Ambition

by Lupine Infernis

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Princess Celestia, Dark, Alternate Universe, Human, Main 6, Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 474130

Wishes and desires aren't just limited to heroes...

For all their power, the Elements of Harmony are bound by one common rule:

They cannot kill, no matter how dark, how unnatural the force is.

They may purify, they may banish, and they may petrify, but they cannot kill, and redemption is not always a guarantee. Fortunately, their power was enough to save Princess Luna from the nightmare that possessed her, body and soul. She was freed from its icy grasp. She was purified.

Yet the nightmare still lives...

Thank you to Sable Tails, who has graciously helped as an editor and someone to provide early feedback.

Published 2015-05-25 13:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2020-08-28 11:15:23 UTC

Prologue

Pain.

That was the first thing she was aware of when she came to.

A harsh ache that spread all across her body; her legs, her head, her wings, her horn, her tail- her tail, hurt. So naturally, when she was then aware of a bright light and an intense heat shining down across her face, she grumbled and hissed, squeezing her eyes shut as tightly as they would go.

‘Damned sun… If I could do something about you, I would…’

Wait, she could do something about it! All she needed to do was find the strength to lift her head, concentrate her magic on the celestial body, and usher it further along its set path at a faster rate so that…

Celestial…

Celestia…

Ruler of Equestria…

She wielded the Elements of Harmony… long ago…

Elements of Harmony…

Twilight Sparkle… Fluttershy… Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack!

Her bloodshot eyes shot open. She rose with wings spread wide and horn blazing with magic, lips curling back in a fearsome snarl as she sought the accursed mares.

“Where are you, you insignificant foals?! When I get my hooves on you, I’ll-”

When she came to, the light and heat was not as intense as before, but she still clenched her eyes shut and moaned lowly as hot pain stabbed through her skull, blazing along every little synapse before gathering behind her eyes and at the base of her horn like three heartbeats. Each lub made her eyes feel like they were going to pop out and each dub provided a momentary lapse of cold relief that was cruelly snatched away as the pattern repeated.

Getting up was a fool’s errand and though the thought of being so weak she couldn’t stand made her blood boil, she swallowed her outrage and waited for the headache to pass. To pass the time, she went over the events that transpired prior to when she first regained consciousness.

‘Those fillies… Those damned Elements of Harmony bearers… I shouldn’t have hesitated; I should have struck one of them down as soon as they arrived to save their friend, just to be on the safe side. A sleeping spell, an imprisonment spell, something! But no… I was too slow and they used it on me again!’

It hadn’t been any less painful than when Celestia had used them; it had been even more painful this time as a matter of fact. For something that was supposed to symbolize peace and the goodness in all ponies, it sure as Tartarus felt nothing like it. If that was what being bathed in rainbow was like, then she was going to stay far away from any weather factories from now on.

‘Wait… I was hit by the Elements again…’

And the Elements never killed, they were incapable of doing so, personification of all that was good and righteous that they were.
They purified and what they couldn’t purify they banished and what they couldn’t banish they turned to stone. She certainly didn’t feel like baking cupcakes for orphans and she was still able to move around so…

Inhaling sharply, she opened her eyes, heart clenching. After a few moments of looking around, and softly scraping her hoof along tufts of grass, she sighed in relief.

‘No moon… no moon…’

A thousand years with nothing but hunks of rock and a slumbering princess to keep her company had been the most tedious experience of her life so far.

‘So… the Elements failed? They were certainly stronger this time round than they were a thousand years ago, so that doesn’t seem likely. I don’t feel any different… besides the pain.’

Craning her neck so she could see the rest of her body, she did a quick check.

‘Wings. Hooves. Tail. Legs. Flank…’

Wait, where was her cutie mark?

Where there should have been a white crescent moon against a purple splotch, there was just black – finely groomed if a little dirty – fur.
The Elements took away her – well, Luna’s – cutie mark? Was that even possible? This had to be some sort of trick. She concentrated – wincing as the pain in her head worsened – on the spot where her cutie mark should be, lit up her horn, and dispelled the area.

Nothing happened.

She cast it again, stronger this time.

Still nothing.

It hurt too much to try again, so she laid her head down and tried to ignore the pain at the base of her horn. She wasn’t at full strength but a part of her was sure that no matter how strong her dispelling was, Luna’s cutie mark would remain gone.

‘What else could go wrong?’

She paused.

‘Why do I feel so… empty? Luna?’

She listened.

‘Luna? Answer me! Don’t even try to play the quiet game, not now.’

Growling, she mentally scoured her mindscape, searching, anticipating a cold lash of retaliation. When she received none, it became official that the princess was gone.

So she was in control of her own body, one that she actually had instead of simply possessing. A very weak body of her own, but a body nonetheless. She couldn’t complain.

She reflected on her situation as she struggled to stand, her limbs shaking with the effort.

She was apparently stuck in the middle of the Everfree forest, she had very little strength, there was a piercing pain in every part of her body, she was missing her mental companion, and judging by the setting sun, Celestia had broken free of her temporary prison and was most likely training the Element bearers at this very moment.

“Curse them…” She winced and stumbled forwards. “Curse them all…”

Things were not going well for her.

She almost tripped over a stone and shook her head.

‘One thing after the other… Get your strength back; you’ll heal faster.’

The sun began to set over the horizon, for which she was thankful.

As soon as the night had settled and the moon was in the sky, she felt better already.

She wasn’t entirely sure how she came to have a body of her own – though she wasn’t complaining – but seeing as it looked exactly like the one she augmented Luna’s form into, it stood to reason that she would inherit the same powers. Therefore, she recuperated faster at night and under direct moonlight.

Luna hadn’t been the one to raise the moon though, she could tell by the lack of artistic touch that was usually present when she did so. There was a good chance she was too weak to do it, similar to her own current situation.

However, even the energy of the night couldn’t bring her back to full health, and so, grumbling in annoyance, she limped over to a bush and chewed on some berries. They were definitely poisonous and tasted slightly bitter, but a full stomach went a long way for an alicorn’s healing properties.

After eating more than a dozen, she continued on her way. She may have not had full access to her powers or her wings, but she still had her solid memory, and she definitely remembered Ponyville being in this direction.

She walked along a crude path that may have once been tended to long ago without incident for a few minutes before she heard the sound of a twig snapping somewhere to her right, the silence of the forest making it almost impossible to miss. The foliage surrounding her rustled and she came to a stop, eyes narrowing in caution.

A few moments later, several pairs of yellow eyes appeared in the shadows, in front of her and to the side. Deep growls emanated from the eyes and her nose wrinkled as a foul stench permeated the air.

‘Ah, timber wolves…’

One by one, they entered the clearing, tree sap dripping from their splintered fangs and leafy eyebrows drawn together in a threatening expression. Slowly, they surrounded her. She glanced at the largest one with a scowl of distaste.

‘Their physiologies have become more streamlined over the years, I see. And me with no magic. This is going to be a long night.’

Hissing through her teeth, she pressed on, stubbornly ignoring the persistent throb in her left hind leg.

It was embarrassing how an injury which should have healed within seconds was taking an hour and was crippling her movement so drastically. She had never felt so… weak.

But she had to go on and find Ponyville. Once she found the town, then she could find the train station, and from there, make her way towards Canterlot by following the train tracks. The Element bearers may have resided in the town, but it wasn’t as if she was going to waltz in and announce her presence. No, she’d stick to the perimeter of the town, relying on her dark coat to blend in seamlessly with the darkness; should anypony actually be awake, they’d have a very hard time seeing her.

The thought of cutting them down while they slumbered passed her mind, but then a new Element bearer would pop up somewhere.
No, she had a better fate for them in mind.

She pushed her way past some shrubs and branches and finally stumbled onto an actual path, the dirt trodden upon by countless hooves. Up ahead she could see the thatched roofs of Ponyville. She grinned when she saw that barely any lights were on. Perfect.

Now that she was on the outskirts, she could rest for a bit. The long walk through the Everfree and the battle with the timber wolves had taken a lot out of her; she’d just need to lie down for a minute or so, and then she could-

Clop-clop-clop-clop-clop

She stared down the path at an approaching figure.

‘You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?’

She dove into a bush and hid away like a scared mouse. Peering out from the leaves and twigs, she listened to the hoof steps getting closer and closer.

‘Huh… Those sound strangely irregular…’

She couldn’t quite place it, but there was definitely something… off about those steps.

She quietened when a yellow light shone down the path and the pony stepped into view. For a moment, she could only watch in befuddlement as the mint-green unicorn jogged down the path… on her hind legs. Just her hind legs. She had seen some ponies stand like that, but it was usually when something was a little out of their reach and they needed an extra boost. She had never seen a pony actually walk on their hind legs let alone jog.

The unicorn in question stopped in the middle of the path and lowered herself into a more normal posture with all four hooves touching the ground. She panted heavily, her horn glowing as she took a bottle of water from her knack sack and drank deeply.

“Yeah… I’m definitely going to be feeling this in the morning…” The unicorn stretched, wincing as her spine popped back into place.

‘Just move along, foal; continue your… torture, apparently. There's nothing- what?’

Alerted by a strange chill on her left hoof, she looked down to see what it was. A brightly coloured rope had wrapped around her limb. It peered up at her and its black tongue flicked out. Grimacing down at the creature, she flicked her hoof back and forth. It landed somewhere down by her flanks and quickly squirmed away after lashing out at her injured leg.

Baring her teeth and just barely resisting the urge to burn the damned thing alive, she saw to her leg. Good – she had been bitten just above the timber wolf bite; that was simply wonderful.

“Hello?” She froze at the sound of the unicorn's voice, curious. “Is someone there?”

‘No, you simplistic filly; there’s no one here. Go back to your inane jogging rituals.’

“Are… are you okay?" The unicorn did not go back to her jogging; she ventured closer to the bushes, head tilted to one side. "You don’t have to be scared; I’m pretty friendly. Bon-Bon tells me not to be so friendly with strange things hiding in bushes near the Everfree forest, but she’s just being paranoid. I’m sure you’re a really nice strange thing anyway.”

The unicorn was creeping closer with every passing second. If she moved, she would be seen. She didn’t have the magic reserves, or the concentration to teleport. There was no way the unicorn wouldn’t recognize her; every pony in Ponyville had been at the Festival and seen her spectacular entry.

Plus, whatever type of snake that had been was poisonous enough to kill ten grown stallions judging by how tired and sore she was quickly becoming. Escape would be practically impossible.

There was only one thing for it.

Gathering all the miniscule traces of her magic, she cast a spell; one to disguise her appearance. She had to sacrifice the quality of the spell for length – there was no way she could afford to have both at her status – but hopefully it would be enough to fool the unicorn.

“Yoohoo? Any strange things in there?”

As the branches and leaves were pushed away, she swallowed her pride and put on what she hoped was a pitiful expression. It wasn’t too hard considering she felt more like death at that moment than ever before.

“Whoa…” The unicorn’s golden eyes widened. “Hey, are you okay? You don’t look like you’re having a very fun night.”

“P-p… please…” Her stuttering stemmed more from her reluctance to say the word rather than fatigue. “I… I don’t feel so good…”

“What happened?” The unicorn trotted beside her and nudged her head under her belly. “Here, let me help you up.”

A few horrifyingly humbling minutes later, the unicorn was supporting her as they travelled towards Ponyville.

Under the veil of darkness, Nightmare Moon grinned, her disguise momentarily faltering to expose sharp teeth and turquoise eyes.
‘It’s nice to see ponies are still just as gullible as they were a thousand years ago…’

“Jeez, you’re really heavy, you know that?”

Caught off guard by the remark, she responded automatically. “More of me to love…”

“Sorry, did you say something?”

“No. I mean… ugh… everything hurts…”

“Don’t you worry about a thing – Bon-Bon’s really good with taking care of ponies who aren’t feeling well. She does it twice a week every time I eat all her cookies! Then she gets mad at me and I have to sleep on the couch. Then I go for a jog to take my mind off how lonely the couch is and how I’ll never eat all her cookies again. Seriously, this time I’ll stop.”

Nightmare Moon groaned.

“So what were you doing near the Everfree forest, Miss…?”

Nightmare Moon took a second to fabricate a backstory. “Star Secret. But you can call me Star if you’d like.”

“That’s a nice name.” The tan coated earth pony who must have been Bon-Bon said. “But… what were you doing in the Everfree forest?”

Laying out her backstory in her head, Nightmare Moon looked down, feigning embarrassment, and replied, “It’s… stupid. I’m a star charter for the Canterlot Astrology Mausoleum. A few days ago one of my colleagues mentioned how our records for the stars above the Everfree were outdated, but no one wanted to go there because… well, it hasn’t exactly got the best reputation, you know? So I thought about that for a while and…” She gestured to her cutie mark – a single, dark blue, five-pointed star with one half slightly obscured by a dark cloud. “Seeing as how my special talent is charting stars I thought I was the most qualified to do that. You can see how going alone turned out.”

“I know that feeling.” The unicorn, Lyra, said with a knowing nod. “When I discovered my talent with the lyre I didn’t let anyone talk me out of finding a more…” She made air-quotes. “‘Stable’ career choice. Besides, if I had listened to them than I would never have met Bonny.”

She cast a strange look at Bon-Bon. Her eyes became slightly glazed and her sympathetic smile turned into something more… sultry. Nightmare frowned. That was… unusual.

Bon-Bon blushed and said, “I can understand following your dreams, but the Everfree forest… that’s so dangerous.”

Nightmare Moon put on a fake grin and laughed. “Yes, now I know just how dangerous it is. I thought…” She paused to shift into a more comfortable position on their rather soft couch. “I thought I could handle it. Unicorns have a habit of getting in way over their heads.”

“I know of one unicorn that fits that description to a ‘t’.” Bon-Bon looked over at Lyra.

The latter kept grinning stupidly and tilted her head. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

Nightmare Moon continued. “But then I ran into a pack of timber wolves. I used up all my magic burning them and on my way out I was bitten by a snake.”

Bon-Bon nodded, glancing at the cold flannel covering Nightmare Moon’s injured leg. “Yes, you’re lucky it wasn’t fatal. Was it a sleeper snake? Those bites always make you feel like passing out.”

“I think so.” Sleeper snakes weren’t around a thousand years ago; they must have been a new species. “It was too dark to see.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital? Nurse Redheart’s really good at her job.”

“And healing spells really aren’t my strongest point.” Lyra added with an apologetic expression. “My parents never really let me out to get rough and dirty.”

“No, I’ll be fine, really.” Truthfully, though Lyra’s level of power was nowhere near Nightmare Moon’s, she had still cast some potent healing spells. “You’ve done more than enough. I should probably get going anyway…”

As Nightmare Moon expected, the two mares’ altruistic senses kicked in.

“Oh no, you can’t leave! You’re still hurt!” Bon-Bon protested.

“Yeah, at least stay for the night. Then see how you feel in the morning.” Lyra added.

Nightmare Moon feigned hesitation. “I don’t want to be a bother…”

“Nah, it’s fine. Bonny and I don’t get many guests and she loves cooking sweets for people. Seriously, you need to try her cookies; they’re even better than the Cakes’.”

Bon-Bon blushed and drew little circles on the carpet with her hoof. “Oh come on… m’not that good.”

“You’re right. You’re better than good. You’re awesome!” Lyra turned to Nightmare Moon. “Those cookies are like little orgasms in your mouth!”

“Lyra!”

“What?”

Eager to steer the conversation away from anything related to copulation, Nightmare Moon yawned. “Well… if you’re really sure, then I accept your offer. Th-thank y-you.”

“Here, I’ll show you the guest room.” Bon-Bon walked towards a plight of stairs. “Uh…” She stopped and glanced back. “That is… when you’re feeling better. That wound looked pretty sore.”

The wound had fully healed a few minutes ago after they put on the bandages, but Nightmare Moon faked a limp as she stood. “No, I can walk. It’s just a little pinch.”

Nightmare Moon followed Bon-Bon up the stairs as the earth pony yelled down to Lyra to start the oven. Arriving at the second floor, Nightmare Moon was led to a lone door at the end of a corridor. Bon-Bon pushed the door open and stepped back to allow her inside.

“I hope it’s comfortable enough for you.”

For a seldom-used guest room it was rather furnished and clean; there was a single medium-sized bed, a few drawers, some windows and another door which she guessed was the bathroom. Nightmare Moon stepped in, making a note to close the curtains.

“It’s perfect. Once again, th…” She grimaced and swallowed. “Thank y-you so much for your hospitality. I’ll be out of your mane first thing in the morning.”

“Oh, it’s no rush. Do you have money to get to Canterlot?”

“It’s no problem. I know a little about teleportation spells.”

“But aren’t those draining? Lyra's pretty good at those, but she still says it's really draining.”

She really just wanted to rest. Nightmare Moon swallowed her irritation and waved it off. “I can always have a little nap when I arrive at Canterlot. Don’t worry about me.”

Bon-Bon still didn’t look convinced. “Well if you’re sure…”

“Positive.” She cleared her throat and yawned again. “S-sor… Erm, my apologies, but I’m just feeling exhausted.”

The earth pony took the hint and turned to leave. “I’ll let you get some rest then. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Bonbon pulled the door shut before suddenly popping her head back in. “Oh, but try not to fall asleep until you’ve tried some of my sweets! You must be famished.”

Eating was a luxury, not a necessity for Nightmare Moon, but it was free, and now that she thought about it, she’d never actually tried anything other than those berries. The majority of her long life had been spent in Luna’s head and it was the lunar princess that experienced the sensations of the world, at least until Nightmare Moon took full control. Those berries and grass were the first things she’d actually tasted.

‘Filling but rather tasteless. Perhaps this would be more pleasant to consume.’

“I’ll try.” She replied with another grin. Her face was getting tired.

Bon-Bon nodded once before closing the door. As she heard the click and fading hoofsteps, Nightmare Moon’s smile fell into a fantastic frown. She stalked towards the bathroom and entered, looking into the mirror.

‘They smile so much.’

Massaging her jaw with her hoof, Nightmare Moon took the time to fully examine her disguise. She had to admit – for such a quick spell and minimal amounts of magic, she pulled off quite a convincing façade. Her glossy black coat had changed into a steel grey tone, her spectral mane and tail were now solid hair strands with a dark blue tone, and her draconic teal eyes were now a bright emerald green. There were still a few oddities; she was considerably larger than a normal unicorn and if one were to look closely, they could say her teeth seemed decidedly pointier than an average pony.

But she could address these in the morning, after a good night's rest. For now, it seemed to be enough to fool Lyra and Bonbon. Unless these two were just abnormally gullible and stupid. She was convinced they were at least slightly gullible, but she needed more proof to confirm the latter.

Nightmare Moon’s horn glowed and she telekinetically turned the cold water faucet on the sink. As the water ran, she gathered a sphere of water in her magical grasp, and splashed it across her face, shuddering at the pleasant sensation. She turned the taps off and sighed, staring at her reflection. The disguise wavered much like the water that dripped from her face; grey coat changing to black and her natural constricted pupils showing through before finally settling back to circular dots.

‘You may be eternal, Celestia… but your days are numbered nonetheless. I will throw your cake-loving flank from that throne and when I do… it will be glorious.’

Author's Note

Note 1: This is my first story, so always open to criticisms, provided they are actually criticisms.

Note 2: This story was written before the events of Season 4 and 5, so it deviates from canon; however, elements and characters from both seasons - and seasons that follow thereafter, provided the story is not yet complete - may appear in the storyline.

Chapter 1: Job Application

1052 AD, February 23rd

Nightmare Moon soared through the air under the guise of an Invisibility spell as she covered the distance between Ponyville and Canterlot. A train thundered along the tracks below her, steam billowing from its chute. Birds flew alongside her, oblivious; the crystal blue sky was barren with not one cloud to be seen for miles all around. Sunlight streamed down on all the land, highlighting the foliage’s green tones and creating pixels of rainbows on her eyelashes.

Grudgingly, she had to admit it was a pretty scene. Celestia had managed to create a land of beauty during her reign.

Below, the train vanished into the network of tunnels that would lead it to Equestria’s capitol city. Nightmare Moon, having the perks of flight, merely flapped her powerful wings to gain altitude, and flew up along Canterlot Mountain’s rocky face. Spiralling around one of the twin waterfalls that cascaded over the edge of the city, Nightmare Moon flew higher and higher until she was finally up and above the city wall, gazing down on the sprawling metropolis.

‘Mm, I’ve always been one for large settlements,’ Nightmare Moon mused as she tucked in her wings and dove down, spreading open the appendages just before she struck a building, and instead glided over the rooftops. ‘The serenity of nature is welcome, but there’s so much power and influence within these walls.’

Spotting a secluded alleyway, Nightmare Moon spread out her wings to catch the air, and descended, her horn lighting up as she dispelled her invisibility and reapplied her disguise. She had corrected the teeth and toned down her size, but couldn’t help but leave a bit more mass.

She wasn’t used to not looking down on ponies when she spoke to them.

Stepping out of the alleyway, Nightmare Moon slipped into the crowd and trotted along the cobblestone path.

‘I see security has been updated since my arrival…’

Nightmare Moon smirked with no small amount of pride as she watched stallions in golden armour patrol the streets in pairs. A few conversations with Lyra and Bon-Bon confirmed that it had been roughly six days since she had been defeated. Six days and the Royal Guard looked like they were expecting her to swoop down and carry them off to her lair. It was pathetic really; she hadn’t even stayed that long in Canterlot.

Turning away from the guards, her smirk faded as she stood in the shadow of Canterlot Castle. Feelings of wrath began churning in her chest as she gazed upon the golden architecture.

The princesses were probably up there, in the highest spire – Celestia’s room if she remembered correctly – spending quality time to make up for their thousand-year long separation.

She wanted to fly up there and challenge them, but she couldn’t do it. A good night’s rest and a few plates of those incredible cookies had done wonders to build up her strength, but she was still nowhere near at her full power. This wasn’t just fatigue.

Nightmare Moon brought a hoof up to her chest.

Without Luna she literally felt incomplete; a jigsaw with one piece missing. It was a deep yawning chill that constantly throbbed. If she didn’t think too much on it, then she could easily ignore the sensation, but if she did think about or used magic, then the feeling intensified. Casting the invisibility spell alone sent unpleasant chills throughout her body and that spell was rudimentary for somepony of her strength. She knew that casting anything more complicated than that would be too distracting and she needed to be at top physical and mental condition if she was going to face the two sisters.

Healing spells wouldn’t work and her alicorn physiology was only suited to deal with physical injuries. No, this wound was of her very soul and only time would mend it.

She idly wondered if Luna was feeling the same way.

Huffing, Nightmare Moon lowered her hoof to the ground, and turned to walk back the-

She abruptly came to a stop as something collided with her. Stumbling from the force, Nightmare Moon gave a hiss of pain, and rubbed at her neck. She glared daggers at the stallion who had bumped into her, and by proxy, the mare accompanying him.

The stallion had a solid build for a unicorn and was almost as tall as Nightmare Moon. His pure white coat was immaculate, as was his dark blue mane. Like many of the unicorns here, he wore expensive clothing; a tuxedo with long coat tails. His cutie mark was a picture of three crowns.

“Oh, I do beg your pardon, ma’am.” He said, rising to his hooves with the help of the mare. His horn gave a deep orange glow as he levitated a monocle back onto his face. “You weren’t harmed, were you?”

Dusting herself off with a grimace, Nightmare Moon inhaled deeply, attempting to keep a cool head. “No. I’m fine.”

“Spectacular to hear – I’d hate to start my day off by injuring some innocent mare in my haste,” He chuckled briefly. “Rush here, rush there – you know how it is in Canterlot.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Yes, I’ve been getting that feeling since I arrived.”

“Oh? So you’re not from here?”

“No.”

“Well, how has your experience with the city been so far?” The stallion’s companion questioned.

The mare at his side was also a unicorn and had a slender build; she was actually quite skinny, and her ribs were noticeable if one looked hard enough. Her coat was a pristine white and her mane was a light pink. Her cutie mark was of a fleur-de-lis. She didn’t wear clothes, which separated her from everypony else Nightmare Moon had seen so far.

“Different – there aren’t many buildings of such stature and design where I’m from,” Nightmare Moon lied smoothly. “The technology is also far more advanced judging by the stores with radios and television sets. Devices adapted from Foresight Resonance’s theory on how magic interacts with crystals, no doubt.”

The stallion’s jaw dropped. “You… you know the Crystal Resonance Theory?”

Foresight Resonance had been one of Luna’s closest advisors long ago and often spouted long lectures on how certain crystals could store one’s memories and display them in full, coloured images through the careful application of magic. Nightmare Moon had actually predicted the manufacturing of a device that utilized the same principle, but on a larger scale. The television wasn’t exactly the idea she had in mind, but it was very close, and a lot more sophisticated if she understood its usage correctly.

“I’ve studied up on it,” Nightmare Moon replied with a nonchalant shrug. “Is it so surprising I know it?”

“Yes, especially since most texts involving the Crystal Resonance Theory were destroyed by Foresight Resonance’s rival – Aurora Shimmer. The most intact text I know of is in the Royal Archives.”

‘Ah, and so my banishment and lack of knowledge catches up to me. How infuriating…’

Nightmare Moon opened her mouth to stall for time and think up a reason as to how she knew that when the stallion interrupted her.

“You know, you actually bear a striking resemblance to Foresight Resonance, at least in the common depictions of her,” He rubbed at his chin with one hoof. “Wherever you’re from… it wouldn’t happen to be in the east, would it? Perhaps near one of castles of the old Unicorn Kingdom?”

Capitalizing on the stallion’s unintended break, Nightmare Moon replied, “I do hail from the east, but I’m not sure if there’s anything like that nearby. My grandmother had some old books; I learned it from them.”

“Ah, but is rare to find one who knows the Crystal Resonance Theory, much less the true theory and the true pony who first discovered it,” The stallion extended his right foreleg. “I am Fancypants and the lovely mare at my side is Fleur De Lis – a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Nightmare Moon growled in her throat; she shouldn’t have wasted time talking with them, now they wanted to introduce themselves. She considered walking away then and there with some half-assed excuse, but… then again, they could prove useful for something or another in the future. Might as well make an attempt to be friendly…

“… Star Secret…” Nightmare Moon returned the hoofshake.

Apparently oblivious to her lack of enthusiasm, Fancypants’ horn glowed as he straightened his monocle again. “If you know about the Crystal Resonance theory, then would it be too much to presume that you have a decisive opinion on the Teleportation vs Translocation argument?”

“That’s hardly an argument,” Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Teleportation, obviously.”

Fancypants laughed. “I know of many in my social circle that would disagree. Speaking of which, we just so happen to be having a little gathering at the local theatre a week from now. Would you consider joining me as my plus one? I’m afraid my fiancé is rather busy with a modelling show the same day.”

“That and most of their talk goes over my head.” Fleur admitted with a sheepish chuckle.

“Oh, we’re just stuffy old ponies with a fixation on history,” Fancypants reassured her. “I know for a fact that none of us know fashion the way you do, my dear.”

Fancypants must have been desperate for somepony to talk to if he was inviting some random mare of the street. Granted, Nightmare Moon was anything but a random mare, but he wasn’t aware of that. Unfortunately, she had no desire for social gatherings, not when she had much larger goals in mind.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to decline; I have… business to attend to.”

“Ah, that’s a shame,” Fancypants said with a forlorn look. “Ever since one of my colleagues reconsidered running for a position on the Royal Court, she’s been spending more-”

Nightmare Moon’s ears perked up. “Royal Court?”

“Hm? Oh…” He gestured towards the castle with one hoof. “Like any other settlement, Canterlot has a board of ponies that run the city’s businesses. Infrastructure, security, agriculture, trading, et cetera.”

Nightmare Moon knew there were authority figures in charge of running the settlements outside of Canterlot, but she didn’t expect the same here.

“If that’s the case, then what does Celestia do?” She asked.

“She’s still our ruler, but she handles issues on a more…” Fancypants paused and hummed thoughtfully, as if searching for the right words. “Grander scale. She still puts aside time to hear Canterlot’s woes and help where she can, but she’s a busy princess you must understand.”

Nightmare Moon’s mind was already ticking at this revelation.

‘The Royal Court…’

She imagined being on a seat next to Celestia as a trusted official.

‘Close to her…’

Slowly, she formed a toothy grin, her eyes flashing.

‘With her guard completely down…’

“Hm, but I apologize; I appear to have taken a bit of time out of your day.” Fancypants continued, oblivious to her inattention. “It was certainly a delight meeting one who shares such deep knowledge-”

“I’ll do it.”

“-concerning the…” He paused and blinked a few times. “I beg your pardon?”

“I’ve changed my mind, Fancypants.” She realized that it looked suspicious changing her mind so suddenly, but she was confident in her ability as a smooth talker to make it seem as if she had no ulterior motives. “I just remembered that my schedule isn’t set in stone; I can shift some activities around to make time. If you’ll still have me, that is.”

“Oh, but that is a pleasant surprise,” Fancypants smiled, none the wiser, and neither was his companion, judging by her pleased expression. “Here – allow me to write down the name of the theatre and the time. Star Secret, was it? A catchy name.”

Nightmare Moon was amazed at her own good fortune. What were the chances she would bump into the stallion that would inadvertently give her the head-start she needed to take this city? She would not squander this opportunity.

“There we are,” Fancypants tucked a pencil back into his pocket and levitated over a small slip of rectangular paper. “I believe the theatre’s showing the romantic classic ‘Hearts over the Mountain’, so be sure to bring a box of tissues.”

“Right…” Nightmare Moon internally scoffed at the notion as she took the paper with her own magic. The day she cried would be the day the world was coming to an end. Maybe.

“I look forward to meeting you again, Star Secret; I’ve been itching to have a good debate with somepony that isn’t-”

“Fancypants!”

Nightmare Moon swivelled her head about towards the shout. Marching towards them was a unicorn stallion dressed in a white tuxedo. His coat was an uninspiring white – she was beginning to think there were simply no colours left in the noble gene pool; spectacular inbreeding skills, really – and his styled mane was a sandy blonde.

She despised him instantly.

“Oh, Celestia help me…” Fancypants muttered, his face turning dark for the first time since she met him. However, just as quick, it turned jovial once more. “Prince Blueblood! Good to see you, old chap. How are you this fine day?”

“Fancypants…” Blueblood brushed past Nightmare Moon like she wasn’t even there. “What are you wearing?”

Fancypants blinked, glanced at Fleur, and then back at Blueblood. “A… tuxedo? Do you want the name of the-”

“A tuxedo, correct. And a tuxedo has breast pockets, am I right?”

“Indeed you are, though I’m not-”

“What do you have in your pockets?”

Fancypants blinked a few more times before levitating the contents of his pockets out. “Some papers… Ah, I was looking for these bits… A pocket watch… some-”

“A pocket watch, you say?” Blueblood nodded, looking pleased. “Excellent. Would you please tell me the time?”

“Uh… Why, it’s 4:35 pm.”

“Good. Now tell me what the time we agreed on for our little meeting was.”

“4-”

“4:25 pm exactly!” Blueblood slammed his right hoof down on the cobblestone. Fleur jumped and Nightmare Moon cringed at the noise.

Fancypants just looked thoughtful. “Oh…”

“‘Oh?’ That’s all you have to say? ‘Oh’?!” Blueblood looked ready to explode. “This is the third meeting you’ve missed because of your incessant procrastination! We’ll never get things done at this rate!”

“Blueblood, do calm down. Don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill.”

Blueblood turned red in the face. “What?! Don’t make a-?!”

“The arrangements for putting up purple drapes in the Royal Court can wait. Quite frankly, I’m more concerned with the matter regarding the civil war in the Griffon King-”

Blueblood rolled his eyes. “There is a gathering to be held in the Royal Court room in two days, Fancypants! The matter being addressed involves selecting the candidates for the new Captain of the Royal Guard. Do you really expect an important decision like that be made in a room with orange drapes?!”

“I’m not sure I see the problem with orange drapes.” Fleur said.

“And that’s why Canterlot is lucky these types of decisions lay on my shoulders and not yours.”

The amount of condescension in his tone and the smugness of his face made Nightmare Moon want to cave it in. “It’s a miracle the city’s still in one piece if that’s the case.” She scoffed.

Blueblood finally looked over at her and grimaced like she was gum on his hoof. Gum that could beat him within an inch of his life, maybe, but gum nonetheless.

“Is this the pony you’ve chosen to waste my valuable time on? You already have a trophy wife, for Celestia’s sake.”

Nightmare Moon growled. “Why you-”

“Now see here, Blueblood,” Fancypants stepped forward, brow scrunched in anger. “You may choose to insult me, but I draw the line when you start insulting my associates and my fiancé. I apologize for missing our appointment, but that gives you no reason to lash out at those around you.”

Gaining hold on her temper again, Nightmare Moon grudgingly admitted to being impressed. It seemed when push came to shove, Fancypants shoved back, and in a calm and collected manner. She could appreciate a backbone, in the metaphorical sense.

Blueblood puffed himself up, but she was certain his bark was worse than his bite. “Well, I wouldn’t feel the need to lash out at everyone if you just came to the…” He paused, inhaled, and exhaled. “No. I am not going to let this ruin my day.” He breathed in and out once more before abruptly turning and trotting away. “Forget the drapes, Fancypants. I’ll figure it out on my own, as usual. You go on with your day doing… whatever it is you do.”

Nightmare Moon watched him retreat, unsurprised by his cowardice. It was still pathetic, but it wasn’t as if she could overestimate somepony like that.

“What an ass.” Fleur huffed, flipping her mane back.

“My dear, that is an insult to asses everywhere.” Fancypants straightened his monocle and cleared his throat, turning back to Nightmare Moon. “I apologize for exposing you to that. Prince Blueblood tends to bring out the worst in me.”

“More like everyone he meets.” Fleur muttered.

Nightmare Moon glared after him. “How is there not a line of assassins fighting over which one of them gets the reward?”

“Our princess has a soft spot for her nephew and he does behave himself around her… most of the time.”

“What?” She turned back, brow furrowed in confusion. “Nephew? Luna has no children.”

“Well, it’s more of a title of endearment.” Fancypants shrugged. “The same way an adopted foal will call their parents ‘mother’ and ‘father.’ Blueblood’s family and Celestia go back quite a while. I believe his forefather was in her Royal Guard, but I’m not entirely sure.”

“Speaking of Princess Luna…” Fleur nodded towards the castle’s highest spire. “Did you hear about her return?”

Nightmare Moon kept a straight face. “I did. She’s back living in the castle, right?”

“Indeed.” Fancypants said. “I feel for the poor filly; taken over by some nightmarish brute and banished to the moon for a thousand years. Luna deserves our sympathy and understanding. Unfortunately, not many ponies are so… open-minded. They’re convinced that Luna will someday revert back to her Nightmare Goon persona and-”

“Moon. Nightmare Moon.” Fleur corrected.

“Ah, right. They’re convinced that she may revert to her Nightmare Moon persona and attempt a coup again. There are even rumours of banishing her again.”

Nightmare Moon had been banished to the moon for a thousand years, but the experience had merely been boring for her instead of soul-crushingly depressive as she imagined anypony else would have found. She felt some sympathy for her former host; taken down by backroom politics instead of falling in some glorious battle was not an ideal way to go down in history.

“Rumours are rumours,” She replied. “Likely nothing will come of it; I doubt Celestia will let her only remaining family be taken away from her.”

“My sentiments exactly,” Fancypants nodded in agreement. “But we were saying farewell before we were so rudely interrupted, weren’t we? If there’s nothing else…?”

Nightmare Moon shook her head. “No. I will most likely see you at the theatre, Fancypants. Until then…” She dipped her head. “Goodbye. You too, Fleur.”

“Goodbye.”

“Farewell, my dear.”

As she departed, Nightmare Moon took one final look at the paper in her grasp, and chuckled, low and sinister, under her breath.

‘My thanks, Fancypants; you’ve played a huge part in my plans already…’

It occurred to her a little while later that she needed to get some bits for the ticket to the theatre.

That meant she had to find a job.

A place to rest wasn’t as important. Clouds were plentiful and pleasant to the touch. Bathing was as simple as diving through a rain cloud. Food was also not a problem as it literally grew on the ground, not that she actually needed it to live, but the option that it was there should she need it was comforting.

She planned to work up enough bits for the ticket and then work towards purchasing an apartment for her base of operations.

‘This will be rather wearisome, but I’m not afraid to get my hooves dirty to achieve my goals. Now surely there’s an open spot in dire need of filling.’

Unfortunately, it seemed as though the upper class section of the city wasn’t in mood for hiring. She had trotted throughout the streets and looked in every business, but had yet to see a ‘Help Wanted’ sign. She suspected her lack of clothing was putting ponies off; they probably thought she was a vagrant or something of the like.

Grumbling under her breath, Nightmare Moon was about to teleport to the middle-class section of the city when her hoof landed on something slippery. Shifting forwards and only just barely regaining her balance, she scowled poisonously at the brightly coloured paper on the ground, and prepared to cast a spell to burn it to ash. However, the colourful block letters and bright background caught her attention, and she levitated it to eye level.

Muttering the words as she read, Nightmare Moon hummed thoughtfully once she was finished. The business was unfamiliar to her, but the hours were at night, the job occupation was intriguing, and one would hardly think to look for someone like her in a place like that.

Scrunching the paper into a ball and tossing it into a nearby bin, Nightmare Moon set towards her destination.

By the time she arrived in the downtown district, the sun was starting to set, and stars appeared in the twilight sky.

Examining her surroundings, she noted how different it was from the sparkling ‘utopia’ of the upper class districts. The buildings were far from rundown, but they also weren’t as up-to-date, and could do with a good renovation, if only to get rid of the dirt, grime, and graffiti. The streets were much of the same, but there was an abundance of trash nopony seemed keen on picking up, and there was hardly a street cleaner in sight. Finally, she noticed the population, and how the ratio of unicorns to pegasi and earth ponies had dropped dramatically.

‘Hm, so there is a darker side to Canterlot…’

She couldn’t say she was ecstatic about the trash, but she took comfort in the knowledge that she could at least get into a fight without drawing too much suspicion. Half of these ponies looked like they had gotten into a fight first thing in the morning.

Trotting down the sidewalk, Nightmare Moon approached a pegasus mare closing up shop. “Excuse me, where can I find DJ Pon-3’s club?”

“Down this street, take a left. Keep going down until you reach an intersection. The club’s on the right side, you can see it from there. You hit a deli, you’ve gone too far.”

Nightmare Moon nodded and followed the mare’s directions. “Th-thanks…”

“Be careful,” The pegasus called after her. “It gets pretty bad here at night.”

“Yes, I know,” Nightmare Moon replied with a small chuckle. “It seems all the most dangerous individuals come out when it’s night.”

The pegasus mare raised one eyebrow at her before bringing down the shop’s shutter with a rattle. She then shook her head and spread her wings to fly back home.

“Unicorns…”

Public activity seemed to increase in direct response to the dwindling sunlight, as by the time Nightmare Moon arrived at her destination, several businesses were open and displaying their bright, neon signs.

It was strange seeing how much times had changed. Long ago, ponies went to bed as soon as the sun started setting, and woke up early to tend to their business. Nightmare Moon figured that the advancements in technology allowed more efficient labour and later bedtimes. The fact that there seemed to be more to do at night might have also played a part.

Like the club she was standing before, a medium-sized rectangular building with considerably more neon fixtures than most other buildings. The club’s name ‘DJ Pon-3’ was displayed clearly on the front of the establishment, though the ‘3’ flickered randomly; in need of maintenance, most likely.

Nightmare Moon trotted towards the double doors and pushed them open with a flare of magic. The interior of the building was designed so differently from what she was used to that she had to stop and take it all in. The centre was a large area of open space with numerous alcoves in the walls occupied by tables and chairs. On one side of the club was a bar; large quantities of alcohol lined the shelves. On the wall opposite the bar was a mess of electronic equipment and large stereos, all fixed on an elevated platform, allowing anypony standing there to see all over the club. The only light came from dimly lit bulbs located on the ceiling, almost hidden by the dozens of larger spotlights.

‘What is this?’

The two ponies at the bar were just as perplexing in appearance. The mare was a unicorn with a pearly white coat and a two-tone electric blue mane. Opaque purple glasses rested on her face, concealing her eyes. Her cutie mark was a pair of eighth notes.

The stallion was an earth pony and possessed a light blue coat with a dark grey mane. He wore a dark grey shirt with a white tie. His cutie mark was of three five-pointed stars. Like the mare, he wore dark glasses which concealed his eyes.

The two were chatting amiably as they cradled beverages. Nightmare Moon loudly cleared her throat to get their attention.

“Oh, sorry we’re not open yet,” The mare said in a rather masculine voice; it reminded her of Rainbow Dash. “Come back in a few hours.”

“Actually, I’m here to apply for the job opening. You placed posters all around Canterlot, correct?”

The mare turned to her companion. “Job…? Oh right, we wanted someone for the security, huh?”

The stallion turned to Nightmare Moon. “Um, you do realize the opening is for a bouncer, right? As in, somepony who has to sometimes physically escort ponies who cause too much trouble out of the club?”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Yes, I’m aware of that.”

“Oh… well…”

“What’s the problem, Neon?” The mare asked. “She’s a unicorn, so she can just use magic to throw ponies out, and she’s even bigger than the other bouncer. And he’s an earth pony.”

“I don’t have a problem! It’s just… you know…”

“She’s a mare?”

“No! Nothing like that.”

The mare looked away, muttering, “Sure sounds like it, ya sexist bastard…”

“Come on, Vinyl, you know I’m not like that.” Neon put down his beverage and held up his hooves in a placating gesture. “It’s just we’re going to open soon, we need to do an interview if she wants to apply, we need to-”

“Oh, come on, we just need to ask the important questions; I’ve been telling you that all the friggin’ time,” Vinyl turned to Nightmare Moon and gave a broad grin. “Hey, tall, dark and sexy – you got any issues with throwing ponies out on their asses?”

Ignoring the mare’s crude way of speaking and the strange comment on her figure, Nightmare Moon shook her head. “I’d be more conflicted on throwing out spoiled milk.”

“How does two hundred bits a week sound?”

“Acceptable.”

“You okay with working into the wee hours of the morning?”

“I do nothing during the day anyway.”

“Alright, we got a new bouncer!”

“You know, Vinyl,” Neon began uneasily. “I’m not sure I’m very comfortable with that thing about the spoiled milk.”

“Ah, you’re not comfortable with anything. Welcome to the club, uh… help me out here, huh?”

“Star Secret.”

“Ooh, sweet name,” The mare laughed as she trotted to Nightmare Moon and threw a foreleg over her shoulders. “Yeah, we’re gonna get along just fine.”

Nightmare Moon cringed at the contact. “I’m positively ecstatic.”

“Come on,” Vinyl fell back on her hooves and strolled further into the club. “I’ll show you what to do. Neon, start putting some lights on, will ya?”

As Nightmare Moon strolled past the stallion, she gave a cold grin. “I look forward to working with you.”

Neon smiled back uneasily, letting out a sigh of relief as she passed. Pushing his glasses further up his muzzle, he walked off to set the club up for the ponies that will arrive.

“And that’s why I don’t go after mares…”

Author's Note

Note 1: AD stands for 'After Discord', so it has been 1052 years since Discord was first sealed in his stone prison.

Chapter 2: Nightlife

1052 AD, February 24th

As it turned out, the club was one for dancing and music; though she had never heard this type of music. Heavy with pulse-pounding beats and accompanied by strobes of coloured lights, the music shook the entire building as ponies filled the dance floor, jumping up and down and banging their heads. Their appearances were strikingly bright and unique; manes brightly coloured and clashing with their coats. A good majority of them bore piercings in their ears, tongues, lips, and brow. Some of them had glow sticks; held within their mouths, wings, and magic, creating streaks of coloured light as they waved them about. It was chaotic.

Yet she found she didn’t mind it. In fact, she somewhat enjoyed it. The music screamed power and the beats shook her to the very core, blocking out the empty feeling. She wasn’t very opinionated on the lights. It didn’t appeal to her, but it didn’t put her off either.

The music coupled with the fact that she was being paid to throw ponies that irked her out on the streets put her in a pleasant mood. For the first time in a while she could relax.

“Dude, just leave me alone, okay?”

“Come on, I’m trying to be a gentlecolt here! Seriously, any drink you want.”

“I’ll get it myself.”

“But I’m already standing.”

Nightmare Moon oriented her head in the direction of the argument. A mare with a spiky green mane was being pestered by a stallion with a similar hairstyle except red. Nightmare Moon walked towards the pair. When she arrived, she cleared her throat.

“There’s not a problem here, is there?”

The stallion turned and she silently enjoyed the spark of fear in his eyes. “No! No problem – everything’s cool. I was just, uh… uh…”

“Leaving this mare alone because you’re such a gentlecolt?”

“Yep, that’s exactly what I was going to do!” He laughed and quickly trotted off. “Alright, see you, bye!”

The mare beamed at her. “Thanks so much for that.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Enjoy your night.”

She walked away, slightly disappointed. She was silently hoping he would get rowdy so she had an excuse to cause physical pain. There wasn’t anything quite like the feeling of putting ponies in their place.

“Whoo!”

A heavy weight pressed against her back. Nightmare Moon craned her neck and glared at the mare. She was rubbing a hoof up and down her coat, a drunken grin on her face.

“You’re sho warm, ya… ya kn-know that?”

Disgust filled her as she noticed the pegasus’ erect wings. “You’ve had enough. Come with me.”

“Nooo… it’sh fine. It’sh fiiine,” The pegasus giggled as she was suddenly lifted into the air. “I believe I can fly! I believe I can touch… ponies…” She laughed at her own joke.

Throwing the front doors open, Nightmare Moon deposited the mare on the cold street, and stalked back inside. “Good luck with… everything.”

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star… how I wonder why I can’t grab you… Stupid… C’mere…”

Nightmare Moon’s routine carried on.

She played her role out by switching to various spots and standing still as a statue, casting her intense gaze over the crowd. Aside from a little roughhousing amongst friends and displays of public affection, nothing warranted her interference.

She began to relax once more, subconsciously bobbing her head to the beat.

“And that’s a wrap!” Vinyl cheered as the last of the crowd filtered out and the doors closed. “Alright, great work everypony! Especially our newest recruit; I saw you breaking up those fights like they were nothing.”

Nightmare Moon shrugged and her lip curled as she noticed how sweaty the other mare was. “A fight suggests the other party was a challenge. No, what you saw were inebriated ponies flailing at empty air and tiring themselves out. It’s like dealing with a foal throwing a tantrum, really.”

“Alright, killer, we get it,” The sweaty mare lightly punched her shoulder. If looks could kill, Vinyl would be a cloud of split atoms. “You’re the big bad wolf of DJ Pon-3’s club; silent, sleek and dangerous,” She then used her magic to lower her shades, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. “And lemme tell ya something – that always attracts the ladies.”

Recovering from the surprise of seeing Vinyl’s crimson irises, Nightmare Moon frowned. “I have no interest in relationships. Besides that, you do realize I am a mare? Or are those glasses prescription and beginning to expire?”

“Hey, chill,” The glasses were placed back. “Nothing wrong with wanting to get down with mares. We kiss better anyway, know what I mean?”

Nightmare Moon furrowed her brow. “You… Homosexuality is allowed here?”

“Well… yeah. It’s pretty common. Can’t think of a place where it isn’t allowed to be honest.”

‘Ah, of course, it all makes sense. Lyra and Bon-Bon were together. How could I have been so blind?’

It never fully occurred to her that some taboos regarding relationships that were present a thousand years ago might be moot by now.

Vinyl continued with, “Speaking of places, where’re you from?”

Nightmare Moon thought quickly. “Fetlockson – out in the east.”

“Fetlockson?” The white mare echoed with a quizzical tilt of her head. “Never heard of it. Is it like a rock farm where they’re all old-timey and stuff?”

“No rocks, but I suppose you could say we’re antiquated.” Nightmare Moon shrugged. “I’m afraid I didn’t part on good terms, so I’m hesitant to talk about it.”

“Yeah, I understand; no worries. It’s sort of like how I have some-”

“Yo, Vinyl!”

The DJ turned away from their conversation, which Nightmare Moon was grateful for. “What’s up?”

“One of our fuses blew.” Neon said, nodding to the basement door. “I’m gonna go fix it, so I’ll close up tonight.”

“You sure? I can wait, ya know.”

“Nah, it’s cool. You go and get some rest.”

Vinyl shrugged. “Alright, cheers. Catch ya later then.”

“Yup.”

As the stallion ventured into the basement, Vinyl turned her attention back to Nightmare Moon. “Yeah, so… what were we talking about?”

“Payment.”

“Oh right, right… let’s see, where did I put that…” The DJ’s horn glowed and an envelope – reeking of alcohol – levitated from her work station, sailing through the air to float in front of Nightmare Moon’s muzzle. “There we go – check for 100 bits. The other hundred’s for our next gig on Saturday. Those are always a wild ride so get your horn and hooves ready for a bit of enforcement.”

Nightmare Moon took the envelope with a grimace of disgust. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

Leaving Neon Lights to close, both mares made their way to the entrance and out onto the streets as soon as Vinyl finished gathering up her saddlebags. Nightmare Moon’s internal clock told her the moon would be setting soon.

“Stallion…” Vinyl was looking up at the night sky, the stars reflecting in her glasses. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen the night look so good before. I mean, Celestia did pretty alright before Luna came back, but this is like… tonnes better.”

Nightmare Moon grinned as she looked up as well, able to appreciate an artistic flourish when she saw one. “I’m inclined to agree.”

“Princess of the night – you think she’s a party animal?”

“I wouldn’t think so.”

“Bummer. I’d love to play for her some day. See if I can get some head-bangin’ action!” Vinyl cracked a yawn. “Ah, well… s’pose I better get home before I burn up in the sunlight, eh?” The mare punched her shoulder once more before turning left and trotting down the street. “See ya on Saturday, Wolf!”

As the mare trotted down a sidewalk and out of view, Nightmare Moon reflected on her thoughts about her. The alicorn couldn’t necessarily say she disliked her, but neither could she say she enjoyed her company. Her tendency to make as much physical contact as possible and the nickname grated on her nerves; however, the DJ gave her the job almost immediately, played good music, and didn’t have an attitude like sandpaper, so she was tolerable for the most part. It wouldn’t be too much of a pain working for her, Nightmare Moon decided.

Blinking out of her musings, she prepped her horn to turn invisible and drop her disguise to fly and find a comfortable cloud, but paused when she became aware of faint voices. One of them sounded a lot like the DJ.

Frowning, she followed the path the DJ took, having to completely go around the club to find the source of the voices behind the establishment. Nightmare Moon peered around the corner.

Vinyl was being confronted by four stallions, each of them significantly larger than her. Sensing the tension in the air, Nightmare Moon’s instincts kicked in, and she quickly assessed the situation.

Two of the stallions were pegasi, one was an earth pony, and the last a unicorn. The only thing they had in common were the purple ribbons tied on their right forelegs.

“Hey, I’m just saying there was a big turnout tonight,” The brown-coated earth pony said with a shrug. “You must have gotten a lot of income… right?”

“Well, I’m a very successful businesspony,” The DJ replied, standing tall. “What’s it to you?”

“Nothing,” The first pegasus – yellow-coated with an azure mane – said. “Just curious. Nothing wrong with asking somepony questions, is there?”

“Guess not,” Vinyl’s tail was swishing back and forth. “But can we cut this short? I’ve had a long day and I want to go to bed.”

“One more question…” The brown-coated stallion leaned against the side of the building. “Exactly how much are you carrying in that little bag of yours?”

Nightmare Moon had to admit she was impressed by the mare’s unwavering confidence. She must have been either very brave, or too stupid to acknowledge how much danger she was in.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Like we said…” The unicorn of the group – blue-coated with a dark brown mane – levitated the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled, the smoke cloud billowing into the DJ’s face. “We’re curious.”

Vinyl coughed and emitted a small burst of telekinesis, clearing the smoke. “Enough to make a good night. Now would you kindly move your flanks so I can go?”

“Don’t worry – we’ll be out of your mane…” The green-coated pegasus’ wings suddenly snapped open. “Soon.”

“Alright, look…” Vinyl took a step back. “We can talk this out like rational-”

Her horn flashed and a rolling wave of blue light knocked the stallions off their hooves. Nightmare Moon’s left eyebrow rose. It was only a Kinetic Impact spell – elementary – but she didn’t expect the DJ to be adept enough in magic to make it that strong. In hindsight, though, she guessed she should have expected it; Vinyl had been using telekinesis on several objects at once for the entire night, suggesting she possessed considerable finesse and stamina.

Instead of running like she expected, Vinyl picked the unicorn up in a strong magical grip and threw him into the wall. She then leapt on him, hooves raining down.

‘Smart. Always attempt to take out any unicorns when facing an enemy as soon and as quickly as possible.’

Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to be the unicorn’s first brawl as he regained his bearings and blocked the blows as they came. After evading a particularly hard punch, he kicked out and caught her in the stomach. Vinyl exclaimed in pain and reeled back, clutching the sore spot. From behind, the green-coated pegasus grabbed hold of her hind legs and rose into the air, leaving her dangling like a piñata.

‘Yes, pegasi have an annoying habit of doing that during a fight. Pragmatic, simple, and effective on non-pegasi but annoying.’

“Put me down, asshole!” Vinyl’s glasses fell from her face, revealing her intense red irises. Her horn glowed as she attempted to snatch the pegasus up in her telekinesis. He simply shook her back and forth, breaking her concentration. “Quit it! Fight me, ya damn c-”

The earth pony struck her in the stomach once, twice, three times, knocking the air from her lungs.

Nightmare Moon sighed, knowing what she had to do.

After carefully placing her bag of bits on the ground, she stepped forward.

Vinyl had been using her magic all night and even the most powerful unicorn wasn’t a match for anything if they were fatigued and couldn’t concentrate. Simple strength and speed trumped magic more often than not; Vinyl would not walk from this fight victorious if Nightmare Moon didn’t lend a hoof.

Good intentions be damned – she wouldn’t get paid if her employer was in hospital. On the bright side, at least now Nightmare Moon could indulge in her blood-knight traits.

Vinyl was coughing hard from the blows, groaning and muttering insults as the earth pony began feeling her up with an anticipatory leer. Nightmare Moon strolled leisurely towards the group, her approach noticed by the yellow-coated pegasus.

“Hey!” He stepped towards her, flexing his wings. “Keep out of this. You don’t want to piss us off, too.”

Nightmare Moon calmly raised her right hoof and struck him soundly across the face. He collapsed on the cold cobblestone with a bloody nose, two missing teeth, and a severe lack of consciousness.

‘How disappointing…’

“Awww yeah, the big, bad Wolf!” Vinyl laughed. “You guys are fucked now!”

“Surrender and I won’t beat you too severely,” Nightmare Moon smirked cruelly at the three stallions. “Actually no, I think I will beat you just as severely.”

Using the pegasus’ moment of distraction, Vinyl used her telekinesis to grab hold of his wings and twist. Crying out in pain, he relinquished his hold on her and landed hard. Nightmare Moon chose then to magically yank the earth pony in close and used his own momentum to make the punch across his face that much harder. He went down, but not out.

The unicorn snarled and his horn glowed blue. “Celestia-damned bitch!”

She felt the very air around her become heavy and quickly cast a dispelling charm over herself. His telekinetic hold disintegrated and he staggered from the resulting magical feedback, face pinched in pain as his horn sputtered and sparked. She then cast a minor illusion spell and bucked him a few metres back as he staggered, his brain lapsing briefly as it struggled to make sense of sudden daylight.

In the corner of her peripheral vision, she spotted Vinyl duck and weave under the pegasus’ wild swings and counter with heavy blows to his sides. For a unicorn that had gotten a thorough beating not a minute ago, she was doing rather well.

Nightmare Moon turned her attention to the earth pony and levitated him into the air. She concentrated hard as he struggled – his shifting mass forcing her to constantly adjust her grip – and slammed him into the side of the building a few times before throwing him into his unicorn companion.

“Son of a…!” He was definitely more robust than his glass-jawed friend. His earth pony physiology had ensured the violent pounding he received left only bruises and maybe one cracked rib. “Get your flank up and do something!”

The unicorn dispelled the illusion and shook his head, horn glowing in preparation for another spell. Nightmare Moon steadied herself, casting a momentary glance towards Vinyl. The DJ was now sporting a bloody lip, but her opponent was far worse; he was covered in bruises, both eyes were starting to turn black and he was swaying on his hooves.

“Eat this!” The unicorn’s horn flashed and Nightmare Moon instinctively deployed a translucent dark blue shield in front of her.

The Kinetic Impact spell struck it harmlessly. She enjoyed the frustration and rage on his face. His horn flashed again and her shield rippled like the surface of water as an illusion spell passed through it. The fact that a common thug like him would be able to weave such a complex spell was surprising, but Nightmare Moon still easily dispelled it just as the images of clouds and the sound of rushing wind begin filling her head. A common scare-tactic; too bad she enjoyed flying at high altitudes every now and then.

With a roar, the earth pony charged. Nightmare Moon merely imbued her shield with electricity. She smiled evilly as he jerked and convulsed as soon as he touched it.

‘Ah, this trick worked wonders on the Royal Guard.’

The spell wasn’t cast with lethal potential, so it ran out of steam quickly, leaving the smoking earth pony to collapse against her shield, mane frazzled and standing on end. With but a thought, the shield dissolved into nothingness, and Nightmare Moon stepped over the stallion, giving the rapidly-retreating unicorn a sadistic smile.

The stallion’s eyes flicked back and forth before he abruptly turned and ran. Immediately, a pristine white hoof smashed into his face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

“Boom, bitch! How do ya like me now?!” Vinyl kicked him in the stomach for good measure. Nightmare Moon saw no reason to stop her. “Yeah, you and your friends try to stick me up; I got my main mare, Wolf, here.” She gave one more kick before limping towards her. “Thanks for the assist. I’m a good brawler and all, but four against one’s a bit out of my league.”

Nightmare Moon noticed some blood on her hoof and wiped it off on the earth pony. “You fight well.”

“There were a lot of bullies at my school. Had to learn to fight or get my lunch money stolen.” She grinned and Nightmare Moon noticed a chipped tooth. “But what about you? I kinda figured you’d be good at fighting since you’re the biggest damn unicorn I’ve met, but that magic stuff was awesome! You were just throwing out spells like nopony’s business! And that shield… absolutely epic.”

Nightmare Moon shrugged, enjoying having her ego stroked. “Let’s just say I’ve had a lot of experience.”

“Stallion, I can’t believe Neon didn’t want you as our bouncer,” Vinyl turned her head to the side and spat, the bloody mucus landing with a sickening splat on the cobblestone. “Yuck. Anyway, with you around I bet these dumbasses will think twice about trying to muscle in on our business.”

Looking down and noticing the purple bands again, Nightmare Moon frowned, and telekinetically undid the knot, levitating it to get a better look. “Who are these ponies?”

“Ah…” Vinyl scowled and swept a hoof through her mane. “Just some two-bit gang called the Dwellers; they don’t do much besides mugging, robbery and spraying their tags everywhere. Had some trouble with them before, but nothing like this. Hey, you seen my shades?”

Nightmare Moon dropped the piece of fabric with a sneer.

‘Well Celestia, it seems as though your city isn’t the sugar bowl paradise everypony makes it out to be.’

“Oh, that’s nice. That’s friggin’ fantastic.” Vinyl’s lip curled up in a snarl as she glared down at the yellow-coated pegasus. “You morons scratched my shades! Jeez…” She carefully placed them back on her face and sighed. “This sucks.”

“You’re better off than them,” Nightmare Moon pointed out as she casually glanced up. There was a nice patch of clouds floating above. “Well, if you’re not feeling as though you’re about to faint, then I’ll be on my way.”

“Say what?” The DJ turned to face her, quickly trotting forwards. “You can’t go! I gotta repay you… somehow.” She muttered to herself as she looked around, as if she planned to give something she found on the street to her as a reward.

“That’s not necessary.” She really just wanted to go to sleep; the fight had been fun while it lasted, but now that the adrenaline was ebbing away, she could feel the gaping hole in her soul throb uncomfortably.

“It totally is necessary! You saved my flank back there, so I gotta do something…” She tapped her chin. “Oh, I got it! I’ll let you crash with me!”

Nightmare Moon stared at the mare in front of her, perplexed. Did Vinyl somehow know she was without a place to stay? And why that specifically? It seemed more obvious and easier to just give her some bits. But times had changed and so had ponies; perhaps this type of reward was common.

“It’s fine, really.”

“I got an awesome apartment a block down from here; it has a window!” The DJ paused to let that sink in. “With an awesome view!”

‘I find it hard to believe that viewing the wall of an opposing building from your apartment window is able to surpass viewing all of Equestria from the skies.’

“I’d rather just-”

“I got a fridge! And it’s full.”

“Congratulations. But I-”

“Of food.”

“You must be so proud. Now I said that I’d-”

“I got pie.”

“… Pie?”

“Yup.”

“… What kind?”

“Lemon meringue.”

“…”

Curse her weakness for lemon meringue pie.

A thousand plus years ago, Nightmare Moon had watched through Luna’s eyes as the princess daintily munched on some lemon meringue pie; she had been utterly captivated. She had asked Luna to describe it to her and though the princess had tried her hardest, descriptions did nothing to prepare her for the sheer taste. This must have been love. Pure, timeless…

Nightmare Moon then noticed the blank stare the DJ was giving her.

In an attempt to save face at her embarrassing display of indulgence, Nightmare Moon cleared her throat and slowed down in her consumption.

“Oh, nah, don’t mind me!” Vinyl laughed. “I just wasn’t expecting you to have such a normal appetite. Only way to really enjoy food is to shove it in your mouth, right?” As if to prove her point, she levitated a huge chunk of syrup-coated pancakes in her mouth.

Wrinkling her nose at the messy display, Nightmare Moon replied. “I can’t say I agree with you. I’m of the opinion that one should take their time with every bite and savour the taste,” She paused. “My… enthusiasm just now was because it’s been so long since I’ve had lemon meringue.”

“Mmm…” Vinyl swallowed. It was truly a wonder how she didn’t choke. “I know that feeling. I’ve got a friggin’ fetish for pancakes and if I go a week without them, I pretty much start losing it. Shaking, sweating, drooling – like I’ve got an addiction, ya know?”

It really did sound like the DJ had a problem. “Then perhaps you should seek a rehab clinic.”

Spluttering on her latest mouthful, Vinyl quickly gulped down and laughed. “Oh, you’re a hoot, ya know that? You’re like… the most intimidating unicorn I’ve met, but you’re friggin’ funny, too.”

“Most intimidating mare? Really?” Nightmare Moon levitated the fork into her pie and cut a small bit off. “What about the Mare in the Moon?”

“Oh shit, that’s right! That, uh…” Vinyl tapped her chin. “That, uh… um…”

“Nightmare Moon…” She supplied with a small amount of annoyance. She really didn’t like fading into anonymity.

“Yeah, her. I heard about her fight with Celestia; the entire Royal Guard was called to the castle, but Nightmare Moon had already smacked her down before they arrived. Banished to the friggin’ sun!” The DJ let out a low whistle. “Some serious power there.”

Sitting up a little straighter, Nightmare Moon chewed on the piece in her mouth, swelling with pride. “You think so?”

“Hay yeah! Although I kinda wish I could’ve seen the fight. Two alicorns facing off and laying down the hurt; stallion, I’d pay to see it.” She sighed wistfully, resting her chin on her hoof. “How do ya think it went?”

Nightmare Moon swallowed. “Well, if I was the Mare in the Moon, I’d use stealth and deceit. First I would come to Celestia when she was all alone – her private chambers for example – and make up some sob story on how I regretted my past actions, and how I just wanted to see my dear sister again. Celestia – in her infinite benevolence – would tearfully accept and when she came in for a hug, I’d hit her with the strongest spells I knew and put her down hard. Then…” She twirled the fork in the air and suddenly speared the pie. “I’d banish her.”

The apartment was silent for a while save for the sharp sounds of utensil on plate and Nightmare Moon’s muted chewing.

“Damn…” Vinyl’s mouth was agape as she stared at Nightmare Moon. “That’s… so awesome! I mean, it’s a pretty scummy thing to do and a straight-up fight would have been cooler, but that’s still awesome! Like something out of a friggin’ soap opera! Not that I watch those; my, uh, my friend told me about them. Neon. Him.” She turned back to her food. “Uh, Neon told me. About the soap operas. Because he’s my friend. And he watches soap operas.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “I believe you.”

“Yeah…” Vinyl silently ate her food for a while. “But anyway, besides her, you’re definitely the most intimidating unicorn I’ve ever seen. Star Secret – AKA The Timber Wolf of DJ Pon-3. Or just Wolf for short. Hey, you don’t mind me calling you Wolf, right?”

“I-”

“Awesome! Star Secret’s cool, but Wolf makes you so much more mysterious and dangerous.”

It was only because the DJ continued to flatter her did Nightmare Moon decide to let the interruption pass. “Just don’t go spreading it around. Are we clear?”

Word always travelled fast and if news of her occupation and brawling reached the upper wards of Canterlot, it could cause complications for her plans for Fancypants social clique. She had a silver tongue when the situation called for it, but even she couldn’t talk herself out of everything.

“Yeah, sure, no problem. It’s between you and me. Because you’re my deputy, my main mare, me amiga, my friend.”

Nightmare Moon went rigid. “Pardon?”

“Huh?”

“What’d you call me?”

“Deputy? No? Main mare? Amiga?” Vinyl frowned in thought. “Friend?”

“Yes. That.”

“Oh well, I just kinda… assumed…”

“We’ve only known each other for a… not even a day.” Nightmare Moon gestured back and forth between herself and the other mare. “We don’t know a thing about each other. How could we be friends?”

“So?” Vinyl gave a chuckle of slight disbelief. “That doesn’t matter. When you’ve worked with somepony, fought with that same pony, and then eaten with that pony, you’ve already forged a bond that lasts years and years.”

Nightmare Moon blinked, face blank.

“Like it?” The DJ grinned. “Made it up myself. A little sappy but not too sappy. Just the right amount, ya know?” Apparently oblivious to the awkwardness of Nightmare Moon’s silence, the DJ finished up her food and levitated the mess into the overflowing sink. “Aww stallion, that hit the spot. I think I’ll catch some z’s now; I got a lot of sleeping to do tomorrow. Bathroom’s down the hall and to the left, guest room’s on the right, and my room’s at the end. Catch ya later, Wolf!”

Nightmare Moon watched the other mare until she disappeared into her room and closed the door. Looking down at her plate, filled with crumbs, she felt a surge of rage and just barely stopped herself from throwing the plate against the wall.

‘Stupid foal. I don’t need friends; I don’t want friends.’

Her mood soured, Nightmare Moon put the plate in the sink, and ventured to the guest room. Sleep might just cool her anger. If not then Vinyl had better be careful of what she said next day.

Author's Note

Note 1: Vinyl's eyes actually appear as a lighter shade than red - a similar shade to Rainbow Dash's - but I like the idea of her having red irises more.

Note 2: DJ Pon-3's club is open from Friday-Sunday at 11:00 pm-3:30 am; no shoes, no shirt, no problem!

Chapter 3: Popularity

1052 AD, March 2nd

With half an hour until 7:30 pm, Nightmare Moon arrived at the theatre. Fancypants was already there, occupying himself with his pocket watch. It seemed to be giving him trouble judging by the way he was shaking it back and forth with telekinesis and glaring daggers at it.

“You’re early,” Nightmare Moon observed coolly as she approached, catching his attention. “Trouble with your watch?”

“Ah, Miss Secret, so lovely to see you again,” He chuckled weakly as he stowed his watch back into his pocket. “Unfortunately, I am indeed having a spot of bother with this infernal thing. I’ve only just now realized that it runs three minutes slow.”

“You’re still a fair bit early.”

“Yes, well, you see…” Fancypants adjusted his monocle again. “I was actually hoping to catch you before you entered the theatre; give you a bit of advice in dealing with my colleagues.”

Nightmare Moon raised one eyebrow and asked, “Should I expect trouble?”

“Trouble in the sense that their words come with barbs; nothing too drastic, I assure you.”

Nightmare Moon could easily ignore any criticisms and veiled insults thrown at her, but if she wanted her plan to work, then she had to be on good terms with Fancypants’ social circle. Fortunately, a prime source to get some dirt on them was standing right in front of her.

“Perhaps you could tell me a bit about your colleagues?” Nightmare Moon gave a nonchalant shrug. “Something to break the ice?”

“Well, I wouldn’t be much of a gentlecolt if I just let you waltz in without some ‘ammunition’, as it were,” Fancypants chuckled at his own joke while she bit back a groan. “But something to break the ice? Yes, well, first you must be aware that there are three individuals to watch out for: Jewel Dream, Shiner, and Prism Coat. These three – including myself, but it’s rather rude to brag – are quite popular and how they react to you will likely dictate how everypony else will react.”

He paused to once again, adjust his monocle, and Nightmare Moon was convinced it was more of a character tic than an actual adjustment. She filed that information away for possible future use as he continued.

“Now, Jewel Dream has her hoof in the fashion industry, and enjoys talking about the latest trends and styles; expressing an interest in these topics will do wonders to get her guard down. Shiner is a boat enthusiast – both of the water and air variety – and has a particular soft spot for the origins of the vessels. Once he opens up about it, it should be smooth sailing from there,” He winced. “Er, no pun intended.”

“Of course not.”

“And last but not least, Prism Coat. She was actually the one I was talking about earlier when I mentioned one of my colleagues stepping down from running for a seat on the Royal Court. She has a penchant for history and the thaumaturgic arts, so I doubt you’ll have much difficult there if our first meeting was any indication.”

Nightmare Moon nodded, storing the information away. “Anything else?”

“Hmm, let’s see…” He looked to the side and tapped his hoof on the ground, humming. “Mmm… no, that should do it,” Fancypants turned his head to the right. “Ah, perfect timing: there’s Shiner now. Remember: he’s a boat enthusiast,” He then fully faced the approaching stallion. “Jolly good to see you again, old bean.”

Shiner was a light grey unicorn with a white tuxedo and a black bowtie. His mane was completely dark with a few strands of grey hinting at old age. Tortoise-shell glasses rested on his nose.

Nightmare Moon smirked confidently. ‘This shall be a cakewalk…’

“Fancypants, a lovely evening to attend the theatre, wouldn’t you say?” Shiner shook Fancypants’ hoof with a strong grip and it wasn’t until he let go did he notice her.

He smiled amiably, but she could detect his confusion and the way he sized her up, taking in and no doubt critiquing her lack of clothing. Standing tall and proud, Nightmare Moon met his gaze, her mind already laying out what to say to get him wrapped around her hoof.

“And who is this?” Shiner asked, breaking eye contact.

“Shiner, I’d like you to meet Star Secret,” Fancypants introduced her with a sweep of his hoof. “She’s a newcomer to Canterlot. I met her a week ago and let me just say, she is remarkably versed in history and the thaumaturgic arts.”

Nightmare Moon nodded, curled her lips into a small grin, and said, “Charmed, I’m sure.”

“Good evening, my dear,” He greeted back with a hint of uncertainty. His tail gave an almost imperceptible twitch; a classic tell-tale, but a goody.

“Fancypants told me you’re a boat enthusiast,” Nightmare Moon said. “Pray tell, the flying boats I’ve seen around, they’re mostly for show, are they not? I doubt they can produce the fuel needed to attain speeds sufficient enough for racing.”

“I… Why, of course they can!” Shiner straightened and he grinned broadly, any trace of nervousness gone. “I know they may not look it, but I know for a fact those boats can reach speeds which belie their size.”

“Really?” It literally pained Nightmare Moon to act so cheerful and pretend to be interested. Alas, manipulation was much like any other form of art; the artist must sometimes suffer for it. “Now I know it would be too cumbersome to place large amounts of fuel on the boat itself, so I’m guessing it has more to do with quality rather than quantity?”

“You couldn’t be more right, my dear,” Shiner was fully in his element now. “You see, the fuel used to propel the vessel is a complicated compound which is the result of many decades of research and testing. Now, the idea of airborne vessels has been around since Equestria was still officially a diarchal country, but the very first successful boat wasn’t built until around the time non-pegasi began developing interests in exploring the skies and studying how pegasi controlled the weather as well as their culture and military-like government.”

Nightmare Moon nodded as the stallion gushed about boats, wanting nothing more than to cast a sleeping spell on herself.

‘Suffer for their work indeed…’

An hour later, Nightmare Moon was sipping from a glass of aged wine, inwardly grimacing at the lack of flavour, and chatting it up with several of Fancypants’ colleagues as if they had been friends since childhood.

“But of course, I never thought that the vagabond would have hidden it up on the roof, and it wasn’t until one of the maids went up there did I know about it,” Jewel Dream paused to pick up one of the samples from a silver platter carried by a passing attendant. “And did I know about it; the entire thing came crashing down on the poor mare, and it was only due to the timely arrival of a messenger pegasus that she was spared from having cake on her face… and I’m not talking metaphorically.”

Nightmare Moon gave a convincing show of placing a hoof on her lips as they curled into a grin, as if the story was so funny it almost broke her composed demeanour. In all honesty, she had zoned out halfway through because Fancypants and another stallion were engaged in an epic and very polite war over the last sandwich at the buffet table in the background, and that was much more amusing to observe.

Oh, but this wine really was tasteless…

A week of working at Vinyl’s club had given her virgin taste buds ample time to get used to the acrid taste of alcohol, not that it really affected her, and the wine on offer here was so weak she might as well have been drinking water.

But maybe that was just her because it seemed to be having the effect she desired on everypony else. Having already been warmed up to Nightmare Moon after she successfully corralled Shiner, Jewel Dream, and Prism Coat into her pocket – so to speak – the light inebriation settling in suddenly made her the most popular mare in the room.

Her initiation into Fancypants’ clique was a shoe-in, even if nopony had said anything, and now that Nightmare Moon – or rather ‘Star Secret’ – had ascended Canterlot’s social ladder, her goal was one step closer.

‘And from here, I begin socializing with the public; earn some goodwill, do some benevolent deeds, prove my worth and skill, and then-’

“Oh, was that the announcement for the second interlude?”

Coming out of her thoughts, Nightmare Moon looked around, and saw that everypony was returning to their seats for the grand finale of the show. Better yet, Jewel Dream had shut up about her poodle, and was leaving her alone to chat with another friend. Sighing in relief, Nightmare Moon rolled her stiff neck, and made for her own seat.

“My dear, it’s astounding how well you’re getting along with everypony,” Fancypants trotted up alongside her, munching on the spoils of war. “How do you manage to do it?”

For Nightmare Moon, it was second nature to charm others. It was necessary; if she wasn’t so skilled in manipulation, Princess Luna would have never fallen under her control.

“It’s a talent,” She replied with a casual shrug. “It’s surprising how many are willing to divulge in their personal lives when you show an interest in their hobbies.”

“That’s how most of Canterlot’s nobility is.”

Returning to their stage boxes, where they had a complete view of the stage below, Nightmare Moon nestled into her seat. The chatter from the audience below quietened as the finale of the play started.

Personally, she thought the play was mediocre; the plot was convoluted and sickeningly romantic. What she did find good was the soundtrack, provided by the musicians, and she was especially growing fond of the haunting melody provided by a one talented cello player.

“Miss Secret,” Fancypants whispered from his seat next to hers. “I and the others would be delighted if you could be part of our little entourage; your company has made this night very enjoyable.”

‘There it is…’

Biting back a victorious smirk, Nightmare Moon replied, “I accept. I must admit I didn’t think I’d have this much fun, but now I’m looking forward to the next activity.”

“Fantastic – it just so happens that the Museum of Art has received a new addition. None other than Von Cubist’s famous Aurora in Motion painting; the original, I might add.”

Nightmare Moon nodded politely as he droned on, absorbing the information subconsciously while planning out the next steps of her scheme.

The play ended with an uproar of clapping hooves and cheers. As the curtains drew shut, Nightmare Moon rose from her seat, and stretched languidly, flexing the kinks out of her joints.

“My, my – that was a grandiose ending!” Prism Coat turned to her, the bright and colourful hues of her coat accentuated by the plain whiteness of her gown. “Oh, Star Secret, what was your favourite part?”

‘Whenever the music drowned out the acting…’

“I was partial to the confrontation between the mother and daughter,” Nightmare Moon replied; it was the first scene that came to mind.

The various mares and stallions of the social circle were gathering their things, an air of satisfied fatigue hanging about them. It seemed as though the evening was coming to a close.

“Ooh yes, the raw emotion in that scene was breath-taking! I can’t say I agree with the mother’s actions, but I could understand her motives,” Prism Coat chuckled. “I mean, the bloodline has to be kept pure, right? None of that earth pony blood getting into the mix; I’m sure you understand.”

Nightmare Moon bit back a grimace and gave a nod instead. “Yes… I suppose I do…”

Prism Coat seemed to notice her hesitation, as her expression faltered somewhat, but she was called away before she could bring attention to it. Brightening up again, she bid farewell to Nightmare Moon, and walked off, oblivious to the glare directed at the back of her head.

“Well, it has certainly been an eventful night, my dear,” Nightmare Moon quickly wiped the scowl from her face as Fancypants approached. “But I’m afraid I must part; I promised Fleur to be home before it got too dark, and a gentlecolt must keep his word.”

“Of course.” She nodded.

“Now remember, our next meeting is scheduled to take place at the Museum of Art in two days at 3:25 pm, the latest.”

“I’ll be sure to make it,”

“You have a wonderful night, my dear.”

“I will.”

As Fancypants made a few stops to bid farewell to his closest acquaintances, Nightmare Moon exited the stage box, and trotted down a corridor towards the front entrance. She’d prefer simply teleporting back to Vinyl’s apartment, but – for some reason – it was considered rude to do it indoors and in a public place.

Naturally, she was inclined to do it anyway, but figured that-

“… Nightmare Moon cult…”

‘What?’

Ears perking, Nightmare Moon looked towards the pair of stallions walking just in front of her. She recalled seeing them in the stage box next to her.

“Eclipse, my good stallion,” The one on the right said with an indignant sniff. “If you’re going to talk about us, then refer to us by our name.”
He wore the clothing of nobility and carried the same air. The hairs of his groomed coat were dull grey and his styled mane was a washed-out white. There was an insignia on the breast of his tuxedo – a purple and white crest with two golden halberds crossed beneath it – and she was sure she had seen it somewhere before.

“Eclipse…” His companion scoffed. “And you wonder why you don’t have more members with a name like that.”

“It’s an old name and names of old still carry the weight of the integrity and importance bestowed upon it from long ago.”

‘Eclipse? A cult named after me?’

Nightmare Moon did not have many allies when she and Celestia first came to blows, and she was certain there was no cult. Filled with suspicion and curiosity, she quickened her pace, and cleared her throat.

“Hm?” The stallion who was part of the ‘Eclipse’ turned around, regarding her with cool indifference while his companion frowned irritably at the interruption. “Can I assist you with something, Miss…?”

“Star Secret, and I couldn’t help but overhear you’re involved with something called the Eclipse?”

“Indeed I am,” The stallion turned to fully face her and give a polite bow of his head. “I am Dusk, scion of House Virtue, though I also go by the name of Haze by my associates within the Eclipse.”

“They’re a bad influence on you, Dusk,” The other stallion shook his head disapprovingly. “Commoners…”

Dusk ignored him and continued, “We believe in the reign of Nightmare Moon and have dedicated ourselves to her rule.”

“You’re in the minority,” Nightmare Moon said, her intrigue growing further. She couldn’t believe she had followers after all these years. “Your decision must cause strife amongst other nobles.”

“Let them prattle and judge,” Dusk replied casually, his expression trained into stoicism. “Many thought the Mare in the Moon was a tale until she returned barely a month ago.”

“And she was destroyed by the Elements,” His companion countered. Nightmare Moon was quickly becoming annoyed by his presence. “Why do you worship a dead ‘god’ when the real Princess Luna is alive, well, and purified? Does she speak with you in your nightmares?”

“I, along with my associates, believe she still lives,” Dusk looked the other stallion dead in the eye. “Should you know what my family has known for a millennium, you would change your tune, too.”

Nightmare Moon furrowed her brow ever so slightly, but gave no hint as what she was feeling, and said, “Your group sounds interesting.”

“If you wish to know more, speak with Hazel Blaze, our leader,” Dusk’s horn was bathed in a light magenta glow and a small business card floated from within the confines of his suit’s breast pocket. “We’re happy to accept new members.”

Nightmare Moon took the card with a nod and a small smile. “I’ll be sure to give it some thought.”

“If there’s nothing else, then I bid you goodnight,”

“Goodnight.”

As Dusk and his companion walked off, the latter complaining about how Celestia didn’t do anything about the ‘band of degenerates’, Nightmare Moon examined the card. It showed the preferred time and place to meet Hazel Blaze, who was either the owner of, or a worker in a hair salon in the middle-class district.

‘Interesting…’

Something like this could be detrimental to her plans if it went awry, but as her analytical mind formulated possible scenarios and ideas, she realized that the potential was too much to pass up. She couldn’t establish contact now, perhaps not for a while due to the damage it could cause to the reputation she was building, but eventually there would come a point where she would go to them, not as Star Secret, but as her true self.

Patience was needed here.

Grinning evilly, Nightmare Moon continued on her path to the front doors.

‘Still… I wonder when this following popped up… and why?’

It was a mystery she intended to find out.

“Eh, how was the party?”

Nightmare Moon shrugged. “It was-” She just barely caught the unopened can of beer that was thrown at her. Casting a heated glare at Vinyl, she popped the tab, and took a small sip. “It was relatively entertaining.”

“Yeah, I’m not one for those high society parties,” Vinyl was oblivious to the glare and lazily stretched out on the couch, eyes glued to the blaring television. “Too many ponies doing their obnoxious laughs, getting hot over their friggin’ hundreds of spoons and forks, drinkin’ their weak alcohol…” Briefly, she looked over at her, one eyebrow rising from behind her shades. “The beer was weak, right?”

“Compared to the stuff you practically inhale, yes.”

“So yeah, the beer’s weak and the music…” Vinyl shuddered with a grimace. “Celestia, the music…”

Nightmare Moon took what little space was left on the couch, a little squashed due to her size. She thought about booting the DJ off so she could have more space, but decided not to. Nightmare Moon was genuinely grateful for the DJ’s hospitality and physically harming a pony whose company she had actually grown to enjoy didn’t give a very satisfying feeling.

“Some good has come out of going to that gathering though and that involves me being initiated into Fancypants’ social circle.”

Vinyl looked over again. “Oh… really?”

“Half of them were practically begging me to join them for the next outing,” Nightmare Moon replied. “Fancypants extended the invitation himself.”

“Cool… cool. So I guess this means you’re going to be moving to the snob part of Canterlot, huh?”

“No.” She took another sip, her eyes trained on the TV.

It truly was more advanced than she had expected. She made a mental note to have one installed in her quarters when she took over Canterlot Castle. As a side note, she wondered what sort of militant devices there were now.

“… No?” Vinyl echoed.

“No.”

“Really? That’s a pretty sweet life to live. All those restaurants, those stores, you get to be close to the castle…”

“I prefer living here for the time being.”

“Oh…”

Nightmare Moon watched some comedy show in silence for the next few minutes. Around the fourth minute, the entire left side of her body suddenly prickled. Turning her head, she saw Vinyl looking at her with the most unsettling grin she had ever seen.

She wasn’t afraid; that was ridiculous. However, she was thoroughly unnerved.

“Vinyl…” Nightmare Moon pulled her head back cautiously and wondered if she should prepare a spell. “Do you remember that talk we had about you smiling within a 90 degree angle of my general direction?”

“Nope. I’m just happy.”

“… Why?”

“You’re turning down a chance at the rich pony life so you can stay with your best friend!” Vinyl sniffled and dabbed at her… shades. “I’m so touched.”

Nightmare Moon sighed irritably. “I presume you also don’t remember that conversation we had about that specific word.”

“Well, I dunno what else to call a mare who’d give up all that just to be with me, so unless you make up a new word, Imma keep calling ya’ll friend.” The smile Vinyl gave was nothing short of infuriating.

“I’m going to ignore your complete butchering of the Equestrian language simply because I know you’re going to forget everything I say when you pass out on the couch again.”

“Ya see?” Vinyl levitated a full can of beer from behind the sofa’s arm, popped it, somehow managed to completely drain it in seconds, and belched before crushing it against her forehead. “Only friends can rip on each other like that and not get aggro.”

“I…” Nightmare Moon growled in her throat, angered because she had no way to counter Vinyl’s insane logic. Besides throwing her out the window, but it was shut, and Nightmare Moon was too comfortable to get up. “Just… be quiet.”

“You got it…” Vinyl turned back to the TV. “Amiga.”

For a brief instant, Nightmare Moon contemplated using her magic to crush every single can of beer in the fridge and laugh.

She then realized how petty and childish that was and discarded the idea.

The two sat in silence, the only sounds coming from the television and Vinyl opening more cans of beer than Nightmare Moon thought possible for a normal unicorn could handle. Perhaps her parents were earth ponies.

“So what’s Fancypants like?” Vinyl suddenly asked.

Nightmare Moon thought for a bit. “Surprisingly down to earth. He’s not like the majority of the upper class that only care for themselves and their fortunes.”

“Seriously?”

She nodded. “He’s a major contributor to the charity ‘Bits and Wishes’.”

“No crap?” The DJ hummed thoughtfully. “Guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover. Ya know, that actually reminds me of a story.”

Nightmare Moon scowled. The DJ’s stories were admittedly entertaining at times, but she tended to get side-tracked and start on another tale. She still remembered the time Vinyl’s story about the missing turntable somehow changed to the story about her first sexual experience.

So, tempering her sense of decency in preparation, she muttered, “And it was turning into such a good night…”

Undeterred – as always – the DJ began.

“It all started when I was a filly going to school back in Manehatten. I told you about those jerks that kept bothering me ‘cause I never got my cutie mark, right? Anyway, they were giving me crap as usual, and this was just after I beat their friend ‘till he saw stars, so they were also lookin’ for some payback. So there I was – in the school courtyard with three colts ready to rearrange my face with no teachers in sight. I wasn’t gettin’ any help from the other kids, so my whole plan was to just cause as much damage as possible before I went down.”

Vinyl placed her hooves out in front of her, waving them from left to right, a single floating can of beer following the movement.

“They were surrounding me and all of them were friggin’ earth ponies; totally unfair, right? I barely knew any spells and my hooves were still pretty soft and sore from beating their friend. Basically, I was screwed. I knew that, but I couldn’t run and I sure as hay wasn’t going to lie down and cry like a bitch. So I went at them and tried to get the biggest guy down as fast as I could. But, nope – he smacked me down in two seconds flat. Then they were shoving my face in the dirt. It was complete and utter crap when all of a sudden… BAM!”

Nightmare Moon quickly pulled back as the DJ swung the can in her excitement, spilling alcohol on the worn couch.

“This friggin’ pegasus filly comes out of nowhere and starts wailin’ on them! I mean she was like a hurricane – a left hook here, a right wing slap there, it was awesome! By the time I got back to my hooves, two of them were down and the third had no chance. I just about got a kick in before the pegasus yanked him into the air and did some sick spins. Aw stallion, he spewed chunks!”

The DJ burst into hearty laughter, spilling even more of her beverage everywhere. Irritated, Nightmare Moon took the can in her magical hold and yanked it away. Vinyl didn’t even acknowledge the theft.

“So I turn to the pegasus and you know who it is?”

Nightmare Moon placed the empty can on the coffee table. “No. I do not.”

“Crazy Eyes!”

“Crazy… Eyes?”

“Yeah, she…” The DJ’s face fell as realization dawned on her. “Oh, that’s right! I never told you about her. Well, back in my class there was this pegasus who was, um… a little slow, ya know? She needed help from the teacher all the time, she trotted weirdly, and her eyes were like… looking in different directions at once. She had a name, but I can’t remember it. I just called her Crazy Eyes… not to her face or anypony else, nothing like that; just to myself. But yeah, she came to my rescue!”

Vinyl chuckled, remembering what she apparently thought were good times.

“I asked her why she helped me when I never did anything for her. She told me that she thought I was really nice and that she didn’t like seeing nice ponies get hurt. There was also something about my mane being awesome.”

The DJ sighed, smiling.

“We both got suspended and my parents went friggin’ crazy and grounded me for three months.” Her smile faded. “But then I heard Crazy Eyes’ mom moved her away from Manehatten because of that. I felt like shit… still kinda do. First time I ever really regretted getting into a fight.”

That story, Nightmare Moon enjoyed. It also appeared to hold great sentimental value to the DJ judging by how it was enough to make her melancholic. It was the first time Nightmare Moon had seen her other than upbeat and joyful.

It was… strange to witness.

“But she’s probably doing well for herself.” Vinyl continued as her chirpy demeanour returned in a flash. “She had trouble with… well, everything, but if you needed to get something to somewhere or somepony, she was your mare. Kinda weird if ya think about it – she had trouble flying in a straight line, but she could pass a note across the school like nopony’s business.”

“Perhaps it was her talent.”

“Her cutie mark was a picture of a bunch of bubbles. Dunno why. Anyway, that’s pretty much the end of it.” The DJ turned to her. “So what’d ya think? Cool story, huh?”

Nightmare Moon shrugged. “It passed the time.”

“Oh crap, what time is it?” Vinyl looked towards the clock hanging from the wall above the TV. “Jeez, I gotta get some shut-eye; gettin’ up early tomorrow.”

“So about one or two in the afternoon?” Nightmare Moon commented dryly.

“Nah, like… friggin’ ten in the morning.” She shuddered. “Some scary stuff right there. But I gotta deal with it if I wanna get some new gear before those other wannabes.” The DJ sighed before getting to her hooves and trotting around the couch, towards her bedroom. “G’night, Wolf.”

Nightmare Moon made a noise of acknowledgment and – after clearing away the DJ’s pile of cans – spread herself out over the couch, settling down with a comfortable sigh. Worn as the couch was it almost as comfortable as a cloud. Not quite there, but close enough.

Today had been a good day. She was now in Fancypants’ hegemony and one step closer to staging her coup.

Nightmare Moon ran a hoof down her underbelly. The empty feeling had also lessened considerably over the week. She still got chills from time to time, but even those were easily ignored. She’d give it a few months before she was back at full strength.

Until then, however…

Nightmare Moon levitated the remote and switched channels.

“We now return to ‘I shouldn’t be alive.’ In this episode, a simple hiking trip takes a turn for the worse when a unicorn falls down a cliff and breaks her horn, leaving her at the mercy of a persistent cockatrice. A tale of suspense and drama and the will to survive.”

Author's Note

Note 1: Nightmare Moon isn't a fan of romance genres. She likes music, though.

Note 2: Vinyl strikes me as the type of friend who would bust your balls just as soon as she'd go into the depths of Tartarus to drag your sorry flank out of there to go partying.

Chapter 4: Bar Brawl

1052 AD, March 27th

“Make way! Make way for the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

The mare and stallion wisely parted to allow her entrance into the bar. Her entry drew some looks – obviously they were smitten by her looks and aura of grace and power – but Trixie ignored them, and made her way towards the bartender, taking up a lone seat. Clearing her throat loudly, she introduced herself.

“You, the Great and Powerful Trixie requests that you bring her your most delectable martini with a side of lime and a small blue umbrella.”

The stallion narrowed his eyes at her – yes, her luxurious mane was a bit too bright in the dimly lit interior of the establishment – and went to fix her drink.

Trixie cast her eyes over the patrons of the bar, her lip curling slightly in distaste. The majority of them were loud, obnoxious, and smelly, but she had sat through worse in Fillydelphia and Manehatten. At least the TV hanging from the ceiling was showing the latest match of cumulus-ball from Cloudsdale.

“And Streamer takes the bat. She appears very confident, very calm; if her track record is any indication, then she has every right to be. As current record holder of the most homeruns scored by anypony, mare or stallion, Streamer is a juggernaut on the field, and the opposing team must be ready to bring their A-game if they’ll have any chance of winning this…”

The bartender came back with her drink. Trixie stared at it, recoiling slightly. “This umbrella is… purple.”

“Yeah?” The stallion’s voice was gruff and tired. He must have been dealing with some annoying customers. “So what?”

“Trixie explicitly stated she wanted a blue umbrella. Not red, not yellow, not white, and not purple, but blue. One that matches Trixie’s coat, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“All out of blue. I got red, yellow, white, and I certainly have purple, but not blue.”

Trixie paused and frowned. After a few moments, she sighed. “Very well,” She flicked her hoof at him. “Trixie would like a white umbrella.”

The stallion just stood there with a dumbfounded expression, most likely blinded by her beauty. Flattering as it was, she was rather thirsty, and just as she was about to repeat herself, he finally bent underneath the bar, and plopped a white umbrella in her drink whilst taking the purple one away.

“Better?”

“Much,” Trixie took the drink in her magic and lifted it to her lips. “You may go.”

She almost felt sorry for the stallion as he quickly trotted away to deal with his other rowdy customers.

Sipping on her drink, Trixie allowed herself to relax and enjoy her break from inspiring ponies with her shows and leaving them in awe of her talents. True, seeing the looks on ponies’ faces as she performed one trick after the other was nice, but nothing beat being able to sit down and just watch the world go by. Especially when the world often stopped to gaze upon you in admiration.

Even so, Trixie made a mental note to check her map once she returned to her wagon. She had seen a settlement near Canterlot which she hadn’t been to before. Ponyville she thought it was named – a town that was probably full of nothing but earth ponies who had never even heard of unicorns and their magic.

She’d have to be careful not to amaze them too much and take their entire fortunes. Bankrupting ponies was not something she actually wanted; she may have been great and powerful, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t benevolent.

Finishing her drink, Trixie placed the empty glass on the table. “You! The Great and Powerful Trixie requires a refill!”

The stallion appeared to not hear her. The noise must have really been getting to him. She was understandably annoyed, but she decided to give everypony in the bar a break and not chastise them. They probably had enough problems in their life and it wouldn’t help their self-esteem to be shouted down by somepony like her.

‘Ah, sometimes I think I’m too lenient…’

Idly playing with the umbrella in her glass and sucking on the slice of lime, her thoughts were interrupted as the stool to her left was noisily taken by a white unicorn mare with a wild mane of two-tone blue. Her eyes were covered by opaque glasses with purple rims.

“I’m tellin’ ya, Wolf, it doesn’t look like it, but this is the bar to go to when you wanna celebrate! Drink-celebrate, not party-celebrate because that’s when you to my club.”

Another unicorn mare – Wolf, apparently – took the stool next to white mare. Trixie was stunned by how large she was; unicorns, mares especially, weren’t known for their size yet this one was larger than most of the earth pony patrons. Her coat was an alluring tone of steel grey and her mane was deep blue and voluminous.

“I don’t go out and drink to celebrate, Vinyl,” Wolf’s voice was deep and richly sophisticated. “I decided to indulge you because you would not stop pestering me, but there’s a line that you’re very close to crossing.”

“Lighten up!” Vinyl chuckled, gesturing to the bartender. “Order a drink and chill, huh?”

Wolf looked like she wanted to throttle the other mare then and there, but instead she settled for taking some of the complimentary peanuts from the bowl and s-l-o-w-l-y crunching on them with a murderous look directed at nothing in particular.

Mother Faust, that mare was sexy.

It had been a while since Trixie had bedded a mare and Wolf looked like she would be an assertive lover. Normally, Trixie would be the dominant one in the bedroom, but she didn’t mind a change every now and then.

Putting on a winning smirk, Trixie shifted to get out of her seat and trot over to-

“Citizens!”

Trixie tore her gaze away from the stunning mare and was surprised to see two Canterlot guards standing by the entrance. Almost immediately, the bar went quiet.

“There is a criminal on the loose and we have reason to believe that he is in this very establishment.” One of the guards said.

The patrons of the bar began muttering amongst themselves.

“Whoa…” Trixie heard Vinyl whisper. “Looks like this night got a whole lot more interesting.”

Trixie rolled her eyes and sighed. Here she was trying to enjoy her break and some low-life criminal decided to bring his pursuers to the place where she chose to relax.

“The stallion in question is an earth pony,” The other guard – a pegasus – continued. “Light green coat with a crimson mane,” He paused. “Surely one of you has seen a pony who fits that description.”

Trixie lazily cast her gaze over the crowd.

Yup, there he was – sitting near the bathroom doors, looking incredibly nervous and trying to hide behind his mug of beer. She also noticed a purple piece of cloth tied around his right foreleg.

There was a sharp whistle and Trixie’s ears flattened in annoyance as she glared at the white mare, waving her forelegs in the air. “Yo, golden colts, over here! Look what I found!”

The guards looked in the direction she was pointing and immediately started for the sweating stallion. “Stay where you are!”

The earth pony looked very ill and Trixie smirked cruelly.

‘Teach you to ruin my night…’

“You are wanted for the crime of smuggling illegal and possibly dangerous items into Canterlot,” The unicorn guard said. “Come with us quietly, or we will have to use force.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong!” The stallion cried as he clutched a brown bag to his chest. Trixie rolled her eyes.

‘Way to look innocent,’

“We’ll see about that,” The pegasus retorted with narrowed eyes. “Come with us.”

“B-but I… I…”

“Um… excuse me.”

Trixie oriented her gaze towards the entrance of the bar and instantly knew her night was ruined. A pegasus mare – orange coat with a maroon mane – strode into the bar, a purple ribbon adorning her right foreleg. Multiple ponies wearing the same accessory followed her.

‘This is too much. The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t need this.’

“Sorry for interrupting you two, but, um…” The pegasus coughed awkwardly, looking down with a blush. “That stallion – Union’s his name – he, uh… well, he kinda owes me something and it’s really important I get it…” She paused. “Today. Now. It’s really important.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but this stallion is wanted for smuggling,” The unicorn replied softly. “All items in his possession will be confiscated and used as evidence.”

“Oh…” The pegasus frowned, looking like she was about to cry. “I see. Sorry for bothering you. I should’ve just knocked you out to begin with.”

The guard blinked. “Uh… what did-”

The pegasus’ left wing swept out and clobbered the guard upside the head, knocking him to the side and upsetting a table, the patrons crying out in shock. The mare’s forlorn frown was replaced by a small grin.

“Sorry it had to come to this,” She glanced up and nodded towards the remaining guard. “Get him.”

At once, everything exploded into action.

Trixie reeled to the side as the white mare threw herself into the fray and scattered the attackers with a burst of magic. Wolf adopted an irritated look as she followed Vinyl’s lead, her horn igniting. Many of the bar’s patrons rose to help in any way they can, but mostly succeeded in colliding with each other due to lack of space and general inebriation.

As for herself, Trixie decided to stay completely out of it. It wasn’t her fight after all. She’d just go somewhere else and try to salvage what was left of her break.

“Barkeep!” Trixie had to raise her voice over the din. “Here are Trixie’s bits!” Dipping into her saddle bag, she pulled out a few coins and deposited them on the bar table. “Trixie is sorry to have to leave and no longer grace your establishment with her presence, but things are getting a little too crowded and barbaric for her ta-”

Warm liquid splashed over her head. Vaguely, she registered it as alcohol. Mouth agape as she gave horrified gasps, Trixie slowly turned towards the fight. Her horror began to give way to anger and her anger gave way to rage.

“You…” Gritting her teeth, she concentrated and plucked two stallions – whether or not they were part of the pegasus’ gang didn’t matter to her – from the fray to bring them in front of her. “You ruined my mane!”

She threw them across the mob and turned her gaze towards a table, her horn flaring as she levitated it into the-

Striker decided he was having a good day.

His wife had made his favourite breakfast, he made it on time early for guard duty, he got to have a chat with Shining Armor, he had been there to see Prince Blueblood fall flat on his flank after being assaulted by a flock of angry birds, and just before he retired for the night shift, he had passed by Princess Luna.

His suspicions about her still being evil were put to rest when he saw just how lonely and kind the mare was. A bit loud perhaps, but that was about the only thing he didn’t like about her.

And now he was on his way home with a beautiful night sky to appreciate.

Yes, he was sure nothing could go wrong.

CRASH

Striker turned and watched as Swift Wind was thrown out of The Tipsy Trotter. His pegasus friend stood for a brief moment, helmet turned the wrong way and armor crumpled, and chortled before promptly collapsing with a dazed grin.

He emitted a short sigh. “Should have expected that…”

Striker sent a flare of magic into the sky before rushing into the bar.

“… and then none of the guards would do anything to help me!” Prince Blueblood stamped the balcony’s cobblestone floor. “Can you believe that?”

Luna shrugged, briefly tearing away from the telescope to look at him. “They were but birds, Blueblood. We do not think thou would hath been harmed in any way.”

“But I could have! What if the same thing happened to you? What sort of guards would just let their princess be harmed in such a way?” Blueblood shook his head angrily. “Disgraceful!”

He had been suspicious at first about having Luna at the castle, what with her recent Nightmare Moon escapade, but over time he had come to like the idea of having another pony worthy of talking to around. Dear Aunty Celestia was always so busy and rarely had time for him one-on-one.

“Oh, and did I ever tell you about Fancypants and the new addition to his little group?”

“Aye…” Luna sighed. He could relate; he was just as exasperated about the stallion and his ‘precious’ hegemony, if not more.

“Star Secret!” He huffed. “Now I’ll pay credit where it’s due – she does know how to have a rousing conversation and deliver a magnificent speech, but her mannerisms are so uncouth! I saw her yesterday and the way she looked at me suggested that she thought of herself as being on the same level as me. Me! I just… I’m at a loss for words, aunty.”

“Incredible...”

“I know. As gifted in linguistics as I am, there are times when ponies do and or say things which leave me stunned and in disbelief,” Blueblood sighed. “I just don’t know what this city is coming to. I’m sorry you have to see it in such a…” His gaze turned to the horizon and he frowned. “Way…”

A brilliant green light had shot up into the air, a streak of lime following its ascent. Blueblood stepped closer to the balcony’s railing, peering closer.

“What is that?” Luna asked.

“I never pay much attention to Shining when he goes on about security details, but I believe that is a unicorn guard requesting assistance,” Blueblood looked closer at its point of origin and scoffed. “Ah, from the common section of Canterlot – what a surprise. That part is lousy with criminals and ne’er do wells. Simply dreadful; I don’t know what Shining is doing with the Royal Guard, but it’s obviously not working to keep uphold the peace. If Celestia would just let me-”

A rush of wind tussled his styled mane and he looked to the side to see Luna’s wings spread out, her eyes intense.

“Excuse us, Blueblood, but We must see to this commotion.”

“Don’t bother,” He reached up to fix his mane. “It is the guards’ job to uphold the law of Canterlot so let them deal with it. You are still recovering and Celestia has insisted that you focus on regaining your strength and familiarizing yourself with Equestria’s present laws and government ruling.”

“We may have been gone for a thousand years, but We still remember how to defend our subjects,” She rose into the air with a beat of her mighty wings and Blueblood was momentarily awestruck by how graceful and regal she appeared, silhouetted against the night sky. “Inform mine sister if thou must, but We are going and that is final.”

“W-wait, aunty!”

Without another word, she soared off towards the flare. Blueblood watched her go, an imploring hoof still reaching out. Slowly, he drew it back in and sucked on his teeth.

“Well then…” Turning on the spot, he ran back into the castle, shouting. “Celestia! Luna has gone to consort with the commoners! Also, there’s probably a coup going on! And somepony ate Luna’s salad! It wasn’t me this time, I swear!”

“Whoo, we got a real match here, eh, Wolf?!”

Nightmare Moon cursed as somepony broke a chair over her back. “Vinyl, this is the last time you take me out for celebrating!”
Normally she enjoyed a good fight; it was a good way to relieve stress and also served to remind others of her strength lest they get any bright ideas about thinking they could take her, but now that she had a reputation to uphold, full-out brawls weren’t something she could make a habit of.

‘Well, the more ponies I can knock out the better.’

Though that was annoyingly easier said than done.

With so many patrons engaging in the brawl, the press of their bodies made it hard for her much larger form to move about and dodge. True, she could easily shrug off the majority of their blows, but if she could avoid being hit altogether, then she’d prefer to do so.
She really needed to touch up on her close-quarters combat; the last thing she needed was to get rusty.

At least Vinyl was holding up fine. She ducked and weaved with a grace more befitting of some great warrior than a DJ that broke down in tears every time they ran out of milk.

Knocking a member of the Dwellers into a table with a savage buck, Nightmare Moon turned and cast a Kinetic Impact spell. She made it smaller so it delivered a larger amount of force across a smaller area, resembling a solid punch. The unicorn didn’t even know what hit her.
Smirking victoriously at the knockout, she then cast her attention towards a pegasus and prepared a-

“Stop right there, criminal scum!”

A body made of flesh and metal collided with her side. Even with her robust physiology it still hurt like Tartarus. Brought down to the floor, she felt her body become heavy as she was struck with a Paralysis spell, potent enough that it would have worked had she not been a step above equine.

Nightmare Moon shoved the guard off her. “You incompetent waste of magic! Do your job and go after the criminals!”

She would have thrown him across the room if a burly stallion hadn’t decided to make him his next target. Grappling the guard in a chokehold, he carried him out into the crowd, and disappeared from sight.

‘Well, that works…’

A yell sounded off to her right. Nightmare Moon looked in its direction and reacted in time to catch a flying Vinyl and deposit the other mare back on her hooves.

“Whew, cheers, Wolf! Friggin’ pegasi and their wings; caught me when I was wailin’ on some Dweller,” The DJ nonchalantly ducked to avoid a thrown mug, half-empty. “So how you doin’? How many dudes you knocked out?”

Nightmare Moon stoically stepped back to allow a grappling duo through. “You’re aware we’re still in the middle of a brawl? One that appears to keep on going until the entire establishment is brought down on our heads?”

“Hay yeah! Haven’t been-” Vinyl avoided a swing and bucked the attacking mare into the crowd. “Haven’t been in this big of a fight since that time me and Neon got our bags stolen and we had to chase them to this restaurant. I mean, we had to get our flanks bailed out by the guards, but it was still pretty-”

“Be still!”

Nightmare Moon’s ears flattened against her skull and she dug her hooves into the floor to avoid being blown back.

‘Oh, that’s just wonderful…’

Turning around – idly noticing how the rest of the bar froze in their tracks – Nightmare Moon was greeted by the sight of a very familiar alicorn princess. Her mane and coat had darkened, suggesting she was regaining some of her power, and her stance spoke of confidence and strength.

“What is the meaning of this shameful display?”

One of the guards – when had so many arrived anyway? – stepped forward, half his armor missing. “Y-your highness, we saw a distress signal coming from this location and arrived to see… this.”

“It was my signal,” An unconscious pile of ponies shifted and a cyan-coated stallion popped out, sporting a dozen bruises and cuts. “I saw Swift Wind get thrown out and decided to intervene.”

“It was that pegasus mare!” The unicorn guard from the very beginning of this ordeal cried, struggling to pull the crumpled helmet from his head so he could see. “The one who came in with the Dwellers! She assaulted my partner because we were trying to bring in a known smuggler.”

“Where is this pegasus?”

Nightmare Moon glanced to the side and noticed a maroon tail sprouting out underneath a table. Catching it in her telekinesis, she unceremoniously dragged the mare out, and threw her in Luna’s direction. The mare skidded to a stop inches from Luna’s silver horseshoe-covered hooves.

“We presume thou art to blame for this mess?”

She had toned down the volume from ‘gale-force-winds’ to ‘moderate-breeze’, but the mare still shook from head to tail. At least she was meeting Luna’s eyes and not just cowering like many other ponies were.

“Define…” The pegasus searched for the right word. “Mess.”

“Ponies cradling injuries that will surely scar! Ponies who are unconscious at this very moment! Destruction of this very establishment! Resisting arrest, assaulting authority figures, assaulting thy fellow ponies; that is what We mean by mess!”

“Well… I may have had some part in it.”

“Some part?!” A unicorn mare with a soaked silver mane stepped forwards. “The Great and Powerful Trixie saw it with her very own perfect eyes! These miscreants entered and picked a fight with those guards – who, by the way, are amazingly inept at their duties – which resulted in Trixie’s luxurious mane being…” She hitched a sob. “Ruined! Trixie demands you punish those responsible!”

“Thou hath no authority to make demands of us! Guards! Thou will assist thy princess in assessing the situation and punishing those who instigated it.”

Luna turned her burning emerald gaze on the patrons. Nightmare Moon gave a brief round of mental applause at the way she made them squeal in terror.

“All shalt remain where thou stand!” She glanced at the fallen ponies, her stern expression wavering slightly. “And… lie. We will question thee on what transpired here. Then, and only then, will thou be allowed to return home!”

For a brief instant, Luna’s eyes met hers.

Nightmare Moon kept her face blank and stared back.

Luna looked away, none the wiser.

‘In due time, Lu-Lu… In due time…’

The blind guard stumbled in front of her, his own magic doing little to loosen the helmet. Vinyl snickered and reached out with her own telekinesis, removing the headwear with a few strong tugs.

“Uh, thanks…” He rubbed his head and looked around. “Um… where’s the smuggler?”

As soon as Celestia’s hooves touched the ground she knew it was going to be a long night. A dozen guards had blocked off a section of the street and were in the process of questioning a large number of ponies, the majority of them sporting injuries. Paramedics flittered from one pony to the next.

“Your majesty!” Ironhide bowed in reverence.

She smiled tiredly. “Hello, Ironhide. How is your night?”

The earth pony looked around and then back to her. “Less broken furniture than my wedding.”

She chuckled softly at the joke. Then when she realized he wasn’t joking, she cleared her throat awkwardly. “At any rate, Blueblood told me my sister was here?”

“Yes. She’s inside the bar at the moment; we’ve captured what we believe to be a high-ranking member of the Dwellers,” He looked back to the entrance. “Princess Luna is interrogating her at this very moment.”

Celestia nodded and trotted past. “Thank you, Ironhide. I’m sorry you had to be called in on your break.”

“It’s no problem, your majesty. There’re still less unconscious ponies than my kid’s recital.”

‘Ironhide, you lead a very interesting life.’

Stooping her head so she could fit into the bar, Celestia sighed as she examined the level of destruction. As hard as she tried, Canterlot still had problems with crime. At the very least – she tried to comfort herself – nopony was killed.

“We will ask once more and thou wouldst be wise to answer correctly! What dost thy ring of barbarians hath to do with smuggling and what assortment of goods was thy smuggling in the first place?”

The pegasus that stood before her sister smoothed back her messy mane. “Candy. Candy and milk. You should try some; maybe you’d be less cranky.”

Celestia winced as her sister recoiled, eyes wide with shock.

“Thou darest to speak to thy princess in such a manner?! Thou should be on thy knees and thanking us for not-”

“Luna…” She placed a hoof on her sister’s shoulder.

Luna glanced back, breathing hard. They matched one another’s stare for a while before the lunar princess calmed down and exhaled, turning away from the mare and towards her.

“Sister,” Luna began. “We… lost our temper for a moment.”

“It’s alright, Luna. Look, why don’t you go back to the castle and let me take c-”

“No.” Celestia stepped back in surprise. Her sister paused. “No, that’s… We are fit to perform our duties as princess. We are… fine.”

Celestia worried – perhaps a little too much, she admitted – for her sister and just wanted her to go back to the castle where nothing and nopony could hurt her. But her sister was strong and assertive; she was restless and wanted to see her subjects again, especially after she learned how much this generation enjoyed her night.

“Okay…” She had to learn that Luna was a mare and was able to make her own decisions. “If you insist.”

The smile that graced Luna’s lips made her feel immeasurably better. “Thank you, ‘Tia.”

Smiling back, Celestia turned to the troublesome mare and adopted a stern expression. “My little pony, what is the meaning of all this?”
The pegasus scoffed and looked away. “Oh, just a little harmless get-together. No need to bring your big flank down on us.”

“Thou hath some nerve to speak not only to us, but our sister in such a way.”

“Hey, thou don’t-eth show-eth me respect-eth so why-eth should I… eth?”

“Ignorant little-”

“Please, Luna…” Celestia lowered her head to stare directly into the pegasus’ eyes. “If you want us to show you respect, then you must also show it to us. Antagonizing my sister will not make her anymore friendly towards you.”

“Don’t talk to me like a foal, Trollestia.” The mare looked livid as she gave an ugly glare.

“Thy nickname hath stood the test of time?”

Celestia slowly turned her head to glare at her sister.

“Err… We mean, thou dare to slander our sister’s name?”

Turning back, Celestia’s expression softened. “I sense there is something more to your anger. Something deeper.”

The pegasus scowled and pawed at the floor. “No, there isn’t. I did this for money, nothing else to it.”

Celestia sighed; the mare was obviously hiding something, but she was stubborn and angry for one reason or another, especially at her. She wouldn’t be getting anything from her, at least not without violence.

‘And I made an oath not to do that anymore…’

With a sigh, she decided to leave any interrogation in the hands of the guards, and stretched out one wing to touch the pegasus’ shoulder. The pegasus recoiled like she had been burned, nostrils flaring and tail swishing back and forth.

“What’s your name?”

“What’s it to you?”

“You know my name; I’d like to know yours.”

“… Rising Breeze.”

“Rising Breeze, are you badly hurt?”

She seemed surprised by the question, but answered, “No, I’m fine.”

“I know you don’t highly of me, or the Royal Guard, but for your own sake, try to be more cooperative; if nothing else, we’ll sort through this faster.”

Rising Breeze snorted, but didn’t answer back.

Taking that as good an answer as she would get, Celestia rose back to her full height and turned to her sister. Luna’s expression was one of simmering anger.

“We believe you let her off much too easily.”

“She’s not going to answer to us, Luna; too much emotion.”

“Thou said there was something deeper to this,” Luna jerked her head to Rising Breeze, who was silently being addressed by a paramedic. “She knows something.”

“Perhaps the guards will have better luck; they’ll detain her, give her some time to cool off, and maybe she’ll talk then.”

Luna looked uncertain, but eventually, she gave a nod. “Very well. We will remain here and see that nothing else undesirable occurs. Thou should head home and get some rest.”

“Okay… good night, Luna.”

“Good night.”

Celestia trotted back towards the entrance with a heavy heart and downcast eyes. The knowledge that things like this still happened all over Equestria was a depressing thought. Sometimes she wished there was a button that could just erase all the negativity in the world.

‘What must be done to achieve total peace and harmony? There must be something…’

“Are you alright?”

Celestia looked up and was forced to look up further to meet the unicorn’s intense green eyes. With a coat as grey as steel and a mane as blue as her sister’s coat, the mare cut an intimidating figure, especially since she was almost half her own size. She hadn’t seen many unicorns reach that stature; physical prowess was less… potent in their race.

“What?” The question finally registering in her clouded mind, Celestia blinked hard and stood straighter. “Oh, yes, I’m quite alright, thank you. I hope you can say the same?”

“I’ll live,” The mare shrugged. “It’s fortunate your sister arrived. Some of us were ready to start inflicting fatal injuries.”

Celestia nodded. A part of her found the words strange somehow. “I’m glad it didn’t come to that. I knew some parts of Canterlot were prone to assaults, but I never expected something of this magnitude.”

“I can say I did.”

“Oh?”

“It was inevitable, really,” The mare looked around at the chaos. “When one takes into account the living conditions, lack of enforcement, and general ire of the downtrodden masses, it is not a matter of ‘if’ a fight starts, but ‘when’ and ‘where’.”

Celestia sighed. “Yes. It certainly appears to be the case. However, I cannot change things by myself.”

“It would be difficult for one pony to change everything…” The mare said slowly, as if contemplating the words. “Well, I’m afraid I must be going soon, but would you do me a favour?”

Celestia nodded. “Of course. What is it?”

“Remember the name Star Secret.”

“Star Secret? Is that your name?”

“Just remember it. What you do with that knowledge later is entirely up to you.”

Celestia watched Star Secret as she trotted away, every movement controlled and precise.

‘What was that about?’

She shook her head and continued heading towards the entrance. She’d certainly remember. It would be hard to forget a mare like that.

A green stallion with a red mane pounded on the rickety wooden door. He was covered in bruises and kept casting fearful glances back.

“Come on… come on…”

Once he made this delivery he’d be in the gang and then everything would be easier. He was certain of it.

Just as he was about to knock again, the door swung open, revealing an ageing stallion with glasses. His dark mane was done up in a long ponytail.

“Can I help you?”

The stallion tripped over himself as he answered, “S-sparkle in caves… uh… diamonds in the night…”

“Glimmer in the forest, rocks in the bright.” The stallion stepped to the side. “You’re late.”

“Sorry, sorry…” He trotted in and nudged the door close, panting. “We, uh… had a bit of a run-in with the guards. I wasn’t followed!”

“That’s good,” The shop owner walked behind the counter and nodded to the saddle bag. “Did you bring it?”

“Yeah, definitely…” Depositing the bag on the counter, the stallion zipped it open, revealing dusty and worn pieces of jewellery. “It’s a bit old though. Why do you want this?”

“I’m hoping you have a certain item in here…” The shop owner shifted through the pile, azure eyes narrow. “It was only a rumour, but… ah!”

Carefully, the shop owner lifted something out from the pile. The stallion flinched at the object.

“What is that?”

“An amulet. Nothing more.” The shop keeper hid the thing under the counter and came back up with a bag. “Here. Our agreed payment.”

The stallion’s eyes bulged as the bag was dropped on the glass counter and spilled its contents. “Jeez, all that for…? What about the rest?”

“Keep it, sell it, bury it… eat it for all I care. The amulet was all I wanted.”

“If you insist…” Gathering up the bits and the bag, the stallion shifted awkwardly. “So, uh…”

“We are done here. You may go.”

“Oh, right,” The stallion nodded and stood there for a moment longer before stiffly turning. “Cool.”

The ageing shop keeper watched him go until the door closed and he was alone. Smiling, he ducked back under the counter and examined the exquisitely designed ornament.

“This will surely bring a small fortune...”

As he chuckled and walked away, the amulet’s ruby eyes glinted dangerously in the dark.

Author's Note

Note 1: These first chapters are more of an extended prologue; the plot will eventually come into play, but for now these are to provide much-needed information.

Note 2: Nightmare Moon saw the mug as half-empty - she's not much of an optimist.

Note 3: Cumulus-ball was invented in 887 AD by a pegasus named Vortex; the bats were made from balsa wood and the ball was formed from solid ice. Since the introduction of balls made from stitched leather and bats crafted from stronger wood in 901 AD, injuries have gone down by 89%.

Chapter 5: Crisis

1053 AD, May 3rd

“Hey, Wolf, how’s it hangin’?”

“A progressive day, no doubt.”

Entering the apartment, Nightmare Moon levitated her coat and saddlebag off her torso, and laid them over on the couch. She joined them a moment later, sitting down comfortably before turning on the television.

“Wow, today must have been a good day,” Vinyl observed, looking over her shoulder at Nightmare Moon, completely ignoring the cooking pancake batter in the frying pan. “You didn’t say anything about the mess I made.”

Just now realizing there were empty packets of chips scattered across the coffee table, Nightmare Moon glowered and made a noise of disgust.

“Amazing – you’re able to identify a mess, but still refuse to clean it up.”

“And you say I’m bad at noticing things…”

“Hmph…” Using magic to clear the mess away, Nightmare Moon then replied, “Be thankful I’m feeling particularly benevolent. Today, my popularity amongst the elite of Canterlot has come full circle; I am now officially a potential candidate for a place on the Royal Court.”

“No crap?” Vinyl beamed brightly at her. “Hey, congrats, Wolf!”

“Thank you,” Nightmare Moon was so full of pride that she didn’t even notice how easily she said those two words. “It took the better part of a year, but with the support of Fancypants and his inner circle, along with a few deeds to earn favour with other ponies of great influence, I now have the opportunity to make a true difference.”

“I’m rooting for ya,” Flipping the pancake to its other side with a flare of magic, Vinyl then added, “If anypony can yell loud enough to make a city change its ways, it’s you.”

“I’m assuming you meant that as a compliment, so I won’t throw the remote at you.”

“You know, it still blows my mind.”

Nightmare Moon glanced over. “What, me throwing the remote at you?”

“Nah, you’ve got all this success and high-class friends and crap, but you still stay in the club with me,” Vinyl looked back, one eyebrow arched. “I’m not complaining or anything, but why?”

“I am more comfortable here,” She replied simply, switching through the channels, and grimacing at the lack of entertainment. “Plus, if anything makes me angry, I can take my anger out on those that cause trouble at the club.”

Vinyl gave the pancake another flip. “Well, I’m glad you’re still with me, but you might have to find some other way to vent your unstoppable rage; all the dudes that cause trouble have been dryin’ up lately.”

“Unfortunate…”

Nightmare Moon was ecstatic to see her Star Secret persona finally pay off; she had carved a fine niche for herself as one of Fancypants’ closest associates and established a reputation as a mare who knew how to get things done.

Convincing Blueblood to partake in a paintball war dedicated to him being the main target was a particular moment of crowning achievement for her – the prince swore up and down to this day that he had no idea how she managed to persuade him into participating.

Naturally, when she revealed her plans to run for a seat on the Royal Court, she was met with overwhelming approval. The majority of Canterlot’s nobility wanted her in the Royal Court, but that wasn’t enough. If she wanted her position to be secured, Nightmare Moon would have to appeal to the rest of Canterlot’s populace; the middle-class and those that resided in the downtown district.

If the entire city was backing her up, then it would be hard for anypony to say no.

Unfortunately, the rising popularity and attention would also bring to light her occupation and living space – Nightmare Moon had managed to so far dodge any questions into her private life – which could cause some damage to her reputation amongst nobility, but that was unavoidable, and she would have to deal with it.

‘I’ll think of something; there are many things ponies are willing to overlook when one has particular skill in a field. Just look at athletes…’

At the thought of her occupation and living space, Nightmare Moon’s attention switched to Vinyl and their relationship.

She didn’t think it was possible, that she had too much control over her own feelings to let it happen, but damn it, it did happen.

Nightmare Moon had grown… fond of Vinyl.

Not just Vinyl either; Fancypants and Fleur had also grown on her despite her best efforts to remain distant.

With Vinyl, she found her patience with Vinyl’s antics growing longer and longer, and she didn't react when the DJ referred to them as… friends. Likewise, Nightmare Moon was now very comfortable chatting with Fancypants about their interests and dislikes.

Worst of all, she had begun accompanying Fleur to fashion debuts and even go out shopping.

Shopping!

Nightmare Moon wasn’t losing herself, no, she was just as cold towards ponies as before, but she was definitely defrosting in response to those three.

‘I just know this is going to backfire on me; how could I have let this happen?’

“Hey, Wolf, you okay there?”

Snapping back to reality, Nightmare Moon nodded. “I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“Are you sure you just don’t need to go take a crap?”

Nightmare Moon sighed. “I’m sure,” She looked over to the DJ and noticed she was flipping her pancake, but watching TV. “You’re going to scald yourself again and this time I’m not going to help.”

The DJ nodded, but continued flipping. “I’m sweet. See?” She flipped the pancake up. “Upsy…” It landed back with a splat and spray of melted butter. “Daisy. Upsy… daisy.”

Shaking her head, Nightmare Moon turned back to the TV. “I’m not going to help. In fact, I’ll just point and laugh.”

“Upsy…”

“…”

“…”

Nightmare Moon frowned.

