Thief of the Frontline

Chapter 8

A few hours had passed since Twilight broke down in grief that morning.  She was now calmed down and enjoying, or at least trying to enjoy the morning with Paper Cut and Nightfall who had arrived a few minutes after she pulled herself together.  Twilight didn't want to burden anypony with her problems.  She hated feeling like an emotional anchor.  She wasn't the only one having problems though.  While Paper sat next to Twilight still, Nightfall sat across from the two uncomfortably.  He seemed troubled by something.  Twilight saw this as an opportunity to help Nightfall like he had helped her.

"Are you alright, Nightfall?" Twilight asked, trying to control her still shaky voice.

"I honestly don't know," he replied.  "This morning has just been one big mess of emotion."  He laid his head on the table tiredly.

"Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Nightfall sighed and looked at Paper who was fiddling with his hooves nervously.  "You didn't tell her, did you?" he asked after a few silent seconds.

"I didn't think it was necessary," Paper replied.  "Your own problems are your own.  If you wanted somepony to know then I figured you'd tell them."

Twilight was now a little confused.  Had something happened that she was not aware of?  "Did something happen?" she asked in a concerned tone.

"You really want to know?" Nightfall asked.

Twilight nodded.

"Remember when I asked Foxtrot to go back and assess the damage on that base we robbed?" he began.  "Well, as it turns out, the explosion that I created killed four guards.  I know this is war and all, but... I just..."   He put his head in his hooves on the table.  "I can't do it," he said, muffled.

"That's terrible!" Twilight said suddenly.

"Yeah, I know," Nightfall said, still muffled.  He then lifted his head up and looked at Twilight with a sad expression that almost looked angry.  "Thanks for reminding me."

"Oh, sorry," Twilight said as her ears folded back.  "I didn't..." she stuttered.  Then she took a deep breath, regained her composure, and continued.  "I know that's a huge burden to carry and you probably need somepony to comfort you so..." She didn't get to finish her sentence before Nightfall held up a hoof to stop her.

"Why do you want to help me?" Nightfall asked.

"Well, you and Paper have helped me so much already.  Everything you're doing makes me more grateful than you could ever know.  I want to help you now."

"So you're just returning the favor, huh?"

Twilight hesitated for a bit.  She didn't know how to respond to this.  She didn't ever think of it as returning a favor, just her helping a friend.  That's all she had ever thought.  "No, I just want to help you," she said as she found her voice.  "Isn't that what friends do?  Help each other in their time of need."

Nightfall was the one to hesitate now.  Twilight thought of him as friend.  How could this be?  Sure he had saved her, talked to her a few times, and they had done each other a few favors, but did that really make them friends?  "Why would she want to be friends with a pony like me?" he thought.  "Even after what I did, she wants to be my friend."  That sure was a confusing one.  "Really... friend?" he asked.  "You really consider me..." he put his hoof up to his chest.  "...your friend."

"Of course," Twilight responded in a slightly confused tone.

It was almost like she had automatically become friends with everypony she met in her entire life and not being friends with someone was completely new to her.  At least this was what it seemed like to Nightfall.  Friendship was an idea that for him had always been laced with some sort of catch.  Sure he had had friends before.  He had plenty of friends when he was in the guilds of Manehattan and Canterlot.  He had friends here in the castle.  Paper was one of them, but all these friends were ponies that he knew.  Ponies that he had been around for months and in the cases of the thieves he used to work with, years.  There was usually a catch when somepony wanted to be your friend within two weeks of meeting them.  They wanted something, like being business partners, not that that couldn't lead to real friendship.  What did Twilight want?  Nightfall shook the thought from his head.  He realized that he was slipping into that thief mind set.  The paranoid one that thought everypony was out to get him or something he had.  "No," he thought.  "Twilight just wants to be friends.  She's a normal pony who doesn't worry about how much gold she can make through illegal activity."

"Hey guys," Paper said abruptly, catching everypony's attention.  "Check it out."  Somehow, he had managed to balance a fork on its blunt end perfectly upright.  "Pretty great, huh?"

Twilight let out a small giggle as she covered her mouth with a hoof.  Nightfall also let out a smile.  "You're just trying to lighten the depressing mood, aren't you?"

