting to another hill in the distance.

“What!? Nightmare Moon!? Why did Luna turn back into Nightmare Moon!?” Spike shouted in surprise, and she could hear a underlining of fear.

“That’s just the thing, Spike. She claimed she and Luna were two different people now. We have to get back to find out what’s going on.” She said, before spotting Ponyville in the distance, and teleporting back to her Castle.

Quickly grabbing a piece of parchment from her desk, she scribbled a quick note, and floated it toward Spike to send. In a flash of green fire, it was sent, and all they could do now is wait.

They didn’t have to wait long, barely ten minutes later, - during which time Twilight cleaned herself with a spell - a bright flash of golden light heralded the arrival of Celestia and Luna, the latter of whom was still blinking sleep out of her eyes. “Tell us what happened.” Celestia stated, cutting straight to matters.

Twilight began her explanation “Spike and I entered the Everfree to track down some mysteriously missing books, but my memories fade away after that. The next thing I can remember is waking up in a cave, with Nightmare Moon sitting on the opposite side waiting for me to wake up. Her appearance has changed though.” Twilight paused, a frown appearing on her face. “Her mane composed of actual hair instead of magic, and most shockingly, her wings were missing.” Twilight said, barely suppressing a shudder. She has only had her wings for a few years, but she already can’t imagine losing them. “She was wearing bandages around her midsection, so I can only assume that she had them before, but they were removed for some reason.”

That put off all three princesses. It’s one thing for a new villain that they must fight appearing, but to hear that they have been mutilated? That is more than they would wish on anyone, not even Discord.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight continued “After confusing her for Luna,” Twilight shot Luna an apologetic look, “she made it quite clear that she is separate. She also believes that Luna is a copy of her that the Elements made to replace her. As I was about to try to capture her, however, somepony knocked me out from behind, a male judging by his voice.”

“This is a…. concerning development.” Celestia responded, a worried look on her face. “Who was this male you spoke of?”

“I honestly don’t know Princess. All I heard was him say ‘Sorry, but I can’t let you do that’, before I felt a light rap on my neck, and then I was unconscious.” She said, rubbing her neck, wondering what happened.

“Well whoever it is, we need to do something. I will summon the guard, while you gather your friends. Luna, you-” She cut off, as they turned to look towards Luna, only to find her looking off into the distance, eyes blank and face a visage of fear. “Oh, Luna.” Celestia put her wing over he sister, and lead her off to one side if the room to talk to her.

Twilight gave them privacy as she ran the meeting through her mind several times, trying to figure things out, ‘Why did Nightmare Moon kidnap me, only to let me go? Who is that male? What happened to Nightmare Moon?’ Then her thoughts came to a halt as she remembered something she ignored originally in the heat of the moment. “That was our original plan, but-”

Author's Note

Alright, so, this is a slight AU. Slight enough I'm not sure if I should put on the AU tag or not. Main differences, Keep Calm and Flutter On never happened (cause that was a all around stupid move on Celestia's part, she's lucky as hell it worked), the Mane 6 never took to visiting the Castle, and Twi has a Wooden castle/tree, not a Crystal one (cause Crystal makes NO sense).