“Uh…” The DJ slowly put down the can and looked up to the ceiling. “What…? Where the hay’s my pancake?”

Turning her head in Vinyl’s direction, Nightmare Moon gave a quick check to confirm the pancake was nowhere on the ceiling. She then checked the floor and the walls – nothing.

Vinyl placed the pan on the oven, stepped back, and simply stared at nothing in confusion. “O-kay then… I’m not exactly…” Shaking her head, she turned to Nightmare Moon. “You saw-”

A bright yellow object landed in the pan and exploded into pink and purple confetti with the sounds of several cows mooing.

Nightmare Moon stared in shock. ‘What.’

The DJ was more vocal about her surprise. “What in the flying fuck just happened?! I-I just…” She pointed enthusiastically at the oven. “I… Huh? Huh?! I mean… what?!”

Rising to her hooves, Nightmare Moon watched the confetti float to the carpet. “That’s… How did this…?”

The floor suddenly shook under her hooves. Before she could even think of holding onto something, the entire apartment… buckled – she didn’t know how else to explain it – and she was thrown out a window she didn’t remember being open. The fall to the pavement was shorter and softer than it should have been. Landing on her back, she watched as the building she was thrown from shook from side to side and promptly uprooted itself, sprouting huge red and white candy canes before turning to the side and lumbering off.

“I…” She vaguely heard Vinyl next to her, but she wasn’t sure; the building that was currently tap-dancing away took up most of her attention. “I… I…”

Nightmare Moon cast her gaze down and noticed the street was made of soap.

“What in the name of Equestria is going on here?!”

Vinyl’s shout brought her out of her stupor. It only took a second for her to assess the situation and figure out the culprit.

‘Discord…’

This was bad. This was worse than bad. It was horrible.

All her plans, all her work meant nothing if Discord was free from his prison. The insipid draconequus was twice as powerful as Celestia and Luna, but without even a fraction of their restraint.

Her tail swished and she stomped the ground furiously, suds flying up to stick to her coat. “No. You’re not taking this from me, you ADHD-inflicted menagerie of-”

“Hey, I know this must be especially hard for you considering you’re a neat freak and all that crap, but, um…” Vinyl suddenly sped past her. “Run like a motherfucker!”

Nightmare Moon cast a quick look back and snarled as a tidal wave of balloon animals rushed down the street.

“You’d better find a deity to pray to so that I never find you, Discord!”

She ran after the DJ.

“Celestia!” Blueblood pushed the throne room doors open and gaped in shock as they floated right off their hinges and dissolved into glitter. Shaking his head, he jogged down the carpet. “I apologize for my rudeness, but there, ah… appears to be quite an issue in Canterlot.”

“We are aware,” Luna was looking out a window with a venomous expression. Her tail – it had gained the lovely astral-properties as her sister’s by now – flicked to and fro.

“Discord has broken free of his stone imprisonment.” Celestia paced back and forth in front of her throne, brow scrunched in worry.

Blueblood swallowed hard. “Please tell me that you have a plan for all this. I can’t shower until I know that miscreant is safely back where he belongs! Who knows what will come out of the damnable pipes next!”

“Our sister has enlisted the aid of the Element bearers,” Luna turned away from the window and towards him. “They are seeking the Elements of Harmony as we speak.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful news…” He sighed, smiling shakily. “For a moment there I was afraid my supply of shampoo was in…” Blueblood’s eyes widened. “What do you mean they’re seeking them? I thought they were in that vault?!”

“Discord has not grown any weaker,” Luna said gravely. “My sister, why wouldst thou keep that villainous draconequus within thy garden? Free for any who pass by to gawk at and tamper with?”

“Luna, you know that even if I buried him a hundred miles under the surface of Equestria in a concrete chamber armed with the most dangerous spells it would only slow him down for a few moments should the Elements’ imprisonment fail. At least in the garden I could easily keep an eye out for any signs,” Celestia stopped pacing and sighed. “But you’re right – I should have done more; I should have told Twilight and her friends about him, just in case. I’ve failed.”

Now if there was one pony Blueblood didn’t like seeing unhappy it was Celestia. “Aunty, now is not the time to play the blame game. We can do that after everything’s sorted.”

“Blueblood is correct,” Luna said. “We cannot simply sit by and watch Discord ruin Equestria once more! We have grown stronger; we must fight back!”

“That’s more like it!” Blueblood beamed brightly; pleased with his rousing words. “Wait, when you say ‘we’…”

“You know what he’s capable of,” Celestia shook her head. “Because of what we are, we may be immune to the majority of his tricks, but he’s still a formidable opponent.”

“He is powerful, yes, but not omnipotent. Nor is he omnipresent or omniscient. We have already confirmed this. We have fought him without the Elements and proved to be significantly effective and that was when we were but foals. Now…” Luna’s wings snapped open. “We are mares and it is our sworn duty to protect our home. Will you not join me? Will you not try?”

Celestia cast her gaze towards him. Blueblood smiled and nodded his head enthusiastically. She sighed once more before inhaling deeply and nodding. “Yes,” She repeated herself, louder, “Yes! We have grown stronger. With you at my side, Luna, we will go up against Discord and attempt to defeat him. Just like old times.”

“Those are my aunties!” Blueblood cheered. “You show that uncouth spirit what we ponies are made of!”

Luna coughed.

“Ahem, excuse us…”

She placed one hoof on her chest and coughed again.

An unflattering sound filled the air and small rainbows suddenly flew out from… under Luna’s tail.

Blueblood’s cheeks almost went as red as Luna’s. “That doesn’t seem quite right.”

“Phew! What a killer!” Blueblood grunted – he most certainly didn’t shriek – in alarm as a pair of yellow eyes appeared in the air before him. “Well, you know that’s what happens when you live in such a sugar bowl world; you eventually start pooping rainbows. You should really start watching what you eat, Moon-Butt.”

“Discord!” Celestia’s hoof came down hard upon the floor. Blueblood winced as he heard the marble underneath the carpet crack. He’d have to hire somepony to fix that later. “Are you here to face us or flaunt about; hiding your cowardice behind your words?”

The eyes spun about and flew towards Celestia, hovering in front of her face. “Oh, ‘Tia, now you’ve gone and hurt my feelings. I thought you were all about harmony and friendship, but then you go and say something like that? It’s enough to make an old prankster cry.”

Geysers of water erupted from the eyes and rose to the ceiling as the owner sobbed loudly.

“Prankster?” Luna stepped forwards. The eyes immediately stopped crying and flipped upside down to look at her. “Thou hath a twisted opinion on what ‘pranks’ are. Hiding foals from parents until they go mad with worry, setting ursa majors upon settlements only to banish them before they can cause harm, and suddenly making clouds hard as granite for pegasi? These are not pranks but the antics of a bully!”

The eyes closed as laughter echoed throughout the throne room. “Oh, Tutu-Lulu – still as stuck in the mud as ever I see. I must say I absolutely adore your new colour scheme; you and your sister’s. And have you two grown?”

There was a bright flash and Blueblood stared in mute terror as Discord – who could even conceive of such a mish-mash creature? – appeared in his true form… albeit dressed in a doctor’s outfit.

“Why, you have indeed! Quite a growth spurt; ‘Tia, you should really be careful with that horn. Somepony could get their eyes poked out.”

Luna’s horn lit up and a bright blue beam erupted from the tip. Blueblood winced as the beam cut through the empty space where Discord once was and promptly destroyed part of the ceiling.

And he worked so hard yelling at the ponies who were in charge of keeping the place clean.

“Wowee-zowie!” Discord materialized on the throne, casually reaching up to the fur on his head and pinching out a small flame. “I’d have thought spending ten centuries on a sub-zero satellite orbiting the planet would cool one’s temper, but apparently I don’t know anything.”

A dunce cap appeared on his head and he struck a goofy face. His expression remained floating in the air even when his body disappeared to avoid a bright yellow beam which scorched the throne.

Blueblood bit his hoof, wincing at the bits needed to fix that.

“Enough, Discord!” Celestia glared at the floating face. How she managed to keep a clear head amongst such insanity was beyond him.

“Enough?” Discord’s voice lowered to a menacing growl and his expression went dark.

Two mismatched arms stretched from behind the throne and grabbed Discord’s face. He replaced it on his blank head as his body reared up over the seat.

“Oh, but we’re just getting started. See, I don’t know if you realize this – considering you’ve never been trapped in stone – but it can get so boring staying still in one spot day after day, month after month, year after year. So forgive me for being so twitchy,”

He laughed, softly and sadistically; chills ran up Blueblood’s spine.

“I’ve got a lot of chaos to catch up on.”

Luna shouted, “Thou shalt not defy one more law of physics while we draw breath, fiend. Now face us!”

Suddenly snapping out of his dark mood, Discord craned his neck forwards, eyes wide with child-like wonder. “Okay, I’m facing you. It’s really boring. Dreams are crashing. What should I do next?”

“Fall!”

A mirror – Blueblood’s eyes sparkled at the beautiful design – appeared in Discord’s hand. He placed it in front of himself and the beam of energy was reflected. Celestia gasped and threw her wings in front of herself. The beam struck and she was knocked back a few hooves.

“Aunty!”

“Sister!”

To his immense relief, Celestia lowered her wings and smiled reassuringly. “I am fine.”

“Oh, I remember when I did that the first time; Luna looked so miserable,” Discord laughed and examined his reflection. “Why, hello there, handsome.”

His reflection winked. “Hey, how you doin’?”

“We will not be so easily bested this time.” Luna rose into the air and swooped forwards. “Defend thyself!”

“Well, if you insist,” The mirror vanished and he was suddenly in a suit of armor, weaving back and forth with fists raised. “You know, I’m an admirer of things that don’t make sense, so tell me how your whole speech works out. I always thought it had something to-”

Luna suddenly disappeared in a blue flash and reappeared behind Discord, both hooves raised. Discord burst into confetti and his auntie’s strike threw her off balance, cartwheeling forwards in the air three times before righting herself.

“Oh, are-are we-you fighting now?” Blueblood knew that he had to find some guards to help. He’d come back and help as soon as he did… seriously. “Fear not, dear aunties! You are not alone and I will assist as soon as I get ready!”

He turned to run and bumped into a scaly leg. Looking up, he was met with the crazed grin of the draconequus.

“Well, if it isn’t Luna’s totally legit son.”

Blueblood gulped. “I’m, uh… I’m not really her-”

“If you didn’t pick up the sarcasm in that one, then… woof, good luck with everything.”

Discord’s gaze flicked upwards and he stuck his tongue out. He burst into confetti as a yellow beam cut through the air. Before it left the throne room, a crystal ball blinked into existence and intercepted it; the energy entered the ball and bounced around, emitting several rays of light. The draconequus reappeared and grabbed it in his talons.

“Skills, don’t fail me now!”

Blueblood grunted – not shrieked – and leapt out of the way as the pony-sized crystal ball rolled past him. Celestia flew into the air before it could hit her. It impacted with the throne and exploded, scorching a great deal of wonderful architecture and furnishings.

Blueblood wished they would take the fight outside where no expensive things were.

“Awww, I struck out,” Discord face-palmed in dismay. “Come on, D, get your head in the game.”

He reached up and removed his head from his neck.

Before he could do something else which would test Blueblood’s sanity, Luna swooped and landed before the draconequus, her horn glowing. Instead of a beam like Blueblood was expecting, a bubble formed around the tip of Luna’s horn and grew to fully encase her. It was transparent, so he could see six rings of dark blue light appear on her right foreleg, starting at her shoulder and ending near her hoof. The bubble dissolved into nothingness and his younger aunty shook her head, panting heavily.

“Pfft…” Discord rolled his eyes. “Flashy and extravagant much?”

Blueblood stared at the rings in confusion. “Aunty, what was that?”

“We have been familiarizing ourselves with combat spells in our sister’s archive,” Luna briefly glanced at Celestia with a smile. “Thou hast some rare and powerful scrolls and books for such a peacemaker.”

Celestia hummed thoughtfully. “I had actually forgotten they were still down there.”

“A spell that conjures up glowing bracelets; how wonderful!” Discord began tossing his head back and forth between his hands. “Could you loan me that spell? I might use it to spice up my celebratory party.”

“Then by all means, accept our bracelets!”

Luna’s horn flashed and she thrust her right hoof forwards. With a crackle of energy and a deep, resonating choom, one of the rings arced from her leg and formed a streak of dark blue energy. It flew fast and struck the draconequus hard in the chest, sending him flying out of the throne room with a pained cry. He hit the walls of the corridor, leaving a sizeable crack and a perfect imprint.

“What say you now?!”

Blueblood cheered. “You go, Luna! Show that ruffian why you’re in charge!”

“Well then…” Discord floated to his feet and placed his head back, spinning it around so it was screwed on tight. “That’s certainly something new. Normally I adore surprises, but that one? Not so much.”

He snapped his talons and a small fireball appeared in the air before him, orange and yellow flames flicking wildly. He swung his arm back and brought it forwards, a tennis racket suddenly in his grasp. The fireball sailed towards them and split into a dozen, forming a triangle-shape.

Blueblood flinched away. He heard the projectiles hit something, but felt no heat or pain. Cracking one eye open, he let out a sigh of relief as he saw the shimmering yellow barrier erected in front of him.

“This fight is between us, Discord.” Celestia said as her horn dulled and the barrier collapsed. “Leave him be.”

“But putting ponies between the two of you and I has always worked out so splendidly,” He paused and pursed his lips. “Well… for me at least.”

“Oh, believe me – I do not make a good shield,” Blueblood chuckled nervously. “I know one pony who would probably make do though.”

“Blueblood!”

“Don’t hurt me!”

“Thou will only get in our way,” Luna’s horn glowed. “Find a safe spot to protect thyself from Discord’s reign and stay there ‘till the matter is solved.”

“Oh, I can most definitely-”

“-do that.” Blueblood blinked and looked around. He huffed. “Urgency be damned, it is so rude to teleport a pony when they are speaking.”

“Prince Blueblood!” A pegasus guard ran towards him from the castle gates. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine but your princesses are, even as we speak, fighting the one responsible for all this madness,” He gestured to the castle which had now been coloured a bright pink. “You are to recruit more of your brutish fellows and assist them in any way you…” Blueblood paused and lowered his hoof. “You’re not all there, hm?”

“Nope.”

Blueblood sighed and trotted off to find help as the guard spread his wings and tunnelled into the ground, disappearing in a shower of dirt and stones.

“Okay, okay, so if we take a right here then we should end up…” Vinyl turned the corner and came upon a wall, the words ‘DEAD END’ written across it. “Wow, what bullshit. What honest bullshit. Hey, Wolf, you seeing this bullshit?”

Nightmare Moon could literally feel her anger breaking what she thought was the threshold as chocolate rain soaked her to the bone and matted her mane. It was actually fascinating just how much rage she was experiencing, and how it continued to grow with each passing second.

All her hard work wiped in a single snap of the draconequus’ talons. It made her sick and she yearned to find him and make him pay.

‘I can’t be stupid about it; he’s an incredibly powerful foe, and I’ve never fought him.’

The only experience she had with Discord was Luna’s memories of him and his reign. Memories of another could only teach you so much.

“Where the hay are we anyway?” Vinyl shouted, looking back and forth. “This is so not downtown! Does this look like downtown to you?”

Nightmare Moon shook her head. “No, it doesn’t. This appears to be the middleclass section of Canterlot.”

“How did we end up here?” A rubber chicken struck Vinyl on the head, courtesy of a cotton candy cloud passing by. “Oh, right – everything’s totally screwed. What’s causing this? Some dick unicorn? I swear if this is another one of Celestia’s city-wide pranks I’m gonna be real pissed.”
Nightmare Moon knew something had to be done.

She didn’t care in the slightest for Celestia’s rule, but she outright despised Discord’s more. At least the white alicorn had order, this was just plain anarchy.

The quickest and surest way of defeating him was using the Elements of Harmony. Nightmare Moon didn’t like the idea of using the very thing that caused her prior two defeats, but it was the most powerful weapon in existence so far, and ignoring their potential was just plain stupid.

Celestia had probably taken the Elements after her defeat and locked them away in the castle for later use. If nothing had been done by now, then Discord must have stolen and hidden them.

Which meant she was stuck in this messed-up world until they were found.

A nearby manhole shuddered and was slowly pushed up by rising yeast.

‘Wonderful…’

“Holy Tartarus!” Vinyl gestured towards the wall to their right. “Look at that!”

Rather than acknowledge the oxymoron that was Vinyl’s exclamation, Nightmare Moon looked towards the wall and noticed a gap in the brickwork which – instead of leading to the interior of the antique store like it should – led to a street where several earth ponies and unicorns had been lifted into the air by corrupted pegasi and were dangled over a pit full of snarling timber wolves.

It certainly looked bad, but Discord would never intentionally harm a living creature – that would give him one less thing to play with. She could even see the glint of light where the sun’s rays reflected off the hard plastic lid covering the pit. Obviously, in their terror, the ponies couldn’t see it.

“They are in no immediate danger,” Nightmare Moon said. “There’s a covering across the pit which you can plainly-”

“DJ Pon-3 to the rescue!”

She should have expected it. She really should have. As Vinyl raced off into the gap, Nightmare Moon seriously debated leaving and finding some way of hindering Discord’s reign; it wasn’t as if Vinyl was in any danger of getting seriously harmed or killed. Besides, she wasn’t obligated to be Vinyl’s babysit-

Nightmare Moon’s hair stood on end as a wave of energy passed over her.

Everything shimmered for a brief moment; the pegasi reeled back in apparent pain, the gap in the wall wavered like water, and the plastic lid covering the pit dissolved into glitter. The timber wolves scrambled out in moments.

‘Curse you, Vinyl!’

She sprinted forwards just as the gap closed.

Channelling magic into her horn, she let loose a combustion spell; the wooden bodies of the wolves immediately caught fire, their snarls turning into panicked yelps. She had imbued the spell with enough energy that the flames consumed and turned their bodies to cinders within seconds. Nightmare Moon watched as sickly green tendrils of smoke – the essence of the wolves – rose from the debris and streamed into the air, back towards the Everfree Forest.

Turning towards the corrupted pegasi, Nightmare Moon prepared a Paralysis spell only to find that they had already released their captives and were lying listlessly on the street with miserable expressions.

“Hey, she looks really angry…” A mare said.

A stallion lying on his back yawned. “Which one?”

“That one.”

None of them moved an inch.

“Oh yeah, she looks really angry…”

“Yeah…”

“I’m so depressed.”

“I wish I was back in Las Pegasus.”

“I wish you were back in Las Pegasus, too.”

Pulling her magic back into her body, Nightmare Moon turned to the DJ, who was busy helping a grey mare to her hooves. “Take it easy, girl; you’re cool now. My main mare here just saved your flanks.”

The grey mare – Nightmare Moon recognized her as the widely-acclaimed cello player, Octavia – looked pitiful as she shook, wide violet eyes glancing about.

“Oh Celestia, why is this happening?” A mare with a grating voice shrilled. Nightmare Moon’s ears folded back and her lips curled into a scowl.

“Look at my coat!” A stallion gestured to his bright yellow body. “Look at it!”

Vinyl shrugged. “What about it?”

“I used to be blue!”

“I think it looks pretty good.”

“I…” The stallion blinked and examined himself closely. “You think so?”

“Yeah, totally.”

“Oh. Well… then look at her coat!”

The shrill mare glowered. “My coat is natural!”

“Honey, there’s nothing natural about that.”

The DJ gave a very fake laugh. “Yeah, you’re a comic genius, dude; now can we hurry and get somewhere less… weird?”

Nightmare Moon blinked twice in quick succession. “When you say ‘we’, I certainly hope you’re not including them as well.”

“We can’t just leave them in this mess!” Vinyl stepped towards her. “We must help our fellow ponies during this time of crisis. The Element bearers are doing all they can to stop this mess so we – all of Canterlot – must help in keeping our brothers and sisters safe.”

Once she got close, Vinyl lowered her voice.

“Do you not see the flank on the grey mare? Come on – help a sister out in her quest for some fine booty.”

“I can’t believe you,” Nightmare Moon really couldn’t. “Canterlot is being-” Vinyl hushed her, nodding at Octavia. Nightmare Moon gritted her teeth, but continued quietly. “Canterlot is being torn apart at its seams and you’re concerned about finding a mate?”

“I don’t know about finding a mate, but looking to mate? That’s more up my alley.”

“You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?”

“I’m as serious as a friggin’ heart attack,” Vinyl brought her front hooves together pleadingly. “Come on – you’re a natural leader.”

Nightmare Moon was about to protest, but realized the DJ was right. She was a very good leader. “That doesn’t mean I go around finding lost ponies and guiding them back to their meadows like some insane shepherd!”

“Think of it this way: you’re giving orders to ponies who are so panicked they’ll do whatever you say blindly.”

That did sound tempting. It’d be nice to give an order and not have somepony talk back. Star Secret was popular, but there was always the occasional snide pony who dismissed anything she said, and it wasn’t as if she could beat them until they listened.

Nightmare Moon frowned in thought, swishing her tail back and forth. Vinyl trotted to her side and craned her neck up to whisper in her ear.
“And who knows? They might just remember the dashing mare that led them through this crisis and sing her praises, inspiring others to support the mare that led them through disaster, having seen her leadership skills first-hoof.”

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes. “Are you… playing on my personality traits to manipulate me into doing what you want?”

The DJ telekinetically lowered her glasses to reveal shining red eyes. “Who? Widdle old me? Perish the thought.”

Nopony had ever had the gall to try and manipulate her.

She was truly impressed; she didn’t think the DJ had it in her.

Nightmare Moon smirked. “You’re not as dumb as you look, you know that?”

Vinyl grinned and replaced her shades. “Yep, but I just love hearing you admit it.”

Nightmare Moon sighed and surveyed the group of ponies. She didn’t know what exactly Vinyl wanted her to do when she said ‘lead them to safety’ since there was hardly any place that Discord couldn’t touch, but she did know of numerous shelters spread all over Canterlot in case of cataclysmic events such as this.

Reinforced concrete chambers protected by charms installed a dozen or so metres underground and capable of holding two hundred full grown stallions.

It would only stop Discord for about five seconds, but it was better than nothing.

Well, it wasn’t as if she’d be stopping Discord by herself or finding the Elements anytime soon. With any luck, the Element bearers weren’t completely useless and would manage to find them and put an end to the draconequus. She’d give it a day and if things were still as bad-

The sun suddenly went down at ludicrous speeds and the moon shot up and braked with the sound of shattering glass.

She’d give it a day – using her own internal clock – and if things were still as bad then she’d do something. Until then, leading these idiots would prove to occupy her time.

“All of you!” Nightmare Moon yelled and cast an illumination spell, her horn lighting up the area. “Against my own better judgement, I will try and lead you to one of the shelters in the area.”

“You will?” A light brown-coated stallion said.

“But only if you follow my instructions and do not answer back! Now, first rule: shut up. Second rule: if you see a corrupted pony, loved one or not, do not touch them. Third rule: if a hybrid of animal parts tries to talk to you, either fight or run. Fourth rule: attack first and ask no questions later. Clear?”

“We-”

“First rule!”

“…”

“Let’s go!”

As Nightmare Moon strolled down the streets, Vinyl remained at her side, beaming. “I owe you one, Wolf.”

“More than one.”

“Yeah, yeah, cool. Now if you’ll excuse me…” The DJ slowed down until she was trotting side by side with Octavia. She nodded. “How you doin’?”

Author's Note

Note 1: Nightmare Moon's social links have levelled up, much to her chagrin. Even so, it's a long way from being even close to the friendships the Mane 6 have.

Note 2: Arcane Disruption Ring(s) - first created by Starswirl the Bearded in 50 BD (Before Discord), and then later improved on by Clover the Clever in 43 AD. This Arcane spell bypasses natural defences and causes magical backlash, which inflicts intense pain and possible internal injury on the target, the severity of which dependent on how much magical potential the victim has and how resilient they are.

The spell holds no kinetic energy; the impact force is dependent on the magical backlash, as if the victim's magic instinctively repels them from the foreign magical signature.

Very few have knowledge of it and even fewer have the skill to cast it.

Note 3: Vinyl likes to think she is smooth.

Chapter 6: Moving Forwards

1053 AD, July 11th

“You’ve made such wonderful progress, Star,” Fleur levitated a navy blue dress out from a rotating rack of clothes and scrutinized it with a keen eye. “Canterlot is simply abuzz about you,” Dissatisfied, she returned the dress. “It wouldn’t be presumptuous of me to say your position on the Royal Court is guaranteed, would it?”

Nightmare Moon shrugged and replied, “I’m afraid you would be getting a little ahead of yourself in saying that.”

“Oh?” Fleur’s left eyebrow rose quizzically. “That doesn’t sound like the confident Star Secret I know.”

“Oh, I will get that position, no doubt about that. However, that time will come later rather than sooner.”

“I think you’ve proven yourself capable of handling that responsibility,” Fleur placed the dress back and took out a yellow/green one made for the heat of summer. “You led all those ponies to safety during the entire mishap with Discord and you haven’t slowed down since. It seems every time I see you, you’re solving some issue the city has. So why the wait?”

“It’s not a matter concerning my skills,” Nightmare Moon idly searched through another rotating rack, this one comprised of tuxedos and suits. “Discord may not have killed anypony, but there’s been severe damage done to Equestria’s economy because of his antics. Smaller settlements haven’t been hit as hard as most of them are self-sustaining, but larger settlements have felt the squeeze.”

Fleur looked at her with wide eyes. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Many of Canterlot’s services – agriculture, weather-regulation, law enforcement – are managed by unicorns. Discord’s presence released a large amount of chaos magic which is notorious for interfering with unicorn magic. Even now, the dispersion of the chaos magic which still permeates Canterlot is ongoing, and it is a slow process. Until it is dispersed, unicorn magic will continue to behave in unexpected ways, effectively crippling Canterlot’s services which are dependent on the source.”

“Wow…” Fleur subconsciously brought a hoof to touch her horn. “I truly had no idea. Everything still seems so… normal.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “The employment rate of earth ponies and pegasi has skyrocketed in direct response to the unemployment rate of unicorns. This is keeping Canterlot humming along, but I can only imagine how things will turn out when the dispersion process is done, and the unicorns want their jobs back.”

Upon seeing that Fleur was looking a little dazed from the information overload, Nightmare Moon took pity on the mare.

“Long story short – the economy is unstable and until it’s stabilized, my election will have to wait.”

Fleur wasn’t stupid in any way, but she severely lacked knowledge in these types of things. Her ignorance of how drastically Canterlot had been affected was in part due to her line of work – models flaunted the designers’ work, they didn’t ask how many bits it cost to produce – and the fact that she was married to Fancypants, a stallion of considerable wealth who also dealt with the finances.

“Well… that seems unfair,” Glancing at the price tag of another dress, Fleur winced and pushed it aside. “I mean, you could solve this… money problem.”

Nightmare Moon could indeed solve it if she had enough time and possessed the influential power of a Royal Court official, but it wasn’t meant to be. Even if her election hadn’t been put on the bench warmers, now was the worst time to be running; ponies seemed to think that if somepony new was sworn into the office, they could immediately solve all problems in the flick of a tail, and anything less was tantamount to betrayal.

Besides, now that her occupation and living quarters had been revealed – it was bound to happen sooner or later, though Nightmare Moon still swore to find that paparazzi and make them pay – and subsequently used as ammunition in a recent smear campaign by a rival, now was as good a time as any to lay low.

Once the economy had been stabilized and the smear campaign reduced to a passing memory, she’d make her move.

‘More waiting – it’s enough to drive one up the walls. I swear, if something else happens to delay my rise to power…’

“It’s just how it is,” Nightmare Moon shrugged, finally turning away from the suits after deeming none of them worthy of purchase.

“Sorry to hear that,” Fleur said with a sympathetic look. Her horn lit up in a pink glow and she levitated a conservative dress out from the rack. “Hmm…”

‘At the very least,’ Nightmare Moon thought as she watched Fleur examine every square inch of the dress for some fashion-borne reason she had no intentions of understanding. ‘I have the princesses in my pocket. Their support is a huge plus… and so deliciously ironic.’

Celestia was completely in the dark about Nightmare Moon’s true identity. The last time they met – some few weeks ago – the solar princess had praised her abilities and expressed delight at the prospect of ‘Star Secret’ being on the Royal Court.

Oh, it had been agonizing to converse politely and smile, but it was worth it to garner her support.

Luna had been harder to get along with; she expected as much given the ‘lone wolf’ status she had developed, but it was hardly a tedious task. Nightmare Moon’s interests and quirks were a branch of Luna’s, and after a fair bit of talking, she had won over the night princess’ favour.

Really, the only factor working against her right now was time, and time was something she could deal with.

“For a dress on discount, it’s surprisingly well-made and stylish,” Fleur struck a pose, holding the clothing against her body. “Does this go with my coat?”

‘Ugh…’

Nightmare Moon had been dragged along enough of these trips to know that no matter how she replied, Fleur would want an explanation. Fashion was not a field she was knowledgeable about – not that she wanted to be in the first place – so she did what Fancypants had told her to do one evening.

“I think you can make it work.”

Fleur pursed her lips in thought, as if sensing the familiarity of the statement, but ultimately gave an appreciative nod and smile. “Alright then, thanks.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. When Fleur trotted off to purchase her dress, Nightmare Moon gave a sigh and focused on her internal clock.

‘5:46 pm – this had better wrap up soon; there was only one carton of milk in the fridge when I left and if she drinks it all before I come back, she’ll take the news even harder. Double so if Shadow had been chewing on her favourite towel again.’

“Done,” Fleur came back with a shopping bag held aloft in magic. “Shall we go? Sorry this took longer than I expected.”

“It’s fine…”

As they exited the store, Fleur took note of a kiosk selling pastries and cakes, and prodded Nightmare Moon to get her attention.

“Hn?” Irritated by the poking, Nightmare Moon frowned as she looked at the other mare. “What? Don’t tell me you see another thing to buy.”

“No, I was looking at that kiosk and the cakes, and it reminded me of that garden party you went to. The one where the bearers of the Elements showed up, remember?”

Nightmare Moon’s jaw tightened. “Yes, I remember.”

“Oh, how I regret falling ill that particular day,” Fleur sighed regretfully. “Fancypants told me he had never been to such an exciting event before. Was it true that one of the Element bearers scarfed an entire cake down on her own?”

“Yes, the pink one,” Images of frosting and cream covering a pink face, an insane rictus and beady eyes peeking out through the mess flashed through Nightmare Moon’s head. “It was almost as frightening as Celestia’s protégé’s dancing.”

Nightmare Moon had been secretly hoping the purple unicorn had been having some sort of seizure.

“Oh my, so Fancypants wasn’t exaggerating.” Fleur chuckled.

“No, he wasn’t.” Her lips twitched at the memory of Rainbow Dash inadvertently exposing a mare’s baldness.

“I hope it wasn’t too much of a disaster.”

Nightmare Moon couldn’t say she enjoyed the unexpected arrival of the Elements – it had taken quite some self-control not to cause bodily harm to them – but she did enjoy their antics; especially when it caused so much distress to everypony except her.

Jetset and Uppercrust had it coming anyway.

“It wasn’t the worst night I’ve ever had.”

They exited the store and Fleur turned to her. “That was a lovely day, Star. Thank you so much for accompanying me. Have a pleasant afternoon.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “I will.”

Fleur began trotting back home, leaving Nightmare Moon to build up her magic, and disappear in a flash of blue light.

Pushing the door open, Nightmare Moon surveyed the room. It was clean – almost spotless, so Vinyl must have had Octavia over.

Walking in a few steps, she paused upon noticing the opaque shades resting on the table.

Correction: Vinyl has Octavia over.

The DJ must have thought Nightmare Moon would be home late. She was most likely in her room with the cello player, expressing their affection for each other.

‘Thankfully the walls aren’t paper-thin.’

Reaching back with a tendril of magic, she shut the door, and walked over to relax on the couch. As it creaked under her weight, there was the expected sound of claws against floor, and Nightmare Moon gave an unimpressed sigh as Shadow rounded the side of the couch, muzzle covered in a thin coating of white powder.

“I’m so glad you’ve saved me from the contents of the powder bottle once again,” Nevertheless, Nightmare Moon reached out to scratch the vines and branches that kept Shadow’s head connected to his neck. He panted in pleasure and tilted his head so she could access the spot more easily. “Ah well – at least you’ve stopped staining the carpets with tree sap.”

Shadow’s joints creaked as he hopped onto the furniture and nestled beside her. Thankfully, the chemically-treated water she gave him eliminated the eye-watering stench of his breath.

Vinyl was the one who originally adopted Shadow after finding the timber wolf pup in a dumpster full of fish during Discord’s reign, but over time it became obvious he was more loyal to Nightmare Moon. The DJ didn’t mind; Octavia took up most of her free time nowadays.

Nightmare Moon kept him for several reasons: timber wolves didn’t require food, they had no fur to house fleas and/or parasites, they were fearsome and terrifying to look at, and they were incredibly hard to put down permanently. He had only come up to her knees when he was found, but Nightmare Moon had brought in a pile of branches and leaves for him to assimilate, bringing him to about half the size of a regular pony. The rules on owning timber wolves were strict and he wasn’t allowed to be any larger based on the space of the apartment and public safety concerns.

He’d make for a good guard pet – she’d already taught him the basics: sit, follow, jump, fetch, guard. When she had the time, she’d take him outside Canterlot and teach him how to maul and sneak.

Halfway through I shouldn’t be alive, Nightmare Moon’s ears perked as she heard a door open and a low voice drift through.

“… do this again sometime,” Vinyl giggled. It wasn’t her trademark laugh or guffaw; it was an actual giggle. “Hey, don’t gimme that look; it wasn’t just the sex – which was amazing by the way – but all that other sweet stuff we did,” She heard them trot in and stop. “Oh f… Wolf, when did you get back?”

Nightmare Moon didn’t turn away from the TV. “A few hours ago.”

“Oh… um…” She could practically hear the blush in her tone. “You didn’t… hear anything, did ya?”

“No.”

“Ya sure?”

“Positive.”

“Alright then,” Vinyl turned to Octavia. “So you really have to go? You don’t wanna stay a little longer?”

Octavia shook her head with an apologetic smile.

“Want me to walk ya home?”

Octavia shook her head again.

“Okay then,” The two trotted over to the door, Vinyl’s horn lighting up to pull it open. The cello player gave her a peck on the cheek as she walked out. “I will see you and your sexy flank later.”

Octavia rolled her eyes with a smile.

The door clicked shut and the DJ let out a great sigh. “Stallion… what… an awesome… day. I’ve had awesome days before, but that… that, my friend, was an awesome day.”

“I’m going to go with the assumption that you two stayed in and engaged in carnal acts for quite a lengthy period of time.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Both your manes are messy; you’re out of breath…” Nightmare Moon inhaled too deeply and choked, wrinkling her nose. “And you plain reek of sex.”

“I know,” The DJ lifted her left foreleg and sniffed the fur on it, shuddering. “Damn, that’s some good musk…”

“That is disgusting.”

“Only because it wasn’t you getting some,” Vinyl levitated a glass and placed it under the tap. The sound of rushing water filled the air. “Trust me – when you’re gettin’ it on with somepony, the musk is the only thing you wanna be breathing.”

“I’m done with this topic now.”

Vinyl chuckled and practically inhaled the glass of water, letting out a loud sigh once she was done. “Oh yeah, that hit the spot.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t trying to replace the fluids you lost with alcohol.” Nightmare Moon said dryly.

The DJ looked down at the glass and her grin faded. “Yeah... weird, huh?”

The sudden change in mood made Nightmare Moon raise her right eyebrow. She said nothing though as Vinyl placed the glass in the sink and trotted over to the fridge. The door swung open and her head disappeared from view.

“Hey, Wolf…”

“Hm?”

“Do I seem… different?”

The question didn’t warrant thinking. “Yes.”

“Really? Like… how?”

Nightmare Moon’s attention was mostly held by the TV; a pegasus was struggling to cross a ravine with a broken foreleg. “Your consumption of alcohol has reduced to the point where it’s rare I see you with a can,” When Vinyl said nothing, she continued. “Your hygiene has also improved and you clean up after yourself rather than leave the mess where it is. You’ve also been taking trips to the upper class section of the city more and more often. I take it it’s because of your lover’s concerts?”

“Yep,” She emerged fully into view levitating a plate holding a daisy sandwich. “So… what do you think? About these changes?”

“I think it’s for the best. The smell of alcohol is no longer constant and I no longer trip up over everything. As for personal hygiene… well, I’ll just say that’s a plus, too.”

“Huh…”

The DJ’s mood was very uncharacteristic today. Nightmare Moon looked over as an ad came on. “Is there a problem?”

“Nah, everything’s…” She paused. She lifted the sandwich as if to take a bite but lowered it and placed the plate on the table. “Wolf, do you remember how I used to be? When we first met?”

“Loud, obnoxious, boisterous, promiscuous, prone to violence. The last one I didn’t mind so much, but I detested coming here and finding you and some other mare sprawled out on the couch.”

“Right on the money,” Vinyl nodded. “But… since I’ve met Octavia I barely even look at other mares. Which is kinda freaky for me. Not only that, but usually I stay far away from commitment, ya know? I mean I’ve avoided it like the friggin’ cutie pox all my life and now look at me – I’m hanging out with her, I think about her twenty-four friggin’ seven, and I’m even blowin’ off a few gigs to go to her concerts.” She paused and laughed nervously. “And honestly, I’m fuckin’ scared.”

At this, Nightmare Moon blinked. “You’ve faced down stallions, timber wolves, and giant grasshoppers made of stone yet this single mare scares you?”

“I know! It’s friggin’ crazy!” Vinyl shook her head. “I can’t really pinpoint what I’m scared of exactly, but I think… I think I’m scared of losing her. Like… I’m scared that I’ll do something stupid and drive her off. And you know me, Wolf; I do stupid shit all the time. Not lately, but sooner or later I will and that’ll drive her off and…” She looked away, cheeks flushed. “I really… really don’t want to lose her.”

Displays of emotion always annoyed and made her uncomfortable. Seeing such a thing from her closest associate – who had never displayed anything in full view previously – made her feel very uncomfortable. She felt like she should say something, but her mind came up empty.

It made her angry at the DJ for making her feel that way.

“It’s about self-control,” Nightmare Moon replied with an edge in her tone. “If you feel an urge to do something idiotic, then simply refrain from doing so.”

“Yeah, but I’m not the brightest tool in the kitchen, ya know? How do I know if something I want to do is stupid?”

“Ask your lover. She appears to have a good head on her shoulders.”

Vinyl blushed again. “I don’t want her to think I’m an idiot…”

“If she thought you were an idiot and it bothered her, then she’d have already left.”

“Yeah…” Vinyl scratched her head. “Guess you’re right.”

“Naturally.”

“I should totally ask her to move in!”

Nightmare Moon went to nod before her mind actually caught up with the sentence. “Wait, how in Equestria did you go from admitting your fears to wanting your lover to move in?”

The DJ appeared to not hear her. “If she moves in, then she’ll be seeing me all day and all night; that way, she’ll get used to me doing dumb things and not leave!” She cheered excitedly. “I might not know algebra or grammar any good, but when I do get an idea, it’s so brilliant it gives me a friggin’ headache!”

“Yes, because you coming up with anything even remotely intelligent without harming yourself is the equivalent of touching your horn with your tongue,” Nightmare Moon gestured to ShadowStrike. “You know how terrified she is being alone with him.”

Vinyl placed a hoof on her lips in thought. “Damn, you got me there. And her house is way more fancy than mine,” She hummed thoughtfully before gasping. “I got it! I’ll move in with her and you can have this apartment.”

Nightmare Moon sighed in exasperation. “And what about the club?”

“Well, we only work a few nights and I can just leave early to make it on time. Then once the night’s over, you teleport me back to Octavia’s. You got that thing down to a ‘t’; you can manage it twice, right?”

“Vinyl…”

‘Don’t put it off; tell her now,’

Nightmare Moon exhaled.

“Have you noticed how little I’ve actually been able to attend the club?”

The DJ tilted her head in thought, eyes narrowing. “Kinda… but it’s cool. I know you’ve got that election thing to worry about.”

“That’s my point. Lately, I’ve been getting busier and busier; meetings, congregations, soirees – they’re taking up most of my time. I haven’t been able to fulfil my obligation as a bouncer for your club.”

Nightmare Moon was far from being the nicest of ponies, but when she made an obligation or a promise to somepony, she made sure to deliver to the best of her ability.

Vinyl shrugged. “Well, I guess, but…”

“I’m not finished. This inability to fulfil my obligation towards you is weighing heavily on my sense of integrity. However, my goals to be on the Royal Court…” For a moment she hesitated. Unsure why, she continued. “It is far more important than my current job.”

The DJ said nothing for a while. “So… you’re quitting?”

Nightmare Moon felt the need to apologize, but that need was crushed by her own pride.

“Yes. I’ve actually entertained the idea of moving into the upper class section for a while now. There is an empty dwelling near the castle which I’ve visited a few times and I have enough bits saved up to rent it. Concerning my income, Fancypants has offered me a partnership in his business; that will be more than enough to sustain me.”

The DJ was unusually quiet. “Yeah, I… noticed you and him talking a lot lately, but I didn’t really… put much thought… So, uh… when will you be leaving?”

“Hopefully, sometime next week.”

“Well, ya know…” Vinyl shrugged. “I’m happy for you I guess,” She turned and levitated the previously-forgotten sandwich off the table, playing with it. “We’ve just been roomies for like… two years almost and you suddenly drop this on me. Cool. Cool stuff, Wolf.”

The DJ had never taken such a hostile tone with her before. Unfamiliar with it, Nightmare Moon responded with what felt right: anger and indignation.

“Do you wish to say something to me? I detest it when ponies beat around the bush.”

“Seriously, I’m…” The plate was put on the table again as Vinyl turned, brow furrowed. “I’m happy for you, alright? You deserve a bigger place to crash and shit – I get it. I understand. What you’re doing is more important than some job at my club. But… jeez, Wolf – we’ve been through all this shit and now you’re just leaving?”

“It’s not as if I’m leaving the city. You could easily visit.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know that, but…” Vinyl sighed and frowned deeply. “I just…” Growling, she stamped her hoof. “Fuck! I dunno what I’m saying – I just don’t want you to leave. You’re the closest friend I have. I know you’ll just be up near the castle and I could just walk there, but it won’t be the same without you here.”

Nightmare Moon’s mood was quickly turning dark by the inexplicable feeling of guilt and ‘wrongness’ she was experiencing; it reminded her of the empty feeling, back when it was most potent.

Nightmare Moon raised her voice. “It will be the same; you’re just making it seem like a bigger deal than it really is. Nothing will change besides our locations.”

The DJ didn’t look convinced. “Yeah, sure…”

Scowling vehemently, she spat, “Well it doesn’t matter how you feel about it. I’m leaving next week and that is that. Either come to terms with it or continue moping – your choice.”

Vinyl didn’t say anything. Pulling a chair out she sat at the table and began eating the sandwich unenthusiastically. Scoffing, Nightmare Moon turned back to the TV.

‘It’s your choice, Vinyl. I’ve grown fond of you, but not so much that I’m willing to sabotage or forget my goals. What I’m doing, it’s something nopony shall get in the way of.’

Hours of tense silence later, when Vinyl was getting ready to turn in early, she paused and softly said, “Don’t forget me.”

Surprised, Nightmare Moon turned in her seat. “What?”

The DJ looked oddly vulnerable without her shades, especially with the way her eyes glistened slightly. “When you leave… don’t forget me, huh?”

Nightmare Moon could only stare and be silent for a while.

Her chest tightened with so much intensity that it almost seemed as if the empty feeling had returned. Her boiling rage – aimed at the DJ for making her feel it – rose, but was easily quenched, leaving her to grasp for other emotions to fill the gap. Nothing fit except for one that faded as soon as she tried to put a name to it.

Unable to formulate a proper response, Nightmare Moon simply replied, “I won’t.”

Vinyl smiled, but there was no true joy in it. She silently trotted to her room.

Sitting alone with only the TV for noise, Nightmare Moon’s mind began racing as familiar emotions began returning full force.

‘I already told her that nothing would change! Why does she remain so poignant?! I…’

She blinked.

‘Why do I care so much? I enjoy her company, but she’s not supposed to be getting in my way! I shouldn’t be feeling like this.’

Shaking her head, Nightmare Moon clenched her teeth.

‘I’ve been here for two years. This… atmosphere is poisoning me; making me feel these… these afflictions. From now on, I must focus solely on overthrowing Celestia. Nothing else matters. Any obstacles I come to after that I will overcome. Luna, the Elements, Discord – anything else that happens from here on out comes second. The throne will be mine.’

“…”

Rising from her seat, Nightmare Moon trotted into the bathroom and ran the taps. She gathered water into a floating ball with her telekinesis and splashed it across her face, breathing hard.

She was sweating.

On some inner stimuli, she let her disguise drop and stared at her reflection.

Too long. It had been too long since she had last seen her true self.

“Calm. Calm yourself.”

She remained there until she was in control once more.

Whatever that was, she had no desire to experience it again.

Author's Note

Note 1: Timber wolves can be domesticated and it is best to start from an early age - three to seven weeks. Their diet consists of water and sunlight, approximately 3 litres and six hours a day, respectively. It is advised to keep timber wolves away from areas with an abundance of dead wood to prevent assimilation and unwanted growth. This process can be reversed by a licensed veterinarian.

Note 2: Vinyl once did battle with giant stone grasshoppers; it was not during the time of Discord's escape, and the events leading to it are nonsensical and no amount of context will make it any clearer.

Note 3: Despite their history, Nightmare Moon does not have a deep connection or any strong feelings towards Luna; she was a host and nothing more. Luna, on the other hand...

Chapter 7: Coronation

1054 AD, October 17th

“Star Secret, you have been elected, by an overwhelming majority of Canterlot’s populace, to represent the Royal Court as its Seventh Representative; succeeding Iridescent Haze, who sadly passed away four years ago. The Seventh Representative is a title very few can achieve – a pony must be confident, honest, altruistic – and above all else – trustworthy. You have shown these traits through and through, most particularly during Discord’s mercifully brief reign of yesteryear.”

Turning, Celestia’s horn shone as she levitated a purple sash from a pillow held aloft by a unicorn guard.

“So it is with great honour that I present you with this sash; worn by every member of the Royal Court since its formation.”

Nightmare Moon kept still and silent as the sash was looped around her neck. The smile on her face was genuine; after all these months she had finally infiltrated the Royal Court.

“Wear it with pride; it is a reminder of the power you hold and of the responsibility that comes with it. Congratulations, Star Secret.”

And then the hall shook with cheers and stomping hooves. Nightmare Moon turned to survey the room and the cheering ponies, and disguised a crooked grin as a prideful smile.

‘Finally…’

Casting her gaze to the left, she spotted Fancypants and Fleur at the front row of the crowd, exuberant expressions on their faces. Fleur was even wiping her eyes with a tissue.

Behind them was Vinyl and Octavia; the former was jumping up and down, whistling and whooping loudly. Her lover was clapping politely, unperturbed by the DJ’s antics.

Casting her gaze to the right, Nightmare Moon spotted five of the Elements of Harmony. Her mood darkened a little, but she reminded herself today was a great victory and that their comeuppance would come soon enough. For now, she’d take their applause; praise was sweeter when it came from your enemies.

Turning her head further to the right, she saw the newly crowned Twilight Sparkle in her royal regalia clapping as well. Luna was by her side – she wasn’t applauding as noticeably as every other pony, but her small grin was just as welcoming.

And finally Celestia. The white alicorn was looking at her with pride. She took a moment to remember that expression.

‘It will be a good comparison to the one you will make when I reveal myself. Oh, the anticipation is killing me. Do you hear the bell, ‘Tia? I hope so because it tolls for thee.’

“Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech!”

Nightmare Moon grinned at the crowd. They wanted a speech? She’d indulge them. It was the least she could do after they so generously voted for her.

She held up her hoof. They went quiet almost immediately.

“When I first came to Canterlot, I was quite taken. From your buildings to the ponies, everything was so unique and styled. When the sun is up, everything and everywhere sparkles and shines like gems and ponies go to and fro with their business. When the moon rises, it takes on an ethereal beauty and ponies go about enjoying the break night time brings whether it be resting, going out with friends or simply observing the stars and constellations.

“Another thing I’ve enjoyed was the diversity: different sections existed in the city, each with their own social and cultural norms. Literally any type of pony could live here and find something which makes them feel comfortable. During my stay I’ve made plenty of…”

Nightmare Moon paused.

“… friends here. From all districts of Canterlot.” Amongst the crowd, Vinyl waved her arms excitedly with a cheesy grin. She swore she heard a ‘squee’ coming from there. “And if it hadn’t been for their support, I don’t think I’d have ever made it to where I am. Those ponies have my gratitude as do the ponies who voted for me. Rest assured that I will do everything in my power to make sure Canterlot's future is a bright and happy one. Once again, thank you.”

The crowd roared their approval and Nightmare Moon stood there, soaking it all in. She could only imagine how good it would feel to sit on the throne and watch the world go by.

“That was a beautiful speech, Star Secret,” Celestia said. She turned to the crowd. “The swear-in is over and now is the time for celebration. Have fun, my little ponies.”

“My dear, if there’s a stallion in this room more joyful than I, then I implore you to show him to me,” Fancypants chuckled. “Congratulations, Star.”

“Bravo on your accomplishment!” Fleur added, giddy as a schoolfilly.

Nightmare Moon gave a small grin. She had been dealing with ponies complimenting her all night and while it was rightly deserved, it was much nicer to talk to those she was actually fond of.

“It has been a rather bumpy ride, but I got there in the end,” Nightmare Moon levitated her glass of wine to her lips and sipped. “Though all this fanfare seems unnecessary. The Element bearers themselves?”

“Princess Twilight insisted that she and her friends attend,” Fancypants said. “I do believe they wish to meet you – face-to-face.”

Nightmare Moon held back a scowl. “That’s… nice. I wonder where they might be.” She glanced around; once she knew where they were she could avoid them.

“Most likely by the refreshments. That pink one has quite the appetite. Personally, I couldn’t bear the thought of eating that much in one sitting,” Fleur placed a hoof on her stomach. “It tends to stick with me for a while and nopony wants that.”

“Rubbish, my dear – you’d look beautiful as always.”

Fleur blushed. “You won’t be saying that when I gobble up all the desserts and become a miniature blimp.”

“More of you to love.”

Nightmare Moon’s lip twitched in discomfort at the emotional display.

“At any rate…” Fancypants continued as his wife dissolved into a mess of blushes. “Fleur and I are happy for your success and wish you a long and fulfilling career.”

“Much appreciated. And have no fear – I will use this opportunity wisely and accomplish great things.”

She still needed to wait for the right time to strike so in the meantime she’d continue to win the adoration of the populace. That way, once she rose to power, all of Canterlot won’t have to worry if she’d be an effective ruler; they’d have already seen it first-hoof. They’d be melancholic about Celestia ‘stepping down’, but it’d go away once they realize just how much better she was.

‘Tick tock, ‘Tia…’

“Hey, Fluttershy, you okay?”

Jumping in surprise, the yellow mare sighed in relief when she noticed the rainbow mane and cyan coat. “Oh, Rainbow, you scared me…”

“Wasn’t even trying,” Rainbow Dash tilted her head. “So what were you looking at? The good stuff’s happening over here.”

She nodded to the antics of Pinkie Pie. The hyperactive mare was stuffing pastries into her party cannon, shooting them in the air, and running around trying to catch them in her mouth. Many of the elite class looked astounded by the sight, but Pinkie’s reputation – as did the other Element bearers – had grown as saviours of Equestria and the Crystal Empire, so they were more tolerant of their antics.

Fluttershy shrugged. “Oh, nothing…”

Rainbow Dash frowned and raised her left eyebrow. “Yeah, totally don’t believe you. Come on – you can tell me! What is it? Is Celestia going to town on some cake? Did Rarity stuff some of it in Blueblood’s face? Is Rarity throwing cake in Blueblood’s face and Celestia’s eating it off?” She paused and a wolfish grin spread across her face. “Did somepony catch your eye? Eh? Eh?”

Blushing and gently stopping the foreleg nudging her ribs, Fluttershy shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I was just looking at Star Secret.”

Rainbow Dash looked amongst the crowd and nodded. “Yeah, it’s kinda hard to miss her, huh? She’s pretty big. Kinda weird seeing a unicorn that big; the ones in Ponyville are like… well, Twilight. You know, before she got her wings and stuff.”

Fluttershy nodded.

Rainbow Dash continued. “So why are you looking at her? She does have a pretty nice flank, but for some reason you don’t strike me as the type of pony who’d ogle somepony else in the middle of a crowded room.”

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “I… I’m not sure. It’s just…” She looked up at her closest friend with wide eyes. Her mouth moved, but she suddenly closed it firmly and shook her head. “Never mind.”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t the most empathetic of ponies, but even she could sense when one of her friends had something bothering them. Concerned, she stepped closer, and stretched a wing over Fluttershy’s shoulders.

“Hey, come on – this is Rainbow Dash here. The element of Loyalty, remember? You can trust me. What’s got you down?”

Fluttershy was about to reassure her that she was fine before letting out a small sigh and giving a shrug. “I… It’s Star Secret.”

“What about her?”

“I know it’s rude to talk about somepony behind their backs, but…” She turned and leaned in closer, her voice lowering so far that Rainbow Dash had to strain to hear despite their closeness. “She gives me a bad feeling…”

At this confession, the speedster blinked in surprise. “Her? Really? The mare whose been doing all that cool stuff for Canterlot?”

Fluttershy frowned and looked away in shame. “Forget it – it’s silly…”

“No, you can tell me. What about her gives you a bad feeling?”

Fluttershy took a few moments to articulate her thoughts. “I can’t really explain it, but… there’s something about her which feels… wrong. It gives me shivers when I look at her. I know she’s done all those wonderful things and made everypony happy, but I can’t shake that feeling. Oh…” She glanced at her friend with watery eyes. “Am I a bad pony for thinking that?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No way! You’re the kindest pony I know. If you say you get a bad feeling from her then I believe you.”

“R-really?”

“You’re not the Element of Honesty, but I know for a fact you wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

Touched by her friend’s sincere words, Fluttershy gave a bright smile. “Thank you for saying that.”

“No problem, ‘Shy.” Rainbow Dash gave her a small squeeze of affection with her wing… after making sure nopony was watching of course. “So this bad feeling of yours… when did it start exactly?”

“Since I first saw her.” Fluttershy replied. “At the garden party when we celebrated Twilight’s birthday.”

Rainbow Dash whistled. “That far, huh? And you’ve been getting it ever since?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Every time I see her or hear her voice,” She paused. “The strange thing is… I feel like I know her from somewhere. The feeling’s familiar, but I can’t place it when and where.”

“Heavy stuff,” The cyan pegasus murmured with a thoughtful look. “What do you want to do about it?”

“I… I don’t know. I don’t really want to do anything about it… in case I’m just being paranoid, but at the same time I feel like I should do something. I just don’t know what.”

“Well, I’m not the best pony to go to for thinking up plans; you should try telling this to Twilight,” Rainbow Dash nudged her with a smile. “But hey – if you need a few doors kicked down, you know who to turn to.”

Fluttershy giggled. “I don’t think I’ll need something like that done.”

“You never know,” Pulling her wing back, Rainbow Dash nodded to the refreshments. “Alright, let’s chow down before Applejack and Pinkie scarf everything.”

Fluttershy turned to follow. Before she did, however, she took one last look at Star Secret.

A shiver ran down her spine.

‘Why do I feel like this? Am I just being paranoid?’

“What do I think about all this, you ask? Well, I won’t deny that Star Secret gets the job done. She’s persuasive, charismatic and popular – I won’t deny any of that. However, she is not of royal birth so that costs her some points. I also find her crass attitude towards me quite distracting so that’s more points gone. My aunties – for whatever reason – seem to adore her and she is respectful to them so that’s an admirable trait.”

Blueblood swirled his wine.

“All in all, I don’t think she quite deserves a title on the Royal Court – particularly one like the Seventh Representative – but alas, the populace of Canterlot has spoken. I simply hope that she continues to do… whatever it is she does and knows her place.”

The group of mares surrounding him made noises of admiration – no doubt struck by his words and sophisticated viewpoint. He wasn’t just a handsome face as many were surprised to find out. Beneath his dashing looks lay a well of wisdom and intelligence that many were envious of. Such was his intellect that many scholars found themselves-

‘Hay yeah, hor d’oeuvres!’

“Excuse me, mares,” He brushed past them, head held high. “I’m afraid business calls.”

Leaving the group of mares to giggle and swoon over him, Blueblood approached the table full of drinks and food. Levitating his preferred food item off the silver platter, Blueblood munched on it, savouring the taste.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Sighing, Blueblood turned and gazed evenly at the guard clad in dark purple armour. “This had better be important; I’m trying to enjoy myself.”

The guard matched his stare with that vacant look so many of the guards seemed to have. Blueblood often wondered if there was any semblance of intelligence that didn’t relate to militant topics.

“One of the sentries reported sighting an unidentified object in the sky. It was approximately the size of a pony and very fast. It vanished before he could get a good look, however.”

Blueblood shrugged. “I fail to see what this has to do with me. I’m not the overseer of the guard, Shining Armor is.”

“Prince Shining Armor is in the Crystal Empire; a letter – even sent by the princess – would take too long and the sighting disturbed the sentry enough that he felt immediate action should be taken. You have stated how much better the guard would be under your control.”

Blueblood paused. “Yes, well… hmmm…” He tapped his hoof thoughtfully. “I suppose I am.”

The guard blinked. “So?”

“So what?”

“What would you have us do?”

“Oh! Yes…” Blueblood thought hard. “Question the sentry and get a good description on what he saw; every little detail counts. Tell the guards on duty to… be… more on duty.”

The guard blinked with those vacant and glassy eyes. “Of course… sir.”

Seeing as his brilliant plan was going straight over the stallion’s head, Blueblood sighed. “Run my plan by the princesses then and have a letter sent to Shining Armor if you’re so unsure.”

“Of course, sir.” The guard brightened at that idea, no doubt happy it was simplified to something even he could understand.

Blueblood shook his head as the armoured stallion trotted away. He should really see to giving those brutes classes – a little more points for the old IQ would do wonders.

Still, the bit about the sentry getting spooked was concerning. Brutes as they were the Royal Guard was fearless – he had a theory on how lower intellect meant less brainpower for things like fear and sense of personal hygiene, but Celestia wouldn’t let him publish it. The fact that it was a night guard – a pony who should have been used to the night – just warranted more suspicion.

‘Bah, why do I care? Celestia put Shining Armor in charge; let him sort it all out. Just because he’s away up north doesn’t give him an excuse to ignore his duties in Canterlot.’

Eager to get on with his night, Blueblood turned back to the table for another hor d’oeuvre. He levitated one and at the same time he felt the sensation of another’s magic gripping the morsel. Orienting his gaze to the left, he went stiff as cerulean irises stared at him.

“Blueblood?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“It’s Rarity…”

“Rarity.”

Vinyl decided that for a posh party full of posh ponies there was some strong alcohol. She was already on her third glass. She could probably score two more drinks before Octavia started getting on her case. That was fine – she didn’t want to make a scene at an event that was important to her best friend.

“Stallion, wish they’d change the music.” She muttered.

Octavia glared at her.

“No offense or anything, but I mean, come on – the stuff you like could put a mare to a sleep. Like a friggin’ lullaby.”

Octavia’s glare diluted until it was an unimpressed gaze. She took a sip of her wine.

“Oh, don’t be like that, babe. You rip on my taste in music and I rip on yours. It’s what we do,” Her marefriend didn’t answer. Vinyl pursed her lips in thought before grinning. “Come on – don’t you get hot and bothered when we argue? All that tension in the air? Doesn’t it make you wanna get down and nasty?”

Octavia took another long sip. However, Vinyl saw the twinkle in her eyes and the way the corners of her mouth curled upwards.

“Yeah, you know what I’m talkin’ about. You act all namby-pamby and prissy, but when the doors are shut and the mood’s just right… you’re a tiger.”

The cello player lowered her glass and glanced at her without turning her head.

She winked.

Without another gesture, she trotted forwards to refill her glass.

Vinyl beamed.

‘I am so gettin’ some tonight.’

“Truly? Twenty-four letters?”

“A week,” Celestia nodded. “Don’t get me wrong – I love Twilight like she was my own daughter, but there are times when I question what goes on that head. I appreciate knowing what goes on in her life, but a 20-page essay on how she felt seeing two stallions kiss is…”

Luna raised her eyebrows. “Yes?”

“Actually, that was quite a… interesting read.”

“’Tia, you scare me sometimes.”

“Then my work is done,” The two alicorns shared a laugh, trailing off as a night guard approached. “Wisp, is something wrong?”

“A sentry has reported spotting an as-of-yet unidentified object flying through the skies near the garden’s labyrinth. I was instructed by Prince Blueblood to inform you immediately.”

Celestia frowned in thought and turned to her sister. “Luna?”

“What else did Blueblood tell you to do?” The princess of the night asked with an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

“Question the sentry and get more details; I have already sent somepony for that. We should have a description shortly. Shall I bring it to you when it is done?”

The sisters looked at each other. “Better safe than sorry.” Celestia said.

Luna nodded. “See to it, Wisp. Thank you for bringing this to us.”

“Of course, your majesties.”

Wisp trotted off into the crowd. Alone once more, Celestia sighed. “It seems as if there’s always something going on, hm?”

“What with Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra and the Crystal Empire – I’ve had quite the welcoming party these past years.” Luna chuckled.

“And that’s just the stuff we know about. According to Twilight, something big happens in Ponyville almost every week. So far they’ve dealt with storms, a parasprite infestation, poison joke, a visit from an ursa minor, showmares, tabloids, runaway floats, Cerberus marking his territory, messages from their future selves…” Celestia took a breath and looked at her bewildered sibling. “Shall I go on?”

“I still think we should see to sending more protection.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary – it’s all trivial really.”

Luna cocked her head. “Truly? A dragon in the mountains is trivial?”

“Oh, that was just an old friend of mine. Crimson Claw – he nests in those mountains every 150 years or so for a little snooze. He’s actually quite nice if a bit cranky.”

“And you sent six young mares instead of guards because…?”

“Well, he was there first and what would you rather have: a group of armoured stallions asking you to move your stash of treasure or six sweet fillies asking the same thing?”

Luna still looked doubtful. “What if they said the wrong thing?”

“Come now, sister – they’re smart enough to know that as long as you respect elder dragons, not touch their stash and refrain from kicking them in the snout they’ll gladly hear you out.”

Celestia heard a deafening crash and turned to see Pinkie Pie dragging an ice sculpture resting in a now-empty punch bowl across the floor by her tongue. Rainbow Dash was floating after her while rolling in fits of laughter, Fluttershy was running around trying to find some hot water, and Applejack appeared to be contemplating bucking the sculpture. Twilight was absolutely mortified by the display and hid her face behind her mane.

“…”

“Uh-huh…” Luna nodded with a smug grin. “And do I even have to mention the tickets? What was that all about?”

“Well…” Celestia blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ll admit that joke was in rather poor taste.”

Her sibling chortled to herself. “Trollestia, my sister…”

“Hey, you promised to never use that name in public!”

“I had my hooves crossed.”

“You’re so mean.”

“Mmm… I suppose I am.”

Wisp walked down the corridor, stain glass windows letting in silvery moonlight, illuminating his path. As he neared the end, the wooden door suddenly creaked open and a charcoal-coated stallion wearing indigo-coloured armour emerged. Wisp could see a scroll cradled carefully under his wing.

“Swish.” He called.

The pegasus shut the door behind him before saluting. “Sir – I was just about to come find you.”

Returning the gesture, Wisp stopped a few feet in front of him. “So what’s the situation with that sentry?”

“From what he told us, he was walking along the southern wall at 9:03 pm when something flew past. It was travelling at a significant enough speed that he couldn’t see every detail and by the time he got over the shock it was already gone.”

Wisp furrowed his brow. “In what way was it shocking?”

“It flew close enough to him that he felt the wind on his face. Not only that but, um…” He paused.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, he drew this; said that it was all he could make out.”

Grabbing the scroll with his teeth, Swish took it out from under his wing and allowed it to unroll. Wisp examined the contents.

At first he only noticed a scratchy blob of graphite similar to what a foal would draw. However, the more he looked the more the blob took on a form. In particular, the two long scrawls that reared up from the back of the main body looked like wings and the blank spots amidst the shading resembled eyes. The main body was nothing but shading; most likely done with the side of the pencil’s tip.

“I’m assuming the lines and shading are meant to represent its blurring speed.”

“Ah ‘ought ‘at as ‘ell.”

Wisp stared at it for a moment longer. What truly caught his attention was the way the eyes were drawn. The body and wings suggested it was flying sideways, but the position of the eyes suggested that this… thing… was looking straight at the sentry as it passed.

He shuddered and wasn’t sure it was because of the chilly air.

“How is the sentry?”

“O’ay…” Swish used his wing as a support so he could roll the paper back up and place it back. “He got a bit of a scare, but otherwise no ailments. He’s requesting to go back to his patrol.”

Wisp nodded. “I’ll tell him he’s free to do so. However, I’d like that scroll and the events of what happened to be relayed back to the princesses.”

“What about Shining Armor? Should we tell him?”

“We’ll leave that to the princesses.”

“Alright.” Swish nodded.

“Dismissed.”

The two walked past each other. Wisp had just opened the door when he heard Swish call out.

“You still up for a few drinks?”

Wisp paused and debated internally. “Yeah, sure – just remember to stop me if I try to go past four, eh?”

Swish grinned and chuckled. “You got it.”

Wisp watched his friend’s retreating flank for a moment before trotting through the door with a shake of his head.

‘Nope, nothing. I’m definitely not gay, so why do ponies always think I am? Is it the way I gallop? It’s probably the way I gallop.’

Author's Note

Note 1: Canterlot's Royal Court is divided into seven positions and titles, collectively referred to as The Seven Representatives.

The First Representative oversees Canterlot's commerce, the Second Representative in charge of agriculture, and infrastructure, medical, trading, and research for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Representatives respectively.

The Seventh Representative is an oddity amongst them because they must show profound knowledge in all the other six categories, so that they may serve as a mediator of sorts should one Royal Court member's actions affect another's division. The title of the Seventh Representative is also unique in that it can go unfulfilled for a longer time - maximum of five years - as opposed to the other titles - maximum of one year.

Many outside of Canterlot find this way of governing unusual, but can't deny its effectiveness in keeping Canterlot the wealthiest and most stable settlement in Equestria.

Note 2: After the party, Nightmare Moon was surprised by yet another celebration in the confines of her own home, hosted by her associates. One attendee was hospitalized as a result of Nightmare Moon's surprise - fortunately, it had been Jetset.

Note 3: Non-canon plot ahoy!

Chapter 8: Storm

1055 AD, January 25th

“Blossomforth, that one should be a little bit more to the right. Little bit more. Yeah, that’s perfect!”

Flying towards a gap in the sea of grey, Rainbow Dash covered it up with a cloud and turned to give it a gentle buck to make sure it stayed there. She hovered backwards to admire her work and turned around to see how the others were doing.

Blossomforth was putting the final touches on her section of the storm while Cinnamon Swirl and Flitter were just about done.

‘Sweet – we got this done earlier than I thought.’

Once her co-workers were done, Rainbow Dash cupped her hooves around her mouth and shouted, “Great job, everypony! Set the clouds to go in five minutes and take a load off!”

Moving towards one of the ‘sweet spots’ of the storm clouds, she bucked it with her rear hooves five times, and quickly zipped around to do the same to several other spots. The other pegasi followed suite, but naturally, Rainbow Dash got the majority of them.

When the final spot had been primed, the expanse of grey clouds rumbled ominously, and Rainbow Dash gave a shudder of excitement. She loved it when that happened; all that power and awesomeness just waiting to be let loose.

“Alright, see you guys later!” Blossomforth waved as she zipped off, apparently in some sort of rush. Rainbow Dash heard her pet dog was sick with the flu or something, so maybe that was it.

The other two, Cinnamon and Flitter, stayed behind to chat. Rainbow Dash tilted her head in thought.

Rarity had a tendency to exaggerate rumours, but it did look like the two were hooking up. If they were, then she wished them luck – Cloudchaser was quite protective of her sister.

‘Speaking of sisters, Scoots has been doing pretty good with her flying.’

Of course, it was far from what most pegasi could do at her age – in no small part due to her underdeveloped wings – but the young filly could reliably glide and she could hover in short bursts, as tiring as it was for her. Still, seeing that smile on her face made all the hours of frustration – Rainbow Dash tried to be patient but it was never something she could truly grasp – worth it.

Seeing as her job was done, Rainbow Dash turned, and flew in the direction of her home. If she hurried she could catch the first few minutes of the I shouldn’t be alive marathon.

She soared across the sky only for mere seconds when something smacked into her flank and sent her spiralling.

Exclaiming in shock and pain, she quickly regained her bearings and hovered in the air, looking this way and that.

“Hey!” She cried indignantly. “Who’s the wise guy?”

However, as much as she looked she could only see Flitter and Cinnamon Swirl, still chatting away. They wouldn’t have seen anything – they were too engrossed in one another. Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Rainbow Dash scratched her head.

“What the heck was that?”

Fwip!

The cyan pegasus quickly did a 180, her wings and the back of her neck tingling, hair standing up on end. Something had definitely flown past her at a very fast pace.

“Alright, cut it out!” Angrily, she looked up and down, scowling. “I know pranks and this is a really bad one! Streak! If that’s you I’m gonna knock you into next week; don’t think I won’t!”

Thunder boomed overhead and she felt her bones vibrate.

Fwip!

“Stop it!” Rainbow Dash spun around again, raising her hooves. “Streak, I am gonna smack you so hard-”

Fwip!

Fwip!

Fwip!

“Horse apples!” Rainbow Dash flinched and jerked backwards as three indescribable shapes sped past her. Looking up, her eyes darted to and fro as the shapes snapped across the sky; they were almost impossible to pick out against the dull background of the clouds.

‘Those are definitely not pegasi…’

They were too skinny and long. Furthermore, she could pick up small lights coming from what must have been their heads. Nopony in Ponyville had glowing eyes. Gulping audibly, she swallowed her rising sense of fear and puffed out her chest.

“Who the heck do you guys think you are? What, you think you’re so tough zipping around like that? Come down here and fight me like a stallion!” She hovered from side to side, punching the air and baring her teeth. “Put ‘em up! Show me what you got!”

As one, the shapes stopped on a dime and hovered in the air, their glowing eyes fixated on her. Rainbow Dash balked and floated a few feet backwards.

It was too dark to make out the finer details, but their wings were bat-like and their arms were long and gangly and ended in four talons. They also appeared to have no legs; their bodies tapered off into long tails which coiled and wriggled. Amidst the thunder, she could hear the beat of their wings.

‘Alright, no… no problem. You got this, RD – you got this. You the mare!’

“Rainbow Dash!”

She looked back and smiled upon noticing Cinnamon and Flitter speeding towards her.

‘And you got back-up! Nothing to worry about.’

The two stopped beside her and looked at the creatures. Cinnamon grimaced; her features were twisted in fright. “What in Equestria are those… things?”

“Hell if I know…” Rainbow Dash did not like how they were just floating there, watching them. “I got blindsided by one. I don’t think they’re here to admire our work either.”

Flitter was nervous, but had a determined expression. “Well, whatever they are, they better watch themselves.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Hay yeah – if they think pegasi are a bunch of pushovers then they’ve obviously never heard of us!”

“M-maybe they’re not here to fight…” Cinnamon shrugged. “I mean, they haven’t actually attacked us, right?”

“I just got blindsided not two minutes ago!” Rainbow Dash argued. “And they’ve been circling me like vultures before you two arrived.”

“Well, they’re not doing anything now though.”

With simultaneous shrieks – a shrill piercing tone that sent shivers down her spine – the trio of creatures swept upwards and dived towards them, their approach punctuated by another clap of thunder.

Rainbow Dash and Flitter glanced towards Cinnamon. The nervous mare grinned sheepishly.

“I stand corrected…”

Rainbow Dash would have made a dry observation on how she wasn’t standing, but was forced to veer off to the side to avoid one of the creatures. She didn’t think those talons were just for show.

The other two creatures went after Cinnamon and Flitter – the latter pulled off some wicked aerial manoeuvres and their attacks missed her by a mile. It seemed as if Cloudchaser had been teaching her sibling a few moves.

Cinnamon was… less impressive in her dodge, but at least she didn’t get a new mane-cut courtesy of their new ‘friends’.

Speaking of which, the one that attacked her had done a 180 and was coming back for another swipe. Pushing her anxiety down, Rainbow Dash smirked and reached up to sweep her mane back.

‘You picked the wrong mare to fight with, pal…’

She pulled back momentarily before throwing herself forwards with a mighty beat of her wings. Accelerating forwards, Rainbow Dash’s eyes instantly adapted to process more information at a much faster rate, allowing her to keep track of her surroundings or namely, the creature that was meeting her charge.

She stayed on course, eyes narrowed in steely determination. The creature’s eyes glowed maliciously as it reared back one arm in anticipation of an easy kill. Rainbow Dash waited until she was mere feet away from a collision before rolling to the side, turned in mid-air, and delivered a hard buck with all four legs as she passed the creature. With a harsh shriek, it fell, spinning wildly. However, it righted itself a little bit after and started circling around.

Rainbow Dash cast a glance towards her friends. Flitter was landing heavy blows of her own, but Cinnamon seemed content to just avoid her opponent. She definitely wasn’t a fighter.

Looking back at her own attacker, Rainbow Dash quickly gauged his distance and speed, and concluded she had enough time to help Cinnamon out.

“Hold on, Swirl – I’m comin’!”

Thunder sounded off once more as she zipped through the air, holding her forelegs out in front. The distance between her and Cinnamon’s tormentor closed with every passing moment until finally, she struck it in the back. Vibrations travelled through her legs and made her teeth shake. The creature had it worse though; it shrieked even louder than the other one and spiralled towards the ground, wings and arms flailing wildly.

“Th-thanks, Rainbow…” Cinnamon gasped out with a sickly expression. She was as green when it came to fighting as Fluttershy.

“No problem, Swirl. No offense, but I think it’d be better if you left the fighting to us and you go get Twilight.”

Cinnamon nodded enthusiastically. “I can do that,” She paused and looked over at Flitter. “Well… I…”

Sensing her distress, Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “We’ll be fine. She’ll be fine. I’m a Wonderbolt in training and so is Flitter’s sister, remember? These things got nothing on us.”

Cinnamon frowned, but nodded. “Okay, yeah…”

Hearing a shriek, Rainbow Dash turned her head and scowled at her returning foe. “Then get flying! Now!”

Cinnamon turned and sped off.

Rainbow Dash turned to meet her opponent from before. It was still woozy from the buck judging by how it swayed ever so slightly during its flight. Whatever these things were, they weren’t very tough; most of their danger came from their talons. As long as she kept away from those, then-

“Noooo!”

Her blood turned to ice as Flitter’s cry was punctuated by another clap of thunder and a horrible scream. She spun around and gawked in horror as Cinnamon plummeted to the ground, a trail of blood following her.

The creature that had been fighting Flitter had broken off to pursue easier prey and it had been successful. It shrieked victoriously and went into a nose-dive, eager to finish the job before the ground did.

The ice in Rainbow Dash’s veins turned to molten heat and her features twisted into an expression of rage. Letting loose a feral yell, she threw herself forwards, her wings almost parallel to her body as she rapidly gained speed. She easily overtook the creature and caught up to Cinnamon, gathering the worryingly-silent mare in her forelegs before spreading her wings to the side.

They burned and strained as she stopped on a dime a few dozen meters from the streets of Ponyville and burned and strained even more as she propelled herself upwards with just as much speed as her descent.

Her head struck the creature.

She guessed that if it wasn’t for her Aura, she would have received a greater injury than a mild headache. The creature wasn’t so lucky if she heard those cracks correctly and was glad to see it fall past her, utterly limp.

Rainbow Dash puffed out her wings and slowed to a hover, panting just as much from the adrenaline rush as the exertion. She looked at the mare in her forelegs and frowned in concern. Four ugly gashes marred her side, leaking ruby red liquid. Cinnamon was conscious but appeared to be in shock; she was staring at the wound as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

“Is she okay?!” Flitter was by her side in moments, brow creased in fear.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I… I don’t know. She’s bleeding a lot, so…” Two shrieks caught her attention and she scowled upon noticing the two remaining creatures quickly approaching. Pausing in indecision for a moment, she quickly pushed Cinnamon into Flitter’s hooves. “Go.”

Flitter blinked in shock. “Say what?”

“Get her to the hospital; I’ll hold them off.”

“I… I can’t just leave you alone!”

“You’re gonna have to if you want her to keep breathing!” Angrily, she thrust her hoof in the direction of the building. “Move!”

Flitter shook her head. “No, you take her; you’re faster!”

“Exactly – they’ll have a harder time landing a hit!” Rainbow Dash shoved her. “Would you just go?! I’ll be fine!”

The other mare opened her mouth as if to argue, but closed it after looking down at the shivering mare in her care. Looking back up, she clenched her jaw in frustration before taking off. Sighing in relief, Rainbow Dash turned towards the creatures and whipped her tail back and forth just as thunder sounded again and drops of water began wetting her mane and fur.

“Hurt my friends, will ya?!” She shouted. “That is totally. Un. Cool!”

She put on a burst of speed so sudden the creature she rammed into didn’t have enough time to blink let alone defend. Her Aura protected her from the initial impact and the talons that raked across her body as the creature struggled to rid itself of her charge. Instead of carving into her flesh, it only split the fur and irritated the flesh, similar to a scratch from Opalescence.

And that cat sure knew how to scratch.

She forced the creature into the thick mass of clouds where the storm gathered strength before she let go, giving it a buck in the belly for good measure, and flew away. Doing a loop, she came back around.

Shutting her eyes, Rainbow Dash inhaled deeply through her nostrils, her other senses becoming more potent as she became Attuned to the storm’s fury. She could sense the disturbances in the air as the creature lashed out, blind in the expanse of dark grey. Allowing her senses to guide her, Rainbow Dash delivered a solid hook to the creature’s face as she zipped past.

She repeated the action again and again until the creature’s resonating thrashes became weak and sluggish.

Just as she was coming around for another hit, the storm rumbled ominously as another body entered its fury. The second creature had entered.

Spreading out her wings and holding back under the cover of the clouds, Rainbow Dash chewed on her lip and wracked her brain for a plan.

‘What would Daring Do do?’

“Heh… Doo-doo…”

And just like that, it came to her.

Lifting one hoof, she stomped down on the cloud and in her mind’s eye, she could see the vibrations spreading outwards, highlighting several spots of potential energy. She quickly flew over to one. Landing on the spot, Rainbow Dash applied her extensive – if she did say so herself – knowledge of storm-making to create a path for the lightning to take when the energy was released. That done, she turned her attention back to the two creatures and waited… and waited… and waited…

A rictus spread across her face as the second creature halted in place, apparently confused. “Gotcha…”

She bucked the clouds.

The smell of ozone filled her nostrils as a bolt of lightning leapt from the cloud and hit the second creature. It didn’t even have time to shriek and simply jerked upright once before going completely still and plummeting, tendrils of electricity dancing across its body. Its companion, however, did shriek and darted to and fro, no doubt in panicked from the bright flash and deafening noise.

With another buck, a second bolt of lightning arced forwards and struck the creature directly in the head. With nowhere to go, the electricity rolled around until its head promptly exploded. Rainbow Dash’s stomach flopped; she didn’t think she’d ever get that pop noise out of her head.

Pushing the bile in her throat down, the cyan pegasus breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the cloud. The past minutes hadn’t been particularly taxing in a physical sense, but now that everything was calm and she was no longer in any danger, the adrenaline supressing her anxiety and fear had gone away. She had to lie down and breathe deeply to get rid of the jitters.

She didn’t wait too long, however; one of her friends needed her.

With but a thought, her Aura stopped resisting the cloud and allowed her to fall through, just as any physical mass would do against vapour. She fell until she was out of the storm’s fury, at which point she spread her wings and headed towards the hospital.

Bonbon hummed to herself as she stirred the contents of the pot, stopping occasionally to take a small taste and add an ingredient. So caught up in her cooking, she didn’t hear the soft clip-clop of hooves on linoleum until a heavy weight was suddenly placed on her back.

“What in…?!” Wondering if Apple Bloom had somehow snuck in and was still intent on finding her cutie mark in selling, Bonbon turned and was met with two golden orbs and a mischievous grin. “Lyra, I could have spilled this!”

“Sorry…” She didn’t sound sorry. “I was lonely.”

Bonbon chuckled. “Dinner’s almost done, honey – ten more minutes and I’ll be in there.”

“That’s like foreveeerr…”

The candy store owner jolted when she felt a hoof circle her side. “Lyra…”

“Hmm?”

Her wife had the entire front half of her body resting on her back in such a manner that anypony who would walk in at that moment could not be faulted for jumping to conclusions.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothiiiing…”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“Does it feel like nothing?”

“Lyra, we’ve talked about this: no funny business while I’m cooking.”

“You were serious?”

“Yes, I was actually. Now, if you don’t mind I’d like to avoid burning the house down. Three times was plenty; anymore and I’ll have to ask-”

Her eyes went wide and she stopped stirring as the weight was removed and a very familiar and hard object was gently drawn across her cutie mark.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“Lyra…” She fought to keep the tremble out of her voice. “Put that horn away before I get the filer.”

“I love it when you get rough…”

Before she could make a comment about her spouse’s sadomasochistic tendencies, there was the deafening sound of something smashing through the living room’s ceiling. Both mares jumped in shock, hesitated for a brief instant, before immediately rushing off to see to the disturbance.

They arrived at the scene in time to see a dark shape rising amidst the cloud of dust, its thin arms stepping on chunks of plaster, wood, and what remained of their worn but homely couch. The dark shape stretched upwards to its full height and two eyes, emitting a white light that penetrated the dust particles, opened up.

With a whoosh, the intruder spread two large leathery wings and cleared away the dust, revealing dark-brownish fur covering every part of its squat body except the hands and head. The head was akin to the angler fish found in the oceans surrounding Equestria; a pronounced underbite filled with long jagged teeth, bulbous eyes centred on both sides of its head, and black flesh with a scaly texture covering what the fur didn’t.

The two mares stared in horror as the creature took a step forwards, spreading its wings threateningly and screeching loudly. It opened its jaws wide enough to fit a pony’s head and a dark purple forked tongue slithered out to whip back and-

A good-sized piece of splintered wood, either broken off from the ceiling or the couch, was enshrouded in a golden aura, yanked off the floor, into the air, and was sent forwards at high speeds into the creature’s maw, the tip piercing the back of its mouth.

Sickly blue fluid spurted forwards and dripped onto the carpet as the creature collapsed, convulsing violently and choking out strangled gurgles for a few terrifying moments before finally going still. The puddle of what could only be blood spread out towards Bonbon’s hooves and she stepped back, mouth agape in horrified astonishment.

Lyra blinked and slowly looked at her wife. “Would you believe we’re covered for something like this?”

Bonbon could only shake her head at the sight.

When Rainbow Dash entered the hospital, she immediately spotted Flitter pacing back and forth in the waiting room, biting her lower lip. Upon her arrival, Flitter glanced up and stopped, her tense wings lowering slightly.

“Rainbow…” She sighed in relief. “You’re okay.”

Despite the dire situation, Rainbow Dash grinned. “Of course I’m okay – this is me we’re talking about, remember?”

Flitter gave what might have been a chuckle, but it came out in an anxious wheeze. “Yeah, I forgot…”

Her grin fading, Rainbow Dash walked in, her hooves leaving wet prints. “How is she?”

“I don’t know…” Flitter shook her head. “They’re still looking at her, but…” She shuddered. “Mother Faust, there was so much blood…”

“Damn it…” She pawed the ground with a grimace. “The hell were those things?”

Flitter shrugged. “They weren’t pegasi, griffons, dragons, or anything. I kinda thought they were some of those bat ponies that hang around Luna, but then I saw their eyes and their tails. I’m just glad they were slow.”

“Fast enough to get Cinnamon…” Realizing her words, Rainbow Dash looked up guiltily. “Sorry.”

Flitter didn’t say anything; she sighed again and trotted over to a couch to sit down, turning her gaze to the wall. Rainbow Dash soon joined her. She reached out awkwardly and rubbed Flitter’s shoulder.

“She’s gonna be fine.”

“Yeah… yeah…”

Twilight reached out with her telekinesis and carefully lifted the white sheet.

For a moment she stared uncomprehendingly at the strange object, but then she noticed a lump of bone and a hole, dripping blue liquid. She reeled back and let the sheet fall, bringing a hoof to her mouth and breathing deeply through her nostrils.

“They…” She swallowed as her mouth filled with saliva; a symptom of nausea. “They just fell out of the sky?”

Bulk Biceps nodded. “Yeah…”

Idly noting that it was the first time she’d heard him say that word so softly, Twilight lowered her hoof and magically adjusted her umbrella saddle. “This is very concerning. Thank you for coming to get me and covering these… things.”

Bulk Biceps shrugged, unbothered by the rain soaking his coat. “Didn’t want any foals seeing it, you know?”

Twilight nodded. “That’s considerate thinking.”

Steeling her stomach, she examined the grisly sight once more. Two creatures of unidentifiable origin were seemingly dead, one mangled from what could only be a deadly fall and the other decapitated. The sheet was quickly becoming soaked from the rain, but that didn’t stop a patch of blue forming where the fabric touched the decapitated creature’s… neck stump.

Turning to Bulk Biceps, Twilight said, “I hate to be a bother, but could you go inform the mayor about this issue? Tell her to meet me at the library; I’ll be studying the bodies in the meantime.”

Bulk Biceps gave a single nod and took to the air, travelling at a speed which belied his incredible mass and small wings.

Not wanting to cause a panic by being seen flying around while carrying a conspicuous object wrapped in a sheet, Twilight decided to levitate the bodies and teleport back to the library.

Her first attempts were met with resistance as her telekinetic hold simply… ‘slipped’ off the creature’s bodies. It wasn’t that they were too heavy, but that her magic seemed incapable of gripping any part of the bodies for more than a few seconds.

‘Odd…’

Choosing to instead pick up the bodies by levitating the sheet they were wrapped in – it proved more difficult than it should have, but was infinitely easier to do – Twilight focused her magic, and teleported.

When she arrived in a flash of purple light, she was surprised to see Spike talking to Bonbon, the latter looking very haggard and wet.

“-came around asking for her so I don’t when…” Spike turned and his eyes lit up in surprise. “Twilight, when’d you get back? What did…?” He noticed the object with her. “What’s that?”

Not wanting to expose him to such a macabre display, Twilight levitated the mass behind her and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Spike, but I need to take this to the lab.”

“What for?”

“I’ll… tell you later.”

“Wait, you can’t go!” Bonbon cried, stepping forwards. “There’s a dead creature in our house! It smashed through the ceiling and now it’s making a mess everywhere.”

Twilight frowned. “A creature?”

“It’s horrible – it’s some sort of fish… bat…” The candy store owner fumbled for the right words. “Thing…”

Twilight thought for a moment before trotting towards the basement. “Come with me.” Bonbon moved followed and so did Spike. “Not you, mister.”

“Why?” He folded his arms in agitation. “Are you hiding something from me? Is that my birthday present? It’s not a book again, is it?”

“Spike, I’m not letting you see this.” She paused. “And what’s wrong with getting a book anyway?”

He stared at her blankly. “Seriously? My whole job revolves around books; why would I read in my spare time?”

With an offended sigh and a shake of her head, Twilight continued towards the basement. “Just… do as I say, Spike. Please?”

He grumbled petulantly, but threw his arms into the air and began walking towards the kitchen. “Fine – I’m getting a sandwich. You want anything?”

“No, we’re…” She glanced at Bonbon. “Would you like something to drink or eat?”

Bonbon shook her head. “Uh, no, I’m fine. Thank you.”

“No thanks, Spike.” Twilight turned and trotted down the stairs leading to the basement. “Now tell me what happened exactly.”

Bonbon exhaled. “Okay… I was making dinner and Lyra came in to…” She paused and Twilight noticed a blush. “She came in to… help.”

Wondering why she was so embarrassed about that, Twilight nodded. “And then?”

“We heard a crash and then this… I don’t know; this monster was standing in our living room. It must have fallen from the sky. Lyra stabbed it in the mouth with a piece of wood and it died. I think it did at least – it was bleeding and it wasn’t moving or anything. So then I said that we should get you, but Lyra wanted to stay and keep an eye on it.”

Entering the basement and depositing the sheet and its contents on the floor, Twilight slowly pulled the cover back. “Did it look like this?”

Bonbon peered at the contents and flinched back, going green. “Yeah, it did. Th-the one still intact, at least.”

“This isn’t good,” Twilight stood over the two bodies, brow furrowed in thought and scientific curiosity. “I’ve never seen any creatures such as this before.”

“Maybe Fluttershy knows?” Bonbon suggested.

“I don’t really want to bring her in here to see… this,” She gestured to the headless corpse. “You know how sensitive she is.”

“Yeah, I guess so. So what are you going to do?”

Twilight levitated the intact corpse onto a nearby examination table. “I’ve already asked Bulk Biceps to have the mayor come over. Until then, I’m going to see if I can find anything out about this creature.”

“What about me and Lyra? What about the monster ruining my carpet? That cost a lot of bits!”

“I don’t have a good mental picture of your home, so I’ll have to fly over and then teleport back here. Unless Lyra’s capable of teleporting more than herself over significant distances.”

“Um…” A wicked blush formed on Bonbon’s cheeks. “Actually… she can.”

“Oh…” Twilight was surprised; it was rare for any unicorn to know how to teleport themselves, let alone do it with cargo – living or not. With newfound respect for Lyra, Twilight said, “Then can you ask her if she can teleport the body to me? If she can’t, then please keep it in your home until I can come get it; we don’t want to expose it to everypony and cause a panic.”

Bonbon nodded. “Okay. I’ll go now.”

Just as she turned to leave, Twilight called out, “One more thing…”

“Yes?”

“Why did you blush when I asked about the teleportation?”

“…”

“…”

“Lyra is very… imaginative.”

“…”

“In bed.”

“Um…”

“You’re quite sheltered when it comes to these things, aren’t you?”

Author's Note

Note 1: The Aura is a field of passive magic that surrounds a pegasus' body and protects them from most environmental hazards such as heat, cold, lightning, and the tremendous force and friction from their own flight speeds and subsequent impacts from crashing. The Aura strengthens in direct response to how fast a pegasus is moving, so in the event that a pegasus is unable to avoid a hazard, it is safer for them to speed up instead of slowing down.

Of course, there is a limit to this; typically, an average pegasus' Aura gains no increase in strength at speeds just above terminal velocity. However, some pegasi - Rainbow Dash, Bulk Biceps, most of the Wonderbolts - have abnormally strong Auras, allowing them to achieve extraordinary feats such as the Sonic Rainboom, Bucking Buccaneer, and crashing hard enough to cause shockwaves, particularly useful for the demolition of non-cloud structures.

Note 2: Attunement is the pegasi term for navigating and manipulating an active storm from within, an act which is particularly dangerous, even taking into account their Auras. Pegasi lore often tell stories of certain individuals - referred to as Storm-Bringers - who could lay waste to opposing armies through the act of Attunement. This practise has long since disappeared from modern pegasi culture and it is now only used rarely by experienced weather-ponies when a rogue storm threatens lives.

Chapter 9: Arrival

1055 AD, January 25th

Twilight’s features twisted in disgust as she used her magic to pull the flap of skin back. The creature somehow managed to stink as bad on the inside as it did on the outside. She did the same song and dance for the other flap of skin and peered inside the corpse’s chest cavity, a notepad and pencil levitating close.

“The blood of the creature is blue, which suggests the presence of haemocyanin,” The pencil scratched down her words. “The head greatly resembles the anglerfish members of the teleost order, Lophiiformes. However, there is a noticeable lack of a lure. As for the body, it is roughly the equivalent to a healthy, earth pony stallion in both length and girth. The body is covered in thick, coarse hair follicles with an epidermis that is rough to the touch, but possesses little resistance against sharp objects. The wings bear striking similarity to that of the Chiroptera genus, or bat, but unlike a bat, the legs are well-developed with characteristics suggesting they are capable of not only supporting its body weight, but are the creature’s main method of manipulating-”

“Princess Twilight?”

Trailing off, Twilight oriented her head towards the basement stairs and called out, “I’m down here! Please try not to panic at the sight!” She turned back to the creature and began studying the organs.

Sure enough, she heard the clip-clop of the mayor trotting down and a sharp gasp. There was moment’s pause before the mayor descended more quickly and approached the table.

“Princess, what… are these things?”

Twilight shook her head. “I’m not sure yet. Bulk Biceps came to find me when he saw them fall out of the sky, already dead. I teleported them back here to avoid a panic. Bonbon was here not too long ago; a third creature had crashed through their ceiling.”

“Are they alright?”

“I believe so. Lyra managed to kill it. I sent Bonbon back to ask Lyra if she could teleport the creature here. And another thing, Mayor…” She gave a small smile. “Please just call me Twilight. I’m still… well, me despite my sudden coronation into princess-hood.”

“Of course, my apologies, Prin… Twilight,” Mayor Mare stepped closer and looked down at the corpse with a green face. “Bulk Biceps’ descriptions do little to steel my stomach.”

Twilight nodded, bringing the notepad in front of her so she could illustrate the innards as accurately as possible. “It is a most fascinating specimen.”

“That’s not quite the word I’d use.”

“Sorry, it’s just… Look at this thing – I’ve never seen anything like it in my books before. It’s so… unusual. It’s almost as if somepony just mashed a bunch of creatures together and…”

Slowly, Twilight lowered the notepad and looked up, glaring at nothing in particular.

Mayor Mare raised her brow questioningly. “Um… Twilight?”

“Discord…” Twilight growled.

“Yes?”

Both mares cried and jumped in fright as the draconequus stuck his head between them with a large smile. Busting out into laughter, he pulled back and held his sides.

“Oh, I never get tired of that! Your faces are priceless, you know?” He flicked away a tear with his talon and gestured to the flustered Twilight. “I know it’s because you got startled, but you really need to learn how to keep those wings down; somepony could get the wrong idea, if you catch my drift.”

Twilight’s glare melted into an expression of bewilderment. “What?”

Discord rolled his eyes. “No, you’re right – I should have known better than to think you could catch anyone’s drift,” He kicked back and floated in mid-air above the table, his hands behind his head. “So how are we all doing? Twilight, you still got that OCD? Mayor, you still dying your mane?”

“Discord, explain this thing now!” Twilight pointed at the cadaver.

“Oh, don’t ask me how I’m doing or anything. Heaven forbid I be shown any sort of hospitality at any place other than Shutterfly’s.”

“It’s Fluttershy and cut the act; I know you had something to do with this thing.”

With a sigh, Discord’s face melted and reformed in the back of his head to peer down at the body. “While I do admire a chaotic form, I’m afraid I can’t take credit for this.”

“Really? You expect us to believe you?”

“You don’t have any evidence to believe me…” He disappeared and reappeared beside Twilight wearing a blue suit and a spiky wig. “… but you also have no evidence suggesting this was my doing. Take that!”

“What else evidence do I need besides the thing laying on the table?”

Discord pointed at her. “Objection! It could have easily come from the Everfree forest. It’s been so long even I don’t know what sort of critters have sprung up over the centuries.”

Twilight frowned. “I… guess you have a point there,” Discord leapt into the air with a fist pump as confetti and streamers exploded behind him. “But I’m still not convinced,” The whole event was re-winded. He went back too far and had to fast-forward so he was completely up to speed. “These creatures show up and you just so happen to be here?”

“I’ll have you know that I came here on an errand for my dear friend, Flyshutter.”

“Fluttershy.”

“Her ‘darling bunny, Angel’ is sick and she asked if I could drop by and pick up a book on remedies,” Those particular words associated with the animal were said in a perfect imitation of Fluttershy’s voice. “Personally, I would have just preferred to let him tough it out, as animals should, but then she had to go and get all mopey and weepy and look at me with those big blue eyes. Then she used her Stare on me when I laughed in her face.”

“I thought that didn’t work on you.”

“Well, as Flutterfly-”

“Fluttershy.”

“-would tell you, she can’t control when she uses it. When she tried it at the time you all released me, it didn’t click,” He reached up and flicked a switch on his head, turning his eyes off. He flicked them back on. “But then her bratty bunny was in peril and suddenly she’s shooting death rays from her eyes that were being diluted into waves of sheer malice by the water in the air. Not to say I was frightened, of course, but when she kept at it for five whole minutes I started getting veeeery uncomfortable. Heck, I would have gone to one of Celestia’s speeches if it meant getting out of there,” He kicked back and started backstroking through the air. “Hence, lo and behold – Discord is in the treehouse and ready to rock it all night, or at least until he gets a book on remedies.”

Twilight looked at Mayor Mare, who had remained silent the entire time. The older mare shrugged, watching Discord with a mixture of fear and annoyance.

“Let’s say I believe you,” Twilight said. “If you didn’t create this thing, then where did it come from?”

“I’m afraid that even I can’t answer that,” With a flash of light, a bowl of ice cream appeared on his belly. The spoon floated up by itself and deposited a large amount into his maw. “Mmm, that’sh good. The Everfree forest is beyond my control; it’s even older than me. And I’m pretty old even though my flawless skin and dashing looks say otherwise. Maybe these bat-fish decided to wander out and see the sights.”

Mayor Mare cleared her throat. “But why now? And why are they dead?”

“Beats me,” The spoon floated up with no ice cream and he ate in one big bite. “Why did I suddenly come back after a thousand years? Why did Chrysalis decide to invade Canterlot after a thousand years? Why did old Sombrero and the Crystal Empire come back after a thousand years? It’s almost as if Luna’s very presence is upsetting the balance of everything. I mean, I’m fine with upsetting balances and everything, but only when I’m the one doing it. Otherwise it’s like someone’s stealing your job, you know?” He extended his jaw and ate the rest of the ice cream, bowl and all. “As for their untimely deaths, maybe some pegasus decided they didn’t like the way they looked.”

“I saw Rainbow Dash gathering some clouds for the storm earlier.” Mayor Mare said with a furrowed brow.

Twilight felt her heart jump in worry. “You don’t think…?”

“I wouldn’t get so worked up over it,” Discord floated above her head. “She’s a rather brutish mare, isn’t she? And take it from someone with personal experience: a pegasus is very hard to hurt when they’re up in the air. Well, at least until I take away the wings.” Seeing the horrified looks, Discord raised his hands in defence. “Hey, I put trampolines under them.”

Before anything else could be said, there was a series of loud thumps and exclamations of pain. Three pairs of eyes turned to the stairs, watching as a lime green mare bounced down, a creature similar to the one on the table in her magical grasp.

Fortunately, Lyra was prevented from hitting the basement floor by a shroud of lavender light encasing every part of her body save for her horn, of course. Twilight was well-versed in the consequences of mixing magic with somepony she didn’t know well.

“Hey, Twilight!” Lyra waved. She was apparently unbothered by the fact she had just bumped her head several times. “I got one of these creatures for you to study! Bonbon’s mad that there’s a stain on the carpet, too.”

“Thank you, Lyra,” Twilight levitated the mare around until she was back on her hooves. “Could you put it with the other one on the floor?”

“Whoa, what the heck happened to this one?” Lyra trotted forwards and placed the body near the other. She then glanced up at the hovering draconequus. “Hey.”

Discord nodded. “Hey.”

“I haven’t had the opportunity to study the body and find out the cause of decapitation, but I have a few ideas. These creatures are capable of flight and if they did encounter pegasi, then they most likely died of electrocution.”

“Electrocution?” Mayor Mare echoed with a hint of confusion.

“Lightning,” Twilight replied. “A pegasus’ main method of attacking is to utilize storm clouds and send bolts of lightning at the opposition. Failing that they get to a great distance and ram the attacker at high speeds.”

“Pegasuseses are rather single-minded in combat,” Discord commented as he played with a paddle ball. The ball was replaced with an apple that smelt distinctly like a lime. “Forty-three, forty-four, forty-five…”

“The plural is pegasi,” Twilight retorted through clenched teeth. “You’re an entity eons of years old; grammar should be trivial.”

“It is – I just like messing with you.”

“I believe we’re getting off-topic here,” Mayor Mare said. “Discord, are you telling us you honestly had no part in this?”

The paddle pop disappeared in a flash of light and the draconequus tilted to stand and mark an ‘X’ on his chest. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my e- owie! It’s even worse when you have claws!”

“So if he had no part in this then they must have come from the Everfree forest; it’s the only place where such creatures can form and it’s very close to Ponyville. As for why they choose now to stray from their home is still unknown,” Mayor Mare thought for a moment. “Perhaps Zecora would know?”

Twilight lit up. “Of course! Zecora knows almost everything about the Everfree forest,” She glanced back to the dissected body. “But I still have so much to learn about this creature…”

“I’ll make the trip,” The mayor said. “I know the path.”

“An authority figure that actually does something?” Discord slapped his head. “Mama mia! I must be hearing things.”

Ignoring the draconequus pulling a cone of cotton candy from his ear, Twilight gave the mayor a concerned look. “Are you sure about this? If these creatures have chosen now to come out, then there might be more.”

“I can take care of myself,” Mayor Mare assured the young alicorn with a gentle smile. “I’m an earth pony and I used to help build many of the infrastructures in Ponyville when I was your age.”

“You go, mayor!” Lyra whooped as she gleefully took some cotton candy courtesy of Discord.

“If you’re really sure, then I appreciate the help. If Zecora knows anything, then please come tell me. As for you Discord…” She turned to him while he was in the process of trying to complete a ship in a bottle. “I need you to go and warn my friends of what’s happening and to get ready in case we have to use the Elements of Harmony again.”

“Moi?” Discord tossed the bottle over his shoulder carelessly, folding his arms crossly even as it exploded into purple flames. “Help you? After I was so viciously slandered and accused? You must have lost your marbles.”

Twilight didn’t react to marbles suddenly spilling out of her ears and ignored the strange sensation. “If you’re truly reformed, then you’ll help me find out the reason behind these creatures’ appearances before they hurt anypony else. May I remind you that Fluttershy lives near the Everfree forest?”

He flinched at that retort, but quickly recovered. “I don’t know. My feelings are still tender.”

Twilight sighed. “Look… I’m sorry I accused you. I should know better than to jump to conclusions. I would very much appreciate it if you took the time to warn my… our friends.”

“Hmm… nah.”

“Come on, Discord.” Lyra said. “Be cool.”

“You do make a valid point there, Bipedal Joe,” Discord snapped his fingers and he was suddenly sitting down on an upside-down table, slipping on a pair of white gloves. He patted the space behind him. “Hop up and I’ll drop you off at wherever it is you live.”

“Sweet!” Lyra climbed up, still munching on her candy.

“Arrevi derci, Pinky and the Brain!” Discord pulled an invisible string and there was a loud choo-choo followed by the sound of an engine as he rode the table up to the ceiling.

“Wait, Discord, don’t-”

CRASH!

Twilight lowered her hoof with a sigh as she gazed at the hole in the library’s floor. No doubt there would also be a hole in the second floor and the roof.

“Huh…” Mayor Mare frowned in thought. “Why didn’t he give me a ride? Did I forget to put on deodorant again?”

“That’s what you got from that?” Twilight said dryly.

“Hey, Twi’, there’s a hole in the floor!”

“I noticed, Spike.”

“Whoa, what’s that thing? It’s really ugly! And I can smell it from here!”

“Spike, take a letter…”

As soon as the doors opened and Doctor Stable trotted out, Rainbow Dash and Flitter mobbed him with questions.

“How is she?”

“Is she gonna be okay?”

“She’s not going to die, right?”

“How bad was it?”

“Is she poisoned?”

The stallion calmly held up a hoof and waited until they were silent. “She’s going to be fine.”

Flitter and Rainbow Dash sagged in relief, the former letting out a breathless laugh of exuberance.

“Thank Celestia…” Flitter said. “Oh and you, Stable. Thank you so much!”

“The wound wasn’t as bad as it looked, but it’s still a good thing you got her here so quickly,” He looked at the two of them with a questioning glance. “Speaking of which, how did she get such an injury? It looks like an animal attack.”

“We were gathering the clouds for the storm today when these flying monsters came outta nowhere and started attacking us,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I told Cinnamon to go get help since she’s not exactly the greatest fighter, but then-”

“It’s my fault; I saw it going after her, but I couldn’t do anything.” Flitter cast a solemn gaze to the floor.

“It was not your fault! Hay, it’s because of you she’s still alive.”

Flitter shook her head. “But if I was just a little more alert…”

“Excuse me, but what monsters?” Doctor Stable asked.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings. “They had these babies, but like a bat’s or… or those ponies that hang around Luna. They had freaky glowing eyes and these sharp claws, too. And a tail! It was too dark to make anything else out though.”

Stable rubbed his chin in thought. “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of anything like that. We’ll have to keep Cinnamon in so we can monitor her; make sure she didn’t catch anything. Don’t worry – she’s in good hooves.”

Flitter still looked down. Rainbow Dash reached out with a wing. “Hey, you heard him – she’s gonna be-”

Stable’s expression suddenly went awkward and his nostrils twitched. “Ah… ah… ah-choo!”

Somehow, a draconequus more than twice his size came out of his nose amidst a spray of streamers and chocolate kisses.

“There you are! I’ve had to give half of Ponyville the sniffles… and probably a few panic attacks looking for you.”

Rainbow Dash immediately spread her wings and pawed at the ground. “Discord, you-”

“Yes, yes – threaten, threaten, complain, moan, accuse, yadda, yadda, yadda.” Discord rolled his eyes and made a talking gesture with his hand. “Listen up, a few unwelcome guests have invaded Ponyville and now they’re kaput: you have anything to do with it?”

“Yeah…” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“Thought so. Anyway Bookworm’s got the bodies in her basement and she’s cutting them up and cooking them.”

“Wh-what?” Flitter shrieked.

“Mother Faust, do you have any idea where you’ve been?!” Stable levitated a box of tissues and blew his nose furiously. “I have a surgery scheduled for tomorrow; I can’t afford to be coughing up lanterns or whatever affliction you cast on ponies.”

Discord paused. “Or studying them… can’t remember. Anyway, she told me to warn you to be ready in case you have to use the Elements of Unfair Punishments. So… you’re warned!”

He threw his arms into the air with a cheesy smile as a banner unrolled from the ceiling with the words ‘It’s a warning!’ written across in bright blue cake frosting.

“You-”

“Before you ask, I had nothing to do with this.”

“Yo-”

“I Pinkie Promised.”

“Y-”

“Onwards to the Element of Theatrics!”

He struck a pose and looked towards the ceiling. The floor shattered as he rapidly descended before inexplicably repairing itself. The banner rolled back up and disappeared with a pop.

The occupants of the room stared at each other silently.

“What just happened?” Flitter glanced at the cyan pegasus. “What just happened?”

“Why does everything bad happen to Ponyville only?!” Stable cried. “How come Fillydelphia and Manehatten never have to deal with ancient gods, parasprite infestations and Cerberus? ‘You’ll love it in Ponyville, Stable. It’s nice and quiet!’ Well, I fell for that hook line and sinker, huh? Thanks, Rustic Hooves – you’re a great co-worker!”

He exhaled. Flitter and Rainbow Dash looked at each other and back to him.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “Uh… you okay there?”

Stable nodded and cleared his throat. “Never better.”

“And that’s the whole story,” Mayor Mare took a sip from the strange smelling, but very tasty brew Zecora had made. “Twilight’s studying the creatures and we’ve ruled out Discord; the only other thing to suspect is the Everfree Forest.”

Zecora nodded. “These woods are where dangerous beasts reside, but I’m afraid I have not encountered anything like the creatures you describe. It is possible they come from a place where the air is thick with fear and dread; the heart of the forest is likely, it is a place where even I do not tread.”

“But if that’s the case then why have they decided to come out now?”

“A question that’s answer you may not yet find, for who knows what goes on in such a creature’s mind. Perhaps too far from their dwelling they flew; all of this could be a fluke.”

“I suppose that’s a possibility,” Mayor Mare looked at her reflection as it wavered in the dark-green brew. “Still, I can’t shake this feeling I have. It’s like pins and needles with a hint of chills.”

“A common reaction to being in this forest; one eventually-” Zecora suddenly looked towards her window, ears perked.

“Zecora?”

“Listen closely, Mayor Mare; do you hear what is out there?”

The ageing mare listened hard. After a few moments she shook her head. “I can’t hear anything.”

“They say silence is golden…” Zecora rose and trotted towards the door. “… but in this forest, it is a very bad omen.”

Not wanting to be left alone with a leering tribal mask – even if Zecora did say it meant ‘wipe your hooves before entering’ – Mayor Mare placed her cup on the table and followed the zebra as she went outside.

Now that Zecora mentioned it, it was quiet. On the way to her hut there had been a symphony of chirps and cries of various animals and insects. Now, though, it was completely still. The silence was louder than anything she’d ever heard, and she’d been near Pinkie Pie’s party cannon more often than not.

Zecora was standing near a pond, gazing out at nothing in particular. She was completely still except for the twitching of her ears.

“Zecora?” Mayor Mare approached the pond, glancing to and fro nervously. Something was definitely not right.

“Shh…”

A moment, two moments, three moments passed.

The mayor jumped when wide blue eyes turned to her. “Do you hear? Something draws near.”

Before the mayor could ask for clarification, the sounds of snapping twigs and foliage being brushed aside reached her ears, becoming louder with every passing second until she could clearly make out snorts and snuffles and heavy breaths. She backed up, frightened.

“What in Celestia…?”

From the other side of the pond, a huge shape broke through thick foliage. In the light provided by Zecora’s hut filtering through the window and open door, Mayor Mare could make out distinct and small details.

It was in the shape of a bear and covered in thick strands of black hair; only its face, paws and the end of its tail was bare, showing grey skin covered in cuts and sores. Three legs sprouted from its body on each side; they were thick and ended in paws tipped with black claws which looked capable of easily rending flesh. A tail – four times as long as her body – grew into a curve so it swung dangerously over its back, the end tipped with nasty-looking pincers. The face resembled a bear’s close enough that the only differences were its glowing white eyes and how its muzzle split open into four flaps lined with needle sharp teeth.

It was only marginally smaller than the bear she had seen hang around Fluttershy’s, so naturally she was terrified.

“I implore you; do as I do,” Mayor Mare looked over at Zecora. She was standing straight and still and her expression was determined. “It may be the same as any beast; make one sudden move and you are its feast.”

‘And what if it isn’t like any beast?’

Nevertheless, Mayor Mare gulped and willed herself to remain rooted on the spot.

The large creature snuffled and swung its head from side to side, the mouth flaps coming together and separating again with sickening noises. With a particularly loud snort, it promptly entered the pond and walked across, the water barely covering its knees. It dipped its muzzle in and took a long drink before submerging its entire head, pulling it back out a moment later to shake wildly. Water splashed everywhere and it gave what sounded like a content growl.

Mayor Mare felt sweat run down her brow.

The creature snorted once more and suddenly turned its gaze towards them. It panted heavily before its flaps spread open and a long purple tongue slithered out.

A split second later, it charged.

“Forget what I said; move or you are dead!”

Mayor Mare spun on her hooves and ran along the path to Ponyville, Zecora sprinting right next to her. She heard the creature let out a bone-shaking roar and felt more than heard its steps as it gave chase.

‘Oh, what did father say to do when chased by a strange animal from the Everfree forest?’

“Run like a motherfucker!”

‘Thanks, dad…’

She risked a look back.

Ponies could escape wild bear attacks mostly because of their small size and speed, allowing them to easily weave between obstacles like trees and shrubs. However, they were on a clear path and despite their head-start the creature was keeping up, its six paws pounding against the dirt. If it caught up to them, then…

“What do we do?” She cried over the sounds of the creature’s roars.

“I’m afraid we are stuck in a rut; my brews for self-defence are still in my hut,” Zecora ducked under a low-hanging branch without a pause in her gait. “I hate to bring such a beast into Ponyville, but a hundred ponies will fare better than we two will.”

Mayor Mare nodded with a slight pant. She was far from old, but she had been in Ponyville longer than most of its inhabitants, and in all honesty she had not gotten much exercise.

‘I knew that third helping of brownies would come back to bite me in the flank!’

They ran and ran for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, the exit came within sight. The ground beneath them quickly became muddy; the clear skies of the Everfree forest were beginning to give way to Ponyville’s own scheduled weather. They burst out of the forest entirely and began heading towards civilization.

Zecora’s hoof hit a large patch of mud and her leg skidded sideways. She struggled to maintain balance, but inevitably lost the battle and tumbled head over hooves, mud flying up in her wake. She came to a halt when she hit a tree and groaned in confusion.

Mayor Mare halted, her blood running cold. “Zecora!”

The creature ignored the ageing mare in favour of the helpless zebra, mouth-flaps opening wide as drool seeped from its coiling tongue.

Zecora tried to rise, but the creature was already upon her, one meaty paw coming down on her midsection to hold her while the long tail arched over its back and the pincers extended to-

“Hold it right there!”

A yellow and pink blur rushed past Mayor Mare and stopped right in front of the beast, hovering in place.

“Who do you think you are attacking Zecora like this?!”

Fluttershy’s penetrating gaze was directed at the creature, but the mayor still shuddered as the paralyzing power of those teal eyes washed over her. The beast released Zecora and backed away immediately upon seeing those eyes and wailed in terror, puffing itself up in a futile attempt to intimidate.

“If you think you can just come around here eating ponies and zebras and get away with it, then you’ve got another thing coming!” Fluttershy floated forwards, getting right in the beast’s face. “Now you turn around and march straight back and think about what you’ve done! You do not – I repeat – you do NOT hurt my friends!”

The creature gave a keening cry and swiftly raced back into the Everfree as if Tartarus itself was on its tail. Once it disappeared into the dark recesses of the forest, Fluttershy raced over to Zecora, her eyes losing any trace of terrible fury and instead filling with concern and kindness.

“Oh, Zecora, are you alright? Did that mean critter hurt you?”

“I am dizzy, but alright, my dear Fluttershy,” Zecora reassured the yellow pegasus with a smile. “It is fortunate that you live so close by. A second later and I would have been food; so please accept my eternal gratitude.”

“And mine,” Mayor Mare grinned as she joined them on shaky legs. “When I saw Zecora trip and that thing raise its paw I thought she was done for. I wouldn’t have made it in time to help her… although I probably couldn’t have done much against it anyway.”

“I’m just glad my Stare worked on that… um… it looked like a bear, but… goodness, that mouth and tail…” Fluttershy’s eyes went wide and fearful as she glanced back at the forest. “What if it comes back? It might hurt my animal friends!”

“Away from the Everfree I think we should stay; I have had enough excitement for one day.”

“Agreed. Between those flying creatures and that thing I think I should call a town meeting to warn the public,” Mayor Mare inhaled deeply, trembling from the adrenaline rush. “If the animals from the Everfree are coming out, then the town needs to be prepared in case of another attack.”

“Um… wh-what flying creatures?”

“You need to move away from the forest; it’s too dangerous to be so close,” The mayor paused in thought. “Discord lives with you, right? Can he help?”

“I’m sure he can, but I asked him to get a book from Twilight; poor Angel’s so sick.”

“Twilight asked him to warn the Element bearers. When he comes by, ask him to help you move away from the forest. I really hate to leave you, but…”

“I will stay and help her pack until the Spirit of Chaos comes back.” Zecora said.

Mayor Mare nodded. “Thank you. If you can tell her what I’ve told you that’d be great. I’ll see you two later.”

The mayor turned and began trotting at a brisk pace towards Ponyville. Things were heating up and the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach was beginning to worsen.

‘Mother Faust, was Ponyville constructed on an ancient buffalo burial ground or something?’

Author's Note

Note 1: Twilight did a science. Mayor Mare's father was a wise stallion. Doctor Stable needs a vacation. Lyra's still scared of peeled potatoes.

Note 2: Just a reminder that this story ignores the plot events of Season 4; the Elements of Harmony are still in their possession and Discord planted the wrong seeds.

Chapter 10: Encounter

1055 AD, January 25th

“Sister, I really do not wish to have this talk.”

“I’m just saying that I’ve known Twilight since she was a filly, so I know a bit about her. Her likes, her dislikes, her favourite activities – you just need to ask.”

“I really don’t think-”

“Unless I’m reading you wrong and it’s one of her friends you’re after. Not to worry; I know a lot about the sexual possibilities involving the three races.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Is it Applejack? I can relate – a strong, rugged mare with good hospitality and unrivalled honesty? Who could resist? Oh, and that earth pony stamina; long nights of pure bliss. Although, Pinkie is quite the party pony; I’m willing to be she’s hyperactive in other areas, too, if you catch my drift. Hm, but what about the pegasi?”

“’Tia…”

“Rainbow Dash is a bit of a tomcolt, but she pulls that off well. She’s also very loyal and an avid book reader. You could give a new meaning to the term ‘taste the rainbow’. Ah, but what of Fluttershy? Sweet, kind, shy, and so caring… and I’m willing to bet a tiger in the bedroom. It’s always the shy ones, am I right?”

“This is like a dream I once had. I woke up crying. Sobbing, really.”

“Rarity has an eye for art; she’d enjoy coming up to watch you bring the night out. Then later on, you two could make some magic of your own. And of course, there’s Twilight. Now it is a bit strange to think of the filly who has been like a daughter to me and my sister doing the Bucking Bronco, but-”

“Sister!”

As Luna contemplated diving out the window to escape this psychological torment, a streak of green fire flitted between them and an instant later, a scroll materialized from thin air. Celestia caught it with her magic before it hit the floor.

“Oh, a letter from your little crush and her friends… who you also probably have crushes on. How convenient.”

“‘Tia, why must you torture me so?”

Smirking to herself, Celestia spread out the scroll and read. Luna watched as her older sister’s brow suddenly furrowed and her smile vanished and was replaced by a frown. She raised an eyebrow as her sister continued to read in silence.

“A bit for your thoughts?”

“Ponyville…”

Luna sighed. “I should have guessed – that town seems to have unusual magnetic properties when it comes to danger.”

“Three mysterious creatures were found; two of them were dead on the spot while the third was killed by Bonbon and Lyra Heartstrings.”

“The candymaker and the lyre player – excellent sweets and music.”

“Twilight says the creatures' physiologies are very different from any creature in her books.”

“How different?”

“She’s included an illustration,” Celestia looked at a separate piece of paper, tilting her head quizzically. “It… appears to be a cross between a bat and an angler fish.”

Celestia handed Luna the paper and the younger sister studied the drawing in silence for a moment. She had seen many unusual things in her time – dreams notwithstanding – but even so…

“Quite a hybrid,” She murmured softly and looked back at her sibling. “Are we sure Discord is reformed?”

Celestia read on. “As reformed as he’ll ever be, but Twilight writes that she’s questioned Discord and he swears he has no hoof in this. She thinks the creatures may have come from the Everfree forest.”

“Makes sense,” Luna nodded. “Many strange critters inhabit those woods and though it is not often they stray, it does happen.”

“Regardless, she’s preparing the Elements of Harmony in case this is an omen for bigger things to come,” Celestia lowered the letter to rest on the floor in front of where she lay on a comfy cushion. “Oh, and Spike mentions the creatures are ugly and smell bad.”

“As does everything from the Everfree. Should we send some of the guards?”

“Between Discord and the Elements, there should be no need. While it’s true Discord is still a wild card, I truly believe he will aid them should anything happen.”

Luna reached out with her magic and brought the letter in front of her to examine it. “She isn’t asking for any support.”

“If that’s the case, then she must be writing to just inform me of events,” She smiled and tittered a little. “It amazes me of just how much she’s grown up.”

Briefly, her gaze travelled to the fireplace – specifically, the picture frames lining the top, one of which showing a small purple filly beaming as she performed a basic illumination spell as a white alicorn watched on proudly.

Celestia blinked and turned back to her sister. “I should write back and let her know that if she does need help she can always ask.”

She reached out with her magic towards her desk for an empty sheet of paper and quill. Before she could bring them to her, there was a hurried knock at the doors.

“Come-”

The doors were enshrouded with golden magic and were thrown open to let in a white stallion with a luxurious mane.

“… in.”

“Aunties!” Blueblood cried. “Something dreadful has happened!”

“Your supply of shampoo ran out?” Luna asked, the sarcasm in her tone palpable.

Celestia shushed her sister, even though she was also irritated at her adopted nephew’s arrival. He had a tendency to over-exaggerate things. Once, he called in half the Royal Guard to help him with a mouse that invaded his home.

“As hard as it is to believe, it’s even worse than that!” Blueblood lifted a hoof to his forehead in dismay.

“What is it, Blueblood?” Celestia was not going to be very amused if it was his conditioner supply that ran out.

“A beast has invaded my room in the castle! It entered through my window and attempted to roost on my head! It was hideous! Simply hideous! And the smell...”

“Blueblood…” Luna sighed as Celestia narrowed her eyes in thought. “This rivalry you have with birds must stop. Perhaps if you stopped trying to punch them, then maybe they wouldn’t peck and bite and release their bowels all over-”

“Excuse me…” Celestia looked closely at the frantic stallion. “This… creature you speak of. It smelled bad?”

“And it’s hideous! And it is most definitely not a bird; it looks like… like…” He visibly strained for the right word. “A monster!”

“Calm down, Blueblood; deep breaths, remember?”

Blueblood did a few breathing exercises – subconsciously making a few entertaining expressions – before he nodded and cleared his throat. “Yes, well… I meant to say that it is certainly no bird. For one thing, it does not possess feathers; it appears to have… armor.”

“Armor?”

“Armor – yet it appears to be part of its body instead of something that is worn. Another thing I noticed before I ran… err, strategically retreated was that it possessed numerous legs and glowing white eyes,” He shuddered. “I never did like insects.”

Celestia rose. “Let’s have a look at this monster.”

Luna also rose and followed her as Blueblood led them to the room. Along the way, Luna nodded to two passing guards, and they obediently trotted after. Blueblood continued describing the invading creature.

“It came up to my knees, but it was rotund and quite large; I’d guess it was as wide as my perfectly proportioned torso. It had six legs with three on each side and it sort of hobbled along. When it first entered, the daft thing fell of the windowsill and landed on the floor. The sound woke me up and that’s when I decided to… strategically retreat and come find-”

“It ‘woke’ you?” Luna echoed without breaking her stride. “I thought Star Secret asked you to overlook some documents regarding a petition to fix up an old theatre.”

“Yes,” Blueblood grinned though it looked more like a rictus. “That’s… correct! I was reviewing them while sleeping. You can commit so much brainpower to something when you’re not conscious, don’t you know?”

“That hardly seems-”

“Oh look, we’re here!”

Celestia stopped just outside Blueblood’s door and cautiously placed her ear against the ornate wood. A few moments passed before she bent down to look through the keyhole of the brass door handle.

“Do you see anything?” Luna asked, tilting her head and straining to pick up any strange sounds.

“There are papers scattered across the floor…” She replied, straightening. “But that’s about it.”

“Perhaps it left?”