"That," Paper said.  "And I got bored."  He levitated a spoon up on top of the fork and placed it down gently.  The spoon teetered slightly, almost falling over with the fork, but then stopped all movement and balanced perfectly on the spoon.  "Ha ha!" Paper said excitedly.  "Success!"

"You're using some sort of spell," Nightfall said.  "Aren't you?"

"Dang it, dude.  How did you know?"

"Lucky guess.  That and I'm pretty sure that this,"  Nightfall flicked the fork with his hoof causing it to scoot across the table a short distance, remaining upright with the spoon on top.  "is physically impossible."

"I'm just happy that I took the initiative to actually try and learn a fixed object spell."

Twilight looked at Paper and then at another fork that laid flat in front of her.  She levitated it into an upright position and then placed her hoof on top of the four pointy spikes.  "Hey guys, you want to see something just a cool?" she asked with a playfully wicked smile that seemed a little uncharacteristic for her.

"Heck yes!" Paper said excitedly, not being able to wait for what Twilight had in store.  That excitement soon turned into utter horror as Twilight pressed down on the fork.

Twilight pushed down on the fork with a shaky hoof that made it look like she was struggling slightly just before the pikes poked through the back of her hoof and foreleg.  Nightfall's jaw dropped and all color had disappeared from Paper's face.  Twilight pushed even more until the fork was halfway through, three fourths of the way through, now all the way through.  Twilights hoof was now firmly planted on the table with the silver utensil poking through it.  Twilight looked at the two horrified stallions with a smile and pulled her hoof off the table.  She held it up and revealed that it was completely unharmed.  "Ta da!" she said happily.  "Phase magic.  Isn't it great?"

All color had now returned to Paper's face as he smiled.  "That... was... awesome!" he exclaimed.  "You have to show me how to do that some time."

"I'll admit," said Nightfall who no longer let his mouth hang open in disbelief.  "You got me good."  He let out a laugh of amusement.  Soon, everypony at the table was laughing.  Even a few ponies at other tables who had sat by, watching, trying not to lose their breakfasts were now laughing.  For some reason, the fact that it had been Twilight, a kind, gentle, and polite princess who had done the trick, made the joke a hundred times funnier.

The excitement eventually died down and Paper wiped a small tear from his eye.  "Woo, good one," he said, still smiling.

Nightfall looked at the fork Twilight had held in place, curiously.  It was still in an upright position with the four spikes pointing upward toward the ceiling.  He poked at it with a hoof only to find that it went right through.  He pulled his hoof back and tried again.  Then he waved it right through the fork.  Still, the fork remained standing.  "Huh," Nightfall said after staring at it for a few seconds.  "That would have been useful for when we were breaking into the outpost."

"Yeah, but it's a pretty high level spell.  Even on small objects like these utensils it's pretty challenging," Twilight replied.  "I didn't really think Paper would be capable of pulling it off yet."

After goofing around with magic, and making jokes about whatever was relevant, Nightfall decided it was time for him to retire back to his room to get some more sleep.  Ever since he had joined the rebellion, which wasn't really a rebellion yet, about a year ago, his sleep time table had been all messed up.  Before, he usually either stayed awake all night and slept during the day like most batponies or he would stay awake during the day and sleep at night like everypony else.  It all depended on the circumstances of what was going on at the time.  When he was preparing for a heist or just decided to see what he could steal from where ever, he would sleep during the day, which was most of the time.

As he walked down the old decaying halls, his mind began to wonder.  "Day, night.  I really need to decide on one or the other," he thought.  "Day, night, day, night.  Most ponies are up during the day and it will probably be less boring.  That night life though.  Something exciting is always going on in the big cities during the night.  Too bad I'm having to lie low."  If there was one thing that Nightfall didn't like about being a thief, it was definitely the boredom that came with lying low.  He liked being active.  Going out and doing things, especially illegal things, is what made life interesting for him.  Of course he had a perfectly good reason for giving it all up.  He couldn't put them in danger like he had before.  At least, he couldn't put her in danger.  He had already failed once.  The only reason he could do it now was because she was somewhere safe.  It hurt to know that she was better off away from him.

Five days passed.  The excitement around Ponyville had died down, which meant that it was almost time to stop lying low, and initiate the first parts of his plans.  He had a few ideas on what he and Paper could steal first.  He had even placed large pieces of paper over one of the walls in his room, writing lists of potential targets, marking on maps, and putting up several drafts of entry and escape plans.  He was getting back in the game.