“Maybe…”

Celestia’s horn lit up and she opened the door, pushing it inwards to reveal more and more of the room inch by inch. The guards behind her tensed and got ready for a confrontation. However, once the door was fully pushed open and the entirety of the room was revealed, they were met with a rather unimpressive sight.

A black, round creature not unlike a pill bug was bumping its head repeatedly into the wall underneath the window, the soft dop-dop-dop sound filling the room. As if sensing their presence, the creature painstakingly turned to meet their gaze with two large, glowing white eyes.
As Blueblood had mentioned, its chitinous exoskeleton formed small scales which seemed to cover its entire body. Six legs – they appeared too big and long for its body – supported it, also covered in scales.

It made a chittering noise from somewhere – its mouth wasn’t visible – and crawled forwards. It managed four feet before tipping forwards and landing on its back, leaving all six legs to flail helplessly in the air.

“Well… it’s certainly… not very aesthetically pleasing.” Luna commented with raised eyebrows.

“Smells worse than my kid’s diapers in here.” The unicorn guard – Spark Shot – muttered.

“That’s the monster, not me.” Blueblood said quickly, eyes darting back and forth.

Celestia stepped forwards and examined the creature suspiciously. “Appearances can be deceiving; do not let your guard down,” She watched as it finally rolled back upright and began moving towards the desk. “I wonder if this creature is related to the ones that were sighted in Ponyville.”

“Ponyville’s under attack?” The earth pony guard – Titan – looked at the princess of the night.

“Again?” Spark Shot added.

“It’s not entirely clear…” Luna replied. “We’ve received a message from Princess Twilight about creatures of unknown origin entering the town, but it doesn’t seem to actually be in any danger at the moment.”

Celestia flinched back slightly as the creepy-crawly spun about to face her, almost tipping over in the process.

“I don’t care how fertile the land is…” Blueblood said with a scowl. “I would not settle anywhere near the Everfree forest.”

With a symphony of chitters and clicks, the creature ventured towards her with its front legs raised, as if to attack. Had it just been the raised legs, it wouldn’t have been very threatening. However, as soon as it crept forwards, the scales underneath its eyes suddenly parted to reveal two more eyes, slightly smaller than the first two, but glowing just as brightly.

The princess of the sun took a few steps backwards, wings lifting tersely. She didn’t know how it would react to sudden movements, so if she took things nice and slow-

“Princess!”

Before Celestia could shout an order to halt, Spark Shot leapt forwards and placed himself between her and the creature, horn enshrouded in a bright orange aura.

“No, don’t-”

The creature suddenly stopped and began shaking violently. The scales covering its front suddenly folded and receded underneath each other in a complex organic puzzle to reveal six eyes which rapidly changed from a pristine white to a crimson red. The chittering was replaced by a shrill hiss; coming from both its lamprey-like mouth and the steam shooting out from between the vibrating scales covering the rest of its body.

Spark Shot pulled back, eyes wide. “What…?”

“Get back!” Celestia quickly ushered the stallion back gently, but firmly with a large wing, lowering her horn with an offensive spell prepared.

The creature appeared to… expand. The scales covering its body parted in waves, revealing more scales underneath which followed suite. Four layers later, a smooth, wet, grey carapace emerged, steam rising from it. The scales that were pushed apart from its growth proceeded to fold into each other to form large plates that covered the sudden increase in area. The expansion happened faster in some places, leading the creature to stumble and fall about, sickening snaps and cracks accompanying its every attempt to remain balanced as it grew higher and higher towards the ceiling.

“What… in… Mother Faust’s name…” Titan was dumbstruck as he watched the rapid growth.

With a violent slam of the right leg closest to its head – the vibrations knocked a few pictures of the walls – a mesh of armor plating crept down to cover the front of the appendage and the creature finally stopped growing.

Gone was the small round bug-like appearance – the thing that stood in the middle of the room easily towered over Celestia; the plates on its back scraped the ceiling’s plaster. Shrill hisses spilled from its terrifying mouth; green-tinted drool seeped over its fangs to stain the exquisite carpet.

“I told you it wasn’t a bird…” Blueblood squeaked, his right eye twitching and his pupils mere pinpricks.

Celestia, though wary, had faced foes greater in size than this during her long lifespan; what she really feared was her loyal subjects getting in harm’s way. Her guards were brave and would fight valiantly, but they had little experience with any opposition that wasn’t a disorderly drunk or rambunctious group of hormonal colts.

Blueblood was… well… he was Blueblood.

“My little ponies…” She spoke calmly, but with as much authority as possible, never taking her eyes off the creature as it made threatening gestures. “Leave now.”

“Leave?” Spark Shot questioned. “But, princess-”

“We don’t know what this creature is capable of. Luna and I have a greater chance of surviving anything it can throw than you three.”

“My sister speaks true,” Luna added. “We can survive wounds that go through our hearts – can you?”

The guards didn’t answer, but stubbornly glared at the creature.

“As your princess, I am ordering you to leave and to warn the rest of the castle,” Celestia hated using her title against the Royal Guard, but it was necessary. “Now.”

They remained for a moment longer before quietly, but quickly shuffling away, careful not to make any noise in their armor. Blueblood gave his aunties a concerned glance before leaving as well.

The two sisters were finally alone with the invader. Luna entered the room and shut the door behind her with magic. The creature fixed its glowing red eyes on her and hissed loudly, some of the fangs pushing outwards from its mouth to scratch at the air in her direction.

“Sister, I’m hoping you have a plan of action.” Luna whispered.

“This thing is big and we should presume it is strong as well. If it gets aggressive, then it could cause tremendous damage. Furthermore, there are a lot of staff members in this wing; if it got out of this room, it might turn on them.”

“Shall I cast a Containment spell on this room then?”

“Please – augment it with electricity, too.”

Her sister’s horn glowed and Celestia felt a tingle in the air as walls of cobalt light blocked off the entry points to the room.

The creature shuddered violently before rearing up to the ceiling and letting out a piercing shriek.

The cry somehow managed to be high and low at the same time. The high-pitched tone burrowed into the two alicorns’ skulls and made their eardrums vibrate; the pain was debilitating and their vision quickly went blurry from tears. The rumbling baritone that accompanied the shriek in a flanging effect travelled through their bodies; it upset their stomachs and made them feel ill.

Unbeknownst to the sisters, items with glass properties shattered within the room and in a large radius of the room. Ponies and guards going about their business a considerable distance away reacted with shock upon seeing these items shatter and those that were close to the creature’s location covered their ears, horrified at the sound echoing through the castle corridors.

Once the cry ended, the creature’s eyes shone even brighter as it lowered its head and charged.

In such an enclosed space and with their senses numbed, none of the princesses could react in time to avoid the creature as it slammed into Celestia, the force sending her into the barrier. Celestia writhed and cried out in pain as electricity coursed through her.

“Sister!”

Luna turned – her head still swam and she salivated as bile rose in her gullet – and received a vicious swipe from one of the creature’s legs. She hit the wall and left a fairly large island of cracks in the plaster. Bouncing back, she staggered forwards and was hit again, this time getting sent through the wall in a shower of dust.

A floor below the room Luna was knocked into, Harmonics – an ageing noble stallion with a penchant for writing horror novels – tapped his hearing aid suspiciously as heavy thuds sounded above him and bits of dust rained down. After a few seconds of thought, he shrugged before going back to his latest work.

Meanwhile, Celestia was having a rather rough time.

Between getting her senses scrambled, being charged by a giant bug and being electrocuted, she was understandably having difficulties working up enough concentration to perform a spell.

It didn’t help that the bug had immediately launched at her as soon as it finished batting her sister through the wall and was currently trying to devour her whole. The only thing keeping her flesh on her body were her hooves pushing against its head and holding the gnashing mouth at bay.

‘You know you’ve been through a lot when staring down into a gaping maw of some beast is old hat. I’m a regular trailblazer for these types of things.’

Celestia cast a Kinetic Impact spell and the creature was thrown back to collide with the far wall. A large chunk of it crumbled upon impact, but the barrier held, spreading across like a puddle of water to fill the gaps. Interestingly, the creature didn’t seem to register the electricity even as tendrils of it danced across its hide. It was quickly back on its feet in no time and charged again.

Celestia conjured a barrier to absorb the blow. The impact and force was such that the shield cracked and she was still forced back a few feet. With a surge of magic, she repaired the damage and made the barrier wider as the creature attempted to step around it.

Enraged, it shook violently, steam shooting out from the crevices in its armour – what the purpose behind the steam was she had no idea – and stamped its front legs. Celestia made a small hole in the middle of her barrier and let loose a Fire Spray spell, channelling her magic into a continuous stream of fire.

As with most living creatures, it panicked upon sighting fire and scrambled backwards. When it bumped into Luna’s barrier and realized it was trapped, it let loose another crippling shriek. Celestia cast a Zone of Silence spell around her head, but she had still been exposed long enough to make her concentration waver; the flames snuffed out, but not before flaring to the right and setting the poster bed’s drapes alight.

‘Ooh, Blueblood is not going to be happy about that.’

Seeing the fire still there, the creature doubled its efforts to escape and stabbed at the floor, ripping the carpet to shreds and tearing out huge slabs of linoleum.

Celestia’s eyes widened as she saw cracks race under her hooves and dropped her barrier to lift the creature into the air. It may not have been as large as a dragon, but it was still strong and heavy. There was something else to it, too; something that made it very hard to keep her telekinetic hold. It was like when she was a filly and started learning levitation for the first time.

Just then, Luna appeared from the next room, shaking her head. Her sister turned to her and her lips moved. Celestia removed the noise-dampening spell.

“-to me!”

The white alicorn nodded and released her hold. Before the creature could hit the floor, Luna’s horn flared and a corona of blue light surrounded it. Its cries and struggles of protest ended abruptly as strong forces kept it from moving an inch. This was no mere telekinesis; Luna was readily manipulating the very forces of gravity to keep the creature suspended, something that was infinitely more complex.

“It has quite the hit…” Luna moved her jaw from side to side until there was a sharp crack. She grimaced in pain. “Curses… Foul being – let’s see how you handle being crushed into nothingness!”

The corona intensified and the creature’s entire form shuddered before vanishing, leaving Luna to compress nothing but air molecules.

Surprised, Luna cut off her own spell before she accidentally created a black hole. Celestia blinked in shock before looking around, tensing for an attack. However, all was still and silent.

“Sister, the bed’s still on fire.”

Celestia nodded dumbly. “Could you get that? You know I’m not very good with frost spells.”

Luna lowered her horn and a cold wind bloomed forwards, snuffing out the flames and covering the charred bed in a blanket of twinkling frost. That done, Luna’s eyes and horn immediately lit up as waves of magic, invisible to the naked eye, scanned the room. Within seconds, she ended the scan and turned to her sister with a bewildered expression.

“I sense absolutely no foreign magical residue.”

Celestia performed the scan herself. “Yes, I...” She ended it and shook her head. I don’t sense anything either. Teleportation was not used in its escape.”

“Then how did it disappear like that?” Luna mused. “And the growth. How did it expand to such a size without magic?”

“I have no idea, but in any case…” Celestia grimaced and placed a hoof against her temple, residual pain from the creature’s shrieking. “Whatever it was, it bore several traits similar to Twilight’s descriptions. What’s happening in Ponyville could be happening here and we must act swiftly to counter.”

Luna nodded. “We should put the castle on alert for future attacks and send several guards to Ponyville to protect it. I shall stay here and see if there’s anything that can be-”

“Hello?” At that instant, a large unicorn mare entered the room, raising one eyebrow as she surveyed the mess. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“Star Secret...” Celestia smiled upon seeing a familiar face. “I’m afraid we may have a bit of a situation on our hooves.”

The unicorn stepped forwards. “Would this situation have anything to do with those inequine shrieks not five minutes ago?”

“We are being assaulted by dangerous creatures of unknown origin.” Luna bluntly said. “They have already been sighted in Ponyville and just now we engaged in combat with another. It disappeared and left no magical residue, so there is reason to suspect it is not magically inclined in any way. Even so, it was capable of feats which would prove implausible without the use of magic.”

Star Secret sighed with the beginnings of a scowl on her face. “I see.”

Celestia noted with some amusement how Star Secret seemed more frustrated and annoyed than worried and frightened. The mare was so calm and level-headed; Celestia made a mental note to have some tea with her at some point, to see if she couldn’t get her guard down and share a laugh.

“Star Secret, could you relay the news to the Royal Court and help in preparing Canterlot for future attacks?” Celestia looked out the window. Was it her imagination or was the sky a little darker than before? “I must send a letter to every settlement in Equestria; I doubt these attacks will be restricted to Canterlot and Ponyville.”

“Of course.” Star Secret turned and trotted out of the room, narrowly avoiding a collision with a couple of worried guards.

Luna and Celestia exchanged a look as the guards entered, surveying the damage and searching for any signs of danger.

“I’ll drop by the Royal Archives for some analytical tools and books,” Luna said and lit up her horn. “There must be something related to this.”

“Good luck, my sister,” Celestia moved to go write the letters before blinking in realization. She turned to Luna. “Oh, don’t worry – I’ll slip you some notes about courtships and mating rituals later.”

“Oh… goody…”

Luna disappeared in a flash of blue light and Celestia walked out the door, almost knocking a running Blueblood to the floor.

“Aunty, I was worried sick! What happened? What of that brute of an insect?”

“It’s gone.”

“Thank heavens, what a… Why is there smoke coming from my room?”

“Because… Hey, those birds really grind your gears, huh?”

“…”

Author's Note

Note 1: The old theatre is, through a technicality, under Blueblood's name, which is why 'Star Secret' referred to him for the petition to have it cleaned up. Otherwise, she'd have only gone near him to throw bird seed and/or trade insults.

Note 2: Celestia refuses to stop trolling everypony.

Note 3: Blueblood refuses to stop punching birds.

Chapter 11: What's Most Important

1055 AD, January 25th

“Oh, and this can go here! And this can go here! And all of these can go with these!”

“I am grateful you are allowing me to stay, but I don’t want my things to get in the way.”

“You’re not getting in the way,” Twilight levitated a few of Zecora’s books – Zecora was rather uncomfortable with the hungry look she gave them – into a pile on a nearby table. “I’ve only had my friends stay over for one night and now you’re doing the same, but for longer! Think of all the research I can gain!”

Zecora had faced many dangerous creatures in her homeland and the Everfree Forest yet Twilight turning towards with an ecstatic grin that bordered on psychotic unnerved her more than any of those encounters. She enjoyed the alicorn’s company and she admired her passion for learning, but she was beginning to think the talk of her infamous breakdown wasn’t all exaggerated.

“This will be so great!”

Zecora smiled back uncertainly. “Yes… I can hardly wait.”

“Who?”

Zecora looked to her side as an owl floated down to rest on his perch. “Me, Twilight’s faithful pet.”

“Who?”

“Me.”

“Who?”

“I said…” She blinked and resisted the urge to face-hoof. “By the stars, I am rather slow today; ‘who’ is all you can say.”

Twilight trotted over with a bemused expression. “He’s my assistant for my nightly study sessions.”

“Be careful studying at night, Twilight; less you be dreading Celestia’s light.” Zecora teased with a grin.

“Oh, don’t worry about me – I get my rest. Owlicious and Spike see to that.”

“If you call passing out writing notes at her desk ‘rest’,” Spike muttered as he examined one of Zecora’s tribal masks in his claws. “Hey, what does this one mean?”

“No symbolic relation, it’s just for decoration.”

“Oh…” Carefully placing the mask down, he picked up a small urn. “What about this?”

“I wouldn’t-”

Spike lifted the lid, peered inside and promptly began sneezing moments later.

“That, young dragon, is pollen from the Trinity flower,” Zecora took the urn away with an amused chuckle as Spike continued sneezing. “In its purest form, it is a potent sneezing powder.”

“Spike, what have I told you about playing with other people’s belongings?” Twilight gave her number one assistant a stern look.

“S-achoo! Sor-achoo! Sorry-achoo! Z-achoo! Zecora…” He sniffed and paused. “Huh, I think it’s-achoo!”

“No cure or ailment is needed for your state; it will pass soon, just you wait.”

“Gr-achoo!-eat…”

“I’m so glad you don’t spit fire when you sneeze anymore…” Twilight murmured, glancing worryingly at the shelves lined with books.

“Please, I’ve got my-achoo!-fire under my claw. Only time I-achoo!-lose control now is when the princess sends-achoo!-a letter.” Almost immediately after that, Spike’s cheeks puffed out and he let out a flare of green fire which materialized into a scroll of paper. “Huh, speak-achoo!-speaking of which…”

Twilight snatched up the scroll eagerly, as she tended to do when receiving a letter from the pony she thought of as a second mother. She spread out the parchment and read aloud.

“My dearest friend, Twilight Sparkle, I…” She blinked.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Achoo?!”

“Nothing, I just… It’s so weird; she’s always called me her student.” She paused before shaking it off.

“Erm… I have received your letter and am saddened to write back with grim news. A few minutes after receiving your letter, Canterlot Castle was… attacked by an unknown creature bearing a vague resemblance to the creatures you described. My sister and I were forced to fight, but it disappeared before we could make an attempt to subdue it. Due to several traits that the creature displayed – Luna reassures me that she will send you a more detailed report after she is done investigating – there is reason to believe that it was not magical in nature, though I can’t say if the same is true for the creatures you have encountered.

“I ask that you prepare Ponyville for any future attacks while I see that all other settlements in Equestria are warned as well as our neighbouring nations. Luna fears that these attacks will not just be limited to Equestria. In addition, a platoon of guards shall be sent to Ponyville for added protection. Do not fret, Twilight; we will see that this matter is dealt with. Stay strong and stay safe. Yours, Princess Celestia.”

Twilight lowered the letter with a thoughtful expression. “Not magically inclined…”

“What does that-achoo!-mean?” Spike scratched at his head. “Is it a big deal?”

“Magically inclined is the term given to any living being that has magical potential energy within their bodies. Whether they are able to use it – like a unicorn – or if it’s all passive – like an earth pony – is irrelevant. When I was studying the creatures in the basement, I noticed that their physiology was wrong for their ability to fly.”

“How?”

“Well, look at my wings,” Twilight spread the appendages in question and pointed a hoof at the plumage. “You think these would be able to lift my entire body weight on their own? Not to mention how inefficient my respiratory system is for flight. However, I can fly because my magic is ‘bending’ the laws of reality to allow me to do so. The creatures' physiologies are ill-suited for flight and if they aren’t magically inclined… then it should have been impossible for them to fly.”

“Is there a way for you to find if they are inclined?” Zecora asked as Spike entered ‘info overload’ phase.

“The only reason I didn’t find out was because I wasn’t looking to see if they were,” Twilight grumbled in self-depreciation. “Rookie mistake – when researching a never-before seen species, always do the Thaumaturgy Survey first.”

“If we are to protect ourselves from these creatures, we would do well to find their weakness.”

“You’re right,” Twilight nodded. “I didn’t get to use all my apparatuses on the cadavers yet, but they don’t seem to have any particular resilience. Obviously, they’re not fond of electricity, but my sharp instruments also proved adept in cutting through the epidermis and organ tissue.”

“Urgh, I’m already-achoo!-sneezing; you really wan-achoo!-wanna add upchucking to that?” Spike managed to appear green beneath his scales.

“I’ll have to do more research later,” Twilight used telekinesis to move the books and scrolls closest to Spike. “Mayor Mare would want to see this letter and I’ll need to help organize the town’s defences. Spike, could you arrange Zecora’s books into their own pile? And then alphabetically? And then by genre? Oh, make that genre first, then alphabetically.”

Spike sneezed and it was the saddest sneeze ever made.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Zecora asked.

“Nothing comes to mind, so just go ahead and make yourself at home,” Levitating an umbrella saddle on her back, Twilight headed for the door. “Uh, there’s some daffodil sandwiches in the fridge if you’re hungry. Pinkie also dropped by yesterday, so there’s about a dozen doughnuts and cookies in the pantry. Spike can show you where it all is. I’ll see you two later.”

“Have a safe trek, Twilight.”

“See-achoo!-ya.”

Twilight closed the door behind her, muting the sound of rain once more, and Zecora gave an amused grin at Spike’s annoyed expression.
“Such a dour face,” Zecora gestured to the piles of literature. “Now let’s see if I cannot help sort this place.”

Smiling gratefully, Spike bent down to pick up a book. “Thanks-achoo!-Zecora.”

‘Focus… focus…’

Nightmare Moon’s concentration wavered slightly as she heard soft squeaks of distress.

‘Ignore it. Focus and become that which is lighter than air, become that which light cannot see…’

Gradually, the numbness of her folded legs faded, and the urge to breathe became less significant.

‘Become what you always were…’

The squeaks became louder, more frantic, but Nightmare Moon ignored it, and felt herself rising.

‘Now open our eyes and see what you are.’

Nightmare Moon didn’t so much as open her eyes so much as she simply regained the ability to gain a visual of her surroundings.

Looking down, she watched the small, brown mouse scratch at the walls of its cage, desperately trying to escape. Its squeaks of distress and raw terror disturbed the air; Nightmare Moon could easily see the vibrations, and the panic in them called to her.

Acting on instinct, she moved closer, and if she still had a mouth, it would be curled into a predatory smile.

The mouse squeaked louder at her approached, reaching new pitches in its cries.

She paid no heed and struck mercilessly.

Once the mouse was paralyzed, Nightmare Moon began forcing herself through flesh, bone, and sinew. It was cramped. She mentally hissed in annoyance, trying to fit in more and more of her essence until-

‘The bed – I feel it! No! Concentrate! Don’t lose…!’

Her vision swam. She felt sick. Quickly, she retreated, pulling away from the mouse and following the parts of her that still remained stubbornly attached to her body. It made her head spin to return so fast, but once she had eyes to open and lungs to fill with air, she felt more at peace.

“Huagh… huagh… huagh… p-pathetic…”

With an expression of self-disgust, Nightmare Moon slipped off her bed, leaving the mouse to shiver, completely traumatized by its experience.

‘This shouldn’t be so difficult. I’m completely healed. Is it because I have a body of my own? Is my essence anchored until its expiration?’

A pitcher of water rested on her bedside table. She gripped it with magic and took a direct sip, ignoring the rivulets that ran down her chin.

‘No, if my essence was anchored, then I shouldn’t be able to leave entirely. Maybe it’s a mental block; I’ve grown quite accustomed to having a body of my own. No sharing, no possession, no irritating voice begging me to stop – just me, myself, and I.’

Nightmare Moon put down the pitcher after her thirst was sated and her draconic eyes roamed over the surface of the table, settling on a small, unassuming card, given to her four years ago.

‘Hazel Blaze…’

The beginning of the year heralded the official start of her plan to take the throne. During the month, she had made secret purchases under a false identity. By themselves, the items she purchased would have aroused no suspicion in the average pony, but for anypony who knew the basics of thaumaturgy and alchemy, the items altogether would cause some concern.

She had also started mapping out the entire castle and checking in on the Royal Guard; specifically, how they responded to threats and how quickly they responded. So far, nothing stood out as a glaring weakness, but Nightmare Moon was pleased to discover the things they weren’t well-prepared to deal with.

Finally, she had started checking up on this ‘Hazel Blaze’ the card given to her by Dusk referred to.

Hazel was the owner of a hair salon known as the Flourish Flounce and, as Dusk mentioned, the leader of Eclipse. Nightmare Moon had been trailing her for a few weeks, discreetly watching from beneath the cover of an Invisibility spell, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that she, among a few other members, regarded Nightmare Moon as the true ruler of Equestria.

Nightmare Moon didn’t know much else other than that. The ‘when and where’ regarding the formation of the Eclipse and reasons for exactly why they revered her were still unknown, but that could be looked at a later time. Right now, the only thing that mattered to Nightmare Moon was that she had followers she could put to use.

‘I have the capability to arm and train them, but they need more than that. They need a boost in power…’

Which is why she was experimenting with the mouse.

Nightmare Moon was able to make any creature faster, stronger, and tougher than they could ever be on their own. It was how she survived for so long before Luna came into the picture and it was how she was able to put the younger sister on par with her older sibling in terms of raw power.

However, at some point – perhaps due to some lingering effect of the Elements or her simply being out of practise – her unique ability became significantly difficult to do.

She couldn’t even affect a puny mouse, for crying out loud.

Nightmare Moon shot a glare at the animal in question, making it back further into its prison.

‘I can just about do it, but then I lose concentration. Practise makes perfect, but what if I’ve truly lost my ability? What if…’

Realizing she was starting to doubt herself, Nightmare Moon immediately shook her head with a short grumble. Doubting herself and her abilities was just about the worst thing to do now, when her plans had already been set into motion.

Nothing was going to stop her from taking the throne, not even… whatever it was that was happening with these new creatures. It was another obstacle that needed to be overcome, nothing more.

Taking another deep breath, Nightmare Moon walked back towards the bed. The mouse squeaked in alarm at her return, but she paid no heed, and raised one hoof up onto-

Bing-ding

“Hmph…”

Mumbling under her breath, Nightmare Moon exited the bedroom, horn igniting as she slipped on her disguise. The mouse relaxed, relieved that its torment would be prolonged, however short it may be.

The doorbell rang twice more before Nightmare Moon arrived at the front door. She undid the locks and gripped the handles in magic to pull it open, a sigh already on her lips.

“Hello, Vin-”

“Hey-ey, Wolf! How’s it hangin’?” Vinyl cheerfully levitated a large dish into Nightmare Moon’s grasp, which of course meant she practically threw it and it was only due to quick reflexes did it not end up on the floor. “Octy made some pie.”

“… Lemon meringue?”

“What else would it be?”

Vinyl let herself in and was soon followed by Octavia. Nightmare Moon gave a grateful dip of her head.

“Thank you for the pie.”

Octavia smiled and gave a nod in return, a slight stiffness in the gesture.

They weren’t exactly close and it was awkward to make small talk, but they were far from being antagonistic with one another. They had a mutual respect if nothing else and Nightmare Moon figured that was enough.

“Hey, you put up some paintings since I last came here,” Vinyl’s voice carried from the living room. “What’s this creepy red one?”

“Crimson Overcast by Palette Storm,” Nightmare Moon entered the living room and scowled upon noticing the DJ already making a mess of her couch. “Yes, it’s not as if the furniture would be more comfortable if the cushions weren’t on the floor.”

“Sorry, but it’s really…” Vinyl stretched out, her head hanging off the side of the arm. “Hard. Not like the couch at my apartment. You miss it sometimes, Wolf?”

‘I do, actually…’

Placing the dish on the coffee table, Nightmare Moon sighed and took seat in an armchair before replying, “Is there a reason you’ve chosen to disturb me?”

“Not really,” Vinyl sat up as Octavia sat beside her, properly adjusting the cushions back into a more presentable fashion. “Just a friendly visit. What, a mare can’t drop by and say hi?”

“Vinyl…”

“Alright, so we came by to see if you wanted to have an outing,” Vinyl wrapped a foreleg around Octavia and brought her in close for a hug, drawing a pleased blush. “Just the three of us; maybe Fancypants and Fleur if they want to.”

“Since when did you and those two become close?”

“Through you, smartass. Fancypants is a pretty cool guy and Octy and Fleur chat it up all day. Remember when we went on that airboat ride?”

Nightmare Moon briefly searched her memory, but nothing came up. “No, I don’t believe I was there.”

“Really?” Vinyl turned to Octavia for confirmation and received it via a nod. “Oh, wow. Could have sworn…” She shrugged. “Whatever. We bonded super-good on that ride, so the next outing would be even more awesome if you can come along. How’s Tuesday?”

Nightmare Moon had much bigger things to worry about than some outing. She had to devote any time her Royal Court duties didn’t take up to tending to each and every part of her plans. Most importantly, she had to make contact with the Eclipse.

“I’m afraid I’m busy.” She lied with a casual shrug.

“Oh, then how’s about next Tuesday?”

“There’s important business concerning a new development; I can’t say much more than that. I won’t be available for some time.”

“Oh…” Vinyl’s amiable smile waned. “Okay. It’s just that… we barely see you anymore. You’re always busy…”

Sensing the change in mood and not wanting to deal with it, Nightmare Moon quickly replied, “My job calls for most of my attention. I apologize, but that’s just the way it is.”

“Yeah, I know, but… still…”

‘… This is starting to look like when I first told her I’d be moving out.’

That flurry of emotions was something she did not wish to experience again. She cleared her throat. “Would you two like anything to drink?”

“No, I’m… Octy?”

Octavia shook her head. There was a notable sadness in the gesture as she gazed sympathetically at her lover and it made Nightmare Moon cringe inwardly, angered at how easily it made her feel guilty.

“We’re good. Actually that’s…” Vinyl got off the couch, stretching her right hind leg. “That’s pretty much why we came here; drop off the pie and see if you wanted to come along on our outing.”

Nightmare Moon should have been glad that they were leaving… and she was to an extent, but the guilt wouldn’t go away.

“I… truly am sorry,” She felt the need to reiterate that as she led them to the front door. “Perhaps some other time.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Vinyl smiled, but her heart wasn’t in it. “Well, I mean… it was still cool seeing you again, Wolf. You’re like a ghost these days, ya know?”

For some reason, Nightmare Moon actually felt like laughing, if only because of how ironic the DJ’s words were.

‘If only you knew how close you were to the truth…’

The two said their farewells and walked out into the calm night. Watching them go, particularly how the DJ’s shoulders were slumped and how Octavia gave her a small nuzzle, Nightmare Moon was tempted to call out, say that she had changed her mind and would go with them on the outing.

She resisted that temptation and waited until they were far enough away before closing the door, turning, and letting out a sigh.

‘… She really has gotten under my skin, hasn’t she?’

The foreign feelings of guilt and shame rolled uncomfortably in her belly. She couldn’t ignore it, so she did her best to tolerate it, and ascended the stairs to her bedroom.

She had to put what was most important to her ahead of mind and right now, what was most important to her, was seizing power.

It was all she desired.

Author's Note

Note 1: Nightmare Moon's desire for power is far deeper than even she knows.

Note 2: "Disguise spells? Let me tell you something - everypony thinks that a Disguise spell is as simple as projecting an illusion of whatever you got in your head. That's fine and dandy for pegasi and earth ponies to think, but it really throws me into a tizzy when I got unicorns in the Illusion school complaining how their Disguise spell ain't working.

Let me tell you something: you're projecting an illusion; the light may be bending, but that ain't going to fool somepony's sense of touch. You wanna disguise a pegasus as an earth pony? You better make sure nopony touches their sides and wonders why they feel feathers. You wanna disguise an earth pony as a unicorn? Well, you better tape a cone or something to their head and disguise that because there ain't no spell that can be cast by a regular unicorn for that level of augmentation.

Speaking of augmentation, you better get a Mass Shift spell from the Augmentation school if you really wanna fool ponies..." - Quote from Professor Deep Gaze, Illusion spells for Dummies.

Chapter 12: Barricade

1055 AD, January 27th

“Twilight, the town reservoir is filled to the brim.”

“Excellent. Check.”

“Twilight, we got the fire response team ready for action at a moment’s notice.”

“Wonderful. Check.”

“Twilight, the alarm system’s up and running.”

“Fantastic. Check.”

As a red tick appeared in another empty square, a shudder of contentment ran through Twilight’s body. She’d never admit it to anypony – her friends especially – but filling out a check list with those seductively straight-lined ticks was a guilty pleasure of hers.

Looking up from her list, Twilight noted the position of the sun.

‘Good. It’s not even noon and we’ve already got three-quarters of the town’s defences up to date and running.’

“Um, Twilight, dear?”

Twilight glanced to her left and saw Rarity approaching with a trio of brilliant gems in her telekinetic grasp and an unsure frown. “Is everything alright, Rarity?”

“Oh yes, it’s nothing too major. I just have some concerns with these enchantment trap… thingies,” Rarity fiddled with a sparkling ruby, cheeks gaining a tint of pink from embarrassment. “I was never the best spell-caster at school, so… could you possibly teach me how to work these for the future?”

“Of course,” Twilight practically jumped at the chance to teach. She motioned to the gems. “May I?”

Rarity relinquished the trio of gems and watched as Twilight separated an amethyst from the cluster. Holding the amethyst in front of her, Twilight gestured to it.

“It was early in the reneighssance era when ponies discovered gemstones could hold and store spells. Originally, they thought it was because gems were the solidified tears of Mother Faust herself when she wept upon seeing three of four children slaying each other in a fit of rage. Nowadays, science has taught us that gemstones and crystals are capable of this due to their three-dimensional molecular arrangements. When it comes to enchanting gems, there are two main factors: the size of the gem and the complexity of the spell that is cast. For instance…”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed and her horn shone brighter. Rarity winced as the amethyst gave a bright purple flash which mercifully lasted only a few seconds. When it dimmed, she noticed that there was a now a small glow within the gem which throbbed like a tiny heartbeat.

“I’ve now enchanted the stone with a Tier 1 Arcane Incantation, an Illumination spell to be exact. It is capable of illuminating an area in a six metre diameter for eight seconds,” Twilight continued. “Note the glow, indicating the spell is active. In this case, without further tampering, it will be set off in two instances: the destruction of the stone or the enchanter consciously activating it. Don’t worry about setting it though; modern security devices take care of that, all you need to do is insert one, and then read the manual that came with the device.”

Twilight gave a single nod and the stone lit up with a purple light. It was a gentle glow and Rarity gazed upon it with awe. It only lasted for eight seconds before fading; the stone lost its small heartbeat and grew dim once more.

“As you can see,” Twilight pointed at the centre of the amethyst. “The light is gone, signalling there is no more magic in store. However, the enchantment is still there – watch what happens when I try to cast a different enchantment.”

Her horn shone and the aura surrounding the amethyst became more intense. The gem did not glow brightly though; it remained dark.

“In order to cast a different enchantment, you must dispel the active enchantment; ‘purify’ it in other words,” Twilight channelled magic into the stone and the heartbeat came back. Rarity noticed that it was brighter and throbbed more frequently than before. “A single gemstone – no matter its size – can only hold one type of spell. Likewise, the complexity of the spell cannot exceed the gemstone’s size. Tier 3 and 4 spells will simply cause an amethyst of this size to fracture. Quite spectacularly I might add. On the other hoof, filling a gemstone to capacity with magic after a successful enchantment will give it ‘charges’. Basically, it increases the amount of times the enchantment can be used before it needs to be energized again.”

Rarity nodded and gestured to the amethyst. “So you just filled this gemstone to capacity, correct?”

“Yes.”

“How many times can it perform the illumination spell?”

“As I said, it was a low-level spell which even a foal would find trivial to perform. This gemstone could hold up to six charges. The amount of charges decreases in response to the complexity of the spell, though this can be rectified by using a larger gemstone. Thankfully, even low-level defensive spells are effective against most creatures, which means small gemstones – which can be hidden much more easily than larger ones – are sufficient for our defences.”

“I see,” Rarity noted with fondness that Twilight would make a good mentor. She wondered if she should send Sweetie Belle to her for lessons in magic. “Although – and forgive me for bringing this back up – I recall you enchanting your Smarty Pants doll during that ‘letter to Celestia’ incident. That was not a gem.”

A small bit of colour entered Twilight’s cheeks, but she quickly got over her previous shame and nodded. “There exists a more advanced field of enchantment; it is the practise of breaking down an enchanted gemstone on the molecular level and combining it into an otherwise non-enchantable object. This is called Imbuement and Smarty Pants was my first successful attempt at it.”

“You… imbued your doll with a gemstone enchanted with a Want-it-Need-it spell?”

Twilight grimaced and sheepishly looked away. “I… was a filly and… I didn’t like baths. Let’s just… leave it at that.”

“As you wish,” Rarity felt a bit inadequate because of her lack of knowledge. She brushed the feeling aside once she remembered how envy almost ruined her friendship with Fluttershy. “So these enchantments… I’ve never actually done one before.”

“Oh, they’re not hard. You just do the regular method for when you want to cast a spell, but instead of projecting it, you push it into the gem,” Twilight smiled in reassurance, handing the gems back. “It sounds harder than it is, really.”

Rarity pursed her lips, unsure. “If you say so then I’m willing to try.”

Twilight noticed this and stepped forwards to wrap a wing around Rarity’s shoulders. “Come find me later on if you’re having trouble; it’s okay to ask for help, you know.”

“Yes, I know, dear,” She smiled back. “Thank you for explaining this.”

“No problem.”

The white unicorn departed and Twilight turned back to her checklist.

A pair of rose-petal eyes lowered in front of her face and Twilight emitted an unflattering bleat of surprise before falling back on her haunches.

“Rainbow!”

Rainbow Dash clutched at her belly as she rolled about in the air, laughing. “Oh stallion, you should have seen the look on your face!”

Twilight flushed. “Weren’t you supposed to be clearing the…?” She paused and sighed. “Right… ten seconds flat – I forgot.”

“Mm, actually more like eight point two seconds,” Rainbow’s snickers died down as she set her gaze on something else. A sly grin spread across her face and she cooed, “So do your feathers need preening or are you just happy to see me?”

Twilight blinked in confusion as she looked at her wings, puffed out from fright. She turned back and tilted her head quizzically.

“Seriously?” Rainbow Dash’s grin fell as she raised an incredulous eyebrow. “You haven’t had a wing boner yet? Never read about it?”
“Is it a colloquial term?”

“Dunno what that means,” She shook her head and waved it off. “Forget about it. I kinda wanted to talk to you about something else.”

Brushing the dirt from her coat and checklist, Twilight stood, still sore over the shock. “What is it?”

“I got a letter calling me back to Wonderbolt Academy,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck, apparently nervous. “The princesses want all Wonderbolts and recruits to fly around Equestria to see if we can find wherever the creatures are coming from. I won’t be here for a while.”

Twilight gave a single nod. “That makes sense. But why do you look so worried?”

“I don’t want to leave Ponyville hanging…” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Rainbow,” As the Element of Loyalty, Twilight didn’t expect any less from the pegasus. “Ponyville will be fine; we’ve stood against Nightmare Moon, Discord, and bunny stampedes after all. Besides, the whole of Equestria needs you to find out where those creatures are filtering in from.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “I guess. Some of my toughness has rubbed off on everypony, huh?”

“Right,” Twilight playfully rolled her eyes. “So you need to go around and allow some of that ‘toughness’ to rub off on Equestria.”

The pegasus bit her bottom lip. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Positive. Now when are you supposed to leave?”

“The sooner the better, but I don’t want to leave until I’ve said goodbye to the rest of the girls,” She shrugged and hovered further into the air. “So I guess I should get going.”

Twilight nodded and waved. “Good luck.”

“Don’t need it, but thanks!” Rainbow Dash soared off in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. “Try not to have another freak-out while I’m gone!”

At once, Twilight’s affectionate smile dissolved into an annoyed frown. “Why does she have to bring that up all the time?”

Shaking her annoyance off, Twilight decided to go see how the Apple family was doing. They had a lot of territory to defend and though she didn’t doubt Applejack or Big Mac’s ability to take care of their home, a few extra hooves couldn’t hurt. Plus, they had Fluttershy’s animals to take care of as well.

Tucking the checklist into her saddle bag, she set off to Sweet Apple Acres.

“Lemon, Caramel?”

“No thanks.”

“Lemon, Zip?”

“No, I’m good – thanks.”

“Lemon, Mister Guard?”

“No thank you, miss.”

“Lemon, Thunderlane?”

“Oh, that’d be great.”

“Yay!” Pinkie reached up and turned the tap on her lemon helmet. She took a small cup from her saddle bag and collected the liquid in it. “Here you go!”

“Cheers,” Thunderlane took a long sip and exhaled. “That hit the spot.”

Smiling brightly at another satisfied pony, Pinkie bounced off in search of more hard workers in dire need of refreshments.

Part of the plans for the town’s defence entitled building a barricade along the part of Ponyville facing the Everfree forest to prevent any mean animals from entering the town limits and making a fracas.

Once the platoon of guards had arrived from Canterlot early this morning, they began to get to work on the barricade, only to discover that several creatures had already appeared and entered the tow limits, though thankfully, they seemed to be docile.

The creatures closely resembled ponies, but they had six legs instead of four, and their bodies were significantly longer, less girth. Their coats only came in black while their manes and tails were silvery-white. Their eyes however, shone brightly and came in a variety of colours ranging from ruby red to emerald green. If one were to watch them feed on the grass, they would also notice that they possessed long, prehensile tongues coloured a deep shade of purple.

The Royal Guards were quick to keep everypony back before proceeding to try and shoo the creatures away. It went without a hitch; they only seemed interested in eating the grass, and moved away from the town limits at the guards’ behest. Now they were content to graze and simply watch as the barricade was being built.

Twilight had been there not too long ago, taking notes and murmuring to herself as she studied their behaviours before excitedly zipping off to record her findings.

‘Talking to yourself – Twilight, girl, you so cray-cray.’

“Oh hey, can I get a drink?”

“Yessir!” Pinkie bounced over and poured Ambrosia a cup, handing it over with a brilliant smile. “Fresh as the day it was picked!”

The construction worker took a sip and nodded with a noise of delight, licking her lips. “I’ll say.”

“It’s my own super-duper special recipe! Wanna hint?” Pinkie glanced around conspiratorially and leaned in. “1842.”

Ambrosia raised one eyebrow. “Uh… what does that mean?”

“I have no idea!”

The construction mare nodded, realizing she should have expected such an answer. “Thanks for sharing that with me.”

“No problem-o!” The pink pony skipped away. “La-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la…”

Pinkie continued her rounds for the next five minutes, handing out refreshments and snacks until she noticed that one of the creatures had trotted past a part of the barricade that had yet to be built.

It was smaller than the rest and had burning pink eyes; a youngling, apparently.

Pinkie felt a strong urge to take it home and give Gummy a playmate, but through sheer willpower – Twilight would have been impressed by her resolve – she resisted it, and instead picked up a patch of fresh grass in her mouth.

Clicking her tongue, she gained the attention of the grazing pony-like animal. Its nostrils twitched as it came closer, tongue slithering out to grab the grass. Pinkie backed off before it could. She felt a surge of excitement as it followed.

It was like a little puppy!

Pinkie led it back to its herd, clicking her tongue all the while. Once it was far enough away from the barricade, she allowed the searching tongue to take the grass from her mouth. She smacked her lips – that had been an awfully tasty patch of grass; now she was hungry.

‘It’s almost lunch-time anyway; maybe a song will take my mind off all those yummy baked goods!’

It took her a second to think up a tune and she inhaled deeply, theatrically before bouncing around the youngling, singing,

“One, two, three – it’s building time, gotta get this wall done
They say time flies when you’re having fun, but it’s really more of a run
We’ve gathered nails, screws, and hammers and now we’re getting to work
I hope that Caramel remembers where he put those nails so he doesn’t get hurt!"

Pinkie gradually evolved from bouncing to cartwheeling, delighted when she saw that the youngling was watching her movements impassively.

“Hammering nails into the woodwork
Measuring the boards to the nearest centimetre
Pouring lemon into a cup
And-”

SKLUTCH

Pinkie flinched as something warm and coppery splattered her face.

Cracking open her eyes, she blinked dumbly as a mangled leg was thrown in front of her, spasming. She only dimly heard the rest of the youngling’s herd give terrified bleats and thunder off.

The attacker ignored the commotion, intent on its catch.

Significantly larger than a pony, the creature was quadruple; the hind legs were shorter and less muscular than the forelegs. Two extra limbs were located on its chest with five slender digits; they occupied themselves by dragging the cooling body of the grazing animal under its body. White fur covered every inch of its bulky body, save for the scaly paws, which were tipped with vicious looking talons. It didn’t appear to have a neck – the torso ended in a flat area where three eyes were arranged in a triangular pattern, completely black.

At first there was no sign of a mouth, but then the creature reared the front half of its body upwards, and the skin on its belly split open to reveal lines of jagged teeth. The arms on its chest tore up the carcass and placed them in the mouth, ribbons of blood and pieces of flesh falling as it feasted.

Pinkie could only stare.

As if sensing her presence for the first time, the attacker gave a deep rumbling sound and the eyes were immediately covered by transparent yet apparently tough lenses, almost like eyelids.

That one action snapped Pinkie out of her stupor and she became aware of the panicked shouts of her friends, the taste and smell of blood, the feel of it sliding down in thick droplets down her face.

Pure terror and horror welled up in her chest as she stepped backwards, whimpering.

‘Giggle at the ghosties, giggles at the ghosties, giggle at the ghosties…’

“Ah… ha, ha… h-heh, heh, heh… ha, heh…” She knew she was making the sounds, but it didn’t feel like laughter.

She didn’t feel like laughing at all. In fact she felt like crying as she watched the corpse of the harmless grazer be ripped to shreds and devoured. There was so much blood…

The bushes and shrubs near the Everfree Forest rustled and another creature stalked out – this one was covered in dark brown fur.
Its penetrating gaze examined the fleeing herd before ultimately settling on Pinkie. With three snicks the eyelids came up and its arms folded tight against the chest. It started towards her at a languid pace that quickly turned into a sprint; clumps of dirt and grass were thrown up by its feet as it charged towards her.

Pinkie heard somepony calling her name, but her legs refused to move. She watched as it came closer and closer until she could almost feel its arms digging into her innards and its paws stomping her to pieces and her life draining from her-

SMACK

Pinkie waited for the pain, but none came.

When she opened her eyes, there was a Royal Guard before her.

“U-uh…”

The stallion had intercepted the creature’s charge and was actually holding it back through sheer strength. His forelegs were on either side of its head and his hind legs were firmly planted in the dirt. Furrows in the ground marked where he had been pushed back by the predator’s momentum before gaining a hold.

“Pinkie…” The guard looked back, showing a young face scrunched with effort and teeth clenched in determination. “Run!”

Then the guard turned, drew his head back, and smashed his forehead into one of the monster’s eyes.

There was a sharp crack and the attacker roared in pain, shaking its head back and forth and throwing the stallion off balance. As he was thrown out of the way, Pinkie could see that one of the creature’s eyelids had been shattered and pieces of debris had impaled the eye. Streams of dark blue blood flowed down from the ruined socket, soaking its fur.

As the guard attempted to get back on his feet, the monster raised one paw and brought it down on his midsection. His eyes went wide as the wind was knocked out of his lungs.

The paw lifted and came down once more, but he managed to roll out of the way and buck the limb as it smashed down on nothing but grass and dirt.

There was a sickening snap and the monster’s skin bulged outwards. It roared again, but backed off instead of attacking. Growling, it took off back into the forest, its broken appendage trailing uselessly behind it.

Its companion took notice and the arms grabbed what remained of the corpse before it retreated, too.

When he was satisfied there was no more immediate danger, the guard turned to Pinkie with a shaky smile and said, “You okay?”

Pinkie nodded. She was immeasurably grateful, but for some reason no words came to mind.

“Pinkie!”

The townsfolk and the guards working on the barricade arrived, frantic and wide-eyed in the former’s case.

“Mother Faust, when that thing charged we thought…” Ambrosia trailed off. “Are you two okay?”

“I’m fine,” The guard waved off his friends’ attempts to examine him, though he did accept a helping hoof up. “You know us earth ponies; it’ll take a lot more than that to put us down.”

“Dude, you are crazy!” Thunderlane laughed, relieved that nopony was badly hurt or worse. “I can’t believe what I saw! I wasn’t hallucinating, right? He stopped that thing, head-butted it, and kicked the hell outta its leg. Scared them both off!”

The guard shrugged. “Ah, anypony else would have done the same – it’s not a big deal.”

“Damn it – I should have done something,” One of the other guards, a unicorn, stomped his hoof, regret in his tone. “Too far away for telekinesis and by the time I tried to get a Paralysis spell up and running…”

Caramel was the one to notice Pinkie’s silence. Frowning in concern, he placed a hoof on her shoulder. “You okay? Hey, you don’t look so good.”

“She’s in shock.” One of the guards said.

Pinkie couldn’t find the energy to say or do anything to reply; the grazer’s carcass was all that filled her mind.

“I’ll take her to Nurse Redheart,” Carrot Top stepped forward to gently loop a foreleg around Pinkie’s neck. “Hey, uh, you should come too. You know, just to be on the safe side.”

“Well…” The guard who saved Pinkie’s lip bit his bottom lip in indecision and it took the insistence of his concerned friends before finally nodding. “Yeah, I suppose so. You guys going to be alright if I go?”

“We’re almost finished anyway,” Ambrosia gave a supportive smile and cocked her head towards Ponyville. “You two go and get checked out.”

Pinkie allowed Carrot Top to lead her towards town, the guard at their side. She felt lost and confused and cold; was this what being in shock was like? She didn’t like it.

Wetting her lips, she turned to the guard, opened her mouth, and forced a few words out of her throat. “Th-thank you…”

The stallion smiled at her. “Hey, what are friends for?”

“And this here… stone disarms ‘em?”

“Obsidian wand,” Twilight corrected. She gestured to the metre and a half long tool that Applejack held in her tail. “Obsidian is famous for its magic-dampening properties; simply making contact with anything magical will cause the object to ‘short out’. On an enchantment stone, it renders it inactive.”

Applejack let out a low whistle as she waved the wand around. “Fancy. So how come ah ain’t getting shorted out?”

Twilight flinched as the wand came close to her and raised a hoof to her horn subconsciously. “Earth ponies and pegasi aren’t as sensitive to magic as unicorns and alicorns are. If that wand were to touch a unicorn, they’d feel drained. If it were to touch their horns directly, it’d completely short out their magic. I hear it’s quite painful.”

“Oh, sorry ‘bout that.” Applejack lowered the wand with a sheepish grin.

“It’s fine,” The threat dealt with, Twilight lowered her hoof. “I know for a fact that alicorns are more resistant against obsidian, but I’d rather not figure out first-hoof just how much more resistant we are. Although that would make for an interesting experiment; I should set one up in a controlled environment after this is all dealt with and detail my findings to Canterlot’s School for Gifted Unicorns. I bet the princesses would love it!”

“I bet they would,” Applejack nodded to the knapsack of inactive stones resting beside her. “So if they’re all turned off and everything, how do ah go ‘bout turnin’ ‘em back on?”

“Unlike unicorns and alicorns, who can reactivate their magic without any assistance, magical items need a different source of magic to activate. Unicorns and alicorns, naturally, have an easier time with this, but earth ponies and pegasi can reactivate them by holding the items close to their bodies and allowing ambient magic to feed directly into them. There’s no special technique; holding it in your hoof or near your chest is enough.”

“Alright-y then,” The farmer nodded. “Hold ‘em tight to turn ‘em on and give ‘em a poke to turn ‘em off. Simple enough; mighty thankful for th’ help, Twi’.”

“Anytime.”

The two mares adopted startled looks as the ground beneath their hooves shook. As one, they turned to face the orchard.

“Ohhhh, we’ll be spreadin’ chaos ‘round th’ mountains when we come
We’ll be spreadin’ chaos ‘round th’ mountains when we come
We’ll be spreadin’ chaos ‘round th’ mountains
We’ll be spreadin’ chaos ‘round th’ mountains
We’ll be spreadin’ chaos ‘round th’ mountains when we come
Yee-haw!”

Discord ran by – for someone who floated and teleported constantly he had quite the pace – wearing a dark brown cowboy hat with a piece of hay between his lips. Behind him, a herd of rabbits followed, their tiny paws kicking up a small dust cloud.

“Discord! This isn’t helping!” Fluttershy flitted after them, Angel hanging onto her tail for dear life. “They just ate; they’ll get tummy-aches!”

“Oh lighten up, my dear Butterbye! I’m not going to do anything too bad!”

The draconequus jumped, turned, and started running backwards at the same pace.

“Ohhhh… we’ll be swimmin’ after eatin’ when we come
We’ll be swimmin’ after eatin’ when we come
Oh, the bunnies – they are runnin’
And Fluttershy – she is worryin’
But we’re going swimmin’ after eatin’ ‘cause we can
Yee-haw!”

Applejack let out a groan and hung her head as the group ran off. “Ah better see t’ tha’ before everypony starts panickin’ again. Sorry t’ cut our chat so soon.”

Twilight waved the apology off. “It’s fine. Do you need any help?”

“Nah, ah’m good,” Applejack placed her hoof in her mouth and let out a loud and sharp whistle. “Winona! Get mah rope; we got a B-class stampede!”

The farmer ran off, leaving Twilight to try and get the ringing out of her head. Moments later, Winona scampered after her master with a length of rope in her jaws. Twilight smiled fondly at the entire event.

Even in the midst of a possible invasion, her friends – she deemed Discord as her worst friend and best enemy – still found ways to make her marvel at just how much more fulfilling her life had become after discovering the magic of friendship.

Seeing that the one thing the Apples were having trouble with was rectified, Twilight decided to do one more round of the town’s defences before taking a lunch break.

A purple-eyed creature trounced through the Everfree, crying out for its mother.

It had been separated from the herd after they scattered when its sibling had been taken from them by a predator.

Now it was lost in unfamiliar territory.

The land was strange; the sky wasn’t the colour it had always been, the smells weren’t the same, and there were creatures it had never seen before. Friendly, but strange creatures.

Still, the grass was edible, the air was breathable, and it felt lighter than it did in familiar territory.

It would have been tolerable if the predators hadn’t followed.

The youngling stopped to catch its breath, chest expanding and shrinking with every breath.

Snap

It perked up and sprang forwards.

A predator with golden fur emerged from behind.

From in front, a predator with light brown fur charged.

The youngling paused in primal terror, muscles locked as the claws extended and-

The predators smashed into one another.

Six eyes in total blinked in confusion, staring at the spot where the prey had been. The protective lenses retracted and they sniffed and tasted the air. The prey hadn’t ducked at the last second – it was simply gone.

The two hunters growled and snapped at each other for a few brief seconds to vent their frustration before lumbering off, disgruntled at the unfair evasion.

Six minutes and twenty seconds later, the purple-eyed creature reappeared, still in the same petrified position. It took a few moments for it to realize the predators were gone and when it did, its ears flicked in astonishment.

One second the hunters were there and the next they were gone.

Perplexed but not ungrateful, the youngling bayed and pranced off in search of its mother.

Author's Note

Note 1: Twilight's quote on crystals being enchantable because of their molecular arrangements is the most widely-accepted theory amongst the scientific community, but there are others who believe that it has to do with something else.

Note 2: Pinkie found nothing funny about something being killed in front of her, rendering her antics null.

Note 3: Easter Egg in this chapter - see if you can find it!

Chapter 13: Discovery

1055 AD, February 11th

“To the coolest friends anypony has ever had,

What’s up? How’s everything going in Ponyville? No monster attacks or anything? I’ve seen more of those flying things all around Equestria, but they haven’t really bothered trying to attack. Soarin calls them angler bats; pretty catchy, eh? Also seen a lot of pony animals that aren’t really ponies; dunno what to call them yet, but they’re pretty friendly.

We still haven’t found wherever or whatever’s causing the monsters to appear, so that kinda sucks. We’ve checked the Everfree Forest as best we could, Baltimare, Las Pegasus, Manehatten – pretty much everywhere. At first, it was wicked awesome zipping around Equestria with the Wonderbolts and all the other cadets, but now we’re all getting anxious. Spitfire wants to find the source as badly as I do and she’s starting to get a little… you know, ‘don’t look at me or I’ll shout your face into your throat’. Not that she’s a hard-ass or anything. Well, she is, but in a good way.

So yeah, other than that, there’s nothing else to say. Looking forward to your reply and to see if you guys did manage to find something. Twilight, you’re a super-smart egghead, so you’re bound to figure this all out soon. Fluttershy, I didn’t expect to be gone this long, so could you splash a cup of orange juice on Tank’s shell? Trust me – he’ll know what it means. Rarity, I don’t care how ‘in’ it is; I’m not wearing a sunhat when I get back. Pinkie, it’s awesome to hear you getting back to your old self again! Applejack, for crying out loud, that prank was five years ago; get over it already!

With awesomeness, Rainbow D-”

“-Dash!”

Rainbow Dash exclaimed in surprise as Cloudchaser landed before her, causing the letter and pencil to drop from her hooves and onto the lush grass. Before she could even attempt to choke out a ‘what the hay?’, Cloudchaser grabbed her shoulders and gave a firm shake.

“Rainbow Dash, you’ve gotta come with me!”

“Wh-wh-where’s th-the f-f-fire?” Cloudchaser’s alarmed expression was all Rainbow Dash could see.

“We found something!” Cloudchaser finally let go, allowing Rainbow Dash’s pupils a chance to correct themselves. She pointed a hoof towards the forest from across the meadow. “Or… or we think we found something!”

“Does it have to do with the monsters?”

“Spitfire thinks so.”

“Sweet!” Rainbow Dash carefully put the stationary into her saddlebags before hovering into the air with an excited grin. “Finally, we get to kick some butts!”

Cloudchaser gave a weak smile as she zipped into the air and led her towards the forest. “Well, if you can find a butt to kick, let me know.”

Rainbow Dash trailed after Cloudchaser as they soared over the trees; it wasn’t a long flight, but they were considerably closer to the town of Wavebreaker, which made Rainbow Dash worry if there were creatures on their way to it right now.

‘Gotta check up on them when I have time.’

“Down here.”

Cloudchaser flared out her wings to catch the air and come to a stop before descending. Rainbow Dash followed suite and they both ended up on a dirt trail that weaved between several trees towards a small clearing. She could see spots of blue and yellow; the rest of the Wonderbolts and cadets were already there.

She felt a flash of guilt wondering how long they might have been searching for her, but pushed the feeling away as she and Cloudchaser approached the clearing.

The cadets were all gathered around a huge burrow in the dirt – Rainbow Dash heard there were plenty of giant striped moles around here – watching as Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Soarin talked amongst themselves. She could only make out the words once she was close enough.

“… danger could be down there,” Fleetfoot said. “We should just report this to the princesses and let them deal with it.”

“Even if we sent our fastest flier it’d still take a day to get the message to Canterlot and then who knows how much longer before back-up arrives,” Spitfire argued. “And what if there isn’t anything down there? What if it’s just a dwelling for… for…” She turned to one of the cadets. “What was it you saw again?”

“Uh, a black turtle… rat…” Bulk Biceps scratched his head, narrowing his eyes in thought. “Thing. It looked like those angler bats; all bug-eyed and… weird.”

“Yeah, that,” Spitfire turned back to Fleetfoot. “Hell, could have even been made by a mole. Just because one of those creatures crawled out from it, doesn’t mean it leads to the source of the problem. We should go in and gain visual confirmation.”

Rainbow Dash was inclined to agree.

“Uh, pegasi and being underground don’t exactly go hoof-in-hoof, ya know,” Soarin put in. “I once went into a mining tunnel when I was a kid and it was totally sick; not in a good way either.”

Rainbow Dash was also inclined to agree with that.

“And what if there’s something down there that has a hankering for pegasi, huh?” Fleetfoot’s lisp was especially noticeable when she pronounced her ‘s’. “You’re gonna look more than a little silly when you come out with your face missing.”

Noticing Thunderlane by her side, Rainbow Dash leaned in and whispered, “How long they been at it?”

“Got here eight minutes ago, Spitfire sent Cloudchaser for you five minutes ago, and they started arguing pretty much immediately after,” Thunderlane replied, eyes centred on the burrow. “What do you think we should do? I’m itching to see what’s in there.”

“Same here,” She nodded in agreement. “But I kinda get what Fleetfoot’s saying; don’t want anypony getting hurt, right?”

“True, but we’re Wonderbolt cadets. We’re going to have to face danger at some point.”

“Yeah, you’re right; better us investigate than ponies from Wavebreaker.”

“Cadets!”

The cadets, Rainbow Dash included, instinctively snapped to attention at Spitfire’s shout. The captain had her goggles pushed up to reveal her bright orange eyes.

“We’re going to send a team in to investigate the burrow. This team will consist of myself, Fleetfoot, Bulk Biceps, Thunderlane, and…”

‘Pick me pick me pick me pick me pick me-’

“Rainbow Dash.”

‘Yeah!’

“The rest of you stay out here; if we’re not within twenty minutes, you all take orders from Soarin. Am I understood?”

A chorus of shouts rang out, “Yes, ma’am!”

The selected ponies joined Spitfire and Fleetfoot by the entrance to the burrow. As Rainbow Dash checked her supplies – food, tools, etc. – she couldn’t help but notice that Fleetfoot looked pretty sour; she rummaged about in her saddlebags with more force than necessary, and her lips were curled into a frown.

She really didn’t like this plan it seemed.

‘Jeez, we’ll be careful, won’t we? It’s not like Spitfire would actually put us in any danger.’

As she watched, Spitfire approached her friend and said something Rainbow Dash couldn’t quite hear. Fleetfoot was having none of it though and uttered something back in response. Whatever it was, it made Spitfire spin around with a hiss of disgust.

‘Whoa…’

Rainbow Dash frowned in concern but kept quiet for the time being; she wasn’t the most ‘tactful’ of ponies, as Rarity put it – many time – but she figured saying something now in front of everypony wasn’t quite the right move to make.

Maybe when she had a chance to catch Spitfire and Fleetfoot alone…

“Everypony keep close to one another,” Fleetfoot ordered as she brought out a heavy-duty flashlight and aimed it down the burrow. “Don’t wander off.”

As they went down into the burrow, leaving the rest of the group and sunlight behind, Rainbow Dash was reminded of the time she was in the mining tunnels built by the Diamond Dogs.

The burrow wasn’t quite as large or wide, but it was more than enough to fit even Bulk Bicep’s muscled form. There also weren’t any torches lining the walls, so they really had to rely on their own flashlights to see. If there was one thing she was thankful for, it was that the burrow was dug from earth and not stone, making it easy on her hooves.

Not that she was sensitive about them or anything.

“So are these moles dangerous?” Thunderlane asked after a bit of walking in silence.

“Only if you try to hurt their young,” Spitfire answered. She paused when they came up on a fork in the path and used some bright orange, emergency chalk to mark the route before leading them down the right tunnel. “Besides that, they’re pretty much harmless. I think their saliva causes pain if it gets in your eyes, but you can just wash it out.”

Another span of silence after that, during which they went down several other tunnels, Spitfire marking their route each time. The air was pungent with the smell of soil and Rainbow Dash covered her nostrils with a wing.

“Bulk Biceps, are you sure you saw one of those creatures?” Fleetfoot asked.

“Definitely,” Bulk Biceps nodded. “Cloudchaser and I were filling our canteens by the stream when I saw something moving through the trees. Flew up, went over, and saw one of those things climbing out of the burrow.”

“Maybe it just lives down here,” She suggested. “Maybe all these tunnels were made by it. We haven’t seen any moles yet.”

“No,” Spitfire shook her head and aimed her flashlight down a tunnel to her right. “Smell that?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, but took her wing away to inhale. She almost choked and recoiled in shock. “Blagh! What the hay is that smell?!”

“Mole droppings,” Spitfire replied simply, apparently immune to the horrendous stench. “A good way to tell if a network of tunnels were made by moles is if there’s a chamber where they all go to crap. Sort of like a bathroom, you know?”

“Cool, great…” Thunderlane muttered, both wings covering his muzzle. “Please tell me we’re not going down there.”

“But you do bring up a good point, Fleetfoot,” Spitfire continued. “It’s weird we haven’t seen any moles yet. We passed by a nesting chamber not long ago; no young, no anything.”

“That creature probably chased them out or killed them,” Fleetfoot sighed, aiming a heated glare at the captain. “I told you we should have sent for the princesses.”

“We don’t know anything yet,” Spitfire retorted with more than a hint of irritation. “You’re jumping to conclusions and freaking everypony out. If you want to go back – any of you – then feel free to do so.”

Rainbow Dash and the other cadets shuffled about awkwardly as Fleetfoot noticeably geared up, ready to have another argument.

“Just because you’re the captain doesn’t-”

“Wait.”

Spitfire held up a hoof as she aimed her flashlight down the tunnel they were travelling, lighting up a bend.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head. There was… definitely something she could hear. It was very faint and it faded in and out occasionally, but it sounded like…

“Sounds like a wind chime,” She said, turning to the other cadets. “You guys hear it, right?”

“Sounds like rushing wind to me,” Thunderlane said, ears flicking. “What about you, dude?”

Bulk Biceps scratched at his chin with a look of deep concentration. “… Sounds like… a wind chime… that’s caught in rushing wind.”

“… Yeah… good ear.”

“Let’s go,” Spitfire marked the wall quickly before moving forwards. “Quietly.”

Rainbow Dash felt her heart beat in anticipation as she lowered herself to the ground and moved forwards, not quite a crawl and not quite a walk. Perhaps they would finally get some answers!

‘Alright, I’m ready for ya, whatever you are.’

She watched with baited breath as Spitfire peeked around the corner of the bend, muscles primed for combat. She was ready for anything.

“… What the hell is…?”

Spitfire stared at whatever caught her attention for a few moments before hissing in discomfort and looking away. Rubbing at her eyes with a wing, she raised her free hoof and beckoned them forwards.

They did so and Rainbow Dash looked around the corner, over Spitfire’s shoulder. She expected a huge creature giving birth to the monsters or some mad scientist creating them in his secret underground lab, but not…

“Okay, that’s real bad for the eyes…” Thunderlane blinked rapidly and looked away.

Rainbow Dash had no idea what to make of… whatever was floating in the middle of the tunnel. She couldn’t even look at it for very long; it gave her a headache if she tried to.

The most she was able to discern was that it was literal tear in nothing; a jagged fracture that glowed like the sun with a white light. The air around it shuddered violently and it seemed that this was what was causing the sound of wind chimes.

“That’s not something you see every day,” Spitfire muttered. She tried looking at it once more, but quickly turned away, blinking tears away as she said, “Guess you were right, Fleetfoot. There was something down here.”

Fleetfoot shrugged. “Let’s just report to the princesses.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire turned to her and Rainbow Dash straightened her posture. “You’re our fastest flyer, so I want you to deliver this message to Canterlot.”

Swelling with pride, Rainbow Dash smirked and saluted. “You can count on me, ma’am.”

Spitfire retrieved a pencil and scroll from her saddlebags and started writing on it. Rainbow Dash looked around as she waited, trying to see if there was anything else of interest besides the headache-inducing, glow-y crack in space.

There was a depression in the wall to her right; it looked like something was digging another tunnel, but just stopped suddenly. Were the moles surprised by the tear? Did they abandon the burrow entirely? She couldn’t blame them; this thing was making her hair stand on end.
She didn’t know how to explain it, but… somehow she instinctively knew that this fracture was… unnatural, that it shouldn’t exist.

‘Wish Twilight was here. She’d be able to make sense of all this.’

“Here,” The scroll was pushed towards her and she accepted it, tucking it into the recesses of her saddlebags. “You can find your way back, right?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Good,” Spitfire turned to the others. “Thunderlane, Bulk Biceps – you two follow me and we’ll establish a-”

Vzzzzzzzz

For a moment, Rainbow Dash thought there was a bee humming around her head. Ears twitching in discomfort, she squinted as she looked towards the fracture. It hurt to look, but she was able to immediately tell something was going on with it.

“Oh shit…” Thunderlane murmured uneasily as the fracture pulsated, the buzzing growing in volume.

Vzzzzzzzz

“Everypony get back! Back!” Fleetfoot shouted, flapping her wings to hover back a few yards.

“What do we do?!” Bulk Biceps exclaimed, not quite panicked but very worried.

Rainbow Dash would never admit to feeling afraid, but dealing with something she couldn’t even look at without wincing was seriously putting her on edge, especially since that damned buzzing was making it hard to think!

The light increased to a point where Rainbow Dash had to shield her eyes with her wings and she heard Spitfire shouting something, but it was drowned out.

“Get…! There’s…!”

VZZZZZZZZZ

And just when she thought she would go deaf, there was silence.

Her own breathing seemed to echo off the tunnel walls.

Rainbow Dash cautiously unfurled her wings, blinking away tears, bottom jaw falling as she saw that the fracture was gone and in its place was one of the pony-like creatures, looking just as confused as she was.

“… What the hell just happened?”

“I don’t know, Dash,” Spitfire rubbed at her eyes with a hoof. “But I think this just got a whole lot more complicated.”

Princess Celestia was stirred from her slumber by a series of hasty knocks on her door.

“Hm? Whuzzat?” Dazed, she sat up, her night-cap flopping forwards to cover her face. She paid no mind to it and sluggishly pulled herself out of bed, giving a mighty yawn. “Mm… yes… I’m coming…”

The knocks continued without pause and Celestia grumbled in annoyance as she reached out with her magic to open the door, supressing another yawn.

“Hm… He-”

“Sister, I think I know where these creatures are coming from!”

Celestia simply stared at Luna’s wide-eyed expression with an unflattering look of confusion. Attempting to shake the cobwebs from her mind, she muttered, “Wha…?”

“The bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony – Rainbow Dash – arrived mere minutes ago with a message! She and the Wonderbolts discovered an anomaly near the town of Wavebreaker, within the abandoned dwelling of giant striped moles! From her description, I believe I know what we’re facing and the origins of these creatures!”

“… Wha…?”

Luna growled in irritation. “By Mother Faust’s mane! Discord has turned all cake sugar-free!”

“What?!” Celestia’s eyes lit up with righteous anger. “Where is he?! I’ll punch him!”

“Excellent,” Luna’s right foreleg shot out and touched her sister’s chest. “Come with me.”

“Wait, where-”

“-are we going?”

Celestia blinked a few times in shock as she looked around to behold the Royal Archives. As Luna hurried off to rummage through the books and parchments, Celestia extended her wing to nip at it. The flash of pain told her this wasn’t a dream.

“Lu-Lu, forgive me, but you know I’m rather out of it when I just wake up,” Celestia rubbed at one eye as she trotted over to her sister, casually dodging books that were casted aside. “Could you repeat… well, everything?”

“Rainbow Dash arrived at the castle some four minutes ago with information about the creatures that have been appearing all over Equestria,” Luna answered, flipping through the pages of a particularly thick book. “They discovered an anomaly in the dwelling of a colony of giant striped moles near the town of Wavebreaker. The tunnels were abandoned, most likely because of the anomaly. Unfortunately, shortly after they found it, it disappeared, leaving one of the more docile creatures in its wake.”

Celestia was starting to shake the cobwebs from her head to think clearly now. She was concerned by her sister’s words and how she was haphazardly tossing books aside; Twilight would have been appalled.

“They gave a description and I know I’ve seen something similar to that somewhere,” Luna skipped through several other books, emptying an entire shelf. Realizing this, the younger princess flapped her wings and hovered to the very top row. “It should be here…”

Celestia caught the falling books in her magic as she replied, “In the Starswirl section?”

“Yes, it- aha!”

Shouting triumphantly, Luna pulled a huge tome – Celestia shuddered at the thought of that dropping down on her – out from the shelf and flew back down, beaming with victory.

“Starswirl the Bearded’s Autobiography,” Celestia read the title. “My, he did love writing, didn’t he?”

Luna opened the book and her horn lit up to flip through the thick mass of pages, her eyes bright with excitement.

“It should… be… right…”

She slapped a hoof down somewhere past the middle of the book and began reading.

“In the depths of these woods, I find it quaint that mine thoughts do choose to bring forth memories of mine encounter with one Sir Candle Blaze, an alchemist of the highest degree. What significance this doth entail for mine current predicament eludes me, but I shan’t exclude it.

“I met Sir Candle Blaze eight winters past on one warm evening, as I was prodding and poking about with an incantation of the Arcane school, hoping to uncover the secrets behind fire. Imagine my surprise when a haggard unicorn did stumble out of the woods, looking as if Tartarus itself was on his heels. Perplexed, I did ask him, ‘For what reason does thou spring from the woods in such a manner?’ Sir Candle Blaze then answered, ‘Trickery! Dark magic is afoot! Mine life would surely be forfeit if I did not flee when I did!’

“He did speak nonsense and so I asked, ‘Make sense, stallion! Calm thyself and tell me what ails thee.’ The poor stallion shook and trembled as he cried, ‘An unnatural hole that sings death ripped the air asunder before mine very eyes! It shone like the sun, but oh, there was no warmth, no comfort; mine eyes wept upon seeing it, for I could make no sense of what is not of this world!’ Astonished, I did ask, ‘Mother Faust guide us, friend. Where did thou lay eyes upon this monstrosity?’ He told me, but would not go back. It mattered little for I found nothing in those woods and thought the stallion a fool.

“As I have said, I know not why this particular memory comes to me, but perhaps it is because I hath ignored a recurring dream for some time now. ‘Tis a dream I hath had since meeting Sir Candle Blaze, but thought nothing on it, for mine mind is a fickle mistress even to me, and often regales me with dreams of no clarity. And so, I write this down to impart my experience;

“There is a tree on a hill. I walk and walk towards it, never getting closer. There is no sound, no life, and no warmth; mine senses tell me I am dead, yet I still walk. Mine eyes are besmirched by visions of ponies dear to me, but their faces shift like sand, constantly changing. I walk and walk for what feels like several lifetimes; the tree gets no closer, but I see lights on the branches, as if the sun itself hath given birth. They tremble and shake; a sound so haunting and beautiful cometh from them, and I am remiss, for what I cannot say. I wake every time, confused but not frightened, and there are words in my head, unfamiliar and with no meaning.

“Entropic Fractures…”

Celestia felt a chill run down her spine. “What… what does it mean?”

“Sister…” Luna said gravely as she shut the book. “I think we’re being invaded by another world. Perhaps even another plane of existence.”

A mouse, white coat darkened to steel grey, watched with eyes holding intelligence far beyond what its brain should have been capable of.

Without a sound, it turned to scurry away into a hidden hole, its movements jerky and uncoordinated. Blood had started to leak from its ears and eyes.

It would die soon, but not before finding a spot where it would never be found.

Author's Note

Note 1: Wavebreaker is a town of striking similarity to Ponyville, though it was founded several years after the latter. The population mostly consists of earth ponies with pegasi coming second and unicorns third. Being near Manehatten and built on fertile ground, it has a stable trading partnership with the metropolitan city dealing in grain and vegetables.

Note 2: Society marches on - though the word 'incantation' is more accurate, the term 'spell' is more widely known and accepted as a substitute. Additionally, the manipulation of fire, water, and electricity through magical means is no longer categorized in the Arcane school of magic, it is its own separate school - Elemental.

Note 3: Just finished watching the 100th episode of MLP and am now recovering from having several hype-related heart attacks simultaneously.

Chapter 14: Recruitment

1055 AD, February 13th

Shadow’s ears perked up as he heard the faint jingle of keys.

Eyes glowing bright with excitement, he hopped down from the couch and raced over to the front door, claws click-clacking on the linoleum floor. He made it in time to see the front door opening.

Nightmare Moon entered with a sour expression.

Sensing her mood, Shadow whined and ducked his head, though was pleasantly surprised when she paused long enough to offer a small smile and scratch his head.

It didn’t last long; she frowned once more and shut the front door with more force than necessary, but that single pet told Shadow that at least she wasn’t angry with him. Reassured, he followed his master as she climbed the stairs to the second floor of her home.

As she usually did when she came home, Nightmare Moon entered her office. However, instead of sitting at her desk to work, she moved aside a two file cabinets side-by-side. With a flare of magic, she took hold of and pulled out a square section of the wall that had been carved out.

Shadow sat on his haunches, cocking his head curiously as his master reached into the hollow space in the wall and dragged out a large burlap sack, covered in dust and plaster.

Nightmare Moon pulled out several objects from the sack. Shadow didn’t know what they were for, but they gave out the same tingling sensation he only got whenever his master or other unicorns used magic. It put him on edge by a minute amount, but he felt safe with his master there; she wouldn’t let anything bad happen to him.

He watched as small, hoof-sized canisters were laid out on Nightmare Moon’s desk, vaguely resembling the cans his master’s friend drank from. There were small indentations in the top; he didn’t know what for.

The next thing Nightmare Moon pulled out were the shiny rocks that emitted light. The tingling he got from them was the strongest, but they didn’t seem dangerous; his master had temporarily placed one within his chest a few moons ago and it – though a bit uncomfortable – ultimately did nothing.

Next were little trinkets that often adorned the mares he saw strutting about like they were trying to attract mates, but then getting angry when their attempts were successful. They had shiny rocks embedded in them, but they gave off the same tingling; it wasn’t as strong though, and they didn’t glow either.

After that came the metal fur.

Whenever her master shed her skin, she was always clad in pieces of metal, until one day, she removed the metal and hid it away. This was the first time in many moons Shadow had seen the pieces again.

He watched as Nightmare Moon did just that; she shed her skin, becoming physically larger and sprouting huge, feathered wings. He liked it when she did that because it usually meant they would go out to the woods and run around.

Nightmare Moon did not tell him ‘train’ or ‘hold’ though, but instead started attaching the metal to her body. It was like they had a mind of their own; each piece clasped onto her body, seemingly twisting and stretching to fit her perfectly. With every piece that set into place, a low hum of energy passed over the gleaming surfaces, causing them to almost glow with barely supressed power.

Shadow’s tail thumped against the carpet and he started panting; he really wanted to go romp around in the woods.

His master craned her neck about to examine herself, a toothy smile spreading across her face as she gave a huge stretch.

“Yes, this should suffice…”

His master had a habit of talking to herself. Shadow wondered if it was similar to how he liked hearing himself howl when the moon was full.

Nightmare Moon turned to trot towards the door, but suddenly halted and turned her head towards the wall. Shadow followed her gaze, but was disappointed to find that it wasn’t because of a rogue squirrel.

It was just those pictures of his master’s pack mates.

One was of the slender mare called Fleur; she looked towards the camera and struck a pose while smiling seductively. Nightmare Moon was in the back, her eyes in the middle of rolling.

One was of Fleur’s mate, Fancypants; he and Nightmare Moon both stared with raised eyebrows at a pink mare he did not recognize. Whoever the pink mare was, she had the impressive ability to unhinge her jaw and swallow an entire cake. Shadow wished he could do that and not have to require his master to connect his mouth afterwards.

Another was of Fleur, Fancypants, the grey mare that accompanied his master’s closest pack mate, and Nightmare Moon; they all stood amongst a dancing crowd. If Shadow strained his memory, he could remember strange bug creatures that didn’t taste very good on that same day. Fleur and Fancypants were in the middle of a tango, Octavia was balanced on her hind legs with her hooves in the air, and Nightmare Moon was nodding her head to the beat.

However, it seemed his master took particular interest in one framed photo.

It was the one where Nightmare Moon and Vinyl were side-by-side, baring their teeth like they were warding off rivals, if only their body language wasn’t relaxed. It was also one of the rare times his master looked genuinely happy, without the usual underlying of malevolence behind it.

Shadow gave a short huff of confusion as he sensed Nightmare Moon’s confliction. A few seconds ago, she was primed to hunt, but now her body language suggested some other mood entirely.

It was all so frustrating! Were they going out to play or not?

Despite Shadow’s impatience, he kept quiet and remained seated on his haunches; his master was the Alpha because she was the strongest, so was worthy of his respect and loyalty, not insubordination.

Thankfully, she turned away from the pictures with a shake of her head, and headed towards the door. Her every movement carried energy that was primed to go off at any moment.

With an excited bark, Shadow leapt to his feet to follow his-

“Guard.”

Shadow whined and flopped down on the floor so quickly, he felt an inner branch break off.

His master was very strange at times.

Nightmare Moon arrived at Hazel Blaze’s business as a cloud of incorporeal purple mist. She weaved her way around the building; practically invisible in the darkness of the night, and looked in through the first and second floor windows.

The first floor windows had ponyequins in fashionable attire on display and beyond them were clothing racks. Sometimes the owner was down here, sorting through her ledger book, but not tonight it seemed.

Rising to the second floor, Nightmare Moon looked in through the windows, and she would have grinned if she had the body for it.
The owner – much like many others – lived in the upper floor above their business; Nightmare Moon spotted a fridge, an oven, a small, round table holding a bowl of fruits, a couch, a TV, and a coffee table bearing a few stains.

Finally, pushed up against a wall, was a single-sized bed, occupied.

Willing herself forwards, Nightmare Moon entered the building, experiencing a brief bout of nausea as she phased through the solid windows. She misted towards the side of the bed and became solid once more.

Hazel Blaze…

She wasn’t what you would expect a leader of a cult that revered Nightmare Moon to look like. For one, her colours were quite warm; her coat was a dull brown but her mane was orange; she looked like she would be right at home in autumn.

‘Still, looks can be deceiving…’

Nightmare Moon lowered her head to the mare’s ear and, with a smirk, whispered, “Hazel…”

Hazel’s ear flicked at the sudden brush of wind and she stirred, rolling over. Her eyelids lazily opened, revealing dark green irises, glazed over with fatigue.

“Hmm…” She swallowed, eyes taking in but not quite registering Nightmare Moon. “Yes?”

Nightmare Moon bared her teeth in a toothy smile. “Hello.”

“Hello…”

“…”

“…”

Hazel’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and gave a frightened and unflattering whinny as she shot up and made the mistake of jolting backwards. Predictably, she tumbled over the edge of the bed and hit the floor with a solid whump.

Nightmare Moon supposed she could have formulated a less… startling way of introducing herself, but she was supposed to be powerful and frightening, was she not?

At any rate, she made a memorable first impression.

Nightmare Moon drew her smile back into a casual smirk, waiting patiently as Hazel slowly poked her head up, eyes wide and bloodshot.

“N-Nightmare… Moon?”

“Lovely night out, hm?”

Hazel stuttered, “Y-you’re… you’re here… in m-my store. Are… are you real or am I dreaming?”

Nightmare Moon hummed in mock-thought for a moment before reaching forwards and rapping her metal-clad hoof against the base of the smaller mare’s horn.

Hazel yelped at the all-too-real pain and shied away, hooves flying up to instinctively protect her horn.

“Does that answer your question?” Nightmare Moon questioned, resting her foreleg back on the ground.

“I-I can’t believe…” Hazel wiped the sleep from her eyes and stood up to slowly come around the bed and towards her, mouth agape with shock and awe. “It is y-you. The Mare in the Moon… the Pony of Shadows… Ruler of the Night…”

“Well, technically that last title is Luna’s, but I do like the other ones.”

“I… I…”

Hazel’s face broke into a huge smile and she quickly fell into a bow so low it was practically a face-plant. Her entire body trembled with nervous excitement.

“I-I’m so… honoured that you’ve appeared before me. I knew you would be back, but… not so soon after the Elements… maybe another thousand years, but…”

Nightmare Moon was thoroughly enjoying the effect she was having on the smaller mare and the praise she was receiving, but she couldn’t help but wonder why Hazel thought she would have come after another thousand years after being struck by the Elements of Harmony.

Tartarus, Nightmare Moon herself didn’t even think she would have survived the Elements the second time around.

‘And the reason I did still eludes me…’

Obviously, the Eclipse had their own ideas about her, and Nightmare Moon was adamant to find out every one.

Fortunately, the most prime source of information was bowing right before her.

“It doesn’t matter, my loyal subject,” Nightmare Moon said dismissively. “I am here now and I am mere inches away from taking my rightful place as ruler of Equestria.”

“Of course, M-Mistress,” Nightmare Moon perked up at that title. “I’m sorry – this is all such a shock to me,” Hazel looked up at the alicorn, still crouched low. “Oh, b-but the Eclipse is at your service, Mistress. I’m the leader – Ebony.”

“Ebony?”

“W-well, Hazel Blaze is my actual name, but… I prefer Ebony,” She quickly hid her face in her forelegs. “Y-you can call me Hazel if you want…”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes and reached out with her ethereal mane. One smoky tendril snaked under Ebony’s chin to tilt it so round pupils met reptilian ones.

“If you are to be the leader of the Eclipse, then you must act like it. A ruler needs her general, after all.”

“Right, sor… Right, Mistress,” Ebony paused and blinked. “General?”

Perhaps that was stretching it – quite a bit to be honest – as Nightmare Moon took in Ebony’s rather… soft demeanour. Ebony really didn’t look like she was made out of stern stuff, but Nightmare Moon wouldn’t pass judgement just yet; she needed to go deeper, see for herself if the mare had what was needed to be an effective general.

“There will be a battle,” Nightmare Moon said bluntly. “One which will shake Canterlot to its core. Us… against the princesses. You shall by the general of my army.”

“Oh…” Ebony balked, but to her credit, did not completely freak out. “I… I’m willing to follow you and I’m certain the others will, too… but there’re only five of us.”

Nightmare Moon didn’t think there would be many in a cult dedicated to her – as much as it stung her pride to admit so – but five was actually better than she was expecting.

Of course, five regular ponies couldn’t go against the entire Royal Guard, but they didn’t have to.

The Royal Guard was like a chicken; cut off the head – the head in this case being the princesses – and the body would run around in a blind panic. However, Nightmare Moon also had to contend with other factors that were detrimental to her coup.

Discord may have still been somewhat of a wild card despite having been ‘reformed’, but she wasn’t going to take a chance on him having a convenient relapse that would make the coup proceed more smoothly.

Besides, there was no way in Tartarus she’d share power with him.

The Elements of Harmony and their bearers were something she’d have to make a plan for at a later date. For now, she had several ideas, the majority of them playing on the fact that the mares all had loved ones that could easily be exploited.

For now though, she’d concentrate on giving her new followers the means to battle the Royal Guard on somewhat equal grounds.

Apparently taking her silence negatively, Ebony quickly said, “Although, Fade and Veil are good flyers. Haze can pull a few strings to-”

“Never mind that,” Nightmare Moon cut the sentence short with a wave of her hoof. “I have a way of evening the odds.”

“You do?”

“Yes. However, I require your cooperation.”

“Anything, Mistress.”

“Good,” Nightmare Moon smirked. “Then you have no problem with me entering your body and rearranging a few things?”

“Of course no-ahh…” Ebony recoiled with wide eyes. “P-pardon?”

“I can make you stronger, faster, and more powerful than you’ve ever dreamed of being. The equivalent of several unicorns stored in one body – your body,” Nightmare Moon leaned down, so she and Ebony were eye-to-eye. “All you need to do is let me in.”

“I…” Ebony frowned, suddenly unsure and frightened. “I don’t…”

“I thought you were a loyal follower,” Nightmare Moon sighed, her stare quickly becoming cold. “I thought you wished to serve me.”

“I-I do! I do, Mistress!” Ebony protested. “It’s just… W-will it hurt?”

“From what I can tell, yes,” The mouse Nightmare Moon experimented on had erratic and simplistic thoughts, but she was able to recognize whenever it was in pain. “My entire essence – my life-force – is going to take over and manipulate every cell in your body. Temporarily, of course.”

“Oh…” The mare gulped. “But… you’ll make me stronger?”

“Yes.”

She paused. “And then what happens after you… do the thing?”

“Then I’ll leave,” Nightmare Moon lit up her horn momentarily with the smallest fraction of her power. “Easy as that.”

Ebony bit her lower lip. “So much is happening right now… but I… I wish to serve you, Mistress, so…” She inhaled and closed her eyes. She held it in for a few moments before exhaling and opening her eyes. There was a steely glint in them. “I’ll do it. I’m ready.”

Pleased by the answer and courage, Nightmare Moon nodded and said, “Good. Then lie down,” She knelt into a comfortable position; belly flat on the floor and legs curled beneath her. “And relax.”

Ebony copied her position, tense with nervous anticipation. Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and focused.

She reached out with her mind and touched her inner pool of magic, feeling it crackle and pop in response.

‘Focus… focus…’

Nightmare Moon’s concentration remained steady as she picked up Ebony’s breathing.

‘Focus and become that which is lighter than air, become that which light cannot see…’

Gradually, the hardness of the floor against her legs faded, and the urge to breathe became less significant.

‘Become what you always were…’

Nightmare Moon felt herself rising.

‘Now open our eyes and see what you are.’

Regaining sight, Nightmare Moon looked down to see if her physical body was intact. It was, so she turned her attention to Ebony.

Surrounding the smaller mare’s body was an aura of crimson light; it coiled and flowed, tendrils lazily flicking at empty air. At the core of her body floated a small orb of pristine whiteness, like a miniature sun.

Nightmare Moon didn’t know for certain if this orb that resided within every creature – great or small – was truly the soul.

What she did know was that playing around with it led to interesting changes and that she herself did not have one.

Wasting no time, Nightmare Moon willed herself forwards, and reached out to touch the aura.

Ebony gave a sharp gasp and her aura recoiled from the initial contact. The vibrations of Ebony’s movements and the way her aura shuddered, sending out impulses of fear, made Nightmare Moon’s predatory instincts flare. She stopped herself from pouncing though; a forced possession would have nasty long-term effects.

Waiting until Ebony had calmed somewhat, Nightmare Moon made contact again; it was a lighter touch, and it allowed Ebony to get used to the sensation. Nightmare Moon moved again and her non-existent nostrils flared in delight as she tasted the aura – it was strong and heady; Ebony had some potent magical potential.

Inch by inch, Nightmare Moon wrapped herself tighter around Ebony, choking the crimson aura. She could feel Ebony whimpering, struggling to remain calm. Realizing she was seconds away from having a complete freak-out, Nightmare Moon did what she never bothered to do for anypony else.

She stole her way into Ebony’s mind and communicated with her.

‘Calm yourself – it will be over soon.’

The reassurance helped a little, but it wasn’t until Nightmare Moon dug around in the unicorn’s mind and drowned her in happy memories while simultaneously stimulating several nerves to cause an over-production of endorphins and adrenaline. Within seconds, Ebony was in a state of complete serenity.

‘Now, let’s see what you have for me…’

Nightmare Moon stabbed her claws deep into Ebony’s mind.

‘You… were born on November 4th… 1030 AD. You’re not from here, are you? Where then? Ah, Little Plains Drop – the village that was tragically laid to waste by changelings in 1047 AD. You’re fortunate that you left when you were sixteen; a rather young age. Hm…’

She shifted the claws deeper, eagerly absorbing the memories that bled out.

‘Well now…’

Somewhere far away, Ebony twitched and moaned in distress.

‘… That explains why you would choose to join a cult devoted to me. What a bitter past you have. Well, no matter; you’ll find your place with me.’

Having gone off-track due to her curiosity, Nightmare Moon oriented herself, and sought out information about the Eclipse.

‘Hmph, speculation mostly. No matter…’

Extracting her claws, Nightmare Moon turned to behold the shimmering orb. It had a much stronger presence than the mouse she had experimented with and so much more power. She gave it a firm prod, relishing in the way her own essence caused it to vibrate.

‘Yesss…’

Nightmare Moon surrounded the orb, her mind filled with images of teeth, claws, and spikes. She watched as the orb vibrated, as if struggling with all its might to try and get away from her. She could even feel Ebony sluggishly trying to take back control of her body.
It was too late however, Nightmare Moon was in control.

‘And one... two… three…’

She fell upon the orb.

Ebony shrieked and started thrashing against the invisible chains holding her in place.

‘Oh Faust, what’s going on?! I can’t move! What is this, what is this?’

‘Steel yourself – it is far from over.’

Nightmare Moon bled into Ebony’s aura, changing it, enhancing it. She reached out and moulded the cells and nerves of her horn, making them more robust and conductive. The mare’s pool of magic – transformed into a maelstrom in its host’s panic – was treated to a sample of Nightmare Moon’s essence.

She started working on the body; reinforcing the bones, packing the muscles, and hardening the skin. Despite Nightmare Moon’s precision and care, one of Ebony’s ribs broke from the sudden strength of her diaphragm muscles, and it pushed against the skin grotesquely.

‘N-no, stop! Please! It hurts!’

‘A minor miscalculation; bear with me, will you?’

Nightmare Moon guided Ebony’s body into pushing the rib back into place so it could heal correctly. That done, she left the body in that position, and stabbed deep into Ebony’s mind to start the more complex work.

It was fortunate she had thought to practise beforehoof otherwise Ebony would have been a complete mess of quivering, twisted flesh.

‘Gyaagh!’

‘Ah, there’s your amygdala. I got a bit turned around for a moment.’

Fortunately for Ebony, Nightmare Moon finished up shortly thereafter, and gave her body one last jolt of magic before leaving. Ebony’s aura was more than happy to see her gone.

Nightmare Moon returned to her body, the speed no longer sickening, and opened her eyes. Shaking her head a bit, she languidly stretched, and looked at her work with pride.

‘I’ve still got it.’

Ebony had undergone a rather drastic change.

No longer was her coat brown but a light grey and her mane had darkened to a blood-red tint with black highlights. Her previously stubby horn was a few millimetres longer and tapered off to a sharp point, red sparks of magic spitting from the tip. She was physically larger as well, though not to the same degree as Nightmare Moon’s ‘Star Secret’ persona.

“Unngh…” Ebony groaned in pain and rose to meet Nightmare Moon’s eyes, revealing emerald irises with cat-like pupils. “Did…” Ebony wiped her face. “Did it work?”

“See for yourself.”

Nightmare Moon stretched out her hoof.

Ebony stared blankly for a moment before realizing the greaves covering the leg were polished to a mirror-like sheen. Stretching her neck forwards for a better look, Ebony’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open as she caught her reflection.

“I-I… I’m… different. I feel…” Ebony sat back on her haunches and ran a shaking foreleg down the soft fur on her belly. “That was so… painful, but now I… I’m…” She inhaled sharply and her horn lit up; scarlet red energy swirled around the protrusion. “I feel amazing; like I can do anything! This power…”

Bemused, Nightmare Moon lowered her leg and watched as red coronas surrounded nearby furniture.

Ebony let out a breathy chuckle and closed her eyes as her horn shone brighter and the crimson magic enshrouded her body, lifting her into the air along with the furniture. She giggled and spread out her forelegs theatrically, raising her horn to the ceiling as the tip continued to shine, brighter and brighter before-

“Ahem.”

All magic ceased as Ebony’s eyes shot open and she looked at Nightmare Moon, apparently surprised. She blinked, looked down, and then back up.

“Uh-oh…”

She fell.

Nightmare Moon winced at the impact. “Yes, let’s not get drunk on power just yet, hm?”

Ebony groaned and got back on her feet, smiling sheepishly. “Y-yes, of course, Mistress. I was just… Thank you for this gift. I feel so powerful.”

“And you need skill to wield that power,” Nightmare Moon rose, towering over the other mare. “I will train you how to use it, to become a great force to flatten my opponents. Gather the rest of the Eclipse, so that I may bestow the same gift to them. In the meantime, wear this.”

From a recess in her armor, Nightmare Moon pulled out a silver-chain necklace attached to a dazzling ruby.

“It is enchanted; so long as you wear it, you will appear as you once were,” Her gaze hardened as Ebony reached out to take it. “So don’t lose it.”

Ebony nodded. “I won’t.”

“Then until next we meet, Ebony,” Nightmare Moon’s body dissolved into purple mist, starting from her tail to her head. Just before her face vanished, her eyes shone menacingly. “I have taken great risks in including you and the Eclipse. Do not make me regret it.”

Ebony shuddered in fear and awe, but her eyes spoke of confidence as she replied, “I won’t, Mistress. I am your loyal subject.”

Nightmare Moon did not have a mouth to curl into a grin nor the lungs to let out a hearty cackle, but her glee was all too tangible as she misted out of Ebony’s home and into the night.

‘Yes… I think she will make a good general…’

Canterlot was in for a very big surprise.

Author's Note

Note 1: Nightmare Moon does not trust easily; she may have given Ebony great power, but if she detects even the slightest hint of a betrayal, she can take it all away and more in the blink of an eye.

Note 2: In memory of the mouse that Nightmare Moon bought from the pet store - he shall not be forgotten.

Chapter 15: Plan of Action

1055 AD, February 18th

Ebony’s backroom wasn’t the most spectacular base to hold their operations, but it would serve its purpose. Nopony except them ever came back there, so no foreign eyes would fall on any schemes that they would deem nefarious.

At the very least, there was enough space for Nightmare Moon to move about in her true form.

Settling at a round table, Nightmare Moon deposited several scrolls and blueprints across its surface before clapping down one hoof.

“Now that-”

With a noisy clatter, a tray full of sandwiches was sent flying over her head.

“What a surprise,” Across the table, Veil shot a scathing glare at the culprit as he rose to his feet with an irritated grumbled. “Three seconds in and already the refreshments are on the floor. You ever think of going Bridleway with that sort of fine motor control?”

“You flatter me,” Haze replied as he dusted himself off. “Incidentally and on an unrelated note, I inexplicably know why you can never hold down a job.”

“Thank Faust you don’t have to deal with that nonsense; all you have to worry about is hiring somepony to help you find reasons to complain to the other ponies who literally do everything for you.”

“Okay, can we just calm down a little?” Ebony smiled weakly as she attempted to placate the members. “We have a very important guest, remember?”

“Hey, it’s better than what’s on TV, yeah?” Fade put in as he munched back a bowl of popcorn. “Sit back and watch another round of Dick-Waving: Race Wars.”

“My money’s on Veil.” Miasma quipped neutrally as she sat beside her brother and sipped on her beverage, her face an apathetic mask.

“Just because your mane’s grey now…” Veil began scornfully. “Doesn’t make you any younger then when you had the white hairs.”

“Ah, an attack on my appearance?” Haze noted. “Envy is such an ugly emotion, my dear.”

“Envy’s not the only emotion that’s ugly from where I’m standing.”

“Enough!”

Nightmare Moon glanced towards her side in surprise.

Ebony’s sharp teeth were bared and her brow was scrunched; it made her otherwise soft features seem harsh, and it culled the other members into silence.

“How dare you act like this in front of our Mistress! Show respect!”

Obediently and with flushed expressions, the four settled into their seats around the table.

Nightmare Moon nodded, impressed. “Thank you, Ebony.”

The unicorn cleared her throat and smiled bashfully. “Of course, Mistress.”

Nightmare Moon was fortunate that her newly-picked general did indeed possess the skills needed to lead, or at the very least, she had the traits which could be nurtured so she could become one.

Looking towards the rest of the Eclipse, Nightmare Moon took the precious moments of silence to analyse her ‘elite’ soldiers. The past days she had bestowed her power among each and every one of them; it had the pleasant side-effect of allowing her to glimpse into their heads, see what made them tick, and see if they were loyal.

So far, she was… mildly content.

In a bit of nostalgia, the sole unicorn stallion amongst them was none other than Dusk, the very same unicorn who had given her that card all those years ago; he had been quite astonished when he learned of her secret identity, and remarked how unbelievably fortuitous it was that he happened upon her. Nightmare Moon was inclined to agree.

From her rooting around in his skull, she had learned that Dusk – though he insisted to be called by his Eclipse name, Haze – was a unicorn from a long line of nobles, dating all the way back to before Discord was first petrified. His cutie mark – a purple comb crossed with silver scissors – stood out against his black coat; better than when his coat had been grey, prior to Nightmare Moon’s augmentation. Likewise, his white mane was now steel grey, and pulled back into a style that was popular with high-society stallions. Eyes that had once been azure had darkened to duke blue.

Personally, Nightmare Moon wasn’t too fond of him. He was quite stand-offish and held considerable animosity towards Veil, another member. Still, she had detected potent magical aptitude from him, he had ties with Canterlot nobility, he had a strong sense of loyalty, and he was the reason she knew of the Eclipse and now, its history and ideology.

‘Sadly, what he believes is far from the truth…’

Nightmare Moon turned her analysing gaze to Veil, a female pegasus, publically known as Aero. She wasn’t born in Canterlot and it surprised Nightmare Moon when she discovered where she was really from – she hid the accent very well.

Veil’s cutie mark was of five leaves arranged in a diagonal line, beginning from bright green and eventually fading to an autumn red. Her coat had been a mixed shade of orange-red before it was changed to amber and her yellow mane was now the colour of tangerines; a streak of sanguine ran down the middle of her tail. Much like the others, she had significantly increased in size.

Personally, while Nightmare Moon could appreciate her sarcasm and snark, her passive-aggressiveness might get on her nerves at some point in the future. Despite that, Veil’s way of thinking intrigued her; it was such a stark contrast to the usual ‘let’s be friends’ mentality that Equestria was lousy with. While Veil’s sense of loyalty wasn’t as strong as Ebony’s or Haze’s, Nightmare Moon felt she could extend some trust.

‘Hopefully, it won’t be a mistake on my part.’

She turned her attention towards Fade, a male pegasus; he was known by his co-workers as Jetstream, and his cutie mark was of a trio of white clouds circling a single grey cloud. His forest green coat and apple green mane would give him excellent camouflage in a forest environment, and Nightmare Moon mentally filed that away for future reference. Similarly to Veil, he was larger, but had the addition of primary feathers coloured black at their tips.

Originally hailing from Manehatten, Fade had an inflated ego due to his above-average speed and manoeuvrability, which almost landed him a spot in the Wonderbolts if it wasn’t for his attitude and tendency to rebel against his superiors. Nightmare Moon also knew that his crude humour was a means of getting attention; it was something he apparently didn’t get from his parents.

His reasons for joining the Eclipse were self-centred and his loyalty to Nightmare Moon wasn’t particularly strong, but he had a soft spot for his younger sister, and would stay so long as she did to keep an eye on her. Additionally, his memories told Nightmare Moon that he was quite skilled in manipulating weather. It was for these reasons she decided to keep him on board.

‘I’m confident I can reign him in over time.’

Finally, Nightmare Moon looked at Miasma – originally named Mantle by her parents – the sole earth pony of the group and the younger sister of Fade. Her previously rose coat had darkened to a deep maroon and her black mane held a healthy shine. Predictably, her augmentation left her the largest out of the group, excluding Nightmare Moon.

She was… something of an enigma, even though Nightmare Moon had scoured her mind for information. Miasma’s thoughts were simplistic and to the point, but there was a deep intelligence behind the apathetic and cold mask she wore, not to mention a witty sense of humour that could be compared to her brother’s. Her sense of loyalty to Nightmare Moon was strong, but again, not as strong as Ebony’s or Haze’s.

‘For some reason, the sledgehammer for a cutie mark appeals to me…’

All in all, her followers could have been better, but they met her expectations well enough.

Nodding to herself, Nightmare Moon cleared her throat and said, “I see we’ve all gathered and calmed down. Therefore, let’s start the briefing; our mission…”

With a flare of magic, she unravelled a large blueprint, showing a detailed diagram of a large structure; there were several notes scrawled on the sides in pencil, and a dozen circles highlighting specific points in the building, done in red marker.

“An assault on Canterlot Castle.”

Ooh, those words sent a thrill through her body.

“The assault will begin when the clock strikes ten on Nightmare Night,” She continued. “Aside from the delicious irony of that particular date, the streets will be crowded with ponies, impeding the progress of any patrols. Furthermore, ten is when the Royal Guard changes shifts. Take note that though my gift alone is not enough against the entirety of the Royal Guard. Each of you are superior in comparison to others of your kind, but the Royal Guard is well-trained and numerous; I guarantee that you will not prevail alone,” She clapped her hoof against the table for emphasis. “Working together and communication is key.”

“I can shout pretty loudly, but if we’re in the thick of battle then something tells me we might have a bit of trouble hearing one another,” Veil said. “Just my opinion though,”

“I am not an amateur, Veil; I’ve planned for that detail, as you’ve probably figured out.”

“Was that telepathy?” Haze’s stoic façade faltered from shock for the briefest of moments.

“That’s awesome,” Fade scrunched up his face in concentration and stared intensely at Ebony. “… You got that, yeah?”

“Was it about pink elephants?” She questioned.

“You’re not yet trained in telepathy,” Nightmare Moon explained. “My gift allows us to communicate mentally, but there are limits, and those can wait until after this debriefing is over. Now pay attention…

“When it comes to the Royal Guard and how they respond to threats, you must be aware that they have a system tailored to the measurement of how great a threat they’re facing and how strongly they should respond. Presently, the system has four alert levels – Alpha Alert, Beta Alert, Gamma Alert, and Delta Alert. Alpha is the lowest alert and given to things like disorderly conduct; anything where a single guard wouldn’t have much trouble. Beta is a step-up and deals with brawls and anything that could cause injury to the guards or the public. This is also the point where they send out flares for back-up. Gamma deals with situations such as riots or anything that can result in serious injury to the Royal Guard and the public or worse. Finally, Delta deals with direct threats to the princesses and Equestria. For example, I was a Delta. Discord was a Delta. Chrysalis, Sombra – all Deltas.

“Now, it’s your turn to be Deltas.”

“Excuse me…” Haze raised his hoof.

“Speak.”

“Why must we draw enough attention so as to create a Delta Alert? I am not questioning anypony’s strength, but there is no doubt in my mind that the princesses would choose to become involved in the situation if we were to become such a threat, and having the combined forces of the Royal Guard and the princesses bearing down on us – even with you at our side – seems a tad-”

Nightmare Moon cut him off with a shake of her head. “I’m not joining you.”

“I…” He blinked. “What?”

Nightmare Moon tapped her hoof on a photo taken of Princess Luna at the wedding after the Changeling Invasion; she was waiting with a cheeky smile for Celestia to take a bite of her sugar-free cake.

“As you all know, Luna – after attending the Nightmare Night festival held near Canterlot Castle – leaves the city at around 9:45 pm to visit Ponyville. This means Celestia will be alone in the castle. Luna won’t be back until midnight, so that gives us two hours to crush the opposition.”

They looked thoughtful, nervous but thoughtful, as they considered her plan. Satisfied that they were all giving their utmost attention, Nightmare Moon directed their gazes back to the blueprint of the castle. She pointed to the front gates which barred entrance to the main doors.

“This is where you will start the assault. At ten ‘o’ clock, you will break through those gates and make your way towards the castle. Once you’re inside, make a single lap of the castle’s ground floor, breaking as many things and as many guards as possible so they all come rushing towards you.”

She tapped another point; the highest tower of the castle.

“Prior to the clock striking ten, I will convince Celestia to accompany me to her quarters to discuss Canterlot’s expansion. When it is time to attack, I will telepathically signal you all before taking her on myself. My part in this plan is to keep her from sending for Luna, coming to her soldiers’ aid, and, ultimately, defeat her. Once I have defeated her, the Royal Guard will be demoralized and surrender. Once that is done, we will rest and get ready for Luna’s return.”

The others were silent for a few moments, deep in thought, before Fade clapped his hooves and said, “Shit, can’t believe I managed to understand all of that. So Nightm…” He paused. “So boss, you’re gonna be cool taking Celestia alone, yeah?”

“I am stronger than her,” Nightmare Moon replied confidently. “It shouldn’t be a long battle.”

“Another question,” Haze called out. “When you say ‘break the guards’, do you mean for us to…?”

“Do not kill them.”

“Oh, sweet,” Fade gave a chuckle of relief. “I mean, I’m pretty good for a brawl and crap, but killing somepony’s a little…” He made an unsure noise and gave a shrug. “You get my meaning, yeah? Unless the guy’s a total scumbag or something.”

“The Royal Guard will only resort to lethal force against hostile non-equines or if not doing so will result in somepony losing their life,” Nightmare Moon said. “So long as you refrain from using lethal force, they will do so as well. Besides, I’ve got an idea that will compel the Royal Guard to join the ranks of my new army.”

“What, you going to hand out pamphlets?” Veil quipped, reaching out to take a drink from her glass. “‘Hey, I know we just broke your legs, but how’s about joining our new group anyway?’”

“Maybe I’ll offer free dental,” Nightmare Moon retorted, acting on her inner urge to snark back. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we’ll move onto the Royal Guards themselves.”

With a nudge of her magic, Nightmare Moon upended a manila folder and spread out its contents; several photos taken of Royal Guards from all three races, including one of the bat-winged pegasi. From the angles, it was obvious the guards had no idea somepony had been spying on them.

“As I’ve mentioned, they place emphasis on cooperation and strategy to combat a threat. The innards of the castle are filled with narrow hallways; this will group them together and render their numeric advantage less effective.”

“Um…” At Ebony’s hesitant murmur, Nightmare Moon looked at her and raised an eyebrow expectantly. She quickly continued, “Well, I mean… they know the castle like the back of their hoof, right? I’ve only been inside the castle on a few tours and that’s it. Wouldn’t that put us at a disadvantage?”

“I can help with that,” Haze offered. “I make regular visits, so I know it well.”

“Problem solved,” Nightmare Moon gestured to Haze. “You’ll take your directions from him. Now…”

She pointed towards a photo of two pegasi guards in the midst of their patrol.

“Pegasi guards attempt to subdue non-pegasi by grabbing their hind legs and lifting them into the air; the fear of falling is usually enough to prevent further opposition. For pegasi, they try to grab the wings and bring them to the ground and pin them. The narrow hallways and ceiling will make it difficult for them to use such tactics, but watch each other closely in case they try to separate you. Veil, Fade – you will make sure this doesn’t happen: keep those pegasi away from the others.”

Fade saluted, chest swelling with confidence. “Roger dodger!”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Veil shrugged. “Might chip a hoof, but I can do that,”

Nightmare Moon pointed towards a photo of three unicorn guards laughing as Prince Blueblood was bombarded by seagulls.

“Unicorns will attempt to use the Paralysis spell and erect barriers so they can close in to use them. Fortunately, you’re all robust enough to resist several direct hits, though that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make an effort to not be hit. Once they realize Paralysis spells aren’t as effective, they may resort to casting mild electrocution spells and illusions. Electrocution spells are a greater threat, but it’s the illusion spells you need to be wary of. They completely bypass magical barriers and are invisible to the naked eye, so if any of you feel the slightest bit unusual, say so. Don’t waste magic on dispelling them; a good slap will do the trick.”

Four pairs of eyes glanced nervously at Miasma.

“Ebony, Haze – a competent unicorn is worth a dozen amateurs and can single-hoofedly turn an entire battle, so before we attack you will know how to heal, throw up barriers, and cast even the most difficult of spells,” Nightmare Moon gave a sadistic grin, her teeth gleaming in the light. “I look forward to training you.”

“Oh my…” Haze’s façade faltered once more to reveal his fear.

Ebony ducked her head, emitting a sort of whine.

Amused by their reactions, Nightmare Moon gave a brief chuckle before pointing her hoof at a photo of two guards hoof-wrestling.

“Earth ponies – the brawn of the Royal Guard. Barring alicorns, they are the most naturally resilient ponies and the strongest. They rush and beat down a threat; it’s simple and effective. A favoured tactic of theirs is to line up and make an impenetrable wall of armor and flesh. Fortunately, we have Miasma.”

“Yo.” The dour pony half-heartedly raised her hoof.

“A regular earth pony is capable of breaking bones and bucking trees with energy to spare. Seeing as you’ve been improved, charging down such an ‘impenetrable’ defense would be child’s play, hm?”

Miasma bobbed her head once.

“Your job is to draw attention and cause panic. If there are guards in a narrow hallway, you charge them down. If guards are attempting to regroup, you scatter them. If you see some officer trying to give orders, make him your priority. Make them panic and make them concentrate on you, so the others can do as they please.”

“Cool.”

Nightmare Moon snickered and gestured to another photo. A single bat-pony guard was flushing red as another stallion nervously asked him out.

“Bat-ponies are basically pegasi with the added ability to see in the dark. There are only a few in the Royal Guard and they all accompany Luna wherever she goes. If everything goes to plan, we shouldn’t need to face them, but if we do, the same tactics for normal pegasi should suffice.”

Turning her gaze on her followers, Nightmare Moon folded her hooves on the table, expression hard and serious.

“We have eight months until Nightmare Night and that time is to be spent training, so I suggest you finish up any personal business as quickly as possible. Remember where our training area is and be there for every single session. The only excuse I’ll accept for not participating is if every bone in your body is broken… and only if I was the one that did it.”

“So I’m kind of wondering…” Miasma piped up. “This is a little off-topic, but what about all these creatures? I’ve heard rumours that they might be from another world?”

Nightmare Moon grimaced, but replied, “I won’t lie. From what I’ve gathered from the princesses, these creatures are indeed from another world. They are filtering in through spatial anomalies called Entropic Fractures. Other than that, I know little about these creatures and their intentions, if they have any. If we’re lucky, then a solution will be found by our enemies. If not, then once our plans have succeeded and I’m in power, it’ll be our first priority,” She stamped her hoof on the table. “I have not come this far to lose the throne to something that isn’t even of our world.”

Apparently emboldened by her determination, the others nodded in agreement, shooting confident smiles – smirk, in Miasma’s case – at each other.

“We’re with you one hundred percent, Mistress!” Ebony said with a determined expression.

As the others gave nods and chimes of agreement, Nightmare Moon felt a surge of zeal and pride.

The throne was still a long ways ahead, but she felt as if she was gaining instead of remaining in the same place, stewing in her own impatience, anger, and desire. When the time finally came and she was able to look down on all of her subjects from a newly renovated Canterlot Castle, she would savour the sensation.

It almost made her want to sing.

Almost.

Entering her home, Nightmare Moon looked down and exhaled angrily at the pile of letters that had been pushed through her mail slot. If it wasn’t to do with bills, social events, or the Royal Court, then it went into the rubbish.

She picked them up with telekinesis and sorted through them, shutting the door behind her.

“Junk. Trash. Garbage. Ju…”

She raised one intrigued eyebrow at a small, inconspicuous envelope; it only caught her attention because she noticed the stamp in the top corner.

A music note – an eighth note to be precise, and she knew of only one pony who used that.

Tearing it open, she took out a folded piece of paper from the envelope, and spread it out in front of her.

Her eyes scanned over the contents.

She blinked and re-read it.

She re-re-read it.

‘Vinyl’s getting married. Interesting.’

Author's Note

Note 1: A rather exposition-heavy chapter to give a heads-up that Nightmare Moon's plans are slowly coming to fruition and that she has back-up. Still, there are some elements that would be explained later in the story; I was never a fan for explaining literally everything about everything at once.

Note 2: Believe it or not - Vinyl had been the one to propose to Octavia, and the story behind it... well, that's for another time.

Chapter 16: Training Wheels

1055 AD, February 21st

Nightmare Moon had chosen a secluded spot outside the city of Canterlot for training.

Down the mountain and into the acres of wood that surrounded it, she was confident nopony would stumble upon them, and if anypony did…

Well, then they had better be susceptible to memory-manipulating spells because the alternative method to keep them quiet was far messier.

So it was there, in a large clearing, at a few minutes past midnight, did Nightmare Moon, Shadow, and the members of the Eclipse arrive via teleportation.

“Hurgh…” Fade’s cheeks puffed out. Everypony stepped away from him in alarm. “Geez, you… ugh, you unicorns are way tougher than I thought, yeah? I’ve gone through g-forces more comforting than that…”

“Long-distance teleportation allows more time for one’s molecular structure to separate,” Nightmare Moon replied, casting a quick glance over the clearing for any unwanted presences. “The nausea is your nervous system settling back in your body.”

“Oh, that makes me want to get teleported again big time.”

“It’s a sensation you will get used to – teleportation is an invaluable asset in a unicorn’s arsenal,” Nightmare Moon turned her attention to Ebony and Haze, and remarked, “I assume you know the basic rules of teleportation?”

Ebony’s face scrunched in thought, but Haze readily answered, “Never attempt to teleport to a place you haven’t been to before. Do not teleport across a distance exceeding two kilometres. Take extreme care when teleporting in a populated area with high concentrations of metal.”

Nightmare Moon nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Now do you two have experience with teleportation?”

“Some.” Haze replied.

“Uh, no…” Ebony rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

“I see.” Nightmare Moon pursed her lips and whistled a sharp tune.

The difference in pitch at the end was only heard by and understood by Shadow. The timber wolf perked his ears and lowered himself into an aggressive stance, splintered teeth showing as he growled menacingly at Haze.

“Ahem…” Haze took a step back, ears pressing against his scalp in worry. “Excuse me, but your pet appears to have nefarious intentions towards me.”

“You are to avoid Shadow for the span of ten minutes. You are not to use any means of travelling aside from teleportation and you are not to retaliate in any way aside from hiding. Treetops are fair game,” As Shadow continued his approach, Nightmare Moon’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Any questions?”

Haze’s alarmed gaze darted back and forth between her and his would-be pursuer. “Wh-what?”

She whistled again and Shadow dashed forwards with a vicious growl.

Haze exclaimed in fright and vanished in a flash of silver light. Shadow snapped at thin air, paused to sniff, and then shot off into the woods, barking furiously.

Nightmare Moon turned to the others, genuine glee running through her at the thought of being able to cut loose with some of her astounding power after so many years of letting it go untested.

The others however, didn’t seem nearly as excited.

“Oh shit,” Fade cursed softly as he listened to the distant sounds of Shadow’s barking and the pop of Haze’s teleporting. “I’ve seen this in the Wonderbolts Academy; you’re one of those instructors that just shove ponies into the deep end, yeah? Swim for your success or drown for my amusement?”

“I’ll have to remember that,” Nightmare Moon laughed, only further unnerving them. “But that’s the basic gist of it. Now, let’s see how fast you two can fly with the threat of bodily harm hanging over your heads.”

“I love you like the sun… No, that’s crap! Your eyes remind me of… disco balls. Argh, crap! You’re like a record I found… That’s crap – coming out of somepony’s ass!”

“Oh my,” Fleur placed a hoof on her lips in worry as a scrunched-up ball of paper landed on the table. “Shall we go help her?”

“If only…” Nightmare Moon said tensely as she reached up to pluck a ball of paper from her horn. “To stop her infernal moping.”

“Oh, give her a chance; her wedding’s approaching, and every mare is entitled a bit of…” Fleur made a thoughtful noise as she got out of her seat and trotted around the table, heading for Vinyl’s couch. “Ah, what’s the word I’m looking for? Irrationality.”

“My brain is crap,” Vinyl went limp and her magic shorted out. The pencil and notepad dropped on her belly. “Octy’s going to marry a mare with crap for a brain.”

“If you say ‘crap’ one more time, I am literally going to throw you out the window.”

Fleur gave a look of disapproval before smiling gently and touching Vinyl’s shoulder. “Vows aren’t something you can force, dear; they have to come from the heart. Why don’t you take a breather and join us for some calming tea and biscuits?”

“I don’t see the importance behind these vows.” Nightmare Moon said with a grumble.

She had no idea why Vinyl invited her over; she wasn’t adept in this… emotional stuff, and she certainly wasn’t experienced in anything to do with marriage. She had attended the wedding of Fancypants and Fleur, but that was about it.

Fleur turned on her with an overly-dramatic gasp. “Vows are an expression of how you feel about your special somepony! One of the most important events of a wedding is the groom and bride saying their vows to each other.”

Vinyl groaned.

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “If two ponies are truly in love, then do they need to write down how they feel? Is not knowing how much they feel about the other enough?”

“It’s a way of telling the world how much you care for your lover,” Fleur’s eyes sparkled as she held her hooves to her chest. “When you say your vows – words written by your hoof, words coming from your soul – you’re announcing to the universe how much that pony means to you.”

“Ugh…” Nightmare Moon felt her stomach clench and it wasn’t because of that suspicious-looking hotdog she ate this morning. “What’s the point in that? Who cares what the universe thinks? You and your lover are in love… or lust or whatever; why do you need to shout it out? It seems about as necessary as shouting how much you like having sex and what your favourite positions are. And Vinyl does that enough already.”

“She does that?”

“Constantly.”

“Hey, I’m just gonna lie here and die, if that’s cool with you two,” Vinyl muttered without moving an inch. “Might get a bit dank up in here, so crack open a window.”

With a sympathetic cluck of her tongue, Fleur sat down on the couch beside the distressed mare. “Oh, I know this is all frightening, but-”

“Fuck yeah, it’s frightening!”

The DJ shot up into a sitting position and threw her forelegs into the air. Without her shades, her face displayed her emotions like an open book, and right now she was more worried than Nightmare Moon had ever seen her.

“I’m gettin’ friggin’ married to the hottest and most awesome mare in Canterlot!” She continued, muttering, “No offense guys. I mean, what if something goes wrong? What if…” She deflated and simpered. “What if she decides to call it off?”

“Oh, sweetie,” Fleur pulled her into a hug. “Everypony has doubts about their wedding, but it’ll all work out in time. I was the same way with Fancypants and – judging from what his friends tell me – he was the same way. You know, at one point I was so scared I debated changing my name and running off to work on a rock farm? You remember that, don’t you, Star?”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Yes, that was a very proud and defining moment in your life.”

“Oh, hush – you were the one who talked me out of it.”

“Yes, well, it was infuriating seeing somepony allow fear to control their life.”

“The point is…” Fleur turned back to the solemn DJ. “It’s okay to be scared, but don’t let your fears get the best of you. You’re having trouble writing your vows; that’s okay. Take a break.”

Vinyl sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. “I just… I hate feeling useless. I’ve never felt like I couldn’t do something before.”

“It is a bad feeling,” Nightmare Moon agreed. “However, if there’s anything I’ve gathered from our time spent together, it’s that you are annoyingly stubborn. If you wish to do something, then I don’t doubt you’d be able to do it if you truly set your mind to it.”

Fleur gave an open-mouthed smile of admiration, something which Nightmare Moon found strangely creepy to look at. Not that she was actually scared; if a dragon smiled at you, you’d be cautious even if it didn’t have intentions to roast you alive.

“Thanks, Wolf,” At least her words seemed to have the desired effect on Vinyl, who appeared to be regaining her composure. She gave her a grateful smile. “Always pulling my flank out of the fire, eh?”

Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Only because you’re dragging me further into it.”

“Ah, come on, Wolf – surrounded by stuffy politicians, you need a little of the ol’ DJ Pon-3 spice in your life to keep things fresh.”

Fleur snickered. “Even you can’t argue with her there, Star.”

Nightmare Moon merely stared at them for a few moments before allowing a small grin to form. “I suppose I can’t.”

“Ebony, why am I not seeing any teleportation?”

“I-I’m sorry, Mistress…” Ebony gasped for breath, perspiration lining her forehead and matting her fur down. “I can’t figure it out; the spell’s too-”

Nightmare Moon easily parried one of Miasma’s jabs with her wing and countered with a punch that sent the other mare tumbling over the span of several yards. To Miasma’s credit, she only uttered a grunt in response, and was already getting back on her feet the second she stopped rolling.

Turning, Nightmare Moon scowled as Ebony attempted teleporting again, only for her horn to give off a few pathetic sparks of magic.

“There’s no such thing as a spell being too complex; too powerful and too dangerous maybe, but never too complex. And since I know you have the magic reserves needed to do it and this is the safest environment to attempt teleportation, the only thing holding you back is you.”

“But…” Ebony’s face creased in panic for a moment, but she swallowed it down and gave a single nod. “O-okay, I can… I can do it.”

Satisfied with the answer, Nightmare Moon turned and deftly side-stepped a punch. Miasma threw her entire body weight into a flurry of punches, trying to press the advantage.

Waiting until there was a pause in the assault, Nightmare Moon extended both her wings and gave a powerful flap. The gust of wind pushed her back and almost knocked Miasma off her feet. The loss of balance allowed Nightmare Moon to close the distance and, once more, knock Miasma back.

Miasma already had some experience in fighting, but not as much as Vinyl and nowhere near as much as Nightmare Moon. Notably, she had great difficulty dealing with Nightmare Moon’s wings, apparently more used to fighting non-pegasi.

“Veil, Fade,” Nightmare Moon looked up to the sky, easily picking out the dark shapes darting about, one more frantically than the other. “Score?”

“Seven out of ten so far,” Veil fished out another rock from the saddlebag at her side, took aim, and threw it as Fade attempted to loop around her. She was rewarded with a pained curse and a grin broke out on her face. “Eight out of eleven.”

“What sort of training involves getting shit thrown at you?” Fade cried, stopping to hover in mid-air. He nursed the bruises on his body and shot a glare at Veil. “Look at this sadistic creep; you splooshing good over there, yeah?”