It felt different this time around.  Not because he was doing this all for a good cause, to an extent, but because he had something to lose.  He was risking something that he really, with every fiber of his being, didn't want to risk, but it had to be done.  He couldn't die.  He had to be there for her and the only way to guarantee that was to avoid the war by carrying things out behind the scenes.  It wouldn't be easy.  It would take hard work and dedication, careful planning and the will to go on.

He was now walking through the hall.  Thinking.  Heists were his best shot, he knew this and it was almost time.  There was one thing he wanted to do before he began though. "I need to visit sometime soon," he thought as he entered the storage room that he had claimed as his own.  He walked over to the wall and looked at a small calendar.  "One, two, three, four, five, crap.  Has it already been six weeks?"

He wanted to visit her.  Talk to her.  Share a laugh or two.  He'd kill to see her smile.  He hoped he wouldn't have to though.  Could he do it?  Would going out and seeing her be the right decision?  It had been so long.  Lie low or take a risk and go out.  He groaned in frustration as he contemplated the possible consequences.  "If they see me and find out about her, then I'll never forgive myself, but I need to see her.  She needs to see me.  The pain that grows inside me needs to be numbed.  Yes, I will go.  I just have to be careful.  First thing tonight, when the sun goes down, I'll go visit her."

"Visit who," a familiar feminine voice asked from behind Nightfall who just realized that he had been speaking to himself out loud.  Twilight was standing in the door way.  She had heard Nightfall because she was passing by and he forgot to close the door.

"Oh, no one," Nightfall replied with a nervousness that gave away the fact that he was lying; something he was usually good at.

Twilight raised an eyebrow.  "Really?" she asked in a concerned voice.  "She didn't sound like no one.  Nightfall, are you alright.  It's becoming obvious that something besides the deaths of those guards is bothering you."

"You heard everything I said, didn't you?"

Twilight nodded.  "It sounds to me like you're trying to protect somepony and that... well... makes a lot of sense to me.

"How do you figure that?"

"It was that photo," Twilight responded carefully.  Judging by the way everypony acted, she had inferred that no one else knew about it.  It must have been very personal for Nightfall for him to keep it a secret and she didn't want to upset him by pushing for an answer like she had before.  "The morning after you found me, I saw you looking at a photo that had you and two other ponies in it.  Are they who I think they are?"

Nightfall remained silent for a few seconds.  He didn't have anything to say.  He didn't know how to say it.  He had been hiding among rebels for his own personal gain for so long that every instinct told him to change the subject, but he remembered once again; he could trust Twilight.  It didn't make it any easier though.  Then he had an idea.  "Why don't I just show you?" he said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Show me?  That would be great."  Twilight really wasn't expecting him to open up to her like that.  Did he trust her more than the others?  There had to be a reason for this.

"I've been hiding it for to long, Twilight," he said.  "I don't know why.  I guess I'm just scared.  Scared something will go wrong.  I've been weaving this web of lies for so long that I feel like nothing is real anymore."

"Why don't you try to explain it all the best you can?" Twilight said as she approached slowly, being careful not to provoke any feelings with her word choice.  "I'd be glad to listen."  She sat down next to him.

Nightfall sighed heavily and shook his head.  "I'm going to regret this," he said wearily.  "Somehow, I just know that this is going to blow up in my face."  He looked at Twilight.  She looked a little disappointed.

"You say that like you think I plan on doing something devious."

"I know," he said, obviously frustrated with himself.  "I just can't get rid of these instincts, these feelings of quilt, like I need to keep my guard up."  He lowered his head, closed his eyes, and sighed again.

"Guilt?" Twilight thought to herself, slightly confused.  "Why do you feel guilty?  What you used to do was bad, but... you... you're a good pony and you have a good heart.  I think you do at least.  You need to pick yourself up from that and..."

Nightfall chuckled a little.  "Guilty because I stole stuff from ponies.  That's a good one, princess," he said as he looked back at her with a slight smile.  "No disrespect, but if all... this," he waved both hooves in the air.  "...had never happened.  If I had never made the best mistake of my life!  If I had never fallen in love!" he was now standing.  "I would have probably stolen from you when you come to power."  His ears folded back, he sat back down, and looked back down at the ground.