“Oh, you have no idea…”

“If you can’t dodge projectiles, how do you expect to dodge magic?” Nightmare Moon answered coolly. “As for you, Veil, I am impressed by your aim; not many can hit a target moving at that speed and a 3-dimensional range of movement.”

“It’s all in the pectorals,” Veil shrugged with a showy thump of her chest with a hoof. “Plus, I’m pretty motivated to hit him.”

“Hey, don’t hate me ‘cause I’m beautiful, yeah?” Fade’s attempt to flash a brilliant smile was interrupted by a rock to his wing. He yelped and faltered in the air. “Hey, she hit a sensitive spot!”

Nightmare Moon nodded in approval. “Good – that’ll make things interesting for when I get to shoot spells at you.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Miasma’s charge. With an air of casualness, Nightmare Moon swept out her wing to deflect the-

-Miasma suddenly appeared beneath her, sliding on her belly so the appendage sailed over her head. Nightmare Moon looked down in surprise and received an uppercut to the underside of her muzzle.

Her head snapped back and pain bloomed in the affected area; it wasn’t the worst pain she had experienced by a mile, but it still stung.
Nightmare Moon slowly brought her head forwards, aware of how quiet everything had gotten, and stared down at Miasma. She seemed just as surprised she had gotten a blow in, but there was an underlay of mounting fear written in her eyes, the most expressive part of her face.

She didn’t know why she was afraid; that had been exactly what Nightmare Moon was looking for.

“Well done.” She said with a nod.

Miasma slowly nodded back. “Yeah…”

“Now do it again.”

Nightmare Moon promptly went on the offensive.

“I agree,” Blue Diamond, the Third Representative of the Royal Court, said. “Canterlot may not have had trouble with these creatures yet, but that doesn’t mean it’ll never happen. Canterlot’s always had an advantage over invading forces because of our location, but this new threat has the capability of appearing literally anywhere, rendering that advantage ineffective. We need another means of protecting our buildings.”

“We don’t have room in the budget to layer the outer walls in metal, if that’s what you’re thinking,” The Second Representative – Floral Flare – retorted and paused to take a sip of her water. “And Captain Shining Armor is the only pony I know capable of erecting a barrier that large. Besides, the Crystal Empire has their own problems dealing with the creatures.”

Nightmare Moon listened to the conversations, but had her mind on other things. She was still paying attention and devoting brainpower to the Royal Court’s concerns; just because she had a coup to plan didn’t mean she could skip out on her other persona’s responsibilities.

She was thinking on a training regime; one that would whip her followers into a force worthy of being her personal guard. They had the potential – she placed it there herself, after all – but they had yet to develop the disciplined mindset so prevalent in the Royal Guard. They needed to be sure of themselves, to not flinch in the face of bodily harm, and to not hesitate when it came to causing harm.

Having never trained anypony before, it was a new challenge; one that Nightmare Moon actually looked forward to meeting.

‘I haven’t taken Shadow out for a while. Perhaps I can implement him into the training…’

“Star Secret, what do you think?”

Nightmare Moon looked towards the head of the table. Due to the urgency of the matter, Celestia and Luna were attending Royal Court meetings together more often than not, rather than letting whoever was awake at that time go.

“… I believe we should make more of an effort to study these creatures for weaknesses,” She addressed Beaker, the Sixth Representative. “You’re swapping notes with Princess Twilight, correct? Has anything of significant importance turned up?”

Beaker briefly flipped through the notes before him, squinting through his glasses at the neat, cursive writing.

“Nothing else we don’t already know; Princess Twilight has a few theories, but that’s all they are: theories.”

“I would like to hear them anyway,” Luna said. “She is an intelligent mare and I would not be surprised if her theories turn out to be concrete.”

“Fair enough,” Beaker’s horn lit up as he levitated a crinkled letter. “Let’s see – Princess Twilight theorizes that the creatures are incredibly resilient, if not immune, to magic in its purest form. If this has some ground, then they would be unaffected by spells from the Arcane and Alteration schools. The Elemental school should be fine, but I don’t know about the school of Illusion. Their physiologies must be different to ours, so even if it was effective…”

Celestia acknowledged the information with a nod and said, “Is there any particular element they are weak against?”

“Princess Twilight has some… interesting results,” Beaker rotated another letter in mid-air, as if a new perspective would make more sense of the words. “She theorizes that though the creatures are – like most animals – afraid of fire, they are especially vulnerable to lightning.”

Nightmare Moon arched one eyebrow, wondering exactly what sort of tests Twilight was doing to get such results. Was she experimenting on live subjects?

If so, then that was quite impressive.

“Furthermore,” Beaker continued with a minute adjustment of his glasses. “She believes that… well, this is a bit unusual, but she believes that they have an aversion to tin foil.”

“Tin… foil?” Celestia echoed with a tone that reflected the general bewilderment of everypony else.

“Yes, uh, apparently she did an experiment where she laid down tin foil and the creatures made a conscious effort to avoid touching it.”

“Shall we wrap tin foil around our buildings?” Blue Diamond suggested; it sounded like he was only half-joking.

“Not enough foil, the weather will rip it to shreds, it reflects the light…” Nightmare Moon dryly pointed out the flaws. “Problem after problem – I suggest we update each and every building’s security systems; make them deliver a more potent electric shock.”

“It can’t be too potent,” Beaker quickly retorted. “The last thing we need is ponies dying because of the very things manufactured to keep them safe.”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Of course I don’t mean it to be lethal, but it should be sufficient enough to ward off the creatures.”
Luna nodded. “I agree with Star Secret.”

“Princesses, with all due respect, this sounds like it’s doomed from the start,” Floral Flare spoke up. “I feel like we’re going to have more shock-related injuries that way.”

Nightmare Moon scowled and felt her ire and frustration build. Floral Flare was always the first one to complain – especially when it came to Nightmare Moon’s suggestions – but the last one to actually try and come up with solutions.

She had a feeling the other mare only got her position because her father pulled some strings before he passed away.

Sighing, Nightmare Moon reached for her glass of water and downed it in one go, grumbling as the Representatives started bickering – surprise, surprise – amongst themselves. The princesses looked too deep in thought to say something about it, so it was up to Nightmare Moon to try and keep the peace.

‘Ugh, this is going to be a long night…’

“Haze, Ebony – stop what you’re doing and come here.”

The two unicorns approached her, panting from the exertion of the night’s training.

Ebony had yet to perform teleportation, which was quite frustrating for Nightmare Moon to acknowledge. After this, she’d have some one-on-one time with the smaller mare; perhaps the risk of physical harm would result in success.

It worked for the rest, so why not?

“Are you aware of what it means to have an affinity towards a school of magic?” She directed the question mostly towards Ebony, since she knew Haze had a fairly deep understanding of thaumaturgy and its terms.

Haze nodded. “Yes.”

“It’s, um…” Ebony scrunched her brow together in thought for a moment. “It’s… when you’re more skilled in a certain… type of magic than others, right?”

“Correct,” Holding up one hoof, Nightmare Moon cast a minor spell. Ice crept over hoof and formed a sharp spike, pointing skywards. “My affinity is towards cryomancy, a sub-school of Elemental. As a result, ice spells are easier to cast and use up less of my magic. Even without taking my alicorn physiology into account, I am resistant towards frost spells and low temperatures as a beneficial side-effect of my affinity.”

With a casual flick of her hoof, she sent the ice spike into the trunk of a tree. It dug in a few inches and stayed there, a layer of frost spreading out from the point of impact.

“Not every unicorn has an affinity and it is not something you can develop; it is something you are born with,” She gestured to the two standing before her. “Both of you have an affinity, but I only know of Haze’s,” Nightmare Moon turned to the stallion in question. “It is of the Illusion school, yes?”

“You are correct,” Haze nodded again. “It was somewhat of a surprise considering my father and his father before him had an affinity for the Arcane school.”

“The school of Illusion is one of my favourites,” Nightmare Moon said with an evil grin. “There are few offensive spells, but there’s nothing quite like watching somepony flail in terror from threats you force them to see.”

Haze and Ebony exchanged frightened looks.

“And you, Ebony…” Nightmare Moon continued. “You seem to have great difficulty with teleportation. Would it be wrong of me to assume you’re also inept at most spells from the Arcane school?”

Ebony cringed at her words, but nodded, ears flattening in shame. “Y-yes. It took a long time for me to even get telekinesis down…”

‘To be fair, that’s most likely because of your past.’

“You will still train to perform telekinesis and create magical barriers – they are too important to pass up – but you will take a different path from Haze.”

Ebony looked back up, one ear perking. “What do you mean, Mistress?”

“Haze, you will train in spells tailored to support the others,” Nightmare Moon decreed with a nod to her right side, referring to Miasma, who was halfway through her 200 hundred push-up routine. “You will learn how to heal, how to be unseen by the enemy, and how to debilitate them. You, Ebony, will learn some of the most powerful offensive spells presently known.”

“You really think I can do it?” Ebony asked, nervous but seemingly eager to try.

“Yes, but importantly…” Nightmare Moon pointed at her. “You must believe that you can do it. A general must have as much belief in their own strength as they have in the strength of their soldiers.”

“Well put, Mistress,” Haze said with approval. “I certainly believe you are capable of it, Ebony.”

“Th-thanks…” Flushing but determined nonetheless, Ebony held her head up high. “I’m ready for anything you have, Mistress.”

Nightmare Moon chuckled and lit up her horn while spreading her wings. “Then prepare yourself, my general; the night is still young, and there is so much for me to teach you…”

Author's Note

Note 1: There are five schools of magic: Arcane, Alteration, Conjuration, Elemental, and Illusion. Of the five schools, Arcane is the easiest for most unicorns to learn yet also has some of the most complicated but powerful spells. However, the spells from this school can also be countered with minor difficulty by any unicorn worth their horn. Elemental is the second-most difficult school to learn - Conjuration being the most difficult - but many of the spells are strong and not easily countered. Of the sub-schools of Elemental, electromancy - manipulation of electricity - is the easiest to learn and pyromancy - manipulation of fire - is the most difficult, with cryomancy - manipulation of ice - being in the middle.

Note 2: Nightmare Moon didn't arrive at Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding until after the two were actually betrothed due to a mishap involving her present and Princess Luna's; she doesn't count it because of this very reason.

Chapter 17: Wedding Bells

1055 AD, June 20th

A thousand and some years ago, if somepony had told Nightmare Moon that one day she be attending a wedding and making sure everything was going well for her closest associate, she would have laughed in their face and dismissed them as being delusional.

‘How my past-self would hate to be proven wrong…’

Exhaling through her nostrils, she watched the guests chat amongst each other, or at the very least try to.

Mixing Octavia’s high-society friends with Vinyl’s gritty, nightlife compatriots may have worked to make a good source of entertainment, but it had the side-effect of increasing the probability that the bride and groom would have panic attacks.

Nightmare Moon watched a noble and his wife converse with a spiky-maned stallion with multiple piercings – the wife and the stallion were making googly-eyes at each other the whole time – for a while before picking out a slender pony a good head taller than the majority of the guests.

She didn’t bother calling out; Fleur only had to glance over before she smiled and trotted over excitedly.

Fleur was dressed in the traditional gossamer lilac dresses worn by bridesmaids; the frilliness of it all made her wish bodily harm on Future Nightmare Moon should she ever choose to don such attire.

“Well, well…” Fleur’s eyes roved over her body approvingly. “Don’t you look handsome?”

Nightmare Moon had chosen to wear a black tuxedo, white cuffs, and a white collar with an indigo tie. Clothing wasn’t something that appealed to her, but for the sake of the wedding – not to mention her associates’ sanity – she was willing to acquiesce.

“You know my feelings about your choice of wear,” Nightmare Moon shrugged. “All that embroidery and patterns – it should stick to banners and tapestries.”

“You’re so practical, you know that?” Fleur rolled her eyes.

“Somepony has to be when there’s a wedding about,” Eyes narrowing, Nightmare Moon scanned the room. “Neither Vinyl nor Octavia have fled, have they? I feel as if I should have threatened Vinyl more.”

“No, they’re both still getting ready,” Fleur chuckled. “Oh my, I’ve never seen Octavia so worked up; she’s hyperventilating into three paper bags at once.”

“Do I even want to know how Vinyl is doing?”

The other mare’s eyes flicked to the ceiling in thought. “I’d guess that depends…”

“Sadly, you’ve said enough,” Nightmare Moon’s horn lit up as she adjusted her tie. “Still, so long as they both get in front of Princess Twilight when they’re supposed to, I’d call this day a success. By the by, where is your husband?”

“Somewhere,” Fleur gestured to the crowd with a lazy wave of her hoof. “I believe he’s catching up with a few of his friends.”

“Speaking of Fancypants, I’ve been hearing rumours regarding his company’s crystal trade with the Crystal Empire; namely involving the smuggling of items not drawn in the contracts. Do you know anything about this?”

Fleur blinked and her eyes widened. “I…” She frowned slightly, irritated. “Star, you know Fancypants; he wouldn’t do something like that.”

Nightmare Moon knew Fancypants enough to know how much he detested illegality and shady businesses, but not enough to know if he wouldn’t do it if push came to shove. Ponies did things they didn’t like all the time if it would get them further ahead in life and knowing how much of a wide-eyed idealist he was, who was to say his own altruistic ambitions wouldn’t lead to him adopting an ‘ends justify the means’ mentality?

“It’s my job to make sure about these sorts of things,” She replied coolly, aware that she had upset her associate. She hated how wrong it made her feel. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Fleur sighed, her expression one of annoyance. “I have heard nothing about this; Fancypants told me a few employees had to be fired because of their laziness so maybe that’s what it’s all about: disgruntled workers.”

It was logical and made sense. A far-cry from the whispers of the many conspiracy-crazed nobles paranoid that somepony was after their wealth 24/7.

“Thank you for your input,” Nightmare Moon poured herself some wine, the bottle and glass floating in front of her. “Would you like some?”

The other mare hummed in debate, brow furrowing slightly. “Sure – why not? It’s a celebration, isn’t it?”

“Whether it’s for a wedding or for the Equestrian record for the most panic attacks had by the bride and groom remains to be seen.” Nightmare Moon cleanly poured another glass, holding it out to her associate.

Fleur snorted and tittered, her lack of focus causing the glass to tremble once it was in her magic. “If we’re lucky we can have both.”

“Then I should have ordered twice the wine.”

Fleur’s chuckle was slightly muffled as she took a sip. “Well, a third record: most wine served at a wedding.”

Nightmare Moon gave a wry smile. “No doubt Vinyl would be ecstatic about that.”

The alicorn paused as Fleur laughed once more. She felt so… relaxed just standing there talking to her fr- associate. A feeling of nostalgia came over here as she was reminded of the days when she was just a part of Fancypants’ hegemony, when her days were spent conversing with Canterlot’s elite and her nights were spent making sure ponies didn’t get too rowdy in Vinyl’s club.

Her ambition – her goal – had been to stage a coup, but she could remember times when thoughts of a hostile takeover had been the farthest thing from her mind and she was able to simply sit back and feel content… at least for the moment.

No desire to rule Equestria.

No driving passion to see Celestia on her knees begging for mercy.

Nothing but contentment – a sensation that had been utterly alien to her otherwise.

She never thought trivial things like that would feel so… right. When she rose to power and dealt with the invasions, she’d make sure to have some free-time to do more ‘hanging out’ with her associates.

And if they decided they wished to no longer be seen with the pony who lied to them for four years… well, that was fine, too.

She didn’t need them; they were luxuries.

“At any rate…” Fleur began once she had her mirth under control. “I hope you’re not feeling too bogged down with the responsibilities of keeping a wedding from spiralling out of control?”

“Hardly – once you find the correct way to handle a large-scale event, you’ve found the way to deal with them all.”

“Oh? And that is?”

“Yelling. Yelling with just a hint of putting out enough refreshments to keep everypony distracted,” Nightmare Moon shrugged. “Mostly yelling though.”

“And might I say you’re very good at that?”

“You may.”

“I’m glad you took the time to help out; I know you must have a dozen other things to do.”

“Not really…”

In truth, volunteering to make sure the wedding went out without a hitch had cut into her time – time which she could have used to finish up on some paperwork or train her subjects.

Nightmare Moon wasn’t a pony who was easily demoralized by the thought of mountains of forms and papers requiring her attention – she actually enjoyed it to a certain extent – but she did have limits and with the deadline of the coupe approaching, she was under a lot of pressure.

Yet the thought of not helping with the wedding simply wasn’t appealing to her.

It was a sobering thought – she had developed a soft spot for a loud, obnoxious DJ that she originally thought would be impossible to live with without succumbing to madness.

“So modest – you’re really just a big softie at heart, hm?”

Nightmare Moon grimaced. “I know you caught me drinking, but I assure you I’m not drunk enough to take those words lying down.”

“I’ll get you yet…” Fleur adopted a menacing expression though it was ruined by the playful smile on her muzzle.

“Doubtful,” The alicorn glanced at the watch adorning her right foreleg. The ceremony which would bind Vinyl and Octavia together in holy matrimony was to begin in an hour. “At any rate, I’m afraid I must cut our conversation short: last-hour preparations and all that.”

“By all means,” Fleur nodded. “I’m all a-tremble to see those two get betrothed.”

Giving a single nod in farewell, Nightmare Moon trotted through the crowd.

Half an hour later, most of the guests were seated and Nightmare Moon was beginning to feel the approaching signs of a twitch as a hundred things went wrong.

A glass of wine had been shattered a few minutes earlier, some guests weren’t accounted for, the ice sculpture resting in the punch bowl was melting too fast, and one of the band players was complaining about a sore hoof.

Oh, and Vinyl wasn’t in her room.

She did not spend a great deal of her precious time and energy on such an occasion only to have her associate ruin everything because she was having a case of the pre-wedding jitters.

Perhaps she should have expected something like this, but… no, Vinyl may have been stressing, but never once did she give any hints that she flat-out could not go through with the wedding; Nightmare Moon would have noticed that; Vinyl was too easy to read for things like that to slip by.

Finding a secluded spot, Nightmare Moon closed her eyes, and cast a Detection Pulse spell. The pulse travelled through the building, highlighting every unicorn in her mind’s eye. As the outlines faded, she picked out a lone figure inside a broom closet. The outline showed a familiar tousled mane.

‘There you are…’

Nightmare Moon stalked towards the closet like a predator, brow furrowed and lips drawn in a fierce expression that would have sent a manticore running. When she arrived at the closet she noticed a unicorn stallion talking softly at the door. He seemed familiar…

He noticed her approach and sighed in relief. “Hey, Star, remember me?”

She frowned, straining her memory, eyeing the mane and glasses.

“From the club? Neon Lights?”

“Ah, yes – the stallion who somehow got his tongue stuck to a block of ice in the middle of summer. I haven’t seen you in quite some time.”

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah, not the best moment of my life. But never mind that – Vinyl’s locked herself in there and she won’t come out,” He rapped his hoof against the door for emphasis. “You think you can talk her out?”

“I’ll break the door down if I have to…” She glared at the door as if the intensity of her gaze would set it alight before knocking her hoof against it. “Vinyl! If you’ve somehow missed the fact that your own wedding is about to commence, then I will have officially lost faith in equinity!”

“Oh…” Came the muffled response. “Hey, Wolf… how’s it hangin’?”

“Not too well to be honest; there’s this unicorn that won’t come out of the closet for her own wedding. Have you heard of her?” She knocked on the wood a few more times. “Now would you come out of there and tell me what’s bothering you?”

“Um…” There was a shuffling noise. “Could you come in instead?”

The thought of dragging the DJ out crossed her mind, but she gritted her teeth and sighed through her nostrils. “Very well.”

The door unlocked and creaked open. Nightmare Moon trotted inside and closed the door behind her, Neon Lights uttering a quick ‘good luck’ as support.

Vinyl was sitting against the wall on her haunches, glasses lying at her side. Like Nightmare Moon, she had chosen to wear a tuxedo, not inclined to share in the same dream of her fiancé to finally wear a wedding dress.

She gave Nightmare Moon a small grin. “Little too late to try and get me to come out of the closet, eh?”

Nightmare Moon detected the melancholy in her tone and her anger cooled slightly. “What’s the problem? Why are you hiding away?”

Vinyl shrugged, idly playing at her tuxedo’s cuffs, straightening and rolling them back up again. “Dunno. Felt like everything was too open and freaky and shit. I never was an outdoors filly, ya know?”

“You’re beating around the bush,” Nightmare Moon said. “You know how much I hate that.”

“Yeah, yeah…” She nodded. “Yeah…” She paused and sighed, looking up at her. “Wolf… are you, like… scared of anything?”

The openness and sheer emotion in the DJ’s gaze reminded her of when she revealed that she would be moving out. Nightmare Moon hesitated and focused on the unicorn’s horn instead of making direct eye contact.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I dunno, but… are you? Are you scared of anything?”

“… Scared?”

“Yeah, ya know – fear.”

Fear…

Nightmare Moon had… She wasn’t sure if she had ever felt fear. When the Elements of Harmony had blasted her, there was a sinking feeling, a moment where she literally thought ‘How can this be?’, but was that sinking feeling fear? It seemed more like dismay and outrage.

“Nothing crosses my mind, but…” She thought deeply, trying to recall a moment close to fear.

Vinyl spoke up. “I’m… kinda scared of dying.”

Nightmare Moon blinked and re-focused. “Dying? That’s natural; death is not an appealing concept.”

Vinyl shook her head. “Nah, I mean… not the ‘dying’ bit, if that makes sense; it’s… Okay, so there I was getting ready for the wedding… then out of nowhere I suddenly started thinking of all the cool crap me and Octy have done. All the dates and spending time together and the sex.”

Nightmare Moon grimaced. “Yes, you’ve told me… time and time again… and in great detail.”

“So I’m thinkin’ about all that stuff and how good it makes me feel inside and I think to myself ‘I like these feelings; it’s awesome’. And I’m thinkin’ and thinkin’ and then I realize…” She paused. “I realize… when I die… that’s it. I’m gone – no more DJ Pon-3, no Vinyl Scratch. I’m dead and gone. And if there’s no afterlife then I just stop thinking and then I’m… just nothing. No thoughts, no memories, nothing!”

She shook her head, exhaling shakily.

“And… I don’t want to lose all these memories and feelings. I don’t want to lose who I am. I don’t want to lose Octy – I really don’t want to lose her. Just… the thought of going through life and getting all these awesome experiences and crap and then just… losing them all in one second like they never existed, like nothing I did mattered. It’s fucking scary, Wolf. That… nothing… scares me.”

“…”

“And I’m freakin’ out over this wedding because I know how happy she’s going to make me and the thought of losing that…”

A single tear streamed down her cheek, painting a streak of fur a damp grey. She wiped it away quickly and sniffed – no more tears dripped, but dozens more had gathered in her eyes.

“Ah… fuck…”

Nightmare Moon cringed as the DJ looked away in shame. She didn’t know what to do. It was the ‘leaving the apartment’ situation all over again.

She felt wrong.

The words Vinyl spoke made her feel uneasy.

Time had no power over her and the effort it would take to actually kill her was too much to be considered worrisome, but if she did somehow die… the thought of simply ceasing to exist and fading until she was nothing but a memory, a story…

‘A Mare in the Moon…’

The idea tainted her mind for a few moments, stirring and festering…

Then a wave of heat surged throughout her body.

“Oh, you are being such a snivelling coward right now.”

Vinyl looked up in surprise. “What?”

“You’re afraid of dying because you don’t want to lose all these memories and feelings?” Nightmare Moon scowled venomously, pushing her face closer to Vinyl, who backed up against the wall in shock. “And you’d rather abandon Octavia – a mare you have referred to time and time again as your ‘one true melody’ – and leave her at the altar because you’re too scared to face that?!”

Vinyl winced. “I just-”

“Fine – let’s say there really is no afterlife and nothing’s waiting for you. If that’s the case, then you might as well get the most out of your life as possible instead of moping about and stewing in your own pathetic puddle of self-pity and woe!” She inched closer, green eyes locked with red. “You let fear and self-doubt control your life, then you might as well end it right here, right now!”

“I-”

“We live to accomplish! We live to experience! We live to find our purpose! We do not live to lament about death and what it may hold for us! If that’s what we were meant to do then we wouldn’t have these dreams, these desires! I have a desire – a few, actually – yet do you see me moaning and shivering at the idea of death? If I had to be afraid of anything involving death then it would be worrying if it would be painful and prolonged!”

“I-”

“Yes,” She turned away, glaring at the door, teeth bared and tail swishing. “Ceasing to exist and being unable to remember my accomplishments isn’t attractive, but what’s worse is to be forgotten or not remembered at all! If I’m going to go then I want other ponies to remember me, to know that I was here and I lived! I’m not a bag of organs and magic walking around autonomously; I am a thinking, confident, powerful mare who has done and is capable of doing many great things!”

Nightmare Moon turned again, slamming her hoof down on the floor.

“And you should want to feel the same way! You’ve trudged through life for this long and now you’re deciding to let fear rule you?! You’re willing to let something you desire slip through your hooves?! No! Make your mark on the world! Let everypony know that you exist and you live! If you don’t then I will personally beat you here and now for wasting my time and energy in being your friend!”

She drew in harsh breaths as she glared down at Vinyl, daring her to say anything self-pitying and melancholic. It was bad enough that she had the gall to doubt herself after so many years of self-assurance and confidence, but infecting her with the same unwanted thoughts?

The nerve of that loud, obnoxious, beat-boxing, pancake-eating…

Nightmare Moon drew back in shock as Vinyl suddenly began chuckling. “Why…?” She quickly recovered and her brow drew together in anger. “Why are you laughing? Is something I said hilarious to you?”

“Nah, nah…” Vinyl grinned up at her. “I just… almost pissed myself…” She guffawed, holding her stomach and trembling from her mirth.

“You enjoy sitting in urine?” Nightmare Moon commented dryly. A split-second later, she shuddered with a grimace of disgust. “Actually, don’t answer that; I already know how sexually adventurous you and Octavia are.”

Vinyl continued to laugh. “Shit, Wolf… I forgot how scary you can be,” She wiped a tear from her eye, calming down slightly. “It’s been so long since we’ve hung out that I figured… Tartarus, sitting on your flank and signing all those papers hasn’t made ya soft in the least, eh?”

“Mercifully,” Nightmare Moon fixed her glare on Vinyl again. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Right, right…” Vinyl inhaled deeply, stilling her giggles, but keeping her smile. “You’re right. You’re totally right about all that stuff and hearin’ all that just… I dunno; it just made everything I said dumb. Funny but dumb.”

“You’re…” This was new; normally she had to shout something a few times before Vinyl saw reason. “Yes, it was.”

Vinyl rose to her feet, adjusting her clothes. “I… You’re right; I should live life to its fullest and I want Octy to do the same… with me. I’ve been going by that rule for so long and then I just forgot about it. I forgot about it for one second and almost lost…” She blinked and beamed up at her. “But you reminded me… thanks, Wolf.”

Then she hugged her.

Nightmare Moon froze as a white foreleg was slung over her shoulder and Vinyl rested her head on the other. Physical affection wasn’t something new, but it was restricted to soft punches, elbow jabs, and rump bumps; a hug was something she had only seen Vinyl give to Octavia.

It lasted for maybe one and a half seconds and then Vinyl removed herself, levitated her glasses to hang in the collar of her tuxedo and trotted towards the door.

“So let’s get this party started, eh?”

The closet door open and light spilled in as well as Neon Lights’ concerned questions. Nightmare Moon quickly reigned in her initial surprise and stalked after the DJ.

“Vinyl, you know how I feel about being touched so suddenly.”

“What, still? Jeez, Tartarus is gonna freeze over when somepony manages to get you into bed.”

Neon Lights sighed. “Do I even want to know what happened in that closet?”

“Miracles, Neon, my stallion – Wolf showed her sensitive side.”

Nightmare Moon bristled and spat. “Remember it because it’s the last time it’ll ever happen.”

“And you called me your friend.”

“Last. Time.”

“Octy, you know I can talk like nopony’s business except when I actually have to say something worthwhile. Because then I just start talkin’ crap; kinda like that time you introduced me to your parents and at dinner I started trying to come up with every type of topping that can go on pancakes and then they got mad at me and then I was like, ‘at least you’re mad at me for something other than I’m a mare’ and… hold on, lost my train of thought.

“Right, so you know I talk crap sometimes and say nothing for hours and… well, it really means a lot to me that you can just sit there and just listen to me. I know you can’t speak and everything, but you can still hit me or glare or growl and when you don’t and just listen… it’s pretty cool. And it’s cool because when I finally run out of stuff to say then I don’t really have a choice, but to do the same thing you do: sit and listen. And I’m glad you make me do that because I never realized how musical the world can be.

“You know my music: all lights and artificial and stuff, and that’s friggin’ awesome. But it wasn’t until I really sat down and listened did I finally figure out and say, ‘damn, all these nature sounds and crap would make a good remix’. And that’s pretty much how I made my latest track, so thanks for that. And it also got me thinkin’ that maybe not every type of music needs to be loud and heavy to be good. Like your cello thing; when I first heard you play I thought I was in Snores-ville – population, me. But it grew on me, ya know? Kinda like you and all those cute little things you do – hey, you know Octy drools in her sleep? It’s friggin’ cute as crap.

“Where was I? Oh yeah, so I guess what I’m trying to say is… thanks, Octy. Thanks for helping me see the world in a different way and being cool with all the dumb stuff I do all the time and just… being there whenever I need you. I’ve never been a romantic mare – never really wanted to – but every time I do make you blush and swoon, I feel like the most sly and suave pony that ever existed. You’re just… awesome and… I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. You’re the needle to my record… as dumb as that probably sounds.

“I… love you, Octy.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Ah, jeez… you always know the right thing to say. Friggin’… making me going soft in front of everypony…”

Twilight Sparkle smiled warmly at the two mares and said, “Octavia Philharmonica, do you take this mare to be your wife?”

Octavia nodded, tears of joy brimming in her eyes.

“Vinyl Scratch, do you take this mare to be your wife?”

Vinyl sniffed and nodded, face almost splitting from the size of her smile. “Hay yeah, I do!”

“Then by the power invested in me, by the land of Equestria and my fellow princesses – Celestia and Luna – I now pronounce you two joined in holy matrimony. You may now kiss.”

After the expected applause, cheers, tears, and a kiss which lasted the better part of three minutes, it was time for the wedding reception.
Much to Nightmare Moon’s chagrin, it wasn’t planned by her.

‘At least,’ Nightmare Moon thought as she watched Vinyl and Octavia have their first dance; a slow, methodical display that was rather surprising coming from the DJ. ‘The music’s good.’

She wondered how long it would be before that pink menace decided to put on the Pony Pokey.

Still, despite the minor hiccup with Vinyl’s little pit-party, the wedding ceremony had gone according to plan. Nightmare Moon was… happy… to see her f-friend’s big day go without a hitch.

“Ah, Star Secret!”

And just like that, her good mood vanished.

Turning and putting on an amiable grin, Nightmare Moon nodded at Twilight Sparkle. “Princess, it is an honour. It was generous of you to come out here and act as the marriage officiant.”

Twilight blushed and shrugged modestly. “Well, when Pinkie heard her friend was getting married, she practically begged me to step in and perform the ceremony,” The princess looked up at Nightmare Moon; even with her alicorn status she was still smaller. “You know, I actually wanted to talk to you; been meaning to for a while now.”

Biting back a grunt of annoyance, Nightmare Moon kept smiling pleasantly. “Oh? What about?”

“Well, first of all, I wanted to apologize for the mess Pinkie made of the ice sculpture.”

Nightmare Moon’s right eyebrow ascended. “What mess?”

“Oh, uh…” Twilight laughed and quickly waved her hoof dismissively. “N-never mind! No mess! No worries! So anyway, the second thing was that I never got a chance to congratulate you for becoming the Seventh Representative of the Royal Court. My friends and I tried to find you at the ceremony, but it’s like you were avoiding us.”

Nightmare Moon almost laughed at the irony of that statement. She didn’t want to associate with the Element bearers for two reasons: the first was because they were the key figures in stopping her previous plans to rule Equestria, and the second was because she couldn’t know for sure if they would be able to sense her true nature through some passive ability of the Elements.

Judging by Twilight’s relaxed demeanour, there may have been no claim to that suspicion, but Nightmare Moon felt she was entitled to be paranoid; the date of her coup was coming closer day by day, and the slightest slip-up could spell disaster.

“My apologies, princess,” Nightmare Moon replied. “I was engaged elsewhere at the time.”

Twilight nodded, completely believing her lie. “I thought so. Well, congratulations anyway; better late than never, right?”

“True,” Nightmare Moon discreetly glanced to the side, looking for something she could use to excuse herself. “I-”

“Oh, but the girls will want to meet you, too!” Twilight’s wings spread slightly in excitement and she looked over her shoulder. “I thought I saw- Applejack! Rarity! Over here!”

‘Ah, wonderful…’

The rest of the accursed Element bearers sans the boisterous pegasus were approaching at Twilight’s behest. They all looked ecstatic at meeting her except for the yellow one – Fluttershy, she thought the name was.

“This is Star Secret,” Twilight gestured to her friends in turn. “Star Secret, I want you to meet Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Rainbow Dash couldn’t be here unfortunately; she’s, uh…” Her head expression fell a little. “In hospital.”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened in surprise. “Hospital? The last I heard of the Wonderbolts and their recruits, they were investigating the plains of Appleloosa.”

“Ah, they were, but tha’ fool pegasus took offense to some angler bat messin’ up her flight and tailed it to a cave without informin’ th’ captain,” Applejack answered. “Stirred a whole nest of ‘em up an’ broke her wing an’ a leg sealin’ up th’ entrance with a boulder.”

For some reason, Pinkie snickered and cast a devious look at Rarity, whose cheeks flushed in indignation. The unicorn made a zipping motion across her lips.

“Thankfully, some of the buffalo living in that area came by and helped her back to the town,” Twilight continued. “Spitfire gave her some time off to recover. Rainbow Dash wasn’t happy, but asked to be moved to Ponyville for her recovery.”

“How unfortunate.” Nightmare Moon said, hiding her pleased grin with a faux sympathetic frown.

While her plans didn’t call for any of the Element bearers to be injured, it certainly didn’t hurt that one of them was. It also put a bit of joy in her heart to hear the news as well.

“Dashie’s a tough cookie!” Pinkie said in that annoyingly high-pitched, bubbly voice as she bounced up and down in place. “She’ll be up and flying around in no time. Sure, she’ll probably be crashing through Twilight’s library again, but it’ll be worth it to have our old speedster back. Right, Flutters?”

Fluttershy was hanging back behind Rarity, trying to appear friendly, but having a difficult time hiding her unease. “Oh, yes; sh-she’s so very strong. I don’t doubt it.”

The shy pegasus’ anxiety set off warning bells in Nightmare Moon’s head. While it didn’t seem that Fluttershy saw through her disguise, it was obvious she was getting some sort of bad vibe from Nightmare Moon’s presence. It made too much sense the Element of Kindness’ empathy would be that strong.

Nightmare Moon wanted this conversation to end quickly, but couldn’t see anything that would provide a reasonable excuse. Perhaps if she pretended to be sick, then she could-

‘Wait, what is that?’

The gentle melody that had been playing to Octavia and Vinyl’s slow dance the entire time suddenly switched up.

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie pumped one hoof into the air gleefully. “Here’s where it gets funky! Swing with me, Rari-O!”

“Er, excuse m- eeeee!”

Rarity was swept away in a pink blur and ended up on the dance floor, being swung this way and that, her cries for help going unheeded by the masses getting into the groove of the music. Amazingly, despite the clashing cultures that made up the wedding guests, everypony seemed to be enjoying the song; some nobles were even dancing with those from the grittier section of Canterlot.

“Hey, now this I like!” Applejack smiled approvingly and started nodding her head to the beat. “Ain’t country music, but it’s a near second ah’ll tell ya tha’!”

Somepony tapped Nightmare Moon on the shoulder. Turning, she tilted her head down slightly to meet the gaze of a blushing opal-coated mare with a swirly mane of strawberry hair. She appeared to be one of the bridesmaids – most likely one of Octavia’s friend – but Nightmare Moon didn’t recognize her.

“Do…” She began, blue eyes sparkling hopefully. “Do you want to dance?”

Nightmare Moon wasn’t one for dancing and she certainly didn’t have the time nor the desire for romance, but if it got her away from these mares…

“If the princess will excuse me…?”

“Oh, go ahead,” Twilight politely bowed her head. “I’m sure we’ll meet again soon; enjoy the party.”

‘Doubtful…’

Nightmare Moon allowed the opal-coated mare to lead her to the dance floor. She may have been a better fate than hanging around Fluttershy and risk being exposed, but Nightmare Moon still bristled at being forced to dance; it would have been suspicious not to after she had just agreed to do so.

The mare before her was doing some form of dance which involved large swings, putting her entire body weight into every movement. It made sense a song with such a beat would involve a lot of energy.

Nightmare Moon was a decent dancer – not great but not bad – but she was unfamiliar with this genre of music, so she simply swayed back and forth on the spot while watching the other mare’s movements until she felt confident enough to try copying.

“I’m Peachwood,” The mare introduced herself as she and Nightmare Moon weaved and swung around each other. “I heard you were the one who helped organize the ceremony.”

‘Ah, small chat; just what I wanted.’

“You heard correctly,” Nightmare Moon nodded. “I would have done the reception, too, but Vinyl enlisted Pinkie Pie for that.”

Peachwood did a pirouette before saying, “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“… It’s not bad; the music’s quite enjoyable.”

“It’s a mix made by Vinyl and Octavia; they wanted to see if they could mix classical and electronic, and make it sound good,” She briefly looked around the room and giggled. “I think it’s safe to say they succeeded.”

Nightmare Moon glanced over to a frightening display of Twilight flailing about like she was having a seizure. Appropriately enough, many dancers were giving her a wide berth.

“They’ve succeeded in creating a monster…”

Author's Note

Note 1: At the bouquet-toss, several ponies were subsequently traumatized by something that totally did not involve Rarity.

Note 2: Nightmare Moon believes what she says whole-heartedly because it is all that could be defined as 'hers'.

Chapter 18: Nightmare Night

1055 AD, October 31st

The streets just outside the gilded gates leading to Canterlot Castle were usually empty on regular days. It was a common joke amongst the Royal Guard that being on patrol there and expecting trouble was equivalent to expecting water to freeze in a fireplace.

However, on one particular night, thing were considerably more interesting.

Nightmare Night was perhaps one of the few instances where nobility put aside their dignity and hierarchal status to put on bright fabrics and numerous accessories, and fill the streets with their numbers.

Many would attempt to defend their honour by saying that they did so to make Princess Luna feel appreciated rather than possessing any foalish urge to consume sweets by the bucket-full and shout ‘blargh’ in their rivals’ faces.

Those very same ponies would then proceed to consume sweets by the bucket-full and shout ‘blargh’ in their rivals’ faces.

Though there may have been a few pessimists who feared that if they didn’t celebrate they’d be treated to an alicorn’s envy and wrath, many of Canterlot’s populace that showed up at the festival near Canterlot Castle were there because they genuinely enjoyed the night and the beauty it brought, and were genuinely grateful to its curator.

So it was amongst the crowded streets where Haze found himself grumbling, and picking at his itchy mummified pony costume. Fade travelled alongside him, covered in fake blood and sores with a t-shirt reading, ‘Brains – here, now’. He preoccupied himself by stuffing as much cotton candy and caramel apples into his maw as he could.

“Whoo!” Hopped up from the sugar rush, Fade gave Haze an unexpected shove. “Get pumped for Nightmare Night!”

“I can scarcely believe you can stomach such food,” Haze turned green as Fade plunged an apple into the cotton candy and pulled it back out to merrily munch on it. “Oh dear, I believe I am going to faint…”

“Gotta build up my energy, don’t I?” Fade nudged him again, albeit softer. “We got music, food, drinks, and in a few hours we’re gonna be having the fight of our lives!”

Fade opened his mouth to take another bite of the cotton candy-ized apple only for a silver aura to suddenly enshroud it and force it almost all the way down his throat. His eyes lit up in surprise as he turned to his friend with a questioning grunt.

“For Faust’s sake, if you’re going to talk about that, then limit it to telepathy!” Haze quickly nodded politely as a guard patrol walked by. “I doubt Nightmare Moon will be very pleased if we were captured for treason before the battle even started.”

Fade gave a series of inarticulate grunts. Haze rolled his eyes and magically pulled the apple free.

“-chill out; you might as well get as much relaxation and fun in now in case things go down in flames,” He curled his feathers around the hovering apple’s stick and blissfully resumed chewing on it. “All this stress isn’t good for unicorns, right? Something to do with their spells?”

“You do bring up a good point,” Haze discreetly let his magic pulse steadily throughout his body, a relaxation technique taught to him by his mother. “We’ve been training for this, but I must admit I can’t help but feel anxious. We’ve been training ourselves to the bone, but the task of taking down an…” He broke concentration as he turned and gave the pegasus a strange look. “Hold on a moment – why did that apple in your mouth block your telepathy?”

Fade shrugged, disinterested. “I dunno. Magic?”

“But…”

“Sweet – they got DJ Pon-3 to play!” Like a child on a sugar craze, Fade zipped off towards the stage, a crowd already gathering.

Haze let out a long-suffering sigh and followed, ears flattened against his skull in annoyance.

The presence of DJ Pon-3 was rather unusual considering most ponies living in this section of Canterlot were more comfortable with classical tunes, but seeing as Luna had an affinity for that ‘techno’ noise, he supposed it seemed appropriate.

Veil rested on a bed of clouds above the concert, a half-eaten apple in her hoof. With sharp eyes, she scanned the framework of streets and buildings, watching ponies shuffle about like multi-coloured ants.

Mother Faust, she hated them sometimes.

Veil briefly thought back to a time when her parents would tan her hide raw for saying such things. Eventually, she learned to simply think it, though that didn’t stop her from earning a clip around the ears and a lecture when she became cold and incensed to everypony that spoke to her.

Leaving Appleloosa was a dream come true.

Her parents had protested, but ultimately recognized their little filly had grown up and was capable of making her own decisions. There were tears in their eyes, but their tones were strong and prideful as they waved her off.

The pangs of loneliness and regret cut through her icy demeanour the first night away from home.

In an altruistic and close-knitted town like Appleloosa, helping one another without expecting anything in return was simply the norm. A pony who didn’t follow those norms was considered a pariah, an outcast.

Veil was such a pony and she knew her parents had some problems because of it, had their parenting skills called into question. None of the claims were true; they were wonderful parents, and she loved them to bits.

She just had trouble showing it, just as she had trouble caring and sympathising for anypony else.

The doctors called it a ‘condition’, an abnormality in the brain. They said there was no present cure.

Veil scoffed and gnashed into her apple. “Cure it. Give me a break.”

There was nothing wrong with her.

So she had difficulty forming relationships and considering somepony’s feelings – so what? When was being a goody-four-horseshoes a requirement for life?

She had a tolerable job that paid well, she was healthy, and she had the most adorable tabby that liked to drink out of the toilet no matter how many sarcastic remarks she threw at her. The fact that she didn’t immediately make friends with everypony she met simply meant that she was surer of the ones who were her friends. After all, if they could put up with her verbal barbs and general disdain towards her fellow equine then they were more worthy of her company.

So in a way, her asociality approach was better.

That was why she joined the Eclipse.

She may not have originally believed in the Eclipse’s idea that Nightmare Moon would return to lead them – when she first saw the black alicorn she had only barely supressed a startled curse – but their ideals were something she agreed with one hundred percent.
Equestria was too reliant on the whole ‘friendship solves everything’ ideology; not everything could be charmed and talked down.

She didn’t mind joy and happiness, but when it started to be the only thing that defined Equestria and shaped society then it made it very hard to solve problems diplomatically when force would be a better solution.

Veil rolled onto her back, wings splayed as she gazed out into the starry sky, picking out the few constellations she knew.

The griffon kingdom wasn’t the sugar-bowl Equestria was, but it wasn’t as if it was plunging into chaos. Their economy was rich and stable, the majority of the populace was happy, and if they couldn’t solve anything with words then they simply needed to point out their substantial military. They never needed the personification of harmony to ‘pacify’ their enemies.

‘Come to think of it, the Elements never really ‘pacify’ anything. They banished Luna to the moon, they failed to exonerate Nightmare Moon fully, they can only turn Discord to stone… hell, they pretty much only provide a short-term solution and leave the actual solving to everypony. It really is a weapon.’

It was a non-lethal weapon, but a weapon nonetheless. And if the Elements failed then Equestria had to resort to their practically non-existent military force. The Royal Guard was the only considerable force she knew of and they failed spectacularly against the changelings.

‘It really is better this way. Nature is cruel; trying to solve problems peacefully is nice, but I don’t think it should be our only plan. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.’

She took a bite of the apple and hit the core. Spitting out one or two seeds, she casually tossed it over the edge of the cloud and placed her forelegs behind her head, using them as a cushion as she chewed slowly, watching the twinkling dots scattered across the night sky.

‘Still, I never guessed I’d play a part in something like this. I wonder what mom and dad would say…’

The answer came to her instantly and she shook her head to get rid of creeping doubts and guilt. It was too late to back out now.

In the middle of Ponyville Square, Twilight watched as Spike fished out one apple out of a bucket after another – much to the other participants’ envy – when her attention was caught by a familiar voice.

“Hey, Twilight!”

“Rainbow-?” Twilight stared in shock as the cyan pegasus trotted up to her, a familiar orange filly at her side. “What are you doing out here? You should be resting.”

“Pfft, I’m totally fine,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Besides, how could I miss out seeing what lame costume you chose to wear this time?”

Anger momentarily replacing her initial shock and concern, Twilight glared, and then smirked victoriously as she spread out her wings, tilting her head high with pride.

“Ha! Well, prepare to be sorely mistaken! This is one of my finest costumes yet, if I do say so myself.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, amused. “Really now?”

“Really,” Twilight turned to the side, fully showing off the dark colours of her robe and long cape. “For I am Swirling Impact, the very first necromancer.”

Rainbow Dash cringed, for that was pretty badass. Much better than Beardswirl the Started or whatever his name was. Still, her pride wouldn’t let her admit defeat, at least not so easily, and especially not in front of Scootaloo.

“Meh,” She played it off with a casual shrug. “Pretty cool, I guess. It’s still pretty nerdy though.”

“Oh, and your zombie pony costume is so original.” Twilight snarked.

Rainbow Dash’s cheeks darkened when the retort wrought a laugh out of the filly by her side. Twilight was besting her at witty remarks so naturally her ego chalked it up to still being woozy from her injuries.

“Let’s just agree to disagree,” She quickly said before turning to ruffle Scootaloo’s mane affectionately. “Anyway, I know I’m still not exactly one hundred percent, so I got Scoots here to help out with my Nightmare Night pranking spree.”

“We just pranked Rarity,” Scootaloo snickered deviously. “She really doesn’t like spiders.”

“That’s why you’re dressed as one?” Twilight observed.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “One of the reasons; the other reason involves paint, sneezing powder, peanut butter, and a fan. Hey, totally unrelated question, but are you allergic to peanut butter?”

“… No.”

“Okay, cool.”

Twilight cocked one eyebrow at the two pegasi’s less than stellar poker-faces. Their intention to prank her was obvious, but she couldn’t bring herself to call them out. It was nice to see Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo spend time together. The filly’s parents were almost constantly busy with their jobs; they could afford to have dinner together, but little else.

Shaking her head in bemusement, Twilight said, “Alright, you two have fun. Try not to push yourself too hard, okay?”

“Yeah, no worries. Scoots is here to watch my back, ain’t that right?”

Scootaloo giggled and nodded her head, beaming with pride. “You know it!”

“That’s my sis’!” Rainbow Dash ruffled the small filly’s mane again and nonchalantly dipped her head in Twilight’s direction. “Oh, I think Spike’s having some trouble by the way.”

“What?” Twilight looked over her shoulder, eyes widening when she saw Spike was sitting on the ground, struggling to close his mouth around a literal bushel of apples. “Oh, Spike! How did you even…? Ugh, hold still.”

“Keep it cool, you two!” Rainbow Dash laughed a little at the display before turning to leave with her surrogate sister. “Hey, who should we prank first – Applejack, Big Mac, or Zecora?”

“I’ve never seen Zecora get pranked before,” Scootaloo said. “It’s like she’s one step ahead or something.”

“She’s almost as crafty as Pinkie. Still…” Rainbow Dash smirked confidently. “There’s two of us and one of her; I think we’ll get her this Nightmare Night. What do you say?” She held out her uninjured wing. “You ready for some pranking?”

With an excited grin, Scootaloo lifted her own small wing and slapped Rainbow Dash’s. “You bet I am!”

Hanging out with her idol was gonna be a blast!

“Star Secret, are you feeling okay?”

“Of course,” Nightmare Moon replied smoothly, even going so far as to giving a small smile full of reassurance. “Why do you ask?”

“You seem…” Celestia pursed her lips in thought, but just as quickly, she shook her head. “Never mind - my apologies. You just looked a little agitated for a second.”

“Oh, I’m fine…” Nightmare Moon reached up to push back the hood of her black cloak. “It’s just a little hot with this is all.”

Satisfied with the answer, Celestia nodded in acknowledgement and turned to converse with her sister, occasionally looking down to make sure nopony was trying to steal her cake.

In honour of Nightmare Night, the members of the Royal Court and the princesses were having a late dinner together. It was suggested by Celestia a year ago and Nightmare Moon found it to be a complete waste of time.

If they had been sharing secrets and information which she could use, then fine, but no, it was just a boring get-together where all they shared were laughs and jokes.

‘How in the world do my associates manage to make these interesting?’

This particular get-together was especially tedious, but that was probably because Nightmare Moon was legitimately antsy.

She wasn’t nervous, she was shaking with anticipation; her plan was to come into effect within a few hours and her muscles were primed to fight.

After so long, her patience and planning was to finally be rewarded.

However, she couldn’t afford to be so obvious in her anticipation; Celestia had just brought attention to it. To take her mind of things, she decided to complain about the costume she was wearing.

She intended to be cosplaying as the Grim Reaper, but the cloak she bought was at a Nightmare Night discount, so of course it would be the worst piece of fabric in the entirety of Equestria.

Really, she should have expected it would be bad when Ebony took note of it and asked – in a tone that held an enormous amount of revulsion and horrified awe – if she actually planned to wear that.

“It doesn’t matter what I wear, so long as it’s a costume.”

Ebony grimaced as if she had ingested something foul. “O-okay, if you’re sure…”

Fade trotted by and did a double-take, face falling in horror. “Oh Faust, what is that thing trying to eat your body, boss? Did Discord’s shit take a shit?”

One of her few regrets…

She discreetly scratched at her side and listened to the other end of the table, where Blue Diamond was trying his hoof at telling a scary story.

In the middle of a crowded room.

A brightly lit one.

With two powerful princesses a few feet away.

Points for trying, Nightmare Moon supposed, but the only one it was scaring was Tinshot, the First Representative, and she was skittish to begin with.

Or maybe it was because Blue Diamond’s Slendermane costume was of high-quality.

‘Why couldn’t I have worn something like that?’

“… so then the door creaked open ever so slowly…” Blue Diamond gave his best evil grin. The only reason it was even somewhat effective was all due to the make-up that gave him a deathly pale complexion. “And then the mare screamed because the masked killer had a phone… and the call was coming from underneath her bed!”

Tinshot gasped in fright while the other Representatives who had been listening simply looked incredibly confused and disappointed.

Noticing this, Blue Diamond huffed and said, “Well, let’s see you guys come up with a better ghost story.”

“Normally, ghost stories are told around a campfire,” Nightmare Moon pointed out dryly. “And they are consistent in narrative.”

“How about you give it a shot?” Blue Diamond challenged with a fold of his forelegs.

Normally, Nightmare Moon would have declined, but her pride demanded she rise to the challenge, mostly because she did know a pretty good ghost story and she had to pass the time somehow.

“Alright then…” She nodded once. “Here’s a tale from Griffon lore…”

In her peripheral vision, Nightmare Moon saw Celestia and Luna turn their attention to her. Luna seemed particularly interested; it was no surprise she had a penchant for scary stories.

Once the table was silent, she began.

It was only a few years after Discord’s defeat. I believe it was… 26 AD, if memory serves correctly. The Griffon Kingdom was on the cusp of entering their first civil war and a small town named Cristcad was caught in the middle. Cristcad wasn’t the wealthiest of settlements and neither was it the poorest. It was – like its place in the war – somewhere in the middle, which suited a young hen named Agostina just fine. She was content with her life and that was enough.

One day, Agostina went into the woods surrounding the village to pick some berries; her blueberry pies were considered a delicacy, and it was something she took pride in. She ventured a little further than the other times because she spotted a lush blueberry bush. As she picked the berries, she felt a… chill.

Not like a gust of wind or a shadow passing over here, but like she had been splashed with cold water. Startled, she turned, but saw nothing. Realizing she had strayed far, Agostina quickly gathered the berries and ran back to the village. The rest of the day went on as normal, as did the next few days after that, and the young hen dismissed the strange event as the product of an over-active imagination.
The young hen would only realize something was wrong when she took a bite of her blueberry pie one sunny morning.

It didn’t taste the quite the same. This confused her because she had made it exactly the same way as she usually did. She made another pie. This one… had no taste whatsoever. Slightly concerned, she went to the village healer. The village healer found nothing wrong with her physically and suggested she turn in early for the night. Agostina heeded the words of the village healer and, when the sun was just about setting, went to bed.

Agostina woke up to darkness. Griffons could see a little in the dark, so she could make out most of her surroundings. She was in her room, naturally, and her internal clock told her it was still night. Feeling parched, Agostina tried to get up, but found her limbs would not respond. No matter how hard she tried, her body would not obey.

So she laid there, in the dark, wondering what was going on. She could hear the sounds of the night; crickets chirped, owls hooted, and the night air blew through an open window. The open window frightened Agostina because she swore she had closed it prior to going to bed. She half-expected someone to climb in, but the night went on and on, and the only thing that happened was the sun rising. After that, Agostina found she could move again.

Immediately, she returned to the village healer, who created a salve made from herbs. He warned Agostina of the unpleasant smell before smearing it across her neck and underneath her wings. Agostina said she couldn’t smell a thing. The village healer was concerned, but told her to rest and to come back if it got worse. Wrought with worry and fear for her life, Agostina returned to her home.

When she got home and closed the door behind her, her vision was besmirched by a veil of black. It lasted only a second, but Agostina then found herself in the kitchen, laying knives and forks all over. Terrified, she quickly cleaned up, and ran back to her room. She got into bed and threw the covers over herself, trying to shut out everything and hope that things would be better. She fell asleep shortly.

When she woke up, everything was black. She threw the covers off her body and found it was still black. She assumed it was night… at least until the sounds of villagers going about their day reached her ears. Agostina had lost her vision.

Panicked, Agostina stumbled around blindly, terror gripping her heart when she realized she couldn’t feel anything either. She could hear the sound of furniture being knocked over and her own heavy breathing, but that was all. She tried to scream, but it was cut off a second after it began; her voice had been stolen along with her sense of taste, sight, touch, and smell.

Agostina silently wailed and screamed as she thrashed around, unable to tell where she was. The thumping of her heart almost deafened her and there was a horrid dripping noise that grew louder and faster with each passing second. Agostina flailed and struggled and kicked and shrieked until sound left her as well.

The next morning, concerned neighbours entered her home to discover a grisly sight.

Agostina was lying in the kitchen in a pool of her own blood, her expression one of panic and confusion. Knives and forks were strewn about, covered in her life essence; she had run into them, unaware of the damage being done to her body until it was too late.

“It was unknown why she had left so many sharp objects out in the open or what exactly she had been afflicted with, but the civil war was beginning and eventually, Agostina faded from the locals’ minds.”

Nightmare Moon looked around the table, immensely pleased to see almost everypony was looking quite pale – make-up aside – and incredibly uncomfortable. Tinshot looked almost comatose. Celestia looked down at her cake, pushed it away a few inches, tilted her head in thought, and then dragged it back.

The only pony who didn’t seem affected was Luna.

“Ooh, that tale sent shivers down my spine!” Luna clapped her hooves in glee. “Would you mind if I borrowed that to tell the citizens of Ponyville later?”

“Feel free to do so.”

The others continued dinner in silence, occasionally talking but obviously rattled. Nightmare Moon took satisfaction in their reactions. She figured that the scariest stories were the ones with just enough realism to conflict with the supernatural element.

Was Agostina truly haunted by something or was she afflicted by some disease?

Fear of the unknown often kept one awake at night.

“Where did you hear that story?” Celestia asked in a low voice that reflected how impressed she was. “Griffon lore you said, right?”

“It’s not a commonly-known tale,” Nightmare Moon answered, levitating her fork to impale a stalk of celery on her dish. “I only learned it because my mother kept some old tomes from when her grandfather travelled the world.”

“Your grandfather sounds like an interesting stallion. Not many would travel the world; there’s all sorts of dangerous creatures out there.”

Nightmare Moon smiled and nodded. “Oh yes there is…”

Author's Note

Note 1: The tale Nightmare Moon told is called Agostina and the Paralyzing Darkness. The tale has transformed over time and there are multiple versions of it, but the main elements - Agostina, sense deprivation, darkness - are all there. Many believe the tale to be true as there is a plant that grows in the Griffon Kingdom which robs griffons of their senses, albeit temporarily.

The tale holds a special place in Nightmare Moon's heart...

Note 2: "Telepathy? Oh, don't even get me started on that! Just because we can put memories into gems doesn't mean we're any closer to sending thoughts to one another; I wish ponies would understand that. Yes, it's one thing for a unicorn to send their thoughts over some distance, but don't expect another unicorn - even a family member or lover - to consciously pick up those thoughts without getting a magical backlash. A unicorn's magical aura simply doesn't play nice with others; you're risking a headache at best! Besides, trying to make sense of another's thought process is also out of our league. If you could somehow implant a piece of your magic into another, then maybe telepathy will work, but until then..." - Quote from Professor Hail Blind, Interview with a Thaumaturgist.

Chapter 19: Assault on Canterlot Castle

1055 AD, October 31st

Striker rolled his neck until he felt a satisfying crack. “Oh yeah, that’s better…”

“Tough day, huh?” Swift Wind asked, his half-lidded eyes staring at nothing in particular.

Striker nodded. “I’ve been going from one spot to the other to make sure things don’t get too rowdy. My legs are killing me,” He cracked a yawn, his jaw almost dislocating from the force. “I am going to sleep like the dead when I get home.”

“Same here, same here…” Swift Wind was quiet for a while before suddenly huffing in amusement. “Hey, how many times somepony’s asked you, ‘oh, why do you wear the same costume every year’?”

“Thirteen,” He replied in a deadpan tone. “Smart asses…”

Swift Wind laughed at the response. “I wonder if they’ve ever thought to bring… up…”

Both guards snapped to attention as an earth pony mare trotted towards them, hooked up to a wagon covered by a white canvas. A unicorn mare was by her side, her gaze focused on them.

“Excuse me,” The unicorn said when she was a few feet away. “Do you mind if we put this wagon here?”

Swift Wind and Striker exchanged glances, the former shrugging before replying, “What is it?”

“Firewood.” The earth pony answered.

“Firewood?” Striker echoed with a questioning eyebrow.

“Some stallion’s offering a reward for a lot of firewood; I don’t know why, but he is,” The unicorn nodded to the crowd. “We only just got all this together and it’ll be hard getting through all that commotion, so we were wondering if we could leave it here until it thins out.”

“I…” Striker looked to his companion. Swift Wind examined the wagon for a moment before giving another shrug. “Alright, but be sure to pick it up or you’ll be impeding pedestrian traffic.”

The unicorn beamed. “Thanks.”

She and her companion moved the wagon off to the side, next to Striker where nopony would run into it. Striker took note of the necklaces adorning their necks; silver chain links attached to a triangular gemstone.

They looked expensive; the guard hoped the two wouldn’t have any trouble because of them.

The two mares then ventured off to enjoy the festivities, leaving the two guards alone once more. A little while later, Striker let his curiosity get the better of him. He levitated the canvas slightly and peeked underneath.

Swift Wind watched as Striker hummed thoughtfully and returned to his post. “Firewood?”

“Firewood.”

“Who the hay orders a ton of firewood around Nightmare Night? It’s autumn.”

“You know these high-society unicorns,” Striker said as he attempted shake some feeling back into his good leg. “One little breeze and they go running indoors.”

Swift Wind nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re… right,” His response was punctuated by a yawn that trailed off into an aggravated growl. “Where the hell are those night guards?”

“Have fun and try not to make too many ponies wet themselves, hm?”

Luna smiled reassuringly at her older sister as she mounted her chariot, her personal guards stretching their wings in preparation of flight. “Rest assured, sister – no costumes will be soiled in my presence.”

She motioned to the lead guard and the chariot began to roll forwards as the sound of wings flapping filled the night air.

Celestia watched her sister as the vessel trundled along for a few metres before rising. It flew forwards for a dozen yards before turning around and heading in the direction of Ponyville. Celestia waved as it passed by, her sibling returning the gesture.

The princess of the day watched for a little longer with a gentle smile full of familial pride before turning to trot back into the castle.

Star Secret was waiting at the entrance.

Surprised at her sudden appearance, Celestia’s pace slowed for a brief instant before regaining speed.

She smiled warmly at the other mare. “Star, I’ve been bumping into you all night; if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were stalking me.”

Star Secret gave a short chuckle from deep within her throat. “I might be. I wished to discuss something with you before I went home. May we do so in your quarters?”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow. “Is everything alright? Why my quarters specifically?”

“Well, we don’t have to discuss the matter in your quarters, but it’s regarding the expansion of Canterlot Library and it’ll be easier to show you from your room. You have a clear view of the entire city, do you not?” Star Secret paused. “Unless I’m overstepping my boundaries…”

“Oh, no, of course not,” Celestia shook her head. “I was simply curious,” She gestured towards the castle. “Shall we proceed?”

Star Secret nodded. “After you, your majesty…”

Veil perched atop her cloud, her wings tucked against her sides. A chilling breeze ruffled her mane but did little to stir her.

“Move into position.”

As the echoing voice faded, Veil simultaneously stretched out her wings and unclasped the choker around her neck, stowing it away into the saddlebags hanging around her barrel. Her body shimmered with a blue light and her true colours were revealed.

‘So this is it: either we win and live the rest of our lives bathing in champagne or we get our flanks kicked and spend our lives picking up trash and living on stale bread and water. A hard decision, but I think I’ll pray for the former.’

Fade was in the middle of flirting with two smoking hot mares when he got the alert.

Mentally cursing, Fade worked up every ounce of willpower to turn down their invitation to their apartment and proceed with the plan.

“Sorry, I would love to play bongo on those flanks of yours, but a stallion’s gotta do what a stallion’s gotta do.” With those parting words, he spread his wings and took off into the sky, leaving the mares to gape at the rebuke.

“Did he just…” The pegasus turned to her earth pony friend, disbelief written across her features. “Did he just turn down a threesome?”

The earth pony recoiled, mouth agape. “We were offering a threesome?!”

“The expansion of Canterlot Library, you said?”

Celestia trotted towards her balcony where a magnificent telescope was set up. Philomena cawed from her roost by the fireplace, loudly letting Celestia know that the phoenix would be shedding soon.

Celestia made a mental note to fire-proof her room for the shedding and to warn the staff in case Philomena tried to get up to her old tricks again.

Remembering her guest, the princess continued, “How would you go about it, Star? A new wing devoted to a specific genre? I believe the non-fiction section was getting crowded the last time I-”

Celestia went rigid as tendrils of agony raced through her body, her muscles seizing up so tensely she couldn’t even scream. It lasted seconds and when it ended, she collapsed to her knees with a shocked gasp, eyes wide. Her nostrils picked up the smell of burnt fur and flesh.

The balcony’s doors slammed shut.

She heard Philomena give a panicked caw. Wings flapped for a brief instant before a violent gust of frigid wind sent the phoenix into the wall, snuffing out any flames and breaking the poor bird’s neck.

‘Philomena!’

Philomena’s body combusted and turned into an ash pile; she would resurrect in twenty-four hours, but seeing the cruel treatment of her loyal pet tore the princess’ heart.

Gasping for breath, Celestia turned from the sad sight and craned her neck to look over her shoulder. “S… Star Secret?”

“You have no idea… how long I’ve been waiting to do that.”

Star Secret’s expression was nothing short of sadistic elation and the smirk she gave sent chills down Celestia’s spine. Her horn still shone a deep blue as it crackled with sparks and she approached with malicious intention.

“But… but…” Wincing, the princess stood, refusing to believe what her brain was telling her. There had to be a reason for this; she knew Star Secret, and Star Secret wouldn’t just attack her out of nowhere. This wasn’t right. “Why?”

Star Secret’s smirk widened into a sadistic and terrifying rictus. “I believe a change is long overdue.” Wisps of blue energy danced across her body as she leisurely strolled across the carpet.

Celestia shook her head, still refusing to believe that this mare who was gazing at her with such spite and malevolence was the same pony who she had shared tea with on numerous occasions.

“A… a change?” Her body was healing, but her legs still shook; she could see several burn marks on her back and flank. “I don’t…”

Star Secret gave her look of sympathy as she stopped in her tracks. “Confused?” The look melted away as the very tip of her horn rippled with energy. “Maybe this will clear things up…”

The ripple spread down her horn and across her body.

Her features morphed; emerald eyes became teal, rounded pupils elongated, flat molars became sharp fangs, grey fur became pitch black, and dark blue hair lost density and became gaseous, fanning out and charging the air with power. Her horn lengthened and narrowed, becoming almost sword-like. Two majestic wings seemingly grew out from her side and stretched out with a cyclonic gust of wind that blew over a nearby tea set resting on a small stool.

Then, for good measure, she doubled in size and pieces of armour pushed themselves out of her skin, reflecting the moonlight that spilled in from the arched windows above them.

“So…” A pink tongue extended to run over pearly-whites amidst an exhale of hot breath. “Ring any bells… ‘Tia?”

Magenta eyes widened in disbelief and shock before slowly settling into horror. “N-no… no, that can’t…” She shook her head. “The Elements…”

“Failed. They drove me out of Luna’s body, but didn’t destroy me,” Nightmare Moon chortled sinisterly. “Though that shouldn’t come as a surprise; it isn’t very harmonious to kill a living creature, hm?”

Celestia continued shaking her head. “No, no… This is wrong; Luna was purified of her rage and jealousy, you can’t be-”

“You still believe Luna became what she was because she was upset?” Nightmare Moon’s shoulders shook from her mirth. “Oh, ‘Tia… how little you know; it’s quite sad, really. It’s even sadder that your sister apparently doesn’t trust you enough to divulge in what I truly am, how I truly came to be.”

“Then… how…”

“Long story short, I offered her power and she accepted,” The black alicorn looked up at the moon through one of the windows. “We were bonded together, two minds sharing one body. I gave her the strength to fulfil her desires and in return I reap the benefits of living alongside her like an Empress – the entirety of Equestria would have been ours,” She turned back and shrugged. “Of course, I had to be the more assertive one seeing as Luna wasn’t quite ready to do the more… morally questionable acts. I think you can remember which ones.”

“You… you…” Her horror wearing off, Celestia’s eyes began to narrow as a terrible anger she had thought to be laid to rest re-surfaced. “You did this. You made me banish my own sister!”

“Come now – we both know who was the pony wielding the Elements all those centuries ago,” Nightmare Moon shook her head admonishingly. “We both know who really sent her to the moon.”

Celestia winced and closed her eyes, the harsh words opening old wounds. “I may I have sent her to the moon…” She inhaled deeply and glared at the other alicorn. “But you were the instigator – you were the creature that started it all!”

“Not quite,” Nightmare Moon replied with another shrug. “I may have been the one that gave her the strength necessary to do what she did, but there was nothing stopping her from refusing.”

A large hoof stomped down, rattling the spilled tea set. “You… you manipulated her!” Celestia’s eyes shone with fury, her mane churning like mystical fire. “You manipulated her and took over!”

“Only after she accepted me into her psyche,” Nightmare Moon answered simply. “And only what was necessary; a small fib here, a bit of exaggeration and hyperbole there… I’m quite honest once you get to know me,” She paused and registered her own words. “Well, I do lie by omission, but I know for a fact that nopony is exempt from that, you especially.”

Celestia snapped at her. “You took my sister!”

“She took herself away from you.”

The cold retort was followed by a heavy silence. The two large alicorns stared one another down, the air so permeated with magic that mundane items floated about, rotating and flipping over lazily. Nightmare Moon watched her opponent with predatory eyes, enjoying the anguish and turmoil.

Celestia sighed through her nostrils and looked towards her unlit fireplace, trembling in rage and disgust. “All this time… all this time you were right under my nose.”

Nightmare Moon chuckled and leaned forward, unable to resist twisting the dagger. “Fool you once, shame on me – fool you twice… well, that’s just pathetic.”

The barb made the princess’ brow twitch but her gaze remained on the fireplace. “You completely fooled me… fooled Luna, Canterlot – everypony...” At that moment, her ears flicked, and she turned to the balcony doors. “What…?”

“Ah, yes,” Nightmare Moon swelled up with pride as she listened to the muffled sounds of shouts, screams, and roaring. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve invited a few guests. Your guards will be… attending their needs for the time being. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up in the meantime.”

Celestia’s expression turned to one of fear and concern before switching to a frightening mask of tranquil fury. She directed the fullness of her ire at her opponent with a stare that could cull an entire army of cockatrices.

“You took advantage of my sister… turned her against me. You’ve lied and deceived your way into the Royal Court by gaining a city’s trust and admiration only to spit it all back in my face. Now you’re outright threatening Canterlot and all who inhabit it again? Those you took an oath to protect and help? No.”

The foundation of the room shook as she brought her hoof down.

“I may have failed against you before and I may fail yet again, but I will not stand by and let you harm innocent ponies in your selfish gain for power. There is one thing I can take pleasure in at this very moment…”

“Oh?” Nightmare Moon cocked an eyebrow in amusement; the entire tantrum was quite entertaining.

“You are not my sister, so I have no reason to hold back.”

Celestia’s irises suddenly turned blood-red. Steam rolled off her body as her royal regalia began to melt from heat. Every exhale was punctuated by a small jet of flame. Her billowing mane and tail erupted into storms of fire.

The tall and dark alicorn’s grin faded as she prepared herself for the impending battle.

‘Well… you finally show your teeth.’

“You guys look like crap.”

Striker let out a fake laugh as Pinpoint and some other guard he’d never seen before arrived for the night shift. “Thanks, that does wonders for my self-esteem.”

“Now we just need to work on your appearance and you’ll be set.” Pinpoint took a defensive stance in Striker’s place as the latter tiredly rubbed his eyes.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t he the only one among us who’s married?” Swift Wind chimed in as the new guard took up his position, eyes bright and alert.

Striker shot a smug grin at Pinpoint. “Yeah, got you there, eh?”

“Although, I do think it was mostly out of pity she agreed.”

Striker pouted as the others guffawed at his expense. “You guys suck.”

“We really do, huh?” Pinpoint nodded. It was then he noticed the wagon and gestured to it with a hoof. “So, uh…?”

“Oh yeah…” Striker glanced at the wagon briefly. “Some mares came by and asked to leave it here until the crowd thinned out. Nothing important – firewood for some pony offering a reward.”

“It’s not that cold…” The new guard spoke up, his voice surprisingly deep for his apparent youth.

“Somepony thinks it is.” Swift Wind shrugged.

“Well, if they’re not back by midnight then I’ll have to impound it.” Pinpoint said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Striker spotted a familiar form heading towards them. “Ah, there’s one of the mares now,” He pointed in her direction. “Wonder where the other one went to?”

The new guard watched her approach with steadily-rising eyebrows. “Uh… she’s kinda coming in fast.”

The mare in question was a few dozen yards away, but was galloping like a chimera was hot on her tail. Her hooves struck the cobblestone roads with resounding clips and clops. Her mane and tail streamed out behind her like a black waterfall and the ruby set in her necklace sparkled in the moon’s light. Ponies bustling about quickly got out of her way, shaking their heads and murmuring in disapproval.

“She’s in a hurry.” Pinpoint observed.

“Yeah…” Swift Wind frowned as a sense of unease filled his heart. “She is.”

He tilted his head as he tried to figure out what was unusual about the scene besides the mare’s haste. Squinting, his attention was drawn to her hooves.

Every step she took cracked the cobblestone.

Swift Wind knew earth ponies had tremendous strength and durability; he had seen some of his friends lifting weights which were easily twice his own weight. Even so, to gallop with such force as to leave imprints in stone? That was something he was sure earth ponies did not do normally. In fact, as the mare got closer, he could see her face was a veneer of calmness and cold confidence that didn’t sit right on a simple civilian.

And she still wasn’t slowing down.

“Striker, stop her!”

The others looked at him in surprise. “Side Swipe…” Striker began with confusion evident in his tone. “Are you-”

“Do it – she’s not going to stop!”

Striker hesitated, but the new guy did not. His horn lit up in a teal glow and a corona of matching colour surrounded the mare’s body an instant later. It did little to stop her. The new guy gritted his teeth and increased the power, the corona brightening in response, but he might as well have been throwing leaves against a hurricane for all the effect it had.

“Well, this just got interesting…” Pinpoint muttered as Striker finally joined in and cast a Paralysis spell which did little besides making the mare’s eyebrow twitch. Pinpoint swiftly sprinted forwards and braced himself, rising to his full height. “An assault against a member of the Royal Guard is grounds for immediate incarceration! I order you to desist and-”

He might as well have tried to stop a locomotive.

The mare smashed into his chest and sent him flipping over her body to unceremoniously kiss the ground, his rear sticking up in the air. Without breaking pace, she thundered towards the remaining guards; the two unicorns bravely putting up a defensive shield in front of the gate.

SKRASH

The shield shattered into a dozen pieces of arcane energy which quickly dissipated in the air, the resulting backlash sending the two unicorns to the ground with pounding heads.

CLANG

The gates were torn off their hinges as the mare leapt and smashed straight through. She quickly dug in her hooves as she landed, breaking through the concrete pathway and leaving furrows in the dirt underneath as she lost momentum, and came to a stop.

With a cool detachment, she brushed a strand of her mane from her face, and undid the clasp of the necklace, allowing it to fall to the ground as her disguise fell.

She glanced back towards the entrance. “Gate’s open.”

Swift Wind gaped in horrified astonishment as he hovered above the scene. It all happened so fast. One minute they were laughing and joking and then the next they got their asses handed to them. It had pained him to leave his friends, but it wasn’t as if he could have done anything against the mare – if she could brush somepony like Pinpoint out of her path as one might do with a fly then he stood even less of a chance.

‘Who is this pony?’

As she finished knocking down the gate and slowing down, he saw her reach up and undo the choker around her neck. The instant it fell, her body rippled as her colours changed to a darker shade.

‘A Disguise enchantment?’

She turned towards the mess she had made and mouthed something he couldn’t hear over the panicked shouts of the crowd.

As the crowd cleared away from the danger, he picked out two individuals strolling forwards as if they were on a peaceful Sunday walk. One was the unicorn mare he had seen earlier; she was also without her necklace and sported a more intimidating appearance with a sharp horn that shone a scarlet hue.

The other was a unicorn stallion in the process of shedding his costume with telekinesis, revealing a somewhat familiar face – he may have seen it at the Galloping Gala, a noble if he remembered correctly. Underneath the bandages which composed his mummy costume was a choker that was quickly tugged off, his body rippling in a manner similar to the earth pony mare.

‘All of them were in disguise?’

A whistle caught his attention. He glanced up in time to spot a dark blur that shot towards the ground and landed with enough force to leave a small crater. A pegasus mare calmly stepped out, two bulging saddlebags at her sides. She joined the other two and he had to bite his tongue when she bucked Pinpoint as he tried to stand, knocking him unconscious.

The unicorn mare shot two scarlet bolts at Striker and the new recruit.

Swift Wind’s panic lessened somewhat when he saw them try to rise after the bolts hit only to freeze up and fall, their wide eyes flicking about as the trio passed. It was only a Paralysis spell; it didn’t seem as if they were looking to kill.

The unicorn mare stopped by the wagon and tore the cover off to reveal the stack of firewood. She let out a clear whistle.

‘What is she…?’

Before his very eyes, the wood gained auras of lime-green light, and began to rise and float out of the wagon to hover above the street. Branches and logs rotated and fixed themselves into various positions, flashes of green going off wherever the pieces welded to one another. In the span of a few seconds, they formed a lanky body, four thick legs, a large head, and a long snout.

‘You’ve gotta be kidding me…’

The timber wolf – he guessed it to be twenty feet tall and almost twice as long – lowered its head to sniff at the rigid Striker before exhaling a gust of nature-green gas and stepping over the concrete walls of the castle’s front garden.

It was unbelievable – they were being attacked by four ponies and their pet timber wolf.

Swift Wind stole a longing glance at his fallen comrades before tearing himself away and rushing to sound the castle-

“Hey,” A male pegasus hovered before him. “Nice night out, huh?”

Ebony marched forwards, her mind surprisingly calm and her thoughts startlingly clear. She had feared that when it came down to it she wouldn’t be able to fight or lead her friends in an assault against the Royal Guard. She had feared they would be found out instantly and that everything would have been for nothing.

Yet as she walked along the stone pathway with her friends in tow, her magic surging through her body, and Shadow lumbering off to the side – every step sending vibrations through her body – she felt as if they could do anything they set their minds to.

“Mistress,” She glanced up at the castle and its many spires and towers. “We are in.”

“Excellent – I am engaging Celestia. You know what to do.”

Ebony nodded and directed her thoughts to her friends as Nightmare Moon faded out. “Miasma – you’re out in front.”

“Got it.” Miasma trotted in front of them, a living wall of flesh and bone.

“Veil – you throw those grenades when the time’s right; make every one count and keep moving.”

“I almost feel sorry for these guys…” Veil tossed an unassuming black canister up and down in her hoof. A gemstone was fixed in the middle and several symbols made in white chalk surrounded it. “Keyword: almost…”

“Fade – fly around and make their lives miserable.”

“No worries here,” Fade bumped both hooves together. “I’ll punch when I don’t buck, I’ll buck when I don’t punch, and I’ll call their moms ugly when I’m doing either.”

“Haze – you’re our support; make sure no unicorns get an advantage over us and keep us healthy.”

“Of course,” Haze casually reached up to smooth his mane back; it had gotten rather messy after being under those bandages for so long. “There will be plenty of thrashing done by this horn!”

“I’m the damager, so if we come across a big group, wait until I let off a few spells before going in.” She turned to her side. “Shadow…”

The massive timber wolf cocked his head at her with a curious whine.

“No killing. Other than that…” Ebony oriented her stare towards the castle’s front entrance, where four guards had run out and stopped dead at the sight of their approach. “Go wild.”

Shadow let loose a deafening howl that blew out the windows of the castle.

Harmonics frowned and tapped his hearing aid. The damned thing had been on the fritz lately and it was really cutting into his writing. For a moment it seemed as if there was a timber wolf just outside the castle.

‘Hm… a timber wolf…’

Harmonics immediately perked and went back to his writing with renewed vigour.

“Chapter 22: The Dread Howl of Everfree…”

Author's Note

Note 1: And so it finally begins...

Note 2: Pyromancy is a difficult sub-school to learn as its very nature is wild and unpredictable. Mastery requires a strong willpower and the caster must not fear the power. Very few unicorns have what it takes to follow this school and even fewer have an affinity towards it.

Princess Celestia is, to date, the most well-known and only pyromancer in Equestria. There are rumors that she once had a student who also had an affinity for the school, but these are just rumors...

Chapter 20: The Coup

1055 AD, October 31st

Within the span of a single second, Celestia mentally drew the symbols that corresponded with a Fire Spray spell. The magic in her body responded by gathering to the tip of her horn and manifesting as a rolling wave of red-orange flames.

Nightmare Moon threw up a barrier and rushed through the flames to smash her hoof into the princess’ cheek, the force sending Celestia into the wall hard enough to crack the stone. Celestia quickly recovered and ducked low to avoid another strike before spreading her wings and launching herself forwards.

The princess pushed her opponent across the span of her room and broke down the doors, their fight spilling into the narrow corridors of the castle. Nightmare Moon threw her weight backwards and used Celestia’s own momentum to aim her down the length of the corridor before kicking out, creating some distance. She twisted in mid-air to land on her feet and her horn shone with the beginnings of a Deep Freeze spell. A dozen yards down the corridor, Celestia spread her wings to catch herself and landed on all hooves, turning in time to see a ball of ice fly towards her, leaving the walls in its wake coated in frost.

She intercepted it with a searing fireball and the collision of the two elements filled the hallway with a blanket of steam.

“It would be so much easier if you simply gave up,” Nightmare Moon called out, stepping forwards. “Surrender now and spare yourself the pain.”

“I can’t do that,” Celestia glared at the shadowy form in the steam. “I have sworn to protect my subjects from anything that threatens them.”

A mocking laugh was her response. “You? Protect them? Like how you protected them from Chrysalis?”

Celestia punctuated another fireball with a yell.

It sailed through the shadow while simultaneously dispersing the steam, revealing a smug Nightmare Moon that was slightly transparent. Before Celestia could react to the deception, her neck was caught in a bone-crushing grip and she was violently yanked back to hit the floor. Reptilian eyes bore down at her.

“You can’t protect anypony!”

Nightmare Moon raised both her forelegs and brought them down on Celestia’s chest, a sadistic grin spreading across her face as she felt ribs snap from the force. The blow was so powerful that Celestia was sent through the floor and down one level, debris following her descent, and dust billowed out from the impact. Nightmare Moon stepped back to admire her handiwork for a moment before flapping her wings – once to hover above the hole and once more to rocket down, hooves first.

Celestia snarled as a golden ripple of energy ran down her body. Nightmare Moon landed on the princess’ belly, but did little more than bury her a few inches in the floor.

“I’ve protected Equestria from others like you for as long as I can remember!” Celestia shouted. “Power-hungry would-be tyrants yearning for a rule which benefits only themselves!”

Growling, Nightmare Moon dispelled the Iron Fur spell, and raised her forelegs again. Celestia’s horn flashed once and suddenly the world began to tilt upside-down. Her sense of balance shot, Nightmare Moon leaned back too far and fell flat on her rear. She broke the illusion within a second, but that was enough for Celestia to lash out with a ribbon of flame that extended from the tip of her horn. It wrapped around the dark alicorn’s throat and tightened harshly.

Her flesh cooking, Nightmare Moon choked out a cry of agony as she was thrown into the walls, the ceiling, and the floor, chunks of stone and hanging pictures falling from the violent tremors.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, Nightmare Moon drew magic into her horn before bringing the energy into the core of her body. It only took a second before she felt a powerful chill in her gut and quickly released the built-up magic. Waves of cold air burst from her body in all directions as the Snow Bomb spell clashed against the heated air, snuffing out the flame whip as well as covering the area in ice.

Celestia flinched at the explosion and paused to wipe her eyes, her superheated skin quickly melting the ice that would have trapped her. When she could see once more, Nightmare Moon was already up and about, the charred skin on her neck flaking off rapidly to make way for a new layer that was already sprouting hairs.

“Who are you?” Celestia growled as the puddle around her hooves boiled and hissed. “Who are you to talk down to me? What have you done that’s worthy of respect?”

“Don’t ask what I’ve done that’s worthy of respect,” Nightmare Moon’s horn shone persistently as she spoke; the ice around her hooves climbing up to cover her coat and armour in frost. “Ask what I’m going to do that’s worthy of respect.”

Celestia let loose with a cone of fire, but Nightmare Moon didn’t even bother shielding herself. The fine layer of frost astoundingly resisted the intense temperature.

“I’m going to be the one to take over Equestria,” Nightmare Moon said as the flames died down and the ice covering the corridor sloshed to the floor. “Chrysalis failed and Discord’s time has long since passed – now it’s my turn and it is a task I will succeed in.”

“I am not Equestria’s only line of defence in case you’ve forgotten,” Celestia’s body heat began to warm the air, drying up the crinkled paintings and tapestry hanging in the corridor. “Even if you kill me and my guards, you will have to contend with Luna, the Crystal Empire, Discord, our neighbouring nations, and the Elements of Harmony.”

Nightmare Moon huffed dismissively. “Oh, believe me – I have planned ahead far enough that I am confident in victory. However, ‘kill’ you, ‘Tia?” She chuckled and shook her head. “Perish the thought – you and your guards will suffer no such fate.”

At this, Celestia hesitated. “Why not?”

“Do not mistake pragmatism for mercy,” The dark alicorn warned. “You and your guards are more valuable to me alive than dead.”

The words sent a chill up the princess’ spine. She pawed at the ground, uneasy. “What exactly are you planning?”

Nightmare Moon waved her hoof. “Ah, ah, ah – no spoilers.”

And without another word, she struck.

The guards that entered the room specifically reserved for the Galloping Gala barely had time to take in the severity of the situation before a canister landed at the lead guard’s feet. The glowing sapphire in its receptacle intensified from the force of the impact and shattered. The canister burst as a flurry of cold air billowed outwards.

The guards yelped in pain as a thick layer of ice trapped their legs, leaving them to struggle futilely until the unicorns could begin the tedious process of melting the ice.

Swooping over the heads of her latest victims, Veil’s keen eyes scanned the area for more groups. “Ebony, there’s a guy behind you.”

Swiftly spinning about, Ebony cast her spell before the guard could finish his own. His eyes widened in shock and pain as electricity coursed through his body. Before he fainted, his spell went awry and struck a pegasus; the unfortunate stallion flapped his wings frantically before his muscles seized up and he slid across the linoleum floor to bowl over another guard.

Things were going… well.

Compared to so many nights spent fighting Nightmare Moon, the guards seemed painfully slow and weak in comparison. She had to keep a constant watch out and react to developments in an instant, but it wasn’t as bad as she expected.

“They brought more of their friends,” Fade chimed in. “Whoa, new type! New type!”

A group of guards arrived through a set of double-doors, horns glowing, wings flaring, and hooves stomping. Among them was a unicorn wearing a more elaborately designed set of armour; it was pure silver in colour and covered in intricate swirls and circles.

A lieutenant of the Royal Guard.

The lieutenant’s horn lit up with a light blue glow and the very air around him cooled and formed globules of water that swirled together in a ring around his body.

Ebony frowned as he and the others rushed forward. “Watch out for the silver guard – he’s tougher than the others.”

As if to prove her point, the ring of water lashed out, several balls of water breaking off and quickly solidifying into ice. Ebony threw up a shield and blocked them, the ice shattering upon impact. In response, the guard swept out a hoof, and the fragments of ice melted and flowed around and over the shield, coming together and surging forwards to knock Ebony off her hooves. The geyser continued pressing forwards until she hit a wall, where it then froze to entrap her.

The guard’s victory was cut short as he attempted to grab Fade with a tendril of water only to spot Miasma charging at him from the side. The ring of water surged forwards and rose up to create a thick wall of ice. Miasma ran through it as if it were cardboard. The guard grimaced and teleported off to the side, his horn glowing as he melted the ice once more.

At that point, Ebony’s Kinetic Impact spell had gathered enough strength to shatter her prison. The crimson wave was strong enough to continue surging forwards for several more metres and knock several guards off their feet.

Ebony shuddered violently as she hit the floor, the cold continuing to plague her – enough to make it hard to move, but not enough to kill her.

“I’ve got you.”

A silver aura swept over Ebony’s body, relaxing the muscles and raising her body temperature. Within seconds she was fit to fight. “Thanks, Haze.”

Under the cover of his Invisibility spell, Haze couldn’t do any spectacular spells without revealing himself, but he more than made up for it by debilitating the guards and buffing his friends.

On more than one occasion Ebony had seen a guard suddenly find themselves under assault from their own animated helmet, have their own spell explode in front of their face, and suddenly attack their own comrades in a fit of addled confusion.

As for them, Haze seemed to always be in the nick of time to pull them out of harm’s way, give them a burst of healing magic, and remove any afflictions such as paralysis, fatigue, and dizziness.

“Miasma’s having a bit of trouble with Water Boy,” Veil informed them. “He’s making her slip all over the place while his buddies do the dirty work.”

“Nopony annoys my little sister except me!”

A dark green blur swept down and circled the group attacking Miasma, the winds rapidly picking up speed and forming a small tornado. Miasma simply dug her hooves in to avoid being swept up. Tendrils of water lashed about as the lieutenant attempted to strike Fade; his angered cries able to be heard above the roaring winds.

Ebony nodded. “Alright, nice job, but it’s not over yet,” She turned her attention to the guards that were too far away to be swept up. “We have to give our Mistress time!”

His dark-purple armour glinting in the lunar rays, Wisp raised his voice to be heard over the timber wolf’s roars. “Damn it – hold your positions! Don’t let this thing get out! Where the hell are those unicorns?!”

The timber wolf’s giant paw came down on a stone fountain, crushing it as easily as a sand castle and sending the ground troops running for cover. Narrowing its glowing eyes, it lowered its muzzle and exhaled, a hurricane of foul breath billowing out across the gardens to cover the guards. Wisp winced as he saw them cough and gag and cover their noses in a desperate attempt to block out the stench.

The really unlucky ones were forced to use their helmets as vomit buckets.

Timber wolf breath was in no way lethal, but it reeked to high heaven and stained clothing.

At the very least, breathing on them and flat-out causing a mess was the only thing it was doing so far. He had no reports of injuries and the only ponies that were lying on the ground were the ones who passed out from the smell. Still, he made it a priority to move them; the damned wolf was so big it could have easily stepped on them without realizing it.

“Swish!” He turned to the sky as the pegasus in question floated down, a clothes peg on his nose. “Where are our reinforcements?! We might as well be spitting at this thing!”

Swish shrugged. “D’oh idea, sir; communications are on da fray,” He gestured to the castle. “As far as we can tell, hostile ponies are in dere causing a mess.”

Wisp stomped in frustration. “Celestia damn it!”

“No idea where she is, eider.”

Wisp glared at the timber wolf as it bit down on a magnificently sculpted statue, uprooted it, and spat it out into the garden’s hedge maze. “Fine – Swish, get some pegasi and make some lightning! We’ll deal with the fires later; right now, we have to take this mutt down!”

“Aye, aye, sir!”

As Swish flew off to follow orders, Wisp galloped forwards. The wolf had stopped at a particularly tall tree and raised one leg, uncaring to the guards bucking its ankles and the infuriated birds voiding their bowels over its head. He stopped directly in front and yelled at the top of his voice.

“Hey, your mother was a sapling!” He paused. “And a whore!”

Whether or not it actually understood the insult, the timber wolf switched its attention to Wisp and exhaled noxious green fumes. Wisp sprinted underneath the wolf’s belly and launched himself at its tail, teeth coming down on one of the leaves sprouting from it. The tail flicked back and forth in an attempt to shake him off, but only succeeded in giving him enough momentum to flip onto its back.

Almost spraining his right hind leg as it was wedged in the gap of two thick interlacing branches, Wisp fought for balance as he made his way towards the wolf’s head; the mutt was bucking worse than a bull, knocking over trees, shrubs, and statues as its foul breath filled the area. Through sheer force of willpower and strength, he managed to cling on and grab at a branch sticking out from behind its left ear.

Wisp picked out a spot at the base of the ear, righted himself as best he could and balanced on his front legs. “Smile!”

The force of his buck shattered the layering of leaves and branches. He apparently hit something critical as the entirety of the ear creaked and tilted to the side, its own weight causing the rest of the supports to strain and snap. Wisp grinned triumphantly as the ear exposed a large hole. Leaping from its head, he landed on the grass and yelled up at the pegasi.

“Aim for that spot!”

Crucial seconds passed as Wisp watched the pegasi under his command move a dark grey cloud to hang over the timber wolf, apparently unaffected by the loss of a body part. He spotted Swish land on the top of the cloud, take aim, and…

CRACK

A fork of yellow lightning arced downwards and struck the hole he had created with pinpoint precision, a shower of sparks spraying forth from the hole and the wolf’s mouth. The wolf emitted a high-pitched whine and staggered to the side, quickly losing all sense of balance and falling flat with a tremor that almost knocked Wisp off his hooves.

He – along with every other guard still conscious – leaned forwards with baited breath. The only sounds came from the flames that began to spread from the beast’s temple to its muzzle and neck.

Swish suddenly laughed. “Holy Celestia, we d-”

Orange light pulsated from within the wolf’s chest as the flames were inexplicably snuffed out. Faster than one would imagine for such a titanic beast, it rose back up, and snapped its jaws down on Swish.

A collective gasp tore through the air.

An instant later, the timber wolf swung its massive head to the side, and spat.

Swish – covered in tree sap – hit the grass, a look of supreme disgust on his face as he flicked his wings in a futile attempt to get free.

“Da peg does noding!”

And just like that, they were fighting once more, the orange light inside the beast’s chest throbbing like a heartbeat.

Wisp shook his head in disbelief and mounting rage. “Who in Tartarus makes a giant timber wolf fire resistant?!”

Nightmare Moon bounced off the stone column and dropped heavily, fragments of concrete and piles of dust raining down upon her even as Celestia strode forwards, fiery hoofprints scored into the marble.

“Have you had enough?”

Nightmare Moon pulled her head from the rubble and gave a sardonic smirk. “Just getting started…” She gave the smallest tilt of her head as her horn flashed.

Celestia’s eyes widened as a sense of weightlessness overtook her and she tumbled forwards into thin air. Loose debris in a large circle around Nightmare Moon steadily rose as gravity was rendered null – the alicorn herself immune to the effects. Without any forces to keep her weighted to the planet, Celestia was quickly thrown upwards in a telekinetic grasp, and slammed back down hard enough to shatter the floor along with several bones.

The force was enough to bounce her out of the spell’s AOE, whereupon she landed with a pained gasp, teeth gritted as her skeleton realigned and mended itself. As her hind leg snapped back into place with a surge of agony that quickly faded into numbness, Celestia stood, and shook her head to clear the stars.

“Gravity really is a harsh mistress, hm?” Nightmare Moon chuckled cruelly as her spell ended and the debris clattered to the floor.

Celestia stomped her right hoof – tendrils of yellow light running from her horn and down the limb – and a mess of cracks spread outwards, intensifying with heat until the marble melted.

A moment later, several geysers of flames erupted.

Nightmare Moon threw up a shield and backed away, wincing as the intense temperature slapped her across the face. “Well, at this rate, you’re doing more damage to the castle than-”

Celestia burst forth from the wall of flames, wreathed in the destructive element like something straight out of Tartarus. She threw her entire weight against the shield – using a Kinetic Impact spell to give her more momentum – and it shattered, shards of magic brushing against her coat as she landed a crippling haymaker against the dark alicorn.

“Enough!”

The blow was followed by a right hook and then a left hook which stunned Nightmare Moon long enough for Celestia to spin about and deliver a powerful buck to the chest. Spittle bursting from her lips, Nightmare Moon bounced against a wall, senses reeling.

“Equestria is my home and I will no longer permit you to have one iota of power over any of its inhabitants any longer!”

Celestia kicked her against the wall again – further deepening and widening the island of cracks – before flipping her forwards onto her back with a tendril of telekinesis. Within seconds she was straddling Nightmare Moon’s waist and throwing down one punch after the other, specks of blood spurting upwards with every hit.

Nightmare Moon threw her head to the side after enduring the beating for several moments longer – her graceful features malformed and disturbing to see – to dodge another blow before leaning up and clamping her jaws down on her opponent’s neck.

Sharp teeth easily punctured flesh and she pulled back, a slab of white fur and red muscle in her mouth. Celestia whinnied and clutched at her throat, her nerves too frayed by the primal assault to retaliate as Nightmare Moon shoved her away, got back up, and lowered her head to stab Celestia in the chest with her horn.

Pain surged through Nightmare Moon’s head as rivulets of superheated blood ran down her horn and into her eyes. She pulled her horn out before the princess could use it against her and used a Kinetic Impact spell to create some distance.

Spitting out the flesh in her mouth, Nightmare Moon – realizing how stunned Celestia – took the time to charge up her coup de grace – a spell of her own design and make.

It was now or never; if she could hit with this spell, then the fight was as good as over.

She just needed Celestia to keep being dizzy for just a few more seconds and-

Celestia shook her head, clarity returning to her eyes and breast swelling with a breath of resolve.

“Screw it.”

Forcing the spell to finish early, Nightmare Moon let loose a battle cry, ignored the sting in her horn as her body desperately tried to tell her this was not going to end well if she attempted it, and galloped forwards.

Sparking ribbons of blue magic flowed across her body.

A roaring wind was summoned up behind her; their frigid currents spiralling at breakneck speeds.

Nightmare Moon’s body turned to mist, utterly indiscernible from the violent winds.

‘What in Faust’s name…?!’

Celestia recoiled and took a step back as the unfamiliar spell headed for her. It looked like a Mist Step spell, but it was very impractical to use during a fight seeing as the user couldn’t attack until- were those icicles?!

Indeed, the swirling mist was filled with deadly shards of thick ice, rotating amongst the winds like a blender. They were large, thick, and incredibly sharp.

Celestia flapped her wings and moved backwards to put some more space between her and the sentient winds that corkscrewed its way towards her before bringing up a barrier. She was just beginning to form a Fire Wall spell to counter the ice when her barrier was smashed to pieces and the winds buffeted her chest.

The sheer cold stole her breath by means of freezing her lungs so they couldn’t inflate or deflate. Then there were icicles ripping away at the fur, skin, and muscle on her chest. Only a few managed to make it past her iron-hard ribs; they clashed against the solid crystals that had formed from her own solidified blood. Her muscles flexed in shock and that worked to help the sharp pieces in shredding sinew and lacerating organs.

The majority of Celestia’s nerves were destroyed, so she only felt a fraction of the pain, but it was still enough to make her wish for the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.

With a rush of wind, the currents shot behind Celestia and reformed Nightmare Moon’s body. The dark alicorn collapsed at the same time as the princess.

She had rushed the formation of the spell and was suffering the consequences; Nightmare Moon choked and wheezed as her ruined lungs regenerated, and spikes of ice piercing her body were pushed out.

“It’s… over.”

Celestia shuddered as her body struggled to heal the ghastly damage. Her chest, bleeding and reduced to a pincushion for grotesquely large icicles, convulsed as she swayed in and out of the waking world.

Nightmare Moon weakly rose to her feet and staggered on the spot. Shakily, she turned to the fallen princess and trotted over, ignoring how much her body protested the action.

“You… may be immortal, but you’re stagnant…” Standing over Celestia, she raised one hoof. “And now…”

Celestia’s eyes shot wide open as her horn was broken off near the base. Despite the unadulterated agony, she could only manage a slight shift of her legs and a low whine.

“You’re harmless.”

Miasma blinked the sweat from her eyes as she darted from guard to guard, inflicting blows that made them give chilling cries and screams, the sound mingling into the other ambient that pounded against her ears.

“Guys…” Her brother’s voice filtered through – the usual confidence and cock-sureness alarmingly absent. “Do you think if we ask nicely they’ll let us take a break?”

Haze pitched in, equally drained. “A spot of tea sounds nice; I do believe my spells are starting to lose potency.”

Miasma spotted an earth pony in silver armour charging towards Ebony – the unicorn was visibly struggling to maintain an impromptu storm that plagued several guards – and immediately changed direction.

“Ebony – six ‘o’ clock!”

The unicorn turned and teleported at the last second. Miasma collided with the guard as Ebony re-appeared only a few feet to the side, nursing her head.

The lieutenant deftly twisted out of Miasma’s grasp and pulled off a tricky manoeuvre that ended up with her on the ground and having her hind leg twisted into an angle that sent bolts of pain along her spine. She instinctively kicked out and turned to throw a punch, but that, too, was dodged, and the stallion was suddenly behind her, attempting to choke her into unconsciousness.

She planted her back hooves into the floor and threw her weight forward, flipping him over. The counter was somewhat ineffective as he quickly released and rolled to land upright, facing her with grim determination.

‘Yeah, this sucks.’

They were going good at the start, but now it seemed as though the fight was finally starting to take its toll.

Fade and Veil were flying slower than usual and seemed to take longer to deal with threats, Ebony’s spells were unfocused and weak and she looked about ready to collapse, and Haze was starting to become more visible as well lose strength in his rejuvenating incantations. She was in better shape, but taking the brunt of the Royal Guard’s assault was beginning to leech her stamina and health.

The true problems were the lieutenants – even with Nightmare Moon’s enhancements the guards proved a great challenge to deal with alone.

She didn’t know how Shadow was doing, but hopefully he was making a difference in some way.

Miasma wearily faced her newest opponent, matching his fierce expression with-

“Hold!”

The single word cut through the atmosphere like a knife and everypony turned in the direction of the commanding tone.

Standing atop a plight of red carpet-covered stairs was an imposing mare with a pair of magnificent wings and an impressive length of horn. Cold confidence exuded from her form as she regarded the scene with reptilian eyes.

Miasma felt a rare sense of elation fill her. “Nightmare Moon…”

The name spread amongst the guards like an illness, the words uttered with disbelief, shock, and dread. A dozen guards backed down in remembrance of the power wielded by the fabled Mare in the Moon while the newest recruits shuffled anxiously, perturbed by the stories told to them by their comrades.

“Behold…” Nightmare Moon jerked her head. “Your mighty princess.”

Horrified gasps filled the air and even Miasma had to wince as Celestia was unceremoniously chucked down the stairs, rolling down like a sack of potatoes before eventually coming to a rest at the foot.

She was barely breathing.

Seeing such a regal and powerful figure in that state… Miasma was a hard pony to invoke empathy for somepony she didn’t know, but still…

‘Note to self: do not get on her bad side.’

“I have challenged your ruler and defeated her in single combat,” Nightmare Moon stalked down the steps with the deliberation and precision of a predator. “My soldiers have proven to be a match for the entirety of your army and my pet roams the estate as leisurely as a dog roams its owner’s yard. You have failed.”

She cast her gaze over the silent crowd.

“There is no need for further violence; cast your armor aside and surrender. If you do not… then know that I will not be as merciful to you as my soldiers have been to you. If you oppose me… then take the time to cherish your final breaths.”

Miasma looked around, watching as the guards glanced to their superiors for guidance. They appeared to be more like lost foals then full-grown stallions. The lieutenants themselves seemed to be at a loss as to what to do now that their princess – the pony that they had sworn to protect – was lying before them, defeated.

Clank

All eyes turned to the earth pony she had faced not five minutes ago as he unfastened the straps which held his armour in place and allowed it to fall. Within seconds, he was bare as the day he was born.

“Will…” His gruff voice wavered, but he met the alicorn’s gaze, and swallowed. “Will you let us tend to our wounded… and her?”

Nightmare Moon’s face was stone. “Very well – however, know that I have marked her. If she leaves the castle’s premises I will know and my wrath will be felt.”

The stallion nodded and trotted towards the fallen princess.

Slowly, but gradually, the guards that were conscious and able-bodied relinquished their armour, and turned their attention to their unconscious companions, the air becoming charged with energy as healing spells were cast.

Miasma heard the flutter of wings and turned to see Fade land, his feathers ruffled and in need of a good preening. He was sweaty, covered in all sorts of injuries, and exhausted, but he was standing.

“So…” He gave a cocksure grin. “We did alright for ourselves, huh?”

“We won…” A spot of air shimmered and Haze was suddenly at their side, previously immaculate hair messy and left eye twitching from the lingering effects of an electrocution spell. “It… it got a bit sour here and there, but… I must say, we gave a good thrashing!”

“That was…” Ebony had an impossibly wide smile despite the splitting headache that made her want to sleep for a few months. “I… just… wow…”

“And this is the part where I look down and find out all my fur’s gone,” Veil cautiously checked herself, one eyebrow rising in surprise. “No? Nothing? Then sweet, jumpin’ rattlesnake, we got through that with all our limbs intact; any day where you’re still breathing by the end of it is a win in my books.”

Miasma exhaled and sat back on her haunches. “Cool…”

“Well done,” Nightmare Moon trotted over to them with what seemed to be pride in her smile. “You did better than I expected.”

“Mistress…” Ebony attempted to turn only for her exhaustion to kick in and make her fall flat on her face. “Ungh…”

“I’m sure the floor makes for a comfortable resting place, but there is still work to be done,” Nightmare Moon looked back at Celestia. “There’s not much time before Luna will come back, so we must act swiftly.”

Author's Note

Note 1: "... while it is common knowledge today, in the time when the three tribes were at odds, pegasi and earth ponies were ignorant of the fact that breaking a unicorn's horn does not stop their ability to manipulate and cast magic.

"A unicorn - and by extension an alicorn - gathers magic within a gland at the frontal lobe of the brain and consciously manipulates it via a cluster of conductive nerves located at the crown of the skull, directly where the horn is located. The horn, therefore, is nothing but a piece of bone which gives unicorns something to focus on and help aim their magic; breaking it may cause pain and shock, depending on how much of the horn is injured, but it is not fatal and does not block their ability to manipulate magic.

"This secret was kept guarded by unicorns of old, and it is what allowed a battalion to feign helplessness and take down a settlement of earth ponies from the inside out, an event famously referred to as the Backwater Overturn." - Excerpt from the notes of Canterlot Museum Historian, Nostalgic Withers.

Note 2: Shredding Blizzard - a spell developed by Nightmare Moon specifically to counter Celestia. It is comprised from both the school of Cryomancy and Alteration.

The spell is incredibly complex, has a long casting time, and uses up a large amount of magic, but the lethality is tremendous as it is capable of bypassing many magical barriers, and very few creatures can survive having their physiology frozen from the inside out.

The biting winds are reminscent of the wendigos that once plagued the three tribes.

Chapter 21: Confrontation

1055 AD, October 31st

Twilight licked her lips and fought to keep the tremble out of her tone as she called out, “Hello? Anypony there?”

The pitch-black corridor – overtaken by cobwebs and a thick layer of dust – stretched on seemingly forever, the eerie silence her only answer. A plain picture hung next to her – a family; a father, a mother, and two foals, both colts. The glass cover was filthy and made their features difficult to see, but she guessed they were smiling.

SKRASH

Twilight gasped and spun around in the direction of the nose. A half-shattered porcelain vase rolled out from the darkness and stopped inches from hitting her hoof.

The jagged edges were covered in blood.

“Hello?” She whimpered in an impressive impersonation of Fluttershy. “Anypony?” Her ears folded back and she crouched down. “Please?”

She took a step back.

Two steps.

Three steps.

Her rear bumped into something.

Eyes widening in terror, Twilight remained silent as she became aware of harsh, wheezing breaths, impossibly loud in the still air.

She blinked once and swallowed, shrunken pupils flicking to the side as she began to slowly turn her head…

… and her body followed, quick as a blink.

Nothing.

She closed her eyes and sighed in relief, wiping the sweat from her brow.

Splat

Splat

Splat

Twilight opened her eyes and noticed three tiny red splotches on the floor.

She looked up.

“Aiiiiieeeeee!!”

“W-we could… could hear you all the… the way out h-h-here!”

Twilight’s cheeks turned a darker shade of purple as Spike rolled across the ground, pounding the pavement with his fists. “It’s not that funny.”

“I have to agree with you there, Brightlight Twinkle; it was hilarious!” Discord clutched his belly as he guffawed, doing somersaults in mid-air. “Lu-Lu, have I mentioned how much I adore your Nightmare Night side more than the whole ‘argh, I’m a mysterious dream-walker that pukes riddles and half-sentences’?”

Though nopony could see her face under the tragedy theatrical mask with fake blood running from the sockets, Luna was frowning. “I do not puke riddles and half-sentences. I offer words that allow dreamers to find the courage to face their fears. I-”

Luna cut herself off as she sensed several ponies entering the haunted house just behind the group. Grinning wickedly, she magically unsheathed her plastic machete and teleported inside.

“Really, with all her ideas on what’s terrifying to ponies, she should have helped out you five.” Discord shrugged.

Twilight knew he was purposely trying to antagonize them – he got a strange kick out of arguing with her and her friends – so she didn’t rise to it, knowing for certain that her necromancer costume was good.

‘I just hope nopony else-’

“Our costumes are plenty scary!” Applejack huffed.

‘Probably should have expected that…’

Discord cocked a bushy eyebrow in amusement. “Really? A cyborg scarecrow, a vampire, a zombie chicken, and a cannibal butterfly? Kudos to the butterfly, but Flarity, you’re scoring so low with originality.”

“My costume is original, you rapscallion!” Rarity shrilled.

Twilight smiled to herself as she watched Rarity and Discord argue – the latter helpfully summoning a large graph to show ‘Unoriginality in relation to odour’ – with Pinkie and Spike egging them on from the side-lines.

Discord could certainly be a hoof-full at times, but he meant well enough, and he hadn’t gone overboard with a prank in quite some time. It allowed him to actually develop some relationship with her and her friends.

Fluttershy was the closest to him and they often got together to have a bit of tea and biscuits. The shy pegasus even informed them that he was considering opening up a restaurant for exotic foods. Still, she advised not to accept any V.I.P tickets because she told him not to open until he made sure the food wouldn’t try to eat them.

Pinkie Pie also had a blast in his company for their similar – not to mention exasperating – interests, but she had a sneaky suspicion that even she was too zany for Discord at times.

Applejack, Spike, and Rarity had their suspicions, but they were amiable in his company, and even managed to share a joke or two. Really, so long as Discord didn’t push their buttons too much, they were content to leave him alone when he invited himself into their personal space.

Rainbow Dash was the most cynical of them all, something to be expected given her loyalty to her friends. She and Discord regularly had arguments, though the draconequus never took them seriously, and often ended them with a shower of chocolate rain. Since she recovered from her injuries, they seemed to have calmed down, though Twilight wondered when they would start up again.

As for herself, well… the memory of how he had almost ruined her and the girls’ friendship was still fresh in her mind, but some of the sting had been taken off. She felt she could place some trust in him; not as much as she placed in her friends, but at least it was something.

‘I guess time really does heal all wounds.’

Just as she thought to step in when she heard the words ‘fashion’, ‘bomb’, and ‘fracas’ in the same sentence, the purple alicorn took note of a pegasus mare landing not a few feet away from them. She had never seen her before and she was confident she knew every face in Ponyville.

‘Is she new? Pinkie’s going to love this.’

However, Twilight felt her mood go sour when she saw the mare’s eyes. The pupils were elongated instead of round and the sheer coldness and malice in them sent shivers down her spine.

The last time she had seen eyes like those…

“Where’s Luna?” The mare asked as she came closer, the saddlebags at her sides rustling.

Twilight frowned uneasily. “Why do you-”

An explosive gasp cut her off as a pink blur in a bumblebee costume zipped in front of the mare. “Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen you before and I know everypony in Ponyville which means you must be a new pony and I love meeting new ponies because that means I get to have a new friend and throw a party and I love making new friends and throwing parties because it’s the most fun-tacular thing in the whole world next to eating ice cream on top of a mountain of cotton candy with chocolate at the-”

Fwoosh

A collective gasp sounded in the air as Pinkie was pushed back with a rush of wings. The action was so unexpected and sudden that Pinkie fell to the cold pavement with a grunt of pain. She looked up at the stranger with wide, confused eyes.

“Wh-why did you…?”

“Come near me like that again and you’ll be picking your teeth up off the ground.” The pegasus snarled.

Twilight and Fluttershy instantly moved to help Pinkie as Applejack stomped forwards, her expression thunderous. “An’ who in th’ hay do you think you are?!” She stared down the pegasus, eyes blazing.

“You better say you’re sorry to Pinkie before I forget myself in front of everypony!” Spike backed the cowpony up, bearing his needle-sharp teeth.

Unfortunately, the intimidating visage was somewhat dampened by his mushroom costume.

The mare huffed and brushed her aside, ignoring their outrage. “I have a letter for Luna…” She paused and directed her stare at Discord. “And him.”

“Little old me?” The draconequus’ grin seemed a little more devious than ecstatic from witnessing Pinkie’s abuse. “A secret admirer? I have so many of those. Although, they lose points for hiring such a… stick in the mud as the courier.”

The pavement around the mare’s feet was suddenly a puddle of thick, brown mud. She spared an unimpressed look before reaching into her saddlebags and pulling out a scroll.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she recognized the royal seal. “But… that’s Princess Celestia’s…”

The mare ignored her and continued to glare at Discord as he plucked the scroll from her mouth, unrolled it, and summoned a pair of reading glasses. He hacked and coughed up a small frog before reading.

“To Luna and that magnificent, stunningly handsome, charming creature known as Discord, your Princess Celestia is currently unavailable at the moment,” His brow furrowed and his smirk faded. The others immediately perked up in concern. “If you wish to see her once more, then come to Canterlot Castle without the Elements of Harmony. Do not test me – the instant I spot one of the Elements, her head will burst like a melon,” He lowered the scroll. “P.S. Do not harm the messenger or a similar fate will be bestowed.”

“Oh my…” Fluttershy had a hoof to her lips.

Applejack whirled on the mare once more. “Who sent you? Who’s th’ varmint who’s dumb enough t’ mess with the princess?” A mocking sneer was her only answer. “Consarn it!”

“The poor princess…” Rarity turned to her friends as Discord snapped his fingers and a very confused Luna appeared at his side. “Who do you think it could be?”

“Chrysalis?” Applejack suggested.

“I’m not so sure,” Twilight fought back the wave of emotion and allowed logic and reasoning to rule her mind. “Security against the changelings have been stepped up since the invasion and I don’t think Chrysalis would be eager to test Canterlot again.”

“What about tall, dark, and ugly – King Sombra?” Spike put in.

“No, he was destroyed by the Crystal Heart,” Twilight rubbed her chin thoughtfully with a trembling hoof. “But there’s nopony else we know who’s strong enough to match Celestia…”

“Blood and flames!” Luna tossed the scroll aside and towered over the pegasus, the mask tearing from her face to reveal blazing white eyes and bared teeth. “For whom doth thou bow to?! Answer, cur!”

“Sorry, delivering this was all I was told to do,” The mare stuck out her chin defiantly. “Talking’s a bit out of my element at the moment.”

Luna’s horn shone dangerously before Discord suddenly upended a bucket of water over her head. “Slow down there, Moon-butt; remember what our mutual acquaintance said about harming the messenger?”

The princess of the night sighed and nodded, wet hair plastered to her face. “Yes… of course,” She narrowed her eyes. “I suppose you are to return to your master alongside us?”

“I am to remain here to ensure the Element bearers don’t follow,” She cast a sneer at them. “As much as I hate to do so…”

A second later, the mare was immobilized by a pillar of blue light rising from a glyph of the same colour that was cast upon the ground. Twilight recognized it as an Immobilization Ward – a powerful one to boot.

“Does that go against your master’s demands?” Luna growled.

“You’re… pushing… it…” The mare grumbled.

“Technically, we haven’t harmed you and you are staying here,” Discord tapped the top of her head with a smug grin. “Oh, don’t you love loopholes?”

“Come,” Luna removed her serial killer garb as she trotted towards her chariot. “My sister needs us.”

Discord hummed thoughtfully, pursing his lips. “Help the ponies who gave me a full-stone body cast and left me in their garden for the birds to poop on for a thousand years?”

“My sister’s life is in jeopardy and you’re having doubts?” Luna exclaimed with disbelief and rising anger.

“Please, Discord,” Fluttershy looked up at him pleadingly. “Celestia was the one who convinced us to free you.”

“You can’t let her die!” Twilight added desperately.

Celestia was more than her former teacher; she had been like a second mother to her. The thought that she was harmed in any way…

Pinkie bounced up high to look the draconequus in the eyes. “That’s such a meany, not-nice, bad thing to do!”

Discord’s resolve faltered under the pleads and the weight of his own guilt – he was going to give that emotion a stern talking-to later tonight – and he let out a dramatic sigh of defeat and padded forward, each step carrying the sound of a whip cracking.

“Woe is me – I’m so lazy…” As he passed the entrapped pegasus he used his claw to brush her mane back into a silly sweep and left her to grind her teeth and mutter unpleasant words. “Have fun foalsitting.”

“Twilight, Spike,” Luna turned back as she neared her chariot. “I would appreciate you sending a letter to the Crystal Empire to warn of this development.”

“Of course.”

“No problem, princess.”

The six mares and one dragon watched as Luna prepared to take-off, fidgeting as a sense of helplessness overcame them.

“Do be safe, dearies.” Rarity said.

Luna gave a reassuring smile – Discord took the opportunity to give her the bunny-ears treatment – and mumbled a quick order to her guards. The bat-ponies ushered forwards and took to the air, making a beeline towards Canterlot – the city barely visible against the mountains it was built upon. Discord followed close behind, for once using the wings situated on his back, although he managed to leave a trail of sequins, glitter, and paper cranes.

Now alone, Twilight’s friends moved to support her as she looked at the ground anxiously. They loved their princess dearly, but Twilight’s relationship was the strongest. The sense of being unable to help weighed heavily on their psyches.

“She’ll be okay, sugarcube,” Applejack moved her hoof up and down Twilight’s back comfortingly, taking care to mind her wings. “Luna’s th’ princess of th’ moon and th’ only thing that’s strong enough t’ go against Discord are th’ Elements.”

“Or something like Discord from another dimension!” Pinkie put in with a ‘squee’. Her elation ebbed when she noticed the aggravated looks. “What?”

“As much as I dislike Rainbow teaching the little ones her ruffian mannerisms,” Rarity began. “I’m glad she’s with them and not here. No doubt we’d have to physically restrain her from charging off.”

“Sounds like… she… should be… on a leash.”

Twilight shot a scathing look at the captured pegasus before sighing. “Thanks, guys, but I need to get that letter sent.”

Spike pulled out a fresh scroll and a quill; he never went anywhere without them, especially when Twilight became more… excited than usual. “Ready and waiting.”

“Dear Prin-”

“Actually…” The mare managed to get out, the smallest movements requiring a surge of effort. “I… have a… better… idea…”

“And what makes you think we’d listen to you?” Twilight answered with more than a twinge of hostility.

The mare merely grinned.

As Luna’s chariot swept over the rooftops of upper Canterlot, she knew something was very wrong. The streets – usually still full of ponies around this time – were empty, the silence was thick, and there was a sense of foreboding in the air. It became more noticeable as Canterlot Castle loomed closer.

“Land near the gates.” She ordered.

Her personal guard didn’t answer, but did as commanded, slowing their speed and descending until they were gliding mere feet above the lifeless streets. As they approached, their gait slowed to a crawl and the chariot’s wheels made contact with cobblestone, skipping twice before settling into a steady roll. The clip-clop of her guards’ hooves as they landed reverberated off the buildings.

Luna sat up in her seat and observed the broken gates with alarm. “They appear to have been demolished by some great force.”

With a gust of wind, Discord landed, wings folding back up. He stepped forwards and felt his foot sink. Glancing down, he noticed a small depression in the ground, its twin close to the side. There were several other pairs leading towards the gate.

“Well, somepony was working out,” He gestured to the cracks when Luna looked at him curiously. “I’d say they charged from a distance and introduced their mug to the metal bars. Head trauma; builds character, but does a number on the brain power. Unless you’re me, of course.”

“There would have been guards stationed here,” Luna said as she climbed out of her chariot and trotted towards the entrance. “Surely they would have seen the head-on assault?”

“Oh, I don’t doubt they would have seen it,” The draconequus teleported to Luna’s side as she entered the garden. “I doubt that they would have been able to stop somepony strong enough to crack concrete from- whoa!”

Sitting beside the castle’s front doors was a behemoth of a timber wolf.

Its eyes shone bright green and an orange light pulsated from deep in its chest. Wisps of foul breath wafted from its jaws as it watched them, a growl resonating throughout the ground, more felt than heard.

Their attention was quickly stolen however, as a unicorn arrived through the doors. All dark colours with the same draconic eyes, she trotted leisurely along the garden’s concrete path towards them.

“You haven’t harmed her, have you?” The mare said with no small amount of suspicion. “The messenger.”

Luna narrowed her eyes at the mare. “She is restrained, but unharmed. The Element bearers will not leave her supervision,” She took a single step forwards, her form radiating cold anger. “Are you the one who dares to attempt regicide?”

The mare’s eyes flicked back and forth between her and Discord. She was putting on a brave face, but Luna could see she was frightened about facing two powerful beings – one of whom possessing the power to alter reality with but a thought.

“No,” The mare jerked her head in the direction of the castle. “My Mistress is waiting for you in the throne room. I’ll be going with you… just in case.”

“You know…” Discord leaned down, flashing his teeth as the unicorn flinched back. “Unicorn horn tastes absolutely sublime dipped in salsa with a smidge of mint.”

The mare stumbled over her words. “I… Let’s just go.”

After ordering her guards to stay put, Luna followed, her mood darkening as she witnessed the damage done to the gardens. No doubt caused by that mongrel. She gave it a fierce glare and the timber wolf’s single ear folded back as it whined.

When she entered the castle, it was all she could do to keep her temper in check. Not only were the furnishings and architecture in a deplorable state, there were a few ponies sitting around with downcast expressions – ponies who she knew were in the guard. A lot of them had injuries, treated to, but still visible until time took the worst of it away. When they saw her – and to a lesser extent, Discord – they perked up considerably, but it was obvious they had suffered a great blow to their morale.

“What happened here?” She asked. “Who did this?”

The guards shrunk under her gaze. One stepped forward, an earth pony covered in bruises with a single foreleg in a cast.

“Forgive us, your highness; we cannot speak of that. If we do, then Princess Celestia…” He trailed off.

“You needn’t say more,” Luna offered a reassuring smile. “Worry no longer; Discord and I will bring this fiend to justice for the misery she has caused.”

The guards looked more hopeful as she left. It pained her to see them in such a way; they had always been proud and eager to protect them, but then some dastardly creature had to come along, wipe them across the floor, and hold Celestia hostage. Now their confidence and sense of purpose was gone.

Luna swore she would make the offender pay.

“Yoo-hoo,” Discord snapped his talons in front of her face. “Equestria to Moon-butt, come in Moon-butt.”

“Desist!” Luna irritably slapped his hand away. “This is not the time for jokes.”

Discord looked as if she had eaten a foal. “Those words… they inflict pain on my soul.”

“My sister’s life may hang in the balance,” She whispered harshly. “If there was ever a time for you to be serious then that time is now.”

“Serious?” The draconequus waved her off, a pair of googly-eyed glasses appearing on his face. “Who wants to be serious? Unpredictability is the best counter-measure against any foe.”

“And how did that work out against the Element bearers?”

Discord’s glasses vanished as his ego took a hit. He glared at the princess of the night. “You can be really mean when you want to be.”

Luna shook her head in annoyance. “I do not wish to argue; stop fooling about and remain vigilant,” She looked at him desperately, her anxiety breaking through. “Please…”

The worry and fear on the alicorn’s face reminded him too much of Fluttershy. Discord grumbled and looked away, hating how soft he had become.

“Fine…”

Their guide took them to the massive double doors leading to the throne room. She signalled for them to wait before poking her head in.

“Mistress, they’ve arrived,” There was a brief pause before the mare nodded. “Very well,” She turned back to them and gestured towards the slightly ajar doors. “After you.”

Luna brushed past and entered.

She stopped.

Nightmare Moon gave a nod of acknowledgement as she sat comfortably on Celestia’s throne. “Long time no see…”

Discord peered curiously at the black alicorn. He plucked his eyes from their sockets, wiped them across his chest, and placed them back. “Didn’t see that one coming. Although, I really should have,” He elbowed Luna as she gaped in a mixture of horror and disbelief. “Every antagonist comes back for a second round – it’s a pretty popular cliché in movies and shows.”

“How?” Luna choked out. “The Elements cleansed me of your presence.”

Nightmare Moon shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a tough cookie,” Her gaze switched to her right. “Can’t say the same for your sister though.”

Luna’s attention was drawn to the pitiful figure lying at Nightmare Moon’s feet, restrained by chains. The cuffs that were linked by the links were studded with enchanted gems. Celestia’s astral mane no longer flowed and her coat was covered in dried blood. The top half of her horn was a sickly grey and the middle seemed to bulge slightly like a pimple.

Luna’s horror was immediately washed away by a monsoon of righteous fury.

“Thou darest to harm mine sister and threaten her life!” The force of her yell rattled the stain glass windows and almost knocked Discord off his feet. “Foul demon – thou shalt face mine full wrath!”

Nightmare Moon was quick to extend her left foreleg. A silver knife in her grasp was pressed against Celestia’s closed right eye.

The princess of the night froze as ice formed in her stomach. With a great deal of effort, she swallowed her rage, and settled for throwing daggers at the creature responsible for her banishment with her eyes.

“That’s better,” Nightmare Moon gave an infuriating grin. “Oh, and Discord? Don’t try to pull any funny stuff. Celestia’s a bit weak at the moment and all it’ll take is a quick flick of my hoof to stab her brain. Not even an alicorn can survive that, not in a state like hers.”

“Really? Not even something a little bit funny?” The draconequus puffed up with pride. “I’ve been told I’m quite the comedian.”

“Everything you say and do is a bit of a joke, huh?” The alicorn shrugged again. “It’s just sad none of them are actually funny.”

Discord said nothing, but his glare was enough to send chills down Luna’s spine.

Getting over the shudders, Luna spoke, “What dost… What do you want?”

Nightmare Moon adjusted herself slightly, the blade glinting wickedly. “To offer you a chance, Luna,” When the other mare didn’t answer, she continued, “Join me and we’ll rule Equestria side by side.”

“You really think I will take up such an offer?” Luna said coldly. “After what you did the last time? Do you really think I will work with you after that?”

“Why not?” Nightmare Moon questioned. “You didn’t seem to mind working with me when I was on the Royal Court?” She paused, noticing the confusion. “Star Secret – ring any bells?”

Other than an almost imperceptible widening of her eyes, Luna remained still.

Out of the corner of her vision, Luna saw the unicorn mare and three others trot past and move to their Mistress’ side, each of them bearing reptilian eyes and radiating the same unnatural presence. With a surge of disgust, she recognized Dusk – the current head of his prestigious family.

“Have you no shame, Dusk?” She couldn’t help but call out, directing her ire and revulsion to the stallion.

He blinked, his stoic mask breaking in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“Princess Celestia spoke of your mother and father fondly. She told me how she visited you when you were a foal,” She gestured to her tormented sibling. “Look at her. All of you – look at her, look at yourselves, look at whom you serve! She wishes to plunge Equestria into everlasting night! The land will suffer and the blood of thousands will stain your hooves!”

Dusk suddenly looked extremely unsure and the others were looking down with similar expressions. A glimmer of hope surged in Luna’s heart. Perhaps they would seek redemption and aid her instead of the demon that sat on the throne.

Unfortunately, that hope was squashed when the unicorn mare – the one that greeted them in the courtyard – raised her head, stepped forward, and responded in a tone that held no room for persuasion.

“His name is Haze and he’s made his decision. We all have.”

She let the words sink in for a few seconds before turning back and marching purposely to stand at Nightmare Moon’s side. The others followed suite, their confidence seemingly renewed. Luna sighed in dismay.

‘No room for assistance there.’

“Cool speech,” Nightmare Moon chortled. “You just need a few more lies and you’ll be a regular politician.”

The remark set something off in Luna’s head.

Something wasn’t right.

She felt as if she was missing something, but no matter how much she examined her surroundings, she couldn’t place exactly what was making her uneasy. She pondered on it, but ultimately came to no conclusion, and shook her head, concentrating on the task at hand.

“You sure you don’t want to accept, Moon-butt?” Discord turned to her, one eyebrow rose questioningly. “Sounds like an easy deal.”

Luna bared her teeth aggressively. “I’d rather spend eternity on the moon than betray my sister at the behest of this creature.”

He chuckled and gave a single nod. “Alright then,” He turned back to the demon on the throne. “Sounds like she’s made her decision, too.”

“That’s a shame,” Nightmare Moon sighed. She glanced out one of the windows, brow furrowing. “I sincerely hoped that…” She trailed off and looked back. “Never mind. Seeing as I’m not going to be gaining an ally, I’ll have to ask for the both of you to surrender.”

Her demand was followed up by putting pressure against Celestia’s temple and quickly pulling back a few centimetres. Blood was drawn.

“Stop!” Fear grasped Luna’s heart. The fact that Celestia didn’t cry out and the wound didn’t heal instantly just furthered her distress.

“Lie down and allow my soldiers to restrain you,” Nightmare Moon said. “The first sign of resistance and I start stabbing.”

The thought of bowing to her whim once more left a foul taste in her mouth, but for her sister’s life she was willing to cast away her pride. Grimacing, she lay down on her belly and kept her wings furled. To her side, Discord simply fell flat on his face with the sound of one of those infernal ‘whoopee’ cushions.

“One question…” Discord’s voice was muffled as he raised his index finger in the air. “How do you expect to keep me on a leash? In case you haven’t noticed… I’m a slippery one.”

“This is a temporary solution,” Nightmare Moon replied. To her side, the unicorn mare and Haze levitated two lengths of chains with similar gem-encrusted cuffs. “In the meantime, these will have to make do. I’ll just keep this knife where it is… just to be on the safe side.”

Luna cringed as she felt the cold metal begin to bind her body; her wings and limbs becoming heavy as the Equalizing enchantments started to take effect. As soon as they sensed any magical surge dissimilar to the one who enchanted them, they’d release a charge to counteract it. Whoever cast these particular enchantments had made them strong enough to render even her useless for a few minutes – most likely they were made by Nightmare Moon herself.

“Really planned this out, hm?” Discord lifted his face from the floor as Haze began wrapping the chains around his limbs. “Credit where it’s due – I had no idea you were still kicking around all this time. Right under Sun-butt’s nose – I can only imagine her surprise when you finally revealed yourself. Bravo.”

Nightmare Moon frowned, suspicious. “Well, th-”

“And these are the chaps that helped you, hm?” He glanced momentarily at his stallion captor. “They kinda look like you. Relatives? No, they’re much too pretty.”

“They-”

“Ah well, doesn’t matter. How’d you hide an army this large anyway?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The rest of your army,” Discord tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. “Well, I mean surely this isn’t all of them? Counting the one we left in Ponyville, that only makes five. Five ponies against the Royal Guard and an alicorn; that can’t be enough. You think that’s enough, Moon-butt? I don’t think that’s enough.”

“We’re stronger…” The mare binding Luna pulled on the chains harshly, eliciting an angry cry. “Than we look.”

“So you all did this?” Discord hummed in thought. “All of you – in this very room – did this with nopony else? Well, ignoring the timber wolf using the gardens as its personal latrine.”

“That’s correct,” Haze secured the chains and stepped back, relieved to no longer be in the draconequus’ personal space. “Mistress, we’re all done.”

“Good work,” Nightmare Moon gestured to them. “Now, I need to address the public and inform them of-” She paused. “What… are you picking your teeth with?”

“Hm?” Discord lazily picked at his teeth with a suddenly unbound hand. “Oh, some knife I found.”

Blinking, the dark alicorn slowly oriented her head until she was facing her hostage.

In her hoof was a light yellow business card with Discord’s face and the words, ‘You got Discord-ed’ written underneath in cursive.

Luna turned to her companion with an indignant scowl. “You could have done that the entire time?”

“Well, I had to see if there was anypony else to watch out for, didn’t I?” He smirked. “And besides, it makes the rescue so much more extravagant when things seem at their bleakest, hm?”

“Just free us…”

With a snap of his fingers, the chains were gone. Both unicorns backed up, Haze developing a twitching eye as the princess of the night and the spirit of chaos rose to their full height.

“Oh, poopy…”

Author's Note

Note 1: Decapitation and complete combustion are perhaps the only things that can kill an alicorn, though this is no easy task due to their incredible strength, robust physiology, and healing factor. At any other point, the knife that threatened Celestia's life wouldn't have killed her even if it did stab her brain, but Luna could see how weak her sister was; her regenerative abilities weren't strong enough to resist the assault.

Note 2: Discord is both less and more sensitive to magical disturbances. He cannot sense individual magical signatures, spells, or ambient magic in an area, but he can sense imbalances from almost anywhere in the world. Twilight has developed a theory for this - the 'Resonance Effect'.

To her frustration, Discord refuses to sit still long enough to make any tests viable for her to back this theorem up.

Chapter 22: Deceit

1055 AD, November 1st

Nightmare Moon blinked in shock before giving a short bark of confident laughter. She flared her wings to their impressive span, the black feathers absorbing the light of the room.

“You think we’re afraid of some-”

Snap

In one large flash of light, Nightmare Moon’s followers lost their horns and wings, Celestia’s chains vanished, and Nightmare Moon’s speech was cut short by a cream pie to the face.

Luna followed it up with a salvo of Deep Freeze spells, encasing each of the confused followers in blocks of ice, making sure to leave just enough of their heads uncovered so they could breathe.

Within the span of four seconds, the opposition was culled, save for one blinded alicorn stumbling about and tugging at the tin tray futilely.

“Huh…” Discord pouted and crossed his arms. “Rather anti-climactic, wouldn’t you say?”

Luna didn’t answer.

She crossed the length of the throne room, narrowed eyes fixated on the demon that dared bring harm to her sister, her rage growing with every stride. Just as Nightmare Moon managed to pull the tin tray off and clear the cream from her eyes, Luna lashed out with a vicious right hook that sent her to the ground.

“Manipulative, sadistic, foul parasite!” Her hoof came up and was brought down on her opponent’s chest, earning a pained wheeze. “We shall deliver a swift and punitive punishment for thy actions! Thou will wish thou never crawled out from whatever black womb thou was conceived in!”

Another stomp and another punch.

“Where is thy arrogance now, hm? Where is thy confidence, thy self-assurance?! Well?! Where is it now?!”

Nostrils flaring, Luna raised both hooves, flapping her wings to keep balance.

But she paused as she looked at her fallen foe, curled up in the foetal position.

It would have been so easy; it was all she deserved for her crimes. She would have killed her sister, so why shouldn’t she return the favour?

All she needed to do was stomp down…

“…”

Luna’s gaze was drawn to her sister, so frighteningly weak and vulnerable. She could see Celestia’s chest rising and falling with laboured breaths as well as the many injuries marring her body.

Why wasn’t she healing?

What did Nightmare Moon do to her?

Luna turned back to her enemy, features twitching in indecision…

“…”

With a loud yell, Luna brought her hooves down.

The marble near Nightmare Moon’s head shattered.

Luna inhaled and exhaled, grinding her teeth. “Thy… your fate will be decided in court.”

“Really?” Discord slithered to her side, a disapproving look on his face. “I mean, I’m not one for all that killing stuff, but it’d be so much simpler to do her in now. You’ve seen the movies, right? Where the heroes let the villain live and it comes back to bite them in the rear later?”

“That’s not what Equestria stands for,” Luna responded. She was conflicted with her own personal desires and sense of morality. “Yes, it’d be easier. It’d also be easier if Celestia had killed me while I was imprisoned on the moon… powerless. But she didn’t. I… have to believe that perhaps this creature can redeem itself if given the chance.”

“Second chances?” The draconequus tutted with a shake of his head. “That’s a bit sketchy.”

Luna looked at him evenly. “Celestia gave you a second chance,” Discord cringed. “Despite everypony’s protests – despite mine – she gave you the chance to redeem yourself even though you wield power enough to tilt the world,” She turned back to her fallen foe. Strange – Nightmare Moon seemed so much weaker with Discord at her side. “So… I’m willing to try and give this creature a chance as well.”

Discord shrugged. “Merciful… but rather… well, dumb.”

The princess of the night stepped over Nightmare Moon and made towards her sibling.

“Watch her.”

“Like a hawk,” A bright pink hawk appeared on Discord’s shoulder and took out a pair of binoculars, peering down intently. “A rare sight, wouldn’t you say, Scales?”

Luna knelt beside her sister, horn lighting up as she channelled healing magic into Celestia’s broken body. “Sister! ‘Tia, wake up – you’re safe now.”

Celestia groaned as the rejuvenating rays stirred her, eyes fluttering open to reveal unfocused pupils, one larger than the other. “Lu…”
Her magic went no further than the base of her horn.

Luna furrowed her brow at her sister's grey-tinted horn and the unsightly bulge at its midpoint. What was wrong with it? She’d never seen anything like it. Whatever it was, it blocked her magic.

“Lu… na?”

“Yes, it is me, sister,” Fighting back tears of relief, Luna held her close. “Save your strength – it is over.”

“… mare…”

“What?”

“… ot… moon…”

“I cannot hear you.”

Celestia grimaced; the mere act of moving her lips and tongue seemed to be a monumental feat. “It’s… not… Nightmare…”

“What…?”

It took a second for the words to sink in. A chill rushed through Luna’s body as she craned her neck to look back at the draconequus standing guard.

He saw her stare and raised his hands defensively. “What?! I wasn’t actually going to do what I was thinking of doing! Not enough space and noodles.”

Luna quickly cast Dispel on Nightmare Moon’s body.

It failed.

Her anxiety and fear rising, she cast a stronger version.

It worked.

Luna’s eyes widened when the body rippled and began to shrink.

The black coat brightened to amber and the astral mane became solid and tangerine. The horn shimmered and changed from a spiralling length of bone and keratin to a cone of wrapped newspaper.

When the spell had dispersed, there was a female pegasus in place of an alicorn.

A Disguise spell supplemented with an Enlargement spell.

Discord tilted his head curiously. “Didn’t expect that either.”

“But…” Warning bells screamed ‘trap’ in Luna’s head as she looked around the room for any pressure plates, moving walls, explosive tripwires – anything. “Then where is-”

The throne room doors suddenly creaked open and six mares trotted in with the mood of a funeral march. They were without costumes and the Elements of Harmony adorned their bodies – Luna could feel the thrum of power even from her position.

“Uh…” Discord eyed them with the first sign of genuine worry evident in his expression. “O-kay, I really dropped the ball here. What brings you all here… friends?”

Twilight kept her eyes to the ground as she and the others stopped halfway across the room. “Discord…”

“Hey, if it isn’t my favourite bookworm!” His smile and laughter didn’t show in his eyes. “So how’s everypony doing? Good?”

“Discord, I’m…” She trembled and looked up. When she caught sight of Celestia, she inhaled sharply and spoke again with more conviction. “I’m sorry.”

Luna expected him to attack or flee or do something the instant those words were uttered… but he simply stood there, a wounded look on his face as the Elements began to glow, rays of iridescent light beaming across the room.

“Fluttershy?” He questioned softly.

“P-please forgive us…” Fluttershy sobbed as she rose into the air, a bridge of multi-coloured light linking her to the rest of the Elements.

Luna gasped and stepped forward. A part of her noted the irony in her rush to protect the spirit of chaos, but the rest of her was in shock, unable to comprehend the speed of which things were falling apart.

“Hold! I order you to hold!” The mares continued to rise and the air became heavier with every passing second. “Stop! What is the meaning of this?!”

The betrayal froze Discord.

He didn’t even fully comprehend what was happening until every fibre of his being screamed in defiance as the acrid sting of stability and balance charged the air. It was happening all over again.

Self-preservation taking over, he attempted to teleport only to find that pixels of light had surrounded his body and were somehow keeping him in position.

Desperate, he made chairs fall on their heads. He made it rain glue. He turned the floor to mud. Whatever he tried was instantly rectified by the Elements. He was only delaying the inevitable.

It was hopeless.

“Well…” He sighed, resigning to his fate. “Ain’t this a kick in the harmony.”

Drawing himself up, he threw on a huge grin, and gave the pointer fingers to nobody in particular. The last time he was frozen, it was in a position that suggested he was afraid.

Unacceptable – he needed to be frozen in such a way that accentuated his rugged features and magnificent physique. If only he had been wearing an ‘I’m with Stupid’ shirt or a pair of sunglasses.

‘No, they would have been taken away by the Elements. I swear, no sense of fashion those things – all order and seriousness.’

The glow brightened and intensified until finally – with a flare of energy that shook the entire castle – a rainbow surged forwards, tendrils of colour licking at the charged air.

‘Although I have to admit – they do know how to make a scene. An explosion of colour! I should really take a page from that and work it into my next move.’

The wave of colour washed over him, blinding and powerful. He could feel a stinging sensation as his legs were petrified.

‘Why couldn’t it feel like getting a massage? Meh – probably part of the whole punishment thing, I guess.’

The petrification snaked up his serpentine body, to the tips of his fingers and across his wings before finally taking over his neck. He kept up the smile as everything started to go dark and he lost all feeling, his immense power slipping away from his grasp.

And then he was frozen… again.

‘Well… nothing for it now; let’s see how this all plays out. Maybe they’ll win and I’ll be back to normal in no time. Optimism never hurt anybody, eh? Well… maybe it hurt that one guy, but that’s just going into boring details and facts. Alright, Nighty-Night Goon, let’s see what you’ve got.’

The Elements of Harmony’s energy flowed through Luna, an indescribable feeling of power that reminded her just how weak she was compared to the full majesty of the power of Harmony. Despite not being the intended target, the energy tugged at her feelings, calming her; she sighed in content, momentarily forgetting why she was so upset in the first place.

Then it ended and she was cruelly snatched away from enlightenment and plunged back into harsh reality.

Luna spun around, pupils shrinking upon seeing Discord petrified in a silly position. “No…”

She wasn’t fond of the draconequus, but he had helped in her time of need, even if it was at the behest of who he considered to be his true friend, so he was worthy of some respect.

“Why?” Luna turned on the Element bearers as they hovered back down. “Why would you…?”

Twilight spoke up, her tone low and shaky. “I’m sorry, Princess Luna. We had to, otherwise… otherwise…”

“Otherwise they’d be short a few siblings.”

The rich and deep tone sent shivers down her spine. Luna looked past the sombre mares and saw a tall, imposing figure standing in the doorway – the same figure she had thought was lying on the floor not minutes ago.

“Nightmare Moon…” Luna spat as the accursed parasite stepped forwards, her face smug.

“Lu-Lu…” She trotted around the mares, keeping one eye on them. “Don’t you dare move!” She barked as Applejack attempted to look at her. The farmer twitched and returned to her rigid position. “You don’t want to lose another family member, hm?”

She laughed mockingly and gave the three fillies in her telekinetic grasp a shake, their high-pitched cries of terror piercing the moon princess’ heart.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo – all she knew well.

They were terrified. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were whispering comfortingly to Sweetie Belle, who was crying silently.

“Heartless… abomination…” Luna felt like choking on her own outrage and disgust, so great it was. “You would hurt children?”

Nightmare Moon stopped and glanced at her hostages thoughtfully.

In the blink of an eye, Apple Bloom was separated from her friends, hoisted into the air, and thrown back down.

“No!”

Applejack’s cry was louder and more desperate than the rest.

Apple Bloom wailed as the floor halted inches away from her fragile legs.

“I would…” Nightmare Moon exposed sharp teeth as she grinned widely. “I will… unless the bearers throw down their Elements and you free my soldiers,” She levitated Apple Bloom back to her friends, who immediately embraced her. “Do. Not. Test. Me.”

Luna felt trapped, a mouse under the predatory watch of a cat, allowed to run about, but not allowed to escape. She wracked her brain for a plan, for anything. She became desperate as she came up empty and was horrified when a stray thought passed through.

‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…’

She violently cast it aside – there was no way she would allow herself to rule with a mentality like that. It was too harsh, too cruel, too much like… her.

Lowering her head in defeat and fighting back tears of frustration, Luna defrosted Nightmare Moon’s soldiers, watching helplessly as they stretched feeling back into their limbs.

Haze rushed to the Nightmare Moon imposter’s side, his horn glowing as he tended to her injuries. They were certainly severe – Luna had struck her while fully believing it was the real deal. The mare was lucky she wasn’t dead.

Twilight and her friends rid themselves of the Elements, faces dark as Nightmare Moon reached out with tendrils of magic and dragged the powerful relics to her.

They were utterly defenseless now.

‘I’ve… failed.’

Now this was glorious.

The Elements of Harmony, their bearers, and both princesses – well, former – under her control. Nightmare Moon glanced over to the throne dais and was relieved to see Veil rising under her own power, bruised and broken, but alive.

Sparing a look at Luna, she felt a twinge of remorse.

She had honestly hoped Luna would join her once more, but alas, it seemed as if it had to be this way.

‘Never mind – she’ll join her sister in captivity along with the Element bearers. Now as to what to do with these…’

The necklaces and tiara floated in her grasp, radiating power. It was nowhere near as intense as when they were touching their bearers. She regarded the objects that had imprisoned her on the moon for a thousand years, glowering balefully.

As much as she wanted to destroy them and prevent anypony from using them against her ever again, their raw magical potential was too useful to pass up should she find a way to properly harness that power.

Plus, she had no idea how to even destroy them; if they were anything like the long-lost Emerald Crown of Princess Platinum, then nothing short of throwing them into the sun would do any harm.

Hell, destroying them might even create a magical feedback that could wipe out her, if not the entirety of Equestria.

She’d study them later to find out how they worked and what weaknesses they had.

Nightmare Moon looked towards the defeated mares and smirked haughtily.

“My, my – don’t you all look upset…” It may have been childish and petty, but it felt damn good to mock the ponies that blasted her with the Elements’ power four years ago. “Oh, I know! Why don’t you use the magic of friendship to get your precious Elements back?” She tilted her head in faux curiosity. “No? I wonder why…” She oriented her head towards the floating fillies, seeing their wide-eyed terror.

“… ute…”

Nightmare Moon’s ears twitched. “Pardon?” Nopony spoke. She raised her brow and sighed. “Come now, I know one of you said something.”

The silence lasted a few seconds longer before the white unicorn met her gaze icily, trembling with barely-supressed rage. “You… are a brute. A brute and a bully.”

Nightmare Moon was genuinely surprised; she would have thought it was Applejack or Rainbow Dash, but apparently the clothes designer had grown a backbone.

‘How amusing…’

“Sticks and stones.” She replied with a shrug.

“Ebony, Miasma…” Nightmare Moon directed her thoughts to her soldiers. “Escort these mares to the dungeons once I am done. Fade, you remain here with me. Haze, how is she doing?”

“I’m fine…” Veil’s response with laden with pain. “Pretty sure I coughed up a lung, but whatever; never liked those organs anyway.”

Nightmare Moon chuckled. “Quite a statement coming from a pegasus.”

Grinning triumphantly, she glanced towards the Element bearers once more, intent on gaining satisfaction from the hopeless expression of-

Twilight tore her anxious eyes away from her beloved mentor – her second mother – when she heard a harsh choke followed by a trio of thumps and yelps. She turned her attention to the cruel alicorn.

Nightmare Moon’s legs trembled, barely able to keep her upright, and her expression one of abject terror. The magical prison she held the fillies in had shorted out, leaving them lying on the floor, and stunned by their sudden freedom.

‘What…?’

She turned to Fluttershy and had to force herself not to cower away. Her shy friend’s Oculus Petrification – colloquially known as The Stare – had kicked in with a vengeance. Twilight could feel the magic radiating from the pegasus’ eyes, so intense that it had turned them black, resembling empty sockets.

‘At the epitome of its power, Oculus Petrification is capable of rendering even the most vicious creatures comatose, page 137; Encyclopaedia of Unusual Abnormalities of Physical and Magical Origin by Notepad…’

Casting the thought aside, she immediately yelled, “Rarity, get the girls away! Everypony else make sure Fluttershy doesn’t break eye contact!”

Rarity reacted instantly and swept the frightened fillies in her magic as Twilight and the rest of her friends moved to intercept Nightmare Moon’s followers. The fashionista made a break for the doors, but a silver bolt of magic struck first, and a magical barrier spread out to completely cover the doors. Rarity skid to a halt before she slammed into it, sensing that making physical contact would not end well.

Seeing her predicament and knowing Rarity didn’t have the skill in magic to dispel the barrier, Twilight made to get rid of it herself, but was intercepted by a unicorn mare teleporting in front of her. Her sharp teeth were bared as her horn lit up and Twilight threw up a barrier in time to stop a Kinetic Impact spell.

“Please, stop!” She cried desperately. “She’ll bring about everlasting night! Do you know the effects that would have on the ecosystem?! There is a delicate balance in which Equestria requires solar energy approximately-”

A bolt of electricity slammed into her barrier a moment later, the backlash causing a sting behind her eyes.

“Save your breath.” The mare retorted as her horn bled crimson energy.

Applejack thundered towards the earth pony that followed Nightmare Moon, her insides boiling as images of her sister being stallion-handled flashed through her mind’s eye. She would have preferred giving the alicorn herself a good bucking, but she trusted Twilight to know what she was doing.

So she was going to make sure nopony disturbed Fluttershy.

Her opponent charged forwards and Applejack knew – judging by how every step was cracking the floor – that she wouldn’t win a head-on assault. She had to play it smart.

She stayed on her straight path, letting out a battle cry for good measure, until they were only a few feet away, at which point she quickly dodged to the side and spun, putting all her weight on her front hooves and lashing out with her back hooves.

The vibrations made her teeth shake – she had bucked trees softer than this pony – and the muscles in her legs burned, but her opponent wasn’t heavy enough to remain grounded and was thrown back a few yards.

Applejack maintained her balance as she went back on all fours and turned around, grimacing. The mare was already getting back up, winded, but far from hurt.

‘What in th’ hay have these guys been eatin’?’

The mare rose and gave her a scathing glare before turning her attention back to Fluttershy.

“Oh no, you don’t!”

She may have been stronger and tougher, but Applejack was faster; she tackled the mare back to the ground and held her tight, toughing out the punches and kicks as best she could.

‘Ah’m goin’ t’ be sore in th’ mornin’…’

Rainbow Dash went for the pegasi, eyes blazing with fury. “You guys are so dead! Think you and your boss can pick on my little sis and her friends?! Not while I’m still kicking!”

“Verily!” Luna joined her, eyes emitting a fierce white light as energy crackled at the tip of her horn. “Thou shalt regret the day thy-”

The pegasus mare – a sour expression on her face – reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a black canister with a diamond in a small slot. She threw it to the ground and shielded her face with a wing.

“Uh oh…” Rainbow Dash had no idea what the canister was, but it couldn’t be good. She attempted to cover her eyes as well. “Princess, watch-”

BANG

Though she was fast enough to cover eyes, her self-inflicted blindness allowed a tremendous force to strike her in the stomach and send her cartwheeling across the room. It was only due to her Wonderbolts training and natural awesomeness that she was able to regain her bearings.

“The heck was that?” The cyan pegasus coughed.

A few yards away, Luna was yelling out some choice words that made even her blush. The lunar princess was also frantically rubbing at her eyes and firing bolts of magic blindly at the pegasus mare, who had already left her original position and was taking out a few more canisters. Rainbow Dash noted how she was favouring one wing over the other; a sign of a sprain.

“Hey, that’s cheating!”

Any thoughts of darting over to lend the princess a hoof, however, were erased as the other pegasus, a stallion, blocked her path and hovered in place with an infuriatingly smug grin.

“I know, it’s great, yeah?” His wings spread out with a snap and he rocketed towards her.

Rainbow Dash shot upwards, dodging the attack by mere centimetres and turning around in mid-air to face him as he rebounded off the wall, the force of his impact cracking the stone. She banked to the right to avoid it, but the tip of his wings caught her in the side, leaving a small nick that quickly welled with blood.

Hissing in discomfort more than pain, she turned again to face him, calculating his velocity as he bounced off the ceiling and came at her again.

‘One, two, three, go!’

She rolled backwards as he sped over her rotating body, almost clipping her in the head, and bucked him in the belly, the force sending him spiralling out of control and into the wall. Rolling to right herself, she watched as he only just barely righted himself, and rubbed the back of his neck with a grimace and narrowed eyes.

“Lucky hit.”

“Luck?” She scoffed, throwing out her forelegs in a challenging manner. “Don’t need luck when the guy you’re fighting’s slow as molasses. What’s your wingpower – 4.3?”

“More than you can handle,” He snapped back, stopping the beat of his wings to hang in the air momentarily before surging forwards. “I’m just getting started!”

“Oh good!” Rainbow Dash raced off, forcing him to pursue. “’Cause if you really were trying then I’d feel really bad!”

The guy was obviously proud and arrogant – he reminded her of somepony – which meant he was going to chase her instead of doing the smart thing and going after Fluttershy. She wasn’t entirely sure how she was going to keep him occupied for very long, especially in such an enclosed area, but her friends, all of Equestria was counting on her.

So Mother Faust be her witness, she’d be the best damn distraction the world had ever seen.

“Peek-a-boo! Over here! Yoo-hoo! Here I am! There I am! Woo-hoo!”

The unicorn stallion grimaced, firing spell after spell as she popped up in front of, behind, and to the side of him. “Stop this silly charade at once!”

“But we’re not playing charades,” Pinkie said, placing a hoof to her lips in thought as she stood on his back. She would have known if they were playing charades, wouldn’t she? She jumped over his head as he turned with a yelp and tried to blast her. “Unless… it’s a surprise game of charades!” Pinkie jumped up and down in excitement. “Ooh, I love surprises!”

Twilight had told her to distract the meanies that listened to Hokey Smokes – or was it Black Snooty? – while she and Fluttershy were having a staring contest so she had thought a game of Hide and Seek would be the perfect thing for the job, but charades sounded a lot more fun and was just as distracting!

“Okay, two words! First word! Three-” Pinkie snorted and face-hoofed. “Oh right, I’m supposed to be quiet. Sorry, why don’t you go first?”

A flare of magic erupted from his horn. She leaned back on her tail and spring-bounced over it, landing with a puzzled expression.

“Bzzap? Or was that pew? Is that mean two words or one? And how many syllables? Is this a new rule?”

“Oh, horn shavings – of course I get stuck with the jester of the group…”

The magical barrier was simply too strong for her. Rarity gave up her attempts on cracking it and looked around for a safe haven for the fillies.

‘Oh dear, oh dear, the windows? No, it’s too long a fall. I can’t teleport either; I knew I should have learned, but I kept putting it off and now… now…’

Emitting a whine of frustration and fear, Rarity raced back towards Fluttershy and placed the fillies down on the floor before crouching and erecting a dome of magic. It was a simple barrier she learned from Twilight after the Diamond Dog fiasco and probably couldn’t even stop half the attacks of Nightmare Moon’s lackeys, but blast it all, she had to protect these girls and Fluttershy!

Thankfully, her friends were doing a wonderful job of keeping them at bay.

Pinkie and Twilight were up against the unicorns, Applejack was wrestling with the sole earth pony, and Rainbow Dash and Luna were engaging the two pegasi.

‘Normally I’m not one to endorse violence, but I sincerely hope they knock these ruffians out soon.’

“R-Rarity?”

Turning, Rarity attempted a reassuring smile as her sister and friends huddled together, their eyes watery and filled with terror. “It’s okay, Sweetie Belle; everything is going to be alright. Just lay low, okay? You girls all just lay low.”

The three Cutie Mark Crusaders whimpered and shut their eyes against the sounds of battle.

Maintaining her shimmering blue barrier, Rarity glanced towards Fluttershy, a shiver going down her spine as she saw the pitch-black eyes.
She had seen her dear friend angry at times – which was quite frightening in itself – but this was an entirely new level of fury. Her friends and their siblings being threatened, Princess Celestia reduced to such a deplorable state, and Discord being trapped in his stony prison once again, Fluttershy was beyond angry at this point and Nightmare Moon had to bear the full brunt of it.

Frankly, she couldn’t think of somepony more deserving.

Speaking of the heartless bully, Rarity turned her gaze and noticed with horror that the evil alicorn’s expression of terror wasn’t as intense as before and that she was beginning to twitch her head, as if making a conscious effort to look away.

“Oh dear…” Rarity looked back to Fluttershy. “Darling, please hold her for just a bit longer,” She had no idea how the Stare worked and worried that doing anything to help might just have the opposite effect. “You can do it; I know you can!”

Not expecting an answer, she jumped when Fluttershy grunted through gritted teeth. “Trying… b-but she…” A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. “She’s so… strong…”

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy sweetness,” Rarity apologized with a worried expression; she felt so helpless. “I don’t know how I can help…”

Fluttershy’s eyes flashed back to their normal state for an instant. “Me… either…”

Rarity continued supporting Fluttershy with encouraging words, casting furtive glances over her shoulder and silently urging the battle to end already.

Can’t run… can’t move… can’t look at those eyes… can’t look away…

…

N-no, I… I have to look away…

…

But I can’t move…

…

I can move… I just have to move my head…

…

M-move… I will not lose again… I can’t lose…

I will not lose again…

I will not… allow it.

I will not succumb to this accursed Stare! I will not succumb to this pegasus! I am Nightmare Moon and I will not submit!

Gradually, Nightmare Moon’s mind began to chase away the primal terror and the unnatural magnetism that prevented her from looking away from those darkened eyes. Sensation crept back into her body and it was with immeasurable relief that she was finally able to shut her eyes and sever the last bit of control the pegasus had on her. When she opened her eyes again, it was Fluttershy that whimpered and backed down at the fury of the alicorn’s glare.

Nightmare Moon grinned without an ounce of mirth, her voice like a sharp blade. “I am going to enjoy breaking you…”

She walked forwards.

The pitiful barrier didn’t even require dispelling; a single hoof crashing down on the dome shattered it and threw the white unicorn to the ground with a shrill cry of pain. The fillies shrieked in dismay and the yellow pegasus immediately rushed to them and her fallen friend, her wings and hooves spreading out to shield them.

A valiant display of courage, but ultimately futile.

“Get away from them!”

A blast of electricity sent explosions of pain racing across her body.

Stumbling back a few feet, Nightmare Moon directed a scathing look at Twilight. The purple alicorn flinched, but stood her ground and prepared another spell, pumping large amounts of magic into it. Nightmare Moon was reminded just why she was adopted as Celestia’s protégée as the air of the throne room became charged with ambient magic radiating off Twilight’s horn.

Still, all the power in the world counted for nothing if you turned your back on an opponent.

Ebony took advantage of Twilight’s foolish move.

She telekinetically tore out a chunk of the floor and threw it at the back of Twilight’s head with titanic force.

CRACK

The Element of Magic folded like a house of cards, half-lidded eyes staring up at nothing as a rivulet of crimson ran down the back of her neck.

Nightmare Moon sent an approving nod at the unicorn before turning back to the group. Gathering energy into her horn, she weaved a barrier around them and imbued it with electricity.

“Don’t move now.” She trilled with faux pleasantness, directing most of her ire towards the pegasus.

Straightening, Nightmare Moon fixated on Luna and galloped across the throne room, Ebony at her side.

Luna’s shout of victory as she managed to snag the female pegasus in her telekinesis was rendered null as something was pressed to the back of her head and forced her down into the floor, muzzle first. Blood spurted from both nostrils and a few of her teeth broke from the impact.

“Surrender.”

An unwelcome feeling of nostalgia filled her as the cold voice whispered into her ear. Spitting up blood and one molar, Luna twisted her head to glare into the draconic eyes defiantly.

“Never.”

“It was an admirable effort, but you’ve lost,” Nightmare Moon grunted as Luna struggled and she violently slammed her head down again. “Every second you spend struggling is a second I will take back by tormenting your friends and sister, and I will force you to watch.”

The larger alicorn’s physical strength was more than hers and the threat made her pause in using magic.

Luna watched as the female unicorn cast a bolt of crimson at Applejack’s left hind leg, debilitating her enough for the earth pony to get the upper hoof and unleash a barrage of blows.

She heard Rainbow Dash curse and enter the fray.

For her part, she did manage to give the earth pony a good few punches before the two opposing pegasi each grabbed a wing and pulled her to the ground, allowing the unicorn to cast a Paralysis spell.

She couldn’t see where Pinkie Pie was, nor did she know what had happened to Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and the fillies, but she didn’t think they would last long.

‘No, don’t listen! I have to save them! I have to-’

The hoof on her head left to harshly kick her onto her back. Two powerful forelegs smashed down on either side of her head, trapping her.

“Go on then. Fight back.”

Nightmare Moon snarled down at her, horn glowing and wings spread out to block the light and frame her in shadow.

“Hurry… Cast a spell. Summon lightning. Call your guards! Hurry! Hurry! Hit me! Hit me and see how I’ll pay it back to them! Strike me and see how they’ll suffer! Hurt me and see how I’ll hurt them! Do it!”

Mother Faust… was that what ponies had seen a thousand years ago? This… horrifying visage of something that looked equine, but wasn’t? This sadistic creature that smiled at the thought of harming others?

‘I have to… I can’t fail Equestria again. I… I can’t…’

But Luna could see it in the parasite’s eyes.

Somepony would die if she fought back.

‘The needs of the many… or my friends… my only family?’

“…”

The princess of the night’s lip trembled as she closed her eyes, shame and helplessness filling her as she realized that there was no way she could intentionally allow those close to her to come to harm.

A part of her knew that it was the right thing, but…

“I… I surrender.”

What of Equestria?

What of her home?

Author's Note

Note 1: Luna might have caught onto the ploy quicker if she wasn't so blinded by her anger.

Note 2: Mother Faust is the sole deity of the Alicasim (Al-eye-kay-zim) religion, the most prominent religious group in Equestria. The followers are referred to as Alicasists (Al-eye-kay-zists) and believe Mother Faust chased away the Dark that plagued the universe and sowed the seeds that would first give life. Alicasim's origins stem from unicorn society and today, most earth ponies and pegasi follow it instead of the religions their ancestors had.

Note 3: "I honestly have no idea why this filly has three times the amount of ocular nerves. You'd think it'd mess with her vision, but she's perfectly fine. A bit of a weak flyer, but that's not in correlation to her eyes. I'm thinking of sending for a unicorn doctor, you know?" - Letter from Doctor Comet to a co-worker on the subject of Fluttershy.

Chapter 23: Start of a Regime

1055 AD, November 2nd

“Thank you for coming in on such short notice. I realize how… hectic things must be in Canterlot.”

The Representatives of the Royal Court sat in their seats on either side of the large table, quiet.

“The attack on the castle last night on its own would have been enough to cause a panic, but the disbandment of the Royal Guard, the overthrowing of the two princesses, and the failure of the Elements of Harmony? Yes, the public has a right to be panicked. Still, the cost of property damage is astronomically lower than that of the changeling invasion and limited to the castle.

“In regards to the public, I want you to do everything in your power to calm them. Panicked masses have a tendency to riot and cause unnecessary injury to each other as well as damage property. The lack of a Royal Guard will also make it harder to contain these vagrants, so until the city’s new security force is established, this responsibility falls to all of you. In the meantime, I will be-”

Skrash

Nightmare Moon trailed off and she, along with everypony else in the room, turned to a unicorn mare dressed in sharp and practical clothing. Specks of yellow light danced across her horn and what remained of the glass of water in front of her.

“Census Stripe,” Nightmare Moon said evenly, raising one eyebrow. “Do you have something to say?”

“What are we doing?” Census Stripe questioned with a blank expression but a dangerously low tone.

“We’re discussing what our course of action is concerning the inevitable unrest that will occur in the public-”

“Are we really just going to sit here and listen to this bitch?”

By Nightmare Moon’s side, Ebony took a step forwards, brow furrowing and magic crackling up the length of her horn. Nightmare Moon held out a hoof to stop her and while she obediently returned to her place, her heated glare didn’t fade.

“Considering that I was a member of this court…” Nightmare Moon began calmly. “I believe you have already listened to me.”

“We made Star Secret a member, not you!” Census Stripe argued.

“I am Star Secret in case that bit of news went over your head. And now I am Empress Nightmare Moon, the new monarch of Equestria, so you must-”

“I don’t care if you’re the bloody Queen of Dragons!” Census Stripe banged her hooves on the table, her face twisted in rage. “You are not anypony’s ruler; Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are! We do not answer to you!”

“She’s right,” Wavelength, an ageing pegasus stallion, nodded in agreement. “I will not negotiate with some tyrant nor will I bow down to her.”

“It seems as though two of our members have suffered a lapse in judgement and intelligence,” Nightmare Moon leaned forward and clapped one hoof on the table. “Therefore, I hereby decree that Census Stripe and Wavelength are removed from their positions effective immediately.”

“Wh-what?” Census Stripe recoiled in shock.

“You think you can remove us?” Wavelength snorted and puffed out his chest with pride. “I am confident that my peers share the same feelings as I; the only one that will be-”

A vice-like grip of magic snatched the pegasus and lifted him into the air, a yelp of panic escaping his lips as he was held in place and slowly levitated over the length of the table.

Nightmare Moon ignored his cries for help as he quickly lost all pretence of courage. Once he was floating directly in front of her, she put pressure on his head and forced him to meet her eyes.

“Roam the world of nightmares…”

An ethereal glow emitted from her eyes and her pupils constricted to lines.

Wavelength gasped softly as his eyes were infected with the same green glow and suddenly went still.

The other Representatives of the Royal Court watched in horrified awe, any thoughts of action laid to rest upon seeing Ebony lighting up her horn in scarlet, daring them to interfere.

“…”

The stare-down between pegasus and alicorn continued for a full eight tension-filled seconds and when Nightmare Moon finally blinked and her eyes stopped glowing, Wavelength started screaming in blind terror, staring at nothing.

“So many useful spells lost to time; no way to counter them…” Nightmare Moon gave a cruel grin and placed a Zone of Silence around Wavelength’s head. “He’ll recover in time… though considering how weak-willed he is, I doubt there won’t be any permanent night-terrors.”

“He… he’s in charge of Canterlot’s trading…” Census Stripe stammered nervously. “And I’m in charge of the medical facilities. Y-you can’t-”

“I can think of six ponies that could do your job and be far more pliable to my orders,” Nightmare Moon dismissed her curtly whilst dumping the broken stallion onto the floor. “I never liked Wavelength, but you are marginally more tolerable, enough to extend a small mercy by allowing you to simply leave. Now if you would be so kind…”

She gestured to the set of double doors.

Census Stripe’s eyebrows pulled together in anger, but her fear was greater, and she got out of her seat.

She trudged towards the doors, the muted sounds of her hoofsteps on carpet the only thing able to be heard up until she finally exited, closing the doors behind her with more force than necessary.

“Now then…” Draconic eyes narrowed menacingly at the other members. “If there’s anypony else that has a problem with my rule?”

A short pause that held no objections.

“Good – then we’re all in agreement. I am now your Empress and Equestria is now a full monarchy. However, despite this, I still need the Royal Court to take care of the needs of Canterlot so that I have time to tend to matters concerning the rest of the country. You are all proficient at your jobs from what I’ve seen, so as long as you all remain obedient, your positions will remain untouched. In saying that, you should be notified that there will be some rather drastic changes I will be implementing at this precise moment.”

“Nightmare…” Beaker tore his disturbed gaze away from the silently thrashing Wavelength and cleared his throat. “Er… Empress… I doubt the nobility of Canterlot will take kindly to-”

Nightmare Moon snorted derisively. “They are for me to deal with. You no longer have to bow to their demands and only I will be able to take away your positions.”

Though they did not show it outwardly, a few of the remaining Representatives perked up at that idea.

“However, don’t think this gives you permission to engage in sordid affairs or go against me because I will find out and then you’ll have a lot more to worry about than PR.”

“Canterlot’s entire population will be restless,” Blue Diamond pointed out. “If I may be honest, you’re the bogey-mare of Equestria and you’ve seized power in a bloody coup. Granted, there were no casualties, but the Royal Guard was disbanded, the princesses are… gone, and so are the Element bearers. From the public’s perspective, we’re defenceless. And, well… they’re right.”

“I-I agree,” Tinshot nodded. “And with this whole invasion business, the fear might just lead to civil unrest across the entire country.”

“The formation of another security force is a top priority as well as the Entropic Fractures,” Nightmare Moon gestured to Ebony. “My Right Hoof mare will assist in both matters while I reaffirm trade relations with neighbouring countries. Beaker, as chief of Canterlot’s research, you will do everything to help in determining the nature behind these Fractures.”

“I’ll… It will be done.”

Nightmare Moon’s cold, calculating gaze settled on all of them at once.

“Whatever you may think of me, my ultimate goal was to rule Equestria, and now that it has come true, I have no intention of letting it to run into the ground, not when I worked so hard to gain it. I will do everything and anything within my power to ensure this land survives and is protected because it is mine. You’re either with me or against me, so choose wisely.”

“One thing, if I may…” Floral Flare said hesitantly, no doubt realizing how her strained relationship with ‘Star Secret’ could possibly spell bad tidings for her if she wasn’t careful. “What exactly… happened to the princesses and Elements?”

Nightmare Moon looked at her for a while and the mare shivered at the intensity of the gaze.

“They’ll live.”

Nopony questioned any further than that.

“… light… Twi… hear me? Twilight…”

“Ungh…” The purple alicorn opened her eyes, a sharp pain stabbing through the base of her horn. “Oh, my head…”

“Twi’?” A blur of orange entered her field of vision, the voice somewhat familiar. It sounded concerned, very much so. “Twi’, how’re ya feelin’? Can ya move?”

“Don’t really want to…” Twilight’s stomach churned as she lifted her head. She gave a burp and groaned again, placing her hooves over her eyes. “Wha’ happened, Applejack?”

“Ya don’t remember?” The blurry mass focused and Twilight could now see the farmpony’s distress, written clear across her face and… were those bruises?

“I…” Channelling magic into her horn, Twilight attempted to caress the back of her head, where the pain was most intense. She was confused when nothing happened. “I remember… the throne room and…” Her eyes widened in horror and she shot straight up. “Nightmare…”

Her vision swayed and so did she. Only the timed intervention of Applejack stopped her from taking a fall. Twilight rested against the soft fur of her friend’s chest and clenched her teeth against the ringing in her ears.

“Dagnabbit, take it easy,” The tone was stern, but it was anger born from worry. “That bump on your noggin was nasty; those bandages soaked right up.”

“Bandages?”

She raised a hoof to her head and felt the damp fabric. The instant she saw that her hoof came back bloody, she tried healing.
Again, nothing happened. Frustrated, she touched her horn and made contact with something cold and hard. Further exploration of the object revealed it to be circular and fitted tightly near the base of her horn.

“Oh Celestia, what…?”

“Ah think it’s made of that obsidian stuff,” Applejack told her in a low voice. “Ya’ll said it stops magic, right?”

Twilight nodded. “I… I did…” She never thought an obsidian ring would ever be used on her and could only be thankful she had been unconscious when it was fitted on. The pain would have been… “Where are we?”

The question was somewhat redundant, she realized, after taking one look at her surroundings.

The walls, ceiling, and floor were pure concrete, save for a single door made of metal. The only light came from a lantern hanging from the ceiling, most likely powered by magic. The room was sparsely furnished with only a single bed pushed up against the left wall and a toilet on the right.

“A dungeon or something…” Applejack provided. “Nightmare Moon threw us in here, the varmint. Didn’t even take a look at you; I was…” She frowned uneasily. “I was worried about you, Twi’.”

Despite the tense situation, Twilight smiled reassuringly at her friend. “It hurts, but… I can handle it,” She took another look at the room and her smile waned. “The castle’s dungeon… It was used to hold criminals, but since the formation of the Royal Guard’s own holding cells it was blocked off. Celestia used to say she was meaning to make it into a relaxation room, but never got around to it.”

“Hey, AJ!”

Both occupants started at the loud voice breaking the oppressive atmosphere and looked towards the door. A square slot near the top, barred, allowed the noise to carry.

“AJ, who are you talking to? Is Twilight awake?” The brash and scratchy voice could only belong to one mare.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight moved to stand and almost fell again. With the farmer’s help in supporting her, she made her way towards the door and pushed her muzzle up against the window. “Are you okay? Where are the others?”

“Pinkie’s with me; we’re both fine!” Twilight’s limited view only allowed her to see a wall, but it sounded like the reply came from her left.

“Heya, Twilight!”

“Twilight’s awake?” That voice belonged to Rarity and it sounded like she was on her right. “Thank heavens, I was beside myself with worry!”

“Is Fluttershy with you?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, but the poor dear’s exhausted; I think that Stare really took it out of her. She…” Rarity trailed off and there was faint mumbling followed by shuffling steps.

“Twilight?” A soft and demure voice whispered.

“Fluttershy!”

A sigh of relief. “Oh, I was so scared when you didn’t wake up, I… I thought y-you…”

“I’m okay,” Twilight quickly assured the shy pegasus. “My head hurts, but it’s nothing to worry abo-”

“Like hell it’s nothing to worry about!” Rainbow Dash’s harsh tone bounced off the walls, emphasizing the anger in her tone. “You were bleeding and all they did was throw some fucking bandages on! If I see Nightmare Bitch again, I’ll-”

Rainbow Dash went quiet as an ominous creak echoed throughout the dungeon. The hoofsteps that followed sent chills down her spine as there was an extra noise accompanying the natural clip-clop of hooves; a distinct metal chime, like armor.

“My little ponies…” A rich and deep voice chuckled. “I trust your new rooms are up to standards?”

Twilight inhaled sharply as a large black alicorn in gleaming armor passed by her cell, the piercing eyes briefly glancing at her with no small amount of mirth.

“Nightmare Moon…” Despite her fear, it was barely suppressed rage that filled her tone; she had practically spat the name out. “What have you done with the girls and the princesses?”

“The princesses require more advanced containment procedures; that’s all I will say,” Nightmare Moon halted somewhere between her cell and the one on her left. “As for your siblings, I’m sure you’ll be relieved to hear that they are unharmed.”

“Where th’ heck’s my little sis’?” Applejack shouted, green eyes flashing.

Nightmare Moon smirked cruelly. “I’m afraid that I can’t reveal that information. We can’t have you knowing exactly where they are should you somehow manage to escape, can we?”

Rainbow Dash roared and banged on her cell door. “I’ll buck your teeth in! I’ll break off your horn and shove it up your ass! I’ll tear every feather off and make you eat them!”

The genuine fury in Rainbow Dash’s threats was enough to unnerve Twilight; she had never heard her friend so angry and eager to cause bodily harm.

However, the threats appeared to simply sluice off Nightmare Moon like water on a duck’s back judging by the way she simply laughed, as if they were the funniest jokes in the world.

“Ah, you would make a wonderful addition to my Praetorian Guard; so fast, so strong… so much potential,” The alicorn shrugged dismissively. “At any rate, shout and curse all you want, you’re not getting out of here until I figure out how you may all be of use to me. I already have the perfect leverage…”

It was clear she was referring to the girls.

“You won’t get away with this,” Twilight said in a low voice, narrowing her eyes at the villainess. “When my brother hears about what’s happened here, he and Cadence will-”

Her jaw suddenly snapped shut and a powerful force yanked her into the door. The force pulled upwards and dragged her by the head until her cheek was mashed against the slot’s iron bars. She heard Applejack shout her name and felt her teeth on her tail, but Twilight’s gaze was fixed on Nightmare Moon.

“You think they’ll be able to stop me?” Nightmare Moon stepped closer to the slot, meeting her stare. “In one swoop, I have neutralized the greatest threats to my being. The princesses and Element bearers are in my custody, Discord is petrified once more, and the Elements of Harmony are under lock and key. Equestria’s allies are another obstacle, but it is a mole hill compared to what I’ve already faced.”

Twilight whimpered in pain as she was pressed harder against the bars, as if to pull her through the gaps. The armored alicorn leaned in closer, enough for her to see her own terrified expression in the polished helmet.

“Be a good little prisoner and try not to entertain any foolish notions of escaping, hm? The consequences…” She paused and appeared to think for a bit. “Well, let’s just say, you won’t be the one getting punished.”

The magical grip on her skull was released and she fell back to the floor, almost cracking her head again. As Applejack fussed over her, she looked back up to the slot, shivering at the draconic eyes peeking through it.

“That goes the same for all of you,” Nightmare Moon looked away and walked out of sight. “Anypony makes trouble and I’ll punish the one sharing the cell with you. If both of you or more make trouble, then I’ll punish your little sisters… by blood or in all but.”

Rainbow Dash cursed vehemently.

“Settle in… get comfortable…” The hoofsteps began fading. “You’re going to be in here for a long time.”

Creeeak

CLANG

The evil alicorn gone, Fluttershy immediately began sobbing. Rarity’s comforting whispers could be heard a split-second later.

“It’s okay, Twi’,” Applejack smiled weakly but genuinely, and brushed a hoof over Twilight’s face. Twilight noticed that the hoof came away wet and wondered when she had started crying. “We’ll get outta here, you’ll think of somethin’.”

Twilight said nothing and snuggled in closer for a hug. “I don’t know… I’ve always had the princesses to look to for guidance and… I don’t know if I can…”

“None of that now,” Applejack said firmly. “If anypony can get us out of here, it’s you.”

“This is an outrage! I am Prince Blueblood and I demand to be let into Canterlot Castle this instant!”

Though the majority of the crowd behind Blueblood didn’t much care for the stallion in general, he spoke their feelings and so they were willing to put aside their animosity and stand with him.

The dozens of stallions and mares shouted, jeered, and spat their woes at the mare and stallion barring access to the palace by standing in front of the ruined gate.

“Look, dude, for the past few hours I have been fighting non-stop,” Fade said to the infuriated prince. “I’ve literally faced down an army, a god, and the most powerful thing Equestria has at its disposal. You? Not so scary, yeah?”

“The nerve!” Blueblood gasped theatrically. “You… you common ruffians! You think that just because you bear some resemblance to that villain you call your master you automatically have the right to think you can address me in such a manner? I’ll have you thrown in prison!”

“The prison that now belongs to us?” Veil murmured with a small smirk. “Yeah, go ahead; I’m sure that’ll turn out great for you.”

“We’re the only security in Canterlot now, Blueballs,” Fade stared evenly at the prince. “So unless we all get stupidity aneurysms at the same time and throw ourselves in prison, we’re not going anywhere, yeah?”

The mocking insult stirred Blueblood’s fire and he spluttered for a few seconds before turning to address the crowd.

“Are you going to stand by and let these commoners take our beloved princesses’ home? Come – let’s teach these ponies a thing or two about why we’re the elite of Canterlot!”

The crowd looked at each other uneasily.

“A fight?”

“I’ve never thrown a punch in my life.”

“Hitting between the hind legs is a no-no, correct?”

“Maybe we should pay somepony to do it for us.”

“My butler will fight!”

“Blow it out your arse, sir.”

“Cowards!” Blueblood puffed out his chest. “The blood of a hundred magisters runs through my veins and yours! Do you think these two pegasi brutes can hope to match their strength against our magic? I say neigh! Fight for your city! Fight for your home! Fight for you-aahhhh!”

Fade wrapped his forelegs around the prince’s waist and shot into the air at ludicrous speeds, the noble unicorn’s scream fading as they rapidly shrank to the size of a dot before disappearing into a large grey cloud.

The crowd stared upwards with jaws scraping the ground and eyes taking up the entirety of their faces. Slowly, they craned their necks down to see Veil tossing a black canister up and down in one hoof while wearing a mischievous grin.

“Catch.”

The crowd scattered like cockroaches; more than a few bumped into each other and tripped over their own feet as the canister bounced along the cobblestone path. Somehow, they managed to vacate the area in time for the object to roll and come to a stop.

The receptacle was empty.

The mare allowed herself a rare chuckle as a high-pitched shriek gaining in strength signalled the prince’s rapid descent. Blueblood flailed wildly in the air as the unforgiving concrete rushed up to greet him.

Seconds before he would have made a stain, Fade zipped back down to catch him and curved upwards to slow their momentum. He then righted himself and slowly landed with a terrified stallion on his back.

“Thank you for flying Fade Express Airline,” Fade announced with a large grin, paying no heed as his reluctant passenger slid off his back with all the grace of an elephant practising ballet. “We hope you enjoyed your flight. Remember: pissing yourself gets you a discount off peanuts.”

Blueblood’s eyes were wide and his pupils reduced to mere pinpricks as he trembled violently and weakly inched his way back home, muttering unintelligibly all the while.

Fade returned to his position by the gate, scooping up the canister and tossing it back to Veil with one wing as he did. “Classic, classic…”

“I hope we get a break soon,” Veil stifled a yawn as she placed the canister back in her bags. “Strangely enough, a sprained wing and bruised ribs isn’t doing much to keep me awake.”

“Fun stuff’s over now, yeah?” Fade said with a sigh. “Now we gotta deal with politics; Nightmare Moon’s welcome to as much of that cake as she wants. Never had much of a chance of being elected for class president when I was still in school…”

“You probably didn’t lie enough about what you would do.” Veil replied.

“Nah…” Fade scratched his chin. “Kept stealing all of the jocks’ girlfriends. I mean, how’s it my fault they want a stallion who actually knows what he’s doing in bed, yeah?”

“What a pleasant conversation we’re having; I hope we never change topic.”

“Gonna have to ruin your dreams then,” Fade looked up at the evening sky. “Hey, you ever wondered what would happen if Celestia was knocked out or something? Or… slept in? You ever thought the sun would just… not rise?”

Veil raised an eyebrow at his sudden interest in the celestial bodies, but decided she’d rather talk about that than his sexual escapades.
To be honest, the entire act was rather… gross, in her opinion. She took pride in still being a virgin and had no intention of changing that.

“Yeah, I did,” She nodded. “When I was little, I sort of thought Celestia was the sun and moon, and that if she died, then they would just wink out of existence. And then we’d die.”

“You must have been a blast at your friends’ birthday parties, yeah?”

“What friends?”

Fade winced. “Oh…”

“Don’t say ‘you’re sorry’,” Veil rolled her eyes. “It’s annoying when ponies say that. Anyway, that’s what I thought until I read about the times before the princesses, when the sun and moon were raised by unicorns. Even so, I really didn’t give much thought to somepony else taking over Celestia’s job. The sun and moon must weigh more than a few pounds…”

“Well, Nightmare Moon’s already proven to be stronger than Celestia,” Fade said. “I guess it’s not that surprising she can…”

He trailed at the sound of hooves against cobblestone.

Veil turned to look down the street and saw two mares galloping towards them. Her enhanced vision allowed her to recognize them almost instantly.

“Vinyl and Octavia?” She murmured with narrowed eyes. Her good wing shifted to pull out a grenade.

The two mares slowed to a trot as they approached them. Vinyl was panting heavily while Octavia looked no worse for wear aside from the lines of worry and apprehension etched into her face.

“Outta the way!” Vinyl demanded, glaring at them from behind her ever-present shades. “I gotta see if my friend’s okay!”

Fade and Veil exchanged a look, knowing full well of their Empress’ friendship – or companionship, as she insisted – with the famed DJ. To be more precise, it was Star Secret that Vinyl had a relationship with, but seeing as she and Nightmare Moon were the same…

“Sorry, but even celebrities don’t get a free pass,” Fade said with a shake of his head. “The new Empress is sorting things out, so until-”

“Fuck that!” Vinyl emphasized her shout with a furious stomp. “My friend’s in there and I need to see her! You can either let me in or I’ll force my way through!”

As Octavia attempted to soothe Vinyl and prevent her from doing anything rash, Fade sent his thoughts towards his partner.

“Should we tell Nightmare Moon? She is her friend.”

“She said to not let anyone through,” Veil replied, though her thoughts hummed with uncertainty. “I guess it can’t hurt to check, but…”

Fade paused and furrowed his brow. “Hey, boss, Vinyl’s here and she’s getting all steamed up. Should we let her in or…?”

“What is that mare doing here?” Both the pegasi could feel the annoyance in the signal. “Send her… No, let her through and tell her to wait where the Galloping Gala is hosted. I’ll meet her shortly.”

“Alright then.”

“Okay, you can go,” Fade stepped aside, cutting the two mares’ argument short, and inclined his head towards the castle. “Star Secret’s waiting for you in the Galloping Gala’s great hall. Mind the timber wolf; he might try to hump your leg and you do not want that.”

“Petal Shine?”

“Striker!”

As a bright blue earth pony with a dark red mane enveloped him in a crushing hug, Striker felt the majority of the tension in his body leave him. He breathed a sigh of relief and held her close, burying his muzzle into her hair and inhaling her scent.

“Oh, sweet Celestia…” Petal Shine whispered shakily. “When I heard that the castle had been attacked, I thought you were…”

“I’m fine, my amaryllis,” Striker assured his wife. “A bit banged up, but nothing too serious.”

They held that position, revelling in the sense of safety and warmth of one another’s touch, for a few minutes before Petal Shine loosened her grip and guided him to the living room.

“Here – sit down and I’ll get you something to drink.”

Striker sat down on the old couch and exhaled in relief as his aching muscles were given a break. He made himself comfortable as Petal Shine quickly trotted into the kitchen.

He was still in shock. The image of Celestia being thrown down the stairs replayed in his mind no matter how hard he tried to supress it. It didn’t even spark anger in him; just… sadness and a sense of failure. He was the guard and he failed to protect Equestria’s ruler.

He didn’t deserve to wear that armor.

“I heard it was Nightmare Moon…”

Striker looked up at the melodic voice and gratefully took the offered glass of water in his magic. He would have preferred hard cider – and a lot of it – but anything to quench his parched throat was more than welcome.

“Thanks…” He took a long sip before nodding. “Yeah… it was Nightmare Moon. Her and some… some other ponies… followers, I think.”

Petal Shine’s expression was one of horror. “But… how? Luna…”

“No, Luna was there; her and Discord,” He shook his head. “But they didn’t win. I don’t know how, but they didn’t win. The Element bearers were captured as well.”

“Then…” Petal Shine sat beside him, her eyes full of questions and fear. “What’s going to happen now?”

Striker noticed her inner turmoil and frowned, troubled. He wished he could take it all away, but didn’t know how. He wasn’t feeling very hopeful, to be honest.

“I don’t know…” He admitted, reaching out to drape a foreleg over her neck. She snuggled in close and laid her head on his shoulder. “We still have the Crystal Empire and Equestria’s allies, but… I don’t know.”

Petal Shine was quiet for a moment. “I’m… This is probably an awful thing to say, but… I’m sort of glad we’ve been having trouble… you know. I just don’t know if…”

Striker shook his head and gave her a gentle squeeze. “I understand. Still…” He smiled at her. “I’d like to keep trying when things are a little more… stable.”

She grinned and chuckled. “I bet you do…”

Striker sat with his lover in silence, thinking about what the future might have held in store for them.

Whatever it was, Striker knew they would face it together.

Nightmare Moon paused just outside the heavy set of doors and took a moment to articulate her thoughts.

There would obviously be conflict; she had lied to Vinyl for almost five years about her true identity and she would no doubt feel challenged and confused when this apparent stranger, this new monarch of Equestria, waltzed right in and claimed she was that same mare.

Briefly, she wondered, as she reached out and opened the doors with magic, if it would come to blows.

She couldn’t spend too much time waiting for the DJ to tire herself out.

Upon entering the expansive interior of the Galloping Gala’s great hall, two mares sitting at a table near the stage perked up and looked over. They were instantly on edge and Vinyl leapt out of her seat and moved in front of her wife, protectively.

“The hell’s going on here?” Vinyl’s horn was alit in a blue light and her head was lowered, her body tensed in preparation of an attack. “Where’s Wolf?”

Nightmare Moon trotted in and closed the doors behind her. “Standing right before you,” She smiled disarmingly – or at least tried to – as she approached her associate. “It’s been a few months, hasn’t it?”

Vinyl’s brow furrowed and the suspicion in her face evident even behind those glasses. “What…? You’re Nightmare Moon, not…”

The alicorn stopped a few yards from her and wreathed herself in magic. “Perhaps this is the face you remember?”

Within seconds, she was Star Secret once more, and both Vinyl and Octavia gaped in shock and awe, the latter rubbing at her eyes with a hoof as if to make sure they were working properly.

“Wolf?” Vinyl’s glow dissipated and she took a step forward, her tone soft and questioning. “You’re… you’re…”

“I am Nightmare Moon,” She dispelled the disguise and returned to her full glory, nodding once. “I always have been.”

As she awaited the mares’ responses, a strange sense of weightlessness filled her and she felt lighter than usual. Finally being able to cast aside her identity as a whole had been an uplifting experience – no longer did she have to hide away like some vagrant stealing a loaf of bread – but that paled in comparison to how good she felt at that present moment, telling Vinyl the truth.

Had she been harbouring some guilt for lying all this time and not noticed?

She ignored the strange feeling and focused on Vinyl and Octavia, who finally appeared to be regaining some sense of lucidity.

“So…” The DJ’s horn shone briefly and her shades lifted to rest on her brow. “When you first came into my club…”

“That was me, yes.”

“And when you joined the Royal Court?”

“Me.”

“The wedding?”

“Star Secret was a persona I created to gain the princesses’ favour so that I could infiltrate their defences and take them down. It was me all that time.”

Octavia’s mouth opened and closed and even if she wasn’t a mute, Nightmare Moon had a feeling she would still be speechless.

Vinyl, however, was not.

“What the actual fuck?!” The unicorn shouted with a stomp of her hoof and a harsh glare.

Nightmare Moon sighed, expecting this. She knew the DJ well. “You have a right to feel betrayed, but-”

“Fuck yeah I feel betrayed!”

Vinyl closed the distance between them to glare up into the alicorn’s eyes.

“Four years! We’ve known each other for four fucking years and you drop this bombshell on me! ‘Oh, hey, Vinyl – guess what? I’m actually the equinomorphic personification of the lunar princess’ angst and jealousy’. We shared the same toothbrush for a while! We got into all those fights!”

Strangely, one part of the rant stuck out to Nightmare Moon. “Equinomorphic personification? Good to see you’ve been taking my grammar lessons to heart.”

In the midst of her rage, Vinyl took the time to smirk with pride. “Been working them in and impressing Octavia. Ain’t that right, babe?”

Octavia gave her a flat look.

Vinyl faltered and shook her head, dredging her anger back up. “N-no! Don’t try to weasel out of this! I…” Her eyes suddenly widened and she looked ill. “Holy fuck… I helped you do this… I helped you do all this, didn’t I?”

Nightmare Moon was silent for a moment, briefly wondering if she should downplay the DJ’s part in her plan and spare her feelings.

“Vinyl, I’ve always told you the truth, haven’t I? Barring my true identity,” The DJ nodded. “I probably could have found another way to get where I am without ever meeting you, but… yes, you did help me.”

Vinyl gaped in shock and shakily sat back on her haunches. “Shit, I… I never even…”

“And your assistance will not be forgotten,” Nightmare Moon quickly said with a genuinely grateful smile. “I’ve grown… fond of you – Octavia, Fancypants, and Fleur as well – over these years and you will be rewarded for it.”

“Rewarded?” Vinyl echoed with an air of disbelief, her head darting up to show a surprised expression, though it rapidly turned to fury. “Rewarded?! Why the hell would I want a reward for… this?!”

It was hard for Nightmare Moon to express affection for others.

Vinyl knew this, even when she was Star Secret, so hearing the DJ throw Nightmare Moon’s gratitude back in her face made her angry enough to ignore the part of her urging her to try and understand Vinyl’s perspective, and responded with what felt natural.

“You’ve helped me get to where I should be,” Nightmare Moon explained with a furrow of her brow. “Equestria will change for the better under my rule and will become a powerful force to be reckoned with.”

“Oh, I’m sorry; I had no idea you could see into the future! What, you lied about that, too?”

“What are you implying?”

“I saw ponies scared out of their friggin’ minds runnin’ here!” Vinyl gestured towards the set of doors Nightmare Moon walked through. “The castle’s a wreck, there’s a giant timber wolf pissing everywhere, and I have no friggin’ clue what you’re going to do about these tears in space and time everywhere! I’m not sure how things will change for the better, but it doesn’t look good from where I’m standing!”

“Canterlot wasn’t built in a day!” Nightmare Moon snarled; having her abilities called into question was not a good move. “The changes are not instantaneous, but they will happen faster than you’d expect providing the rest of Equestria cooperates.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Then I’ll make them cooperate.”

Vinyl laughed humourlessly. “More fighting? Good friggin’ plan…”

“And you’re so opposed to that? You enjoy a good fight as much as I do.”

“Well, yeah, but… I’m not starting a war just to get my rocks off!”

“I started this to rule Equestria, not on some passing whim! I’ve desired the throne ever since I could remember and I’ve planned accordingly, so don’t you dare imply that I don’t know what I’m doing!”

Vinyl shook her head, heaving with heavy breaths. “Planned accordingly, eh? What about us? Were you just pretending all this time? Do I actually mean anything to you? Does Octavia? Fancypants? Fleur?”

Nightmare Moon bared her teeth, unable to believe that the DJ was practically forcing her to reaffirm something she had trouble expressing. Vinyl knew how she felt, knew her, damn it! Even if she didn’t express it openly, Vinyl knew that she was Nightmare Moon’s closest fr- associate.

“Of course you mean something to me! I... enjoy your company. I endure some of your more infuriating aspects and the things you drag me into because I want to keep you content. Does that not prove anything? Are you too blinded by emotion to see that?”

“At least I have emotions!” The DJ pointed accusingly at her. “You’re like a friggin’ robot, always have been! Is it really so hard to say, ‘Vinyl, you’re cool’ or ‘Vinyl, you’re my wingmare’?”

“Why must I say it? You know me; you know that I do not make a habit of expressing myself as openly as you and others! It’s just not in my nature!”

“Yeah, because you’re some freaky spirit thing that came from Luna’s head! Barely anything natural about you!”

Nightmare Moon growled threateningly and flared out her wings, her muscles twitching to inflict pain upon this mare who she thought was her friend. It was just as she predicted; now that she revealed who she truly was, Vinyl wanted nothing to do with her.

“I can’t believe I thought you could see reason! I can’t believe I thought you would continue to be my fr…” She paused, shocked at the near-slip of her tongue. Angered by her own slipping composure, Nightmare Moon allowed magic to light up her horn and roared, “Get out of here! Get out before I lose my temper! I see now that I have made a mistake in talking to you!”

“Same here, Wolf! Same here!”

As Vinyl stormed off, Octavia – the mare had been watching the ordeal with frightened eyes – took one last look – was that betrayal in her eyes? – at Nightmare Moon before quickly following her partner, making wordless noises of comfort.

Nightmare Moon waited until the doors slammed shut, signalling their departure, before releasing her magic in a telekinetic burst that sent the nearby furniture flying into the walls and immediately breaking apart on impact.

“Pathetic foal!” Nightmare Moon yelled, her powerful voice echoing throughout the massive interior of the hall. “I can’t believe I wasted my time thinking that you would be… hoping that you would…”

Despite her desire to cling onto the familiar warmth of rage, it seeped out of her body and was replaced by a yawning emptiness, a sensation that leeched her strength.

She looked down at the marble floor, her expression slipping into one of melancholy.

“Curse you…”

Octavia had to trot briskly to keep up with Vinyl, the sweat running down her neck becoming cold in the night air.

She was reeling from what had just happened and still found it hard to believe that that… tyrant was… had been somepony who, if a bit abrasive, was a pony she could depend upon.

Anger, horror, disbelief – every emotion she could be feeling was fighting for dominance, but it was concern that won out and she reached out to place a hoof on her wife’s shoulder.

‘We were friends, but Vinyl was especially close to her.’

“Not now, Octy…” Vinyl said curtly, shrugging to brush off her hoof without even looking at her.

Flinching at the harsh tone, Octavia persisted with a firmer touch. She knew how Vinyl got when she was so emotionally-charged; it was truly a miracle the DJ hadn’t outright socked Nightmare Moon in the face.

Even Octavia had been tempted.

‘Sweetie, don’t ignore me like this…’

The firm touch caused Vinyl to halt, but she still didn’t face her. Underneath the moonlight, Octavia could see the tremble of her wife’s muscles; she was a bomb ready to go off and she would if Octavia didn’t defuse her.

So the cellist trotted close and hugged her tenderly.

“I shouldn’t have…” A tremor in the tone. “I shouldn’t have… said that…”

Octavia looked at her in confusion, but was saddened to see tears streaking down her lover’s cheeks. Vinyl was really a softy at heart, but often strived to not be seen crying.

It was a testament to how hurt she was.

“I know how she is…” Vinyl sniffed, her face twisted in a grimace as she fought a full sobbing fit. “I kn-know she cares about m-me… She just… has trouble…”

‘No, don’t you make excuses for that witch. You deserve better than that.’

“But…” The DJ shook her head and clenched her eyes shut, a few tears squeezing out from the sides. “I’m so… fuckin’ angry…”

Octavia cooed soothingly as Vinyl silently cried into her shoulder, her body shaking with every sob.

“Erm… Prince Shining Armor?”

“Flash, we’re both friends, right? No need to be so formal.”

“Uh… right. Sh-Shining Armor?”

“Hm?”

“We’ve received a letter from Canterlot…”

“Probably Princess Celestia asking about that crate of bananas. You know, I told Cadence not to send that considering the whole ‘Banana Fiasco’ in-”

“Actually, s-sir, it’s from Empress Nightmare Moon…”

“…”

“She’s writing to inform you that she’ll need about two tonnes of crystals by the end of the month, preferably ones large enough to hold Tier 4 spells.”

“…”

“Oh, and she also says that you shouldn’t bother attempting to launch any sort of retaliation.”

“…”

“…”

“Flash.”

“Yeah?”

“I really want to retaliate.”

Author's Note

Note 1: The Terror Flash spell was created by Princess Luna in 33 AD during her forays in the thaumaturgical studies. It has very little practical use in combat due to its lengthy casting time, the need to make direct eye contact, and because it can only work on one pony at a time. It's more applicable for interrogative purposes and/or as a display of intimidation.

Was the development of this spell purely by accident or did Luna aim to create such a frightening incantation?

Perhaps the question to ask is, what was she researching?

Note 2: Obsidian rings are reserved for only the most dangerous of unicorn criminals... or simply 'unicorns', depending on the pony using such insidious tools.

The origin of these rings is something of an enigma; the unicorns of old were too proud of their magic to even think of cutting it off, pegasi believed it was dishonourable to cull their oppositions' fighting capabilities by using such an underhanded tactic, and earth ponies...

Well, as said best by a unicorn general who has long since passed, 'Earth ponies are too savage, too dull-witted, and too ignorant to create these heretical devices! It must be the pegasi brutes...'

On an unrelated note, the same general would discover the earth pony race's rock farms, and that their research on the types of rocks and their properties were decades ahead of the unicorn race's.

Chapter 24: Ripples

1055 AD, November 4th

Tap tap tap tap

“Enter.”

A squeak of hinges and a polite cough. “Marquess Aldo.”

Looking up from the parchment he had been writing on, the bronze-feathered griffon took note of his silver-feathered compatriot who had lowered his front half to the floor respectfully, eyes closed and wings spread stiffly to the side.

“You may rise, Lord Alonzo,” Aldo stood from his seat and walked around the large desk, his talons tapping against the marble floor. “I trust you bring news concerning Equestria’s present state?”

Alonzo rose from his bow and nodded with a look of unease. “I have, Marquess,” In his right hand he held a single sheet of white paper. “There was no mistake; it seems as if Equestria is, indeed, under new rule.”

Aldo took the paper as it was offered and skimmed over the contents, his beak twisting into a frown. “A coup…”

“The instigator refers to herself as Nightmare Moon, though she also states that Princess Luna is simultaneously imprisoned.”

“Yes, that would be confusing unless you have spoken to Luna herself.”

Alonzo furrowed his brow. “What does she say if I may ask?”

“That Nightmare Moon, technically, both was-” He caught himself. “Is and isn’t a part of her,” Aldo turned to place the paper on his desk before heading towards a liquor cabinet. “The scholars of Equestria write that they are the same pony, but according to Luna, Nightmare Moon is some sort of… parasite – a creature of its own mind and desires.”

“I shudder to imagine a being strong enough to possess an alicorn.”

Aldo poured himself a glass of wine. “Would you care for a drink?”

“Thank you, Marquess, but I’ll pass.”

“She does not know when she became infected with the creature,” Aldo set the bottle down and returned to his desk, glass in hand. “But it was at some point after the defeat of Discord. I can only assume that it has somehow found a new host, though as to what would be strong enough to match two alicorns…”

“I thought it had been vanquished by the Elements of Harmony.”

“Evidently not,” Aldo took a sip and grimaced as the acrid liquid burned a path down his gullet. “I am beginning to suspect that the Elements are not as powerful as they seem.”

Alonzo nodded in agreement. “The ponies rely too much on their, erm… what was it? Ah, yes – their ‘magic of friendship’ philosophy. They have no real army and no real means to defend themselves from threats; even the Royal Guard is a glorified police force more than anything.”

“Hmph, you are beginning to sound like Marquess Abruzzi.”

“Forgive me, but I speak my mind.”

Aldo took another sip. “Personally, I admire their hesitance to resort to violence. Equestria has a long history of resolving conflicts with words instead of force and I believe the Griffon Kingdom could learn from them.”

Alonzo frowned, unsure. “Peace is all well and good, Marquess, but friendship will not stop the wyverns from attacking and friendship will not cull the vampires in the east.”

“Perhaps it can,” Aldo said evenly. “We have never tried, so how will we ever know?”

“You have a point,” The silver-feathered griffon relented. “However, I am not willing to stake my mate and my chicks’ lives on a chance.”

“A fair point, too,” Aldo sniffed and placed his empty glass on his desk with a sharp tink. “But we stray from the matter at hand – Equestria, our ally, requires our help. Lord Alonzo, I want you to send news of this development to the rest of the holds.”

“Of course, Marquess,” Alonzo inclined his head in acknowledgement. “Is there anything else?”

Aldo thought for a moment, his yellow eyes flicking over to framed picture on his wall. He, along with a beautiful white-feathered hen of significantly larger size, nestled side by side with a young fledgling between them, bearing traits from either parent.

“Yes…” He turned back to his friend. “Inform my daughter to pack her things. We may be travelling soon.”

“… taught to by the mountains. This allowed Lady Palmira, through deep meditation, to create The Way of Stone.”

‘Ugh, so laaaame. The Way of Stone; give me a test on The Way of Boredom and I’ll ace it.’

“Obviously, The Way of Stone was conscripted into The Path of Nature alongside The Way of Fire, Water, and Thunder, changing the Path’s square symbol to that of a pentagon. You can see this by turning to Chapter 23 of the Arcanus Thesis…”

‘Whoever invented books must have been a torturer for Ottaviano the Omnipotent… ah, crap – stupid history lessons are rotting my brain!’

“… which also provides a handy illustration showcasing where the Gift manifests and how it is expressed through the use of physical gestures. Indeed, the usage of using one’s body to create a path of minimal resistance for the Gift to flow has been…”

‘I gotta clean my talons more; they’re getting dull. What is that? Oh, come on – grooves? At my age? This is a bunch of bull-’

“Mistress Gilda!”

Jolting at the shrill cry, Gilda spread her wings in preparation for a fight and looked around sharply.

“Huh? What? Who?”

Lady Eulalia harrumphed in annoyance, her cold grey eyes glinting behind her tortoise-shell glasses. “Mistress Gilda, would you care to relay to me the name of the hen who gave fruit to The Way of Stone?”

“Uh… sure, um…” Gilda folded her wings and strained her memory, squinting from the effort. “Totally… L-Lady… Pal… Lady Pallarina?”

Her mentor was not amused. “And you’re not just saying that because there’s a magazine with the main topic being ballet hidden between the pages of that Arcanus Thesis?”

“Wh-wha-? How the heck did this namby-pamby stuff get here?” Gilda quickly grabbed the offensive magazine and tossed it – very carefully – away, hoping that her embarrassment would be mistaken for anger. “Some… some frou-frou thief must have snuck in and… did… things…”

Eulalia sighed and pushed her glasses up to rub at her eyes. “Mistress Gilda, it is rare for griffons to inherit the Gift; we are not like ponies whom have an entire race with that ability, so when one is recognized it is a momentous occasion for both the individual and their kin.”

Gilda scoffed and rolled her eyes at the mention of ponies. They weren’t so special; she’d pick her claws over some fancy light show any day.
Though she had to admit, flinging a water balloon at the back of someone’s head with her mind was pretty rad.

“So why aren’t we learning about magic?” Gilda grumbled and placed her head on her front legs. “Why do I need to know who discovered what? When’s that gonna help me?”

A comical look of offense on her face, Eulalia clucked disapprovingly. “Young lady, as the chick of Marquess Alonzo you are next in line to inherit his title. Basic knowledge about our history is mandatory in order to be an effective-”

“I don’t even want the stupid title!” Gilda snapped as she uncurled, rose from the chaise longue – she didn’t know why griffons didn’t just call it a couch – and stalked out of the living room.

“Mistress Gilda, where do you think you’re going? You haven’t finished your lessons!”

Rolling her eyes, Gilda shoved a door open and stepped out onto the veranda, kicking the door shut with a hind leg.

“‘Gilda, meh-meh-meh!’” She glared harshly at a servant who looked up at the commotion. “What do you want?! Yeah, go back to your planting.”

Making her way down some stairs, Gilda walked along the cobblestone path that weaved through the backyard, the various foliage sculptures upsetting her more than usual. The servants of the manor and the gardeners were mindful of her mood and wisely avoided eye contact.

A minute’s worth of walking later, she arrived at a running stream that went through her backyard and into the woods beyond, the soft splashes against rocks worn down to mere pebbles playing against her ears. Still grumbling, she sat down at the edge and peered at her own wavering reflection, her tail swishing aggressively behind her.

The stream wasn’t so much as relaxing so much as… well, she didn’t feel it was right to be angry at her mother’s favourite spot.

“It’s so lame…” She muttered to her reflection. “I want to travel the world, not sit in some office arguing with a bunch of dumbasses about… dumb stuff.”

Her reflection said nothing.

“It’s kinda weird how you married dad. I mean, I’m grateful for it and everything, but I always wondered how you two met. You were so… you, and dad’s so… dad, ya know? The only way I can see you two ending up together was if he passed a bill or named a new street and it was so epic that it was love at first sight or something.”

A sparkling green dragonfly hovered over the water, its silver wings a blur.

“I can’t really ask him about you because he gets all mopey and says ‘Not now, Gilda’, and I can’t ask you since… yeah. It’s… I’ve missed you… still do, but… I think I take it better than dad. I’m tough like that, ya know? Just like you taught me.”

She laughed, but it quickly trailed off.

“I want to be like you, mom. I want to travel the world and do all that awesome stuff you used to do. I mean, it’s just…”

Her ears perked up at the sound of grass crunching underfoot. Looking over her shoulder, she spotted one of the servants approaching her.
“What do you want?!” She growled with more than a hint of threat.

It was bad enough for someone to catch her having an emotional moment, but this was her mother’s spot, her spot, and no one else was allowed to just be there without asking.

The servant paused on taking another step, sensing the hostility. “M-Mistress Gilda, your father has called for an audience with you. He is waiting inside the living room.”

Hearing the waver in his tone made her feel a little better. “Yeah, sure…” She turned back to the stream. “I’ll be there; give me a second.”

“… He said it was urgent.”

“In a second!” She retorted angrily without looking back.

“… As you wish.”

“You were gone for a while.”

“I was at the stream,” Gilda answered curtly, making her way towards the couch, just across from her father’s favourite chair. “So what’s up?”

He waited until she was comfortable before answering. “There is a situation involving Equestria. At some point in the last three days, a coup was successful in evicting both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from their positions of power. As of now, Nightmare Moon is the current empress of the country.”

Gilda’s eyes widened. Hell – that was more interesting than what she expected him to say.

“Nightmare Moon? Isn’t she, like… that Luna princess or something?”

“From what I gathered from various conversations with her, Nightmare Moon is an eons-old parasite that is able to mentally manipulate the host. They thought it to have been destroyed by the Elements of Harmony, but it obviously still lives, and appears to have found a new host.”

Gilda had no love for Equestria and its inhabitants, especially not after her so-called ‘friend’ abandoned her, but it must have sucked to have your government taken over by an ancient parasite that wanted to bring everlasting night. She liked a midnight glide every now and then, but she also liked feeling the sunlight on her primaries.

“So what?” Gilda shrugged and raised one eyebrow. “Are we going to help or something? Are we going to war?” She inhaled sharply as excitement welled up and a grin crept across her face. “Can I join?”

“Noooo...” Her father said slowly like she had suggested the dumbest thing in the world. She could totally think of dumber things. “The High King elected me to be the ambassador to travel to Equestria and gain a deeper understanding over just what this change in government means for both Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom.”

Gilda frowned. “No fighting? Isn’t Equestria our ally? I mean, usually I’m all for letting someone fight their own battles, but only if it’s not some freaky magic parasite… freak; share some of that butt-kicking, ya know?”

“Equestria is a… trade partner. Our relationship doesn’t necessarily involve jumping to the other’s defence unless it means the protection of both our homes.”

That… sounded like a pretty scummy thing to her and judging by how her father’s expression darkened as he said that, it seemed he thought so, too. Did he want to help fight or not? She wouldn’t mind; having one of those crossbows in her talons would be wicked cool.

“So…” Gilda scratched at her head. “You’re going to Equestria to see if they’re gonna invade us?”

“The High King and the other Marquess’ would put it in a much more complicated way, but that’s the general idea.”

“And what if they do wanna invade us?”

“Then we prepare our defences.”

She perked up. “Can I join?”

“No,” He said sternly. “You’re underage… and I could never let my chick do something like that.”

Gilda scowled darkly. “Let me? This is my home! If someone tries to mess with it then I’ll pick up a sword and crossbow to defend it as much as any griffon! I’m not a coward.”

Her father sighed and rubbed at his eyes. “One does not have to fight to prove oneself brave.”

It was a favourite saying of his, but it grated on her nerves. What did he mean by not fighting? If a burglar were to enter their home right now and start talking smack then of course she was going to kick him in the nuts. Was she just supposed to ask him to leave politely?

Her father was really unknowable at times.

“Yeah, yeah…” Gilda waved her hand around dismissively. “All I’m saying is that when push comes to shove, I’ll shove back.”

He said nothing for a moment and appeared to debate something internally before giving a shake of his head. “At any rate, we are to leave for Equestria within three days. It shouldn’t be for too long, but be sure to pack enough for a few weeks at the most.”

She couldn’t help but groan in displeasure. Admittedly, Equestria as a place was pretty cool to visit, but she had plans here, too. Vinnie was having a party at Zero Point; his parties were always off the hook and were one of the few events where she could relax and be herself.

“But, dad, why do I have to go? I can take care of myself.”

“No,” Her father had been in the midst of leaving his seat until she had spoken and stopped with a stern note in his tone. “I think it’d be better if you remained where I can get to you.”

“Ugh, is this about those vampires?”

His eyes widened a little. “What do you know about the vampires?”

“I…” She grinned sheepishly. “I might have… snuck into your office to read some stuff. In my defence, I was trying to forge your signature.”

His expression told her he was not amused. It wasn’t as if he was fully exempt from blame; if he just let her skip as many science classes as she wanted then she wouldn’t have to do it.

“They are becoming bolder,” He said after a few tense moments. His tail swished from side to side behind him. “I may be just paranoid, but we can never be too careful with them.”

“Dad,” Gilda sighed in exasperation. “This is Aviana – the safest city in the kingdom… pretty much. They’d have to be idiots to try and mess with me while I’m here,” She paused and furrowed her brow in thought. “Actually, they’d have to be pretty stupid to mess with me, period.”

“Regardless of what you believe yourself to be capable, I’d rather be safe than sorry,” His expression softened. “I won’t lose you too, Gilda.”

She wanted to argue that she was stronger than what he gave her credit for, but his tone and the fact that he mentioned her mother – as vague as it had been – stilled her protests.

She sighed. “Dad, come on…”

“Four days – please be ready by then.”

As per the norm, he left as soon as he sensed the topic veering towards her mother. It sort of pissed her off, but at the same time… well, she couldn’t exactly be angry that he missed her, could she?

Gilda missed her too, but it had been four years; she had dealt with the pain and moved on, and she wished her father could do the same.

“Yeah, sure, dad…” She replied, though he had already left the room. Her half-lidded eyes flicked over to a hanging picture on the wall – a family portrait – and she sighed again. “Sure…”

Author's Note

Note 1: Griffon magic is different to unicorn magic; it is much rarer in individuals and is not as instinctive and easy to master as it is for unicorns. However, griffons typically have more raw power and reserves at their disposal as well as possessing the unique ability to manipulate the ground beneath their feet. Countless studies have been made over many years to figure out the 'why' behind these differences, but all that has come up are hypothesises and theories.

Note 2: Princess Luna told Marquess Aldo more about her experience with Nightmare Moon than she did with Celestia, her sister.

Is it because it is sometimes easier to tell a complete stranger things that would be more difficult with those close to you, or a mutual agreement between the siblings to try and leave painful memories in the past?

Chapter 25: A Plan in Ruins

1055 AD, November 5th

“Can’t believe I’m more comfortable walking on two legs…”

Sunset Shimmer stretched out the kinks in her limbs and spared a few seconds for muscle memory to kick in. Once she had gotten used to the sensation of not having fingers and toes, she focused and channelled magic into her horn, smirking with pride at the light opal hue that coated the length of bone.

‘Oh yeah – still as strong as ever; that’s one thing I miss about being a unicorn.’

Giving a low chuckle, Sunset reached back and pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. Casting a Night Eye spell to see through the darkness of the room, Sunset made her towards the door, and creaked it open an inch.

That preppy little Twilight Sparkle may have been an alicorn, but she had no idea just what Sunset was capable of. That crown was as good as…

‘Wait… who is…?’

Sunset had chosen the opportune time of peeking out and seeing what seemed to be a guard walking down the corridor, his back to her. He was definitely a unicorn; a white light shone forth from his horn, illuminating the path ahead of him.

That wouldn’t have been so unusual – plenty of over-confident thieves thought it was a good idea to try and rob the palace – if it wasn’t for the armor he was wearing.

She was used to the gold and silver of the guards for the day shift or the deep purple and cobalt of the guards for the night shift. This guard’s armor was all black.

It was also a lot more sinister-looking; the edges were sharp instead of rounded and small spikes lined the sides of the cuirass, pauldrons, and the crest of the helmet. The armor also had silver markings etched into the metal in intricate loops and curls.

‘Whoa, when did the guards suddenly become cool?’

The guard’s head twitched to the side and Sunset quickly darted back into the room, holding her breath as the light passed over the door, the rays leaking in through the crack she made. Thankfully, the light went away after a few tense seconds, and she could hear his hoofsteps receding.

Creaking open the door and peering out, Sunset confirmed the hallway was empty, and snuck out, gently closing the door behind her. The guard had given her pause, but it wasn’t as if the Royal Guard had never changed the appearance of their armor before. The last change was back in 853 AD when cuirasses with leather were all the rage, and Celestia…

Sunset shook her head with an annoyed grumble.

She needed to focus. Twilight’s room wasn’t too far away and she didn’t know if she was a light or heavy sleeper; one wrong step and she could kiss her dreams goodbye.

She wasn’t there.

Nopony was in the room!

Sunset felt panic and paranoia creep through her body as she searched under the bed on the off-chance Twilight had very strange sleeping habits. She knew that this was Twilight’s room when she was still Celestia’s student – coincidentally, it had also been Sunset’s – and that she always stayed here when she visited the castle, so why wasn’t she here?!

‘Dammit!’ Sunset slammed a hoof down on the bed covers, her teeth gritted in anger. ‘You can’t have switched; you’re a pony of habit!’

If she wasn’t sleeping in the room then where was she? Was she truly in another room?

Maybe…

Judging by the snippets of information she had gathered from her previous trips through the mirror, Twilight was something of a total bookworm, and often stayed up late to read and re-read books. If that was the case, then it stood to reason the Royal Archives would be the most likely place to look for her.

‘Hmph, it’s 2:00 in the morning; what sort of nerd stays up that late to read books?’ Sunset paused. ‘Yeah, I suppose I did… still do, but that’s different! I have important studies to… oh, whatever.’

With any luck, she was passed out with the crown atop her head.

Sunset turned to exit the room, her destination clear in mind. Telekinetically opening the door and making sure the hall was empty, she stealthily crept out, and started making her way towards the Royal Archives.

As she turned corners, hid in alcoves and under tables, and snuck behind guards, Sunset was beginning to realize that there was definitely something more going on here than she previously thought.

Aside from the change in uniform, the guards seemed far more lackadaisical and rather uninterested in their jobs. They stopped on duty to talk to one another, played around with the furniture, and she even saw one guard trying to do shadow puppets with the light from his horn.

And there were mares.

Out of respect for some ancient tradition, the Royal Guard only accepted stallions, but Sunset definitely saw that some of the guards were female. A change in uniform was one thing, but overturning a millennium-year old tradition in the two weeks since she last came through the mirror?

Another thing was that during their conversations, they mentioned an ‘empress’ instead of a princess. Either they meant another ruler, or maybe Luna went crazy again.

If that was the case, Twilight may not have even been in the castle; she could have been back in Ponyville, in Manehatten, she could have been on the moon for all she knew!

All that planning, all those trips through the mirror to gather information, it would have been all for nothing.

Sunset gritted her teeth and growled deeply within her thr-

“Hey…”

The loudly-coloured unicorn froze. Her eyes shooting wide open at the voice from behind her.

“Hey, who are you?”

Slowly turning her head, Sunset saw a female guard halfway through the doorway she had arrived through.

“I’m…” Sunset cleared her throat and put on a shaky smile. “I’m the Ghost of Canterlot Castle, searching for her elusive killer.”

The female guard raised one eyebrow.

Sunset nodded insistently.

The female guard’s head swiftly turned in the direction she came from. “Hey, we’ve got an intruder in the-”

Sunset’s horn flared and she shot a bolt at the guard, striking her directly in the face. The guard’s words slurred and she dropped to her knees, drool leaking from the corner of her mouth as she fought against the numbness.

‘Damn earth pony resistance!’

Sunset fired a second bolt and the mare was finally downed, though not for very long; Alteration was – to her utmost frustration – not a school she was particularly adept in. She completely understood the inner machinations and theory, but the practical part was out of her reach.

“Flora, was that you?!”

Cursing under her breath as she heard the sound of multiple hoofsteps and clanking armor, Sunset galloped for the mirror. She couldn’t afford to be caught and she didn’t want to cause more harm than necessary, at least in the physical sense.

Because if she couldn’t work up enough Paralysis spells, she’d have to fall back on her true field of expertise…

“All this iron, wood, and soap… What in Equestria was Luna going to do with it anyway?” Ebony shuffled several papers to the front of the stack… and grimaced. “Oh… that’s weird.”

Shoving that unwanted bit of information to the farthest depths of her psyche in the hopes her memory would hide it quickly, Ebony reached out with her magic and levitated several forms towards her desk. They could use the iron for more weapons, most definitely, and the wood could be used… for… carriages?

She shrugged and began filling out the forms, giving a tired shake of her head. Physically enhanced or not, she needed food and sleep, and she hadn’t been getting much lately.

Being the captain of the new guard force, the Eclipse – Haze suggested the name in honour of their previous club – involved a lot more paperwork than she imagined. There were records to update, reports to read, and forms to fill out. She was doing the best she can and applying what Nightmare Moon had taught her about leading, but she still felt out of her depth.

Her friends helped out where they can, but they were busy with their own duties: namely carrying out her commands and making sure Canterlot didn’t devolve into a free-for-all cesspool of criminal activity.

Ebony grumbled and rubbed her eyes, envious of Nightmare Moon’s seemingly limitless stamina and gift for diplomacy and politics. She could only imagine what it must be like to deal with the public and-

“Captain!”

The unicorn jolted in her seat as her office door swung open, revealing a female pegasus. Her pure white coat and sanguine mane seemed familiar, and Ebony struggled to recall her name while simultaneously trying to adopt a professional demeanour.

“Wh-what is it… soldier?”

The pegasus – Fluorspar, that was it! – gestured to the right with one hoof, her expression worried. “We have an intruder! A-a unicorn! She’s… We’re having trouble apprehending her and… and…”

“Where is she?” Ebony quickly came out from behind her desk and approached the mare, only vaguely noting how her increased height seemed to intimidate her. “Take me to her!”

“She wasn’t far,” Fluorspar backed out of the office and flew down the right corridor at a pace that Ebony could keep up with. “But I don’t know if she’s moved or…”

Ebony drowned out her voice as she sent out her thoughts. “Empress, we have an intruder in the castle; I’m on my way there now.”

“Where are you?”

“Heading towards the guest wing.”

“I’ll be there shortly.”

Ebony felt the connection go slack just as she and Fluorspar rounded a corner to-

-be greeted by a plume of fire that she only barely managed to block with a barrier, her reflexes honed by months of vigorous training. She heard the pegasus by her side shriek and fall on her rump, scrabbling back from the hungry flames that pounded against the arcane shield.

Once the plume had died out, Ebony allowed her barrier to dissipate, allowing her a clear view of the scene before her.

As Fluorspar had said, it was a unicorn – a young mare to be exact – and she was surrounded by a dozen Eclipse guards. They were holding back though and with good reason.

The mare had a light amber coat, but beyond that she was unsure of her other colours, as she was literally burning.

Her mane and tail were wreathing infernos, churning out tremendous heat which Ebony could feel even from her spot. More than that, the mare had managed to surround herself with a moat of melted marble, easily wide enough to swallow a pony whole and condemn them to a very unattractive death.

Her cutie mark was of a blazing sun; one half bright yellow and the other half vivid red, the centre being two swirls of light amber and red, similar to a yin-yang symbol, if she remembered the name correctly.

“Stay back!” The unfamiliar unicorn bellowed, her eyes wide and filled with anger and desperation. “I… I don’t want to hurt you, but I will!”

Ebony could see that the guards were one step away from breaking rank and fleeing; it wasn’t much of a surprise as the Eclipse mainly consisted of civilians looking to keep the peace and criminals looking to clear their own rap sheets. It wasn’t the shiny and morally upstanding force the Royal Guard may have been, but it was all they had, and Nightmare Moon said that in time it will grow to be better.

Ebony quickly stepped forward to take charge of the situation. “Everypony, I order you to stand down!”

Even now, it was strange to hear herself give such commands, and even stranger to see them being obeyed almost instantly, relief apparent in the guards’ eyes.

The mare’s head jerked to and fro as her nostrils flared and she pawed at the floor. “Okay…” She looked towards Ebony, giving a sharp nod. “You’re in charge here, right?”

“I am. Who are you and what do you want?”

“I… I just want to leave,” The mare said, her blazing mane and tail calming somewhat. “Your guards chased me and I got turned around.”

“For good reason…”

Ebony didn’t know when her Empress had entered, but her appearance set a significant change in the room. The guards bowed in fear and reverence, the mare’s eyes widened, and it seemed as though the temperature of the room plummeted despite the raging inferno.

“A thief intruding on my property?” Nightmare Moon said in a low, dangerous tone. She stalked closer to the cowering mare, apparently unaffected by the heat. “They were right to pursue. The fact that you resisted only serves to worsen your punishment.”

The mare’s eyes widened at the word and the fires intensified, enough to make Ebony sweat. “P-punishment? No! I’m leaving! I’m going back through the mirror!” She paused.

“Through the mirror?” Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What? How did you get in here? Who are you?”

The mare’s right hind leg took one step back…

… and then she disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing a little ways down the corridor to Ebony’s left at a sprint.

“After her!” Ebony shouted to the Eclipse guards as she teleported, reappearing in front of the retreating mare. “Y-”

“A very foolish thing to do.”

The captain was mildly shocked that her Empress was by her side, apparently having teleported as well. She watched as the alicorn’s horn flashed once and the intruder was paralyzed by an Immobilization Ward.

“Now…” Nightmare Moon grinned evilly. “Let’s have a little chat, shall-”

The intruder’s horn shone and with a sound akin to an electric discharge, the ward was dispelled.

Ebony gaped, having expected the ordeal to be over, and was unprepared when the mare wrapped herself in flames, and galloped towards them.

She started preparing a frost spell, but Nightmare Moon was quicker.

She spread her wings, flapped them, and a magically-augmented gust of wind snuffed out the flames and sent the mare tumbling back head over hooves.

Unfortunately, the intruder wasn’t finished; her horn lit up again when she stopped tumbling, and her hooves struck the floor, sending out a jagged, glowing orange crack that circled her body and erupted into a wall of fire a second later.

“You’re only making this worse for yourself!” Nightmare Moon shouted over the roar of flames as she lashed out with another spell. “Do you truly believe you can match me in magical combat?”

Ebony caught sight of a single lick of flame arcing from the fire before a blanket of ice smothered the inferno.

Floating, it came to an abrupt stop just over her and spread out to form a ring of fire several feet in diameter. Her eyes widened as the ring intensified, heat radiating downwards, and she quickly threw a barrier over her and the distracted Empress.

“Ebony, what-”

Pain lanced through Ebony’s skull as the empty space of the ring was filled with fire that proceeded to rain down in a deadly shower. The strength of the attack was astounding, but thankfully lasted only a few seconds.

“Oww…” Ebony let the barrier collapse and rubbed at the base of her horn.

“Excellent reaction; you have my gratitude,” Nightmare Moon gave her a brief nod and a grin before turning back to the intruder, her expression becoming dark in an instant. “My, such powerful spells, and thrown out with barely any casting time; you are trained well.”

The mare scowled despite her obvious fear. It seemed that those last spells had taken a toll on her; she was breathing heavily and her legs were shaking.

‘Mana Exhaustion…’

“Don’t bother answering,” The Empress chuckled as she reached out with her magic and brought the mare closer, ignoring the squeals and cries of protest. “At least… not yet. Captain, I leave you to sort out this mess; find the mirror this mare was talking about and inform me when you find something.”

Ebony nodded and lowered her head in a small bow. “Understood.”

She looked away at the bright flash which swiftly cut off the mare’s protests and turned to the guards that had kept their distance.

‘Well, to work…’

“You – alert the staff and get this mess cleaned up.”

“O-okay…”

“The rest of you – split into three teams, a unicorn on each one, and search this wing for any and every mirror. When you find one, cast a Detection spell like you were taught in training, and then send a runner to inform me if you find anything suspicious.”

“… N-now?”

“Yes, now! If you don’t sort it out in the next five, no, three seconds, then you’ll be scrubbing latrines for the rest of the month!”

Ebony nodded to herself as the guards quickly got organized. There – that certainly felt very… leader-y. Hopefully, she did everything right, and the mirror would be found without any further complications.

Hopefully.

Sunset yelped in pain as she was thrown to the floor the instant the teleportation ended, the carpeted floor doing little to cushion her fall.
The unicorn tried to stand, but a tremendous pressure was placed on her back, preventing her from gaining an inch in any direction let alone stand. It was physical, cold, and concentrated over a small area; most likely the alicorn’s hoof.

“Who are you?”

Struggling for a little bit more, Sunset collapsed in exhaustion, her cheek pressed up against the carpet as she tried to calm her racing heart and stifle her fear.

“… Sunset. Sunset Shimmer.”

“Sunset…” Nightmare Moon tested the words. “I feel as if I’ve heard that before…”

Sunset’s eyes darted around the room, widening as she realized she recognized this room. She remembered studying in here, eating in here, sleeping in here; this was her former mentor’s room.

Only… not.

Much of the exotic paraphernalia which made Celestia’s private quarters her private quarters were gone. There was still the furniture, the fireplace, and the balcony, but that was it – the bare necessities. It was no longer the comforting place she loved spending time in… at least, once upon a time ago…

‘She’s really taken over.’

“This may… sting.”

“What?” Sunset’s stomach turned to ice at the words. “What do you…?”

The fur on her neck rose and her ears flattened as she felt the alicorn lower her head, a feeling of dread welling up in her chest.

Mother Faust, there was something so inherently wrong about her presence!

Dread turned to terror as she saw a dark muzzle appear in her vision, sharp teeth clenched around an obsidian ring, aiming for her horn.

“No, don’t!”

She thrashed violently, trying to keep her horn away from that thing, knowing she’d be completely helpless if it went on.

Nightmare Moon gave a chilling growl and kept Sunset’s head still with telekinesis. The young mare desperately lit her horn with what little magic she had, but the magical backlashes did nothing to dissuade the alicorn, and only served to make Sunset writhe in pain.

When the ring was pushed down onto the spiralling bone, the pain of the backlashes was overwhelmed by the pain of having her magic cut off. It felt like bands of ice were wrapping around her brain and spreading their chill along every synapse, every nerve in her body. She wailed and cried as it was fitted almost to the base of her horn.

“Now that we don’t have to worry about any foolish notions of escape…” Nightmare Moon said with a mocking sneer as she finally removed her hoof. “I think we can finally get down to playing Twenty Questions, wouldn’t you say?”

Sunset sniffed as fat tears rolled down her cheeks. She never thought she would fall so low as to openly weep in front of somepony, but she had never experienced such pain before. The loss of her magic was also an incredibly unpleasant feeling.

“What…” The unicorn peered up at the alicorn, too nauseous to stand. “What do you want to know?”

“Who are you, really?” The alicorn’s long legs carried her in a circle around the writhing mare, eyes ablaze with intrigue. “Is Sunset Shimmer a thief? A fugitive on the run from some distant land? And what about this mirror?”

“… I…”

“Do we really have to do this the hard way? Because…”

Sunset yelped as the alicorn kicked her in the side, sending fresh waves of agony through her midsection, and she curled into the foetal position to protect her ribs.

“Whatever way, I’m getting the information out of you.”

As Nightmare Moon lifted her hoof again, Sunset crumbled, and she scrambled back while yelling, “W-wait, stop! I-I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!”

‘So much for your iron composure…’

‘Shut up! I didn’t expect to be threatened like this! Not by this… whatever she is.’

‘If only everyone back at Canterlot High could see you now; snivelling like a coward, all talk and no bite.’

‘I’ve got plenty of bite!’

‘Sure you do…’

Ignoring the bad taste shame left in her mouth and her own traitorous thoughts, Sunset shakily sat up, fidgeting anxiously as Nightmare Moon put down her leg and fixed her with an intense gaze.

“There’s a mirror in the palace; it’s an Orxoni.”

“A vessel housing a teleportation enchantment…” The alicorn grumbled, mostly to herself. “I should have guessed. Where’s the other Orxoni? The one you came through?”

“… It’s not exactly in Equestria… or this universe, really.”

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Are you one of the invaders?”

“Invaders?” Sunset shook her head, unsure. “I don’t know what you mean. I was a student of Princess Celestia before I left about six years ago.”

“Ah, yes,” The alicorn gave a single nod, eyes lighting up in recognition. “The rogue prodigy.”

“Is that what she called me?” Sunset had to admit it was a pretty good moniker.

“No, but it’s what you are. You wanted to be an alicorn, correct? And when she didn’t grant your desire, you disappeared without a trace.”

Unwanted memories threatened to surface and Sunset pushed them away while nodding her head. “Yes. I was ready for the responsibilities of becoming a princess, but she couldn’t see that.”

“As much as I loathe casting my enemies in a positive light, I’m afraid I have to agree with her,” Sunset looked up, shocked. Nightmare Moon’s face was full of mocking jeer. “Twilight Sparkle may have been a poor candidate, but from what I’ve heard, you’re even worse.”

“Th-that’s not true!” Her temper flared, allowing her to find the strength to stand up, glaring daggers. “Did Celestia tell you that? What has she said about me?”

“The truth?” Nightmare Moon raised one eyebrow. “She said you were one of the best students she’s ever had. You understood advanced thaumaturgical studies, excelled in the practical portion of magic – the Elemental school especially – and had a flair for leadership.”

Sunset furrowed her brow. “She said that? Even after I…?”

“She also said you had a wicked temper and let anger guide your actions when things didn’t go your way. You became vindictive and resorted to some very petty things in your-”

“How dare you! I am not-”

Nightmare Moon suddenly lunged forwards and snapped her teeth, her lips literally splitting at the sides so her toothy grin was wider than what should have been possible for a pony.

Sunset shrieked and fell backwards, one foreleg coming up to ward off the assault. However, the alicorn merely laughed loudly, her grin turning somewhat normal as her cheeks healed within seconds.

“Either you lack common sense, or you have a very high opinion of yourself to believe you can talk back to somepony like me,” She stopped laughing and lowered her head to the unicorn, grin still present. “But you have proven to me that Celestia was right.”

Sunset’s cheeks glowed red in humiliation and anger, and it was all she could do to keep silent. This wasn’t some jock from Canterlot High, where her barbed tongue and popularity could cull them with ease, this was a powerful and intelligent… creature, and it knew it.
Nightmare Moon could literally finish her by stepping down hard enough and without her magic, Sunset was completely helpless.

It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

“But I don’t wish to discuss your strengths and weaknesses and whether or not you’d make a good ruler; I want to know more about this Orxoni and the world you’ve been hiding in for all this time.”

Sunset grimaced and her entire body shuddered as she finally admitted defeat. She almost choked as she swallowed her pride. “It’s… There’s a lot to cover.”

Nightmare Moon lowered her body as she lay down on the floor, still managing to tower over the unicorn. “I have time. Tell me what happened from when you first entered the mirror.”

“Well… I remember feeling… unbalanced.”

Author's Note

Note 1: An Orxoni (Or-zone-eye) is a mirror - usually full-body length - which holds an incredibly powerful teleportation enchantment. The first Orxoni - the Crystal Mirror - was created by King Sombra during his research into dark magic; it was a complete accident, and his unfamiliarity with the vessel resulted in him deeming it useless and hiding it away. When Princess Celestia and Luna turned King Sombra to shadow and his curse caused the Crystal Empire to vanish, the mirror was all that was left behind, seemingly immune to the curse's effects.

Curious, Princess Luna was the first to experiment with the Crystal Mirror. After her banishment to the moon, Celestia took over; the elder sibling was desperate to have her kin back, and this resulted in a brief phase where she dabbled in the same arts King Sombra had. She didn't accomplish anything that may have brought her sister back, but she did manage to create a duplicate of the mirror.

After Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor established their rule in the Crystal Empire, Celestia gave them the duplicate and kept the original.

Many of the castle's staff mentioned that sometimes, Celestia would visit the Orxoni and look at it for long periods of time, her expression melancholic.

Note 2: Many have questioned the ancient tradition which prevents mares from joining the ranks of the Royal Guard, especially since gender inequality has hardly been an issue in Equestria's history. The princesses themselves cannot remember the why and when of this tradition, but it has been around for so long that many feel changing it would be akin to denying the unicorn race's involvement in the Cultural Upheaval of 345 AD.

Naturally, this comparison is met with... varied reactions.

Chapter 26: Rising Threat

1055 AD, November 6th

“Two bits more…” Weaver grumbled harshly, glaring straight ahead. “Can’t believe that…”

Funnel Spark flexed her right wing and laid it on her husband’s back sympathetically. “Things are just… complicated right now, honey.”

“Complicated my ass,” Weaver looked over his shoulder with a sneer. “That stallion was overcharging us. Bloody leech – taking advantage of ponies like that.”

Funnel Spark frowned, knowing he was right. When Nightmare Moon had taken over, everything was thrown into disarray, from public transport to basic transactions. The Royal Court, or whatever it was nowadays, was attempting to put things back in order with the help of the new guard force – Eclipse – but she knew it was going to be a while before everything went back to normal.

‘Huh, normal… No way things will be normal around here with that monster in charge. At least the sun still comes out.’

Funnel Spark also knew that Weaver was taking the coup of Canterlot particularly bad considering he had been a guard himself. Not only did they have to fall back on their savings, but he was forced to sit idly by while the Eclipse pranced about.

He told her how he recognized some of them, how they were some of the criminals he had arrested, and how they were using their positions of power to get away with petty grievances, minor vandalism, public threats – abusing the law was a pet peeve of her husband’s, and it was quickly starting to become one of hers, too.

They turned into a side alley and trotted away from the noise of the crowd; business in Canterlot could be slowed but not stopped.

They were halfway down the alley when Weaver came to a halt, horn suddenly lighting up.

“Weav-”

“We’re being followed.”

As if on cue, an Eclipse pegasus dropped down in front of them. Funnel Spark gasped softly and stepped closer to Weaver, fear filling her heart.

“Hey there, horn-head. Remember me?”

The pegasus had a silver coat under all that armor and a black mane, unkempt but clean. His yellow eyes glared out from beneath his helmet with malicious intent. His wings were fully extended, the span long enough for his primaries to scrape against the two buildings that made the alleyway.

Funnel Spark trembled a little when she noticed that there were blades attached to his wings, glinting dangerously.

“Weaver?” Funnel Spark said, wings half-spreading in fright.

“Honey, I want you to fly straight home and lock the doors and windows.”

The mare looked at her husband, horrified, and shook her head. “I’m not going to leave you here!”

“I’m not arguing this,” He didn’t turn away from the guard, but his gruff tone was directed at her. “Go straight home, lock the doors and windows. I’ll be fine.”

Stubborn despite her fear, Funnel Spark shook her head again. “No. We… We’ll take him together.”

“Faust damn it, I said-”

Green light briefly blinded her and Weaver was suddenly falling on his side, mouth curled into a grimace and eyes wide in shock. Funnel Spark shrieked and turned the way she came, inhaling sharply as an Eclipse unicorn strolled forwards, horn bathed in a deep green aura.

“Should ‘ave taken his advice, lass,” The unicorn smirked cruelly, emerald eyes roving across her body in a way that made her feel sick. “But more’s th’ merrier, eh?”

“G… go…” Weaver choked out as quickly as his slack jaw muscles and tongue could manage.

Funnel Spark’s dilemma – whether she should flee or stay by her spouse diligently – was mercifully short as the pegasus guard tackled her from behind. She shouted in pain as she hit the cold ground, her saddlebags coming loose and spilling the groceries.

“So you must be Funnel Spark,” The pegasus pinned her down using his superior body weight and strength and leaned in close, his hot breath washing over her ear. “The lovely mare married to that big galoot drooling everywhere. He’s really let himself go; you need a real stallion to tend to you, huh?”

Funnel Spark screamed and struggled. “H-help! Somepony help us!”

Her cries were heard and several ponies appeared at the alley’s entrance, their confusion quickly turning to horror.

One stallion stepped forwards, but the Eclipse unicorn snorted and stood straight, legs stiff and head tilted back slightly so his glowing horn pointed skywards.

Even those that weren’t familiar with unicorn society and the significance of such posturing knew a warning when they saw one.
Gradually, the onlookers left, some more eagerly than others.

“Well, that was rude,” The pegasus grunted as Funnel Spark’s struggling landed a glancing blow. He simply pressed himself onto her with more force, lips peeling back in a wicked smile. “Although I really like a screamer.”

Funnel Spark wailed louder as she felt a firm poke against her flank.

“B…bastards…” Weaver was practically frothing with rage, nostrils flaring with every intake of breath. “Get… off…”

“Hurry up, would ye?” The unicorn guard looked over his shoulder lazily, still facing the entrance. “Yer not th’ only one with needs.”

“Oh, but you can’t rush perfection…”

Funnel Spark cringed, cheeks wet with tears as he caressed her face in a mockery of affection. He snickered and nipped her ear, drawing a pained yelp.

“And this is one perfect piece of ass.”

He shifted and lined up with-

-the weight suddenly left Funnel Spark’s back.

Free of his filthy touch, she scrambled to her hooves and darted over to her husband, eyes wide with desperation as she got ready to fight for both their sakes.

The Eclipse pegasus was thrown into a cluster of trash cans, their putrid contents spilling all over him amidst the clatter of metal. The remains of sour yoghurt dripping into the crevices of his cuirass, he cursed vehemently and puffed himself up, wing blades snapping outwards.

“Who the fuck wants to play the… hero?” He balked. “Oh shit.”

“Yeah, that seems about right,” Fade nodded in agreement as he folded his wings. “Now, what’s all this yelling about? Can’t deal with rejection? Plenty of other fish in the sea, ya know.”

The pegasus – Fade reckoned his name was Barrel Toll or something like that – shifted, movements cautious. “Just having a bit of fun… boss.”

“Fun, yeah?” Looking over his shoulder, Fade gave the frightened mare a charming grin. “Do you have a rape fantasy?”

She shook her head, feathers ruffling in anxiety.

“Few do, strangely enough,” He turned his gaze to the unicorn guard – Valiant or some ironic crap. “So you guys remember how Nightmare Moon had that whole speech where if she caught you abusing your power without her permission she’d send you to the sun? I think you might have confused ‘sun’ with ‘Las Pegasus’. Either that or you’re a complete dumbass.”

Barrel chuckled nervously. “Boss, come on – we’re all part of the Eclipse, right? You can have the first go if you want.”

“Yeah, see, unlike you, I don’t get my rocks off by forcing myself on a mare. I like to pleasure a lady and I am very good at that.”

Miasma took a moment out of her day to roll her eyes on some strange inner stimuli.

“Ay, who cares?” Valiant said with a shrug. “We’re defendin’ th’ city; who’s ta say we can’t ‘ave a few perks?”

“Defending?!” At this, Fade actually felt enough genuine anger to not laugh in the unicorn’s face. He fully turned to face him, glowering darkly. “What defending? Me, my friends, and my sister have been busting our asses keeping this city from falling apart, and we don’t need you idiots making things worse when you’re supposed to be making them easier!”

Snorting aggressively, he spun on Barrel, and stomped one hoof, making the other stallion jump in surprise.

“Now get the hell out of here before I beat both your asses raw.”

Barrel and Valiant glared at him heatedly, but obeyed, the former flapping his wings to fly over the alley and float beside his partner. As they left, Fade exhaled and rubbed at his eyes.

‘Stallion, soon we’re gonna have to order the guards to arrest themselves at this rate. What I wouldn’t do for a drink right about now…’

“Sorry about that,” Facing the couple, he gave a casual shrug. “Newbies – you know how it is, yeah?”

The mare delivered an astoundingly dark glare that made his mane stand up. Faust, there really was nothing more terrifying than a mare scorned.

“This happened because of you…” She snarled, trying to help her husband to his feet; the paralysis seemed to be wearing off. “You and… her. Don’t expect me to thank you.”

Fade gave a weak smile. “Oh come on – you’re hurting my feelings. A little thank…”

She snorted, puffs of steam blowing from her nostrils.

“Annnnd that’s my cue to leave.”

Zipping up into the air, Fade wiped his brow and exhaled in relief.

Her words echoed in his head. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, she was right; that wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for him and the others. Fade was never a stickler for rules, but rape and murder were big no-no’s in his book, and he had indirectly caused the near-success of the former.

It… wasn’t a good feeling.

He figured it’d get better though; Ebony and Nightmare Moon were both smart and they were good at figuring out that confusing leadership and political stuff, so it was only a matter of time before everything wasn’t so… out of control.

‘Shit, when does the fun stuff of being in power start?’

Sighing, Fade rolled to the right and flew towards Canterlot Castle. The telepathy he and the others shared had a limit, and the last thing he wanted was to get yelled at because he wasn’t in range when Ebony needed a shipment order to be deliv-

-his mane stood on end and a powerful shiver ran through his body.

“Holy-!” Driven by pegasi instincts, he rolled off to the side, muscles tensing in preparation of the lightning.

Something certainly hit him, but it wasn’t a lightning bolt, and as he hovered in mid-air to look around, he realized that it couldn’t have been one; there was no lightning scheduled for today. Even so, whatever invisible force hit him carried enough energy to make his mane and fur stand on end and make his stomach churn sickeningly.

“What the hell…?” Fade looked back the way he came, eyes narrowing beneath his helmet. “Yeah, bullshit nothing happened; what hit me?”

He looked up.

“… Awesome…”

Haze gave a short hum of faux intrigue before placing the stack of papers down. “My dear Blueblood, I’m afraid that you will not be able to bully your way into my good graces, and I certainly know you won’t be able to charm your way.”

“This is ridiculous!” Blueblood fumed, gesturing emphatically as his face went red. “First, you have the audacity to imprison my aunties, then you seize half my fortune, and now you’re barring me from the Royal Archives?! The gall! The… the nerve!”

“Your fortune is going to a good cause, if that makes you feel better, and the Royal Archives if off-limits to everypony without authorization, not just you,” Haze hoofed over the papers and the prince angrily snatched them up in magic. “The Empress is busy researching and wants no distractions unless it is of the utmost importance.”

“Hmph,” Blueblood scoffed haughtily. “You think that now you’re the go-to stallion for addressing the concerns of nobility you’re suddenly above us all? My blood is ten times more pure than yours; need I remind you your great-great grandmother was a pegasus?”

“I am well aware of my lineage, Blueblood,” Leaning in close, Haze flashed his sharp teeth. “Are you aware of how badly I can thrash you even without magic?”

The prince’s eyes widened and he took a few nervous steps back. Haze drew some amusement from the fear in his face.

“You…” Blueblood growled in frustration and stomped his hoof. “You were always a disgrace, Dusk, but seizing power in such a brutal fashion just confirms how much of a common thug you are!”

“Are you quite finished?” Haze casually examined one of his polished hooves. “Don’t you have an empty mansion to pitch a tantrum in?”

“Mark my words…” Blueblood turned on his heel, tail flicking in annoyance as he stalked down the corridor. “You’ll rue the day you crossed me.”

“I wait with baited-”

Haze’s ears pricked up at a distant rumble and he saw Blueblood stop with the same twitches.

Frowning, Haze turned and trotted over to one of the many balconies overlooking the city. Fresh air tousled his fur as he squinted in confusion at a strange shimmer hovering near the opera house.

“What in the world…?” He could only manage looking at it for a few more seconds before his head started to hurt and he turned away, watching as Blueblood came out onto the balcony with a curios gaze. “Empress, are you receiving me?”

“I am,” Her connection was strong, but swayed slightly, like she was distracted. “What is it?”

“There seems to be a disturbance occurring over Canterlot, near the opera house,” Haze looked back again. Had it grown larger? “I cannot accurately describe it, but it appears to be a distortion in the air.”

“A distor…?”

She trailed off, as did the connection. A few moments passed before the doors to the Royal Archives were flung open, allowing Nightmare Moon to stalk out.

Blueblood shrieked like a filly, but the alicorn paid him no heed.

“Empress, is…?” Haze had a sneaking suspicion of what the anomaly was, but didn’t want to believe it to be so.

“An Entropic Fracture…” Nightmare Moon confirmed with a narrowing of her eyes. “Ebony!”

“Y-yes?” Haze heard his friend’s voice in his head.

“Rally whatever guards are available and meet me near the opera house.”

“The opera house? Why w- Sweet Night, what is that thing?”

“A sign that things are about to get interesting,” Nightmare Moon turned back to Haze as she gave her wings a quick flare. “Haze, you are in charge of the palace in my absence; send word out to Miasma and Veil, but inform them to keep to their tasks until I call for them.”

He nodded. “What about Fade?”

She rolled her eyes. “Probably at ground zero.”

And then she took off.

“Everyone back off! Yeah, the big wavy thing up in the sky is very pretty, but you all seriously need to back off a few yards! You want some dire bunny to pop out and bite your nuts off?”

For ponies who thought themselves to be high-class, they sure did gawk the same as the ponies from downtown.