This small... testimony, intrigued Twilight.  He was talking about his past, letting some emotions that had been locked up, for Celestia knows how long, out.  It was a little weird though.  He sounded less sad and more like he was angry at life.  "It's alright Nightfall.  What I don't understand is, how does your past life as a thief relate to you being here now, in this castle helping me get to where everypony seems to think I belong?"

"I'm not," Nightfall said simply.  There was something about the way he said it that made it seem more sorrowful than anything else.  "You probably think I'm a greedy bastard who is just here for my own gain and... I'm not going to lie.  You would be partially right."

"So why are you here?  What is it that you want?"  Twilight was still being careful with how she spoke.  Tone, word choice, everything was selected carefully.  Nightfall basically just told her that he was using them, but there was something bothering him that told Twilight that things weren't exactly the way they seemed.  She was right.

"The only reason I'm here is because I'm hiding," Nightfall began, hoping he wouldn't sound to much like a thief that just wanted to take advantage of everyone around him.  "The only reason I am hiding here, is because I wanted... no I needed to be close by.  Not for my sake, but for hers."

"And who is this mare that your referring to?  A friend?  A... lover?"

Nightfall looked away for a moment to think.  He sighed, yet again, and looked back at Twilight who sat patiently, waiting for an answer.  "Her name is Snowy.  Snow Gloom actually.  I just call her Snowy.  She's..."  Nightfall hesitated.  "She's my daughter.  I have to be here for her.  To protect her, but I can't.  I could potentially get her killed and it's best if I stay away, but I just can't do it!"  He was now yelling at Twilight who flinched slightly.

Twilight was sort of understanding what was going on.  From what she could tell, Nightfall had a daughter and he was afraid that his past would cause harm to come to her.  He also wanted to be close because he feared that something bad would happen to her.  She thought about this for a moment, trying to figure out one thing that he had neglected to mention.  "What about her mother? Where is she at?" she asked.  "I hope you don't mind me asking.  It's okay if you need a moment or a brake."

Nightfall held up a hoof.  Motioning for Twilight to just give him a second.  He closed his eyes tightly and inhaled deeply.  He exhaled a long, shaky, but calm breath.  "She's... not... she's gone."

"What do you mean by gone?" Twilight asked slowly.  She was hoping what she feared wasn't a reality.

"Dead."

The word rang through Twilight's head like a bell in a clock tower.  Dead.  Possibilities raced through her... Dead ...her mind.  Dead.  What happened?  Dead.  Is this why Nightfall was so afraid for his daughter?  Dead.  For Snowy.  She now understood it all.  Dead.  She shook her head to rid it of the awful word that just wouldn't stop bouncing around inside her skull.  "I'm so sorry, Nightfall," she said sadly.  "I... I am so sorry."

Nightfall held up his hoof again.  "It's alright, Twilight.  It isn't your fault."  He paused for a moment to collect a few more thoughts.  "Thank you, Twilight... for listening," he said.  "I've been needing to open up for a while now."

Twilight nodded.  "If there's anything you want to, you know, let out, I'll still be here."

"No," said Nightfall.  "No, that's alright.  I think... I think I'm good for now.  Thanks."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm going to go back to bed.  I didn't really sleep well last night."  Nightfall walked over to the fishing net hammock that he usually slept in.

"I hope you rest well, Nightfall," Twilight said, sort of uncomfortably.  "I'll see you later tonight?"

"Yeah," he replied.  "Sure, I'll come get you when it's time."

Twilight exited the room, letting the door close gently behind her.  "Wow," she thought in slight disbelief.  "He really is hurting on the inside.  There has to be something I can do, but what?"  Twilight continued down the hallway toward her own room.  She really had nothing to do.  She felt like the right thing would be to write some sort of letter to Princess Celestia on what her experiences with a rebel group have been like.  Of course, she couldn't do that.  And the experiences haven't exactly been the most exiting.  There were a few things that were completely new to her though.  Problems that she never expected to face.  Interrogation, assisted robbery, figuring out how to use the advanced coffee maker technology.  Fortunately, somepony left the instructions conveniently folded under the machine.

There truly was nothing to do.  Nightfall was sleeping, Paper had told her that it was his week to stand guard on the outer perimeter of the castle, which explained why she saw ponies that she had never seen before from time to time.  Solar was holding a meeting with most of the remaining ponies, which meant that anyone she could socialize with was busy.  The castle was, for the most part, empty.