Stallions and mares left and right pointed up at the distortion in the air – it had to have been half the length of a hoofball field now – and muttered amongst each other, more than a few mutters containing the words ‘entropy’ and ‘fracture’.

Fade didn’t know what an Entropic Fracture looked like, but if the one above him wasn’t that, then he’d swear off mares forever.

‘Please let me be right…’

In the midst of shooing off some foals with cameras, Fade noticed a black spot in the sky in the corner of his vision. He didn’t pay it much mind, but as it grew larger and he could make out some distinguishing features, he felt a surge of relief.

“Hey, boss! This is totally an Entropic Fracture, right?”

“It is,” Nightmare Moon landed with a harsh clap of hooves on cobblestone and the crowd drew back in fear. “The first one we can actually confirm to exist and with visual confirmation no less.”

Fade breathed a grateful sigh for all the hot mares he had yet to meet. “So is that bad?”

“No, it’s actually wonderful news and we should celebrate.” Nightmare Moon quipped, completely deadpan.

‘I think Veil might be rubbing off on her. Or was she always like this?’

Fade scratched at his head as the alicorn walked forwards, closer to the opera house, and craned her neck up, examining the tear. “So what do we do?”

“First, we need to lay down a perimeter,” Nightmare Moon gestured to the opera house. “You go inside and evacuate anypony that might still be in there; Ebony and a contingent of guards shall be here shortly. Once you’re done, report back for further instructions.”

‘Ugh – work, work…’

Hiding the grimace on his face, Fade flapped his wings and flew forwards to brazenly throw open the opera house’s mahogany double doors, not because he was in a hurry, but because he always wanted to make a dynamic entrance in a place of culture.

“Oh, that’s not good.”

“Can’t believe we have to deal with…”

“Should have wrote up that will ages ago…”

Ebony scowled in annoyance as she and the platoon of guards arrived in front of the opera house. “Lips shut!” She barked, briefly looking over her shoulder to shoot an icy glare. “And keep those civilians back!”

As the guards went about ushering the gathered crowd back in their own undisciplined yet still effective ways, Ebony trotted closer to Nightmare Moon, whose calm and collected demeanour assuaged a bit of her fears.

“That’s an Entropic Fracture?”

The best way to describe it would be to say that the sky itself had cracked; a jagged line, half a mile high in the sky and large enough to swallow the castle, emitted a brilliant white glow that caused Ebony’s sensitive eyes no small amount of discomfort. Even when she squinted it was still impossible to anything through the fracture other than pure whiteness. The way it just hung there, silently, was highly disconcerting, even without the knowledge that something might come through it at any moment.

“It could not have come at a worst time, or a worst place,” Nightmare Moon said with a scowl, tearing her gaze away to meet Ebony’s. “At the very least, we have a prime specimen for study. Ebony, tell the guards to set up a perimeter around the opera house, three blocks in diameter. I sent Fade inside to evacuate the building, so be wary of any ponies leaving.”

“R-right,” Ebony nodded. “What about the ponies who live around here?”

“Send several…” Nightmare Moon paused to look up at the sky again, seemingly debating something, before quickly turning back. “Yes, send several pegasi to each house within the perimeter’s radius and inform the occupants to remain indoors for the next twenty-four hours.”

“Understood.”

With a nod of acknowledgment, Ebony turned her attention to the guards, her mind a whir as she put names to faces.

“Whirlwind, Breeze Shot, Falling Azure – you three take the north and east side of a three-block radius and inform the residents to remain indoors. Vex, Unity, Dazzle Dance – you do the same for the south and west sides. The rest of you fan out and set up a perimeter using roadblocks and signs. I want a pair stationed at each street leading to here. Absolutely nopony is to gain access…” She paused. “Uh, unless it’s another guard!”

Some of the guards looked a little lost, but the majority of them saluted and set off to do their assigned tasks. A few of them took the time to guide their confused comrades, which Ebony was grateful for.

“You’re getting good at this.” The Empress’ voice sounded in her head, a tinge of admiration in the tone.

“Th-thank you, Empress…”

Ebony was grateful for the compliment and it did wonders for her confidence, but personally, she still thought Haze would have been more suited for her occupation. He never lost his composure and she was sure that calm veneer would garner him the respect amongst the guard force she seemed to be failing to achieve.

‘Should I be harsher in dealing out punishments? Get a new training regime? Maybe…’

The sound of irritated ponies brought Ebony out of her thoughts. She looked towards the opera house as stallions and mares in fancy clothing were politely escorted out by Fade.

Of course, ‘polite’ meaning that he spouted off helpful hints that they would die a gruesome death if they didn’t ‘get their asses moving’.

It got results if nothing else.

Ebony stepped to the side to allow some of the crowd to pass. One old stallion chose to stop and address her instead.

“Some guard captain you are!” He spat, wrinkles making his scowl seem astonishingly deep. “Can’t even control your own!”

Briefly stunned by the sudden confrontation, Ebony balked for a bit before feeling a swell of anger, and she narrowed her eyes with a snarl, remembering at the last second to show off her sharpened teeth.

The old stallion flinched at her display, but kept a stiff upper lip otherwise, even going so far as to hold his head up high and trot away at his own pace.

Ebony bristled as she closed her mouth, trying not to feel the sting of his words. ‘I will be respected… feared…’

“Hey, long time no see!” Fade was a welcome sight even though their last meeting was only just under a day ago and Ebony felt some tension leave her body as he softly touched the ground, wings folding against his torso.

“Nice to see you, too.”

“Been busy, yeah?” He chuckled, noticing the fatigue in her voice. “Same here. Fly a message here, fly a message there, stop crimes being caused by our own guys – gotta say, I’m developing a new respect for the Royal Guard dudes.”

“You have no idea…” Ebony exhaled in exasperation. “It feels like no matter what we’re doing, Canterlot just isn’t getting under control.”

“It’s only been a week, yeah?” Fade reminded her reassuringly. “It takes me three days to get around to doing the dishes. I mean, it used to; now that I moved into the castle, I can be lazy since the servants’ll do it all.”

“So that’s why I keep finding bread crusts in the hallways.”

“I don’t like those parts – sue me.”

“Just try not to leave them near my office,” Ebony gestured up to the massive rift in the sky. “So did you see anything when it appeared?”

Fade shook his head. “Nope. The skies were clear and then all of a sudden – boom, right above me without any warning. Well, I got sort of a tingle up my neck like when there’s lightning all around, but that’s about it. Now the thing’s giving me a headache whenever I look up.”

“Just appeared?” Ebony grimaced in worry. “If they can just appear out of thin air…”

“Nothing’s coming through it,” Fade said and looked up to examine the anomaly. “So that’s something to- ah shit, me and my gorgeous mouth…”

“What?”

With dread, Ebony looked up in time to catch the final few seconds of something’s descent; something large.

“Prepare yourselves!”

Nightmare Moon’s command was easily heard by all in the immediate vicinity. Ebony called on her magic and rushed to her Empress’ side as the foreign object struck the cobblestone ground, hard enough to leave a sizeable hole and send up a cloud of dust.

“Eclipse – formations!” Ebony added her own order with a magically-augmented shout.

Amazingly, the Eclipse guards on the scene responded quicker than she expected, setting up a half-ring – admittedly wonky – around the smoking crater, earth ponies in front, unicorns in the back, and pegasi hovering above the ranks.

Spears, swords, and halberds – all crafted from steel that was painted black and decorated with silver – were held in mouths, magic, and wings alike, and though some of the weapons trembled from their wielders’ less than stellar composures, they were at least were pointing at the right thing.

Perhaps, most incredible, nopony had run away at the first sign of danger.

“Keep those weapons steady!” Ebony yelled and drew her own sword from the scabbard attached to her side. “Do not attack unless I or the Empress say so!”

“No premature shit!” Fade added as he hovered above her, the blade attachments on his primaries glinting in the sunlight.

The captain of the Eclipse steadied her nerves for her first confrontation with something from the other side of the Fracture, eyes narrowing as she tried to peer through the dust and smoke.

A dark figure stirred in the crater, its large stature immediately obvious as it shifted from a prone position to all fours, and then to a sort of half-crouched bipedal state. The sounds of metal scraping against dirt and stone accompanied every movement the figure made, and when enough of the debris cleared, Ebony could see why.

Plate metal covered the bipedal figure from head to toe, seemingly charcoal grey in colour, though Ebony could see small areas which looked like tarnished silver, suggesting the grey was due to constant weathering of the elements. Coincidentally, the armor’s design was similar to the Eclipse’s, with numerous sharp angles and spikes designed to intimidate and invoke fear. However, the figure’s armor went one step further by not leaving any gaps or spaces to reveal the pony… thing… that was beneath it.

Well… there was actually a very noticeable gap in what Ebony guessed to be the helmet, but all that she saw was black smoke curling around in the space, the same smoke that billowed out from the figure’s missing left arm and the jagged gash running along the cuirass.

‘What is this thing?’

“Who or what are you?” Nightmare Moon echoed her thoughts, breaking the tense silence that permeated the area. The Empress’ eyes were cold and analytical. “Why have you come here?”

The invader rose to its full height, towering over even Nightmare Moon by a good metre, and shifted its remaining arm.

An arm attached to a hand with five digits – four claws and a ‘thumb’, as dragons and griffons called them – and holding a sinister-looking scythe.

Ebony swallowed nervously at the wickedly curved hook; it was as long as her body and the metal pole it was connected to was four times the length of her body. It was a monstrous weapon that looked large even on the invader.

“I certainly hope you’re not thinking of attacking…” Nightmare Moon growled menacingly, eyes narrowing. “You will not live to see the sun set.”

The creature actually seemed to regard her words for an instant…

… and then it attacked.

Unleashing an animalistic roar, it rushed towards Nightmare Moon, bringing its scythe in a horizontal swipe, perfect for a decapitation.

Ebony inhaled sharply at the speed of the assault and instinctively brought up a barrier, though the red wall of magic was over-layered by one of dark blue.

Ebony watched in horrified fascination as the scythe cleaved through the Empress’ barrier like it was nothing. The weapon actually passed over Ebony’s head because of her size, but she could still feel the wind brush her face, deathly gentle.

“Fool!” Nightmare Moon however, was forced to hop back, a flap of her wings giving that necessary bit of speed which saved the scythe from cutting her neck. “So be it!”

Recovering, Ebony lashed out with her sword as she shouted, “Eclipse – attack!”

Though her sword had been crafted from steel, the blade thick, strong, and sharpened to a razor’s edge, it ineffectively slid off the creature’s cuirass as it struck, producing a burst of sparks. The creature responded in kind by performing an overhead smash that Ebony barely managed to get away from, the wicked blade impaling the ground.

A bright flash followed a moment later as Nightmare Moon blasted the armored figure with an electric spell, though that too, was ignored as it tore the scythe free and performed a wild 720 degree spin, forcing the rest of the guards to back up as they attempted to close in, one unfortunate mare squeaking as her halberd’s blade was shorn off.

Unexpectedly, the invader staggered as it finished its spin, and promptly tripped over its own feet with an eerily equine moan, unceremoniously face-planting into the ground.

“Wail on the helpless!” Fade – who else could it have been? – shouted as he swooped in, primary blades screeching against the back of the invader’s cuirass.

It was a sound strategy however, and Ebony joined in the fray as the invader was assaulted with blades and spells. It continued to writhe under the flurry as it used its only arm to push itself up, scythe still tightly clutched in hand.

The thing was being electrified, stabbed, clubbed, and scorched, yet it barely even acknowledged it.

What it did acknowledge was Nightmare Moon jumping into the air and rocketing downwards to violently stomp on its back.

The ground trembled beneath Ebony’s feet from both the blow and the invader bellowing in both anger and what she hoped to be pain. To her horror, the armored figure then proceeded to twist its helmet around and roar up at the Empress, black smoke frothing from the jagged hole.

Nightmare Moon gave an unimpressed sneer and reared up on her back hooves, intending to deliver one final stomp.

PSSSSHHH

“What?!”

Ebony took a fearful step back as the invader disconnected from the waist up, a churning sea of black smoke following its path. She took another step back when its arm did the same, effectively extending the reach of its scythe by tenfold.

“Aren’t you-” Nightmare Moon flapped her wings and moved back, out of its range. “-full of surprises?”

Ebony yelped – very high-pitched, to her chagrin – as the scythe lashed out in her direction, forcing her on the defensive as she held her sword awkwardly. She felt so useless; nothing she did seemed to work and she couldn’t even go near it for fear of dismemberment. Nightmare Moon trained them to fight other ponies, not… whatever this was.

‘Focus, Ebony! Think!’

The captain of the guard swallowed nervously as the invader’s lower half rose to one knee while the top half flailed about, preventing anypony from going near, or getting a clear shot. She watched as spells simply passed through the smoke, disturbing it but never causing it to dissipate.

If it wasn’t harmed by that, then why did it react so strongly to Nightmare Moon stomping down on…?

Ebony looked up at the top half, noting the crumpled portion of its cuirass, and how smoke was shooting out of a tiny gash that had formed from the deformation.

“…” She gasped and turned to the guards, who were now starting looking very uneasy and unsure of themselves. “All of you listen up! I want every unicorn with a spear to aim it at the legs! If you don’t have one, get one from an earth pony or pegasus!”

Frightened as they were, her orders were followed fairly quickly, and a dozen spears were soon hovering in the air by an equal amount of unicorns. The invader was either too occupied with Nightmare Moon to notice, or did not recognize the danger.

“On my mark, hit those spears with a Kinetic Impact!” Ebony held up her right hoof, crimson eyes narrowing as she watched the figure’s lower half regain its balance. “Hold it… hold it… and fire!”

The air was charged with magic as several spells occurred simultaneously.

The aloft spears shot forwards and struck the invader’s lower half as it finally stood on two legs and inadvertently made itself a larger target. Many tough metal points pierced the thick plate armor and smoke spewed out like blood.

Ebony smirked victoriously as the invader bellowed again, louder than before, and the top half floated backwards, dragging the unresponsive lower half along the ground. Its movements were undeniably desperate.

“Don’t let it get away!” Ebony cried as she tried to hold down its lower half with telekinesis, only to find that it was akin to grabbing a wet bar of soap with one’s hooves.

“You’ve made your decision, creature!” Nightmare Moon snarled as she flew towards the top half, horn glowing with deadly power, and a vicious smile on her face. “Now die with dignity!”

The invader roared and swung its scythe at empty air… which then proceeded to surge forth.

“Empress, watch out!”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened in shock and pain as a distorted, crescent wave struck her in the chest. The impact of highly-pressurized air knocked Ebony and a few nearby guards clean off their feet while every pegasi in the area tumbled, wings flapping frantically to keep themselves balanced.

Telekinetically adjusting her helmet so she could see again, Ebony scrambled back to her hooves, and snatched up her sword.

She saw the invader descend to the ground, where it proceeded to lay motionless, breaths intense and strained.

‘Now’s my chance!’

Running forwards and then stopping in front of the invader, Ebony drew back, her sword following suite. The tension behind her magical grip built and built until finally, she stepped forwards and threw her body weight into the thrust of her weapon.

The jolt as her sword struck the hole in the invader’s helmet made Ebony’s teeth shake, but the wide blade tore through the armor far enough for the tip to pierce the back.

The invader let out a resonating roar as it floated into the air with smoke shooting from every gap, Ebony’s blade still lodged in its head. The cry seemed to echo across the entire city and Ebony swore she felt her bones vibrate from the intensity. She stepped back, unsure as to what it would do next.

Black smoke spewed from its face in torrents as it thrashed and clawed at the sword’s handle for several terrifying moments…

… then it went lax, and crashed to the ground.

Ebony watched in awe as the smoke dissipated into a passing breeze. Several pieces of the armor unclasped and split apart, allowing her to see that there was nothing on the inside.

‘It’s… empty? How? A golem?’

Wetting her lips, Ebony took a cautious step forwards and reached out with telekinesis to grab her sword’s hilt and drag it out from the corpse. The grind of metal on metal made her wince.

“Is… is it dead?” One of the guards asked nervously.

“It’s not moving…”

“Fuckin’ A, did you see that thing move?”

“Hey, is the Empress alright?”

‘Nightmare Moon!’

Ebony turned to where she had seen Nightmare Moon fly back from the force of the creature’s seemingly magical attack.

A dozen yards away was a huge furrow of cracked cobblestone and shifted dirt where Nightmare Moon had landed; it led all the way to the wall of shop for silverware. To Ebony’s relief, her Empress was already ducking her head to fit through the sizeable hole she made in the mortar, a dark scowl on her face.

“Empress!” Ebony rushed over, concerned. “Are you okay?”

Nightmare Moon flexed one wing to remove a layer of dust before replying, “A few ribs pierced my lungs; nothing to worry about,” She wiped a bit of blood from her muzzle as she approached the remains of the invader. She examined them briefly before turning towards Ebony with a smile. “Nicely done.”

Ebony flushed at the compliment. “It’s… I wish we could have taken it alive.”

“I’m not even sure if interrogation would’ve worked…” Nightmare Moon used one hoof to kick at one of the armor pieces, producing a sharp noise. “Its movements were wild, erratic; you can’t get answers from a rabid dog.”

Ebony nodded in agreement. Out of her peripheral, she spotted several guards milling about, relieved and proud of their victory, but now at a loss as to what to do next. Remembering her own orders, Ebony moistened her lips and cleared her throat.

“You all did good today!” A compliment seemed an appropriate thing to say. “But I’m not seeing any roadblocks being put up!” She stamped one hoof on the road. “Let’s go, ponies! Let’s go!”

It was all the encouragement they need.

As the guards quickly set about continuing their previous assignments, Ebony trotted to Nightmare Moon’s side. Fade joined them, too, sweating but brimming with triumph.

“Hey, who kicks ass? We kick ass!” He stretched out one wing and – taking care to mind his blades – pulled Ebony in close for a hug. “That was some quick thinking with the spears, yeah? And then you follow it up with a sword to the face! Faust, it was so badass!”

Uncomfortable with the close proximity – Fade may have been her friend, but she wasn’t a big fan of being touched so suddenly – Ebony laughed awkwardly and tried to push him off.

“Thanks, but could you maybe…?”

Nightmare Moon’s horn glowed as she tried to levitate some of the armor. She managed it far better than Ebony, but the frown on her face said it all – the armor still held the strange properties that made it incredibly difficult to get a magical grip on.

“I’m taking these back to the castle,” The Empress declared as Ebony finally wriggled free. “Continue sealing off this area, Ebony. Fade, go inform your sister and Veil of what’s happened. When your tasks are complete, return to the conference room in the castle.”

Nightmare Moon craned her neck to glare up at the anomaly, hanging over their heads like a bad omen.

“We have a lot to discuss…”

Author's Note

Note 1: Telekinesis is foal's play for most unicorns, but few have the finesse needed to wield a weapon like the unicorn knights of old did; one must be aware of where their weapon is at all times and to keep it steady when it strikes a solid object, lest it rebound out of one's magical grip and cause self-mutilation. Those who pursue this path however, are able to wield weapons with a level of dexterity, finesse, and a wider range of motion than most other races can achieve. The tales of unicorn knights first dazzling their opponents with a macabre dance of flashing swords before swiftly ending their lives are not mere hyperbole.

Ebony uses a different style of this swordplay developed by unicorns. Instead of using a light, curved sword to make quick slashes as unicorn knights were fond of doing, she uses a thick, straight sword to make violent thrusts and the occasional swipe. Her technique - taught by Nightmare Moon - also implements a large - almost exaggerated - amount of body movement which makes it appear as if she is following her weapon's momentum. Such a technique can be considered 'high risk-high reward', as any miss can easily be punished, but a direct hit is sure to cause grievous damage.

Surely, the unicorn knights of old would be appalled by this 'brutish' style of fighting?

Note 2: What would be better to face?

Something not of your understanding actively hinting at malicious intentions?

Or something not of your understanding that may have once been civilized but is now reduced to attacking anything that moves?

Chapter 27: Enforced Cooperation

1055 AD, November 7th

“Uh, isn’t there supposed to be an interview or… something?”

Veil shook her head. “Nope,” She didn’t even take her eyes off the clipboard she was writing on. “You got no criminal record and you want to help – good enough.”

Scarlet nodded slowly. “Okay…”

She watched Veil fill out a form closely, paying particular attention to her… decidedly non-equine features.

Sharp teeth and snake-like eyes belonged on predators, not ponies. Part of Scarlet was constantly jumpy because she expected Veil to snarl and pounce on her.

She didn’t even want to imagine what sort of process the pegasus had to go through to be more like Nightmare Moon.

“Here,” Veil tore a form full of what few details Scarlet gave about herself and hoofed it over. “Take this to the captain of the Eclipse. Name’s Ebony – unicorn, carries a sword, sharp horn. You’ll find her in the courtyard over there…” She waved her hoof in three different directions. “Just… go somewhere…”

“But I don’t know… where…”

Scarlet glared daggers at the retreating form of Veil and snorted through her nostrils, half-tempted to charge her. It would not end well for her, but damn, it could have been worth it to wipe that look of condescension on her face.

She decided not to though; Veil could probably beat her black and blue – ignoring for a moment that those were Scarlet’s natural colours – and then she’d have the Empress herself bearing down on her.

So Scarlet swallowed her ire, turned, and ventured off in search of the courtyard.

She managed to make her way out of the building that held all the documents and paperwork for the Royal- Eclipse guard and stopped momentarily to look up into the sky.

The Entropic Fracture hung over Canterlot like a deadmare’s noose and with it, the constant danger that something could pop out at any second.

Scarlet had only heard about the hostile black knight creature from other ponies, but it was enough to set her on edge.

Amazingly enough, the constant threat of danger had the opposite reaction Scarlet expected to have: she didn’t feel like cowering away in her home, she felt like she had to do something.

Surely, dying because you were defending your home was better than dying underneath the covers of your bed?

Joining the Eclipse wasn’t going to score her any social points, but they were Canterlot’s main line of defense and they did take down the creature that came through. Upstanding citizens they most certainly were not, but they did their job at least.

And that was the only compliment Scarlet was willing to give.

The anomaly was beginning to make her eyes water, so Scarlet looked away and blinked hard before continuing on her way towards the courtyard.

‘Wherever that is…’

Eventually, Scarlet found the courtyard in question after asking one of the castle gardeners for directions.

Training dummies and archery targets were arranged in rows on the dusty ground and Scarlet could see Eclipse guards practising. A few were swiping at the dummies with wooden swords, one pegasus was fumbling around with a bow, and two unicorns were shooting magic bolts at stone sculptures. Somepony had painted on the sculpture to give them goofy faces.

Scarlet didn’t have to search very long to find Ebony; the captain was wearing more ornately decorated armor and talking to several other guards.

‘Now or never…’

Scarlet swallowed nervously and trotted forwards.

“There should be more stone targets inside the maintenance shed,” Ebony said to a pegasus. “Tell the unicorns to stop firing until you get it replaced,” The pegasus saluted and flew off. Ebony turned to another guard before noticing Scarlet’s approach. “Yes?”

The guard captain wasn’t as solidly built as Veil, but the way her horn curved into a sharp point set Scarlet’s nerves on edge. She had received a near-fatal injury from a unicorn’s horn as a filly and Ebony’s was significantly more deadly-looking.

“Uh, I’m here to join…” Scarlet’s scar on her chest – hidden underneath her fur – throbbed with a phantom pain as she hoofed over her registration form. “Veil said to come here.”

Ebony’s horn was swathed in red light as she took the form, gave it a brief scan, and nodded. “Okay – there’s a building just over there…” The captain jerked her head in the direction of a moderately-sized shed near the courtyard’s concrete walls. “Go in, hoof the form to the officer in there, get fitted, and then come find me.”

Scarlet nodded and took back the form. “Yes… m-ma’am.”

The word felt awkward on her lips, but Ebony didn’t seem to notice or care; she was already turning back to the other guards and giving out orders.

‘Okay, first impression wasn’t bad… I guess.’

Scarlet made her way over to the building. She pushed open the sturdy, wooden door and felt a spell of dizziness when a strong smell hit her. The air was thick with the smell of paint and a few other scents she couldn’t name.

“New recruit?”

Scarlet’s attention was drawn to a stallion behind a counter. Armaments hung from the walls on either side of him and an open doorway at the back led to what she assumed was storage.

“Yeah…” She entered, closed the door, and walked up to the counter, face souring at the strong smell. “Ebony told me to give you this form…”

The stallion didn’t have armor, but wore a heavy, grey apron covered in splotches of black and silver. His features were wizened from age, but not heavily so; just over middle-aged if she had to guess.

“Thanks,” He took the form and placed it somewhere beneath the counter before moving towards the back room. “You’re 21, right?”

“Yeah?” Scarlet blinked in surprise at the random query. She didn’t remember the form asking for her age. “How’d you know?”

“When you’ve been working this job as long as I have…” He had vanished from view, but she heard him give a grunt of exertion. The clanking of metal sounded a moment later. “You start to get a pretty good read on ponies from looks alone. Age, height, weight – pretty useful when you need to fit them.”

‘He knows how much I weigh?’

Coughing a little as she mentally pushed away a sudden bout of self-consciousness, Scarlet replied, “How long have you been working this job? The Eclipse is pretty new…”

“From when I was in the Royal Guard.”

Scarlet gave a small ‘oh’ of acknowledgement. “So… if you don’t mind me asking… why did you join the Eclipse if you were…?”

She didn’t expect a former member of the Royal Guard to join the Eclipse.

“Necessity,” The stallion appeared again with a set of armor. He placed it on the counter before continuing. “I don’t give a single salt lick about Nightmare Moon, but if it means that I can still protect Canterlot, then I’ll join her guard. Most others feel the same. Not of all us, but a few.”

Scarlet felt a strange immediate kinship with the stallion and nodded in understanding. “I felt the same way. I’m… I’m pretty scared of that anomaly, but I couldn’t just sit by, you know? I had to do something.”

He nodded approvingly with a ghost of smile as he came around the counter. “I wish more civvies thought like you. Pretty strange having to work alongside some of the criminals I’ve caught. Here – put your leg in this greave.”

Scarlet obeyed and watched as he started fastening it around her right foreleg. “Criminals?”

“No idea what goes through our ‘Empress’’ head…” His tone was so sarcastic that she could feel the air quotes in it. “But she apparently thinks it’s a good idea to recruit criminals into her guard. She needs the horsepower, I guess, but even so… How’s it feel?”

She stretched out her foreleg, testing the armor’s weight. “It’s fine.”

“Good,” He retrieved the rest of the armor and laid it on the floor before working to fasten the greaves to the rest of her leg. “Might wanna pay close attention so you know how to do it yourself. Anyway, so that’s another reason I joined – making sure the criminals do their jobs. Not as bad as I expected; the fear of Nightmare Moon must be keeping them firmly in line.”

Scarlet hummed in agreement. “Yeah. It’s kinda sad though, isn’t it? That she won?”

“No need to tell me that; I was there,” He sighed despondently and moved to secure the cuirass. “Not really much for fighting anymore because of my age, but we needed everypony to ward off the attack that night. I’m just sorry it wasn’t enough.”

“Do you think things will go back to the way they were?”

“I hope so. We still got an ally in the Crystal Empire, don’t we? Maybe they’ll come up with something,” Finishing up with the cuirass, he picked up the helmet and carefully placed it on her head. “Things look pretty bad, I won’t lie, but we ain’t giving in to despair. Whatever rule we’re under, Equestria will always be our home, and we gotta do what we can to make sure it’s safe.”

Scarlet nodded. “You’re right,” She paused. “Hey, I didn’t get your name…”

“Hm?” He seemed surprised by that question for some reason, but quickly recovered and answered, “Iron Surge, but I prefer Fitter; less… melodramatic sounding.”

“Hey, at least you didn’t end up with something like Scarlet,” She laughed in a bit of self-depreciation. “I mean, did my parents even see my colours when I was born?”

“Universe likes a bit of irony,” Fitter snickered with a small but genuine smile. “Now, it’s been fun, but you’d best be getting back to Captain Ebony. She may not look like it, but she can be a real hard-ass. Come back anytime if you need new equipment or somepony to talk to, you hear?”

“I will,” Scarlet nodded and turned to leave. “Goodbye, Fitter.”

“See you ‘round.”

Scarlet felt like she had found some form of kinship with Fitter; he had joined for similar reasons to her, made her feel at ease, and he sort of reminded her of her father.

The Eclipse may have been mostly comprised of criminals and led by Nightmare Moon and her followers, but it was nice to know that there were indeed good hearts among them.

Exiting the shed, Scarlet looked around the courtyard for Ebony and saw the captain talking to an earth pony mare. The mare’s armor also had the same unique design as Ebony’s; she must have been one of Nightmare Moon’s followers.

She made her way over, grimacing as her armor clanked noisily. The weight wasn’t severe enough to hamper her movement, but Scarlet had never worn anything as stiff and heavy, so her steps felt awkward. Hopefully, she’d get used to it; armor was there to save getting skewered after all.

“… you think about it?” Scarlet entered within earshot range just in time to catch a snippet of what Ebony said.

“I think it’s worth a shot; the Fracture’s not going to seal itself, so…”

The mare caught sight of Scarlet and gave a nod of her head. Ebony turned around and Scarlet felt heat rise in her cheeks. She wasn’t intentionally trying to eavesdrop; it just… happened…

“Okay, so you’re all geared up,” Ebony observed. She gestured to the mare she had been talking to. “This is Lieutenant Miasma – she’s going to be training you today. Do everything she says and listen closely, understand?”

“Yes, captain.”

“You’re on the night shift – 6 pm to 6 am. You have a week for training and simple escort jobs before that starts, so be ready.” With that, Ebony gave a farewell nod to Miasma and trotted off towards the castle.

Scarlet turned to her appointed trainer and swallowed nervously. Miasma was easily twice her size and the way her dull eyes stared at her without any hint as to what she was feeling gave Scarlet the shivers, more so because of those draconic eyes.

“Earth pony…” Miasma stated simply. “Straight on to weapons and close quarters combat then. What’s your name?”

“S-scarlet, ma’am.”

Miasma’s eyes roved over her body. “Parents had a sense of humour?”

“I, uh, guess so… ma’am.”

“Hm…” Miasma did a full turn and started walking. “Okay, follow me.”

Scarlet was led to a part of the courtyard with several wooden racks pressed up against the walls and a large ring in the ground made from stepping stones. Several guards were gathered around it, watching two other ponies sparring with weapons.

Actual weapons.

‘They use wood on the dummies, but not for real ponies? What the hell? Are there medics on watch?’

To Scarlet’s relief, there were – two of them.

At least she assumed they were medics; they were both unicorns, their armor had a lighter shade, and there was a white cross painted onto their breastplates. If that didn’t scream ‘I’m here to make sure you don’t have time to bleed’, then she didn’t know what did.

“Keep your eye on your opponent.” Miasma said to the sparring guards.

One of them looked up at her remark, the sword in his telekinetic hold wavering. “What?”

Unfortunately, this allowed his opponent to get in close and tackle him. The force was enough to push him out of the ring’s limits.
One of the female guards stomped her hoof and shouted, “Out of bounds! Match goes to Melody!”

The victor – a fresh-faced mare who looked much too young and innocent to be in the Eclipse – whooped in victory and pranced out of the ring to be met with cheers and congratulations from her friends.

The loser grumbled as he got back to his feet, but his sour mood lightened when he received some good-natured teases from his own buddies. He responded with ‘assholes’ and laughed alongside them.

“First rule of combat…” Miasma looked over her shoulder at Scarlet. “Keep your eye on your opponent and don’t get distracted.”

Scarlet wetted her lips and nodded. “Got it.”

“Now let’s see how tough you are.”

Despite having only handled kitchen knives in her life, Scarlet was nevertheless intrigued by the rows of weaponry on display.

It set off some warning bells in her head that such tools would be lying around when the Eclipse had criminals in their rank, but there was somepony on guard, so her fears were somewhat alleviated.

Exchanging a nod with the guard, Miasma walked past him and parted her jaws, reaching for the handle of a small sword…

… only to ignore it and clamp her teeth down on a huge axe.

“Duh?!” Scarlet said intelligently, eyes widening. Her mouth fell a bit as Miasma carried the thing back like it didn’t weigh anything. “I… I don’t think I can…”

Miasma placed the beast of a weapon down on the ground before her and met Scarlet’s gaze expectantly.

“Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Scarlet blanched as she looked down at the axe.

The handle was at least as tall as her if it was stood up and composed of strong wood that had been coloured black with a grey rubber grip in the middle. The axe blade was large and thick; it looked more suited to bludgeoning something than cutting. The metal was painted black and had silver etchings, much like the armor she wore.

All in all…

“I can’t lift this!” Scarlet protested. It was so large that she couldn’t use it properly by hoof; she’d have to use her mouth.

Earth ponies may have had strong neck muscles, but this was ridiculous!

“Try.” Miasma replied without a change in her stony expression.

“But…”

Grimacing, Scarlet realized disobeying her superiors wasn’t the smartest thing to do on her first day. With a sigh, she bent down and bit down on the rubber grip – thank Faust that Miasma didn’t grab the axe by that part – before tensing her muscles and tried lifting.

“Unf!”

Well, Scarlet could lift it, but she didn’t see herself swinging it around anytime soon.

“Not bad,” Miasma reached out to tap the cheek of the axe’s blade; it was a light tap, but Scarlet still swayed from loss of balance, one side tipping closer to the ground before she righted herself. “Much better than most others I’ve seen.”

“‘anksh…”

“Alright, drop it and go grab any weapon you like. Unless you want to stick with this?”

“Uh-uh…” Relieved, Scarlet placed the axe on the ground. “No, ma’am.”

She stretched out her jaw muscles as she walked past Miasma and towards the weapon racks. Yeah, she was definitely going with something lighter.

‘Jeez, some of these weapons are huge. I don’t remember seeing the Royal Guard using them. Are they just for threats like dragons or hydras?’

Scarlet picked out a double-edged sword – black grip with silver etchings and a steel blade that glinted in the sun’s rays. It fitted nicely in her hoof and she gave a few practise swings before turning back to her superior.

“I think I’ll go with this.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Alright, go into the ring.”

“… Already?”

Miasma shrugged. “Why not?”

“I-I…” Sighing, Scarlet trotted towards the ring, flushing when she noticed the other guards were watching with intrigue and excitement.

When she reached one side of the ring, one of the onlookers leaned in and whispered, “If she swings to the left, don’t rush in.”

“What?”

“Combatants – take your positions!”

Startled by the shout, Scarlet gave the stallion a look of bewilderment and turned to face her opponent.

And of course it was Miasma carrying that greataxe in her jaws.

‘How’s this fair?’

“Sparring rules,” The mare who called the match earlier stepped forwards and raised her right hoof. “The first combatant to land three successful strikes against their opponent is the victor. If one of the combatants leaves the boundaries of the ring under any circumstances during the match, it is an automatic disqualification. Aside from using it to wield your weapon, magic is not allowed, as are blows to the face. Are both combatants ready?”

“Mm.” Miasma gave a shrug, her expression one of apathy.

Scarlet gave an unsure, “Uh…?”

The mare stomped her hoof.

“Begin!”

The match started with Miasma advancing slowly, almost leisurely, and Scarlet responded by nervously holding up her weapon, muscles tensed.

She supposed it made sense for Miasma to fight her; she probably wanted to get an idea of how Scarlet handled herself. Either that or Miasma just wanted an ego boost by curbstomping a recruit in front of everypony.

Once Miasma was only two yards away, she took her next steps at a faster pace, and jerked her head, bringing the axe down. Scarlet only barely dodged back, inhaling in surprise as the axe head was embedded in the dirt. The sheer force of the blow travelled through the ground and was felt in her hooves.

‘Holy shit, she really isn’t messing around!’

Miasma wrenched the axe from the furrow it made. Seeing that Scarlet was still reluctant to go on the offensive, she took the time to tilt her head, dig the greataxe’s knob into the dirt, let go, and bite down on the other side of the rubber grip. The head of the axe was switched to her right.

She attacked again, this time bending her knees and sweeping the greataxe low. Scarlet yelped and hopped straight up to let it sweep underneath her legs. She landed and stumbled, a prime opportunity for Miasma to attack. Fortunately for Scarlet, the lieutenant seemed to have been thrown off-balance by the sweep and took a few precious moments to reorient herself.

Scarlet was no tactician, but even she knew a good opening when she saw one.

‘If I can just get her to do that move again…’

Miasma went on the offensive once more.

Distantly, Scarlet heard and saw the onlookers cheering. The majority of them were for their lieutenant, but several were shouting encouragement at Scarlet. Despite them being complete strangers to her, she was inspired, enough to break out of her defensive strategy and lunge in with a slash.

The blade of her sword struck Miasma’s back armor with a clang of metal against metal.

“First point to the recruit!”

“My name’s Scarlet.”

“First point to Scarlet!”

Miasma rolled her shoulders and came at Scarlet again.

Scarlet kept out of range of her swings, waiting… waiting…

Clang

“Second point to Scarlet!”

A small grin appeared on Scarlet’s face.

She could do this! The greataxe was intimidating, but it was slow, and despite Miasma’s size and strength, even she was thrown off-balance by the swings. Victory was close and the crowd’s cheering escalated.

‘I can do this. I can definitely do this!’

Miasma shifted her weight and swept the greataxe to the side, much like she did earlier; it was chest-high, so Scarlet had to jump backwards instead of straight up. When Miasma staggered as the head of the axe pulled her along with its momentum, Scarlet rushed forwards, sword rearing back as she went for the third and final point that would-

“If she swings to the left, don’t rush in.”

‘What? But she’s staggered; she doesn’t-’

Unlike earlier, Miasma did not take a few precious moments to reorient herself.

She anchored her hooves into the dirt and swung her head to the right in an upwards curve. The head of the axe grinded along the dirt to make a furrow before the butt was rising towards Scarlet.

Scarlet’s eyes widened and she tried to stop, hooves skidding as she hissed, “Fu-”

CLANG

The butt of the axe head struck Scarlet’s breastplate, but Miasma’s strength was such that the added weight was irrelevant; the lieutenant’s uppercut sent Scarlet into the air.

The world rotated twice before she hit the ground, bounced, and skid along the dirt, pain blooming in her chest and breaths coming strained. Her entire body ached terribly and she reflexively uttered the one word that could sum up her suffering.

“Ouch…”

“First point to Lieutenant Miasma!”

The cheering of the crowd was absent and the only encouragement Scarlet received were hisses and groans of sympathy.

‘Feels like somepony drove a train through my ribs…’

Scarlet exhaled, disturbing the dusty ground, and rolled over to stand up, grabbing her discarded sword and thanking Faust she didn’t land on it. When she looked over to her opponent, Miasma was waiting patiently.

So Miasma was intentionally holding back – good to know.

Scarlet took several deep breaths before managing to stand back up again. The blow had hurt a lot, but she didn’t feel debilitated and everything in her body seemed in proper order. Her breastplate took the majority of the blow and now sported a significant dent.

If she hadn’t been wearing the armor…

Before she could even announce that she was ready, Miasma lunged forwards, and twirled to slam the top of the greataxe’s handle into Scarlet’s chest, knocking her back several feet.

“Second point to Lieutenant Miasma!”

Miasma swung the greataxe to the side and forced Scarlet to back up. The attacks were coming much faster and if there was just-

“Out of bounds! Match goes to Lieutenant Miasma!”

Scarlet stared blankly as her opponent eased the weapon from her jaws. “What?” She looked down and saw her left front hoof an inch outside the ring of stones. “Oh…”

Miasma parted her jaws and rested her weapon against her shoulder. “You’re not half-bad,” She said with a nod. “Take a breather and then we’ll put you against somepony else.”

Scarlet mentally groaned, but hauled her sorry flank off the field of battle. “Y-yes, ma’am.”

The crowd of guards parted to let her through to a row of benches up against the courtyard’s walls. Only one other pony was sitting there and he was writing something down on a clipboard with an expression of deep concentration.

Scarlet eased herself down with a groan and took her helmet off, closing her eyes and shuddering as pleasantly cool air brushed her sweaty forehead.

“Hey, catch.”

Scarlet opened her eyes in time to spot something flying towards her and reflexively raised her hooves. The object hit, bounced off, and she made a wild grab to catch it.

It was a plastic bottle of water, chilled.

Glancing up, she spotted the stallion who had given her that bit of – unfortunately unheeded – advice at the start of the fight. He looked to be around her age and his coat was a light shade of pink. His build and features were rather… feminine and if it wasn’t for the bass in his voice, Scarlet would have mistaken him for a mare.

“Oh, uh… thank you…” Scarlet eagerly twisted off the bottle’s cap and took a long drink. At that moment, it was as if she was drinking ambrosia of the heavens. “Hah… hah… Oh, that hit the spot.”

“She’s a sink-or-swim kind of mentor,” The stallion said as he moved to sit beside her. “Probably got it from Nightmare Moon. Hey, be thankful the Empress didn’t come down here herself, eh?”

“Nightmare Moon comes down here?”

“Once,” He replied with a shrug. “It was only maybe… a day or two after she actively declared the formation of the Eclipse. She came down here and tagged in for a match with Lieutenant Fade and Miasma at the same time. Completely wiped ‘em out,” He gave a fond smile at the memory before extending his hoof. “Hey, name’s Private Tremor.”

Scarlet hesitated, wondering if she should trust a stranger, but eventually took the hoofshake when she remembered how friendly Fitter had been. Perhaps Tremor was the same? After all, he already helped her out – tried to, that’s what counted – and gave her the bottle.

“Encite… I mean, Ensign Scarlet… sir.” She answered and shook his hoof.

“Lieutenant’s right, you know,” He nodded towards the ring, where Miasma was watching another match between two stallions, occasionally giving a bit of advice. “You handled that sword well for your first time. It was your first time, right?”

“Yeah,” She nodded. “Didn’t really help much when she went all out though.”

“Preaching to the choir,” He chuckled. “Anypony that isn’t Nightmare Moon or a member of the Praetorian Guard pretty much has no chance against her.”

“Praetorian Guard?”

“That’s the group of ponies who helped Nightmare Moon during her assault. Captain Ebony, Lieutenant Miasma, Lieutenant Fade, Supply Officer Veil, and Haze. Ebony and Haze are the Right and Left Hooves of Nightmare Moon; Ebony’s in charge of defences and Haze is in charge of all the political stuff.”

“Oh…” Scarlet nodded again in acknowledgement and took another drink. “Wow, it’s… a lot more organized than I expected. It hasn’t been that long…”

“They work hard and fast,” Tremor replied. “Don’t know how they keep it up; it’s like they never sleep.”

“Maybe they don’t…”

Tremor’s easy-going smile waned a little and he glanced towards Miasma. “That’s… kinda creepy if it’s true.”

Scarlet and Tremor watched the match go on until it ended and two new combatants enter the ring. When the referee relayed the rules of the match, Scarlet turned back to Tremor.

“Sir?”

He didn’t take his eyes off the match, but replied, “Hm?”

“Why did you join the Eclipse?”

“To clear my criminal record.”

“… Oh…”

He answered that quickly and easily; it was as if they were discussing the weather. She supposed she shouldn’t have expected him to be a shining pillar of equine morality and she wasn’t exactly sure why she hoped for that so much.

Maybe she wanted to meet another good pony so they could tell her she was doing the right thing by joining the Eclipse.

Scarlet shook her head free of those dark thoughts just as Tremor looked over, smiling. “Yeah, not really a guy to look up to, eh?”

“Sorry, I…”

“It’s fine,” He gave a shrug. “I’m trying to be a better stallion. This probably isn’t the best position to start, but we are protecting Canterlot, so… it’s something, right?”

“Yeah,” Scarlet couldn’t argue with that reasoning; he was certainly doing more than most of Canterlot’s populace choosing to simply wait things out until they got better. “I joined for a similar reason. Not for the crime stuff, but to protect and… yeah.”

Tremor chuckled again. “Don’t stress about it too much. We all come from different background, but in the Eclipse, we work towards the same goal.”

“Keep moving.”

Twilight yelped as the unexpected shove sent her sprawled across the marble floor. The chains on her legs jingled noisily and she landed on the cuffs wrong, sending spikes of pain through her weakened body.

“You don’t have to be so rough with her.”

“I’m not! I just pushed her a little; it’s not my fault she can’t even take that.”

‘I probably could have if you delivered some decent food…’

Twilight may not have been the picture of health – too many study sessions with too much sugar-packed sweets – but she certainly could have handled the push the guard gave her if her imprisonment didn’t tax her body so.

For the past seven days, she had been eating nothing but tasteless oats, stewed in an enclosed space with a severe lack of sunlight and fresh air, and forced to wear this… this Faust-damn obsidian ring.

Twilight was so thankful for Applejack’s support when the adverse effects of wearing such a device for so long began afflicting her.
Still afflicting her…

“I just…” Twilight furrowed her brow as she pushed herself back onto her hooves. “Just give me a moment…”

None of the guards escorting her made any movement to help, not even the one who had complained about her rough treatment.

He probably wasn’t even concerned about her so much as he didn’t want to get in trouble for roughing up the prisoner.

Not that Nightmare Moon would particularly care.

The instant she was on her feet, the rough guard gave her a lighter shove. “Hurry up!”

Twilight’s nostrils flared and she bit her bottom lip to stop herself from turning around and punching the stallion in the face. She was already pissed because of her headache.

She was led through the corridors of the castle, towards the banquet hall. Twilight didn’t know what Nightmare Moon wanted with her, but she didn’t expect it to be pleasant. Fear weighed on her heart heavily, but she tried to keep anger at the front of her mind. She’d need it to face that horrible mare.

Twilight stumbled twice on the way as her tired body protested the lengthy walk, but they finally arrived at the banquet hall’s large double doors. Twilight felt sweat run down her forehead and neck, as much from exertion as anxiety.

‘Breathe in, breathe out… in and out…’

The guard who seemed fond of shoving her turned his ‘skills’ to the doors. They gave a creak as they opened and the interior of the hall was revealed.

Not much had been changed, for which Twilight was thankful. The large rectangular table still occupied the majority of the room’s space and the stained glass windows hadn’t been sullied. The gold and blue tapestries had been taken down from the ceiling and replaced with black ones with silver stitching, though.

“Hello, Twilight…”

Twilight’s heart seized up at the familiar voice, but she hid it behind a grimace and narrowed eyes.

Nightmare Moon was sitting at the head of the table – that was Celestia’s seat, damn it! – and drinking from a goblet. She couldn’t see what beverage it was. The evil alicorn eyed Twilight with a mocking smirk, no doubt taking pleasure in her haggard appearance.

Twilight said nothing in reply to the greeting.

Nightmare Moon waved her hoof at the guards lazily. “Leave us.”

The two stallions bowed and left quickly, shutting the doors behind them. The quiet thud as they closed shut set Twilight’s mane on end – she was all alone, completely powerless.

She yearned for the company of her friends and recalled their faces so that it might lend her courage.

‘Be strong, be strong…’

Nightmare Moon took another drink from her goblet and gestured to the table. “Sit.”

There was food on the table – actual food with nutrients and calories her body so desperately needed and flavour her taste buds so desperately craved.

Twilight’s mouth immediately watered, but she swallowed hard and replied, “N-no, I’m fine here.”

Nightmare Moon’s smirk curled downwards and a chilling growl rumbled from in her throat. “Sit down at the table or I’ll break your legs… one at a time.”

“…”

Twilight trotted over and took the seat at the other end of the table.

“No need to make things difficult…” Nightmare Moon’s smirk came back. Her horn lit up and she magically pushed the dishes of food down the length of the table. “Eat – I’m sure it’s an improvement from what you and your friends have been receiving lately.”

Twilight tore her gaze away from the food as it came to a halt before her, the tantalizing scents threatening to break her resolve. “What, is this to sway me over to your side? Inviting me to dine with you?”

“I had a bushel of apples two days ago,” Nightmare Moon replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “I’m not hungry. And don’t insult me by suggesting such a notion; I’m fully aware of the strength of the bond you share with those closest to you. Admittedly admirable, really.”

She wasn’t convinced. “Then you poisoned them? Laced them with some… magic spell?”

“I can’t prove that I haven’t done that,” Nightmare Moon shrugged and took another drink. “And eating it myself won’t count since I am leagues more robust than you. I guess you’ll have to take a chance… or not. Whether you eat or don’t is irrelevant – I brought you here for a reason and it is not to discuss the edibility of the food.”

“What did you bring me here for?”

Nightmare Moon paused to magically pick up a nearby silver pitcher and pour its contents into her goblet. It looked to be wine.

“I presume you’ve heard about the Entropic Fracture opening above Canterlot?”

Twilight nodded cautiously. “Yes, I have. I overheard the guards talking about it when they came to deliver our meal.”

Nightmare Moon sighed as she put the pitcher down and swirled her wine around with telekinesis. “Loose lips…” She shrugged and looked evenly at Twilight, reclining further in her seat. “As you might imagine, having such a phenomena occur at the heart of Equestria’s capitol is a great cause for concern, especially since one of the creatures that came through was more than capable of handling an entire platoon of my guard force. Finding a way to close these rifts is my top priority as it threatens my rule.”

Twilight rolled her eyes in disgust. Of course, Nightmare Moon was only concerned about herself and her own needs.

“As much as it pains me to say it…” Nightmare Moon continued. “You are one of the most gifted minds in all of Equestria. Your research notes on the Entropic Fractures and the creatures that spill through them are solid.”

Twilight frowned. “Wait… how do you know about my research notes? I left them at…” Her eyes widened in horror. “You… went into my home?”

“Your assistant and zebra friend were adamant to keep me from finding them, but their efforts were ultimately futile,” Nightmare Moon levitated a stack of papers and folders from somewhere beneath the table and made a show of casually looking through them. “Now, this note in particular caught my attention because-”

BANG

“You better not have hurt them!”

Twilight bared her teeth as she slammed her hooves down on the table. If her wings weren’t chained together, they’d be spread out to make herself seem larger.

“They were hardly worth my time; I took what I came for and left,” Nightmare Moon replied, unfazed by the shout. She telekinetically separated one folder from the rest and sent it skidding across the table with a surge of magic. “Now, if you’ll be so kind as to take a look at these calculations…”

Twilight trembled with rage; she didn’t believe Nightmare Moon, not for a bit. The thought of Spike coming to harm left a bad taste in her mouth and she wanted nothing more than to leap across the table and beat the living daylights out of her foe.

But she didn’t because that would end very poorly for her and Nightmare Moon might take her anger out on her friends, the CMC, or any of her loved ones.

So she swallowed back her ire and picked up the folder. She took out the first page and upon discovering the columns of numbers and calculations, her mind switched to study-mode.

“…”

The next few minutes were filled with silence, only broken by the shuffling of papers and Nightmare Moon refilling her goblet.

“… This is…” Twilight looked up, astonished. “This is incredible. I had a theory about something like this, but the numbers didn’t add up, there… there was no way to channel all that magic… How did you come up with this?”

“Somepony arrived through the Orxoni a mere two days ago,” Nightmare Moon replied. “Sunset Shimmer – a former student of Celestia; much like yourself.”

“Another…?” Twilight’s mouth fell in shock. “I… She never mentioned another…”

Nightmare Moon ignored her stammering.

“She was… hesitant to serve me at first, but I’m quite ‘persuasive’. I had her tell me everything she knew about the Orxoni and the world she arrived in before having her assist me in studying the vessel itself. Results were… cryptic, to say the least. However, once I had your research notes, and once I implemented them into our own findings… everything fell into place so smoothly.”

Reeling with the information overload – and loving every second of it – Twilight muttered to herself as she went through the rest of the papers.

‘That checks out… that checks out… this is right… this…’

“You’ve hit a wall here,” Twilight said absent-mindedly as she held the final page of the research notes. “You don’t know what to do with the leftover energy once the Orxoni finishes its final phase.”

“The Orxoni will be destroyed after completing its task, but it won’t go out quietly,” Nightmare Moon grimaced as frustration crept into her body language. “The magic that fuels the process will convert to heat and spread over a two-mile radius. There needs to be ponies monitoring the device at all times once it’s been activated, so they’ll be killed. I’m not even going to get into the chaos that will occur if it happened in the middle of a populated city.”

She made a grand sweeping gesture with her free hoof.

“Canterlot, for example…”

“…”

“What I’m asking you, Twilight Sparkle, is to assist Sunset and I in working out the kinks, so that we may put an end to these Entropic Fractures once and for all.”

Twilight laughed humourlessly and dropped the folders on the table. “You can’t be serious. You hurt my friends, took over Canterlot, trespassed in my home, and you just expect me to help you secure your position?”

“I expected your altruistic nature to kick in,” Nightmare Moon retorted. “These Entropic Fractures threaten everypony, not just me,” Her lips spread into a mocking rictus that showed too many teeth. “How sad that I’m doing more good than you.”

Twilight gritted her teeth in frustration and anger. Nightmare Moon knew her too well, knew that she would do anything to keep her friends and family safe, and the evil alicorn was exploiting that.

Of course Twilight wanted to stop the Entropic Fractures, but even if they solved that problem, Nightmare Moon would still be in charge, and they’d still be imprisoned.

Nightmare Moon was quiet for a bit before she gave a loud sigh and said, “Here – I’ll make it easy for you: help or I’ll hurt your friends and family.”

“… Well…” Twilight’s eyes narrowed dangerously and the ring on her horn heated up as her magic threatened to overpower it. “When you put it like that, I don’t really have much of a choice, do I?”

“No, you don’t,” Nightmare Moon drained her goblet and placed it down on the table. She pushed her chair out and rose to her full stature. “Your new tasks begin immediately. You will accompany me to where Sunset and I have been researching.”

“Wait…” Twilight paused and grimaced. “I… My friends need better cells.”

“Better cells?” Nightmare Moon echoed with amusement. “You seem to think that their comfort concerns me.”

Hanging her head, Twilight felt something bitter manifest in her mouth as she realized she would have to try begging. She doubted it will work, but for her friends’ sakes…

“Rarity isn’t… She isn’t taking the effects of the obsidian ring well. I don’t know how much longer Rainbow Dash can stay in such a small cell; she’s starting to develop a twitch,” She wetted her dry, cracked lips. “And the food is only barely enough to keep us going. Please, they need-”

“You’re surviving,” The reply was curt and impatient. Nightmare Moon’s mane churned like boiling water. “Be thankful for that.”

Desperation creeping into her tone, Twilight pressed on. “At… at least let the CMC go; they haven’t done anything! You have us, so let them go!”

Nightmare Moon stared at her, expression unreadable. “… Let them go? You wish for me to let them go? Just like that? What could you offer in return? Your cooperation is already guaranteed.”

“…”

“However…” The larger alicorn suddenly smiled and started trotting over. The approach made Twilight’s blood freeze. “There is something that you could offer…”

“Wh…” Twilight swallowed hard, ears flattening against her head. She felt like a cornered mouse. “What?”

“Here’s what I’ll do…” Nightmare Moon reached her and leisurely circled Twilight’s chair. When she came around the other side, she stretched out a huge wing and grabbed a healthy red apple from the ignored banquet. “I’ll allow the ‘CMC’ to go back to Ponyville. I’ll even arrange better quarters for your friends. In return, there will come a time where I will call upon you for a boon.”

Twilight’s heart thumped wildly against her chest as she watched Nightmare Moon’s every movement.

“A… a boon?”

“And whatever I ask, you cannot refuse me,” Nightmare Moon rolled the fruit between her primary feathers; the tantalizing scent wafted over Twilight’s nose. “No matter how you feel or how much you don’t want to, you will do it.”

“I…” Twilight shook her head as a spike of dread went through her. “I won’t kill anypony for you. I won’t…”

“It will not involve harming anypony,” Grinning evilly, Nightmare Moon offered the apple. “Other than that, I won’t say anything else. Think of it as… hm… a surprise.”

“…” Twilight stared at her reflection in the apple’s shiny skin. She looked miserable; miserable and tired. “Why can’t you just force me to do it otherwise?”

“That. Is all. I will say.”

There was a very clear tone of finality.

Twilight thought deeply about her choices.

Nightmare Moon was going to force her to work on the Orxoni no matter what, so nothing to do there. As for this ’boon’…

She said there wouldn’t be any killing, but what worth was her word? She could easily go back on it; Tartarus, she might just be lying about letting the CMC go and giving her friends better living space.

But her mind went to Rarity…

Her fashion-minded friend tried to play it off as ‘feeling under the weather’, but Rarity was experiencing severe symptoms as a result of the obsidian ring. Twilight had read enough to know that it could get so bad that… that…

‘She needs better food, rest, medicine, and somepony to look at her. She can get that if we upgrade, but what if…? Oh, what would Celestia say?’

She never wanted to hear her mentor’s voice more than now.

“Well…” Nightmare Moon arched one eyebrow. “What’s your decision?”

‘I have to put my friends first. I have to save them… even if I have to bear the burden.’

Twilight inhaled deeply, shakily, and closed her eyes. “How do I know you’ll follow through on your end?”

Nightmare Moon’s grin widened, enough for her gums to show and the skin at the sides of her mouth to split apart.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye…”

“… D-damn you…”

Twilight grabbed the apple and took a bite.

Author's Note

Note 1: The musculature of an earth pony is several times denser than a unicorn and/or pegasi and their skeletal structure reflects this; their bones are much stronger, so that the force created from the usage of their muscles does not cause breakage and misalignment. These traits allow them to effectively wield large weapons which appear almost comical in their size to other races. Regardless of their size, history is wrought with tales of earth ponies felling creatures many times their size because of these slow yet heavy-hitting weapons.

Also, I have a huge nerd-crush on characters wielding implausibly large weapons. Blame Dark Souls for that.

Note 2: The pecking order of the Eclipse is largely similar to the former Royal Guard's - Ensign, Private, Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Captain. The rank of Supply Officer is somewhere between Private and Sergeant.

Regardless of rank, those in the Praetorian Guard - Ebony, Haze, Miasma, Fade, and Veil - have complete authority over all in the Eclipse.

Chapter 28: Honouring a Deal

1055 AD, November 8th

Fluttershy was drawn out of her stupor by the jingle of keys and the clanking of armor. Turning away from the steady rise and fall of Rarity’s chest, Fluttershy whimpered in fear as the door to their cell was pushed open.

“Up and at ‘em,” A burly pegasus in Eclipse armor entered the cell. He was twice Fluttershy’s size and his mean looks made her cower. “You’re movin’.”

“I…” Fluttershy stammered. “I-I don’t think… I mean…”

“Ough… dearie?”

The demure pegasus gasped softly and turned, eyes wide in concern as Rarity attempted to sit up. She gently pressed a hoof against her friend’s shoulder.

“Oh, you really shouldn’t be moving, Rarity; it’ll make you feel worse.”

“Hey, what’s the hold-up?” The guard stamped his hoof impatiently. “Let’s go!”

Mustering her courage, Fluttershy turned and said, “She’s not feeling well. She can’t be moving around, not like this.”

“Dearie, I’m…” Rarity sat up more. Even with the cell’s poor lighting, it was apparent the unicorn was not at her best; her mane was frumpy and frazzled, her coat was unkempt and grimy, and her make-up was smeared. Nevertheless, she smiled. “I’m fine, really. Just a… a dizzy spell. As soon as I find the… the nearest spa…”

“Rar-” Fluttershy squeaked as her friend swayed and she rushed in to catch her. “Oh no…”

The guard clicked his tongue in annoyance and turned to somepony behind him. “Won’t need chains for that one. Think you can lift her?”

An earth pony mare entered; her features were gentle and she looked genuinely concerned as she watched Fluttershy support Rarity. “Yeah, no problem, sir.”

But a kind face wasn’t enough to get into Fluttershy’s good books, especially since they were a member of the Eclipse. When the mare ventured closer, two sets of chains in her grasp, Fluttershy hugged Rarity tighter, protectively.

“Look, I’m sorry, but you have to wear these,” The mare said, rattling a set of chains. “I won’t put them on Rarity though.”

Fluttershy didn’t move; she was scared to put Rarity’s health in anypony else’s hooves. What if they made her condition worse?

“Oh, for Faust’s…! Do you want me to do it?”

The mare looked back over her shoulder and shook her head. “No, I got this, sir,” She turned back and said in a lower tone, “Come on – it’s me or him, and I don’t think he’ll be gentle.”

‘How do I know you’ll be?’

But she had little choice – either take her chances with the guard who looked and sounded nice, or the guard that didn’t.

“Please…” Fluttershy carefully guided Rarity into a prone position on the single cot as the unicorn muttered something about coiffures and flashy gemstones. “She’s very weak.”

The mare nodded and moved closer so she could lock iron cuffs around Fluttershy’s legs; the chains linking them altogether jangled noisily. They were heavy and Fluttershy could only move her feet a few inches away from each other before the chains stopped her.

For some reason, she wondered what her mother would think seeing her only daughter like this.

Once she was secured, Fluttershy watched anxiously as the mare moved to sling Rarity over her back. Her heart jumped into her throat when the guard gave a sudden grunt and Rarity came dangerously close to sliding off, but the guard quickly recovered.

“Mmph…” Rarity’s glazed eyes stared at nothing as she ran one hoof across the guard’s cuirass. “Ooh, this is some… durable fabric. What, uh… what would you call…?” She fell asleep.

“Come on,” The guard by the door urged with an annoyed sigh. “You’re taking too long.”

Fluttershy was close enough to the mare to catch a brief look of anger before it was wiped away. Instead, she nodded to Fluttershy.

“You go first. Just follow him and I’ll keep her safe.”

“… Okay…”

Fluttershy shuffled her way towards the door, keeping her head down. The pegasus guard gave a huff of satisfaction and turned to walk out.

‘At least I’m out of there…’

The past three days had been torment.

Granted, she couldn’t compare her experience to Rarity’s – especially with that ring on her horn – but she definitely looked as bad as she felt after so long without fresh air, sunlight, and nourishment.

Her feathers were in need of preening, her coat and mane were messy, and she was very much aware of how bad her breath smelt.

‘I ran out of toothpaste I think. Angel was reminding me to buy some- oh, Angel… please take care of the others. Harry, you too…’

She raised her head long enough to spot two other pairs of guards leading the rest of her friends out. Her heart swelled with joy and relief upon laying eyes on them for the first time in what felt like ages. Who cares if they looked a little worse for wear? They were all safe and healthy enough to be walking about.

Well… ‘dragged about’ in Rainbow Dash’s case.

“Think you’re so tough, huh?” Rainbow Dash grunted as she pulled and yanked against the grip of an earth pony stallion. “That armor doesn’t count for anything! Let me go and I’ll show you some real strength!”

“RD, cut that out!” Applejack admonished. “Ya’ll want th’ CMC to get in trouble?”

Rainbow Dash shot a glare at her, but stopped struggling, though the string of insults and curses she muttered under her breath did not stop. Fluttershy was close enough to hear some of the words and they were enough to bring a wicked blush to her cheeks.

‘My, I didn’t even know those words could be used together in such a way…’

Once her friends were all out of their cells – oh, but where was Twilight? – the guards looked to a pegasus mare near the dungeon’s exit. Fluttershy recognized her as one of Nightmare Moon’s followers. She looked even more intimidating in that dark armor.

“Ensign Scarlet…” The mare craned her head to the side so she had a clearer view of the back. “Are we going to have to worry about you falling behind?”

“No, ma’am,” The mare carrying Rarity replied with a shake of her head. “I’m fine.”

“Hey, what’d you shitlords do to her?” Rainbow Dash demanded with a furious expression. “If you-”

Fluttershy inhaled in fright as one of the guards grabbed her long-time friend by the mane and gave a vicious tug, eliciting a cry of pain.

“If you don’t shut the hell up right now, then I’m gonna-”

Whap

Rainbow Dash flopped to the floor with a rattle of chains and the stallion was knocked back. Nightmare Moon’s follower retracted her wing and stared evenly at the guard as Pinkie helped up her friend.

“Do you have some ear problem where you hear somepony saying, ‘hit the prisoners’ in my voice?”

The guard grimaced and rubbed at his sore hoof. “No, ma’am…”

“Good to know,” She turned and started trotting towards the exit. “Alright, everypony follow me. You can complain all you want, but don’t expect me to do anything about it.”

“Now hold on a minute…” Applejack said abruptly. “Where’re ya’ll takin’ us an’ where’s Twilight?”

“Eh, she’s fine,” The mare stopped and turned her head enough to fix Applejack with an expression of disinterest. “Somewhere with Empress Nightmare Moon working on a way to seal the Entropic Fractures. As for you guys, you’ve been upgraded to better quarters and you get to say goodbye to those fillies… the Cutsie Park Rangers or whatever…”

Fluttershy was worried about Twilight, but the news of better quarters and the release of the CMC was a welcome surprise. She didn’t know why Nightmare Moon decided to do that, but she wasn’t one to look a gift hippo in the mouth.

“Seriously?” Applejack’s eyes widened – a rare moment of emotional vulnerability. “We get t’ see our little sisters?”

“You won’t if you don’t hurry up; the Empress was super-specific about what time and when, so if you want to see them off…”

Needless to say, they were all motivated to get a move on.

Fluttershy awkwardly shuffled along the dungeon’s corridor as quickly as she could and cast worried glances over her shoulder to see if Rarity was alright.

Scarlet did seem to have little trouble carrying her – Rarity would have taken it as a sign that she was doing well in keeping her svelte figure – and she was careful to keep her movements and gait steady.

‘At least she seems somewhat nice, even if she is working for Nightmare Moon.’

Clunk

“Ouch!”

Fluttershy recoiled and pressed a hoof against her right temple. The edge of the exit’s doorway – that would certainly leave a bruise. The demure pegasus flushed deeply as some of the guards guffawed at her expense.

“Are you okay?”

“You okay, Flutters?”

“Um, yes, I’m fine,” Fluttershy rubbed at the sore spot and smiled reassuringly at Scarlet and Pinkie’s concerned looks. “Don’t mind me.”

The high-ranking mare at the front of the line called back, “Can we hurry it up back there, possibly?”

Fluttershy flinched and fell back into step.

“You know…”

That was it.

Nightmare Moon didn’t even bother acknowledging the young filly’s words. From the tone of her voice, it sounded like she had been prepping an insult, but chickened out at the last second.

Obviously, Nightmare Moon was more imposing than the guards who had been bringing them their meals for the past week.

‘I’d be doing something wrong if that was the case…’

Sighing impatiently, she slouched in her throne and cast her gaze around the throne room.

Fade was waiting with two other pegasi – a stallion and a mare – a few feet away from the throne dais. He had been flirting with the mare a while ago, but quickly lost interest when he realized she only responded positively because his rank intimidated her. Now he was discussing cumulus-ball with the stallion.

Haze was directly on the left side of her throne, magically shifting through a stack of papers with a look of deep thought.

She plucked at the mental link they shared. “No word on those shipments from the Crystal Empire?”

“Princess Cadance doesn’t want to stress out her subjects by having them mine for the type of crystals you’ve asked for; it reminds them too much of King Sombra’s reign,” Haze replied without looking up. “She has a few ponies working on it, but it’ll take some time to get the amount you wanted.”

Nightmare Moon growled deep in her throat. “Unbelievable. What about the ambassador from the Griffon Kingdom?”

“He should be here sometime this afternoon; I’ve already prepared him and his daughter’s accommodations.”

“Good,” Nightmare Moon glanced down at the three foals sitting at the foot of the dais. The orange coated pegasus was glaring up at her. “Be sure to send Twilight and Sunset another full-length mirror; the last one broke.”

“I’ll get right on it, Empress.”

“You know…” Scootaloo began as she wetted her lips. “You’re not that scary.”

Nightmare Moon didn’t pay the remark any mind and sent her thoughts to Fade. “You know how to get to Ponyville, correct?”

“Just follow the train tracks, yeah? Shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Be wary of the pegasus – I have a feeling she might attempt something when you take them back.”

“Yeah?” Fade glanced at the filly in question, one eyebrow cocking. “Ah, no worries, boss; I think I can handle a foal.”

Nightmare Moon would be genuinely astonished if he couldn’t.

“That statue in the Everfree is way scarier than you,” Scootaloo continued with a defiant tilt of her chin. “And it’s covered in moss.”

‘Why is there a statue of my likeness near Ponyville? Who built it?’

“Like, you’re not even as big as the statue; you’re a few inches short- ow!”

“Scoots, ah’m gonna bop you again if ya’ll keep antagonizin’ her.” Apple Bloom said through an angry scowl.

Scootaloo poked her tongue out, but settled down and crossed her forelegs.

‘Yes, Rainbow Dash has most definitely rubbed off on you. The courage and defiance is commendable, but I won’t be surprised if it got the two of them killed one day. I wonder how the Element of Loyalty would react if such a thing happened because of her? How completely would it break her?’

Nightmare Moon pondered that for a while until she saw the throne room doors opening. She sat up straight and watched closely as Veil entered, followed by a platoon of guards and five of the Element bearers. As expected, once the CMC caught sight of their loved ones and friends, they rushed over. Nightmare Moon allowed it, but kept an eye out for any signs of escape.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were quick to embrace Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle was content with holding Rarity’s hoof, stirring the older unicorn into waking and smiling down tiredly.

She really did look sick.

‘Perhaps I should have paid more attention to Twilight’s woes; enemy she may be, she wouldn’t exaggerate if it came down to her friends’ health.’

“Haze, be sure to assign a physician to examine Rarity once they’ve been settled into their quarters.”

“Understood, Empress.”

Nightmare Moon rose from her throne and stepped off the dais. “Make the most of this,” She said as she trotted down the red, velvet carpet. “I have important business to attend to, so say your farewells and the fillies will be brought back to Ponyville.”

“If they get so much as a scratch…” Applejack growled, holding her sister as best she can with the chains on.

“Oh, don’t waste your breath trying to give meaningless threats,” Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Just say what you want to say before they go.”

Applejack huffed, but heeded her words, and softly spoke to Apple Bloom.

She said something about taking care of the farm and listening to Big Mac, but Nightmare Moon didn’t really care. Her thoughts were lying with the griffon ambassador’s arrival.

‘This is a prime opportunity to see if they’ve been suffering the Entropic Fracture phenomena as well. Perhaps they have something new to bring to the table…’

Speaking of something new…

“Veil, I want you to go down to the laboratory and tell Twilight and Sunset that I’ll be arriving late.”

“Yeah, alright…” Veil’s mental link bobbed with fatigue. “Should I tell them about the heartwarming reunion here or what?”

“If you wish.”

Veil nodded and turned to trot out of the throne room.

Nightmare Moon was aware that despite their strength, her Praetorian Guard still needed rest, and that was something they had not being getting lately. Neither was she, but it would take three months of staying awake before fatigue started really affecting her. Her Praetorian Guard had been working non-stop for a little over a week; she’d give it another four days before their strength started waning.

‘Hmm… Two more days and I’ll let them have a rest.’

To do that, Nightmare Moon would have to take on their duties as well as the ones she was already saddled with, but that was fine; she could handle it.

They deserved that much for their loyalty.

Turning her attention back to the Element bearers, Nightmare Moon waited for a few more minutes before saying, “Alright, I think that’s enough bonding,” She turned her head towards Fade and gave a curt nod. “Take these fillies back to Ponyville.”

Expectedly, none of the Element bearers were happy to be parting with the CMC, but Nightmare Moon scowled down at them, and any protests were quickly halted.

“Hey, what’s up?” Fade said cheerfully as he and the other two Eclipse pegasi approached. “Ready to go back to your parents, yeah?”

The CMC managed to give some impressive glares. Nightmare Moon felt a chuckle build in her throat at the sight of Fade awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish laugh.

“You can handle a foal, right, Fade?”

“Ah yeah, good one, boss; my confidence is super-high, now.”

“No need to look like someone shi…” He paused. “Uh, peed in your cereal, yeah? We’ll get you back to Ponyville and then you can see all your friends again! Hey, how’s about I show you a few aerial tricks on the way?”

“I only learn lessons from Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo said haughtily.

Rainbow Dash snickered loudly as Fade frowned.

“Yeah, you know what? I’m taking somepony who can appreciate flying. How’s about it, Sweaty Belle?”

“Sweetie Belle.”

“Whatever.”

Fade and his subordinates led the fillies out of the throne room after they gave one last farewell. With that bit of annoyance out of the way, all that was needed was for the Element bearers to get settled and for a physician to look at Rarity, and then Nightmare Moon would have completed her end of the deal with one Twilight Sparkle.

‘Then I can finally concentrate on more important matters…’

“Show these five to their new quarters,” Nightmare Moon ordered the Eclipse guard escorts with a wave of her forehoof. “If they show any signs of disobedience, you have my permission to use force. However, be very mindful that you do not cause any permanent damage,” She leaned forwards and lowered her voice to a menacing growl. “Because that damage will be reflected on you ten-fold.”

It was important to inspire a little fear when it came to anypony else that wasn’t part of her Praetorian Guard, just so the message was well and truly clear.

And well, yes, Nightmare Moon admitted to enjoying the look of fear and terror on one’s face when they recognized her power.

“W-we won’t, Empress,” One of the guards said quickly and with a slight stammer. He bowed for good measure and turned to the others to say, “Back in formation; let’s go!”

Before the Element bearers could be led out, Rainbow Dash stepped forwards and tilted her head upwards, meeting Nightmare Moon’s gaze.

“You haven’t beaten us yet,” Rainbow Dash growled with fury blazing in her eyes. “As long as I keep drawing breath, you’ll never beat us!”

One of the guards shouted and moved to stop her, but Nightmare Moon held up a forehoof, an amused grin spreading across her face as she looked down at the smaller mare.

“Really? From where I’m standing, I seem to have done well in defeating you,” She gestured grandly to the throne behind her and her lips peeled back to show sharp fangs in a wide smile. “I sit on the throne. It is my guard which occupies this city. The Elements of Harmony are under lock and key. The former princesses and the fabled Element bearers are my prisoners.”

“You haven’t broken us,” Rainbow Dash replied coldly. “Yeah, it might be a super-cliché thing to say, but you won’t break me, my friends, or the princesses so long as our spirits remain. And when we get out of here, we’re gonna kick your ass all the way to the moon!”

Nightmare Moon chuckled. “Well, as much as I despise you for the pain you inflicted on me all those years ago, I have to admit that I admire your resolve,” She paused to let the words sink in before continuing. “Admiration aside though, you’re still my prisoner, and unless you want me to bite off one of your friends’ ears, I suggest you obey and follow my guards. If not for yourself, then for Rarity…”

Rainbow Dash looked at her weak, unicorn friend and uttered a soft curse.

“Now, if there’s nothing else…”

The bearer of Loyalty put in one last glare of defiance before reluctantly allowing one of the guards to escort her out of the room.

Nightmare Moon kept a smirk on her face as she watched them leave. She hadn’t been lying; she really could admire resolve in a pony, no matter who they were.

Well, unless they were Blueblood.

‘After all…’ Nightmare Moon thought as she turned to head back to her throne. ‘More than power, more than strength, it was resolve and determination which drove me to achieve my goals in the first place.’

‘Why does it always smell like cinnamon around here?’

It wasn’t an unpleasant smell, but it made Veil wonder what exactly had been going in in the castle’s lab when Celestia and Luna were still in power.

‘Celestia was probably making some new type of ingredient to put on her cakes…’

The guard by the lab’s entrance saluted when she approached and she returned it half-heartedly, a scowl turning her face sour when she only now just realized what she had just thought.

‘Ugh, now I’m doing the whole ‘Celestia gets off on cakes’ thing. I really gotta remember to not pay attention to Fade when he opens his mouth.’

Pushing the door open and entering the lab, Veil was assaulted by the sounds of an argument.

“That theory went out in 505 AD! I had no idea you were working to set technology backwards!”

“Just because something’s antiquated, doesn’t mean it’s no longer applicable!”

Wrinkling her nose against the strong scent of cinnamon, Veil surveyed the room for its occupants.

The room itself was quite large – obviously designed with Celestia’s considerable stature in mind – but the tables covered with scientific apparatuses and the shelves lined with assorted materials made it seem enclosed. Several emergency washing stations lined the walls and there was another door on the far wall that led to a decontamination shower for substances of both chemical and magical type.

There were no windows and the fluorescent lights above seemed to be unusually bright to compensate for that. Whatever the reason, it stung Veil’s eyes, and she trotted further in, eager to finish her task and leave.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m categorizing the metals which we agreed to-”

“From least conductive to most? It’s the other way around!”

“The other-?! What does that matter?”

Twilight and Sunset Shimmer were standing near the Crystal Mirror – Veil honestly could not remember what its actual name was – that they had placed against the far wall of the room.

Several apparatuses had been hooked up to it and the vine-like mess of wires ran across the floor in loops. One machine spat out paper with squiggly lines and another beeped and booped incessantly. Veil jolted when a burst of sparks erupted from one of the metal clamps attached to the mirror’s frame and the machine it was connected to let out a distressing whine.

Neither Twilight or Sunset paid any attention to it, so Veil guessed… hoped it was fine.

“Do you even know what a focus stone is?” Sunset’s infuriated face was fixated on Twilight while she used telekinesis to simultaneously write something down in a thick notepad. “If you try to use that to channel all that energy, it’ll explode, and then we’ll have shrapnel to worry about!”

Twilight’s expression mirrored Sunset’s and it caused Veil no small amount of concern when she levitated a beaker of blue fluid into a beaker of red… all without looking.

“I’m not some amateur thaumaturgist, Sunset; I know what’ll happen if we use a focus stone with this kind of power. But this isn’t an ordinary focus stone we’re going to use…”

“And how exactly does that…?” Sunset’s eyes widened in shock. “Wait, you can’t possibly mean…”

“I sure do.”

“You’re crazy! Nightmare Moon would never let you do that!”

Twilight’s frown tightened and her eyes blazed with determination. “We’ll see then, won’t we?”

“Lover’s quarrel?” Veil commented dryly.

The two blinked in surprise as they finally noticed her presence. Twilight’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink at Veil’s remark while Sunset just huffed in irritation and turned to devote all her attention to her work.

“No, it’s just…” Twilight shook her head and cleared her throat awkwardly. “Just a bit of a disagreement; it’s bound to happen in any field of work,” She gave a short giggle. “That was actually one of the most engaging conversations I’ve ever had.”

“I’m sure it was positively riveting. Anyway, Nightmare Moon said she’d be down here later than what she said, so she sent me down to let you know.”

“I’m heartbroken…” Sunset muttered, deadpan.

“I can tell,” Veil retorted before turning back to Twilight. “So I couldn’t help but notice with the shouting and everything, but you said something about Nightmare Moon not letting you do something? Do I have reason to duck and cover at some point?”

“Ah, well…” Twilight rubbed the back of her neck and looked away. “I… No offense, but it’s rather… complicated and unless you have at least a minor in Magic Conversion and are somewhat familiar with how enchanting works, then I have to-”

“Yeah, okay…” Veil held up a hoof to stop her, cringing slightly. “Sorry I asked.”

“Now, if you don’t mind answering one of my questions…?”

There was a hint of pleading in Twilight’s hopeful expression; it could only have to do with the status of her friends. Well, Nightmare Moon did say she could tell her if she wanted to, and though Veil didn't actually feel much sympathy for Twilight, she saw no reason to withhold the information.

She didn't get off on watching ponies worry and stress, as much as she couldn't stand them sometimes.

“Your friends are fine,” Veil answered. “Rarity’s getting looked at and those fillies are going back to Ponyville. Happy?”

“Yes…” Twilight replied honestly and with a breath of relief. The tension in her body seemed to evaporate at once. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Whatever,” Veil shrugged and made to leave. “Anything else you want, tell me now.”

“Yes, actually,” Sunset briskly turned to face her as Veil looked back. “Where are those crystals I ordered? They were supposed to be her yesterday and…” She gestured pointedly around the room, which lacked a supply of crystals.

“Well, the anomalies tearing through our reality are putting a hamper on trading, funnily enough. You’ll have to wait a bit, so do you want anything else? A hoof massage? Want me to fan you with my wings?”

Sunset’s face turned red and she growled, “How am I supposed to get anything done? No crystals, bland meals, and the princess over here keeps using the wrong measuring instruments…”

“I am not!” Twilight shrilled. “When have I ever used the wrong instruments?”

“And that’s my cue to leave…”

The unicorns continued their ‘engaging conversation’, oblivious to Veil’s departure.

“… Oh, I did use the wrong instrument.”

“You see? Now if… Oh, I’ve been writing down my notes over Nightmare Moon’s.”

“…”

“…”

“I won’t tell if you won’t tell.”

Author's Note

Note 1: It may be strange to imagine a pegasus using their wings in combat due to their frail appearance, but the truth is, a pegasus' wings are incredibly strong, even if they are incapable of achieving flight without the assistance of magic. A fully-grown pegasus in their prime striking with their wings is equivalent to a strike with their hoof. Furthermore, once they achieve enough speed, their Aura allows their feathers to cut through soft materials such as cloth, wood, and flesh. Pegasi attach blades to their wings to further the lethality of their speed.

A common misconception amongst ponies is that wing size has ties to the size of a stallion's genitalia, much like how many believe that the size of a unicorn's horn has similar results. This belief is false. However, unlike unicorns - who are quick to roll their eyes at such rumours - pegasi embrace this way of thinking, possibly to fuel their egos and to flaunt their wings to potential mates of other races.

Or, they just like messing with them.

Note 2: The ponies of the Crystal Empire adore their new rulers and are frustrated at their own inability to venture deep into the Crystal Mines without suffering an acute panic attack as unpleasant memories resurface.

And then there are some, who are strong enough to ignore the dreaded memories and go deep into the mines, that feel as though the panic they experience may not be entirely in their heads...

Chapter 29: Lucidity

1055 AD, November 8th

“Gilda, stop staring at it.”

“How can you not stare at it? It’s so- ugh!” Gilda closed her eyes and rubbed at them with her arm. “It’s so freaky…”

“You’re going to give yourself a headache.” Her father admonished.

“Well, that’s my choice.” A few tears threatened to escape her watery eyes, but she held them in through sheer force of will. No way was she going to seem like she had been crying in front of these ponies.

Her father didn’t seem to share her line of thinking.

Before they went through the castle’s front gates, he motioned to the griffon guards accompanying them to stay put. Gilda rolled her eyes as he took her aside, though not too far from the guards; just out of earshot.

She could already tell it was going to be a lecture.

“Gilda,” He started, shooting a serious look at the anomaly before looking back at her. “More than ever, I need you to listen to me and do exactly as I say.”

“Yeah, yeah…” She sighed. It was always the same thing. “Diplomatic relations – you know I’m-”

“To hell with that for now.” He said curtly and with a silencing wave of his talons.

Gilda’s eyes widened. ‘Whoa, maybe not the same thing…’

“I’ve only ever taken you to meet with diplomats the Griffon Kingdom is on friendly terms with. This Empress – Nightmare Moon – is an enigma; I don’t know how she’ll behave, but I do know she is nowhere near as benevolent as Celestia or Luna. No one who takes power in such a way can be considered ‘friendly’.”

The plume on her father’s neck had a few feathers out of place. To anyone not familiar with him, it wouldn’t seem a big deal, but Gilda knew how fastidious he was when it came to keeping his feathers in place.

He must have been very worried to not notice them. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen him like this.

It was a little unnerving… not that she was scared or anything.

“So, please, could you just do as I ask when I ask? Just for now?”

Gilda inwardly flinched.

Worse than a tone that held room for no argument, it was a tone borne from desperation and great concern.

She wanted to argue and say that his worry was unnecessary, that everything was going to be fine, and that she could look after herself.

But she simply nodded and said, “Yeah, sure. No sweat, dad.”

That answer seemed to satisfy him, but the darkness in his expression didn’t leave. She didn’t like it. Her father never smiled much, but he was never like this, so open with his emotions in front of her.

‘Jeez, I’m really starting to hate this Nightmare Moon bitch…’

“Thank you, Gilda.”

They walked back to their small group of guards and the one with the highest rank asked if her father – only him, not Gilda – was alright. A few words of confirmation followed and then Gilda found herself entering the castle gates, held open by two ponies in – and she had to admit it – wicked cool armor.

Turning her attention to the castle entrance, she gave a low whistle at the large timber wolf sitting up straight by the doors. It had to be about two metres tall and wider than a fully-grown female griffon shoulder-to-shoulder.

A silver tag dangled from the black collar around its neck.

‘‘Shadow’, eh? Cool. Didn’t even know timber wolves could be trained.’

The timber wolf watched them closely, green eyes glowing with ingrained magic and a deep intelligence. Their quartet of guards formed a square around them, but the wolf continued to sit still, not even reacting in the slightest when they walked past it.

‘Hell, Nightmare Moon might suck, but she’s got good taste in pets. Wish dad would let me get a wyvern…’

The interior of the castle’s entrance hall hadn’t changed much since the last time Gilda came here. The paintings, tapestries, and banners were in the same place – though the tapestries and banners had changed from gold and yellow to black and silver – and the marble floor still had the velvet carpet that felt strange underneath Gilda’s talons.

The last time she visited, Princess Celestia had been standing on the top step of the flight of stairs in front of them. She was pretty cool for a pony princess.

This time, though…

“Welcome, Marquees Aldo. How nice to finally meet you.”

‘That’s a pony?!’

Unlike the apex predators that were griffons, ponies were definitely a prey species, Gilda’s instincts told her so.

They chewed plants and grass, they shied away from anything with sharp teeth and claws, they preferred to stay in a herd, and they generally responded to danger by fleeing.

Save for a few of course – Rainbow Dash never backed down from a-

No, not thinking about her.

But yeah, Gilda’s first impression of Nightmare Moon was that she was all sorts of weird.

For one thing, she had teeth like knives designed for shredding and holding down struggling prey instead of molars more suited to grinding and crushing tough grass. Secondly, she was the largest pony Gilda had ever seen, and Celestia was nothing to scoff at. Finally, and Gilda only noticed it when Nightmare Moon started descending the stairs, she moved with the grace of a predator, stalking and prowling.

“Damn…” Gilda muttered under her breath.

Nightmare Moon reached the bottom floor, tailed by a unicorn stallion with the same freaky eyes as her. Her father cleared his throat and stepped forwards, wings spreading and head bowing forwards.

“Empress Nightmare Moon, I thank you for having me on such short notice. I know that you must have your hooves full, what with the size of the Violazione suspended above your city.”

“We refer to them as Entropic Fractures,” Nightmare Moon met her father’s gaze directly and with a small smile. Even that gesture showed a fair amount of teeth; was it a method of intimidation? “We’ve had some recent trouble with it, but I believe we may be close to something of a breakthrough.”

“Then you’re already far ahead of the Griffon Kingdom. Shall we discuss this in a more secluded environment?”

“By all means…” Nightmare Moon made a sweeping motion with her wing towards the stairs. “I’m sure we have quite a bit to discuss,” Her gaze flickered over to Gilda for the briefest of moments, though it was still enough to make her jumpy. “I assume this is your daughter?”

“Gilda, yes.”

“I fear most of the castle is under restricted limits, so there’s little she can go to pass the time. However, she’s more than welcome to see our soldiers training in the courtyard.”

“I would prefer that she remain with me.”

Any other time, Gilda would have protested, and said something along the lines of ‘I can handle myself’, but this time? With Miss Predator-Prey eyeing her up like she was an appetizer?

Yeah, no – safety in numbers. Besides, she wanted to see what they were talking about anyway; anomalies had to be way more interesting than boring politics and stuff.

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Fair enough,” She turned and started moving towards the stairs, the stallion beside her following suite. “Allow me to show you to our conference room.”

Gilda frowned deeply as she walked alongside her father and their guard company.

‘Pretty creepy for a pony…’

“Empress, forgive me for being so forward, but I simply must draw attention to your recent rise to leadership and the somewhat… concerning circumstances revolving around it.”

“If you must, but I insist you be quick about it; I would prefer to discuss more important matters.”

“… Yes, of course. Now, I am to understand you seized power by force?”

“Yes.”

“And what of Princess Celestia and Luna?”

“They are stripped of their titles and are my prisoners.”

“… I see.”

“If you’re concerned about Equestria’s trade relations with the Griffon Kingdom, I will be happy to set it all back up.”

“No, we’re not concerned about that. Rather, we are wary.”

“Of what?”

“Now that you have Equestria under your rule, what are your intentions? Do you plan to spread your territory?”

“No. I’m having some issue with the Crystal Empire as it is technically on Equestrian soil, but it also identifies as an independent… Forget it – that it is my problem. So no, I am not planning to expand my rule and invade other countries.”

“I… I didn’t mean to imply anything like-”

“But it’s what the Griffon Kingdom wants to know, correct?”

“… Yes.”

“My goal has always been to rule Equestria. The entire world? That is… well, who hasn’t thought about that, really? But I’m quite content with this lovely land right here, so there is no need for worry.”

“That is good to hear, Empress, but…”

“But?”

“… Never mind.”

“… Very well. Shall we move on to the topic of these anomalies?”

“Yes, by all means.”

“You referred to them as Violaziones, so I assume you have faced them?”

“‘Faced’ is a… subjective term; we have encountered the creatures that come through the anomalies, but we have yet to see one. The Violazione above your city is the first I’ve seen. It is… unsettling.”

“Yes, it’s unnaturalness and abnormality inspires a sense of horrified wonderment, no?”

“S-something like that. I shudder to imagine that such a thing could be littering my home country.”

“The Entropic Fracture above Canterlot is the largest we’ve seen, but it is not the only one. Nearly nine months ago, a team of pegasi came across a much smaller Entropic Fracture, but it vanished before we could study it. We’ve been able to study this one… to some success.”

“Any luck?”

“Scientific instruments are almost useless as they seem unable to detect that the anomaly’s there. Magical instruments have minor success, but pure magical energy seems ineffective against it and anything that comes through it.”

“I see.”

“Even so, we’ve made significant breakthroughs, and I have a good feeling about what we’re going to try.”

“Oh?”

“It’s classified, unfortunately, but if it is a success, I would be happy to share it with our neighbouring countries.”

“That’s very generous of you.”

“… Not really.”

“Uh… I don’t-”

“Dad, I need to go drop a pellet.”

“Gilda, mind your manners!”

“A pellet? Mistress Gilda, that sounds quite serious. Would you care to see a physician?”

“Nah, I, uh… I mean, I need to use the bathroom for…”

“… Ah. A guard can show you the way if you wish.”

“Yeah, that sounds cool.”

“One of our own guards will go as well. I’m sure you understand, Empress, that I have-”

“Of course. Do as you wish. Now, what I can tell you about our latest breakthrough…”

Gilda simply had to get out of there.

Perhaps she was more sensitive to it, but Nightmare Moon’s… presence had really started to ruffle her feathers. It didn’t help that every word she spoke and every look she gave carried an air of condescension.

Or perhaps it was because she was unused to feeling like prey.

‘Seriously, how do these ponies deal with it?’

Maybe they didn’t.

The guard who was leading them to the nearest facilities looked pale, like he was deathly afraid of messing this simple task up. It made Gilda wonder exactly how bad Nightmare Moon was.

Obviously, worse than Celestia, but that wasn’t a difficult feat to accomplish.

Did Nightmare Moon host public executions? Did she form ration lines outside the castle? Did she have a torture dungeon?

Damn, she actually felt bad for Equestria, and not just because they got the ass-end of the Violaziones in terms of intensity.

‘Wonder how Dash’s getting along?’

Once the thought crossed her mind, it didn’t leave, much to her irritation. After all, Gilda and the pegasus had been through quite a bit, way too much for her to simply forget it all and pretend she wasn’t hurt by how Dash had abandoned her for a bunch of weirdos.

‘Element of Loyalty my ass…’

Speaking of Elements, she could only guess that their bearers were otherwise ‘occupied’ to not have immediately reacted to Nightmare Moon’s takeover. Probably under lock and key.

‘Whatever Nightmare Moon is, she’s hella smart to tie up all these loose ends. Seemed pretty confident about fixing those holes in nothing, too.’

“Uh, we don’t have bathrooms for griffons, so…” The pony guard stopped at a set of doors side-by-side and turned to face them. “You don’t mind using the mare’s one, do you?”

“So long as our plumbing’s the same.” Gilda replied and pushed open the female bathroom’s door.

“I dunno – how do griffons usually take care of their sewage?”

“… Yeah, that’s what I meant by plumbing.”

“Hmm…” Rarity purred in appreciation as a pair of hooves deftly worked out the knots in her back. “Oh, Aloe, your massage is part-ha!-particularly divine today.”

“Only the best for you, Miss Rarity~” Aloe cooed in that exotic accent which sent shivers down Rarity’s spine.

“Mmm… I hope your sister isn’t too busy? I would like for her to ‘help’ me in other matters such as-”

“Rarity, my friend!”

Shocked at the volume and suddenness of the shout, Rarity jolted up, cucumber slices flying off her eyes… and… continuing to fly up…

She turned to face Aloe, but the masseuse had disappeared into the walls of the spa.

“What…?” Rarity blinked as she examined her surroundings with a new sense of clarity.

The mudbaths were full of pink mud, the ceiling of the spa was missing, and the cucumber slices were zipping about like excited flies.

“This is a dream…”

“Indeed it is.”

Rarity watched as a full moon blinked into existence as the sky turned from day to night. The moon flashed brightly and a beautiful dark blue mare pulled herself through it, the very air distorting and rippling from her point of entry.

“Princess Luna…” Relieved now that things made sense, Rarity got off the massage table and lowered herself into a bow, as proper manners dictated when meeting royalty. “It is an honour to have you visit my dreams.”

“I only wish it were under better circumstances…” Luna said gravely as her hooves touched the tiled floor.

Up close, Rarity was shocked to see how messy and haggard the princess’ appearance was. Her ethereal mane had solidified in some places and hung loosely across her lithe frame, there were dark circles beneath her eyes, and was…?

Yes, she wasn’t imagining it; Luna was actually slightly transparent, with significant portions of her body completely fading into nothingness.

It was more than a little unnerving to see Luna standing straight while missing her right foreleg and the middle of her left hindleg.

“Oh my, what has befallen you, princess?” Rarity’s brow creased in concern and she rose from her bow to approach the other mare.

“Do you not remember?” Luna asked with a tilt of her head.

“Remember…? Hmm… Oh!”

Memories of how she, her friends, and her sister and her friends were abused rushed back like a stream, and Rarity’s cheeks went red from rage as she stomped her right forehoof.

“Ooh, that brutish, ill-mannered miscreant and her goons! If I get my hooves on her, I’ll show her what a lady can do when she is truly vexed!”

Luna cautiously took a step closer to Rarity as the fabric of the dreamscape began to crumble and shimmer dangerously in response to the owner’s emotions. The mudbaths had turned into pits of boiling lava and the night sky raced around and around like it was video in fast-forward.

“I understand your feelings and I support them whole-heartedly…” Luna grimaced as a tremor made more of her body fade. “However, I fear that if you do not control yourself, I will be forcibly ejected from your dream, and I do not know how long it will be before I can communicate with any of you again.”

“Ah, of… of course…” Rarity’s enraged features softened as she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, allowing the dreamscape to revert back to its previous serene – if not slightly nonsensical – state. That done, she shot an apologetic look and said, “My deepest apologies, Princess Luna.”

“No need for that,” Luna said with a breath of relief. “If anypony is to be apologizing, it is me, for I was the one who gave that demon this sort of power.”

“Oh no, princess…” Rarity quickly shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault; we were all caught off-guard by-”

“It is my fault.”

The statement wasn’t said harshly, but the firmness made Rarity wince; the regret and guilt carried in those simple words were palpable, and she felt a pang of sympathy for Luna.

Luna continued, her head lowering and her ears pressing down against her head. “I was foolish and accepted the demon into my mind because of petty jealousy. If it wasn’t for me, I…”

She stopped short and gave an irritated snort alongside a firm shake of her head. When she opened her eyes, the moon in the sky shone brighter and her body regained solidity, enough for her hindleg to become whole.

“Forgive me – now is not the time for bemoaning; our time together may be limited, so we should make the most of it.”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, you are right. I…” She took another look around the dreamscape. “When did I fall asleep? I remember… I think I was talking to Sweetie Belle. After that however…”

Luna closed her eyes and her horn lit up. With visible effort, she tore a hole in the sky and allowed a stream of cool, blue energy to flow between them. Rarity cooed in wonder at the dazzling display and made a mental note to design something similar at some point.

“Yes… it was a memory…” Luna said, her breathing strained. She peered into the stream, examining small, opaque bubbles that displayed events in Rarity’s life like a home movie projector.

She plucked one bubble out from the stream, showing the memory in question. Rarity watched with teary eyes, saddened that she remembered so little but happy that her little sister was safe and heading back to Ponyville.

‘Oh, you brave filly…’

“Hmph – I was not aware Nightmare Moon is even capable of showing mercy,” Luna quipped with a dark glare as she dropped the memory back into the stream. “Though I am certain she would not do this unless she had something to gain.”

With another flash of her horn, Luna sent the stream back through the hole, and then motioned for Rarity to follow her with a wing missing half of its feathers. The smaller mare did so, but couldn’t stop the grimace of concern that crossed her face.

“Princess, I don’t mean to sound rude, but… what happened to your lovely visage?”

“Nightmare Moon has greatly weakened my sister and I,” Luna answered, gaze centred straight ahead as the walls of the spa floated away to reveal the streets of Ponyville. “I am still able to Dream Walk, but I do not have the strength to interact with anypony’s dreams, only observe them. At least until your dream opened itself to me…”

The duo travelled down the street that was eerily devoid of any signs of life. The sky was blue and cloudless, but not the right shade of blue. The moon hung in the sky like a round lantern.

“Weakened you?” Rarity echoed with a quizzical furrow of her brow. “How so? You are both so powerful.”

“Obsidian.”

“The rings?” Rarity reached up to touch her horn, thankful that the dreadful ring hadn’t made it into her dream. “They must be powerful rings indeed.”

Luna shook her head. “They are not rings.”

“Pardon?”

“Nightmare Moon broke our horns just below the midpoint and implanted a chunk of obsidian. Our horns grew around the chunk; it is enough to nullify our magic, but not kill us.”

Rarity’s gasp of horror echoed in the dreamscape and the sky shifted to a sickly shade of green.

“That’s… I can’t even imagine…”

“Do not try. We are still in your dream, remember?”

“Ah, y-yes…” Rarity tried her best to cull her imagination and told herself that the shadows of the building hadn’t just moved. “I assume that if this became a nightmare you could not…?”

“I doubt it.”

Ponyville folded on itself and reassembled as the city of Canterlot. They reached a café and sat down at one of the tables outside the establishment.

“Rarity…” Luna began as a waiter brought them cups of steaming herbal tea. “Nightmare Moon believes that my ability to Dream Walk has been completely neutralized, so this is a significant advantage.”

Rarity took a sip from her cup and found it to be hot chocolate. She glowered down at it before replying, “How so?”

“I… am able to gather information from dreams by observing them. As of now, such information is useless to me because I am under such heavy security, but it may be of more use to you and the others. Even if it isn’t, it cannot hurt to know what’s going on outside of our cells, no?”

“Yes, that makes sense,” With a bit of concentration, Rarity changed the hot chocolate back to tea and took a sip of triumph. Even if it was a memory of the taste, it was better than nothing. “And I am more than happy and eager to assist in any way I can. Feel free to relay what you have learned.”

“I applaud your courage,” Luna offered a fleeting but genuine smile as she picked up her tea with a non-existent foreleg. She took a drink before continuing. “Now, Nightmare Moon is… You are aware she was disguised as Star Secret, the former Seventh Representative, correct?” At Rarity’s nod, she then said, “Well, even then I could never find her dream, so either she doesn’t sleep or I am unable to affect her. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve encountered a creature with such a trait.

“So as you can imagine, Nightmare Moon is not a potential target for information; I decided to go after her followers – the ‘Praetorian Guard’, I believe they call themselves. Unfortunately, though they need sleep as much as any other pony, they can go without it for a long time. I’m keeping a constant watch-out for their dreams.”

“Princess…” A part of Rarity cringed at the interruption, even if Luna didn’t seem to mind. “If you can sense their dreams, then couldn’t you have learned of their plans before…?”

Luna sighed sadly and shook her head. “I wish I could have, but they were most likely warned of my interference, and they barred their dreams from my presence.”

“That’s possible?”

“It is and it is something I cannot break through… at least not without causing damage to myself and the dreamer. At the time, I didn’t think much of it; when ponies learn of my Dream Walk ability, their subconscious sometimes blocks me if they are having a…” She cleared her throat. “Dream that they would not wish to be witnessed.”

“Oh my…”

“Indeed. Hopefully, their mental defences have been let down now that they think I am unable to Dream Walk. We will see…” She paused to take another drink. “At any rate, here’s what I’ve learned: Twilight has been forced into working with Nightmare Moon and Sunset Shimmer on a method to fix the Entropic Fractures appearing across the world. Her dreams are… erratic and quite hard to follow, but I believe she also formed some sort of deal with Nightmare Moon so that you all receive better quarters and the Cutie Mark Crusaders earn their freedom. I do not know the full details, but… she seems distressed about it.”

“Oh, Twilight, darling…” Rarity’s heart went out to her friend, applauding her courage and sympathising with her plight. “Wait, who is Sunset Shimmer?”

“A former student of Celestia who went rogue…” Luna shrugged. “She does not tell me much on the subject; the wounds are still tender. What’s important is that she was involved with a magical artefact created by King Sombra known as an Orxoni. It is this artefact which Nightmare Moon believes will stop the Entropic Fractures.”

Idly, Rarity wished she had something to munch on, and a bagel materialized in front of her. She conjured up a platter of them in the middle of the table.

“Is she right?”

“Twilight thinks so and the calculations – at least what I can understand – check out,” Luna grumbled as she took a bagel. “It causes me no small amount of annoyance that Nightmare Moon is doing more than I am.”

“I admit that I am glad at the news of a possible solution for these anomalies, even if it is from a brute,” Rarity said with a sour face, dunking a bagel. “However, what will become of us after all of this? It still perplexes me as to why Nightmare Moon has not killed us yet.”

“Purely because of the Elements of Harmony,” Luna answered, pausing to bite into a bagel and swallow the piece. “If one of the bearers expires, the Element they are associated with vanishes and materializes in another place after selecting a new bearer. Nightmare Moon wishes to keep the Elements under lock and key, so she has to keep you under lock and key.”

“Well, that’s one mystery solved…” Rarity said humourlessly. “Ah, but this is a fine mess we’re in, isn’t it? I can only do so much with how ill that accursed ring is making me.”

“Do not underestimate the power of simply ‘knowing’; ‘tis a power that could subdue entire armies, often without bloodshed. If you would recall the Battle of Grosis?”

“Aha, I’m…” Rarity flushed and murmured into her tea. “I’m afraid to say that I’m not familiar with history.”

“Forget it then. Simply acknowledge that, despite what you may think, sharing information is better than nothing. If you can, be sure to inform your friends, and please be sure to keep this secret. I do not know what Nightmare Moon will do to make certain I cannot Dream Walk anymore.”

“Yes, I will,” Rarity nodded. “It’s just… I wish we had allies to rely on.”

Luna smiled gently. “We do, fair Rarity. It may not seem like it, but there are others who can help. Former guards, Canterlotians eager to see Nightmare Moon removed from power, and even those who do not hail from Equestria. There are many who can help; it is only a matter of ‘when’ they may lend a hoof.”

Rarity noticed, then and there, that even though Luna did not look her best, her eyes still held the same strength and determination that Rarity saw when they had that battle in the throne room.

It inspired her… She might make a muse after those eyes…

“If you truly believe…” Rarity smiled back. “Then so do I. Now what would you have me know?”

Author's Note

Note 1: The Griffon Kingdom is divided into several Holds across a wide expanse of land of varied climates and environs, with each Hold having a ruler referred to as a Marquees. The marquees' all swear fealty to the High King.

In olden days, the marquees' didn't have nearly as much respect and power as they do now. Thankfully, none of the High Kings in griffon history have ever been cruel tyrants.

At least, the history that's been recorded.

Note 2: "We do not know why We have this ability, 'Tia, but with it, We are able to interact with Our subjects on a more personal level. We do not wish to use the Dream Walk the way he did; We shall use it for the greater good. Now, for Mother Faust's sake, please put down that banana before thou scars us for eternity..." - Quote from a highly unusual conversation between Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

Chapter 30: What You Are In The Dark

1055 AD, November 8th

“See?”

Coco Pommel flinched instinctively as something was dropped down in front of her. When she regained her composure, she saw that it was a piece of clothing – a sweater, to be exact.

“And you said I couldn’t get it done!” Suri scoffed as she strutted around the apartment, head held high as Coco hesitantly picked up the sweater and spread it out in front of her. “Shows what you know, mmkay?”

“W-well, I never said that you couldn’t…”

Coco’s – ultimately futile – attempts to defend herself were forgotten as she took in the clothing. The stitching was immaculate, the pattern lovely, and the material it was made from… simply sublime!

“Y-you made this?”

“Who else?” Suri rolled her eyes, her ego inflating from Coco’s remark. “The walls? The potted plants?”

‘I’m just shocked you actually got off your flank for once and did something.’

Of course Coco didn’t say that; she remained quiet as Suri pranced back to her and snatched the sweater away before rubbing it against her cheek, humming in content.

“Hmm… and what was that you said yesterday? Something about how I couldn’t design something to save my life?”

Coco turned in her swivel seat, away from the sowing machine, and mumbled, “A-actually, I was just saying how you couldn’t make a sweater without using-”

“So little faith,” Suri zipped back to pat her beleaguered assistant on the head in a very demeaning manner. “This is why I let you do all my work, mmkay? You really need the experience if you want to go far in this city.”

Coco sighed despondently and reflexively agreed. “Y-yes, Miss Polomare…”

“Oh, you’re so cute when you say that…”

The familiar tone in Suri’s voice sent unpleasant shivers down Coco’s neck. Knowing what was coming next, she willed herself to remain still as Suri leaned over to nuzzle her neck.

Coco would have called it ‘affectionately’, if the gesture wasn’t purely to feed Suri’s sense of power over the younger mare.

“Keep up the sewing and I might just have a surprise in store for you later tonight, mmkay?” Suri lightly trilled and nipped at Coco’s ear – ignoring the wince of pain it wrought – before walking off to flop down unceremoniously on the couch. “Now, let’s see what’s happening on I shouldn’t be alive…”

Coco sighed as she turned back to her work, rubbing at her ear.

‘Can’t stand up for yourself again, huh?’

‘I can’t. Suri’s right; in this city, it’s every pony for themselves. If I have to do all this work to keep her happy and keep my job, then that’s what I’ll do.’

‘She asks more of you than just making all of her products…’

‘… If it lets me keep my job.’

It wasn’t a good life she had going… but it was better than most.

“Oh, before I forget…” Suri announced from the couch, gaze fixated on the television. “There’s some dark fabric underneath that desk; I want you to start work on some new banners for the Empress and have them completed around the time I usually have you turn in my work.”

Looking under the desk to confirm there was a box of dark fabric, Coco then turned around, confused. “Did… Nightmare Moon call you, or…?”

“Coco, don’t be naïve. One does not get ahead in life by waiting on the sidelines for somepony to notice you; you have to assert yourself, mmkay?”

‘Wow, actual sound advice. The blood must have rushed to her head.’

Suri chuckled mockingly. “Honestly, how would you have ever made a name for yourself in Manehatten without me?”

‘Probably by working hard and designing my own products; kind of like what I’m doing right now, except there’d be nopony taking all the credit.’

Sighing, Coco replied, “O-okay. Where’s the design I’m supposed to use?”

“Oh, on your desk somewhere…” Suri helpfully gestured vaguely in Coco’s direction, still refusing to look at her. “Yellow sheet of paper… I think. Could be pink.”

Coco eventually found the paper practically hidden beneath the mountain of fabric she was expected to stitch into something worthy of Suri’s approval by next week.

She balked at the complexity of the banner design, both horrified and impressed.

‘There’s no way I can do that and have the other stuff done by next week! I need more time. Maybe… well, the banners would matter to her more, so maybe I can convince her to give an extension?’

Already, Coco found herself biting down on her right forehoof, a bad habit she did when she started stressing out. It had manifested at childhood, lessened when she reached her teens, and came back full-force when she started working for Suri.

What a coincidence…

Coco gave another sigh and wondered if she should have just taken that offer to be a stripper when she first arrived at the Manehatten train station.

Vzzzzz

“Hm… wha…?”

For the fourth time that month, Coco found herself waking up with her cheek pressed against her desk and a puddle of drool forming beneath it.

Fortunately, it didn’t stain any fabric this time.

“Ungh…”

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Coco pushed herself into a sitting position and glanced at the clock on the wall, squinting against the light provided from the desk lamp.

’2:27 am, huh? Usually I can get an extra hour before I wake up. Oh well…’

Stifling a yawn, Coco sluggishly got out of her chair and trotted her way towards the kitchen, relying purely on muscle memory to not trip over the furniture and risk rousing her employer.

‘Guess she didn’t feel like showing me that surprise…’

She wasn’t too broken up over it.

Suri snored.

Vzzzzz

Coco flicked one ear in irritation, trying to rid herself of whatever insect was buzzing around her head.

‘Please let it still be there, please let it still be there, please let it…’

She opened the fridge and squinted against the light.

‘Yes!’

Coco reached in to grab the last bottle of banana milkshake and twisted the cap off to down it hungrily.

For a moment there, she feared that her ‘benevolent employer’ had already-

BANG

“Ack!”

Banana milkshake spluttered from between Coco’s lips as the entire apartment room shook hard enough to put small cracks in the ceiling. A triangular piece of plaster fell and bopped her on the head.

“Ouch…”

She rubbed the dust and crumbled plaster from her mane and looked up, wondering what could have possibly done that. The room above them housed a rather… ‘energetic’ couple, but it was never that noticeable.

Besides, they usually did it around eleven.

Actually…

‘Are they… arguing?’

Though she wasn’t one to eavesdrop, Coco couldn’t help but strain her ears as she heard what sounded like the couple shouting. The ceiling was thick and muffled most of the noise, but it definitely sounded… panicked? Perhaps even-

“What in Equestria did you do, Coco?!”

Startled terribly by the shout, Coco leapt about a foot into the air and spun to face a very tired and very upset Suri. She had her pink and lavender night gown on with a sleeping mask resting on her forehead.

“I… I…” Heart going a mile a minute, Coco shakily pointed up and said, “There was something… something made that loud noise, so I was-”

“Argh, those damn sex addicts!” Suri growled through clenched teeth and went back into her room. “Keeping us up in the middle of the…”

BANG

Coco yelped in fright as another tremor made the cracks in the ceiling grow and this time… yes, she definitely heard the couple; yelling and screaming now.

‘Are they being attacked?’

“S-Suri…” Coco whined as the other mare came back in, a broom in her hoof. Her fear of her employer prevented her from taking a more assertive approach. “Maybe we should call the police?”

Suri ignored her.

“Hey!” She shouted and thrust the broom’s handle against the ceiling, apparently uncaring that she was inflicting even more damage. “Some of us have things to do! Screw each other some other night, mmkay?!”

…

The sounds came to a sudden halt.

Coco felt the tension leave her body in a long sigh as Suri beamed triumphantly and turned to go back to bed.

“Nothing to it.”

CRASH

A rain of debris fell as the ceiling caved in with a cacophony of splintering wood, crumbling plaster, and breaking furniture.

Coco looked at it long enough to catch something dropping through before she was screaming and bunkering down, hooves over her head, only just barely hearing her employer give her own shriek.

The floor trembled beneath her as the weight of the debris struck; her shaking legs were unable to support her, and she tripped heavily.

“Oof!”

She stayed there, hoping to Mother Faust that the ceiling wouldn’t cave in on her next, until the sounds of destruction trickled to a soft crunch of plaster hitting floor.

When she realized she was still alive and unhurt, Coco slowly uncovered her eyes…

… and immediately wished she hadn’t.

A giant, bipedal figure clad in grey armor rose from a crouch; dust hovered in a large cloud around its form and debris fell from broad shoulder plates. The helmet was dome-shaped with sharp spikes sprouting from the sides and reaching up, each as long as her foreleg.

There were no gaps to tell what sort of creature was in the armor and that was almost as frightening as the black smoke that bled from a large hole in its cuirass.

Actually, no – the large mace dangling from its right hand was the most frightening thing; a metal rod as long as Coco’s body with a sphere of metal as big as her head at the end, covered in cruelly-curved spikes.

The creature rose to its full height – helmet spikes almost peeking through the hole it just made – and gave a blood-curdling growl that Coco felt in her bones.

“Oh… oh shit!”

Out of her peripheral vision, Coco saw Suri drop the broom and back up, terror plainly written across her face. The creature paid no heed as she moved towards the door.

‘No no no – don’t leave me! Please don’t leave-’

Coco’s pleading eyes went unnoticed as her employer turned, wrenched the door open – terrified earth pony strength making short work of the many locks – and fled out into the hallway.

Abandoning her…

Coco choked as tears started rolling down her cheeks. She stared up at the creature that approached her.

The arm that didn’t grip the mace lashed out, back-handing the couch into the wall with titanic force. The crushing noise it made on impact stirred something in Coco; it was as if she had simply been observing her body, but now she was back in, and-

-the thing was swinging its mace right at her!

Coco shrieked and dived between its legs.

CRUNCH

She didn’t need to look back to know that the mace had gone straight through the floor – no doubt startling whoever was below her – and scrambled back to her hooves to rush out the door.

‘Run run run run run!’

She tripped as she entered the hotel’s corridors, banging into the wall, and it was only by inches did the creature miss, its blow shattering the wall into smithereens.

‘Oh Faust, it’s fast!’

The creature let out a thunderous roar that wouldn’t be out of place emerging from a dragon’s maw and Coco felt it give chase, shaking the entire floor with every footfall.

Several doors opened as she fled, but closed just as quickly once the ponies inside caught sight of the chase. Coco paid them no mind; her attention was focused on the elevator that Suri was desperately trying to close.

The rational part of her protested that the flimsy elevator doors would not stop this thing.

The rest of her shouted, “Suri, wait! Please!”

Suri continued pressed the button to close the doors, muttering something under her breath in panicked gasps.

Coco put on a burst of speed, muscles straining as she pushed herself to the limit, desperate to make those last few metres.

CRUNCH

The breeze from the creature’s horizontal swipe brushed Coco’s mane as she slipped in through the closing doors and slammed into the back wall.

She turned in time to see the armored behemoth wrench its weapon from a massive hole in the wall and give another bone-shaking bellow before the doors closed tight with a cheery ding.

“Huah… huah…”

Sweat matted Coco’s fur down as she slowly turned to look at her employer, who was still bashing at the buttons, her face a twisted grimace of fear.

‘She abandoned me… Would… would I have done the same? I…’

Creeaak

Both mares looked up.

WHUMP

Metal buckled and the elevator shook as the creature dropped down on top of the elevator, now seeming more like a cold tomb.

Suri shrieked and Coco squeezed herself in a corner as grey gauntlets peeled away a slab of metal like it was a can of sardines. The creature’s blank helmet appeared, somehow managing to give off a paralyzing sense of unadulterated fury, and it roared down at them, smoke billowing from its chest like a geyser.

It raised its mace, pausing to let it hang in the air, and then allowed it to swing downwards.

The spiked sphere missed the two mares by a hair and slammed into one of the elevator’s wall, punching a large hole.

Enraged, the creature ripped its weapon free and stood to begin violently stamping down, seeking to completely remove the roof that obstructed it from fitting entirely-

-the elevator’s cables snapped.

Coco drew in a breath and screamed as the descent left her suspended in mid-air. Sparks blinded her and screaming metal deafened her as she hung there for one second, two seconds, three-

CLANG

Stars filled Coco’s vision as she came to a jarring stop, the back of her head colliding with the floor.

The creature face-planted, fortunately missing the mares and instead landing between them.

“Shit shit shit!”

Suri ignored the streak of blood running down her face and into her eyes. She chanted the same curse over and over as she rose to pry the elevator doors apart, tumbling forwards into the lobby, startling the staff and customers that rushed to see the commotion.

Coco fought against the waves of nauseating pain that battered her head and climbed over the dazed monster’s back.

“Run!” She shrieked once she was out. “Run, there’s a monster in-”

A roar drowned out her words and the screams of the ponies that followed.

Coco looked over her shoulder and saw the monster crash through the elevator and jump several metres into the air, both hands clutching its mace as it descended…

… and smashed its weapon down.

There was a moment of silence – as if all sound in the area had been drawn inwards – before a literal shockwave of compressed air swept out from the creature and picked up Coco, along with anypony unfortunate enough to be close by.

She bounced across the hotel’s tiled floor, chunks of marble ricocheting off her body, leaving bruises and deep cuts. Perhaps one of her eardrums had been ruptured because only her left ear was picking up the rushing wind, panicked screaming, and cries of agony that left her own lips.

‘Is this how I die? I don’t want…’

Coco came to a stop as her momentum was spent and she curled into the foetal position, shaking too hard to stand and weeping too hard to draw in a breath.

“Oh Faust… I can’t feel my legs…”

“What’s happening?!”

“Somepony help! I can’t see anything!”

“Mommy! Mommy, get up!”

Coco parted her eyes – one felt like it was swelling shut – and saw the creature stand from a crater in the floor and stalk forwards.
A stallion was blindly crawling in its direction, blood dripping from his face.

“Wh-where am I? Endo? Endo, honey? Where are y-”

SPLAT

Coco let out several inarticulate noises of horror before her stomach could not hold out any longer and she threw up what little she had that day, the sickly fluid staining her coat.

Wrenching the mace from the pile of crushed tissue and bone – brain matter dripped liberally from the sphere and one of the spikes had impaled the stallion’s tongue – the creature took several more steps forwards.

A middle-aged mare with a broken leg wailed and tried to get away, screaming, “No, help! Don’t let it-”

Blood spurted from her lips as the monster stomped down on her back, breaking her spine with a sound like snapping celery.

Not done, the creature bent down, grabbed the mare’s hind leg, lifted her, and threw her back down on the floor.

The sounds of dozens of bones breaking and flesh splitting would haunt Coco…

“Mommy!”

Coco’s attention was drawn to the hotel’s front doors, dismayed and horrified to see a small pegasus filly – she couldn’t be older than six – shaking a prone mare.

The extent of the mare’s injuries were too severe to leave room for hope…

Seeing the filly’s tear-stricken face, hearing her trembling pleas struck Coco harder than the shockwave.

She started crawling towards the foal, sobbing from the pain of her injuries.

‘I’m going to die…’

‘I have to get to her.’

‘But I’m going to die…’

‘I don’t care; I have to get to her!’

Oh Faust, she wanted to wake from this horrible dream.

Halfway towards the filly, Coco spotted her employer rise from beneath two bodies and limp over to the doors.

“Suri!” Coco cried out. The other mare turned to her, eyes holding nothing but blind terror. “S-save her! The filly! You have to… save her!”

Suri looked to the bawling filly and back.

She shook her head. “N-no…”

“Suri!”

“No, I can’t…” Suri kept shaking her head as she opened the door and limped out. “I can’t…”

“SURI!”

Her employer ran.

As the last chance of her and the foal’s survival fled, Coco’s mind went blank for a few moments… but her body continued dragging itself along.

The creature growled and started walking.

‘We’re going to die… We’re going to die…’

The filly kept shaking her deceased mother, kept crying out for her, and she didn’t stop until Coco arrived and pulled her in close. The filly buried her face into Coco’s chest and cried fat tears, too distraught to pay any mind to the monster that cast a shadow over the duo.

‘We’re going to die…’

Coco hugged the filly tenderly and whispered, “Shh, shh – just keep your eyes closed…”

‘We’re going to die…’

Coco looked up, lips quivering as the creature reared its weapon back, no mercy to be found…

‘We’re going to die…’

It swung down.

‘We’re going to-’

WHAP

The mace came to a stop.

“…”

Coco blinked and saw a blue, furry hand gripping the monster’s wrist. It was just as large, but there was no armor covering it, allowing her to see bulging muscles flex in unison…

Flexing in unison to forcibly drag the monster’s arm up, away from her and the filly.

‘What’s…?’

A tower of muscle and fur stood alongside the armored creature, just as tall and just the teeniest bit wider.

“No.”

The creature drew itself up and unleashed a powerful roar-

-another hand – identical to the first but curled into a fist – cut the monster off unceremoniously and sent it flying back a dozen yards to impact a wall, leaving a sizeable imprint.

“And no means no.”

Coco looked up in awe at the minotaur that stood over them.

She had only seen minotaurs in books and on television, but surely this one was a prime specimen of his species? His arms, legs, chest, and neck rippled with strength; he could probably knock her out with a simple flick.

Yet when he looked down at her, she didn’t feel in the least bit afraid of him.

“You’re a tough mare,” He said in a booming baritone and a smile crossed his face. “Think you can keep it up for a little bit longer?”

Coco nodded dumbly. “Uh-huh…”

He gave an approving nod before turning to face the creature, features furrowing into an expression of determination. His legs clopped noisily against the floor as he strolled forwards.

The monster had recovered from the brutal punch – though it now sported a dent in its helmet – and growled menacingly, metal plates trembling as smoke swirled about its form.

The minotaur inflated his lungs and smacked his fist into his palm.

“COME AND GET SOME!”

Anything else would have fled at the challenge; the creature answered with an echoing roar and sprinted forwards.

Coco inhaled sharply as the minotaur met his opponent’s charge head-on and was pushed back a few feet. Quickly regaining his footing, the minotaur yelled harshly and slammed his head into the creature’s helmet, stunning it long enough for him to bring one massive arm back, hold it for that little extra bit of spring, and deliver a powerful uppercut.

When his fist collided, the monster was launched into the air, high enough to almost hit the lobby’s ceiling. He followed up by spearing the monster as it came back down with his horns and was rewarded by a bellow that sounded more like pain than anger; black smoke shot out from the creature’s back where the horns had punctured the armor.

Swinging his head downwards, the minotaur slammed his foe into the floor and raised his right leg.

“HERE COMES THE PAIN!”

Psssshhh

Coco gasped as the creature disconnected from the waist up and the stomp went through a sea of churning smoke, cracking the tiled floor.

“Watch out!”

The creature’s upper half floated on a tendril of smoke, swerving with surprising agility, and zipped around behind the minotaur to swing its mace down.

“Hup!”

Once again, the minotaur grabbed the creature’s wrist and held it back, but this time, it countered by socking him across the face. He stumbled back from the force and tripped over the prone lower half of his opponent.

Coco whimpered in distress as the two battled for the upper hand on the floor, wanting to help but knowing she was in no shape to do so. Plus, the filly needed whatever protection Coco could provide.

‘Please win, please win!’

Smoke rolled over the minotaur’s chest and face as he struggled, making his eyes water and preventing any fresh air from entering his lungs. Both opponents had their arms locked together; the monster unable to swing its mace and the minotaur unable to land a hit.

“…”

The minotaur suddenly released his grip, allowing the creature to swing and dig the mace into his shoulder but also allowing him to grip the hole in its chest.

Pain and rage filled his face as he let out a battle cry and used a surge of titanic strength to sit up and grab at the hole in the armor with both meaty hands.

Then he started pulling.

The creature realized his plan and left the mace in its opponent’s shoulder to try and push itself away. Clawed gauntlets lashed out, but the minotaur remained strong, and within moments, the creature’s cuirass started bending and tearing. Great puffs of smoke left the widening hole with as much frequency as the deafening roars.