"Come on, Twilight," she thought to herself.  "There has to be something interesting to do around here.  You're in a castle.  What is there in a castle.  Long hallways, open corridors, library, ballrooms... wait, that's it!"  A large smile spread across her face.  "Library."  She never got many chances to visit the castle's library before.  Of the times she did, she only got to explore parts of the library due to how big it was.  Now she had all the time in the world to study whatever she wanted.

Twilight diverted her course from her room, to the library.  Her walking developed into a fast trot quickly.  It had been so long since she had been in a library.  Soon, she was in a full gallop.  She felt like she couldn't get there soon enough, so she opened her wings to launch herself through the hall even faster.  Pain and sore feeling shot through her wings and back causing her to fall to the floor and tumble a few meters.  "Ouch," she moaned as she stumbled to her hooves.  She then realized, that had been the first time she had spread her wings since waking up.  It made since that she would be sore after a hundred years of not using them.  "Ok, maybe I'll take it slow for now."

When she finally reached the large double doors that lead to the library that she so desperately craved, she put a hoof on one and pushed in.  It didn't budge.  "Oh come on."  She pushed again.  Still nothing.  It felt like there was something blocking the door from the inside.  She didn't need this.  She had been kept away for to long.  She would not be denied this.  Her horn glowed purple with aura and so did the door.  With one forceful push of magic, the door slowly swung open, pushing a bookshelf out of the way and causing it to tip over and fall to the ground with a loud crash that sent dust flying up in all directions.

Twilight coughed as the ancient particles stung in her nostrils.  She waved a hoof to clear the air in front of her face.  She kept that hoof over her muzzle as she entered the room, coughing into it again.  She looked around.  Rows upon rows of book shelves stood before her, each holding hundreds of books just waiting to be rediscovered.  The echo of the crash and her coughs could still be faintly heard as they bounced off the walls.  The only light that illuminated the room came from a large crack in the ceiling.  Dust coated everything like a blanket and it was even hard for Twilight to breath.

When Twilight had first been to the castle all those years ago to confront Nightmare Moon and claim the Elements of Harmony, any dust left from the hundreds of years of abandonment, had no doubt been cast out when the elements had been used to free Luna from the darkness that consumed her.  Twilight's study visits and occasional activity in the castle had more than likely kept enough dust away to allow her to access the library unhindered and freely.  But now, now it had been a hundred years since anypony had done anything in this place.  The dust was so intense that the cloud made it to where Twilight would have to retreat from whatever she was interested in just to breath.  "Great," she thought.

The dust that hung in the air was thick enough that it made everything in the distance hazy.  If Twilight was going to get through, she would need a spell, something to keep the fog at bay.  She thought for a second, then looked up toward the large opening in the ceiling.  Maybe she could use her magic to create enough of a wind to cast the dust out through the crack.  She lit up her horn and was just about to cast the spell when a sudden realization struck her.  They were hiding.  A large column of dust coming from the Everfree forest would no doubt bring attention.  So what was she supposed to do?  She didn't want to burn it away, because the books were old and frail enough that they might be destroyed as well.  She would have to create a ward.  Start small and then expand it around her to push the dust away.

She ignited her horn again, creating a small bubble of hard light in front of her.  As her horn glowed brighter, the bubble got larger, until it encompassed her.  She was now standing in the middle of a large energy bubble that was just big enough for her to stand in.  Twilight cast another spell causing the ward to curve and warp.  It now fit around her like a suit of armor, hovering only an inch away from her coat.  "There," she thought as she smiled, satisfied with her clever thinking and ability to cast such a spell.  She was now free to explore.

"Okay, now we need a seven letter word for tough and unbreaking," Paper Cut said to the garnet red earth pony sitting on a log across from him.

"How about... um... durable?" the large pony replied.  He was much bigger than Paper.  As a matter of fact he was much bigger than most ponies, much stronger too.  He had hazel brown eyes and a dark black main and tail.

"Let's see, D, U, R... um, yeah, that fits," Paper said as he levitated a pencil away from his crossword puzzle.  "One down, fifty-nine to go."

"So Paper, tell me.  Why is it that you and I are the ones out here doing the small jobs that don't really have much purpose?"