“Make me bleed…” The minotaur grunted through clenched teeth as the armor’s edges started cutting into his fingers. “I make you SCREAM!”

There was a hideous screech of protesting metal and the minotaur fell back as his opponent recoiled with a roar of defiance, arms disconnecting at the shoulders as it futilely tried to stuff the escaping smoke back into its armor.

Coco hugged the filly in her forelegs tightly. ‘Did…? Is it…?’

Despite its efforts, the smoke dissipated in the air, and the creature made one last desperate grab at nothing before falling flat on its face with a pathetic groan, the armor unclasping and breaking apart to reveal… nothing.

“…” Coco wetted her lips – tasting blood – and asked, “Is it over?”

“Yeah…”

The minotaur gave a tired grin and plodded over after ripping the mace from his shoulder with nary a grunt. He discarded it like the trash it was and came over, holding his injured side.

“I think it is…”

Coco broke into a crooked smile and laughed, slightly hysterical. “Th-thank you… I’m Coco…”

“Iron Will’s the name and training ponies is my game!”

Coco would have laughed at the thumbs-up and the winning smile he flashed, but she was too busy passing out into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.

“… so of course, nobody told me that Manehatten doesn’t need any lessons in being assertive. I was set to go home after one more night, so I thought I’d check into that hotel. Gotta say – I’m glad I came by.”

“Me too…”

Coco was still in a vulnerable state after the authorities arrived and she was given proper treatment. Fortunately, the filly hadn’t been harmed in any way, and lay curled up against Coco’s side, emotionally exhausted.

There were only so many tears you could shed at a time…

As she sat on the sidewalk, blanket draped over her shoulders and filly safely cocooned within the warm embrace, Coco wondered…
Well, she wondered a lot of things, but the thought that came up the most was… why?

Why did ponies have to die in such a violent manner? Why did a filly have to lose a mother? Why did Coco have to suffer such a nightmarish event?

‘I can still see that stallion’s head pop like… No! Don’t you dare think about it!’

“Wish it was a bit earlier though…” Iron Will said, scratching at the stained bandages covering his shoulder.

Coco wished that too, but there was no way she was going to say that; Iron Will risked his life to stop that creature, and she wouldn’t demean his accomplishment by focusing on what could have been.

“It would have been a lot worse if you didn’t arrive when you did,” Coco said. “It would have killed everypony and gone out into the city. I… I don’t think it would have…”

Coco trailed off as she spotted somepony come into view from behind an ambulance carriage, where two paramedics were wheeling a gurney and its grim contents into the back.

‘Suri…’

“Iron Will, could you watch out for her for a second?”

“Hm? The filly? Why, what... are…?”

Without another word, Coco wrapped the blanket around the small filly and hoofed her over to Iron Will. He took and held her in his massive arms awkwardly as Coco stood, ignoring how terribly her body ached, and made her way across the street.

A red haze tinted her vision as Coco moved closer to the other mare and she could feel her heart thumping frantically, not from terror this time…

Suri saw her approach and – perhaps for the first time since they met – looked very uneasy.

“C-Coco, you’re alright!” When there was no reply, Suri hesitantly took a few steps back, now looking afraid. “L-look – I… There was no way I could have done anything, mmkay? A lot of things happened and-”

Coco knocked her to the street with one solid punch.

“You are nothing but a selfish, glory-hogging bitch! I quit!”

Suri stared up at her, eyes wide in shock and pain, and her lips moved to form words, but Coco was already gone, moving back to Iron Will and the filly.

“Well, you sure don’t need of any of my seminars,” Iron Will observed with a tone of approval. “But, uh, what exactly was that about?”

“Just something that needed to be said,” Coco replied, taking back the filly and sitting back down, her hoof stinging from the strike. “I’m only sorry it took me so long to do it.”

Iron Will hummed in thought, but didn’t push any further. “So what are you going to do now that you quit your job?”

“I don’t know,” Coco admitted. She had struck and yelled at Suri on impulse – though she didn’t regret it one bit – so her main means of income had been neatly severed. “I… I’ll have to find another job, but until that, I want to make sure this one will be alright,” She looked down at the sleeping filly sadly. “Faust, please let her have family…”

Iron Will hummed again and when she looked at him, she saw that he was glowering intensely at the hotel. He appeared to be thinking hard about something, so she didn’t say anything, and instead returned to watching the sleeping filly.

‘Why did this have to happen?’

Author's Note

Note 1: Armor of the Wisp Knight - it is composed of an unknown alloy that appeared to have once been silver or grey in colour, but was tarnished by extreme heat and ravaged by countless battles. The metal is heavy and incredibly tough, and boasts unusually high resistance to electricity.

The armor's ability to disconnect specific sections is not only an advantage, but cruelly creates an illusion of freedom to the creature inhabiting it; forever shall it remain bonded to a suit of armor it despises but needs in order to survive.

Perhaps this protective gear is not protective gear at all, but an elaborate and theatrical means of torment?

Note 2: Many are quick to label the minotaur race as savage brutes because of their gladiatorial coliseums and love of fighting, but this could not be further from the truth. Minotaurs are social creatures and physical confrontation is an excellent means of establishing and strengthening bonds between friends, families, and lovers. Indeed, minotaurs do not seek to lethally harm - unless given sufficient reason - and gladiator matches end without bloodshed.

Minotaurs are fascinated by magic as they themselves are incapable of using it.

Chapter 32: Breakthrough

1055 AD, November 9th

“What is this?”

“An attack in Manehatten, Empress. A creature from an Entropic Fracture; one of those armored knights.”

Nightmare Moon scowled as she read the details of the report. “Injuries, casualties – not even a working Entropic Fracture to show for it,” She exhaled in disgust and hoofed back the paper. “Thank you, Captain; if there’s anything else?”

“No.”

Turning to leave, Night-

“A-actually…!”

Nightmare Moon halted and fixed Ebony with an expectant gaze. A glimmer of irritation sparked in her chest when Ebony hesitated for a few seconds, but the smaller mare quickly got over it and cleared her throat.

“Actually, I was wondering if I could have the key to the Royal Archive’s Restricted Wing.”

“Oh?” Nightmare Moon’s right eyebrow arched slightly in intrigue. “For what purpose?”

She had an idea, but she wanted to hear it from Ebony.

“I was hoping to see if there’s anything that could help me get stronger,” Ebony paused and looked away briefly, embarrassed. “Mostly to see if I have an affinity for anything…”

“I see.”

It came of no surprise to Nightmare Moon that Ebony would want to better herself, even though she was already one of the strongest unicorns in Canterlot.

Her subordinate was prone to doubting herself and – even now – wasn’t all that confident in her leadership abilities. Fortunately, it was this doubt and anxiety which made her an effective leader, as instead of shying away from the responsibilities, she strived and pushed herself to try and be that much better, especially when she felt Nightmare Moon’s gaze on her.

‘You’re quite desperate for my approval, aren’t you? Your time in that village left quite a scar on you…’

Well, if Ebony wanted to train and become stronger, who was Nightmare Moon to deny that?

“Very well,” Nightmare Moon nodded. “But Haze holds the key, so you’ll have to locate him.”

“Thank you, Empress.” Ebony dipped her head respectfully and turned to trot off and find Haze.

Free to continue on her way, Nightmare Moon traversed the castle’s corridors, towards the laboratory.

The griffon delegation was to drop by again later that day, so until that rolled around, she was going to spend her time working in the laboratory. Hopefully, Twilight and Sunset hadn’t established some ‘enemy-of-my-enemy’ nonsense and achieved something with the Orxoni.

It felt like the solution was just within reach; they just needed to figure out what to do with the excess energy when the vessel completed its task.

‘A shame that energy can’t be destroyed.’

When she arrived at the entrance to the laboratory, the guard near the door stiffened in fear. It was a reaction that never failed to amuse Nightmare Moon.

“Empress.” The stallion said with a bow.

“Has anypony aside from me come by?” She asked, pausing in front of the door.

“N-no. Uh, Sunset came out a half hour ago, yelled something about crystals, and slammed the door.”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Of course she did.”

One push of her wing opened the door and Nightmare Moon entered, wrinkled her nose at the potent smell of cinnamon, and shut it behind her. The noise drew the attention of the lab’s only two occupants.

Predictably, neither was ecstatic to see her.

Ignoring their glares, Nightmare Moon trotted down between two lab tables and asked, “Have any of you made any progress with the excess energy stored by the Orxoni?”

Sunset cast a pointed look at Twilight before saying, “She certainly thinks so.”

‘Ah yes, the inevitable rivalry between two mares with more similarities than they would dare admit.’

Nightmare Moon stared expectantly at Twilight, who was visibly steeling herself. Whatever she had to say must not be what Nightmare Moon wanted to hear, so the larger alicorn made a mental note to not pass judgement nor react until Twilight fully explained herself.

“I… I believe I…” Twilight paused and wetted her lips. “No, I know I’ve found a way to deal with the excess energy produced by the Orxoni.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “And that is…?”

“We use the Elements of Harmony.”

“…” She took a deep breath. “Continue…”

Seemingly taken aback by the response, Twilight stood in place awkwardly for a second before walking over to a blackboard set near the Orxoni itself. Nightmare Moon followed, sparing a cursory glance at the vessel to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with in a way that had not received her permission.

She didn’t expect there to be – Twilight had her friends to worry about and Sunset was scared – but it didn’t hurt to check.

After deeming there was nothing suspect, she turned back to Twilight and watched as she levitated a piece of chalk to point at the complex array of diagrams and calculations that took up most of the blackboard.

“This is our world.”

She pointed to a simple circle drawn near the centre of the board.

“And this is the… the…”

“Human.” Sunset provided from the sidelines.

“The human world Sunset arrived in.”

She pointed to another circle, near the first one.

“Say these two worlds exist within these circles and we can’t interact with anything outside of them; ergo, we can’t interact with other worlds. However…”

Twilight levitated a duster and swiped an opening in the circles before drawing a horizontal line between them.

“Sometimes the borders of our worlds weaken and fail, and then we are able to interact outside of our worlds. The Orxoni is an artefact which uses powerful magic to deliberately rip through our reality and into another one.”

“So what we have here…” Nightmare Moon looked towards the mirror. “Is a ‘controlled’ Entropic Fracture?”

“Pretty much,” Sunset said, trotting up to the artefact and tapping it soundly on the frame. “And like you asked, we tried to see if there was a way to use that same magic to repair the Entropic Fractures appearing all over Equestria.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “And did you?”

Sunset hesitated and looked unsure. “We-”

“It can.”

Twilight met Sunset’s irritated expression with one of pure determination and confidence, and then returned to the blackboard.

“It doesn’t matter if these creatures and the world they come from have different rules when it comes to reality and physics because we’re not looking to seal the fracture in both worlds…”

She used the chalk to complete the left circle, cutting through the line she had drawn through the pair of shapes.

“We’re looking to seal the fracture on our side only. And we know exactly what rules apply to our world.”

Nightmare Moon hummed thoughtfully and she idly tapped her right forehoof against the ground as she did. What Twilight said was true – she couldn’t care less what happened to whatever world they were unfortunate enough to intersect with, she just wanted her world, her kingdom to be safe.

“But then that’s where we hit a wall…” Sunset sighed as she brushed a lock of her fiery – not to mention frazzled and unkempt – mane back. “To seal the fracture above Canterlot, we’d have to completely overhaul and reverse the Orxoni’s function so that it closes fractures instead of opening them.”

“And then we channel that reverse-engineered magic into a beam and aim it at the fracture above Canterlot,” Twilight added before gesturing to a long calculation on the blackboard. “Unfortunately, that leaves us with this…”

Nightmare Moon took a few seconds to read the calculation and a grimace spread across her face when she finished.

“If it seals the fracture, the magic used to do the task rebounds back into the Orxoni as heat energy and builds until reaching critical mass,” She paused to do some more mental math and recall some thaumaturgy. “Without proper measures to control that rampant energy, the resulting explosion will take out half of Canterlot.”

“If it doesn’t just completely flip out and start tearing reality apart…” Sunset muttered and then gave a shrug. “Well, more than it already is.”

Ignoring the remark, Twilight turned to Nightmare Moon and said, “This is why I’m asking for the Elements of Harmony; there’s no focus stone in Equestria we could attach to the Orxoni that could absorb and safely disperse the amount of heat energy resulting from the sealing of the fracture; the best would delay the explosion, another thirty minutes at least.”

"Thirty minutes is a decent span of time," Nightmare Moon said. "We could..." She paused, because something critical occurred to her in that moment, and she swore. "No, we still have no means of safely transferring that energy from the Orxoni to ensure its structural integrity, and bottling that energy will make the inevitable dispersal that much more volatile."

Sunset spread her forelegs in the air. "Yeah, from 'half' to 'all of Canterlot.'"

Nightmare Moon sighed. “Be that as it may, I’m sure you understand, Twilight, that I’m just a little bit hesitant to give you access to that which can overpower me with minimal difficulty.”

“You wanted a solution…” Twilight growled up at her with a sour expression. “And I’m giving it to you. I thought you were willing to do anything to protect your rule?”

Nightmare Moon responded with her own animalistic growl and a showy display of her teeth, irritated by Twilight’s tone.

Impressively, Twilight didn’t flinch as badly as she had anticipated. Hell, Sunset drew back more and she wasn’t even the target.

Perhaps the worst part about this was that she knew Twilight was correct.

The amount of magical energy that would be converted into heat was tremendous and no focus stone she knew of could safely handle all of it. The Elements of Harmony were more than enough to match Discord’s power – as that fateful night in the throne room proved – so it stood to reason that they could handle this.

And of course Nightmare Moon was willing to do what it took to protect her rule and home, but she was very wary of any ulterior motives that Twilight had in store.

“And what would you do with the Elements exactly?” Nightmare Moon asked as she pulled her toothy snarl into a tight-lipped frown. “Attach all six to the Orxoni’s frame like they were focus stones?”

Twilight nodded, still glaring. “That’s the idea…”

“Um…”

Nightmare Moon oriented her head in Sunset’s direction and the sudden movement made the smaller mare flinch. Attempting to recover from the unflattering reaction, she cleared her throat and drew herself up as she spoke.

“We probably don’t need all of them; two or three at the very most. Even one Element would be enough to stall the Orxoni from… you know… immediately killing everypony in a fiery explosion.”

“Hm, strange that you didn’t mention that…” Nightmare Moon cast a dark look at Twilight and continued before she could respond. “Fine – I will allow you access to three of the Elements. They won’t activate unless they and their bearers are all together anyway.”

“It’ll take some time to make sure they’re attached to the Orxoni properly,” Twilight said. “Three days at the very most.”

“One day.” Nightmare Moon retorted.

Twilight’s brow furrowed in indignation. “We can’t have it-”

“Every day that passes is another day for those creatures to filter in through the fractures,” Nightmare Moon leaned down so she was eye-level with her. “Did you know that five ponies in Manehatten died last night?”

“I…” Twilight’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

“And nine others were injured. We’re getting this fracture sealed even if I have to work through the night. If saving ponies isn’t a good enough motivator for you…”

“N-no…” Twilight shook her head. “I’ll help. I just…” She sighed and rubbed at her brow. “Ugh, just let me get some coffee…”

“Oh Faust, me too!” Sunset cried with a desperate look. “I haven’t had any in days!”

“That sounds like an addiction if I’ve ever heard one…” Nightmare Moon remarked as she rose back to her full height and turned to head towards the lab’s entrance. “I’ll be back shortly and then we can get started.”

Halfway towards the door, she stopped and twisted her neck to stare coldly at Twilight.

“I hope you’re aware of the consequences should I get any hint that you’re doing something other than attaching the Elements to the Orxoni.”

“I haven’t forgotten.” She replied in a low voice.

“Good.”

Just before Nightmare Moon left, she caught sight of Sunset staring at the Orxoni with a forlorn expression.

‘What is it about the human world you miss so much?’

It made her curious…

The restricted section of the Royal Archives was not as intimidating a place as its name might suggest.

When Haze unlocked the heavy wooden door in the very back of the Royal Archives, Ebony entered, expected a dungeon-like chamber with lit wall scones, and gave a ‘huh’ of surprise when she saw that it was exactly the same as the rest of the archives.

Well, maybe the bookshelves were a little bit dustier.

“Have you been in here before?” Ebony asked as she walked down the row of shelves, eyes widened to take in the sheer volume of literature.

“Only recently…” Haze replied. He followed her after taking out a white, embroidered handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit. “And to bring the Empress some coffee, I’m sad to say. Oh, but I can already tell I’m going to be sneezing like mad in here.”

Ebony had never been much of a bookworm, but the sight of so many books and scrolls containing a millennium’s worth of knowledge was enough to leave anypony in awe.

She stopped at one bookshelf and shifted through the bottom-most row. They were about Electromancy spells; a field which she – unfortunately – had no affinity for.

Even so, she took a particularly thick tome out with telekinesis and opened it to the first page, crimson aura flickering as she speed-read.

Oh, they were lethal spells, too!

“Ebony, if I may ask…” Haze approached her side, handkerchief hovering close to his muzzle in preparation. “What brought on this sudden desire to score the Royal Archives?”

“I…” Ebony hesitated, lowering the book as she avoided eye contact. “I don’t feel like… I feel like I should be doing more.”

“More? You’re already…” He paused upon feeling a sneeze, but it turned out to be a false alarm. “You’re already doing more than your share as Captain of the Eclipse. The Empress is brutally honest and would have said as much if she believed you weren’t.”

“Maybe…” Ebony shrugged. “But I still think that I can do better. I’m still wondering why she made me the captain instead of you. I mean, you’re always so calm and collected.”

Haze chuckled. “My ego thanks you for that, but the Empress gave us our positions for a reason. My talents lie with politics and number-crunching; I am also quite comfortable helping the Empress organize her daily agenda and other events. You, on the other hoof, have quite the flair for actually leading and training ponies in more… confrontational scenarios.”

“You really think so?”

“My dear, what reason would I have to undermine your abilities?”

Ebony placed the book down on the floor and shifted through the books once more, looking for any more items of interest.

“Sorry, it’s just… I’ve never had this much responsibility before, or have so many ponies place this much faith in me,” She paused as she took out another book from the second row. “I just don’t want to disappoint any of you.”

Haze tilted his head, curious. “I admire your dedication, but there are many stallions and mares throughout history that have worked themselves to the point of harm following this path.”

She tagged a page in a book of Pyromancy and set it down on the first book before replying, “I’ll be careful; I promise.”

“As you say, but be wary that if at any point I think you’re at risk, it is my duty to give you a sound bop on the horn.”

Ebony grinned at the playful note in his tone. “I’ll hold you to that,” She turned to him and gestured towards the shelves. “Hey, do you know where the stepladder is?”

Haze nodded and turned to trot away. “I believe I saw it back in the non-restricted section. I won’t be long.”

“Thanks.”

Alone for the time being, Ebony settled down to read through several more books.

She was thankful that Nightmare Moon’s intense training had given her a better understanding on magic and how spells worked, so while the information in the books were difficult to grasp, they weren’t impossible, as Past Ebony might have deemed them to be.

The only problem she had, really, was that she had no idea where to start. She wanted to become stronger in magic, that goal was clear in her mind, but how to go about it?

Discovering what field of magic she had an affinity for would be nice, but Ebony might not have even had an affinity, so that would just mean wasted time.

She could try branching out her repertoire of spells so she had more variety when it came to dealing with threats; that certainly couldn’t hurt.

Maybe she should take a page from Haze’s book and study up on spells tailored to supporting her allies.

So many ways to go about it…

By the time Haze returned with the stepladder, Ebony had gathered a stack of books as tall as her.

“I cannot believe it took me so long,” Haze grumbled as he stood the ladder up against the bookshelf. “The blasted thing was hidden underneath a table and when I pulled it out, a gust of wind blew an entire collection of scrolls on my head. Thank heavens none of them were damaged,” He observed the pile she had gathered with an amused smirk. “I can see you’re putting your time to good use.”

“It’s hard finding the right books,” Ebony replied as she rolled up a scroll and put it back, slight annoyance fuelling her movements. “Most of these just repeat the same thing, but in different ways. I went through one book about Cryomancy spells and their origins, and there was another explaining the same thing, but much more clearly.”

Haze clucked his tongue disapprovingly. “This is most likely why the restricted section is restricted; the anger scholars would feel if they discovered how many ponies plagiarized one another throughout history would be palpable.”

Ebony hummed in agreement and telekinetically pulled the stepladder over to her and set it up. She climbed the first few steps, allowing a better view of the tomes at the top rows.

‘Inanimate Augmentation… Animate Augmentation… A History on Wendigos… Wait, Starswirl wrote a book on his pet cat? Why?’

“Ah, if it’s not too much trouble, could you see if there’s a book up there called Mirages and Memories?” Haze asked. “I’ve been searching for it all over the Royal Archives, but never in here.”

“I’ll keep an eye- oh, found it!”

“Tch…” Haze pursed his lips in frustration as Ebony levitated the book down to him. “The hours I could have saved if I had just started in here.”

“Hm…” Ebony stretched her magic to pull out several books and float them in front of her face like it was a parade.

So far, many of the good books were the ones that didn’t have flashy covers or poignant-sounding titles. Obviously, the authors were confident enough in their work that they felt any form of showponyship was a waste of time.

Still, it couldn’t have hurt to have a little blurb on the back; one or two sentences wouldn’t have been ‘showy’ in the slightest.

Seven books danced their way before Ebony’s eyes until she settled on one in particular.

It was plainly titled Studies of Flesh and had a black hard cover. Humming in intrigue, Ebony placed the other books back before stepping down from the ladder, and then flipping to the first page of the thick tome.

“Dedicated to Torch Runner; From the heavens, I know you are watching me. – Marrow View.”

Haze took note of the book and carefully place Mirages and Memories down before asking, “What have you got there?”

“Do you know who Marrow View is?” Ebony answered with a question of her own, glancing up quizzically. When Haze’s eyes widened and he gave a sound of surprise, she then asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just been a while since I’ve heard that name,” He paused to think for a bit, features scrunching in thought. “Marrow View was, ah… Yes, she was a unicorn who was born in 573 AD and known for single-hoofedly establishing the school of Necromancy.”

Ebony’s lips parted in shock. “Necromancy?”

“Have you heard of it?”

“Sort of…” She looked down at the book in a new light. “I remember seeing a crime movie where they mentioned using it for detective work. It’s magic suited for dead things, right?”

“Correct, but I have to point out that it’s less nefarious as it sounds. Necromancy is just like any other field of magic, but the subject matter is… Well, ‘death’ as a concept is something that we – as living creatures – are wont to shy away from, hm?”

Ebony nodded distractedly as she slowly flipped through the book’s pages. “So Marrow View was the first necromancer?”

“Maybe…” Haze answered with an unsure frown. “It’s up for debate if she was the first pony to actually use necromancy, but she was most definitely the first pony to be officially recognized by Celestia as a necromancer.”

Marrow View was big on illustrations as there was one almost on every page. They were incredibly detailed and were something Ebony was both thankful and disgusted to see, the latter emotion coming up strongly whenever the illustration had to do with the equine body.

“Necromancy is a sub-school of the Alteration school, just as Temporal Summoning is a sub-school of Conjuration. More accurately, it falls under the ‘Inanimate Augmentation’ category and is very closely tied to the ‘Come to Life’ spell. Though anypony may learn necromancy, those experienced in Alteration magic will most likely have an easier time learning.”

As Ebony read, Haze continued speaking. “Necromancy is studied in schools, but only a select few. Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns comes to mind; they have an entire class and lab dedicated to it, and it’s usually for those training to become part of the guard force.”

“Guard force?”

“Corpses rising from their graves is often what most think when they hear ‘necromancy’, but it has a place in identifying how somepony was killed, the time, and the cause of death,” Haze paused to wipe at his nose with the handkerchief. “Ugh… In fact, I had a distant cousin acquitted of murder charges because somepony used necromancy to determine his spouse died from natural causes. Had being the correct term; he sadly took his own life some time ago.”

“Oh…” Ebony looked up, surprised by how dark that quickly became. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” Haze said with an indifferent shrug. “We weren’t close, but it certainly… Yes, well, the point I’m making is that necromancy does not deserve the level of infamy it garners.”

“You know a lot about it,” Ebony observed as she turned her attention back to the book. “Did you ever…?”

“Oh heavens no!” This time, Haze paused to give a powerful sneeze, after which he rubbed at his nose with a groan. “I respect the necromantic arts, but I could never bring myself to dabble with corpses. The stench…” He shuddered.

Ebony shifted through several more pages, her interest growing with each paragraph, each drawing.

“My interest in death stemmed not from an unstable and unhappy childhood, but a fulfilling one. My parents – rest their souls – were very loving and supportive; most of all, they were honest. When a family member died and when I went to my first funeral, they did not hesitate in telling what had transpired; someone close to us had died, gone to heaven, and we will never see them again until we had died ourselves.

“This may seem a dark thing to do, but I believe it is better than if they told me that family member were asleep, and I would live out my days fearing sleep. With my parents’ guidance, I learned that the myriad of emotions that came with death was a natural part of life and completely healthy for somepony to experience at a younger age than most of my friends.”

There was something about the way Marrow View wrote, her words. There was… passion; confidence exuded from her delicate hoofwriting.

It appealed to her on some level.

“Maybe I’ll take a look at this…” She said, more to herself. “Even if I don’t get into it, it’d be an interesting perspective.”

“You are your own mare and you can make your own decisions,” Haze stepped closer, eyeing the book with a scrutinizing eye. “However, as your friend, I implore you to be cautious if you wish to travel the path of the necromancer. It is a misunderstood school, but it is still a dangerous one.”

“I will.” Ebony reassured with a smile, warmed that he had referred to her as his friend. He was always polite and pleasant with them, but it was rare to hear him say something along those lines.

“Now, I-” He interrupted himself with a loud sneeze. “Oh dear, I think I should be leaving now before I sneeze this entire place to pieces,” Lifting Mirages and Memories, Haze nodded to the exit. “I’ll be in there for the next hour or so, so feel free to contact me if you require anything else.”

Ebony nodded. “Okay. Thanks again, Haze.”

The captain of the Eclipse settled down to read her book, back pressed against the shelf behind her, while Haze trotted off to do his own studying.

“Many cried out in protest upon learning how necromancy tampers with the deceased and they have the right to do so; even if a corpse is nothing but an empty vessel and the soul has long since left, it still housed life and is worthy of respect. Therefore, a necromancer must be – above all else – respectful to any creature that has passed, no matter their origins…”

Author's Note

Note 1: Focus stones have often been described as a thaumaturgist's best friends, especially when they prevent magical-related injuries. Focus stones are found near Equestria's coasts and are comprised of a wide variety of substances, including malachite and gravel.

Originally, focus stones were thought to be the tears of an ancient sea deity, but it is now known that they are the droppings of a species of giant clams which feed on earth itself.

Note 2: Key to the Royal Archives' Restricted Wing - Celestia has amassed a wealth of knowledge over her extensive life and though much of that knowledge she gladly shares with any willing to learn, there is some which she feels more comfortable being under lock and key.

Once upon a time, a young Twilight Sparkle begged her mentor to be allowed access. Whether she was given permission or not is known only to those two.

Chapter 33: Fruits Of Our Success

1055 AD, November 10th

“The Resurrection spell (as seen above) is a simple spell, but it is still vastly more difficult to learn and master than many spells in other schools and sub-schools of magic. Giving a corpse the energy to move about is not foal’s play and Mana Exhaustion is a very real threat. I advise any would-be necromancers to start on something small – an insect or even a small rodent, if you are feeling confident.

“To effectively cast the spell, follow the guideline above this text, and keep a few nutritious drinks nearby to replenish your magic reserves. Refer to pg. 46 if you are having difficulty remembering the fundamental-”

“Ebony.”

“Hn?” Ebony perked up behind her desk and rubbed at her eyes, strained from reading with only a nearby candle providing light. “Empress, I… Wh-what did you need?”

“It’s done.”

“What’s done?”

“The means to close the Entropic Fractures.”

Ebony rubbed at her eyes again and looked at the calendar on the wall. “That was… fast.”

“Indeed. I want…” Nightmare Moon’s mental link weakened for a moment, like she had been distracted. “I want you to come to the lab with several guards and the rest of the Praetorian Guard. We’re going to transfer the Orxoni to Ground Zero and set everything up there.”

“We’re really going to close the Fracture?”

“I believe we are.”

“Okay…” Excitement welling in her chest, Ebony stumbled as she closed her book, tripped over her chair, and rushed out of her office, startling a nearby guard. “I won’t be long; give me a few minutes at the most.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“… so I just swooped in and slashed at it with my primary blades,” Fade gave a casual shrug. “No biggie, yeah?” He shot the two mares before him a charming smile. “Anyway, what are you two lovely ladies up to later on?”

The two mares – one pink-coated and one golden-coated – looked at each other with varied expressions before the golden one said, “Sorry, sir, but… I don’t really swing that way.”

“… Not even a little?”

“Sorry.”

Not to be dissuaded, Fade turned to the pink one and grinned. “How about-”

“Sir, I’m a stallion.”

“… Wow, I’m off my game today,” Clearing a lump of embarrassment in his throat, Fade thought fast and decided to try and do Haze a solid. “Hey, so you know the Left Hoof of Nightmare Moon, yeah? He’s single and I wouldn’t be a bro if I didn’t help him out in-”

“Fade!”

“Whoops, gotta take this,” He gave a short wave before turning to trot off in the other direction. “I owe you one, Ebs; that conversation was starting to get awkward.”

“What? Never mind – you need to come to the lab ASAP.”

“Why’s that?”

“We’re delivering the Orxoni to Ground Zero.”

“Seriously? They got a way to close it up?”

“The Empress thinks so.”

“Well, shit,” Fade gave an elated chuckle as he flapped his wings and started flying through the castle’s corridors. “Science is badass!”

With practised ease, Miasma pushed her way through the crowd of ponies, picked one of the two brawling ponies at random, and pulled them off the other with one hoof before unceremoniously dispensing them onto the ground.

“What happened?” She demanded with a tired sigh.

“I was jes’ minding me own business and then this fucker gobs me!” The stallion still lying on the ground spat with a bloody nose.

“He raped my cousin!” The stallion Miasma had pulled off retorted, shooting back to his feet and pawing at the ground furiously. His helmet had fallen at some point and his mane fell in front of his eyes messily. “Asshole deserves to get his face beaten in!”

With several former Royal Guards in the Eclipse ranks, something like this happened from time to time. Personally, Miasma would have just let the two duke it out, but there were rules that had to be followed.

Ebony wasn’t there, but she wasn’t going to disrespect her friend by going behind her back and letting this play out.

“Who started it?” She directed the question to the crowd, knowing she couldn’t rely on the opinion of the two brawlers.

“Uh, I think the… Was it the unicorn?”

“… just talking and then the guy runs up and…”

“It was the pegasus, ma’am!”

“The pegasus.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“Alright…” Miasma turned to face the fuming pegasus. “One hundred wing-ups by the mud pit and could somepony aim that hose at him?”

The pegasus cursed under his breath, but reluctantly obeyed. He shot a death glare over his shoulder as he made his way towards a large depression in the dirt near the training ring, filled with a thick layer of mud several inches deep.

“Bloody ‘ell…” The unicorn stood back up, nursing his muzzle. “Same thing every day.”

“Try not to be seen by any more former Royal Guards, will you?” Miasma said dryly. “I can’t be around to save you all the time.”

It was a slight against him and he picked it up. As Miasma turned, she heard several onlookers stifle their laughter and the unicorn mutter something along the lines of ‘feckless hamsters’.

Fortunately, there was no rule saying nopony couldn’t express their feelings about another so long as it didn’t interfere with their jobs.

“Miasma.”

“Ebony?” Wondering if the captain had somehow seen the entire exchange, Miasma briefly looked around the courtyard before replying, “Is there something wrong?”

“No, something’s going right,” Excitement made Ebony’s mental connection twitch and bob. “The Empress just contacted me; the Orxoni’s finished and we’re moving it to Ground Zero. I need you here, at the lab.”

It was good news and it made Miasma happy to hear that, but her expression remained unchanged. “Do we need to bring some guards?”

“We’ll need maybe four pegasi, three unicorns, and four earth ponies. There’s already Eclipse stationed at Ground Zero, so that should be enough.”

“Okay, I’m heading there now.”

“See you soon.”

The loss of a phantom pressure against Miasma’s frontal lobe signified Ebony’s departure and the mare quickly set out to gather the troops.

“Veil, we’re moving the Orxoni to Ground Zero.”

“S’pose I have to go get a chariot, huh?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Sure – I wasn’t doing anything important anyway.”

Veil turned and promptly left, leaving Blueblood to trail off in the midst of his complaint and stare in shock and indignation.

“Oh, you brutish…! As Princess Platinum once said, ‘Remove thy hooves from mine body and go defile thyself with a dragon’s claw’!”

“Haze, the Empress-” Ebony turned the corner and spotted Haze coming from the opposite direction, a quizzical look on his face. “Oh, you’re already…” She paused and shook her head. “You’re already here.”

“I was on my way to greet the griffon delegate,” He replied. “What did you need?”

Ebony jerked her head towards the lab’s door, ignoring the guard on watch who seemed very nervous standing between the two of them. “The Empress contacted me. The Orxoni’s finished.”

“Truly?” Haze’s eyes lit up. “Why, that is wondrous news.”

Turning towards the lab door, Ebony knocked against it while simultaneously sending her thoughts. “Empress, Haze and I are here; the others should arrive shortly.”

“Excellent – step away from the door.”

“We’ll be…”

She exchanged confused glances with Haze and saw him mutter, “Step away from the…?”

It became apparent what Nightmare Moon meant a second later when the door blew outwards with enough force to come free of its hinges and flatten the poor guard standing watch. Ebony and Haze were, fortunately, spared, though they were understandably startled.

Nightmare Moon stepped through, paused to kick the door off the dazed guard, and started breaking apart the door’s frame with well-placed punches and bucks.

“Um…” Ebony blinked a few times to try and compose herself. “Why did…?”

“The door is too small,” Nightmare Moon answered amidst the demolition job. “I’ve been meaning to do some renovations here anyway,” Plaster crumbled to the floor as she started on the walls. “Twilight, Sunset – bring it on through.”

Somepony gave an exaggerated moan of displeasure from within the lab while another tiredly said, ‘one, two, three’!

Ebony’s eyes widened and she cautiously moved backwards as Twilight and Sunset hefted their load through the hole Nightmare Moon made.

On its own, the Orxoni could have fit through the door. However, a large metal pedestal had been added to its bottom with two rectangular spires jutting up on either side of the mirror’s frame.

Wiring, coils, and other bits and pieces of tech were hooked up from the pedestal to the mirror’s frame. Notably, the pedestal had three empty receptacles; two in the spires and one in the bottom, just beneath where the Orxoni had been fitted in.

All in all, it was the most intimidating piece of equipment Ebony had ever seen.

“Yeah, nopony help us or anything!” Sunset snapped when they crossed the threshold of the door. “It’s not like we stayed up the entire night building it from scratch.”

“Well, we didn’t actually build it from scratch,” Twilight grunted out, exertion heavy on every word. “The design and the mechanics were already there; we just needed to alter a few things and stabilize the Orxoni so it didn’t create a feedback when it-”

“Semantics!”

“Ugh, they’ve been doing that since we started…” Nightmare Moon said under her breath. “Ebony, Haze – I want you two to levitate the vessel onto my back and help balance it, then we’ll make our way outside. Ah, and just in time…” She gave a curt nod of greeting when the rest of the Praetorian Guard arrived. “You three stay here and help Sunset and Twilight gather up the rest of the equipment. I trust you have a means of transportation set up, Veil?”

“Yeah, they’re out in the front garden. So what happened to that guy? Also – probably should’ve been my first question – why is there a hole in the wall?”

“An opportunity for renovation presented itself.”

Veil shrugged. “Fair enough.”

Sunset and Twilight stumbled back into the lab – the latter bemoaning the improper treatment of the workplace – to direct Miasma, Fade, and Veil into what to grab while Ebony and Haze performed the task of levitating the Orxoni.

Even with somepony helping, the weight was considerable, and the way some wires jostled about as the Orxoni was lifted did nothing to calm Ebony’s nerves.

“Empress…” She started with a worried grimace. “Are you sure you can lift this?”

“Of course I can!” Nightmare Moon said with an offended edge in her tone. “It’s not a matter of lifting but a matter of balance.” With that, she crouched and spread out her wings.

‘Well, she did beat Celestia in single combat; I shouldn’t doubt her.’

“Oof!”

For one chilling moment, Nightmare Moon’s knees buckled, and Ebony almost reached out to pull the Orxoni back into the air. But with a determined growl and a snort, Nightmare Moon braced herself and stood. The Orxoni swayed to the right, but Haze was there to apply some magical pressure to stabilize it.

“Damn, boss – you’ve got serious back muscles!” Fade trotted out from the labs, a box of plastic tubes and copper held tight against his body with one wing. “You could probably carry that and all of us, yeah?”

“Try to rest on me and I will literally eat you.”

“Mysteries that will never be solved, yeah? Hey, sis! That looks like something that will save me from leaving you as an only child.”

“Heaven forbid that should happen…”

“I don’t care if they’re free; you’re not old enough to drink.”

“Well, what’s griffon years in pony years?”

“If I remember correctly, then you would be even further from the drinking age.”

“What? Ponies age slower than us?” Gilda’s frown deepened as she held up one hand and counted off her talons. “No, wait… ponies age… faster?”

Unfortunately, her father did not have time to answer as they arrived at the castle’s front gates, and the sight of Nightmare Moon balancing some bizarre piece of metal and crystal on her back was far more interesting.

“Whoa, something’s going down.”

The guards kept close to Gilda and her father’s side as they ventured into the castle’s front garden, watching with intrigue as Equestria’s current ruler meandered out from the castle and across the grass, where a black and silver chariot awaited. Several other ponies accompanied her, two of them using magic to balance the thing on her back and a bunch more others trailing behind with other assorted equipment.

As they got closer, Gilda realized that one of the ponies was none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle, a mare she knew as the most recently-crowned princess and vaguely recalled to be one of Rainbow Dash’s ‘friends’.

“Empress?” Her father questioned once they were within earshot. “Is this a bad time?”

“Far from it,” Nightmare Moon smiled that creepy-ass smile as the unicorns levitated the mirror-thing off her back and onto the chariot. “As it turns out, we’ve had something of a breakthrough,” She gestured towards the mirror. “The Resonator – this is what shall close the Entropic Fractures.”

Gilda gave her a strange look. “It’s a mirror.”

“A very insightful observation,” Nightmare Moon retorted with much dull sarcasm. “But appearances can be deceiving…” She paused to give a low chuckle in her throat, as if remembering something humorous. “And the power this vessel is capable of far exceeds its garish appearance.”

Gilda did not like the gleam in the unnatural pony’s eyes when she said that.

“That is… surprising, Empress,” Her father said. “I didn’t expect your forces to work so quickly.”

A tanned unicorn mare with a red-yellow mess of a mane gave a derisive snort as she snatched a box of wires from some Eclipse guard and put them in the chariot.

“Well, when death threats are used as a motivator, then-”

Nightmare Moon twisted her neck to stare coldly at the mare, the action sudden enough to make Gilda jump – just a little bit, she wasn’t scared! – in surprise.

The unicorn wisely trailed off and continued with her packing.

“I apologize that our scheduled meeting will have to be postponed,” Nightmare Moon said without actually sounding sorry. In a way, it was better than the officials that her father talked to back at home, who tried to sound sincere. “But the safety of my country is of the utmost importance. I’m sure you understand.”

Her father nodded. “I do. If it’s not too much trouble, may we accompany you to see this event transpire?”

“If you wish to do so,” Nightmare Moon momentarily looked behind her to check up on things. Twilight and the mare with bacon hair – heh, heh, bacon hair – were arguing over something, a pegasus guard was cheering them on – “whoo, cat fight!” – and somepony else was trying to stop the giant timber wolf from peeing on the chariot. “We’re setting up directly beneath the Fracture however, so I must ask you stay behind in the safe zone.”

The Empress left to set everypony straight and Gilda turned to her father, excited. “Sweet! Are we seriously going to see it up close?”

“I’m curious as to whether her plan will work,” Her father replied softly. “If it does, then she holds the key to stopping these Violaziones in our home.”

“What?” Gilda scowled and protested, “We’re gonna get help from Fangface over there? That’s lame.”

“Sometimes we have to do things that are ‘lame’ for the greater good,” He replied. “The sooner you learn that, Gilda-”

“Yeah, yeah – sooner, the better,” She grumbled with a roll of her eyes. “Had no idea that becoming a spokesgriffon for your country meant having to keep quiet about how you feel.”

She expected him to argue, so it came as a shock when her father gave a sad frown and a weary sigh.

“It’s just how it is, Gilda…”

The Eclipse stationed at Ground Zero – aptly known as ‘those that drew the short straw’ – had their tense but uneventful patrols loudly interrupted when the Empress, her Praetorian Guard, and several lower-ranking Eclipse members arrived with a chariot full of precious cargo.

Within minutes, Ebony had directed the confused guards to their new jobs: creating a distraction-free area to set up the Resonator.
News spread fast about their activity and drew a large number of Canterlot’s populace; from the high-society wine-tasters to the downtown party-goers, ponies arrived in droves to watch from behind the road blocks and sky-patrolling pegasi guards, their curiosity overcoming their fear of the anomaly that hung miles high in the sky.

Many were astonished to see Twilight Sparkle flittering about as she helped set up the machine directly beneath the Fracture.

The majority of them were happy to see somepony familiar and while they were confused as to why a bearer of the Elements would be helping her enemy, they had the mind to reserve judgement until they had more information.

A far cry from those who denounced her as a traitor.

“Weather conditions are optimal,” Twilight announced and checked off in a notebook she held with telekinesis. “Sunset – how’s the generator?”

“Just about…” From behind the Resonator, Sunset opened up a metal panel and fitted several glowing crystals into their receptacles. Once the last one was in, she shut the panel and yelled, “Crystal slots have been filled!”

Another check and Twilight turned to catch Miasma dragging along a lengthy black cord as thick as a hose with a plug as big as her hoof.

“That goes into the left spire; the second to last socket. Not the first one, the second to last,” Receiving a grunt of confirmation, she turned again and shouted, “No no! That’s the 8-metre wire; we need the 8.5 metre wire.”

“Science is bullshit!”

“Remember: 8.5. Okay, okay, um… Spike, I need... I mean, Veil, I need that storm cloud! And tell those pegasi we need clearer skies! Sunlight is imperative!”

Twilight’s search for any more wrongdoings ceased once she spotted Nightmare Moon in the sky, coming back from the castle.

‘Which can only mean she has the Elements…’

She kept her expression neutral as her captor landed.

In what was no doubt a ploy to add insult to injury, Nightmare Moon had brought the Elements in the same chest that used to store them, before Discord had broken free from his stone prison.

Twilight’s scowl only made Nightmare Moon grin mockingly.

“I have what you asked for.”

Her corona of magic rotated the golden container and tilted its lid open, revealing their precious contents.

‘Of course she’d pick Magic, Loyalty, and Kindness…’

Even so, it was good to be in the presence of the Elements. Twilight felt some of her worry vanish as her eyes hungrily absorbed the sight of the two necklaces and tiara, their power such that it could be felt even without being in contact with their rightful bearers.

“Good…” Twilight blinked hard out of her daze and gestured towards the Resonator. “Just put them in any of the receptacles; it doesn’t matter which ones go where.”

Nightmare Moon made her way over to the machine in a few strides of her long legs. Knowing the delicacy and importance of slotting the Elements in, both Sunset and Twilight joined the Empress, watching and waiting with baited breath.

“Don’t put them in too slowly!”

“Or too quickly!”

“Make sure your magic isn’t touching any of the other sockets!”

“Is that armor conductive?”

“Is there any dust in the receptacles?”

“Be silent!”

Nightmare Moon snorted in irritation as she fished the Element of Kindness out from the chest, a grimace of utmost disgust crossing her face as she did.

Slowly – but not too slowly – she pried the Element from its necklace and levitated it towards the Resonator’s right spire. The receptacle on the spire’s side, facing the Orxoni, received the powerful artefact without complications and gave a cheery click as hidden mechanisms, sensitive to magic, locked the Element in place.

“Whoa…”

Aldo glanced towards his chick. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, no worries,” Gilda played it off with a shrug of one shoulder. “Just a little cold. Don’t sweat it.”

Being important foreigners, they were granted a close view of the ponies setting everything up – right by the road blocks. The griffon guards stood at their side, wary of the crowd’s restless murmuring.

Gilda frowned uncertainly as she watched Nightmare Moon fit the Element of Loyalty into the left spire.

Another shudder rippled through her as it did.

“Kinda expected her to just… combust or something when she touched the Elements.” Fade muttered as he watched Nightmare Moon fit the Element of Magic into the receptacle just underneath the Orxoni.

“She looks like she just swallowed a cup of mud though,” Veil pushed a dark grey storm cloud past him. “Could you possibly move? If this goes off early, then Sparkle Ass down there’s going to throw a fit.”

Fade flapped his wings and ascended so Veil could continue pushing the cloud until it was directly above the Resonator.

“So just between you and me, how much you wanna bet that this thing blows up and turns us into cabbages or something?”

“Truly, your confidence is inspiring,” Veil retorted with a blank stare as Fade looped back beside her. “You really think this will go wrong?”

“Well… not really. All that science crap goes over my head, but I think the boss knows what she’s doing, yeah?”

“I think so, too, but I’d really rather be as far from it as possible,” She glanced down and shook her head in disbelief at Ebony and Haze, who were standing right next to the Empress. “Seriously, those two are something else.”

“They’re sort of kiss-asses, aren’t they?” Fade said with a small amount of guilt. “Like, they’re super-cool and I’ll beat the shit out of anypony who says otherwise, but way too much brown on their noses, yeah?”

“They’ve always been like that though,” Veil shrugged. “I didn’t think much of the Eclipse when I first joined. They were just ponies that I could tolerate being around.”

“And now we’re all your best friends, yeah?”

Fade wrapped his foreleg around her neck and pulled her in for a hug before she could protest. Pressed up against him, Veil could only sigh and glower at nothing in particular.

“Sad, isn’t it?”

Twilight frowned as she looked back and forth between the Resonator and her completed check list. “Is it working?”

Sunset trotted around to the back of the machine, examined the sockets and wiring, scratched her head, and then delivered a solid kick to the metal panel that protected the crystals.

Vmmmmm

The Elements lit up in their slots as the stored magic within the crystals were conducted through a maze of wiring and into the spires that housed them.

“Did you just kick it?!” Twilight shrilled in disbelief once Sunset appeared around the machine, looking quite smug.

“Why not? It works on pretty much everything else back in the human world.”

“This is a highly sensitive piece of equipment with numerous components of a volatile magical nature stored within a shell of conductive metal that-”

“It doesn’t matter how she got it working!” Nightmare Moon’s retort cut her off. The large alicorn waved her hoof at Veil. “Release the lightning!”

Veil quickly gave the storm cloud a strong buck and those nearest had to look away at the bright flash that followed.

The smell of ozone was strong once the flash died down. The lightning bolt had been attracted to the metal spires of the Resonator and the tremendous energy sparked and jumped about visibly along the metal surface.

Already, the unicorns in the area could feel a tingle in the base of their horns. Those in the crowd shifted uneasily and one female griffon tapped her talons against the ground.

“It’s all coming together…” Nightmare Moon muttered with an exhale of anticipation. “Begin phase one.”

Even Twilight and Sunset, who had been more or less forced into completing this project, were awed by the sight of their combined efforts stirring to life. It was the most ambitious project they’d undertaken yet and both were eager to see it succeed.

For the safety of Equestria in Twilight’s case.

For her own in Sunset’s case.

The two trotted over to the Resonator, shooed away any stray Eclipse until they were a safe enough distance away, and started fine tuning the machine.

“Setting the magic to a linear beam.” Twilight twisted several knobs.

“Activating Orxoni.” Sunset pulled on a lever.

VMMMMMMM

Electricity gathered at the points of the spires and zapped the Orxoni’s frame. White light spread across the mirror’s surface like water; it was completely covered within seconds and looked more like the Fracture that hanged above it.

“It’s stabilized,” Twilight nodded at Nightmare Moon. “We’re ready.”

“Then let’s seal this Fracture.”

Nightmare Moon stepped forwards and opened a metal panel just beneath the Element of Magic. Inside was a switch that seemed unusually plain for the weight of the purpose it carried.

None of those who worked on it were much for extravagance.

With one last look to the two mares standing at the Resonator’s sides, Nightmare Moon reached for the switch…

“… forty-four… forty-five… forty-six… forty-”

Applejack’s efforts to prevent her muscles from atrophying from the lack of daily labour they were so used to came to a halt when a bright light cast dark shadows against the walls.

“What the hay?”

Forgoing her push-ups, she dashed over to the window and looked through the bars. Her jaw dropped.

A beam of white light pulsed upwards from somewhere in Canterlot to meet the Entropic Fracture. The anomaly flickered like a dying light bulb and the level of discomfort that came with looking directly at it ranged from ‘annoying’ to ‘stinging’ with every flash.

As sunny a day as it was, the intensity of the beam’s light seemed potent enough to make everything else appear dim and their colours unsaturated.

It was as if Celestia had created another sun right in Canterlot.

The dissonant drone of the beam rattled everypony’s eardrums and it was near impossible to look directly at the Resonator.

Fortunately, it didn’t last long.

Rather suddenly and just as jarringly as when the Resonator emitted that powerful beam of concentrated magic, the drone and the blinding light receded.

Eyes were uncovered and immediately went to the Resonator, which pulsed with sheens of pink, red, and magenta that rippled across it like oil on water.

Folding the wing used to shield herself, Nightmare Moon cautiously stepped back as the Elements glowed with a soothing – at least to anypony that wasn’t her – light. They weren’t in contact with their bearers, but she could feel their magic brushing against her in gentle waves.

‘Don’t you dare activate. Don’t you dare!’

The Elements pulsed for several tension-filled seconds…

… and then they went dim.

“…”

Satisfied that the machine wasn’t going to explode, everypony oriented their gazes skyward.

The sky was clear, both of clouds… and the Entropic Fracture.

“… Fuck yeah!!”

Fade whooped and tackled his sibling in a powerful bear hug, laughing jovially.

Miasma responded with a rare smile and returned the affection with a gentle squeeze.

And with that, the cheers started.

Naturally, the Praetorian Guard were the first to start, but then the rest of the Eclipse started, who were soon followed by the dozens of Canterlot’s denizens that had gathered to watch.

Twilight beamed so hard it hurt her cheeks and started bouncing up and down whilst turning in a circle, shouting, “Yes yes yes yes!”

Sunset laughed deliriously and collapsed onto the ground, muttering something about ‘victory coffee’.

Nightmare Moon – after realizing that she wasn’t being turned to stone or sent to the moon’s surface – grinned toothily as she looked up at the blue sky. Pride and the sweet sense of accomplishment swelled up in her chest as she turned towards the cheering crowd.

“The anomaly has been dealt with!” She shouted, using magic to enhance her voice. “Equestria shall not fall to the invaders! It will live on!”

Perhaps they were celebrating the closing of the Fracture more than they were celebrating Nightmare Moon herself, but that didn’t matter to her.

For this accomplishment was only possible because of her and her forces. Such an occasion would be recorded in Equestria’s history, ensuring that she had left her mark and would not fade into anonymity.

She would be remembered.

Nightmare Moon looked out into the ecstatic faces of the crowd, soaking in their cries…

… and spotted a familiar face.

“… Vinyl?”

“Gilda!”

“I’m fine…” The cheering was murder on Gilda’s ears and it took all her restraint to not lash out at the guards who were only trying to help her up. “I just…” She paused, one hand pressed against her throbbing head, and realized she didn’t know what had happened. “I dunno. Did… the Violazione close?”

“It did,” Her father smiled weakly through his worry, briefly looking up at the sky. “It was… quite spectacular. But you fell. How are you feeling?”

“Queasy…” It sucked that she needed assistance to stand, but she was willing to let it slide. She felt like shit. “I’ll get over it.”

“You must certainly will not ‘get over it’; you’re going straight to the hospital.”

Gilda hated hospitals, but any thoughts on protesting vanished when a sharp spike of pain lanced through her skull.

“Yeah, sure. If it gets me away from these loud-ass ponies…”

Applejack stared in astonishment at the now-clear skies.

Slowly, a genuine and proud smile spread across her face.

“Knew you could do it, sugarcube…”

-ERROR-

SURVEY INCOMPLETE DUE TO UNEXPECTED SPATIAL ANOMALY

FILING REPORT…

SENDING…

MISSION COMPLETED – RETURNING TO HOME BASE…

Author's Note

Note 1: The Resonator - Nightmare Moon would like to claim that such a device was built within the span of a single day by her, Sunset, and Twilight only, but the reality is far less impressive.

Celestia was the one who manufactured the pedestal that the Orxoni fits into during her dabblings and forays into dark magic and is, in fact, what allowed her to create the duplicate that now resides in the Crystal Empire. To Nightmare Moon's credit, the repurposing of the device to close Entropic Fractures was done by her, Sunset, and Twilight, and it was completed in twenty-one hours, whereas Celestia took six years to build the pedestal.

The Resonator possesses a great and terrible power which can only be kept in check with the Elements of Harmony. What manner of chaos could be wrought if such artefacts weren't utilized?

Note 2: Armor of Nightmare Moon - the armor is highly resilient to physical damage and extreme temperatures; the fact that Nightmare Moon rarely removes it suggests that it is in no way uncomfortable for her to wear, or perhaps she feels vulnerable without it.

The metallic appearance of the protective gear hides the fact that is also comprised of magic, minerals only found in Zebrica, and, most disturbingly, traces of bone, presumably Luna's.

The method for the creation of this armor is better left unknown.

Chapter 34: Maintained Bridges

1055 AD, November 10th

“Heh… didn’t think you’d come talk to me. At least not right now…”

“It’ll take time to pack everything up, so I might as well get… whatever this is out of the way.”

“Yeah, cool. I get that.”

“… Well? Make it quick.”

Vinyl nodded, not at all perturbed by Nightmare Moon’s harsh tone, and came to a stop. She turned to face her, but didn’t look up. Her entire body language spoke clearly of the awkwardness between them.

Nightmare Moon tapped her right forehoof impatiently, her gaze focused on her soldiers working to pack the Resonator and the equipment back into the chariot.

She could also see Octavia standing a bit away and giving her a scathing glare.

“If you do anything to her…”

‘Oh, what could you do if I did? I could flay Vinyl alive with magic and you wouldn’t be able to do a thing to stop me.’

The thought left a very bad taste in her mouth and a weight in her belly.

Looking away and realizing that the DJ still hadn’t spoken, Nightmare Moon’s temper flared, and her throat vibrated with a deep growl.

She didn’t have to spare time to talk to Vinyl; after all, what reason did they have to speak after their last encounter? Vinyl made it clear that she no longer wished to be acquaintances. Nightmare Moon had given her a chance, said that she would be rewarded, reassured her worries, but Vinyl refused to listen and see reason.

So why in Tartarus was she humouring her with a chat?

“Vin-”

“It was a dick move.”

Nightmare Moon pulled her head back slightly in confusion. “What?”

Vinyl lifted her head, magically pushed her glasses up over her horn, and said, “You lying to me for four years – it was a dick move.”

“This again?” Nightmare Moon made a noise of aggravation. “I said before that-”

“I get why you did it,” Vinyl continued with a steely glint in her red eyes. “You did it so you could infiltrate the Royal Court and all that… secret agent spy crap. Still, it was a dick move.”

“… So long as you acknowledge my reasons for it.”

“And you…” Here, Vinyl hesitated and visibly swallowed. “You friggin’ used me to further your own goals, you know? That… that really hurts.”

Nightmare Moon huffed indignantly. “You act as if you’re the only pony who’s ever had that done to them. At the very least, I tried to reimburse you for your help, if you recall.”

“Look, you don’t…” Vinyl squeezed her eyes shut and placed a hoof against her head. “Ugh, there’s… Do you honestly not get why I don’t want to be rewarded for something like this? I don’t want to be remembered as the pony who helped get the princesses overthrown; I want to be remembered as just… that super-cool DJ with the smoking hot wife!”

“You’d have a more significant place in history if you chose to be remembered for the former, but…” Nightmare Moon shrugged. “Fine. If you don’t want your involvement to be mentioned, then I won’t say anything.”

“Wait, have you been saying it?”

“Only I and my Praetorian Guard know. And you and your wife, of course.”

Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright, cool… cool.”

Another lengthy pause caused Nightmare Moon to shift restlessly and mutter, “Is that all you wished to say to me?”

“No, there’s something else… I wanted to, uh… you know…” She looked away awkwardly. “Say sorry and crap…”

“Oh?” Nightmare Moon hadn’t expected that and her eyebrows rose in surprise. “What for, exactly?”

“For saying… shit, I’m bad at these…” She cleared her throat. “For saying that you’re like a robot and implying you don’t care about us… about me. It’s just… I knew ‘Star Secret’, not Nightmare Moon.”

“We are both-”

“Yeah, I know you’re the same, but I had just found that out the night we went at each other’s throats, so I was, uh…”

“Emotionally charged,” Nightmare Moon finished with a reluctant nod of agreement. “Yes, I admit that I was… at fault for not keeping calm. I told myself that I would, but…”

“Yeah, so…” Vinyl started idly drawing circles on the ground with one hoof. “It was hard to think of you as the same mare I’d known for four years; the same one who was my best mare and got my ass out of that closet. ‘Cause seriously… you’re, like… super-huge and look like you wanna eat everypony.”

“Only a few…” Nightmare Moon said dismissively. “Honestly, nopony who angers me looks very appetizing.”

Vinyl chuckled and shook her head in bemusement. “That’s… After that fight, I started thinking, and I realized that… when we were arguing… you were pretty much acting exactly how ‘Wolf’ would have acted if I said those things to her face. You know – getting super-upset, speaking weirdly, and having trouble talking when it comes to friendship and crap.”

“I do not do that,” Nightmare Moon bristled with a sour expression. She wasn’t so easy to read that somepony as boisterous as Vinyl could pick it up. “I am easily able to discuss matters of fr-friendship and their-”

“You’re doing it now.”

“…”

Well… any two ponies who had been in another’s company for long enough could pick these things up, no matter how much tact they lacked.

“So once I thought that…” Vinyl continued. “I started feeling bad because I said all that stuff about you not caring when I knew that you, Wolf, had trouble showing it.”

Hearing Vinyl refer to her by that moniker again… it felt… nice.

“And… well, gotta say that it’s pretty badass that you still care. I mean, you could have just been acting like you did and turned me to stone when you were done.”

“How do you know I’m not still acting right now?” Nightmare Moon could not help but point that out in both parts curiosity and pessimism.

“Because you wanted to keep being friends when you revealed yourself; you even said how you enjoyed me, Octavia, Fancypants, and Fleur’s company,” Vinyl shrugged. “Anyway, what’s there to gain by pretending to be friends? My music’s off the hook and crap, but I don’t think it’ll actually help you remain in power.”

It pleased Nightmare Moon to hear the DJ using logic and thinking clearly, without emotion obscuring and clouding her head.

And – as much as she didn’t want to admit it – it wasn’t as if Nightmare Moon was exempt from blame; she even told herself to expect confrontation and to remain calm, but Vinyl’s words had struck closer and harder to home than she realized.

They made her feel uncomfortable and wrong, so she had responded with what felt natural: anger and indignation.

To think that this uncouth and loud DJ could unbalance her so easily without even trying…

“So point is…” Vinyl rubbed the back of her neck with red cheeks. “I’m… sorry I said all those things.”

An apology was not what Nightmare Moon had expected, but it was welcome.

“Well, Vinyl, I-”

“But you have to say you’re sorry, too!”

“… What?”

Vinyl’s resolve was solid as she stared up at Nightmare Moon, unflinching and expectant. “You have to say sorry for lying to me and manipulating everypony for all those years.”

“… Vinyl, I sincerely doubt an apology will have any sort of effect considering how-”

“Nope! No big words! Say you’re sorry and then we can get this friendship – our one at least – back on the road.”

Nightmare Moon had… considerable difficulty with apologies. Fake ones, no problem – genuine ones, not so much.

And a fake one wasn’t going to win over Vinyl.

Which was not too much of an issue since… well, she did want Vinyl back.

Though she would never allow it to affect how she ruled Equestria, Nightmare Moon’s fight with Vinyl had left her feeling… a lot of emotions she didn’t enjoy feeling.

She tried to ignore it, tried telling herself that losing somepony whose company she enjoyed was a minor loss compared to what she had gained, but that infernal, Vinyl-shaped part of her psyche refused to be lied to, and continued throbbing pitifully.

Hating how she had allowed somepony to sneak their way into her heart consumed energy and time she couldn’t waste, so she didn’t do it anymore.

‘The idea of having Vinyl as an associate again is an appealing notion. Yes, her words stung, but if she is willing to look past what I have done – necessary as it was – then surely I can do the same?’

“…” Nightmare Moon wetted her lips and nodded. “Very well. Vinyl… I am s… I am s-sorry…” A flash of irritation passed through her as she cleared her throat. “I am sorry for lying to you and manipulating you for all these years. The others, too, of course.”

Vinyl’s expectant expression remained for a bit, but then a glint of playfulness shined in her gaze. “Well, well…”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing…” The tight line that made up Vinyl’s mouth slowly curled into a broad smirk. “Just stoked because, you know… I just made the friggin’ Empress of Equestria apologize!”

“And thus the crowning achievement of your life reveals itself…” Nightmare Moon grumbled. “You must be so proud.”

“Hellz yeah I’m proud!” Vinyl laughed with an affirming nod. Her horn lit up and her glasses slid down to cover her eyes. “So now that we got all that mushy stuff out of the way, let’s talk about how friggin’ awesome it is that we don’t have to worry about creeps in armor droppin’ down on our asses!”

“Yes, it is ‘awesome’,” Nightmare Moon agreed, perking up upon being reminded of her latest accomplishment. “The Resonator worked far better than I expected. There is still the matter of finding the other Fractures in Equestria and closing them as well, but today is a good day.”

“Uh, Empress?”

Ebony had made her way over to them, a gilded chest held in her magical grasp.

Nightmare Moon held up one hoof to the DJ. “A moment, if you will?” Placing the hoof back down, she turned to take the chest and open it to confirm that the Elements were inside. The sight of them and the aura they gave out even when inert sent shivers down her spine. “Good. Have you packed everything up?”

“More or less,” Ebony replied with an uncertain glance to the side. “Twilight and Sunset are arguing again, but Fade reckons it’s just foreplay at this point.”

Vinyl guffawed loudly and said, “Isn’t there some law against that crap?”

Ebony shrugged. “Indecent behaviour in public, sure, but we can’t exactly arrest them if it’s just words and subtext,” It took a moment for Ebony to realize exactly who she was talking to and blinked in surprise. “O-oh! DJ Pon-3, I didn’t…” Her gaze switched between Nightmare Moon and Vinyl. “Am I interrupting something?”

“No.”

“Nah, you’re cool.”

“Oh good…”

“I’ll take the chest back myself,” Nightmare Moon shut the chest’s lid and held it aloft to the side. “I don’t trust these being anywhere near Twilight.”

Ebony saluted and headed back towards the chariot. Some of the Eclipse made the mistake of taking down the road blocks when they weren’t ordered to, so she was quick to loudly reprimand them.

“Jeez…” Vinyl watched her go, impressed. “You really got a force working for you, eh?”

“It’s still far from what I wish for them to be, but it’s better than nothing,” Nightmare Moon said, watching her Right Hoof shout down several guards before turning back to the DJ. “At any rate, I am… pleased that we have re-established our companionship, but I really must return to the castle.”

“Yeah, nah, I get it,” Vinyl said with an easy-going shrug. “Running Equestria – that’s a job I certainly wouldn’t want. But if you get any time to yourself, ya wanna go hang out? Just like old times?”

“Old times meaning that you get into trouble and I have to pull your tail out of the fire?”

“Is there any better way to have fun?”

Nightmare Moon grinned and allowed herself a brief chuckle with a shake of her head. “It really is good to see you again.”

“Same here, Wolf. Same here.”

It was rare for Big Mac to pick up Apple Bloom from school.

Filly she may be, but she was still old enough to see herself home before curfew, and she had Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo for company and safety.

When she did need to be picked up for whatever reason, Applejack was often the one who went; her stall was in the town anyway so it seemed logical. The only times Big Mac had to go was if Applejack was feeling under the weather, or he had made plans to take Apple Bloom on an outing.

Right now, he was picking Apple Bloom up because Applejack was still imprisoned somewhere in Canterlot and he had only gotten his youngest sibling back recently, so he was… understandably paranoid and maybe a bit overprotective.

He felt it was a natural response however.

Walking at a brisk trot along the dirt path and giving quiet nods of acknowledgement to the Ponyville residents that passed by with a cheery – and often sympathetic – wave, it wasn’t long before the school came into view. The final bell had already rung and a few of the students’ parents were already waiting outside to greet the onrush of fillies and colts with cheerful smiles.

Big Mac smiled warmly as he saw Derpy hoist her unicorn daughter onto her back and hover into the air. The small filly laughed in delight, hooves wrapped tightly around her mother’s neck.

“Hey, you’re Apple Bloom’s brother, huh?”

Big Mac tore his gaze from the mother and daughter and looked straight ahead. Seeing nopony, he glanced to the left, the right, and then finally looked down at the rather dopey expression of Snails.

“…” Big Mac cocked an eyebrow in slight concern as he watched Snails’ eyes s-l-o-w-l-y cross together and focus on some point on his nose. “Eeyup.”

“Oh, cool!” Snails’ eyes snapped back into focus and he turned to gesture towards the schoolhouse. “Oh, well, Apple Bloom’s in there. She got into a fight with Diamond Tiara.”

Big Mac furrowed his brow. “Verbal-like?”

Snails squinted up at him and scratched his head. “Er… dunno what that word means, but it was a real bad fight this time; both parties escalated from trading insults and threats to physical confrontation which required the intervention of an authority figure.”

Big Mac was shocked to hear this, but didn’t let it faze him for too long. “Alright, thanks. You take care now, ya hear?” He said as he walked past Snails.

“D’ohkay, I will.” Snails waved goodbye and started walking home.

Halfway towards the schoolhouse, Big Mac paused and turned to watch the colt’s retreating figure with an expression of complete befuddlement.

‘Did he just…?’

… Deciding that getting to the bottom of this fight was more important than following up on a possible savant, Big Mac made his way into the schoolhouse, parting his legs in surprise when a particularly energetic pegasus filly buzzed through them.

“Oh, hello, Macintosh,” Cheerilee greeted from her desk, a look of delight, frustration, and sympathy creating crinkles in her brow. “I was hoping you’d drop by,” She gestured with a foreleg towards the almost-empty room. “It seems we’ve had a… bit of an incident.”

Big Mac followed her gesture and his massive frame expanded with a great sigh.

Sitting in the front row but at opposite ends were Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom.

The former of the two was without her tiara, but only because it had been warped into something less worthy of admiration, most likely by somepony using it in place of a hammer. Her forelegs were crossed and her face was set in an exaggerated pout that drew attention away from her black eye and to the black and blue bruise covering her right cheek.

Apple Bloom, on the other hoof, was staring down at the desk, unable to meet his gaze, and pressing a bloody tissue against her nose. Her bow had been torn, but she still wore it faithfully. He couldn’t be certain if that was the only injury, but it was the only one he could see at first glance.

Shaking his head in disappointment, Big Mac turned his gaze to Cheerilee and said, “What happened?”

“Well…” Cheerilee began in an exasperated tone that had seen a lot of usage during her years as a teacher. “It seems as though Diamond Tiara made a few… remarks that set Apple Bloom off.”

“Ah’m guessin’ she threw the first punch?” Big Mac sighed.

“I’m afraid so.”

“I didn’t even say anything!” Diamond Tiara protested. She blanched at the two adults’ deadpan expressions and muttered sullenly, “Okay, but, like… the usual stuff I say! And I said that to Scootaloo; I didn’t even get to think up an insult before she came over, hit me, and started messing up my beautiful tiara!”

Apple Bloom grumbled incoherently into the tissue as her nemesis started fussing over her accessory.

“Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Silver Spoon had to hold them both back until I arrived,” Cheerilee continued with an admonishing shake of her head directed at the two foals. “This isn’t the first time they’ve butted heads, but it’s the first time they’ve, er… literally butted heads.”

“And she has the unfair advantage by having such a thick skull,” Diamond Tiara interjected. “No wonder she’s so dumb.”

Bang

Apple Bloom slammed the hoof holding the tissue against her nose onto the desk and shouted with an accusing point of her other hoof, “Miss Cheerilee reads out our test scores an’ ah’m only a few points behind ya! Why do ya’ll keep sayin’ ah’m dumb?”

“Does it annoy you?”

“Yeah it does!”

Diamond Tiara held out her forelegs in a ‘there you go’ expression.

“Ah’ll make sure to set her straight,” Big Mac told Cheerilee before turning to his sister and jerking his head towards the exit with a firm expression. “Up an’ at ‘em, missy.”

“Don’t you giggle either, Diamond,” Cheerilee warned when she noticed the pink filly snickering behind her hooves. “I’ll be sure to have a word with your father about your behaviour.”

Seeing her nemesis’ sour face brought some joy to Apple Bloom, though once she saw Big Mac’s stern face, her mood took a nosedive, and she shuffled out the schoolhouse with her tail between her legs. Big Mac bid Cheerilee farewell with a parting nod and grunt before exiting as well.

Once they were outside and a few yards away from the schoolhouse, Big Mac rounded on Apple Bloom with a firm glare.

“… Ah know ah shouldn’t have hit her,” Apple Bloom said – voice slightly muffled behind the tissue – and her ears drooped in shame. “Ah jes’ got so angry an’ ah don’t know why…”

Big Mac’s right eyebrow rose.

“Yeah…” She nodded in agreement and her large eyes shone wetly. “Ah miss her an’… an’ ah feel like ah should have done something… anything.”

Big Mac’s glare softened into a sympathetic look.

“Maybe…” Apple Bloom didn’t look convinced. “But yer right; that doesn’t mean ah should be takin’ mah anger out on the wrong pony… even if they are a jerk.”

Big Mac sighed and closed his eyes as he shook his head.

“Ah guess that’s fair. Ah’m sorry, Big Mac…”

Big Mac smiled fondly and bent down to nuzzle her.

“Heh heh – thanks, bro. Yer th’ best!”

Big Mac rose back up and tilted his head questioningly.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Apple Bloom glanced at her side, where a bruise was forming just beneath her ribs. “Diamond Tiara jes’ got me good is all,” She shook her head in bemusement. “Ya know – for a prissy filly, she’s got a mean right hook.”

Big Mac knew he shouldn’t laugh, but couldn’t help but give a short chuckle. “Eeyup.”

WHAM

Upon turning and finding that all of the apples had fallen into their baskets, Clockwork grinned and pumped his hoof in victory, a fine layer of sweat and grime covering his rust-coloured coat.

“Grain Sprout! Hey, Grain Sprout!”

A few trees over, Grain Sprout placed a wicker basket underneath a branch heavy with apples before looking over. “What?”

“Not one of dem hit da dirt,” Clockwork puffed out his chest like a proud rooster. “Not bad for a ‘city-boy’, eh?”

“Nopony was calling you out on that,” Grain Sprout replied and turned to set up into the ‘prime apple-bucking position’ that Big Mac had shown them. “I’m sure he was just happy you work as hard as you do.”

“Ah, what’s da point in doing a job if ya don’t put everything ya got into it?”

“You weren’t this eager when you were a guard,” Grain Sprout pointed out. Lining up, he raised his back hooves and delivered a strong buck to the tree. To his annoyance, only half of the apples fell into the pre-set baskets. “Son of a… Anyway, the only reason you’re so eager to do this is because you want to impress your boyfriend.”

“Dat’s not… da only reason!” Clockwork awkwardly drew circles in the dirt before asking, “Ya reckon he swings dat way?”

Grain Sprout gave a shrug as he started picking up the apples that missed. “No idea – big guy barely says two words. Plus, he’s probably too distracted to even think of a relationship. His sister’s the Element of Honesty, remember?”

“Shit, right, right…” Clockwork nodded with a dejected frown. “Always goda fall for da hard-to-get ones…”

“There are plenty of other stallions around here…” Grain Sprout pointed out. “I mean… well, not in comparison to the amount of mares, but there’s definitely more than ten, so why don’t you try giving them a shot? Oh hey, he got back fast.”

Both stallions watched Big Mac and Apple Bloom trot up on the path to Sweet Apple Acres. The large stallion said something to his youngest sibling and the filly responded with a nod, and then she raced up towards the house.

“Did she have a bloody nose?”

Clockwork nodded and his brow drew together in concern. “Hope she isn’t in any trouble.”

“Yesterday she was muttering something about two bullies at her school,” Grain Sprout said. “I heard her talking about it to Willow yesterday.”

“Makes sense,” Clockwork nodded again. “He’s da only one in our platoon who actually has kids.”

“Prime does, too, but that’s… yeah, he doesn’t say much about it.”

Big Mac took notice of them and gave a short wave which they returned. After that, he walked over towards the shed, most likely to finish repairing the plough.

Clockwork leered openly as he watched the hulk of a stallion walk away before turning to his friend. “You see dem muscles? Dat ass? Yeah, dere’s odder stallions around, but none of dem got da body he has.”

“Fair enough,” Grain Sprout agreed with a single bob of his head. “Faust knows I love a mare with some ‘oomph’. Pegasi and unicorns… they’re just…”

“Pretty lanky, eh?”

“Eeyup.”

“Hey, kiddo – how was sch- land sakes, girl! What happened to yer nose?”

One ear pricking up in alarm, Willow continued stirring the batter in the mixing bowl with his magic while trotting out into the living room. There, he caught sight of Apple Bloom with a bloody tissue pressed against her nose and a look of shame.

“Ah got in a… lil’ disagreement with Diamond Tiara…”

Granny Smith thinned her lips and gave a scolding glare as she leaned forwards in her rocking chair. “Why ya spendin’ yer time fightin’ when ya could be learnin’?”

Apple Bloom winced and replied, “Ah wasn’t thinkin’. Ah’m sorry, granny.”

The genuine apology curbed the old mare’s wrath; she leaned back and softened her expression. “Big Mac done dolled out yer punishment?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Alright then – scoot your boot an’ get cleaned up.”

Willow waited until the young filly had gone up the stairs to the bathroom before entering, drawing Granny Smith’s attention.

“Fighting?”

“Ah had an inkling something like this might happen,” Granny Smith said with a weary sigh. “Could see it in her eyes when she came back; all tense an’ full of more energy than a Zap Apple,” She shook her head and smiled sadly at him. “She’s real close with her sister; puts her up on a pedestal high as all outdoors.”

Willow nodded in understanding. “Maybe I should talk to her?”

“Nah,” She waved off the notion. “She’s an independent sort that grandchild of mine; she’ll talk to her friends before she’ll talk to us,” Her joints creaked as she shrugged and rocked back. “Nothin’ wrong with it; her friends were with her th’ entire time she was up in Canterlot, so they can relate.”

“True…”

Granny Smith glanced towards the stairs for a moment and then back to Willow. Just before he left, she called out, “So how’ve ya’ll been, Willow? Ain’t talked much lately.”

“Oh, the usual,” Willow answered, turning back to her and shrugging casually. “Went to go see Cotton Puff yesterday.”

“How’s he handlin’ those critters?”

Willow pursed his lips.

“What the bloody hell?!” Cotton Puff rummaged through Fluttershy’s pantry madly, spilling assorted pet foods across the kitchen floor. “Did you animals get in here?! How’d you bloody do…?”

Slamming the doors shut, Cotton Puff twirled and set his narrowed, twitching eyes to the middle of the floor.

“You…”

Angel met his cold glare calmly and popped a diced carrot into his mouth.

“I’m gonna make mittens from your fur!”

Angel threw his arms out to the side.

“Come at me, bro!”

“Well, the jackalopes aren’t trying to eat him anymore, so… that’s something.”

“What about, er… th’ fella that saved Pinkie?”

“Virtue’s fine. He loves books, so he’s right at home in Golden Oaks.”

“Tha’s good to hear,” Granny Smith said, her rocking steady and meticulous. There was something calming about the punctual creaking. “Ah know ya’ll are city-folk boys, so it must be drainin’ work in these here rural hills, hm?”

Willow hummed thoughtfully for a bit before shaking his head. “Not really. Clockwork’s adapted pretty well, Grain Sprout’s content with pretty much anything, Virtue likes the quiet, and I grew up on a farm before I became a guard.”

Noticing his pause, she asked, “What’s Cotton Puff thinkin’?”

“He’s still antsy, but I think it’s less to do with Ponyville and more with Nightmare Moon.”

“Mm…” Granny Smith made a soft sound of agreement. “But ah reckon he’s not th’ only one feelin’ like that?”

Willow snorted with a half-smile and temporarily stopped his stirring. “That obvious, are we?”

Returning the smile, Granny Smith tapped her temple. “Ah may be getting’ old and forgettin’ things, but ya’ll young’uns are as easy to read as a coyote near a chicken coop.”

Resisting the urge to point out he wasn’t necessarily ‘young’ – though considering her age compared to him… - Willow replied, “Yeah, we’re all still thinking about what’s going on in Canterlot. We want to do something, but we’re not sure what. Cotton Puff’s… He’s just taking it the hardest. Not a happy past, so the Royal Guard means a lot to him. Having it disbanded and being unable to do anything about it is… pretty damn depressing.”

“It’s a bad feeling – helplessness…” Granny Smith said in a way that gave Willow no reason to doubt that she was talking from personal experience. She looked over at him, gravelly. “Watch out for them, will ya? Ah get these trembles from time to time. They’re usually nothin’, but…”

“But?”

“Ah got them on th’ day I lost mah daughter and son.”

“Why do I have to get it?” Lyra grumbled as she dropped the bat on the ground and stomped over to the barricade. “You guys are pegasi!”

“You’re the one that hit it over,” Flitter retorted haughtily. “Only fair that you should get it.”

“Whatever – you guys just… ungh…” Lyra grunted as she started climbing the two-metre tall obstruction. “Just wanna be alone so you can… ugh… sex it up in front of everypony!”

Cinnamon blushed beet-red underneath her umpire mask while Flitter just rolled her eyes. “If we were going to sex it up, it’d be in privacy, Miss Exhibitionist.”

“Hey! Bonbon was the one that sweet-talked me into doing it in Sugarcube Corner and those curtains were poorly hung-up!”

Lyra balanced on top of the barricade for a moment before hopping straight down on the other side. A few of the grazers from the other world or… whatever jumped at her sudden appearance, but simply pranced away to another spot to eat.

The cumulus-ball, fortunately, had not gone anywhere near the Everfree; it sat between two grazers and was being mercilessly assaulted by their long tongues.

“Aw, come on!” Lyra took a few steps forwards and picked the ball up in her magic, shuddering even though she couldn’t actually feel the slime. “Ew, why is their spit purple?”

She gave the ball a few shakes to get rid of the slime; it looked like it was starting to harden, and she didn’t even want to think about what would happen if it-

“…”

At the edge of the Everfree forest, a glinting light emerged and revealed its full form.

Floating through the air, a spherical, metal object approached her, its alabaster surface marked with scratches and what seemed to be soot. Two skeletal fins fanned out backwards from its sides and a single red eye peered out from its ‘face’.

Lyra cautiously took a step back as it floated towards her. The lack of noise it made was disconcerting; there was no flapping of wings, no hum or twinkle of magic, and no whirr of machinery to suggest how it remained aloft.

The grazers didn’t seem to mind the sphere; they didn’t even acknowledge it outside of moving out of the way when it came close.

But the sphere… it noticed her.

Part of Lyra told her that she should run, hide, climb back over the barricade, call for help, do something, but for whatever reason, she remained there, staring at her distorted reflection in the sphere’s glass eye.

When it was but a few inches from her muzzle, a random pattern of lights flashed across the row upon row of LEDs that made up its eye.

Then, just as silently as it arrived, it turned and meandered back into the Everfree.

“…”

“Hey, Lyra! What’s up?”

Lyra turned and Flitter – hovering high enough in the air to look over the barricade – frowned worriedly upon seeing her face.

“Everything okay?”

“… Soooo… a ‘thing’ just happened.”

Author's Note

Note 1: Interracial, interspecies, and same-sex relationships are prevalent in Equestria, and - for the most part - are widely accepted.

This was not the case in the time when Discord ruled supreme. Back then, the only relationships that were tolerated and publicly recognized were between two ponies - a stallion and a mare. It was once believed that anything that was even remotely chaotic would attract the draconequus and since any relationship that wasn't heterosexual strayed from 'the norm' of society, they were shunned and outlawed.

Ironically, it was this intolerance and fear which attracted Discord.

Chapter 35: An Earned Reprieve

1055 AD, November 10th

“Empress.”

“Empress.”

The guards standing on either side of the thick, metal door dipped their heads respectfully as Nightmare Moon approached.

“I wish to enter – unlock the door.” She ordered and stopped in place to wait.

As protocol demanded, the two unicorns – with some trepidation – took their turn to cast Dispel on her. Their magic washed over her and drew a slight grimace, but confirmed that she was the real deal. Satisfied, the guard on the right levitated a key dangling from his side and fitted it into the lock of the door.

Once unlocked, the guard pushed it open and stepped back, allowing her entry.

The sudden exposure to light stirred the figure behind steel bars.

“Close it.”

The room was plunged into darkness as the guards obeyed. A second passed as Nightmare Moon called magic into her horn and let it sit there, illuminating the length of bone in blue light.

“… You’ve done that three times now; I thought you could see in the dark?”

“I can,” Nightmare Moon smirked cruelly as she crossed over to the thick metal bars that ran the length of the stone floor to the ceiling and sectioned off a little less than half of the room. “But in this level of darkness, it’s more like general shapes, and I wanted to see your face when I told you the good news.”

Chains rattled as the figure rose and stumbled over to the bars. “Your definition of ‘good news’ may differ from mine.”

Celestia’s face entered the light and the expression she wore would have reduced a lesser pony to a shivering wreck, never mind the fact that her once-pristine coat was grimy and unkempt while her mane hung limply across her body, devoid of its ethereal properties. Her face had a gaunt look and her eyes were ringed with dark circles.

Yet as haggard as she looked, the fire in her eyes burned intensely.

Nightmare Moon laughed mockingly. “Oh, but I guarantee you that the news I have can be considered ‘good’ no matter the alliance.”

Celestia’s scowl deepened and suspicion brimmed in her eyes. “And what would that be?”

“The Entropic Fracture that appeared above Canterlot…” Nightmare Moon paused, long enough to watch Celestia’s jaw tighten with anticipation. “It’s been dealt with.”

“…”

“The Orxoni that you hid away…” Nightmare Moon turned and started pacing back and forth, her armored hooves clapping noisily against the floor. “It turned out to be the tool we needed to close the anomaly. Your student… well, your former student… assisted me in re-engineering the artefact. We call it the Resonator.”

Her only reply was silence.

Nightmare Moon stopped pacing and glanced over curiously, wondering if Celestia was keeping quiet out of spite and defiance, or if she was simply concentrating on drawing as much strength as she could from the light of Nightmare Moon’s horn.

She was making a show of glaring down at the floor like a petulant foal, but that could have easily been a façade to cover her energy-gathering.

After taking a few steps back, Nightmare Moon continued pacing and talking. “Honestly, without her, I don’t think I would have gotten the Resonator done as quickly as it did,” She gave another jeer of laughter. “You should be proud of her.”

“What did you do to her?” Celestia suddenly growled lowly, still refusing to look up. “Twilight would never agree to work with you.”

“Oh?” Nightmare Moon halted again and lifted one eyebrow questioningly. “Are you so sure about that?” When Celestia refused to answer, she simply shrugged. “Besides, who said I was talking about Twilight?”

“… But… the only other student I have is…”

The look of realization, shock, and despair that crossed her face was a visual delight to Nightmare Moon.

‘There we go…’

“Sunset Shimmer?” Celestia queried hesitantly and in a small voice. Her eyes glimmered as she stared through the Empress, half speaking to herself. “I… I thought… She’s back?”

“Five days ago, I believe. She was planning to steal Twilight’s Element and use it conquer the world she arrived in; populated by ‘humans’, she called them. Not the same world that we’ve been dealing with… or so I’m told. Between you and me, I think she’s hiding something…”

“I can’t believe she’s back…” Celestia shook her head, still in shock, and then finally looked up at her captor. “I… Why are you telling me all of this?”

‘And the question I’ve been waiting for…’

“So you can squirm knowing all this and being unable to do anything with it.”

Nightmare Moon’s toothy grin was nothing short of sadistically joyful; her cheeks split apart and a drop of crimson splattered against the floor, such was her mirth. Celestia, her composure already shaken, could not hide a grimace of horror and revulsion as Nightmare Moon pressed her face closer to the bars.

“So that you know that I have protected Equestria from a threat you would have never been able to overcome. How is that ‘friendship’ you preach on and on about working for you now? Because it certainly wouldn’t have worked on these Fractures. And what if my Eclipse guard weren’t around? Sunset would have snuck past your weak Royal Guard and made off with Twilight’s Element, into the Orxoni. Would you have even considered using the Orxoni in my place, or would you be too fearful of it to even think of the possibility? Afraid that it would take away another one of your students?”

Celestia didn’t answer, but the furrow of her brow and the sharpness of her gaze told Nightmare Moon with utmost clarity that the words had struck hard, and that the former princess was thinking some very un-princess things, most of them involving a vicious beat-down.

“… Truthfully speaking…” Nightmare Moon began in a somewhat calmer voice and with a less macabre smile. She didn’t expect to get so excited, but it was a slip that drew an interesting reaction, so it worked out pretty well. “I didn’t always hold such animosity towards you.”

Celestia’s gaze travelled upwards, to her horn and the sickly bulge in the middle. “You could have fooled me…”

“No, really. When we first fought all those years ago, you were… more of an obstacle than an enemy. It was only when you banished Luna and me to the moon that I started developing these feelings.”

Her lips curled into a frown as bitter anger filled her heart.

“I had exhausted every physical activity there was to do on the moon within the first five months, so all there was left to do was sit and watch Equestria, reliving my defeat over and over again, counting the years until I could return.”

She directed a chilling glare towards Celestia.

“I’ve been meaning to ask: how did the years go by for you?”

“… Every year that passed was just another where regret tore at me. I should have kept a closer eye on my sister. Maybe then she wouldn’t have been forced into playing host to a creature like you!”

CLANG

Nightmare Moon didn’t even flinch as Celestia struck the bars separating them with her bare hooves and the noise reverberated in the enclosed space.

“I swear to Mother Faust…” Celestia hissed through bared and gritted teeth; the tiniest ribbons of steam puffed out from her flared nostrils. “I will show you no mercy when I get out of here.”

“Oh, no mercy from the paper tiger; woe is me…” Nightmare Moon said with a faux whimper and an exaggerated show of flinching backwards. It didn’t last long. “You’re kidding, right? I hold all the cards now. The only two things that could even have a chance at defeating me have been dealt with and if the Element bearers even think of trying my hoof, I just have to threaten their loved ones.”

“Monster…”

“Maybe, but at the end of the day, I’m out here…” Nightmare Moon smiled and tapped one of the bars. “And you’re in there,” Turning away, she walked back towards the door. “Well, this has been a pleasant chat, but I have a kingdom to run. I’m sure you can relate… well, not anymore, of course.”

Celestia cried out in frustration and anger, and she punched the bars again. Her strength was severely diminished however, so all that she achieved was a disorienting metal clang that Nightmare Moon pointedly ignored as the room’s door opened.

The brief moment of natural light teased Celestia with its revitalizing allure, but then she was plunged back into darkness; alone to stew in misery and helplessness.

“I think you all deserve a little downtime.”

Nightmare Moon wasn’t even settled in her throne when she said that; instead, she had uttered it ever so casually as she passed her Praetorian Guard while on her way to sit.

“Downtime? What, like… going out?” Fade questioned, looking to the others for clarification. “Into the city?”

“Yes,” Nightmare Moon turned and rested her rump on the throne. She reclined into it in a very lazy manner and guessed that many nobles would have been shocked if they saw Celestia or Luna commit such a crime against proper decorum. “You’ve all been working hard, so I believe a little relaxation is in order. With the closing of the Fracture, it seems to be the perfect opportunity.”

She had already made plans to give them a break two days earlier; it was just very fortunate that the Resonator had been completed in that span of time. Now, she didn’t have to fret if some Wisp Knight or animalistic abomination would drop from the sky and end their lives.

“But we still have duties…” Haze said with a look of uncertainty. “I would hate to relinquish everything onto your shoulders.”

“It’s nothing I cannot handle,” Nightmare Moon waved off his concern. “This reprieve isn’t long; just enough for you to celebrate our achievement and perhaps wrap up any other business you may have neglected to do before our coup.”

Her Praetorian Guard seemed, for the most part, excited by this news – Fade was flexing his wings with a cheesy grin – but Ebony and Haze still had their worries.

Her captain took a step forwards and asked, “Empress, I’m… grateful you’re giving us a break, but I think I’d prefer to stay here if that’s alright.”

Haze nodded. “As would I.”

Nightmare Moon shrugged. “This time is to be spent however you see fit, but I still expect some level of relaxation from the two of you; keep any work to a minimum.”

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m gonna see the latest Scythe Crucify movie!” Fade nudged his sister in the side. “You coming with, yeah? You love that franchise.”

Miasma nodded once. “Sure.”

“How about you, Veil? Room for one more!”

“Fine, but only after I finish moving the rest of Tiger’s stuff into the castle.” Veil agreed.

“Is Tiger that Faust-damn cat that keeps trying to claw my eyes out?”

“Yup,” Veil smirked proudly. “Taught him that myself.”

“Yeah, real charmer; no need for anger management classes, nope.”

“You have two days to relax,” Nightmare Moon said. “Also – though I doubt I need to actually say this – there is to be no engaging in activities of a nature where you would need to arrest yourselves.”

“Ah, come on, boss,” Fade chuckled. “You act like we’re gonna get into a bar brawl the instant we go out there.”

Nightmare Moon grinned as a certain memory came to mind. “Believe me – it’s incredibly easy to get involved in one without trying.”

“What if it’s self-defense?”

“In that scenario, don’t beat the offending party too hard; just enough to really drill the lesson in.”

“Got it.” Fade snapped off a salute with one wing.

Nightmare Moon watched as her most loyal followers departed to do their own thing. Veil, Fade, and Miasma were talking about the movie they were going to see – it actually sounded interesting, perhaps she’d rent it out at a later date when it came onto video – while Miasma and Haze were speaking about their duties.

She didn’t get a ‘workaholic’ vibe from them when she shuffled through their minds, so she assumed their reluctance to stray far from her side was because they revered her more strongly than the other free.

‘Haze still maintains his composure around me despite actually seeing me as a god, but Ebony still fumbles and stutters. When she’s not working, she follows me around…’

She was… like a lost puppy, really; a puppy that had received abuse all its life and now strived to keep in its new owner’s good graces, constantly searching for that approval.

Pathetic, yes, but Nightmare Moon wasn’t going to let that overshadow the fact that Ebony was a good leader and an excellent Right Hoof.

Still…

Perhaps it was a good idea to try and help Ebony through her inner demons? After all, she was the one who rooted through the mare’s mind and had the deepest understanding of her past…

‘No, I’m her Empress, not her friend; I’ll just make her feel inadequate. It’s best to leave her to sort out her demons either by herself or with the help of her friends. I’m certainly not as familiar with her as I am with Vinyl.’

With her mind made up, Nightmare Moon watched her Praetorian Guard until they disappeared behind the throne room’s doors, and then called over one of the nearby scribes holding paperwork that needed her attention.

‘Now, seeing as Marquess Aldo is otherwise occupied, that gives me time to attend to the Royal Court member’s issues.’

Idly, she pondered on what could have come up with the griffon delegate.

“Your daughter’s perfectly fine,” Dr. Patchjob announced and magically adjusted the small glasses on his nose. “It was a minor migraine and a bout of dizziness, most likely brought on by the Resonator activating.”

Her father stopped his pacing and turned to the doctor, tail swishing back and forth erratically. “But why? My guards and I weren’t affected.”

“Your daughter’s simply sensitive towards magic; it’s uncommon – even amongst ponies – but there have been no casualties caused by it. In fact, I know of several colleagues who dream of having such sensitivity; makes figuring out if an ailment is magical in nature easier.”

“And you’re sure that’s all it is?”

“Dad, I’m fine,” Gilda insisted. “Just a little pain; dunno why you gotta make a huge deal over it.”

“Seeing someone react like that can be alarming for anyone,” The doctor said with an understanding smile directed at her father. “There really is nothing to worry about, Marquess; your daughter is a very healthy chick. Your First Blood Hunt went successful, I hope?”

“Uh, yeah…” Surprised, Gilda nodded. “You know about our customs?”

“Of course – your species are fascinating; very interesting beliefs and culture.”

“Heh, you’re not half-bad, doc.”

“Thank you,” Nodding respectfully, he turned back to her father. “If there’s anything else…?”

“No, if she’s alright, then that’ll be all. Thank you, doctor,” Her father bowed his head in farewell and made for the door. “Come along, Gilda.”

She waved the doctor goodbye – pretty cool for a pony; she didn’t expect that – and followed her father out into the hospital’s corridors, where the guards fell into formation around them.

Hospitals freaked her out, so she was glad to be leaving.

“Pretty weird, eh?” She laughed after a bit of silent walking. “They got a griffon doctor who’s an expert on ponies and a pony doctor who’s an expert on griffons.”

“Gilda…”

“I don’t even think that dude’s gone on his First Blood Hunt.”

“Gilda, is this the first time you’ve experienced this?”

“What’s that?”

“The migraines.”

“Oh? Um…” She scratched her head with one hand, thinking hard. “Not really. I mean, I’ve sort of felt magic, but it’s always just been, like… tingles and stuff. Like that feeling you get when you sit on your ass for too long.”

Her father frowned at the crass word, but let it slide, and instead said, “Does it bother you?”

“Nah,” She shook her head… and then paused, beak scrunching into a frown. “Well… there was this one time when we first arrived. I went into the bathroom, remember? Yeah, so, right there I got the tingles… but it was really strong. Different, too.”

“How so?”

“Like… I dunno. It felt like someone… passed through me?” She shrugged, not giving it much thought. “Might have just been the ‘Empress’; she creeps the hell outta me.”

“Be that as it may, she made good on her word by closing the Violazione,” Exiting the hospital and arriving out on Canterlot’s streets, her father craned his neck to look up at the now-clear skies. “Hopefully, she’ll be willing to share the secrets of how she achieved it.”

“What if she doesn’t?”

“… Let’s hope she does,” He sighed and turned towards her. “Are you sure you’re alright? We can always go back to rest at the hotel.”

“Dad, I’m fine,” She retorted with some bite; there was always a point where his concern became annoying and just flat-out made her feel like glass. “Seriously.”

And of course, he wasn’t convinced, but at least he dropped the issue and they continued on their way.

‘Jeez, dad – I’m not going anywhere anytime soon…’

“Why don’t you want to come with us?”

“Huh?”

Ebony looked up from Studies of Flesh and saw Veil standing in her office doorway. She was out of her armor and had the most unusual expression on her face; like Ebony was some fascinating and undiscovered flora.

Rarely did Veil’s expression drift from ‘indifference’, so Ebony asked, “Sorry – what did you say?”

“You don’t want to come with us on our break,” Veil repeated, never straying from her placid tone, though there was a bit more inflection on the end. “Why not?”

“I want to study…” Ebony gestured to the book on her table. “I’m really getting into this and I want to be around in case the Empress needs me.”

“So what? Do you think we should stay, too?”

“…” Ebony flushed at her incriminating silence and looked away. “Well…”

“I can understand Haze not wanting to go with us,” Veil said with a slight curl of her lip. “He’s pretty uppity and prefers doing all that ‘high-society’ tea parties and crap, but you’ve always gone out with us when you had the time.”

“Haze isn’t bad…” Ebony defended. “He’s just… from a different upbringing.”

“You always make that excuse.”

“You’re the only one that has a problem with him.”

“You…” She faltered and pressed her lips together into a scowl. “Yeah, fair enough,” There was a brief paused before she continued. “Well, Nightmare Moon did say she could handle it, and in all honesty, I think we all deserve this break. I’ve literally stayed up for about three days now and you’re no better, so why don’t you just… chill for a bit?”

“…”

Ebony wanted to; she really did.

Hanging out with her friends – not just when they had their meetings – made her feel good, like her life was complete and there was no empty space where something should be filling it. She enjoyed all of their company, even when they got to be annoying sometimes, and the notion of hanging out once again after a solid week of work was very appealing.

But she was the Empress’ Right Hoof now – there were responsibilities on her shoulders that required her attention.

Veil, Miasma, and Fade also had their duties, but… it was different. As bad as it sounded, their duties weren’t so important that they couldn’t afford to slack off. There were other ponies that could deliver messages, other ponies that could train the Eclipse, and other ponies that could interview potential recruits.

But there were only two ponies whom Nightmare Moon trusted enough to be her Right and Left Hooves. Haze was the only one who could understand and share Ebony’s viewpoint.

“I’m sorry, Veil – I wish I could, but I just can’t. Maybe some other time.”

Veil visibly sagged in disappointment at the answer, but she gave a sombre nod. “Alright, fine. Drown in paperwork if you want while I go drown in Fade’s ego.”

She turned to leave and Ebony felt a sting at the curt dismissal.

“…” Veil stopped and turned around. “Uh… just… try and relax at least a little bit, okay? I don’t want you get… Yeah…”

Touched and amused by the uncharacteristic stuttering and awkwardness, Ebony laughed and replied, “I will. You guys have fun out there and try to keep Fade out of trouble.”

“Pfft – why don’t you ask me to bench-press a dragon while you’re at it?” Veil rolled her eyes with a playful smirk before waving and continuing out of the office. “See ya in two days!”

“Bye.”

Once Veil was gone, Ebony released a breath – and some tension in her shoulders – and settled down to read the large book in front of her, a small smile on her face.

When Veil turned the corner and approached them without Ebony in tow, Fade’s anticipatory expression fell. “No luck, yeah?”

Miasma said nothing and stared levelly at the other mare.

“I don’t know why you sent me,” Veil said with a shake of her head and stopped before the siblings. “I’m not good with… talking, even if they are my friends.”

“I just sorta figured it would mean more coming from one of you guys,” Fade shrugged. “Me and ‘serious’ don’t really go well together, yeah?”

“I’m not good at talking either.” Miasma said.

“Well, it didn’t work, but she seems okay. She said to have fun and she smiled, so I don’t think there’s anything to worry over.”

“I guess…” With one final look down the hallway Veil came down, Fade shrugged again and turned in place to thrust one foreleg out, a brilliant smile on his face. “Well then – onwards, sister and scary, anti-social mare! Onwards to beer, mares, and whatever you guys are into!”

“I’m asocial, not anti-social.”

“Well, seeing as you beat the shit outta waaaay more stallions than me, I think anti-social’s more accurate, yeah?”

“Looking to add one more to my list?”

Author's Note

Note 1: Canterlot - the foundation of Equestria's capitol city is built straight into the mountain and is anchored into the rock through a blend of ingenious engineering and powerful magic.

Though it is only known to a select few, Canterlot first started as a miner's settlement for when ponies mined the mountain for the rare and beautiful crystals and gems that grew within its caves. First called 'Drowning Depths', the mining trade only lasted a few scant months - much to the relief of the miners - before the caves were sealed off, and the settlement became a haven for scholars, thaumaturgists, and assorted nobility looking for solitude.

Eventually, the increase in visitors and the wealth they brought allowed the settlement to grow beyond what the humble miners expected. The exact date when Princess Celestia decided to rule Equestria from Canterlot is unknown, but it is thought to be somewhere around 500 AD.

Note 2: Griffons see magic as a 'benevolent corruption'.

Evolved to be hunters, griffons place great pride in their physical traits, and since magic is not inherently 'predatory', they believe that it could only come from some divine interference.

Surely, the nameless entity must be benevolent to bestow such a strange yet powerful force upon a fledgling?

Chapter 36: The Rouge Knights

1055 AD, November 11th

“Down there – second rock ridge just above the hot pools. Think you can make that shot?”

Matteo lined up his crossbow’s sight with his right eye and peeked over the edge of the cloud. Sure enough, there was a tri-prowler crouched on a rocky outcrop that overlooked the steaming hot pools a few dozen yards below.

It appeared to be sunbathing and Matteo almost felt bad that he was about to ruin the thing’s experience.

Click

Fwit

Almost.

“Niiice…” Nico nodded with an approving grin as the tri-prowler slumped to the side and tipped over the edge of the outcrop. If the bolt to the eye didn’t kill it, the fall would. “How do you do that? That’s, what, 100 metres with a strong, rising wind?”

“Most of it’s the crossbow,” Matteo admitted and sat back up to reload. “The mechanisms and the bolts I use. Still, it was a pretty good shot, eh?”

“Oh humble warrior – teach me thy technique…” Nico jested and raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes. “Tch, slim pickings today; I think the beasts are getting smart.”

“Or they don’t like the mountain ranges. You think they moved to the jungles?” Matteo asked and glanced over the cloud’s edge to squint down at the trees.

“Maybe. That’s good, right? It’s away from Nuvole Villaggio at least.”

“I’m worried they might start hunting our game.”

“They seem good in sticking to their own prey, but you’re right,” Unable to find any more tri-prowlers hidden amongst the mountains, Nico lowered his binoculars and placed them back into his rucksack. He turned to his hunting partner. “What do you reckon? Keep going or should we head back?”

Matteo patted the bandolier slung over his breast with one talon. “Still got three dozen bolts; might as well put them to good use.”

“Hah hah! That’s the spirit!” Nico spread his large wings and flapped them to hover above the cloud. “Mmm, think I’m in the mood for monkey tonight.”

“Monkey? Ugh…” Matteo rose into the air as well and trailed behind as his hunting partner swooped down towards the jungle. With the rush of wind, he had to shout to be heard. “How can you eat that crap?! It’s so stringy!”

“You never had them marinated with the wife’s special sauce!” Nico shouted back and gave a powerful flap to even out and glide above the thick vegetation. “That blend of spice and meat – your taste buds will wish they had taste buds!”

Matteo gave a doubtful frown and glided alongside Nico. “I dunno. Monkey just never did it for me,” He pulled his crossbow’s strap taut so the device didn’t bump against his ribs. “I’m a tapir-griffon.”

“Yeah, I looked inside your ice-storage the other day. Tapir, tapir, and more tapir. You know they say your feathers start falling out if you just keep eating that?”

“Pfft – what, you want me to fly back and take that tri-prowler home?”

Nico didn’t answer and the pupils of his eyes had dilated, so Matteo guessed he had settled into the hunting routine. Shrugging, he did the same.

Of all the creatures that came through the Violaziones, none were more of a nuisance than the tri-prowlers. Aggressive, lion-like predators with three eyes on a stump of a head, they quickly earned the ire of Nuvole Villaggio because of their tendency to kill the animals the population depended on for sustenance.

‘Kill’, not ‘hunt’ – they were ridiculously picky about what they actually ate, and never strayed from the pony-like prey that also came through.

Matteo could not imagine how a species with a diet that narrow could survive in any environment.

‘Wonder if I could train one…’

“What do you reckon they taste like?”

“What?” Matteo looked up and to the side at his partner questioningly. “You… What, the tri-prowlers?”

Nico nodded. “Yeah.”

“I don’t know. We might just get sick from it. I know I would; Equestrian food gives me the shits and these are from another world, so… ugh…”

“Maybe, but- oh, is…?!” Nico paused and his talons flexed in excitement. Just as quickly, he sagged with a groan of disappointment. “Nah, too skinny. But anyway, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, right?”

“Hey, if we come across another one of them, you’re completely welcome to shove as much down your gullet as you want. Just don’t come screeching to me when you’re puking up tentacle-babies.”

Nico narrowed his eyes and his eyes danced from side to side with alarming frequency.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“I’m gonna do it.”

“Oh gods, you’ve gotta be shitting me…”

“If we find another one, I’m gonna take a bite out of it.”

“Nico, you’re…” Matteo sighed and slapped a hand over his eyes in exasperation. “Your wife is literally going to kill me if you die, so please, for my sake if not your-”

“Oh, there’s one! Hang back twenty!”

“Oh gods, you are actually retarded…” Matteo shook his head, but followed the other griffon’s lead and threw out his wings to catch the air and fly back twenty yards. “No wonder they don’t give you a crossbow.”

“Yeah, because I don’t need one to be a good hunter.”

“If you could actually aim, my pride would be wounded.”

He felt good about his comeback, but Matteo’s sense of victory was bitter, as he descended into the jungle, grimacing as he felt the humid air against his primaries. No matter how many times he went to ground level, the hot air was always uncomfortable for him.

Nico was, infuriatingly enough, completely fine with the change in temperature and humidity, and the instant his talons touched earth he started slinking towards where he spotted his prey.

Grumbling at the lowest volume he could register, Matteo crept alongside his friend. This was a pretty dumb thing Nico was planning to do – he didn’t even prepare by eating some clay! – but once that griffon set his mind to something, it was hard to dissuade him from it.

It was admirable at times, but mostly annoying.

‘Your wife has the patience of a saint…’

Eventually, they made their way back to where Nico had spotted his prey. They hid under the shadows of a large fern and watched as a tri-prowler pawed at the ground, scattering moist dirt and creeping vines everywhere.

It huffed and snuffled as it generally made a mess; both Matteo and Nico were not familiar with this behaviour, but it wasn’t aware of their presence, and that was all that really mattered.

“Bolt or talons?” Matteo whispered without looking at his partner.

“Talons.” Came the feather-soft reply.

Matteo nodded silently in acknowledgement and stayed prone against the ground as Nico rose and started moving forwards. The canopy was thick overhead and only allowed brief spots of sunlight through – a perfect cover for prowling.

‘Haven’t seen anyone take on a tri-prowler before. Well, we’re roughly the same size, and he’s got the drop on it, so it should be fine.’

Even so, he kept one hand on his crossbow as Nico inched closer.

Closer…

Closer…

The tri-prowler snorted and perked up as protective lens slid down over its eyes.

‘Damn it,’ Matteo quickly brought his crossbow to arm and took aim. ‘Must have caught wind or… Wait, the hell’s it doing?’

Instead of turning to where they were, the beast looked in the other direction and – like the aggressive predator it was – bounded off with nary a snarl, tearing down low-hanging vines and branches.

It disappeared from view within the next few moments and Nico looked back with an expression of utter confusion.

Matteo shrugged and lowered his crossbow. “Maybe it smelled prey?”

“Maybe, but it seemed a little-”

A harsh cry rang out from the direction the tri-prowler ran.

The two griffons immediately tensed up in alarm; Matteo hopped up and pounced over to his partner as the two spread their wings, each providing protection for one another’s blind spots.

“Is that a griffon?” Matteo asked.

“I… I can’t tell…” Nico narrowed his eyes and listened to the sounds of struggling and animalistic snarls. “Come on – it’s not that far.”

Nodding, Matteo jogged alongside his friend towards the source of the noises.

‘Yeah, that sounds like a griffon, but… then it doesn’t. There’s something weird about it…’

“Get down.”

He obeyed without hesitation, falling into ditch underneath a rotting log. He felt something with many legs burst beneath him, but ignored it to stare straight ahead, beak agape.

“The hell…?”

Blood that was several shades darker than a clear sky soaked into the dirt as a silver sword was yanked from the tri-prowler’s side; viscous fluid dripped for only a moment before a white cloth was dragged along the blade.

“Is the equipment damaged?”

“No. I’m still getting strong readings.”

“Anything bad?”

“Heh – the air is fresher here than back home."

“I noticed.”

Two of the three bipedal creatures were so completely covered in plate armor that they could have been mistaken for golems.

The armor was of a maroon shade around the cuirass, leggings, and helmet, but the shoulder pauldrons and gauntlets were black. A tabard hung across their front, black as well. Stitched onto it with gold fabric was a tree in full bloom – an oak, or something similar.

‘Is that their heraldry? I’ve never seen anything like that before…’

The creature that wasn’t encased in armor but instead donned a long, white coat gave Matteo a better idea of what they looked like.

His first thought was overgrown monkeys.

The one in the coat had a facial structure similar to the monkeys that swung amongst the canopy, but the features were soft and more refined, less surrounded by hair; what hair it did have seemed to be restricted to the very top of the scalp – a golden yellow hue that seemed to have been deliberately pulled back into a ponytail.

The creature opened its mouth and something small and pink – a tongue, he guessed – slipped out to run across its lips, wetting them. It looked down at its hands – hairless, pink skin, similar in shape to a griffon’s but without talons – and tweaked a small box-like device with an antenna.

“Still nothing…”

Matteo grimaced and his ears twitched – he could understand them, but the words seemed… ‘wrong’, somehow. It sent shivers up his spine.

“Team Valiant reporting in,” The same hairless monkey pressed two fingers against its left ear, apparently talking to the other two armored compatriots. “We had a minor encounter with one of the animals from our world, but emerged unscathed. We still have no confirmation of the energy our probes found. Awaiting further commands.”

Despite the unnaturalness of the voice, Matteo could at least guess that – judging by the pitch – the one talking was female.

‘She’ stood there after trailing off, as if awaiting the other two’s response. However, they simply stood there, staring at her, occasionally looking this way and that.

Finally, she nodded. “Understood – over and out,” Her fingers fell from her ear and she said, “We’re to keep searching for another hour, assuming there’s still light.”

“There’s still that mountain we saw from that huge tree,” One of the armored figures suggested. There was only a small visor in the helmet for the voice to filter through, rendering it muffled, but it sounded female as well. “We could try heading there.”

“Too far,” The unarmored female replied with a shake of her head. “We can’t stray too far from the portal.”

Matteo’s eyes widened. He turned his head to meet Nico’s eyes and mouthed, “Portal?”

“A Violazione…” Nico mouthed back.

These beings were outsiders like the creatures, but they were intelligent and capable of speech – Equestrian to be precise. Whether they spoke Gryphans as well remained to be seen.

This opened up all sorts of possibilities…

“Let’s just keep going west,” The other armored figure suggested in a deep baritone that marked it as male. “This… environment gives me the creeps.”

“I believe this type of ecosystem is called a ‘rainforest’.” The unarmoured female said.

The male shrugged and sheathed his sword. “It’s low visibility is what it is; we couldn’t see that thing until it was right on top of us. The sooner we get back, the better.”

The same female sighed, but trudged along in knee-high leather boots.

Right towards them.

‘Shit.’

“How can you not be amazed by this? We’re in a completely entire universe inhabited by talking horses and an environment which is more than capable of sustaining life. Can you imagine living here?”

“I can…” The armored female said with a wistful note.

The outsiders trekked closer towards their spot.

Matteo and Nico exchanged glances of worry; there was no way they wouldn’t be spotted if the outsiders came any closer than a few metres.

“What do we do?” Nico’s strained expression screamed.

“Shit, uh…” Matteo’s talons curled and dug furrows in the dirt as he watched metal-clad legs stomp closer. “Uh… gods damn it!”

He slid backwards, rose, and held up one hand.

“Wait!”

His instincts admonished him for making such sudden movements, but it couldn’t be helped; the outsiders caught him off-guard.

Startled by the sudden reveal, the female in the coat’s eyes widened and she stumbled backwards with a gasp. Immediately, the two armored figures rushed in front of her with astounding speed, each drawing a weapon and a shield.

“Get back!” The male ordered – his tone held authority but equal parts shock.

“Is that what I think it is?” The unarmoured female murmured, looking over her protectorates’ shoulders, mouth agape.

“There’re two of them!” The other female warned.

“Oh, this isn’t good…” Nico grumbled as he moved to Matteo’s side and watched the outsiders carefully. “Please tell me your plan goes beyond… this.”

“In a perfect world it does…” Matteo replied uneasily. His instincts told him to react in the face of weaponry, but the rational side of him won out, allowing him to remain calm. “Uh… greetings from Nuvole Villaggio, of the Griffon Kingdom. I am Matteo, of Clan Bronze-Wolf and this is Nico, of Clan Iron-Boar.”

“They talk! Knight Paladin, they talk!”

“Natalia, just…!” The male – Knight Paladin – turned his head to make a shushing noise to the coated female before redirecting his gaze on the griffons. “You’re… griffons?”

Matteo nodded slowly.

“And you speak English?”

“En… glish?” Matteo tested the unfamiliar word – it felt weird on his tongue. “No – I am speaking Equestrian, same as you.”

Through the helmet’s visor, he could see Knight Paladin’s small eyes narrow – whether in confusion or suspicion, he didn’t know.

“It’s just like the Old Tales describe them, Knight Paladin…” The armored female said with a soft air of reverence. “A hybrid of bird and lion.”

‘They know of us in their world? At least in their tales?’

For some reason, the prospect left a sinking feeling in Matteo’s gut.

Nico chuckled nervously and waved, drawing the outsiders’ attention. “So hey, how’s it going? We’ve kinda… been having some trouble with the creatures from your world, so if you could just… not let them through, that’d be great.”

“… How long?”

“What?”

‘Natalia’ ignored Knight Paladin’s grunt of disapproval and asked, “How long have you been having trouble with them?”

Nico glanced at Matteo briefly and scratched the side of his head. “Um… I can’t really say exactly, but… almost a year?”

“Is that the equivalent of what we constitute as a year? Twelve months?”

“Y-yes?”

“Fascinating,” Natalia – such a strange name – pressed her fingers against her ear again. “Team Valiant reporting in – we’ve encountered a sapient species capable of speech and independent thought. They… they call themselves griffons,” A pause. “Yes, as in ‘griffons’ from the Old Tales.”

“Who’s she talking to?” Nico asked, gesturing towards the female with a quizzical expression. “Is she crazy or something?”

“A picture? Uh, sure, hold on.”

“We’re communicating with home b-”

“Knight Bastion – fall in line!” Knight Paladin exclaimed, culling ‘Knight Bastion’ into silence. He inhaled deeply and turned back to them. “That’s classified information.”

“O-kay…”

Matteo frowned as his sensitive ears picked up a very faint click. The coated woman had taken out a very small, dark green rectangular object and held it vertically against her right eye, and her left index finger was pressing down on a small button.

‘Is that a camera? Wow, that’s small…’

“What are you guys?” Nico asked. “You sort of look like monkeys. That wasn’t offensive to say, was it?”

“… Humans.”

“Hew-mons…” He furrowed his brow. “Weird.”

“Why are you here?” Matteo watched the coated ‘human’ press her fingers to her again. “What do you want?”

“… speak English, but they refer to it as ‘Equestrian’ – over. Scan them? Hold on.”

“That’s classified information.”

“What’s she doing?” Matteo knew he should remain calm and level-headed, but when the coated female aimed that some electronic box at him, he couldn’t help but reach for his crossbow.

“Don’t move!” Knight Paladin shifted the tip of his sword towards Matteo in alarm.

“Sir, maybe you shouldn’t-”

“Hey, let’s all just calm down,” Nico lightly touched Matteo’s shoulder in a supportive gesture. “Look – your portals are making things difficult for our hunting parties, so the least you could do is tell us a little about yourselves.”

“I’m not in any position to tell you anything,” Knight Paladin explained in a somewhat calmer tone. “If HQ gives me the go-ahead, then I’ll tell you what I can, but until then my lips are sealed.”

“…” Nico sighed and swished his tail in frustration. “Y-you know what? Fine,” Turning to Matteo, he whispered, “Maybe we should just leave this to the Elder; we’re probably making things worse trying to do this diplomatic crap.”

“Do we even want to let these humans into the village?” Matteo whispered back, still keeping one eye on the outsiders. “They seem irritable and we don’t know what they want. And what’s that device the female’s pointing at us?”

“I don’t know!” Nico growled. “Gods, I… I’m just going off the top of my head here. What do you think we should do?”

“…”

“Well?”

“Give me a second!”

“… yes, we are. The readings aren’t what the probe sent us, but it’s definitely there. What? You want us to do what?”

Matteo’s mind raced as he carefully watched the unarmoured human lower her voice and turn away slightly.

An act to make sure whatever she was saying didn’t reach their ears.

The sinking feeling got worse.

“Natalia, what’s HQ saying?”

“Please tell us it’s something good.” Knight Bastion groaned.

“Wait for a moment, will you?”

The sounds of the rainforest died down, leaving a tense silence to hang between them. Matteo swallowed hard as he tried to think of something that could fill the quiet, defuse the charged atmosphere.

But he was a hunter, not a diplomat – he didn’t fight with words, but with tooth and claw.

‘Shit, why did they have to walk our way?’

“I… Yes… Yes, okay… I’ll tell them. Over and… and out.”

The coated female lowered her hand.

She turned with a pensive look on her face and walked over to Knight Paladin.

The taller human bent to the side so she could whisper into the side of his helmet.

Matteo’s ears perked and his stomach fell into a pit.

“Nico – fly back.”

“Wh-what?” Nico looked at him with wide eyes as Knight Paladin nodded to Knight Bastion. “Matteo-”

“Fly back now and warn the village!”

He drew his crossbow at the same time the knights dashed forwards.

With a single flap of his wings, he was airborne, and with a single tug of his talon, a bolt was loosed. It bounced harmlessly of Knight Paladin’s rust-red kite shield – almost as big as Matteo himself – and the human continued forwards without pause.

‘They can’t fly – use your advantages!’

Unfortunately, that advantage didn’t work too well when he backed into vines covered in small white flowers and hanging from the canopy.
Reacting to his presence, they ensnared his wings and started looping around his chest, holding him fast.

“Ah, shit!”

‘Stupid – be aware of your surroundings!’

“Hold on, buddy, I’ll get you outta there!”

Nico hovered in close and quickly started tearing the hungry vines to pieces with his talons and beak, grunting with the effort as Matteo simultaneously struggled and reloaded his crossbow.

‘Gods damn it!’

Shouting below caught his attention and when he looked down, the knights had dropped their weapons to start climbing the trees nearest to them. Though they weren’t as adept in it as actual monkeys, their speed and agility was far superior to what he expected from creatures of their size; the full body-armor did nothing to hinder their movement.

“Nico…”

“Working on-ungh!-it”

Cocking another bolt, Matteo aimed and fired.

The bolt pierced Knight Bastion’s swaying tabard and pinned it to the trunk of the tree she was climbing. It did little to slow her aside from eliciting a cursory glance down when she moved and created a long tear in the fabric.

“Damn it!” Matteo dug into one of the pouches of his bandolier, spilling several bolts down to the forest floor. “Nico!”

“Trying!”

“Get back to the village and warn everyone!”

“Fuck that! I’m getting you out of there! Argh, I swear you’re the worst flyer ever!”

“Nico!”

Matteo lashed out and grabbed his hunting partner by the plumage on his neck, forcing him to meet his steely gaze.

“Go. Warn. The. Village.”

‘You have a wife and a chick on the way. Don’t throw that away for someone who has none…’

Nico’s face creased into a look of utter misery, but he gripped Matteo’s shoulder firmly and gave a nod – an unspoken conversation passed between them – and then shot upwards, breaking through the thick canopy with a farewell screech.

‘Keep them safe.’

Without Nico’s efforts, the vines regenerated and continued wrapping him up like a present. They weren’t strong enough to crush larger creatures like him, but they could very well immobilize him, and Matteo cursed their simple intelligence as they pinned his arms, forcing him to drop the crossbow.

He picked up a noise to his side and turned to screech angrily at Knight Paladin reaching towards him.

‘If I’m going down, then I’m going down fighting!’

His powerful beak muscles strained as he bit down on the human’s hand. He didn’t penetrate, but Knight Paladin voiced his displeasure nonetheless, and shook his arm violently to try and get free.

The vines crawled across Matteo’s neck and onto the knight’s gauntlet, creeping up to his forearm and then his shoulder. They gave a firm tug that caused the branch the human was holding onto to break off.

“Goddamn it!”

The sudden weight pried open Matteo’s jaws and the world spun as the human’s added weight and momentum sent them both twisting and plunging amidst a shower of snapped vegetation.

Fortunately, Knight Paladin proved to be a sufficient enough – if not painful – cushion that saved Matteo from any broken bones and stunned the human long enough for him to scramble back up and launch forwards, wings flaring out to catch the air.

‘Holy shit, I’m gonna make-’

SKLUTCH

“Uh… ugh…”

Matteo’s wings drooped as he looked down at Natalia, both lying prone on the ground and both wearing expressions of utter shock. Looking even further down, he noticed a length of hard metal piercing his abdomen and hot crimson staining it, his feathers, and the human’s coat.

“Sh… Shit…”

A wave of nausea and fatigue overwhelmed him; he collapsed on top of Natalia, and couldn’t muster up any sort of strength to retaliate when she rolled him off to the side.

“Sir, are you alright?”

“Fine, fine – Natalia?”

“Uh, yeah, um… Just… Wow…”

Sunlight poured in through the hole Nico made in his escape. Matteo was thankful for that and sent out his gratitude as numbness started dulling his senses.

‘You better make it back, or I’ll kick your ass from the Hunting Grounds…’

“Sir… was this really necessary?”

“Of course it was! HQ wouldn’t tell us to do it if they weren’t-”

“I wasn’t asking you!”

“Hmph!”

“… Orders are orders, Bastion. You have a problem? Take it up with the Knight Enforcer.”

“I… Yes, sir.”

Matteo weakly turned his head a few inches and glared fearlessly up at Knight Paladin as the human loomed over him.

There was another sword in his hand.

“I’ll make it quick,” He raised it, catching the light. “Any last words?”

“… Here’s… a gesture…”

“Heh… fair enough.”

The sword slashed downwards and Matteo managed to pick up Natalia murmuring, “Odd that they have the same version of ‘flipping the-

And then, Matteo knew nothing.

“Team Valiant reporting in. We’ve successfully secured one of the griffons.”

“Understood. What happened to the other griffon?”

“It flew away; we couldn’t do anything to catch it.”

“Did you see the direction it went?”

“Um… north – towards a large mountain range. They mentioned they were from a place called ‘Nuvole Villaggio’.”

“A settlement?”

“I think so. What should we do?”

Removing the headphones from his head, the technician turned in his seat. “Knight Enforcer?”

“… Tell them to head back with the body. As soon as they’re here, close that portal before they can. We don’t need any more equipment damage.”

“Yes, sir,” The technician slid his headphones back on. “Team Valiant – you are to bring the body back for study.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then – will see you soon, HQ. Over and out.”

“… Scribe Penson.”

“Y-yes, Knight Enforcer?”

“I want a portal opened up in Zone Theta. If these studies prove successful, we’re going to need more ‘magic’…”

Author's Note

Note 1: Crossbows - though often shunned by both those who favor the traditional 'bow and arrow' strategy and those that prefer to hunt with what they were born with, this device has allowed many griffons to take down larger game from long distances.

A fairly recent contraption - first created by a mad griffon inventor named Stella in 950 AD - the crossbow is not without its cons; it is prone to jamming, takes a while to reload, and the telescopic sights give a select few migraines. Nevertheless, it has seen mass production in many of the Griffon Kingdom's Holds and has even found its way to neighboring countries such as Taurus - home of the minotaurs - and Equestria - home of the ponies.