Paper looked up from the piece of paper and back at the earth pony who was now drinking a cup of coffee.  "What do you mean?"

"Think about it," he replied.  "You and I are important.  Maybe even more important than some of the ponies who are at Solar's meeting right now.  I do all the heavy lifting around here and I'm the most physically fit to fight guards.  And you, you broke into a military base, stole a bunch of rifles, and then blew the damn place up.  Yet we're sitting out here waiting for nothing."  He seemed quite annoyed.

"I have to admit, you have a point."

"Damn right I do.  Solar is really starting to get on my nerves."

Paper looked back at the crossword puzzle and wrote down a few more words to fill in the empty spaces.  During look out duty for the out perimeter, there usually wasn't much to do but talk to whoever got posted with you and sit at the camp, which was set up to look like a normal, unsuspicious camp site for a couple of campers.  He brought the puzzle to make things more interesting and so far it was doing a pretty good job.  He read another hint and looked up at the earth pony.  "Hey Bastion, you'll love this one.  Five letter word for unintelligent, unwitty, and dull that starts with the letter S."

Bastion smiled and let out a faint chuckle.  "Solar," he said, laughing again.

"Ha, exactly what I was thinking," Paper laughed with Bastion for a second and then returned to the puzzle.  "I think they were looking for stupid though."

Bastion looked at Paper a little confused.  "Isn't that six letters?"

Now Paper looked confused.  Actually, he looked completely befuddled.  "What?"  He looked back at the puzzle and counted the five empty spaces and then the S that came before them.  "Oh," he said as he realized what he had done wrong.  "I counted the empty spaces, but forgot to count the S that was already written down."  He and Bastion laughed about it for a second before falling silent.  "Oh the irony."

As the morning passed, and noon turned to afternoon, the two stallions finished the crossword puzzle and two sandwiches.  Only a few minutes after that, boredom began to sink in and Paper began to think he was going to die because of it.  He wished Nightfall was there.  He always had an interesting story to tell.  Whether it be a daring heist that he had undertaken with his outlaw buddies or a fast escape from the guards after a job gone sideways, Nightfall's stories never failed to entertain.  For now though, he would have to make it through the rest of the day without them.

Nightfall was lying in bed only half asleep.  He had been asleep for a few hours and he was almost ready to get up and find Twilight to get her ready for that night's visit.  His subconscious, though had decided five more minutes of blissful peace couldn't hurt.  He was comfortable, everything was quiet, and there were no guards around.  But then there was a muffled noise.  A gentle, carefully placed armored hoof step.  That of a pony trying to sneak up on Nightfall.  They had forgotten, even after he had proved it time and time again.  You can't sneak up on him, nopony ever could.

He opened his eyes.  Waited.  Slowed his breathing so he was completely silent, as if he was still asleep.  He didn't dare look over his shoulder in the direction  of where the noise had originated.  It would mean death... or pain.  Lots of pain.  They always did try to take him alive.  He didn't want to test any theories on them changing tactics.  He waited, and waited.  For what felt like hours.  Then, when he could feel that the guard was close, he struck.

He leaped as fast as he could.  Flipping over from his position on the hammock, using it as a slingshot as he tackled the pony next to him.  Slamming him hard in the face with his hoof.  The two fell to the ground with a thud.  Nightfall raised his hoof up to come back down on the guard with a final knock out blow, but... he couldn't.  The guard was gone and a different pony lied below him.  It was a pale diamond blue pegasus mare.  Her white mane was frayed and messy as she lied under Nightfall, crying silently with her face in her hooves.

"Ni-Nightf-f-fa-fall?" she choked out, looking up at him with her yellow eyes.  One of her nostrils bled, and she had a black eye on the same side of her face.

Nightfall froze in utter shock.  "Shady?" he said.

The mare curled up into a ball and began crying silently to herself again.  "P-please.  Don't h-hurt m-m-me, anymore."

"No, no, no," Nightfall responded with heavy breath.  He leaned down, trying to put his hoof on her shoulder.  "Shady, I'm so sorry.  I-I..."

"Go away," she said softly.  "Go away.  Leave me alone."

"Please Shade, I'm so sorry."

"GET LOST!" the mare yelled angrily as she jumped at him.  Her coat was now a deep black, and her mane and eyes burned red with fire.  "I HATE YOU!"

Nightfall woke up, sitting up faster than should have been equinly possible.  He drew in fast, heavy, and short breaths.  Sweat burned his eyes and drenched his mane and coat.  He wiped the sweat from his eyes and forehead and then massaged the headache from his temples.  He sighed.  Another damn nightmare.  He looked over to the spot where he had landed in the dream.  Nothing.  The space was empty.  No guards trying to get the drop on him, no Shady, just emptiness.  He looked over at the clock that hung on the wall.  2:47, it read.  As good a time to get up as any.  Twilight was probably waiting eagerly for him.

As he left the room, he noticed something strange.  The air seemed... thicker, no, dustier.  "Well that's strange," he thought as he looked down the hallway.  The torches that lit these long, stone paths, revealed small strings and particles of dust floating freely through the air.  "Oh what the heck," Nightfall thought, deciding he might as well try and find the source of the cloud.

He walked for a few minutes.  The dust got thicker and thicker.  Not by much, but enough to be somewhat noticeable.  Then he came to a set of double doors, one of which was open.  There was a small word etched into the stone above them.  Library.  There was a library?  How had he not known about this?  Surely Twilight must have ventured inside in a quest to find something to do.  Sitting around the castle could get boring at times.

Nightfall stepped through the door into the library.  The dust was even thicker than before, even so that it was hard to breath.  He coughed before putting his hoof over his face.  "Twilight?  You in here?" he called out.

"Over here," Twilight's voice called out from behind a bookcase as a purple blur stepped into the open.  "Hold still.  This will help you."

A small light came from the top of the purple blur with the voice of the princess.  Then, there was a flash, and Nightfall found himself inside some sort of magical casing.  He could now breath normal and see slightly better.  Twilight was still just a little cloudy, but dust bunnies no longer threatened to fly into his eyeball.

"Hey Twilight.  We need to go over a few things for tonight."

"Sure," Twilight replied happily.  There are a few chairs over this way where we can sit down."  She waved him over toward her.

Nightfall hesitated.  "Don't you think it would be best if we got out of all this dust?  This spell is great and all, but it's still kind of hard to see.  Speaking of which, where did all this come from?"

"Well, it has been over a hundred years since anypony had been in here," she replied.  "Judging by the way the door was blocked when I got here, I'd say that this room has been inactive for so long, dust just built up over time.  The crack in the ceiling..." she pointed to the large hole that acted as a light source, "...probably let in just enough of the weather to kick up this cloud without pushing it out.  That's just theory though."

"Okay, that's great and all, but don't you think it would be best if we got out of this and into some breathable air?"

"Yeah, sure.  Just let me grab a few books real quick."

After getting a small stack of dusty, old books off a dusty, old table, Twilight rejoined Nightfall in the hall and deactivated her spell.  The two then headed for the large room that housed the mess hall.  Twilight still hadn't figured out what the room's purpose was originally.  Maybe it was a ball room?  Perhaps, but surely it had to be more important than that.  The large stand that once held the Elements of Harmony was still proudly sitting in its normal spot.  Maybe that's all the room was meant for, to house the elements.  When the two reached the room, they sat down at one of the tables.

"So what did you want to go over?" Twilight asked as she levitated her stack of books onto the table.

"I just wanted to make sure that you remembered the rules for when we're out in Ponyville."

"Stay quiet, stay close, keep my cloak on at all times, no flying, and if we come across anypony, my name isn't Twilight Sparkle.  Right?"

"Wow," Nightfall said in minor amazement.  "You're really good at remembering things."

Twilight smiled.  "I kind of have everything organized into files in my head.  Makes things easier."

Nightfall blinked.  "Okay then.  That was a lot faster than I expected.  I'll come find you when it's time."

Twilight nodded.  "Okay," she said happily.

The two went their separate ways then.  Twilight no doubt was heading back to the library to get more books to read.  Nightfall on the other hoof, needed some fresh air.  For once, the shadows that he clung to like a shroud offered him no comfort.  He didn't want to hide anymore.  Waiting for the sun to set was killing him on the inside.  He had to see her.  He had to see Snowy.  Be cautious, avoid open areas, don't cause a fuss.  Three simple rules.  It was all he would need.  He didn't have to worry about Twilight.  She was smart and knew to obey him.  Be careful, and nothing would go wrong.