Due to the nature of the weapon, the only ponies that could have some success in using it are pegasi and unicorns, so it is seldom seen.

I will not let my promise fade, Sybil. I swore that I would give these people a better life... and that is exactly what I will do. No matter the cost...

Chapter 37: I Will Come Back

1055 AD, November 12th

Cryptic stretched his jaws wide to let loose a powerful yawn, eyes clenching shut from the force.

“Arrgghh…” He gave a shake of his head as he passed by the locked doors. “Who even does… ‘things’ at nine in the morning?”

He had expected to be actually doing something worthwhile when he joined the Eclipse – perhaps involving those cool weapons down at the courtyard – but all his superior ever gave him was the same duty, every day.

Guard the Element bearers’ cells, guard the Element bearers’ cells – oh, you thought you were getting a new duty? Nope – go guard the Element bearers’ stupid cells.

‘You know what? Fair enough, I guess, but put my shift at a later time so I don’t frickin’ fall asleep!’

Of course he couldn’t complain about it.

Well… he could, but nopony actually listened to him.

Shame – he had some good ideas.

“Excuse me… good sir?”

“What’s what?”

Cryptic looked around the empty corridor before looking towards the door he had stopped in front of. He was ninety percent sure it was the cell for the purple-haired banshee.

“Um…” Looking around again to make sure nopony else was watching, Cryptic leaned in towards the door, one eyebrow arched quizzically. “Yeah? Did you say something?”

“Yes, I… I really don’t mean to be a bother, but it’s quite an emergency,” Her voice was soft and slightly muffled; Cryptic had to place his ear close to the door’s keyhole to hear her clearly. “My personal hygiene is at stake, you see.”

“How so?”

“The shower is on the fritz; I haven’t been able to get the blasted contraption to work for a full day now,” He heard her give a melancholic sigh. “I’ve asked the other guards, but they’ve ignored me. You’re the only one kind enough to stop and listen.”

“Yeah, the others are kinda… huge pricks.”

“I don’t suppose you’ve a hoof for being a handystallion? I would be very much obliged.”

Cryptic did know some basic repairs and his natural instinct as a stallion was to help a mare in need. However, the mare in question just so happened to be a prisoner, and call him crazy, but he had a feeling the Empress wouldn’t be too happy about anypony entering their cells without her knowledge.

‘But who’s gonna know? Nopony comes around until twelve and it won’t take long to have a look at the shower. Besides, she’s sick or some shit; nothing you can’t handle if she gets rowdy.’

“Yeah, sure, but I want you as far away from the door when I come in. Get it?” Lighting up his horn, Cryptic telekinetically lifted the keys dangling from his side and jingled them so she could hear.

“Yes, of course – I shan’t attempt a thing while you see to the shower. You have my word.”

Cryptic waited for a bit for her to get away from the door before unlocking it and entering the cell.

‘Cell’ was a bit misleading in his opinion; the interior was much nicer than his apartment, and the sight made him bristle.

‘How the hell do these mares get better quarters than me?’

Across the plush carpet, the mare – Generosity, was it? Rarity, then – was balanced on her hind legs and had her forehooves pressed against the wall.

The position was very flattering from his point of view.

Rarity craned her neck so she was looking at him from over her shoulder, smiling shyly. “I hope this is satisfactory?”

‘Oh, you have no idea…’

“Yeah, just stay there…” Cryptic turned to close and lock the door again before trotting over to the bathroom. “And I’ll have a look at that shower.”

The bathroom was just as fancy as the rest of the room and it had an overwhelming fragrance – something akin to lavender and the like. He located the shower – one of those stalls with glass walls and a detachable shower head – and started off by turning the taps.

Nothing.

“Hm…”

He briefly looked over his shoulder to confirm that Rarity hadn’t snuck up on him before using magic to mess with shower head’s hose.

“Why are you…?”

He gave a few sharp tugs on the hose and something rattled in the wall. Frowning, he pulled the hose in different directions, and was rewarded with a dribble of hot water from the shower head.

With another hum of thought, Cryptic twisted the taps off, pulled the hose in that same direction, and then quickly cranked the taps to full blast.

The stream of water was weak and cold – very cold, his hooves protested – at first, but repeating the action finally achieved the results he was looking for. With a nod of satisfaction, he placed the shower head back, and walked back out into the room.

“All fixed,” Truthfully, he didn’t know exactly what he did to fix it, but it worked and made him look good, so who was he to complain? “Some of the parts were misaligned or something.”

“Oh, you are a gem!” Rarity preened happily, smiling in gratitude. “Truly, you are. It’s been so hectic for me these past days and the shower is… well, as childish as it sounds, that was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’, as they say.”

He liked the smile she sent him and he puffed out his chest with pride and smirked back. “Ah, it was nothing.”

“Perhaps for you, but…” Her smile waned somewhat and she shook her head. “Oh, you probably don’t want to hear me complain.”

“No, no – go on,” He’d grin through her woes if it meant more time to ogle her toned thighs and healthy flank. “I don’t mind.”

“You’re too kind. Obviously, this ring on my horn is causing duress, even with the medicine the physician prescribed, but it’s something I can tolerate,” Once more, she shook her head with a sad sigh. “No, it’s the little things. You see, even in my old cell, I had a friend to keep me company. This cell…” She gestured to the room. “It is nicer, but I’m so lonely. I’m a creature of social interaction and accustomed to the noise of the crowd, so this isolation is… stifling.”

She darkly laughed in self-depreciation and dropped back down onto all fours, only to turn and sit with her back against the wall.

“Ugh, I’m so pathetic…”

Cryptic’s natural urge to comfort a damsel in distress – especially one so pretty – took over and he trotted closer, enough that he could smell her alluring scent.

“You’re lonely, huh?”

“Yes…” Her bottom lip trembled and she held her face in her hooves, groaning miserably. “I suppose I just want somepony to talk to, to communicate with…”

Blood rushed to Cryptic’s cheeks when the beautiful mare looked over at him, eyes shining. Oh, but he was a sucker for eyes like that.

“To hold me…”

The volume of her voice lowered to a husky contralto that made his hormones boil to the surface. Incidentally, it also drowned out the part of his mind telling him that something was seriously off about this scenario.

‘But Faust, she totally wants me; when’s the next time I’m gonna get with somepony this smokin’ hot?’

“Ah heh…” Rarity blushed cutely and played with her mane. She turned to stare at the floor. “Oh my, what’s gotten into me? I’m not usually like this, but you’re so… We shouldn’t…”

Though not a particularly suave stallion, the grace with which Cryptic swept in and gently caressed her face, turning her surprised face towards him, was nothing short of romantic.

“I don’t mind…”

She hesitated, teeth worrying at her bottom lip, before she pressed her mouth against his with breath-taking passion.

‘Heh heh – score!’

Making sure their lips were locked together, Cryptic lifted her with both magic and physical strength, and carried her over to the bed. The sudden weight made the springs creak, but he was beyond caring, and broke the kiss so he could nip at her neck.

She moaned aloud and squeaked adorably when he trailed down her belly. Sitting back, he started taking off his armor – a feat that was very difficult considering his heated state of mind – while Rarity giggled and coyly spread her legs.

‘Fuck it.’

Deciding to deal with the armor later, Cryptic licked his lips as he bent down, muzzle inches away from-

WHAM

“Huff… huff… huff…”

Rarity’s throbbing forehoof shook as she examined the unconscious stallion lying on the floor, knocked clean off the bed from the force of her blow.

When she confirmed that he was most definitely out for the count, she whimpered and shuddered violently, feeling dirty.

“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…”

‘No, now’s not the time, Rarity; your friends are depending on you. Remember Luna’s plan.’

“Ah, Luna’s… Right, Luna’s plan… Luna’s…” She took a deep breath and rubbed at her face vigorously. “Luna’s plan…”

She took another second to compose herself and then hopped off the bed to snatch the keys hanging from the guard’s hip. She raced over to the door, fumbled twice in her rush to unlock it before finally succeeding, and cautiously looked out into the corridor.

‘Nopony there – just as she said.’

Time was key and with that in mind, Rarity rushed to the door on her immediate right, knocked five times – three, beat, two – and unlocked it before moving on to do the same for the other four.

By the time she finished unlocking the last door, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were already out, and the two wasted no time in giving her a sorely-needed hug.

“Ohmigosh, you are, like, the most badass girly-girl in Equestria!” Rainbow Dash laughed as she squeezed her tight.

Applejack was more sensitive and gently said, “You did good, Rares. Are you okay?”

“Oh, more than okay, darling,” She replied and gladly nuzzled Pinkie Pie when the hyperactive mare zipped in to join the hug. “Now that you’re all here by my side.”

“I’m so proud of you.” Fluttershy said from somewhere between Pinkie and Applejack.

It would have been easy for them to stay there for a while, revelling in the safety of each other’s company, but they knew there were greater things at stake. The five mares parted with some reluctance and got ready for the next phase of their task.

“Princess Luna said this here’s th’ route with th’ least amount of guards,” Applejack pulled a folded piece of paper from underneath her hat and spread it out on the floor. On it was a crudely drawn map of the castle. “We follow these directions an’ we’ll find where they’ve been holdin’ Princess Celestia.”

“Oh!”

Free of the obsidian ring, Rarity let out a sigh of untold relief and nuzzled Fluttershy gratefully as the shy pegasus spat the cruel object onto the floor. “Thank you, dearie,” She then turned to Pinkie. “Now, I know this may be a tad… difficult for you, but we must remain quiet.”

“No problemo!” Pinkie saluted her and made a zipping motion across her mouth. “These lips will stay sealed! Except for that. And that. And that. And-”

“Yes, I understand, really.”

Applejack’s expression became serious as she looked to each of her friends. “Ah don’t mean ta be worryin’ ya’ll, but we can’t fail this. If we do… well, ah think we can all agree tha’ Nightmare Moon won’t be merciful.”

“Hell yeah!” Rainbow Dash smiled wickedly and placed her hoof between them. “Who’s ready to kick some ass?”

One by one, four other hooves laid themselves on top of hers.

“Ready as a bun in the oven!”

“Sure as apple pie we will!”

“Nothing shall get in our way!”

“Yay…”

“Sister, they should be out by now.”

“I worry for them, Luna.”

“They are strong; they will find you.”

“I have no doubt in their strength, but they should not have to do this in the first place. I should have beaten her.”

“Do not blame yourself, sister; she is, and has always been, my mistake. It pains me that you all suffer because of me.”

“This isn’t something you will shoulder alone, Luna. We will not fight each other this time, but against her, together. Just like old times.”

“Will you be ready?”

Celestia came out of her stupor and when she opened her eyes, the cold and damp air of her cell heated to a degree that would be uncomfortable to anypony else.

“Must you ask?”

Two Eclipse guards patrolling the hallways turned a corner and came across a plate of cookies sitting near a supply closet.

“… Ooh!” The earth pony of the pair licked his lips and made for the treats, only for his companion to swiftly yank him back by the tail. “Ow!”

The pegasus spat his tail out and shook her head admonishingly. “Seriously?”

“But it’s-”

“Seriously?”

“… Yeah, okay.”

“Come on – let’s go tell our-”

CLANG

CLANG

“Tee-hee! Night-night!” Pinkie giggled and stored the frying pan back into her mane.

The supply closet’s door swung open and five mares – three already suited up in ‘confiscated armor’ – exited.

“Pinkie, ah have no idea how ya’ll do tha’, but ah’m so glad ya can,” Applejack sent her friend a grin of approval before quickly setting to work. “Hey, Rares – this one’s yer size.”

“Please hurry…” Fluttershy squeaked and glanced into the closet to check on the three stripped and unconscious guards. Her helmet slid forwards and blocked her eyes, forcing her to push it back up as she added, “I-I think we’re a l-little behind. W-we’re still on time for the plan, right? Oh dear…”

“Maybe a minute or two…” Rainbow Dash said without thinking and then flinched when she noticed her friend’s alarmed expression. “But we’re still cool! Don’t freak out, okay? Just, uh… Do that breathing thing Twilight does.”

As Fluttershy started copying the relaxation technique, Applejack and Rarity – both now clad in armor – dragged the guards over to the closet and rather unceremoniously chucked them in with the others.

“Dash’s right…” Applejack adjusted her helmet as Rarity shut and locked the door. “Tha’ last patrol was late, so we’re a mite behind. We need ta pick up th’ pace or somepony’s gonna wonder where their buddies ran off to. Remember – stay in yer pairs, keep yer heads down, an’ ah’ll bring up th’ rear.”

Luna had droned the route to take into their dreams, so they all had a good idea where to go even without Applejack reading the map. Rarity and Pinkie were the first to pair up and trot down the corridor, and when they turned the corner, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash followed, the latter having tucked her tail into her armor.

It looked suspicious, but her colours were simply too unique and telling to go unseen.

‘Thank heavens those girls ain’t bouncin’ and faintin’.’

Once the two disappeared around the corner, Applejack trotted along with a nervous swallow.

She’d been dreading this part of the plan: to have to let her friends go out of sight, limited as it may be. She didn’t feel comfortable not being at the front.

“Trust me over th’ others?” Applejack quirked an eyebrow as she turned and primed herself for a solid buck. “What do ya mean by tha’?”

“Oh, I don’t mean that I don’t trust the others, I do! With my life, in fact,” Twilight’s cheeks darkened in embarrassment. “But it’s just that I can trust you more to think clearly and take charge in a situation.”

Applejack hummed as she thought on that. “Ah guess…”

Pausing, she lifted her hind legs and pushed out with as much force as she could muster. A small grin of pride spread on her face as she heard the sweet sounds of dozens of apples landing in their baskets. Lowering her legs and standing straight, she wiped some sweat from her brow.

“Ah’m not perfect, ya know. Apple stubbornness comes in handy at times, but it also causes us ta bite off a lil’ more than we can chew.”

“Everypony has their faults…” Twilight replied and looked over her shoulder with a meaningful expression.

Applejack followed her gaze and looked down the hill at the farm. Out in front of the barn, Big Mac and Rainbow Dash cleared away debris from last night’s storm. Fluttershy was gently ushering the recently-found pigs back into their pens while Rarity and Pinkie could be seen in the farm’s kitchen window, apparently arguing over the boiling broth.

“They’re the best friends anypony could ask for, but I can’t really see them leading. Rainbow Dash is too brash, Fluttershy’s too shy, Pinkie’s… well, she’s Pinkie, and Rarity already told me she doesn’t feel comfortable being in charge of anything that isn’t one of her projects. You, though – you’re sensible and down to earth; you run your own business and farm.”

“Ah, shucks, yer goin’ ta give me a mighty big head with tha’ sort of talk,” Applejack pulled on her hat to hide her blush. “Besides… you’re the ringleader of our group.”

“I’m a little more neurotic and… prone to overreaction than I’d like to be,” Twilight admitted with a bashful grin. She paused briefly, still smiling and looking out over the hill, and then turned to add, “I guess what I’m trying to say is… I’m glad you’re here… in case something happens to me. I know you’ll look after them.”

Here, Applejack’s smile faltered, and her brow drew together seriously. “Twi’? Yer actin’ a lil’ funny. Everything okay, sugarcube?”

“Hm? Oh no, everything’s fine, really,” She laughed and shook her head. “Sorry if I sounded so fatalistic there; it was just something I felt I needed to say.”

“But what brought it on?”

“I’m a princess now and I’m expected to lead a lot more ponies than you five girls. So I guess I just have leadership on the mind. I’m alright though, I promise.”

Applejack examined her alicorn friend closely before nodding in satisfaction. “Alright, but ya’ll are more than welcome ta talk ta me, ta any of us, if yer feelin’ down. Understand?”

Twilight laughed again, fondly. “I know.”

“Good,” On a whim, Applejack moved in and nuzzled her affectionately, an action which took Twilight by surprise but was returned nonetheless. Applejack leaned back, smiling and feeling more sure of her friend’s wellbeing. “Now, seein’ as yer so ‘alright’, how’s about a lil’ competition? Who can get th’ most apples?”

“Ah, I don’t mean to sound like a killjoy, but…” With a cheeky look, Twilight tapped the base of her horn. “Magic.”

In response, Applejack slapped her flank, an equally cheeky look on her face. “Horsepower.”

“…” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Well then…”

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three!”

“G-! Hey! We’re supposed to go after three, not…! Oh, you cheater!”

Applejack joined the others as they grouped near a corner.

“The guards there?”

“Yep,” Pinkie adjusted some knobs on her… well, Applejack didn’t really know what it was. It was like a miniature telescope, but it was flexible enough to bend around the corner. She would have questioned the logistics of such a device, but this was Pinkie. “They both look uber-bored.”

“Good,” Applejack nodded as Pinkie got off the floor and hid the telescope back into her mane. “Alright, Fluttershy – you’re with me.”

Fluttershy bit her bottom lip with a worried expression, but bravely nodded and trotted alongside Applejack as they turned the corner.

Luna had mentioned that there was an alarm system near Celestia’s cell that the guards could trip and alert the entire castle. That, combined with the long and narrow corridor that they needed to walk down, meant that they couldn’t all go at the same time; the guards would be suspicious of such a large group and trip the alarm faster than any of them could run down the corridor.

To get in close and take them out as fast as possible, they needed to go in a pair, and that pair needed to contain Fluttershy.

“Keep yer eyes down.” She whispered through gritted teeth, eyes locked straight ahead. Fluttershy made an almost inaudible noise of acknowledgement and lowered her head.

Pinkie was right: the guards – both unicorns – looked absolutely bored. The stallion on the right was just staring blankly at the wall on his side, lost in daydreams, and the stallion on the left was whistling a jaunty tune.

They actually made it more than halfway before one of them noticed.

“Uh? Oh! Who goes there?” The stallion on the right quickly wiped some drool from the corner of his mouth and lit up his horn.

“Empress sent us…” Applejack replied in an exaggerated deep voice. They were only a few steps away now. “There’s an emergency. There’s some, uh… dissenters in disguise.”

“Dissenters?”

“Yeah. We’re tryin’ ta find ‘em.”

The stallion on the left frowned suspiciously. “How do we know you’re not the dissenters?”

Closer.

“Ya’ll can check if’n ya want. Just, uh, use those horns.”

“Don’t mind if we do,” The first stallion took a step closer and started preparing his spell. “Hold still for a moment and we…”

He trailed off because at that point, Fluttershy raised her head and opened her eyes wide. The two guards matched her stare with open-mouthed terror and slumped to the floor the next moment.

Applejack let out a sigh of relief before turning to Fluttershy and saying, “You okay there, sugarcube? Ah know ya’ll don’t much care fer usin’ tha’ Stare on ponies.”

“I’m fine…” Fluttershy answered with a reassuring smile. “Let’s finish this.”

“There’s mah girl!”

As the others rounded the corner and jogged over, Applejack bent down and grabbed the lone key hanging from one of the guard’s side.

“So this is where they’ve been holding Celestia?” Rainbow Dash said, examining the intimidating metal door which Applejack wasted no time in unlocking. “Serious security.”

Ebony’s sour face frightened away any Eclipse guards and staff that crossed her path.

Well, either that or the pungent stench of the bits of viscera that stained her coat and leaked from the crevices in her armor.

‘Moon’s Shadow, I look like I just wandered off the set of Scythe Crucify.’

She thought she was getting somewhere with that Resurrection spell; the rabbit had even gotten up and walked around a little… until it ruptured quite spectacularly.

Well, at least it was somewhat close to the results she had been yearning to see. It was nice of Haze to pull some strings and send her the corpses of pets whose owners were perhaps a little too lenient with their feeding times.

‘Ah, there it is.’

Ebony reached out with her magic and grasped the knob of the supply closet. Hopefully, the castle’s staff hadn’t taken all of the cleaning products.

Creak

“…”

Creak

“… Princess?”

“Empress!”

“I thought I told you not to interrupt me during this procedure!”

“The Element bearers… they’re gone…”

“… What?”

“Th-they’re gone.”

“…”

“Heh… I… I knew my friends… would… escape…”

“Be quiet. Ebony – sound the alarm.”

“My little ponies…”

A rattle of chains and several gasps filled the stiflingly hot room as Celestia walked into the light that spilled through the door.

“Oh dear…” Rarity’s eyes watered and she pressed a hoof to her mouth. “Princess – what has that monster done to-”

“Forgive my interruption, but time is of the essence,” Despite how worn she looked, there was an unsettling calmness to Celestia’s movements. She smiled, yes, and seeing them filled her eyes with genuine joy, but there was an undercurrent of raw menace that stained each word. “We must free my sister and find Twilight in the laboratory.”

“Well, yeah…” Rainbow Dash gestured to the thick bars that separated them. “But how’re we gonna get you out of-”

CRACK

All five bearers flinched and stared in horrified astonishment as Celestia turned back to them, having rammed her head into the wall hard enough to break her horn and leave a near-perfect imprint of her face.

A jagged chunk of obsidian fell to the floor, settling next to the length of broken bone.

“I… I apologize for exposing you… to that…” Celestia’s entire frame quivered violently as she fought to keep her calm façade and not cry out in agony. Rejuvenated by the natural light that filled her cell, Celestia began to literally steam, and her horn started growing back. “I only need a few moments more.”

“Princess…” Rainbow Dash began, completely in awe as she pressed her hooves against her cheeks. “You are hardcore.”

And that’s when an ear-splitting klaxon started.

“What th’ hay?!” Applejack spun around as the siren continued its drone. “But th’ guards are still out of it!”

“Somepony must have discovered our escape!” Rarity cried.

Fluttershy whimpered and laid flat against the floor, covering her ears. “Oh no, that means Nightmare Moon knows!”

“The plan still stands!” Celestia said firmly and threw her body weight against the bars. Several broke upon impact and she stumbled forwards slightly before regaining her balance. Swiftly, she ushered them out of the cell with a few pushes of her large wings. “We’re going to free Luna!”

“Oh, but she’s waaaay on the other side of the castle!” Pinkie pointed out as they broke into a run down the corridor. “And there’re so many hallways full of baddies! It’s like when mean ol’ Chrissy invaded; we’d just get tired fighting them!”

“Which is why it’s a shame I have to do this!” Celestia answered as she overtook them with her long and powerful legs, her expression one of fierce determination.

Flying alongside a panting Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow as they started approaching the end of the corridor. “Uh, you know there’s a wall there… right?”

Celestia knew that; she just didn’t care.

CRASH

Plaster and wood blew across the guest room’s interior as Celestia physically bypassed the wall without slowing down. She shook her head to scatter some debris from her mane and promptly gave the next wall the same treatment.

The Element bearers followed the trail of destruction with wide eyes and more than a little reverence.

“She should come to Maud’s birthday party next year.” Pinkie said with a big grin.

“All of you get back to the castle now! The Element bearers have escaped!”

A mere few blocks away, Miasma, Veil, and Fade clutched at their heads in pain. Nightmare Moon had done something to augment the strength of her telepathy and they were close enough that it was akin to having her yelling inside their skulls.

“Shit!” Fade shook his head to clear the pain with an amped-up laugh and then spread his wings. “Good thing we’re already going back, yeah?”

“Mm-hm…” Miasma gestured to the castle and looked back at her brother and friend. “Mind giving me a lift?”

Veil groaned. “Sure – not like you weigh more than the two of us combined.”

“More of me to love.”

“We’re almost there! Don’t slow down!”

CRASH

The Element bearers ran through another hole the princess had kindly left for them, passing by a janitor with a mop in one hoof and an expression of utter bewilderment.

They had been running for at least a full minute now and in that time, Celestia had regrown most of her horn and her mane was starting to regain its astral properties, making it much easier to follow her when dust clouds obscured their vision.

“Pfft! Pfft! Pwah!” Applejack blew a raspberry as dust particles tickled her throat. “This ain’t good fer mah sinuses!”

“Preaching to the choir, darling! Achoo!”

Celestia broke through another wall and took a hard left. They did the same and their vision cleared enough to see down the long hallway.

“Hey, there’s Luna’s cell!” Rainbow Dash pointed down the hallway, towards a thick metal door that had two – very terrified – guards stationed in front. “Alright, we made it!”

What happened next was… very sudden.

The floor beneath Celestia’s hooves exploded.

While debris shot upwards, a black and blue blur smashed into the princess and carried her into the right wall.

It didn’t hold up very well.

The Element bearers skidded to a stop and stared blankly at the destroyed wall. Applejack was the first to recover and bounded over, a gasp of horror fleeing her lips as she watched Celestia and her attacker plummet several stories.

“Princess!”

“AJ, get down!”

Rainbow Dash pushed her to the floor in time for two magic bolts to pass over their heads. With a determined scowl, she leapt into the air and closed the distance between her and the guards before they could charge another spell.

She hit one of them hard with the full momentum of her flight and knocked him into the wall hard enough to leave a crater. He was out cold in an instant.

The next guard tried to draw his sword, but Rainbow Dash gave a swift punch to his horn, stunning him long enough for a quick jab, a kick, and a stomp to send him to the floor. She had to get down and choke him into unconsciousness.

“You guys get that door open!” Panting, she snatched up the key from the fallen guard and tossed it to her friends. “I’m gonna go help the princess!”

“No you ain’t!” Applejack placed her body before the pegasus, blocking her path. “We’re stickin’ together an’ goin’ ta find Twilight; th’ princesses said so!”

“But…”

“If anypony can help Celestia, then it’s Luna,” Nodding firmly, Applejack took the key from Rarity’s magical grasp and ran by Rainbow Dash to unlock the door. “Don’t get ahead of yerself now!”

Rainbow Dash cursed under her breath at the acrid sting of helplessness, but remained with the others as they opened the door to Luna’s cell and entered.

A complete polar opposite to where Celestia had been imprisoned, Luna’s cell was brightly lit with sunlight streaming in from arched windows installed high in the walls. The air was unbearably hot and dry.

“Oh thank Mother Faust!” From behind steel bars, a dishevelled Luna approached them eagerly, though her smile faded when she realized her older sibling was not with them. “What…? Where is my sister?”

“She got knocked outta th’ castle by somethin’!” Applejack replied as she attempted to buck the bars down. The others joined, but their efforts were painfully futile. “It might be Nightmare Moon!”

“There’s a lever behind you!” Luna pushed her foreleg through the gaps to point at an inconspicuous lever attached to the cell door’s wall. “It drops the window shutters to block out the light of the moon!”

Fluttershy zipped over and pulled on it with a satisfying click. The lighting of the cell dropped dramatically as metal shutters dropped in front of the windows with a metal grind.

“You have done well…” Luna said. She shuddered in delight as darkness washed over her. “But it’s not over yet. You must go to the laboratory and find Twilight while I assist my sister.”

“Are you gonna be okay?” Rainbow Dash questioned with a look of concern. “You kinda look… pretty bad.”

“I will not abandon my sister.” Luna growled and turned to the wall before rearing her head back…

Her shoulder blade cracked upon hitting the ground, but Nightmare Moon ignored it; she rolled to absorb the momentum, still gripping Celestia with her magic, and threw her opponent into one of the many stone statues that beautified the castle’s gardens.

“I must admit that I am impressed…” Nightmare Moon trembled with rage, a deranged sense of excitement, and the pain of her bones misaligning. She watched as Celestia rose from the debris with a dribble of blood staining her muzzle. “I really thought I had you all pegged down, but then... then you do this!”

Celestia sent off a blazing fireball that Nightmare Moon sidestepped; the projectile splashed harmlessly against another statue as the Empress charged forwards. Still recovering, Celestia misjudged a right hook, and Nightmare Moon ducked underneath the swipe to counter with a powerful punch that sent her tumbling backwards.

“How did you do it?” Nightmare Moon flew after her opponent and prepared a spell. “Some ancient spell that even I am not aware of?”

Celestia teleported several metres to the side and on her feet, wincing as Nightmare Moon launched a twinkling ball of ice down where she had been a mere nanosecond ago. Thick cones of ice erupted from the point of impact as the grass was flash-frozen.

“No… it was Luna, wasn’t it? She was still able to call on her accursed Dreamwalk!”

Rays of sunlight beamed down upon Celestia and she drew in a breath as they lent her strength and vigour. The grass surrounding her hooves began to wilt and turn brown.

“You draw strength from darkness and the moon, just as my sister does…” With a fwoosh, Celestia’s mane flared into a wreathing mass of red, orange, and yellow flames. Her eyes turned crimson and the whites of her eyes burned intensely. “I draw my strength from the sun.”

Nightmare Moon scoffed with a mocking grin. “Oh, so am I meant to be afraid of you now?”

“It’ll be a start.”

Tensing, Celestia extended her wings and leapt-

Shadow closed his massive jaws around the white alicorn and looked down towards his master, tail wagging happily.

Nightmare Moon chuckled lowly in amusement. “Well, that’s rather embarrassing, isn’t it?”

Shadow whined in discomfort as smoke started billowing from the corners of his mouth. Before his enchanted body could be overpowered by the tremendous heat, he spat his catch out onto the grass, now liberally covered in hardening sap.

Celestia sourly glared at her foe. “I really despise you right now…”

“There it is!”

There was a single guard standing beside the door to the laboratory. To her credit, she was completely prepared to stand her ground despite being outnumbered, confident in her training.

After swiftly knocking her unconscious – “I could teach you my technique, dearies” – they pushed the door open, briefly taken aback by the overpowering scent of cinnamon.

“The hell?” A mare with a mane of vibrant red and yellow looked over with wide eyes. Her horn flickered from the break in concentration and she only just barely caught a beaker in her hooves.

“Hey, where’s Twilight?” Applejack searched the area for her friend, but the only pony in the room was them and the unfamiliar mare. “You – where’s Twilight?! She’s supposed ta be here!”

“I don’t know!” The mare shrugged as she placed the fragile container on one of the many tables and turned to face them. “We were supposed to be recording the Resonator’s energy readings, but then Nightmare Moon came in and said something about her ‘honouring a boon’,” She paused as she got her first good look at them. “Wait… you’re her friends… What are you guys doing out of your cells?”

Applejack ignored her and slammed a hoof down on one of the tables with an expression of fury. “Consarn it! Who knows where tha’ varmint’s taken her?”

“A-are you escaping?” The mare approached them with an air of desperation. “Please take me with you!”

“We don’t even know who you are!” Rainbow Dash said with no small amount of suspicion.

“S-Sunset Shimmer – I’ve been forced to work with Twilight and Nightmare Moon to help build the Resonator. But I don’t want to be here; I’ve got a life to get back to and it’s not in Equestria!”

“I don’t see a Raisinator anywhere,” Pinkie said as she looked around the lab. “Luna showed me in my dreams and it’s got all these lights and wires and it goes beep-boop-beep!”

“It’s called the Resonator and…” Sunset shook her head helplessly. “And I don’t where Nightmare Moon took it. I told her that it’d be safer and more secure in the lab, but noooo, she has to have everything her way.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t look very convinced, but her expression softened when she felt a hoof on her shoulder and she turned to face Fluttershy.

“If she wants to leave, we can’t just abandon her…”

Applejack nodded in agreement. “Fluttershy’s right,” With a stern look, she pointed at Sunset. “But ah don’t trust ya’ll just yet, so you best watch yerself, ya hear?”

“Yeah, sure, I’m creepy, whatever; can we please just go? Somewhere? Anywhere that’s not here?” She gestured to the interior of the lab for emphasis.

“Not until we find Twilight. She has ta be here somewhere.”

“Argh!”

With a screech of metal, Celestia was batted through the castle’s front gates and skidded across the cobblestone streets of Canterlot. Bystanders whinnied and gasped in shock as she cratered into the side of a building, and then fled in alarm when they saw Nightmare Moon and an enormous timber wolf crossing the front gardens.

Spitting up a wad of bloody saliva, Celestia snarled and spread her wings to fly into the air. Higher and higher she rose until the sun was at her back.

While it was obviously common sense to keep an eye on one’s opponent at all times, there were exceptions…

Calling on her magic cache, Celestia cast a simple spell that illuminated her horn with the power and intensity of the sun.

Nightmare Moon roared in pain and plummeted to the ground with burnt-out corneas. Shadow was less affected – having senses which purely relied on magic – but the sudden burst of light still made him falter and stumble to a halt, vigorously rubbing at his face with a massive paw.

“Have at thee, creature!”

As a salvo of ice struck Shadow’s joints and knocked him onto his side, Celestia’s face lit up with joy when she saw her sister fly into sight.

“Lu-Lu!” Luna flew straight over and the two embraced sweetly. “I’m so glad you’re alright!”

“As am I for you, ‘Tia,” The embrace, unfortunately, had to come to an end. Luna pulled away, her expression turning serious as she looked down at their enemy. “Come – we shall see to this demon together.”

“Well, well…”

Nightmare Moon laughed cruelly and got back up, blinking out tears as her eyes regenerated. At any other time, one might have considered themselves lucky to see her weep, as much as an involuntary body reflex it was.

“Reunited at last, I see,” She chuckled again and covered her face with her left wing as Shadow broke through the ice covering the joint of his right hind leg; shards of ice bounced harmlessly off the appendage. “It won’t help you though. You are still weak and, like you, I am not alone in this fight.”

“Your pet…” Luna sneered as she and Celestia began charging up spells; the lights of their horns cast deep shadows across the street. “Will not be enough to stand against our combined-”

CRACK

Luna’s eyes widened and her mouth opened in a silent scream as something collided with her back and sent her plummeting to the ground.

“Luna!!”

Celestia’s efforts to aid her sibling were thwarted when two spears of solid ice impaled her wings. The pain and destroyed muscles were enough to knock her from the air and fall to the ground.

Several yards from her, pressed flat against a six-inch depression of shattered cobblestone and dirt, Luna clenched her teeth against the throes of agony and rolled over as soon as her spine clicked back into place, swiping with a forehoof wildly.

Miasma quickly jumped away before she was hit and backed off, frowning in determination.

Despite the unexpected assault, both sisters quickly recovered and stood, flexing with pained grimaces as their injuries swiftly healed. The two then moved towards each other, turning so they were tail-to-tail, primed with battle tension as Fade and Veil floated so they were on opposite sides of the alicorns, forming a circle, entrapping them.

“You could surrender…” From behind Nightmare Moon, Ebony and Haze arrived dressed in their armor. Haze shimmered into an almost-completely invisible state once he got close. “If you do so right now, then I promise you and the Element bearers will be exempt from any form of punishment.”

Celestia and Luna met one another’s eyes and an unspoken conversation passed between them.

Recognizing the fury and defiance in their eyes, Nightmare Moon chuckled sinisterly as her cheeks split apart into a bloody rictus.

“I was hoping you’d refuse…”

“Anything?”

“Nope!”

“I’m afraid not.”

Sunset danced in the same spot as she cast furtive glances between the searching Element bearers and the ends of the corridors. She worried at her lip, antsy from the expectation of Nightmare Moon barrelling towards her to inflict grievous harm and more than a few cups of coffee.

God, she wanted to get out of there so badly, but those stupid mares were so intent to…!

“This is ridiculous!” She finally snapped, startling Fluttershy into going rigid with a frightened squeal. “Even if we find Twilight – and that’s a big ‘if’ – she’s not gonna know where the Elements are either! Nightmare Moon hid them away and it’ll take all day to search through this castle!”

“Aw, cool!” Rainbow Dash slammed a door and turned to her with an expression that told everypony she did not think this was cool. “Somepony pointing out problems we already know! You know what’s better than that? Somepony who gives out solutions!”

Immediately going on the defensive, Sunset matched the pegasus’ glare and shouted, “What do you expect me to do?!”

“Why don’t you put that horn of yours to good use?!” Rainbow Dash shouted back and took a step forwards. “Can’t you just cast a spell that senses magic or something?”

“I…” Sunset faltered as her eyes lit up in recognition. “I know a spell; it can help locate Twilight, but-”

“What? You could’ve found her this entire time?!”

“Hey, get off my back! It’s not a spell that I…” It took visible effort for Sunset to continue and her face scrunched up like she ingested something bad. “That I know very well.”

“We’re pretty desperate…” Applejack said gravelly, trotting up beside Rainbow Dash. She placed a hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder to calm her down, but it didn’t seem to have much effect. “Can ya try?”

Sunset bit her bottom lip decisively for a moment before silently nodding. She closed her eyes and magic flowed across her horn. The Element bearers watched and waited as Sunset’s brow wrinkled in concentration.

“… Hn…” Sunset grunted, dimmed her horn, and lit it up again, blindly turning this way and that. “Almost…”

She suddenly paused and ‘looked’ down at her feet.

“… There.”

Five pairs of eyes followed Sunset’s outstretched hoof, pointed directly at the floor.

“Below us?” Rarity asked.

“A few floors…” Sunset put out her horn and opened her eyes, turning to them with a nod. “She’s in a chamber, I think. It’s not guarded, but there’re a few devices giving off magical residue; alarm systems most likely.”

“Can ya disable 'em?”

“No promises.”

Applejack nodded. “Better than nothin’. Show us th’ way.”

“Alright, come on then…”

Sunset brushed past them and bolted down the corridor. She took a right at a ‘T’ and led them down some carpet-covered stairs before taking another right.

“Can’t ya just teleport us or something?” Rainbow Dash flew to easily match Sunset’s admittedly unimpressive pace.

“Too many physical obstructions…” She panted in reply, briefly stumbling as the carpet made way for recently-waxed linoleum tiles. “Dunno about you… but I’d prefer not to get my… molecular structure caught between solids.”

“I bet Twilight could have done it.”

“Well, she’s not… here, is she? Why can’t your friend teleport us?”

Rarity instinctively opened her mouth to retort, but promptly closed it with a pained grimace.

Another reminder that perhaps she should have taken the time to add more advanced spells to her repertoire of thaumaturgic knowledge, especially considering her and the girls’ unusual ability to attract trouble.

“Hey, give her a break!” Rainbow Dash growled, going into a steep glide as they went down more stairs. “She’s had some freaky magic-cancelling ring on her horn for, like… a week.”

Sunset snorted and rolled her eyes. “Whatever – we’re almost there…”

The portion of the castle they were in was unfamiliar, but the décor was notable in that there seemed to be less of it. The banners and tapestries representing Nightmare Moon were still about, but there were no more framed pictures and paintings; the wallpaper wasn’t as aesthetically pleasing and the doors were less gilded and more practical.

“What’s this part of th’ castle?” Applejack murmured with a scrutinizing eye as they rounded another corner. “Doesn’t look like a place fer visitors…”

“It’s sort of a storage wing…” Sunset puffed with only a cursory glance at her surroundings. “Celestia kept artefacts and treasures down here before… before she gave them to the Canterlot Museum. After that… it just sort of became an empty wing… Okay, we’re here…”

The door they stopped at was unremarkable and no different than the other doors they passed. Even so, each of them felt a chill run down their spine as Applejack cautiously approached, one hoof rising to-

“Uh-uh!” A minor Kinetic Impact spell slapped Applejack’s hoof away. Sunset shook her head as she leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. “It’s primed to shock… anypony without the right magical signature. I’ll just… Hang on a moment…”

With a groan of exertion, Sunset fixated a stern glare on the door and channelled magic into her horn. Inhaling deeply through her nostrils, she closed her eyes and a strong wind picked up, stirring her mane as she slowly and carefully-

-blew an entire section of the wall down with a fiery explosion.

Naturally resilient towards heat, Sunset merely waved her hoof in front of her muzzle to clear the smoke and dust while the others ducked for cover with shouts of alarm and surprise.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy peeked up through her hooves, eyes wide as she beheld the sizeable hole with red-hot embers licking at the blackened edges.

“Was tha’ really necessary?” Applejack asked dryly and stood up to trot over to the hole.

“Ugh, you’re just like Twilight…” Sunset muttered. “‘Oh, why didn’t you just spend several minutes telekinetically fiddling with the security system through the walls instead of blasting through them’? Complexity addictions.”

Applejack’s biting retort died on her lips as a familiar yet unwelcome stench filled her nostrils. She took a step back, coughing and pressing a hoof against her nose.

‘Blood…’

She heard the others give similar reactions of disgust, but didn’t turn to face them; instead, she continued forwards into the room.

It was rather sparse in furnishing and content: there were two medium-sized crates over and a shelf of labelled bottles, both near the untouched door. The crates’ lids had been pulled off and Applejack could see that they were filled with crystals of varying sizes and shapes.

There were several more scents she became aware of as she ventured further in.

‘Smells like a hospital…’

“…”

There was a steel, surgical table near the centre of the room. Something was on it.

“No…”

Applejack’s horrified whisper cut through the hearts of her friends. Each felt their chests tighten and a heavy block of ice settle in their bellies.

Sunset stayed at the very back of the group; not comfortable enough to move closer alongside them but morbidly curious enough that she wasn’t going to remain put.

A solitary light bulb lit a depressing amount of the room; it seemed to be deliberately weak and dim, as if to keep as much darkness about as possible.

“Tw…” Applejack was a mere metre from the table now and her throat felt so very parched as she shakily whispered, “T-Twilight?”

“…”

“Hey… hey, egghead…” Rainbow Dash approached with fake cheer and a loose grin. Her eyes betrayed how she really felt. “Guess who? We’re getting out of here. Awesome, right?”

“…”

“Celestia and Luna are out of jail, too!” Pinkie’s grin still held hope, but her mane was beginning to fall straight.

“…”

“Darling…” Rarity said carefully. “Please say something.”

“…”

Fluttershy whimpered. “Twilight?”

“… Please… just go…”

Applejack flinched at the roughness of the voice and shared concerned glances with her friends before saying, “Yeah, tha’s th’ plan, sugarcube, but not without ya. Nopony’s gettin’ left behind.”

“No… you need to go without me.”

“… Why?”

“Because I might hurt you…”

“Hurt us?”

Rarity laughed weakly and shook her head. “Darling, you would never hurt us.”

Sunset examined the table and the pony lying on it, facing away from them.

It was too dim to make out the details, but she could see wings, a horn, and purple hairs where the tail hung listlessly over the side of the table.

Yes, now that she was closer… the magic definitely felt different…

“I would…” Twilight replied miserably and without moving an inch. “Because I wouldn’t have a…”

“Come on, egghead!” Rainbow Dash took a step closer. “We don’t have time to mope around when-”

“Stay away from me!”

And then Twilight shot up and faced them with an expression they had never seen her wear before.

Fluttershy shrieked and hid behind a stunned Rarity.

Applejack’s mouth quivered and Rainbow Dash’s eyes darted about, struggling to take in what she was seeing.

Pinkie’s mane cascaded over her shoulders.

“What the…?” Sunset flinched in horror and subconsciously lit up her horn. “What the hell happened to you?!”

“She did this…” Twilight trembled violently and started hyperventilating. “That… b-bitch! Wasn’t enough to make me work for her, was it? She had to… had to make sure I wouldn’t go against her… that the Elements could never be used against her!”

“H… How…?” Applejack stumbled over her words. This wasn’t right. This couldn’t be… “How did she do…?”

“I read of this…” Twilight raised a hoof to touch her cheek. It came away wet. “And I actually… I actually wished there were recorded interviews from the ponies who had this done to them. I thought it sounded intriguing… that it sounded like… l-like…”

Her head jerked upwards and the amount of light in the room increased.

She leapt off the table, scattered her friends by charging through them, and escaped through the smouldering hole.

“Twilight!” Applejack scrambled to her hooves and gave chase. The others called for her, but she ignored them. “Twilight!”

Citizens hiding in their homes near the battle could feel the ground shake.

There were the small and almost constant tremors from the giant timber wolf stomping about, and the less frequent but more powerful tremors from the alicorns bodily throwing one another into the ground.

Those brave enough to peek out had their attention captured; much like a train wreck, it was terrifying to watch but near impossible to look away.

Celestia and Luna against Nightmare Moon and her followers.

The battle should have been predictable and short, but the two sisters were adamant and filled with fury; their determination and combined strength – even when not at its fullest – was a match for their well-rested and equally determined foes.

With fire billowing in place of her mane and tail, Celestia lashed out with pyromancy and bare hooves, forcing the Praetorian Guard to keep their distance while she relentlessly attacked Nightmare Moon.

Luna wasn’t far behind and remained at her sister’s side – the flames seemed to have a will of their own by avoiding her at all times – to plague Shadow by encasing his limbs in ice. The giant wolf howled in frustration as it fell over and over again, needing precious time to reassemble its body.

“You’re just making things worse for yourselves!” Nightmare Moon yelled as she blocked a fire-wreathed hoof. The thin layer of frost that covered her body began melting. “You will not win this fight!”

Luna ducked in beneath her sister’s outstretched hoof and thrust her right foreleg out. The rings surrounding the appendage pulsed and one arced out to strike Nightmare Moon in her belly.

“Ack!”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes bulged in pain and shock as she was flung bodily into the air. Before she was out of range, Celestia grabbed her tail with telekinesis and yanked her back into the ground hard enough to send up shards of cobblestone and clumps of earth.

The two sisters moved to capitalize on her momentary incapacitation, but were almost flattened when Shadow flopped down between them, snarling and snapping viciously.

The timber wolf had shorn himself free of his ice-covered lower half to protect his master and moved about with only the use of his forelegs. Despite the handicap, he was still surprisingly swift and his log-sized teeth definitely hadn’t gotten any duller.

“Miserable beast!” Luna flapped her wings for that extra bit of lift to escape a swipe of Shadow’s paw.

Unfortunately, this separated her from Celestia; the elder hadn’t reacted in time and was clipped across the muzzle, sending her sprawled against the ground in a daze.

Ebony took the opportunity.

With a battle cry, she jumped onto Luna’s back and sank her sword deep into her side.

‘Oh Faust… I just stabbed the lunar princess…’

Yet she didn’t have the time to let that fully sink in as Luna shrieked in agony and started bucking wildly, trying to shake off her attacker. Precious ichor spurted from the wound just beside her cutie mark as her body attempted to regenerate around the biting blade.

“Luna!”

Celestia sprang to her hooves and managed three strides towards her sister before Haze revealed himself in a flash of silver light and struck her from behind with a magical gust of frigid air.

It was only just strong enough to snuff out her flames and distract her, but that was enough: Miasma charged forwards and tackled her right hind leg hard enough to fracture it, Veil swooped down to pull at her left foreleg, and Fade landed on her back to cover her eyes with his wings.

“No! Luna!”

Incredibly, Celestia continued to remain standing.

She thrashed about and managed to throw Fade from her head before Nightmare Moon brought them all to the ground with a nose dive from the air.

“Her horn!” Nightmare Moon snarled as she used all her strength to pin her opponent to the street. “Get-” A flailing hoof knocked out a molar. “Agh! Haze!”

Haze rushed over, but Celestia was already channelling magic, and it was for something Nightmare Moon immediately knew would be bad.

“Wh-what?” Her reptilian eyes widened as she felt the temperature rise and a quick glance to the sky was more than enough to see the sun brightening. “What is…?”

‘No…’

A flash of panic surged through her.

Her knee-jerk response was to teleport out of there, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw her Praetorian Guard.

Haze rushing over to stomp Celestia’s horn, Veil tearing at the foreleg in her grasp with sharp teeth, Miasma clinging onto the hind leg somewhere out of her vision, and Fade flapping back to re-join the fray.

‘I can’t teleport all of them; not without concentrating and I don’t have time for that.’

So instead of teleporting, she cast a Kinetic Impact spell.

It spread out across a wide area with Nightmare Moon as the epicentre; Miasma and Veil, surprised by the unexpected force, had their grips broken and tumbled backwards while Haze and Fade suffered a similar fate, more so since they weren’t holding onto anything.

‘Maybe there’s still time for me to-’

A blinding light engulfed the area as a beam of sunlight shot down and swallowed the two alicorns from sight.

Miasma, Haze, Veil, and Fade screamed as tremendously hot air wafted out from the point of impact and slapped them all to the ground. The cobblestone beneath them became hot enough to scald, but it wasn’t as if they could rise and face that terrible heat.

Luna and Ebony, though farther away, felt the air hit them and the suddenness of it forced them to the ground, too.

The beam continued for three, painful seconds and then cut off abruptly.

With the drop in temperature, the four members of the Praetorian Guard closest were free to get back up, breathing heavily and crying out as their burnt skin creased and stretched.

Yet even their cries stopped when they saw what had happened at the impact zone.

Amidst a perfect circle of half-melted and glowing red cobblestone, Celestia stumbled to her hooves, panting from exertion and bleeding golden magic from her cracked horn.

And still lying on the ground, was Nightmare Moon.

“Ah… ah…” Veil’s composure shattered and she whimpered in horror.

“Holy shit… holy shit, holy shit, holy…” Fade shook his head several times before doubling over and regurgitating the contents of his stomach.

Miasma simply stared with her mouth slightly ajar and a violent shiver in her legs.

Haze couldn’t look; he fell to his knees and started hyperventilating.

“Empress?” Ebony called like a lost foal. She had yet to get up off the ground, but didn’t seem to have the strength to do so anyway. “Empress?”

Nightmare Moon emitted a wet gargle and oriented her head towards the noise; what remained of her eyes was steadily dripping down her cheekbones. She seemed to be trying to stand, but she was literally more bone than muscle at this point, and what flesh she did have was sticking fast to the street, bubbling and sizzling like red and pink egg yolks on a frying pan.

There were no hairs and with most of her mass liquefied so thoroughly that she was stewing in it, Nightmare Moon barely looked like the powerful mare boasting and giving out orders mere seconds ago; she didn’t even look like anything that was alive.

Yet she still struggled to draw breath, evident by her lungs frantically floundering through the gaps of her exposed and blackened ribcage.

Luna had seen many gruesome sights in her long life, but this… this was definitely up there. She couldn’t say she was sorry to see the demon suffer such a fate, but at the same time… it was quite horrific.

Her attacker was out of it, so she was free to yank the sword from her side with telekinesis. She rode out the waves of pain with gritted teeth and walked over to her sister, casting the sword aside.

She stopped a comfortable distance away. “Sister?”

Celestia blinked hard, unable to tear her gaze away from her melted opponent. “I just… reacted. I heard you screaming and I saw you being hurt… so I…”

“I know, ‘Tia.”

“I would have killed these ponies if she hadn’t…”

“You did nothing wrong,” The bottom of her naked hooves protested when she stepped closer, but Luna ignored it to gently place one forehoof on her sister’s shoulder. “They made the decision to follow her and she made the decision to attack us. The blame lies with them and them alone.”

Celestia nodded numbly as she watched Nightmare Moon blindly grope half a foreleg in her general direction.

Shadow whimpered and whined as he dragged himself back and forth just out of range of the affected area, calling to his master.

“Yes. You’re right.”

Luna let out a sigh… then shook her head, smiling. “We’ve done it,” She turned her gaze up to her sister. “We’ve beaten her.”

Nightmare Moon gargled wetly…

… and then something poured out from her eye sockets, nostrils, and mouth with a hideous and otherworldly shriek.

“What in Equestria?!” Celestia gasped in alarm and tried to call upon her magic, only for her horn to sputter out with a fair amount of stinging pain. It hadn’t yet healed.

Luna threw a barrier in front of them and watched in horrified fascination as pitch-black fog billowed out from Nightmare Moon.

‘Are those… eyes?’

White dots of light danced about in the fog and they weren’t the only ones, merely the biggest; a dozen other dots of light zipped within the gaseous residue, sometimes winking out of sight and reappearing somewhere else.

The shrieking was indescribable; it was a sound that resonated with every tone imaginable as well as some that shouldn’t have been able to be heard. The windows of the surrounding buildings vibrated dangerously.

The fog kept on growing until it was as large as Celestia, whereupon it shifted into a form that was vaguely equine, and stood over Nightmare Moon’s twitching body.

“If you kill me, you lose everything.”

The voice did not come from either Nightmare Moon or the abomination that stood guard.

It came from Twilight Sparkle, striding through the ruined gates like she was out on a stroll.

Celestia gave a cry of horror and her expression fell into one of utter heartbreak. Luna was not far behind and dropped the barrier in her shock.

“Twilight… no, no…” She shook her head in denial, tears building. “What has she done to you?”

Bloodied crystals sprouted from the young alicorn’s flesh; most were small and alone, but there was a cluster extending from the middle of her back. They emitted an unsettling crimson light, the natural clear blue of the crystals stained from dried blood.

She should have been in tremendous pain, but she showed no signs of feeling it, and kept her mismatched eyes on the two sisters as she trotted closer to Nightmare Moon and the abomination.

“As of this instant, I am barely keeping my body alive,” Twilight stopped just before the wreathing fog creature. Her single reptilian eye rolled back for a brief instant before returning, unblinking. “If you continue to attack me, I will have nowhere to go but inside Twilight; I will overpower and possess her. She will die and the Element of Magic will be corrupted.”

The Praetorian Guard – previously demoralized – started to regroup, though they were hesitant to approach the… thing that towered over their Empress. Shadow whined in confusion; he recognized his master’s presence but was incredibly frightened by it as well.

“You…” Celestia swallowed with some difficulty and spoke with barely constrained rage. “You would do well to leave her body before-”

“Before what?” There was a sarcastic note in her tone, but her face didn’t move at all to match it. “I really doubt I could get any worse than melted into the sidewalk in front of my followers,” She paused and shook her head in a calculated manner. “At any rate, I am not technically in her body. I am… here.”

The fog creature sprouted an additional pair of legs and used them to prod at Nightmare Moon’s body.

“That…” Luna’s eyes widened in understanding. “That’s you, isn’t it? What you really look like?”

“I… made a mistake. I overestimated Twilight’s resilience towards the procedure. I thought she could handle it… but I was wrong. To save her, I had to implant a core crystal imbued with my power. She would have been fine… provided she didn’t leave that room.”

She turned her head.

“Twilight!”

The Element bearers and Sunset arrived, Applejack at the front with Rainbow Dash closing in. They were crying out their friend’s name, but fell silent when they fully took in the scenario.

Fluttershy and Rarity fainted upon seeing ‘Nightmare Moon’ standing over her own melted form. Rainbow Dash had to land to cough wetly and look away while Applejack went alarmingly pale. Sunset was torn between vocalizing her disgust and taking mental notes.

“I felt her when you struck me with that beam of sunlight…” Nightmare Moon said through Twilight and turned back to the two alicorn sisters. “I felt her mind reach for my own. She could feel that I was… losing. She could feel that my body was about to expire and against her will, she came to act as the next host.

“I don’t want that. If I fully possess her, then I lose the Element of Magic. Worse than vanishing to choose another bearer, it will absorb my essence and be rendered null. Do you really think I would risk losing one of the few that could operate the Resonator as well as one of the Elements? The only thing that can safely channel the energy produced by the device?”

She chuckled humourlessly.

“Ironic, isn’t it? I’m trying to protect the very thing which can defeat me.”

“But why?” Luna asked, utterly confused. “What were you attempting to achieve with young Twilight?”

“…” Nightmare Moon made Twilight shake her head. “That is my business… but I will say that it was for the good of Equestria.”

“… Delusional…”

“What?”

Celestia shook her head sadly. “You’re completely delusional. I feel sorry for you…”

Nightmare Moon made Twilight’s lip tremble while she churned and shrieked, morphing into several nightmarish forms as the largest pair of eyes burned like miniature suns.

The body beneath her spasmed hard enough to tear some flesh free from the cobblestone.

“Do. NOT. Pity me.”

“I can and I will… but even so…”

Celestia took a deep, shuddering breath.

“That doesn’t mean I will not kill you. I will find a way to kill you and save Twilight. I promise you that.”

“…”

“We’re taking the others away.”

Battered as they were, the Praetorian Guard got ready to-

“Stand down. You cannot defeat them.”

They obeyed and hung back.

“What?” Applejack looked at her in shock and trotted over hesitantly, eyes wide and imploring. “Princess… w-we can’t jes’ leave Twilight.”

“I know…” Celestia replied with an anguished groan. “But what can we do? If she isn’t lying, then we lose her.”

“But we’ll lose her if we jes’ leave!”

“But not forever…” She took a breath. “Just… for now. We’ll come back for her, Applejack.”

“But…”

“Do you trust me?”

“…”

Applejack looked up into the princess’ tired but genuine smile and her eyes, full of determination and hope.

“What I’m tellin’ ya is th’ honest truth: let go an’ ya’ll will be fine…”

“… Come on, girls…”

“No.”

“RD-”

“She’s lying!” Rainbow Dash shrilled hysterically and with a furious face. “We can’t trust anything she says! We have to… we have to kill her now or she’ll just keep-”

“Ya’ll willin’ ta risk Twi’s life over tha’?”

“… Fuck…”

Luna cast a minor spell to wake Fluttershy and Rarity. They were quickly informed and after the initial protest and tears, they marched alongside the lunar princess, casting longing looks to the stoic and rigid Twilight.

Sunset warily followed them and briefly met Celestia’s eye.

The two stared at one another, both with unreadable expressions.

“… Welcome back.”

“…” Sunset huffed and cantered away.

Celestia didn’t react to the dismissal and cast one last look over the area.

The Praetorian Guard had garnered the nerve to gather around their fallen leader and watched them go. They were all exhausted and occasionally glanced to Twilight with unease and outright revulsion.

Nightmare Moon was still writhing in the air; her body, amazingly, was beginning to recover. Ligaments and muscles grew, bones shed their charred outer layer, and shrivelled organs plumped back to restart their functions.

Shadow was the only one happy. He felt the tension, but the sight of his master moving once more filled him with too much joy.

‘My faithful student…’

Nightmare Moon made her head rise and one empty socket was filled with a freshly-grown eye that glared at her balefully.

‘I will come back for you…’

Finally, Celestia turned away.

Author's Note

Note 1: Sun Strike - not quite a spell but requiring the use of magic nonetheless, Celestia can call upon this power as easy as one might blink. The indiscriminate devastation and the damage it causes to her horn means she is reluctant to use it unless there is no other choice.

"The power this child holds is a terrible burden indeed; without the sun, Equestria is doomed, yet neither shall we come close to touching its majesty. I do not wish to slander the name of mine Lady, Mother Faust, but I cannot begin to imagine what plans She may have for these fillies. Such power should not be placed in anypony's hooves." - Excerpt from Starswirl the Bearded's journal.

Note 2: Nightmare Moon feared dying at that moment; her work - the Resonator - would be rendered inert, and then ponies could deny that she ever played a part in history.

Chapter 38: Know Thy Enemy

1055 AD, November 12th

“… Were you still controlling the sun the entire time you were in there?”

Celestia looked to the side. Rainbow Dash was hovering beside her at a pace that would be equivalent to a steady trot. She was looking up at the sun as it crossed its zenith.

“Yes, I was. Why do you ask?”

“…” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I just figured that if anything happened to you – to Luna – then the sun and moon would just… I dunno… stop in place or something.”

Celestia honestly didn’t know much about Rainbow Dash, about most of the Element bearers, to her shame. Twilight spoke of them frequently in her letters; she knew of their likes, their dislikes, their virtues and vices, and their professions, but it still felt like she only knew them on a shallow level.

She didn’t know why Rainbow Dash was talking to her about this subject, but Celestia wasn’t about to shut her out, especially when it looked like she really needed to talk.

“So long as my sister and I are alive, they will continue on their path, barring some sort of interference from another party.”

“So, like… when you guys were born… did you just take control over it from the unicorn dudes who did it before?”

“They handed us control and it was a defining moment in our lives…” Celestia sighed wistfully. “The start of things both great and… and tragic.”

A twig snapped off to her right.

Idly, Celestia turned to face the source of the noise and was met with a downcast Fluttershy staring at her hooves as they alternated between taking steps. The road they took was wrought with small twigs and browning leaves. She stepped on another one, but didn’t rouse from her thoughts.

‘Winter seems to be coming late around here…’

Many settlements changed the weather at different times: Ponyville was usually good for doing it early because of their traditions, but it seemed they were quite late this time.

‘Maybe it’s because Twilight isn’t there to organize everything…’

Turning her gaze from the meek pegasus, Celestia then cast it over the rest of the group that trotted along the dirt road. They had discarded their armor long ago to make travelling easier.

Applejack and Rarity were having a hushed conversation at the back, their expressions switching often. Sometimes one would raise their tone, but it was quickly subdued.

Pinkie Pie was walking alongside Fluttershy, uncharacteristically quiet and with a forlorn look. It wounded Celestia to see such a bright and happy soul so dark with misery.

Luna was behind Celestia but in front of Applejack and Rarity. Her sister was jumpy and kept glancing over her shoulder at the distant city of Canterlot, the home that they fled, and without everypony, regrettably.

And Sunset Shimmer…

She was behind Applejack and Rarity, and she was glaring daggers at the ground, her body strung like a violin string, pointedly telling everypony that she didn’t want to be bothered.

So Celestia didn’t bother her, as much as she wanted to.

…

She and Luna had flown the others as far as they could before Celestia’s horn became too much of a hindrance to ignore and they had to land. Strenuous activity made it bleed magic again; she needed actual sleep for it to heal, which was more than a little annoying.

“I… I still can’t believe we just left her…”

Celestia started slightly and turned back in time to catch Rainbow Dash wipe at her eyes. She attempted to disguise it – poorly – by scratching at her cheek.

“Was…” She exhaled shakily and looked over at her, lost. “Was what we did the right thing? Should we have tried to save her?”

Celestia inhaled deeply and choked back her own misery at their decision. “There was nothing we could have done. We didn’t have the tools necessary to contain Nightmare Moon – if she can be contained – and I sincerely doubt she was lying when she said she’d possess Twilight if we killed her… or… or destroyed the body she was inhabiting. Yet neither could we surrender, or we’d just be back at square one. And I could not stomach the idea of all of you suffering.”

“But it’s okay for Twilight to suffer?”

“…”

“Ah, shit! No, I...!” Rainbow Dash swore and bopped herself on the head, hard. “I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine…” The words had wounded her deeply, but it wasn’t as if she hadn’t suffered such injuries before. At least with Rainbow Dash, she didn’t mean to hurt on purpose. “And no, Rainbow Dash… it’s not okay for Twilight to suffer.”

“I still can’t get over it… Those crystals in her body…”

Celestia clenched her eyes shut.

“And she was so angry when we found her… angry at Nightmare Moon. It was freaky to see her like that.”

She took a breath through her nostrils.

“What do you think Nightmare Moon was trying to do?”

Celestia released the breath and prayed Applejack couldn’t see through her as she replied, “I have no idea.”

“… I guess it doesn’t matter what she was trying to do, huh? She hurt Twilight and that’s enough for me.”

“Indeed,” Celestia nodded. “I promise you that we will find a way to defeat Nightmare Moon and save Twilight.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Rainbow Dash gave a firm nod of agreement and flashed a determined grin. “I mean, you guys are alicorn princesses; if anypony can do it, then you can.”

“I appreciate your support, Rainbow Dash.”

“Eh, we gotta stick together, right? ‘Divided we fall, united we kick ass’!”

Celestia chuckled amusedly. “I don’t think you were completely accurate in that phrase, but it certainly captures its intent.”

“Heh heh…” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly and looked straight ahead. “Yeah, history was never my strong suite, ya know? Got in super-big trouble during those classes and it wasn’t for my awesome flying skills and those scholarships, then…”

She suddenly trailed off and squinted.

“Hey, look! It’s Ponyville! We’re here, guys!”

True enough, when everypony was alerted by Rainbow Dash’s ecstatic cries and looked forwards, they could see Ponyville. It helped that they were coming over a large hill and had a good view of the entire settlement. The barricade was still up and holding strong, fortunately.
The Element bearers and Sunset excitedly – at least, in the former’s case – picked up the pace. Luna hung back until they were all in front before tapping her sister on the shoulder.

“Sister…” She paused to make sure they were far enough behind, out of earshot. “I am uncertain this is a wise move. Ponyville isn’t that far from Canterlot; Nightmare Moon and her forces would easily be able to come here once she recovers.”

“I know, Luna…” Celestia sighed. She had been anticipating this discussion. “But their family and friends are here: Nightmare Moon could just threaten their lives as she did with those fillies. If we’re here, we can protect them, protect Ponyville. We’ve already proven that we can best her if we work together, so she’d be hesitant to attack so soon.”

Her sister made a face like she had ingested something foul and looked off to the side, her frame heaving with a sigh.

“It just feels as if we are placing this town in the crossfire…”

“That would be the case no matter where we went and we’d also have the risk of the creatures spilling from the Fractures attacking us.”

“Yes…” Luna grimaced as she recalled memories of the Wisp Knight that landed in Canterlot, retrieved from other ponies’ dreams and nightmares. “You make a valid point.”

Celestia was also uncomfortable about coming here. Her brain told her that this was the right move to make, but her heart kept thudding painfully as she imagined the innocents that would be put in harm’s way if Nightmare Moon did come.

But she couldn’t think of any other options.

“We should go, Luna,” She said with a jerk of her head towards the Element bearers, chatting in excitement as they continued on ahead. “We can plan what we’re going to do once we’re inside.”

“Very well,” Luna gave a weak but genuine smile. “At the very least, I can meet the residents once more; I hope they are not too upset about my untimely departure last Nightmare Night.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand.” Celestia chuckled.

“Well…” Luna started forwards. “Only one way to find out, hm?”

Celestia smiled and gave a single nod. As Luna moved past her, the smile fell and she stared blankly at the ground for a moment before following, deep in thought.

‘Mother Faust, we could use some guidance…’

Their arrival was met with much fanfare and delight.

The gate installed into the barricade was pulled opened almost immediately after Rainbow Dash called out, ‘guess who’s back?’ and the residents of Ponyville gathered to greet them with smiles and cheers as well as more than a few dozen questions.

Celestia and Luna arrived a few seconds later and quickly dismissed any of the ponies’ attempts to bow.

“I am happy to see you all as well,” Celestia laughed, her mood greatly increased by friendly faces. Some had looks of shock and deep concern. “Oh, my horn? It’s nothing, my little ponies; just a… a minor injury. I’ll be alright.”

“Applejack! Applejack!”

Ears pricking up in joy at the familiar cry, Applejack gasped and gently ushered away a fast-talking Lyra. “Apple Bloom!”

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle weaved and ducked between the crowd’s legs until they were at the centre. With teary eyes, they embraced their sisters – whether through blood or relationship – tightly, as if to never let go. Their sisters were only too happy to reciprocate, beaming so hard their faces hurt.

“Ah knew ya’ll would come back!” Apple Bloom sniffed with wet cheeks.

“Course we would,” Rainbow Dash snickered and ruffled Scootaloo’s mane as the filly clung to her foreleg, wings buzzing in excitement. “What, you think some grouchy old fairy tale could keep us locked up for long?”

“Rarity, I looked after the Boutique as best as I could!” Sweetie Belle giggled as her older sister peppered her face with light kisses. “U-um, your Inspiration Room might be a little… erm, less inspirational.”

“Oh, I’m just happy to see you again, silly filly!” Rarity hugged her tightly, drawing a few ‘aww’s from the crowd.

The crowd politely parted once more to allow the bulky form of Big Mac passage. He smiled in equal parts relief and joy as he quietly hugged Applejack with one large foreleg.

“Heh – missed ya too, big bro’.”

Pinkie had just been reunited with the Cakes and was sitting on her rump while tossing Pumpkin up in the air, making the filly squeal with delight. Pound Cake gave his own adorable giggles as he clung to Pinkie’s back. Mr and Mrs. Cake were watching fondly, glad to see her safe and sound once more.

Fluttershy didn’t really have anyone to greet her immediately, but that was fine; the townsfolk were more than enough with their kind words and support, though the attention made her blush and instinctively hide her face behind her mane.

Sunset Shimmer was more or less overlooked by everypony and that suited her fine; she stood off on the sidelines and idly scuffed the dirt beneath her.

“Hey, could you…? Yeah, sorry! Make way, number one assistant coming through! Hey, I know you – don’t think I won’t bite your leg ‘cause I will!”

Caramel and Derpy stepped to the side to allow a small purple dragon through. His eyes were bright and his smile wide as he looked from one familiar face to the next.

“He-hey, we got the gang back together!” He zipped forwards and hugged the closest of the Element bearers – Rarity.

Technically, Pinkie was closest, but… meh…

“Yes, it’s…” Rarity’s smile waned as she returned the hug. She was genuinely glad to see him again, but she dreaded his reaction when he realized… “It’s lovely to be back, Spikey-Wikey.”

“Yeah it is!” Spike released his iron grip – Sweetie Belle inhaled deeply and gratefully – and did a complete turn, one scaly eyebrow arching. “So, uh… heh… where’s Twilight?”

“…”

As if just now noticing, the crowd started to murmur uneasily, looking to the Element bearers and the princesses for answers. Some had already gained an idea of what happened upon seeing their downcast expressions.

Spike frowned as Rarity bit her lip and looked away. “What’s up? Twilight’s…” His brow furrowed and he looked from side to side before walking over to Celestia. “Where’s Twilight? She’s here, isn’t she? You… you wouldn’t…”

“Twilight is…” Celestia tripped over her words and inhaled shakily. She cleared her throat. “Twilight… is still in…”

‘Damn it…’

“Twilight is still in captivity,” Luna came to her sister’s aid. She was upset, too, but she held it together much more successfully. “There were developments… we weren’t able to save her as well. I am sorry.”

For a moment, Spike just looked utterly confused, like he couldn’t understand her words. “But… You guys are alicorns…” He shook his head, sniffing. “How could you not…? Wh…”

“… I am sorry.”

“O-oh… okay…” Spike swallowed hard, looked down at his feet, and then raised his head with a fake grin and tears in his eyes. “Ah, y-you guys will save her later; I know you will,” He swallowed again and rubbed at one eye. “I can wait… I-I can wait a little bit… more.”

Celestia smiled sadly and extended one wing in a comforting gesture.

“No, I’m…!” He took a step back and drew in a deep breath. “Seriously, I’m cool,” Somehow, he managed to appear even smaller as he felt everypony’s sympathetic gaze on him. He didn’t like how it made him tremble inside. “S-so, hey! The library has room for you two i-if you want to catch some z’s. Probably have to move some stuff around, but no biggie.”

It was obvious that Spike had no desire to break down in front of everypony and that he was going to fail if they kept looking at him like that, so Celestia drew the attention away from him by stepping forwards and clearing her throat.

“It is wonderful to receive such a warm welcome after our imprisonment, but I am afraid I must be the bearer of bad news…” She paused to make sure everypony was listening, gauging their reactions. “Nightmare Moon is still alive and in control, and she still has Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony in captivity. We may have escaped, but I highly doubt she will remain idle in response to our escape; she will attempt something in the future, I am sure of that.

“We do not wish to place any of you in harm’s way, but even if we leave, Nightmare Moon will still come here and threaten your lives to make us surrender. Therefore… we think it would be safer, for everypony, if we remained here to protect you. I… I hate to put this burden on your shoulders, but…”

She trailed off, searching for the right words – unusual, seeing as she was a fluent speaker the majority of the time.

But before she could say anything else…

“Hey, we deal with weird stuff all the time!” Lyra said with a laugh. A few ponies near her nodded and murmured in agreement. “So some creepy alicorn might come knocking on our door: at least we know what to expect and it’s not like that time when those squirrels declared war on us. That was weird!”

“This town has been through a lot of ordeals…” Mayor Mare announced with a minute adjustment of her eyewear. “What’s one more? We’ll just need a longer list.”

“Personally, I feel safer with the princesses here, Elements or no,” Filthy Rich said with a confident smirk. “Really, Your Majesties, you’re more than welcome in our little town.”

“Yeah, definitely!”

“You guys rule!”

“You can totally kick the ‘Empress’ flank!”

“Eeyup.”

Celestia closed her eyes and gave a small but genuine smile at the crowd’s cheers, shaking her head fondly. It warmed her heart to be given such enthusiastic support and made her worries and fears less intense, at least for the moment.

“Thank you, my little ponies,” She spoke again and the crowd went quiet. “It is rare to see such levels of bravery and camaraderie; I swear to you all that Nightmare Moon’s reign will not be forever, and we will return Equestria back to how it was before and rescue Princess Twilight!”

Ponyville’s citizens cheered and stomped their hooves on the ground. Pinkie bounced about with the twin foals on her back, letting loose confetti and party streamers from nowhere in particular, all too happy to be in a familiar environment. The Element bearers joined in as well – Fluttershy’s ‘yay’ was actually audible to those standing closest to her – and Spike, though still morose about his missing surrogate sister, couldn’t help but join in with a fist pump.

On the sidelines, Sunset pressed her ears flat against the noise and glowered darkly, lip curling at the corner.

“Sister…”

Celestia turned away from the cheering, still smiling, and cocked an eyebrow at Luna’s concerned face. “Yes?”

“I am deeply touched by their support and their determination is admirable… but even so…” She leaned in and lowered her voice, gaze briefly flicking over to a group of foals. “I fear that they do not understand exactly what they will be facing. Nightmare Moon is… pure evil. You felt her, did you not? When she revealed herself? That…” She made a face. “That foul taste in the air…”

“Yes, I felt it...” Celestia replied with a nod. “But we need to keep their spirits up. What good would it do to reiterate what these ponies already know? They know Nightmare Moon is evil.”

“True, but I think it would be best to inform them of everything that we know about her. ‘Know thy enemy’, no?”

“…” Celestia looked back at the crowd, the smiling faces. “You are right, but…” She turned back. “We are all tired and their moods are high; let’s discuss that later.”

“Tell me when you are ready,” Luna replied. She would have preferred doing it now, but her sister was right in that they were tired and some rest would do wonders, mentally and physically. “And please do not put it off for too long.”

“Don’t worry – I won’t.” She smiled reassuringly and turned bac-

“And I would appreciate it if you told me why you lied to Rainbow Dash on the way here.”

“… I will.”

Luna examined her elder sibling’s face for a moment before her brow creased, hurt. “We… we shouldn’t keep secrets from each other. I think… I think we both need to tell each other some things.”

“Luna?”

Celestia watched her sister trot off to converse with some of the foals. One colt – rather small and lanky – was practically vibrating with excitement and joy, his lips moving rapidly as he showered Luna with question after question.

“I think we both need to tell each other some things…”

“Little friends?! I’m home!” Fluttershy pushed her cottage door open with gusto, voice cracking from emotion at being able to see…

To see…

“…”

“There isn’t any other way this can end…” A stallion she had never seen before – pale orange coat and a grey mane with two swords crossing for a cutie mark – squared off against Angel in the middle of the living room. “Only one of us walks away.”

Angel sniffed and swiped a paw beneath his nose, face set grimly in stone.

“You got that, right,” The stallion ran his tongue over his teeth and flexed his wings. “On the count of three then. One… two… th-”

“U-um… h-hello?”

The stallion and Angel started in surprise and glanced over, eyes going round. Angel recovered quickly; his face lit up like a Hearth’s Warming Eve tree and his pressed one paw into his mouth to let out a piercing whistle.

A chorus of animal noises greeted her as her critter friends revealed themselves from their hiding spots. Birds flew out from the drain, rats climbed out of the bird houses, and Harry the Bear popped out from beneath her couch.

Fluttershy didn’t even have time to gasp and greet them happily before they swarmed her in a wave of fur, scales, and feathers.

“Oh, I missed you all, too!” Fluttershy cried with tears streaming down her cheeks. She giggled as Angel – macho-ness be damned – clung to her mane and hugged as tightly as he could. “I’m so proud that you didn’t try to cook anypony again.”

“Well, they tried at one point…” The stallion rubbed the back of his neck as he thought back to the experience. “Bloody almost turned me into soup, but then they actually tried tasting me and… well, guess all those bottles of wine back in Trottingham came in handy, eh?”

“Oh, I’m sorry…” Fluttershy moved to sit up and her animal friends moved back to allow, though they still remained close. “I-I don’t know your name…”

“Cotton Puff of the Royal Guard,” He announced with a swell of his chest and a proud smile. “I’m in charge of taking care of these…” Cotton Puff trailed off as he peered closer at her, as if just now realizing… “Hey, hang on… Cripes! You’re Fluttershy! Th-the bloody Element of Kindness!”

“J-just ‘Element of Kindness’, but, um… yes, that’s me.”

“But if you’re back, then does that mean…” He gasped and his wings puffed out. “The princesses?!”

“Y-yes, they’re here, in town…” She gestured towards her open door. “B-but we haven’t defeat-”

Fwoosh

Fluttershy’s mane swept out behind her and several small birds chirped in annoyance as they struggled to remain stable in the sudden gust of wind.

“Oh dear…” She turned to look out her door while adjusting her mane with a hoof. Cotton Puff was visible as a blur for a brief second before he disappeared over her bridge and between some trees. “I hope he doesn’t crash into anything.”

“Granny Smith!”

“Ap- oof!”

Applejack had the sense of mind to hold back some strength on the hug, but her enthusiasm was still enough to knock the wind from Granny Smith’s lungs and leave her momentarily dazed. When the old mare recovered however, she smiled in relief and returned the hug just as fiercely.

“Heh – and here ah was thinkin’ you were too old to hug your granny.”

“Never,” Applejack laughed as she fought back tears. “It’s so good ta be back, Granny.”

“It’s good to have you back, child.”

The two sat there in the living room, resting on the couch and finding comfort in their reunion and the assurance of one another’s safety. Granny Smith was all too happy to stroke her granddaughter’s mane and Applejack felt her muscles relax at the maternal action.

She may have been a bit old, but she reckoned a bit of comfort couldn’t hurt.

“You hurt? Hungry? Ya’ll must be hungry.”

“Nah, ah’m fine, Granny; we all are… ‘cept…” She paused.

“‘Cept what?”

Applejack frowned and the comforting strokes suddenly didn’t feel as good. “We couldn’t save Twi’…”

Granny Smith’s hoof stopped abruptly. “Oh no… is she…?”

“She’s… she’s still alive, but…” Applejack shivered as she thought back, eyes squeezing shut. “Nightmare Moon did something ta her… ah don’t know what she was tryin’ to do, but… Twilight’s in a real bad place now, an’ ah… ah couldn’t do anythin’ ta save her…”

“AJ…”

“She trusted me ta… ta lead th’ girls in case anythin’ happened ta her, but… ah shouldn’t be doin’ this so soon. Heck, she’s a few years younger than me, still got her whole life ahead of her.”

“You and the girls’ll get her back.”

Applejack looked up tiredly. “How do ya know tha’?”

“Because you’re an Apple…” Granny Smith chuckled and bopped her on the nose, making her granddaughter’s face reflexively scrunch up. “An’ Apples can do anything they set their minds to.”

“Ah guess…” Applejack scratched at her nose with a small grin. It waned slightly as she asked, “Ah’m jes’… worried. Ah don’t know what th’ princesses are gonna be plannin’, but… ah know Nightmare Moon isn’t gonna jes’ give up; she’s gonna fight,” She looked away, now frowning. “Ah can’t imagine losin’ anypony; was difficult enough ta leave Twilight behind…”

“An’ ah’m here to tell you that them worries is completely unfounded. Ya’ll are strong fillies an’ can do anything you set your minds to,” The ageing mare chuckled. “Really, ah’m th’ one that should be worryin’; you were always runnin’ around scraping your knees as a foal and now you’re going up against things with way more power than they ought to have.”

“Ya’ll are stressin’?”

“A little… but more than stressin’, ah’m just beamin’ with pride. Your parents would be feelin’ th’ same way, no doubt about that.”

Applejack smiled hugely and laid her head down on Granny Smith’s lap. “Ah’ll do mah best.”

“Ah know you will…”

“Your Highness, it is wonderful to see-”

Clonk

“-you… again?”

Luna hid an amused smile behind her hoof as Celestia rubbed at her muzzle with a pout. Stooping, she trotted into the library, and gave Virtue a warm smile.

“Hello – it has been some time since we last saw each other. I believe the last time was… during that incident with the Royal Guards’ armor and a pail of pink paint?”

Virtue flushed deeply and replied, “Yeah, that, uh… that was a good one, Your Highness.”

“Why, thank you. How have you and the other guards been?”

“Good… good. Well… to be honest… we’ve been really worried about Your Highnesses and the Element bearers. It’s a relief to see you all in pony…” He frowned and cleared his throat awkwardly. “It’s… I’m sorry about Princess Twilight.”

Spike was, fortunately, moving some things around upstairs; he was doing an admirable job of holding it together, but Celestia feared for him. Obviously, it was unhealthy to keep one’s emotions bottled up, but she couldn’t force him to open up.

Lowering her voice, Celestia replied, “It was a difficult choice, but it had to be made. We can take solace in the fact that Twilight isn’t dead and that she’ll be kept alive; Nightmare Moon won’t risk losing the Elements, not when it powers her machine.”

“I’ve heard about that…” Virtue’s face scrunched up as he thought. “The… Resonator, right?”

“A marvel of magic and science; it is a shame that our enemy played a part in its origin.” Luna spoke with some acid.

“To finally meet Equestria’s princesses…”

Hooves clopping against the stairs, Zecora made her way down with Spike in tow. The princesses turned to offer smiles of greeting as Zecora hopped off the last step and bowed respectfully.

“It is an honour to make your acquaintances.”

“Ah, Miss Zecora – I have read about you in Twilight’s letters,” Celestia said. “I understand your initial reception to Ponyville was less than accommodating?”

“Some shrieked, some hid, others stared…” Zecora rose from her bow with an amused and nostalgic grin. “Though thanks to Princess Twilight and her friends, Ponyville is no longer scared,” Her mirth faded a little as she took in a distinct lack of purple. “Hm… so it as I heard; Twi-”

Celestia grimaced and jerked her head to the side. Zecora followed her gaze, realized Spike was moving one of her tribal masks to a safer spot, and held her tongue, blushing in embarrassment.

“Er, of course…” Catching herself, Zecora instead gestured towards the kitchen and asked, “Might I interest you in some herbal tea? It contains dew from a glacier leaf and honey made from the parasol bees.”

“A shaman, I see,” Celestia noted with intrigue. “Well, then I’d be honoured to enjoy some of your brew.”

Zecora nodded and mentally tallied the number of cups to bring out. “It shall be ready within…” She blinked and leaned to the side, looking past Virtue’s form. “Hello? Do you wish to enter?”

Sunset stood in the library’s open doorway, awkwardly shifting her weight from hoof to hoof. Her eyes sparkled as she took in the many shelves of books – a particularly thick tome resting on the check-out counter made her lick her lips – but she was put off at the prospect of sharing the same space with everypony else.

“Wha…?” Caught off-guard by Zecora’s question, she stared blankly for a second before suddenly scowling and replying, “No, I’m fine. I’ll just… I’ll just find an inn or something…”

“Sunset…” Celestia said gently. “You have no bits.”

“…” Sunset glared at the door. “I’ll think of something.”

“Oh come on, you’re being ridiculous,” Spike scoffed as he passed by her with a large pile of books in his arms. “This place is bigger than it looks; there’re some beds upstairs and enough blankets and pillows. Zecora makes a mean cup, too.”

Sunset glowered at everypony and everything.

The turning point was somepony behind her walking by the library and stopping to cheerfully wave and say, ‘hi’.

She bared her teeth over her shoulder and barked something unpleasant before stepping inside and slamming the door shut with magic.

“Hm…” Zecora watched the grouchy mare stomp over to the farthest corner and take out a book to read before shaking her head. “I shall retrieve the cups of tea, so do make yourselves as comfortable as can be.”

Virtue nervously accompanied Celestia and Luna as they seated themselves at the main room’s round table. He had never been assigned to guard the princesses – damn Clockwork and his annoyingly good fortune – so he was at a loss as to how to act.

He knew they were laid-back and weren’t too hung up on royal decorum and how one should act, but… well, of course nopony actually remembered that when they actually got to meet their idols.

“S-so…” He began with a light tapping of one hoof against the table. Both princesses were looking at him expectantly. “That…”

‘Oh Faust, what do I say?’

“Those new socks they came up with really cling to your legs, huh?”

‘Amazing…’

“Oh yes!” Luna nodded knowingly. “If I was one to be bothered by the cold, I would certainly wear them more often.”

‘… Don’t think of her in socks, don’t think of her in socks, don’t think of her in- damn it…’

Fortunately, Zecora arrived in time to place a tray of six steaming, clay cups down on the table. An unusual smell like something crossed between rust and chocolate filled the air as everypony took a cup. Spike came over and reached for one, but it was quickly surrounded with magic and whisked off into the corner. Glaring daggers, he picked up the remaining one.

“Ooh, this is familiar…” Celestia sighed with a dreamy expression as she took a long sip. “Zecora, this is sublime.”

“It brings back old memories.” Luna agreed.

Sunset murmured something that might have been positive.

“It is an old blend that was passed down in my family,” Zecora said with pride. “It was originally a genital-affliction remedy.”

“Ack! Pfft! Hrk!”

Virtue and Spike had already been informed of that bit of information some time ago while Celestia and Luna also knew of the tea’s origins, so they were rather unperturbed, and left Sunset to cough in her corner and bury her flushing face in the pages of her book.

WHAM

“Ungh…”

“Oh hey, I think Cotton Puff’s here,” Virtue carefully placed his cup down and rose from the table. “I was wondering when he was going to show up.” He said with a chuckle and went to open the door.

Spike set his cup down as well and licked his lips before turning his attention to Celestia. “So… what exactly happened back in Canterlot? Like… how did you escape?”

“I…” Celestia frowned in indecision. “I don’t think it is appropriate to tell-”

“I’m not a baby,” Spike furrowed his brow in slight irritation. Two seconds later, he rubbed at the ridges lining his head awkwardly. “Well… I mean, I am, but I think I deserve to know the details. If I don’t know what’s going on, then I’d just feel useless…”

He had become more mature since she last saw him.

It filled Celestia with pride, but even so, she had to exchange a quick look and a non-verbal conversation with Luna before she felt comfortable enough to start talking.

“If you insist…” She acquiesced with a single nod and set down her cup. “Really, it was all because of Luna that we even had a chance to get out of there. She may have been captured and had most of her power nullified, but Nightmare Moon failed to take into account that she would still have her Dreamwalk ability.”

“When she and I were connected, I did not elaborate on the specifics of how it works, mainly because back then I was still experimenting with it,” Luna interjected. “It seems she assumed that an obsidian chunk in my horn was enough to nullify it.”

Zecora and Spike winced upon hearing that. Celestia continued. “Luna was only able to contact Rarity at first, but with her help, they were able to enter the others’ dreams, too. By the time Luna was able to contact me, they had formulated half of the escape plan.”

“Your Highnesses!”

“Cotton Puff…” Celestia swivelled her upper body to greet the pegasus as he bowed low and scooted to the side. “Please, come have a seat; it is lovely to see you again.”

“Really?” Cotton Puff straightened in surprise, incidentally revealing a small bruise atop the ridge of his right eyebrow. “Um… alright then.”

Cotton Puff took the offered spot – seemingly in disbelief that he was actually sitting next to Princess Celestia – while Virtue trotted back to his. Zecora excused herself and trotted back to the kitchen to fetch another cup.

“We’re just talking about how the princesses and everypony else escaped.” Spike informed him.

“That’s a story I’d like to hear.” Cotton Puff grinned.

“We needed a light touch for the first part of the plan…” Luna levitated her cup and took another small sip. “Rarity played her role well and seduced one of the guards to gain his key.”

Spike’s eyes widened considerably and he choked on air. “Wh-what?!”

“Do not fret, young dragon; she struck him into a delirious state before copulation could occur.”

Spike blushed fiercely.

“After- ouch! ‘Tia!”

Lowering her hoof, Celestia picked up for her, culling any protests with a firm glare. “After freeing her friends, they… ‘acquired’ armor from patrolling guards and made their way to my cell. The plan was to continue sneaking through the castle to free my sister, but somepony must have discovered their absence and raised the alarm. We had to make a run for it. We managed to find Luna’s cell, but it was at that point Nightmare Moon had arrived and pushed me outside into the gardens.”

“They were able to free me as well,” Luna said, still rubbing her head and pouting. “If we had still been undiscovered, we would have all ventured in search of Twilight and the Elements of Harmony, but I had to help my sister, so they went alone.”

There was a brief pause where Luna sighed sadly and shook her head. She had another sip.

“Twilight was supposed to be in Canterlot Castle’s laboratory, but for whatever reason… Nightmare Moon had moved her… down into the lower levels. The Element bearers say that she was… unresponsive and that she pleaded with them to leave her.”

Spike inhaled softly and swallowed. His claws tightened around his cup. “What… did Nightmare Moon do to her?”

“… I do not know what she was attempting to achieve, but it involved implanting crystals within her.” Out of the corner of her eye, Celestia saw Luna frown but say nothing.

“In…? Oh geez…” Spike went pale beneath his scales and he looked a little sick. Virtue rubbed a hoof up and down his back supportively; it seemed to help slightly. “Wh… what happened next?”

“She…” Celestia took a moment to sort her line of thought that had been momentarily derailed when she remembered seeing Twilight in such a state. “When Luna and I were fighting Nightmare Moon, she had her Praetorian Guard – those are her most loyal followers – with her as well. They had been… ‘influenced’ by her somehow and were unnaturally strong. One of them attacked Luna… stabbed her with a sword, and then I just… I just lost it. I called on the power of the sun and engulfed Nightmare Moon in a beam of sunlight.”

“Huh…” Virtue grunted in wonder. “I thought everything outside looked bright earlier today. At least for a moment…”

“A faceful of sunlight and the old hag lives?” Cotton Puff shook his head in slight awe. “Hate to give out a compliment… so I’m not going to. Oh, thanks, love…”

Zecora gave him his tea and a confused look before trotting back to her spot.

“It was incredible she lived at all,” Luna curled her lip in distaste as she recalled the fight. “If any of you have ever cooked eggs, then you would have a very good idea about how she looked after Celestia’s attack.”

“Well, that’s a pleasant image, isn’t it?”

“However, the accursed demon chose to reveal her true form. Not even in a foal’s most imaginative nightmare have I seen such a thing: a miasmic, black fog that swallows up light and houses innumerable eyes and teeth, crawling out from her physical shell’s form.”

Zecora’s cup froze inches away from her lips.

“I would have moved to destroy such an abomination were it not for Twilight arriving. Whatever Nightmare Moon was trying to achieve, she failed, and had to implant a crystal touched by her magic so Twilight did not… expire.”

Spike gave a slight shudder, but kept himself in check.

“It was because of this crystal that she was pulled to the battlefield by Nightmare Moon’s will until she was near enough that the demon was speaking through her.”

Celestia nodded miserably. “She warned us that if we destroyed her body – the form that I had struck with sunlight – then she would possess Twilight; it would destroy her and corrupt the Elements of Harmony. We couldn’t… Zecora? Are you well?”

Those at the table turned in alarm and concern as Zecora went wan and shakily placed her cup down. Her eyes were wide and she looked as if she had seen a ghost, trembling ever so slightly.

“This… fog…” She said in a low voice, looking pointedly at the princesses. “That you were so unlucky to meet; it was devoid of anything but eyes and teeth?”

“Yes…” Celestia frowned, worried about the zebra’s sudden demeanour.

“And that this fog… was Nightmare Moon? Not the form you had struck and not the voice speaking through Twilight… but the fog with eyes and teeth? That was the one you must defeat?”

“… You know of it…” Luna realized with wide eyes. “You’ve seen such a thing, haven’t you?”

The table went silent as all eyes trained on Zecora, anticipating her reply. Even Sunset had placed down her book to give her full attention, though she made no move to approach the group.

Zecora inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. She murmured several words under her breath – they were in a language nobody knew, but it almost sounded like a prayer – before brushing her hooves down her chest and flicking them free of invisible dirt.

“I have not seen it…” Zecora whispered as she opened her eyes, wide and frightened. “But heard of it in legends and tales – a formless beast with many eyes and teeth and a horrific wail.”

“Wait a minute…” Virtue narrowed his eyes. “So… you mean legends and tales from your home?”

“The one you call Nightmare Moon…” Zecora began with another deep breath. “Is a qandisa – an evil spirit.”

Author's Note

Note 1:

"Of Fear and Wrath
Of Hate and Sorrow;
The spirits that haunt us and want us
Shall be scorned and never followed.

The Dark of Our souls
Can always be purified;
Beware of the Qandisa
Which preys on the Light of Our souls and hides among lies."

-Translated text found on an ancient East Zebrican idol.

Chapter 39: A Poisonous Friend

1055 AD, November 12th

“Back in my home, there are evil spirits that prey on those alone…”

Zecora laid an intimidatingly large tome down on the table. The cover depicted a symbol that Celestia and Luna vaguely recalled as Zebrican, but were unsure what dialect it was from; it had been many years since either had visited the country.

“There are many variants and each have their own way of luring unsuspecting fools…” Zecora sat back down and flipped over the cover. “Our vices and sins – these are their tools.”

There were illustrations on the pages; they were beautiful with the amount of detail the artist had put into them, but that was lost on the majority of those at the table, who were rather put off by how… disturbing and alien the spirits’ appearances were.

“Whoa, that one looks like the Mane-iac,” Spike pointed to one page before it was covered by another. “‘Cept she doesn’t have eyes on her mane tendrils… and I’m pretty sure she’s not so bad that she’d eat a baby.”

“They desire to live within us and if they succeed, they will erase who we once were and commit horrible deeds. They will kill, eat the dead, and smother foals in their cradles…” Zecora inhaled deeply as she turned another page and stopped. “But we took solace in the fact that one of the most dangerous spirits was something we fought to be a mere fable.”

On that page was a large blot of ink with several twisted shapes branching out from it. Numerous, tiny blank spaces made for what appeared to be a grossly large number of eyes and exposed teeth.

An equine figure had been drawn beneath it and seemed to be frozen in a position of abject agony, courtesy of a single gnarled limb sprouting from beneath the blot and digging deep into their head.

“These spirits may be vicious, but they are almost without reason and thought…” Zecora took in a deep breath as she stared down at the tome intensely, as if her gaze could set the picture alight. “The qandisa is not. Other spirits will go berserk once they gain a body and are not intelligent enough to hide; the qandisa is frighteningly cunning, and its time it will bide.”

“Bide its time?” Virtue echoed with a frown. “For what? And… whoa, okay… wait a minute… Nightm-”

“Nightmare Moon’s a bloody thousand-year old ghost from Zebrica?!”

“Tactful as always, Cotton…”

“Wait a second…” Confused, Spike turned to Luna, frowning. “I thought Nightmare Moon was you, but all… you know, hyped up?”

Luna closed her eyes and sighed. “I am ashamed to say that I have neglected to correct the assumptions made about me. Sister… you thought that I became Nightmare Moon because of my envy and bitterness towards you.”

“You didn’t?” Celestia questioned in surprise. “But when we fought, you kept saying…”

“Yes, I…” Luna awkwardly cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable talking about the subject. “My feelings most definitely played a part, but they were not the source that physically transformed me into Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon… or whatever she called herself before our meeting… she was the one that did it. She was never a part of my personality gone rogue, but a complete entity on her own.”

“I thought… Why didn’t you tell me this, Luna?”

“I was ashamed…” Luna repeated with a strain in her voice and a miserable wince. She hung her head as she continued, unable to meet her sister’s gaze. “It seemed… to me at least… everypony believing that I turned on you of my own volition was better than everypony knowing I turned on you at the behest of some demon.”

“… I don’t get it…” Spike shook his head. “How is that better?”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, I agree,” Smiling reassuringly, she moved to place a forehoof on her sister’s shoulder, seeking to comfort. “That means it wasn’t your fault that-”

“No, please don’t…”

Luna shied away from the gesture and looked up sharply. Her expression was pained as if she had been wounded. There were the beginnings of tears in her eyes and Virtue and Cotton Puff looked away, unsure if it was disrespectful to see your ruler in such a state.

Neither princess seemed to care.

“Please don’t say it wasn’t my fault…” Luna inhaled deeply. “Because what actually happened is so much worse. I should have never even listened to that demon’s words; I should have come to you the instant I was aware of it, not hide it away and nurture it by giving it my attention. I… I should have known better…”

The princess of the night groaned and rubbed at her face.

“What a fool I am! Do you all see now? Everything that has happened with her could have been prevented and it’s because of me that it hadn’t!”

“Luna…”

“‘Tia, please… I…” She sighed and dropped her forelegs at her sides, staring blankly at the distorted reflection in her tea cup. “I have to take responsibility for my mistakes, so don’t try to exempt me from blame. Yes, you could argue that Nightmare Moon started all of this, but she would never have gotten this far if I had just done the right thing and told you about her… from the very beginning…”

Celestia opened her mouth and closed it abruptly. She didn’t know what to say: it hurt seeing Luna tear herself up from guilt, and she so desperately wanted to tell her that it wasn’t her fault and that everything would be alright.

“… I swear by Mother Faust that it is the truth when I say that I do not know exactly how she came to me, especially in the new light of what Zecora has informed us about her nature…”

Luna inhaled deeply – a breath to compose herself.

“But I remember how readily she manipulated me. It was years after we defeated Discord and began the establishment of our diarchy, sister… already I was beginning to feel the sting of how the ponies favoured your day over my night, and then that’s when she spoke to me…”

“Hello, Luna.”

“Ah! Yes, good evening!”

Luna jolted and rose off her flank, mentally cursing her own inattention. It wasn’t befitting of a princess, but it always seemed to happen whenever she came out into the gardens. It had taken a while to gather the plants and flowers that flourished in just that right way no matter the time of day and…

‘Pay attention, Luna; somepony is greeting thee.’

“Forgive Our lapse in concentration…” She turned with a smile. “How may We… assist…?”

Luna’s shadow stretched far on the moonlit grass.

“… H-hello?”

“It is nice to finally meet you, princess.”

Frowning, Luna turned her head from right to left. The stone archway and wall leading into the garden was a few yards from where she stood and beyond that, the castle.

Yet there was no sign of her visitor.

They seemed nice, though.

“We wouldst say the same thing, but alas, We are unable to find thee…” Luna thought for a moment and did a full turn so she was facing the small pond again. Several fish lazily swam in circles and nibbled on algae. “We implore thee to reveal thyself.”

“I am sorry to say that I must decline; I do not have a form to reveal to you.”

The visitor… lacked a body?

Luna immediately became wary. “What manner of creature might thou be to speak without lips?”

“… I am not entirely sure.”

As the creature spoke – somehow sounding both near and far away – Luna did another full turn and silently channelled magic into her horn. The night was chilly and the moon was high in the sky; she felt strong and ready to face whatever it was that addressed her.

“Speak sense…” Luna carefully scanned the gardens with narrowed eyes. “Is thou friend or foe?”

“I have no intention of harming you…”

It sounded sincere.

Luna hummed in suspicion and replied, “Where is thou? A body thou may not have, but surely thou must exist in some way?”

There was a brief pause where Luna swore she could feel the visitor struggle to find the right words.

“… I believe I’m… you.”

“What?”

“Or… I exist in tandem with you. In the recesses of your mind.”

“Thou speak lies – We would have sensed another presence on such an intrusion.”

“… Your name is Luna and you are one of the princesses of Equestria.”

Luna huffed. “Tis not knowledge of much secrecy.”

“Your parents were common farmers in a village from far away. They were killed by a plague that swept through.”

“…”

“You and your sister were the only survivors because of your alicorn physiology rendering you immune to sickness.”

“… How?”

Though she knew she wouldn’t feel anything, Luna reflexively touched her right temple. Fear swelled beneath her breast, but she was quick to squash it.

She had faced a greater and more intimidating foe that also had a penchant for getting in her head.

“Explain thyself.”

“I know little, I’m afraid,” The voice sounded regretful. “My memory is fleeting and I can only recall vague shapes and smells. I think… I think I was always without a body, but I can’t be sure. The clearest memory I had is when I… I guess it was when I ‘awoke’ and peered out at the world through your eyes.”

“Our eyes?”

“Literally, not philosophically. Although, your thoughts have given me much insight.”

Luna balked in indignation. “Thou darest violate Our inner thoughts as if they were books on display?!”

“It wasn’t my intention…” Again, there was a note of sincerity in the voice’s tone. “Whatever you think, it’s as if you’re shouting it.”

Luna frowned in doubt and started thinking of the colour Celestia had been turned to during their first confrontation with Discord.

“Gr… You have a word for that shade of green, don’t you?”

Luna thought about ‘pistachio’.

“Is it pistachio?”

“Hmph… now We believe thee. Even so, whether thou intended to eavesdrop on Our thoughts or no, tis a violation of Our privacy.”

The voice didn’t have a reply, so Luna continued speaking as she trotted towards the stone archway.

“We must inform Our sister of thy presence.”

“Why?”

“Tis common sense: a being that speaks and claims to exist in one’s mind cannot go ignored,” Luna passed beneath the stone archway and made for the castle. She was thankful nopony was out at night… perhaps for the first time in a while. “Our sister must be made aware of-”

“It’s a shame nopony appreciates your night.”

Luna paused mid-pace and took a moment to remember that Voice could hear her thoughts. She shook her head at her own forgetfulness and resumed walking.

“I see how you put a lot of effort and artistic touch into the night; more ponies should really see it.”

“We… Thou hast Our gratitude, but flattery will not stay Our hoof into inaction.”

“Oh no, you can tell Celestia about me. I understand completely. To be honest, it’s for the best; I bet she can help me figure out what I am and how I came to be. She is very smart, isn’t she?”

“… Yes, of course she is.”

“I had some time to go over your memories: she practically runs Equestria by herself, hm? You do your-”

“How long hast thou been in Our mind?” Luna questioned as she climbed up several stone steps and went through a large door. The castle hallways were bright with lit wall scones and hanging chandeliers. “As much as thou can recall?”

Voice made an unsure noise before replying, “Maybe… two weeks? I would have said something earlier, but I wasn’t sure how you’d react. I wanted to find a time when you were relaxed, but… you’ve seemed uneasy these past days.”

“…”

“Yes, you’re upset that ponies don’t give the same due to your night as they do to Celestia’s day, aren’t you? And that she gets more duties because ponies come to her when the sun is up?”

“…”

“Don’t be upset,” Voice hummed with sympathy. “You’re just as qualified to run Equestria as she is, I can tell by your thoughts. It’s just…”

“Ponies need their sleep, We… We know that,” Luna turned a corner and the lonely corridor stretched on. “We should remember that without night, the ponies of Equestria would tire and be unable to work and farm.”

“See? Your night is important. Although… I will agree that maybe they could host a festival for what you do like they already do with Celestia.”

Luna felt a spark of guilt and reflexively muttered, “I don’t… We don’t want to seem selfish for wishing for-”

“It’s not; don’t fret about that.”

“… Dost thou truly care for Our night?”

“I do. I like the daytime as well, but something about the night just… appeals to me more. The way the moon shines, the way the stars twinkle… it’s all so serene. I really enjoy it when you go out into the garden like you did earlier.”

To hear somepony… someone say that about her night… it really made her heart soar in joy. Luna knew it was selfish, but she really liked hearing those compliments.

“Don’t feel that way. You deserve it.”

Luna spotted the door to her sister’s room at the end of the hallway. She was sleeping.

Of course she was – it was night.

“I wonder what will happen to me? I wonder what she’ll say? What she’ll do?”

Luna had a very good suspicion that Celestia would attempt to take Voice away.

“That makes sense. She wants what’s best for her little sister.”

But Luna was a grown mare; she had faced off against Discord as well and she was one of Equestria’s rulers.

She had just as much say in what should happen to Voice.

“Of course you do. You should tell her that.”

But Celestia wouldn’t… she wouldn’t listen.

“Why not?”

Because she never listened to Luna anymore!

“… I’m sure that’s not true.”

It was always the same thing: she’d get up and try to help Celestia with whatever duties she had – nopony visited Luna at night court – but Celestia would just smile condescendingly and tell her to go back to bed and get some rest.

“Luna, perhaps you’re not thinking clearly…”

“I know what I can and can’t do!”

Luna shut her mouth tight and looked around in case somepony heard. There wasn’t a soul in sight, so she relaxed and made a note to lower her voice.

“If she would just give me a chance… if she would just hear me out…”

“… Very well…” Voice sighed. “I’ll leave this to you… but I really think you should tell her…”

“…”

“Maybe this is something you can’t handle on your own.”

“…”

Luna glared at her sister’s door… and turned away.

“She played the part of a considerate friend frighteningly well…” Luna grumbled and took an aggressive sip of her tea, a bark of self-depreciating laughter escaping her lips. “And I fell for the entire act.”

“Luna…”

“Pride was my vice and she knew it. I… I am sorry I caused all of this.”

The table was silent and nopony knew what to say. Celestia was utterly heartbroken by the confession and her sister stewing in self-disgust.

Swallowing hard, she quietly asked, “Did you think I’d be angry at you if you told me that?”

Luna met her gaze evenly. “I was afraid you wouldn’t. You are my sister and I know you love me… but that doesn’t mean you can’t get angry with me when I deserve it.”

“I… I’m sorry, Luna, but…” Celestia shook her head helplessly. “I’m not angry, just… sad.”

Luna’s throat bobbed as she swallowed and visibly shivered at the words. She broke eye contact and looked over at the others; her expression was neutral as she took in their mixed emotions.

“Before this, only Marquess Aldo of the Griffon Kingdom knew the truth: he is a wise griffon and I… felt at ease telling him what happened. He said that I couldn’t hide it forever… and he was right. Now… well, now you know the story.”

“… Bloody hell.”

“Took the words right outta my mouth, Cotton… um…” Virtue reached up to pull his mane back – a nervous tic. He blew a long sigh and muttered, “I… I don’t really know what to say, Your Highness…”

“Say whatever is in your heart,” Luna replied. “That goes for everypony and dragon here.”

“Alright… so…” Spike awkwardly twiddled his thumbs, glanced at Zecora, picked up his cup, put it back down, and said, “I guess… that was dumb to do?”

“That is…” Luna frowned in uncertainty. “It is not inaccurate, that much is for certain.”

“Thing is, Your Highness…” Cotton Puff began with a shrug. “We’re not angry or anything like that,” He turned to scan the faces around the table. “We all feel like that, right? Yeah? All of us? Cool beans,” He turned back with a nod. “We’re not angry at you.”

Luna’s lips pursed and she glowered down at the table in frustration. “How can none of you…?”

“Being angry at each other accomplishes nothing,” Zecora said and pressed a hoof against the open book on the table for emphasis. “We shall not pitch hurtful words to and fro when all of our ire should be directed at our foe.”

Spike nodded in agreement. “Totally. It’s cool you told us the truth and everything, but I’d really rather be angry at Nightmare Moon than you,” He laughed in an attempt to relieve some of the tension. “I mean… what? You want us to ground you or something? No way! We need you here helping… right?”

Luna sighed and looked around the table guiltily. She still strongly felt that she was getting off too easily… but they were right in that there were more important things to do.

Her need for punishment could wait.

“I am lucky to have such good friends…”

As Cotton blushed deeply and took a quick drink, Luna felt a hoof cover her own. She turned to smile apologetically up at her sister. Celestia returned the smile, but there was still a trace of sadness in it and her eyes.

“I am afraid, Your Highness, that you are mistaken about your pride…”

At everyone’s confused look, Zecora referred to the large tome once more. She turned another page and trailed her hoof down a long column of Zebrican words.

“In Zebrica, we believe there are two parts to one’s soul…” Zecora touched an illustration – an oval-like shape with one half black and the other white. “That which is bright and warm, the other dark and cold.”

“Is that good and evil?” Spike questioned. “Sounds like it.”

“Were it so simple. Our thoughts about others, our feelings towards friends and family; it resides within the Light of our soul, and it is what enables sympathy and empathy. The Dark of our soul is its opposite twin; it holds the love of oneself and their vices and sins.”

Zecora pressed her hoof against the Dark half of the illustration.

“Do not be fooled. It is by no means evil or impure; without it, we cannot love ourselves and so self-preservation is not assured. This selfishness and want is what attracts the spirits… all except the qandisa.”

Zecora slid her hoof so it rested on the Light half of the illustration.

“… You’re saying that Nightmare Moon preys on… what’s good in us?” Virtue said with a frown. “How’s that work?”

“Any aspect that is good can be turned to poison with enough manipulation, whether it be charity, humility, determination… or ambition,” Zecora said darkly. “Worse than other spirits, the qandisa feeds and preys on the host’s greatest quality; they pull and press and prod and make the host believe what they are doing is right, even when it’s not… then when it is too late… they are consumed and taken from sight.”

“…” Luna nodded solemnly. “She speaks truly. Back then, she always supported me to get the things I wanted. They were innocuous things at first… harmless… but as time went on, they got bigger and bigger, and I… I never saw anything wrong because… well, what was so wrong about achieving your hopes and dreams? I didn’t even realize I was hurting anypony until that day I refused to lower the moon.”

She shook her head.

“But by the time I did… she was in too deep and took over. That who I used to think of as my closest friend had betrayed me and I could do nothing but watch as she attacked my sister.”

“There are methods to remove these spirits without harming the victim too much… but for the qandisa…”

Zecora picked up her cup and swept her left forehoof over the rim, drawing three circles. There was an almost imperceptible thrum of magic in the air – different to what unicorns emitted but still similar in that way all magic was – and when Zecora completed another circle, the liquid in her cup had taken a darker tint.

“We require a finer touch.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “Are you saying you can remove Nightmare Moon from Twilight?”

“If I can create the right mixture, it might even be able to destroy her.”

“That’s wonderful news!” Celestia beamed brightly. “How long will it take?”

Zecora frowned as she examined the book. “A bundle of ingredients is what I require; most of them difficult to acquire. I will not start until we have them all as the mixture is wont to expire.”

“We may have a plan here…” Celestia said quietly before, much more loudly, continuing with, “Tell us what you need, Zecora.”

“Most of these ingredients we can secure tonight…” Zecora glanced around her for a sheet of paper. Spike was at her side in an instant, holding an ink-dipped quill and a sheet of paper. “However, the mixing must be done when it is bright. Young Spike – we need pollen from a golden trite, hair from a baby lion…”

“Oy! Fluttershy’s got one of those at her cottage!” Cotton Puff jumped up and headed for the door excitedly. “Almost bit my johnnie off, so there’s some payback I’ll enjoy.”

Virtue rolled his eyes and stood, too. “There’s some golden trites by Sweet Apple Acres; I’m sure I can rope Clockwork into helping. How much do we…?”

He suddenly paused and started slightly when his gaze just so happened to flick over to the corner. He took a second to exhale and shake his head before lowering his voice.

“Faust, I sort of forgot she was there…”

“I heard that.”

“Excellent – we need all the assistance we can gather,” Luna said in her ‘heed my orders or prepare for a headache’ tone. “Come and see what ingredient you must find.”

Sunset growled in her throat and looked over sharply, the book she was reading hitting the floor with a thump. “You can’t just order me around like I’m some-”

She cut herself short when both alicorns gave her an intense glare that was only marginally less scary than the ones Nightmare Moon would send her way. Even Celestia’s serene features became astoundingly menacing when she furrowed her brow and curled her lips in that way.

Sunset prided herself on being intelligent… so she knew that disobeying was probably not the best move to make.

Heaving a great and annoyed sigh, Sunset picked herself up and stomped on over, refusing to make eye contact and muttering scathing remarks under her breath.

“Had enough orders back at the frickin’ castle… should be back in the human world… junk food and watching my shows…”

Author's Note

Note 1: Supposedly, only one qandisa can exist at any given time.

According to Zebrican lore, while most evil spirits are born from acts of evil and can occur almost anywhere, a qandisa is born from acts of good and only occur in densely populated areas.

The qandisa is born not from the evil in a place, but from the potential for evil in a place.

Chapter 40: The Companion I Shouldn't Have

1055 AD, November 12th

“All the guards have been accounted for, Empress. Some are injured, but nothing serious.”

“And the state of the castle?”

“Nothing that a bit of horn grease can’t fix.”

“Make sure our defences are up to par; the repairs of the castle can wait. Also, I haven’t heard from the griffon ambassador yet, so have somepony go and check up on him.”

“Of course, Empress. Is there anything else?”

“No. That is all.”

Haze bowed his head and turned to trot out of the throne room. Before he fully turned, Ebony saw his lips twitch, and his steps were decidedly more cautious than normal; the only signs that he was still hurting from today’s battle.

She could sympathize.

Ebony gingerly placed a hoof against the breastplate of her armor. Her ribs had been cracked at some point and though they were mostly fully healed by now, there was still a biting sting that accompanied each breath she took.

Still, it was nothing compared to what her Empress had gone through…

Faust, just remembering the event was enough to send shudders down her spine.

“Ebony, stop.”

She gasped and turned her head to the left. “E-Empress?”

“I can feel the tension rolling off of you. I am fine…”

Nightmare Moon made Twilight turn her head to face Ebony, the movement slow and methodical… as well as eerie.

“Do not let your performance suffer because of what happened today.”

“I… I won’t, Empress.”

Twilight’s empty gaze remained on her for several uncomfortable moments as Nightmare Moon briefly tended to the body sitting on the throne. Once she was done doing… whatever it was she was doing… she made Twilight look straight ahead again.

Ebony didn’t know what was wrong with Nightmare Moon’s body; it looked to be completely healed and back to its full glory, but perhaps Fade had a point when he said it was giving that ‘Nightmare Grin’ way too many times.

Indeed, Nightmare Moon – as in, that ‘living’ black smoke that hung around the limp body sitting in the throne – seemed reluctant to completely inhabit the vessel, and instead partially filled it like a half-full water balloon.

Whatever was going on, Ebony knew two things for certain…

One: her Empress was more terrifying and mysterious than she could have ever imagined.

Two: she was going to hunt down those Element bearers and former princesses and bring them back to custody.

‘I’ve finally found my role in life. When Nightmare Moon almost died there… I would have been without… No, don’t think about that. Don’t let your performance suffer because of worry. Act like the leader Nightmare Moon sees in you.’

Ebony drew in a breath and puffed out her chest just as the throne room doors swung open. Veil trotted in with one wing wrapped up tightly in white bandages.

“Hey, uh… that Vinyl mare’s here…” Veil stopped a bit in front of the dais the throne was situated on. From her position, Ebony could see patches of burnt hair that had yet to shed. “She’s asking for you. Well… demanding, more like it.”

Twilight’s normal eye twitched and Ebony wasn’t sure if it was Nightmare Moon’s influence or some sign of inner turmoil. The body in the throne certainly hadn’t reacted to the news.

Veil quirked one eyebrow and blinked at the lack of response, and then started turning away. “So that’s a no?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Yes.”

“Yes to the no?”

“No – yes to- ugh…”

Twilight’s single reptilian eye quivered and flicked back and forth. With a sound not unlike an irritated rattlesnake, wisps of dark fog crawled out from her nostrils, mouth, and ears. Ebony couldn’t hold back a small noise of alarm and her armor clanked noisily as she jolted.

Veil’s lip curled in distaste and she shrunk back as the fog snaked towards the throne. The aura already surrounding Nightmare Moon’s body compressed and disappeared into any orifice it could find; once the last of the fog had vanished within the body, Twilight collapsed onto her side, unconscious.

“Mm…” The previously unresponsive body blinked and bent its neck with audible crunching noises. “Ungh… I… I will see to Vinyl myself.”

Nightmare Moon rose and stretched some more, wincing and grunting in pleasure as she worked out each kink. It sounded good; Ebony felt like doing some herself.

“Ebony – take Twilight to one of the cells where the Element bearers used to be held,” The Empress ordered as she trotted past the fallen mare. “It doesn’t matter which one.”

“Yes, Empress. Should I use an obsidian ring on her?”

“No, she’ll be out of it for a while. Take her to the cells and remain guard there until I return; it shouldn’t be too long.”

Veil stepped to the side to allow Nightmare Moon to pass. “Anything you want me to do?”

“Nothing serious…” The Empress stopped in place to address her. “I’m sure you can find…”

“…”

“…”

Ebony frowned in concern as the two stared at each other. “Um…”

“… find something to occupy yourself.”

When Nightmare Moon came out of her long pause, she seemed notably more irritated, and didn’t bother waiting for a reply; she just stormed off with a thunderous expression that made the two guards stationed by the throne room doors quiver until she had disappeared out into the corridors.

“… What was that about?”

Ebony shook her head as she moved over to Twilight and cautiously prodded her with telekinesis, grimacing at the spots of blood that covered the floor from the protruding crystals.

“I don’t know.”

“It’s like the lights weren’t on for a second…” Veil glanced at the doors and then back to her. “Think that’s from the solar strike?”

“What else could it be?”

“… Stallion… tha’ was… pretty damn messed up, eh?”

It was incredibly rare for Veil’s accent to shine through and it caught Ebony off-guard for a moment. She’d sooner hear Veil use country-isms than let her accent slip.

It only happened twice before in the time they’ve been friends.

“Ah knew th’… I mean, I knew the princesses were strong, but Celestia calling down that beam and just vaporizing Nightmare Moon?” Veil shivered. “That was pretty freaky…”

“It was.”

Ebony concentrated and gently lifted Twilight from off the floor. The crystals sprouting from the young alicorn’s body radiated unfamiliar magic which predictably lashed out at Ebony’s aura, but there was also magic coming off them that was very similar to Nightmare Moon’s aura.

And as if sensing the similarity, the magic worked to subdue Twilight’s aura, allowing Ebony to pick up and lay the unconscious mare across her back.

The weight wasn’t a problem, but she shuddered when an errant crystal scratched her side.

“Need help?”

“No, I’m fine, thanks.”

When Ebony made for the doors, Veil joined her, which was surprising. It wasn’t unwelcome, but she expected her to have better things to do than act as an escort.

Although considering who the unconscious pony on Ebony’s back was… maybe having an escort couldn’t hurt.

“So…” Veil glanced around suspiciously once they were out in the castle’s corridors and heading towards the cells. Notably, she looked over her shoulder in the direction Nightmare Moon went before turning back and whispering, “I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Me?”

“It’s about Nightmare Moon.”

“Oh, well… okay…” Swallowing as a weight settled in her belly, Ebony nodded. “What’s it about?”

“That whole…” Veil paused and grumbled something under her breath. “Let’s not kid ourselves: Nightmare Moon’s pretty freaky.”

Ebony’s knee-jerk reaction was to defend her Empress, but the more she thought on it, the more she realized that the statement was true, and that Nightmare Moon herself would probably take that as a compliment.

She nodded again. “O-okay…”

“And I think we all sort of figured from the get-go that she isn’t equine.”

“Okay…”

“But that thing where she was hit by Celestia’s beam and just exploded out of her body in that black fog… that was more than I expected. Seeing her all melted was one thing, but that fog, what she actually looked like was another thing altogether.”

A patrol of Eclipse guards passed by and Veil abruptly switched to telepathy; she obviously wanted their conversation to remain private. The switch was a little disorienting and Ebony blinked hard and lightly shook her head.

“What are you saying? She’s still our Empress, whether she’s in her body or as somepony else… or something else.”

Veil looked around again to see if they were clear. They were. “But I never expected her to be so… so…” She gave a short, humourless laugh. “I cannot believe I’m using this word… ‘demonic’.”

Ebony felt heat flare in her chest and she snapped, “Veil!”

“What else would you use to describe that? Look – I don’t believe in Mother Faust. I’ll use ‘her’ name in a curse for impact, but I don’t believe in her. You know what else I don’t believe in? Gods, demons, and devils – the type that alicasists and my parents used to go on about.”

The intensity in Veil’s tone was uncharacteristic of her. Ebony came to a stop and nervously looked around for twitching ears and prying eyes; she didn’t want Nightmare Moon catching wind of this.

“So if I’m using the word ‘demonic’ to describe ‘our’ Empress…” Veil continued, now stepping forwards and getting in the other mare’s face. “Then something’s seriously screwed here!”

“Veil, stop shouting!” Ebony drew in a breath and looked around once more before meeting her friend’s gaze. It really wasn’t like Veil to be this way. It was a little scary, to be honest. “We swore our loyalty to Nightmare Moon because we wanted change in Equestria, right? Y-you told me some… uh, some time ago that you wished Equestria didn’t rely so heavily on the ‘friendship is magic’ ideal.”

“Yeah… I remember…”

“Well, Nightmare Moon’s doing that right now; she even made the Resonator and closed the Fracture. It… Does it matter what she is so long as she’s helping our home? I…” A thought came to Ebony. “She saved you, remember?”

“… Yeah, she did. I would have been toast if she didn’t shove me out of that beam. Literally. Surprised she did that actually…”

“And you said how it’s screwed up?” Ebony shrugged as best she could without disturbing her passenger. “Well… we had to expect that when we swore loyalty to her, r-right? Plus, we’ve already done some pretty… s-screwed up stuff. We hurt all those guards…”

“Yeah…” Veil cast her gaze to the floor, though there was no hint of guilt in her tone, only acknowledgment. “Yeah, we did,” She sighed and rubbed at her temple. “Hmph… maybe I’m just being crazy… or maybe my parents’ ‘advice’ about demons and devils just got through for a bit. I dunno…”

Smiling sympathetically, Ebony gently said, “It’s been a long day; I think we all just need some time to recover.”

“… Maybe,” Veil nodded as she stopped massaging her temple and put down her foreleg. Briefly, she cast a quick look down the end of the corridor they came from. “I still stand by what I said about Nightmare Moon. I don’t think she’s actually a demon, but she’s definitely something. You’re right about following her though; we all chose this and said we understood what we were getting into, so… might as well stand by it,” She gave a short huff of a chuckle. “We’re already in pretty deep and I don’t think the princesses would smile and take a little ‘sorry we kicked your asses and imprisoned you’.”

Relieved to see a bit of the real Veil again, Ebony chuckled in amusement as her muscles relaxed. “I’m sure they’ve forgiven worse.”

“That’s something I don’t doubt,” Veil rolled her eyes before giving a jerk of her head to the side. “Probably talked your ear off enough for one day; let’s go get Gem-Face in her cell before she wakes up.”

Ebony kept her relieved smile on and fell alongside her friend in a brisk trot.

She didn’t like the idea of keeping secrets from her Empress, but she feared how Nightmare Moon would react to hearing Veil having doubts. She cared deeply for Veil – considered her the closest thing to a ‘bestie’, if the word didn’t make the pegasus scrunch her face up and get stomach aches – and didn’t want to see her get into trouble.

‘Maybe I can keep this one secret; it can’t hurt anypony, right?’

It was just a little secret…

Oh yes, she was definitely still smarting from that attack.

Nightmare Moon scowled when her right wing unfurled and flapped three times without her permission, incidentally knocking over a small table holding a ceramic vase. She had to make a conscious effort to tuck the appendage back in and her magic didn’t react as instantly when she called on it to pick up the vase.

‘I shouldn’t be meeting Vinyl in this condition…’

Yet she was still going to.

She chose not to dwell on it and simply fixed the vase before moving on down the hallway and going through the door at the end.

The entrance hall was where all who requested to see Nightmare Moon would be seated until she either ordered her guards to escort them in or had them sent off. It was frustrating since Nightmare Moon held a court in the morning and night at specific times so that ponies could come in and voice their concerns.

Apparently, nopony had any.

Nightmare Moon spotted Vinyl before she even used the large set of stairs to get down to the ground floor; the alabaster DJ was staring at a painting hanging from the wall near the front doors. She had her head tilted to the side, so Nightmare Moon could only guess she was struggling to understand exactly what the content of the painting was.

“I’m no closer either.”

Vinyl started at the sound of her voice, but quickly relaxed and had a big familiar grin on her face when she turned. “Hey, Wolf! How’s it been? Heard there was some brawl or something at the castle and the princesses and Element girls escaped.”

“…”

“… Not that I’m… happy to hear that… heh heh…”

Nightmare Moon grinded her teeth and swallowed her rage as she descended the steps, carefully in case her leg muscles suddenly stopped responding. “Literally three seconds and already I want to commit defenestration.”

Vinyl’s brow scrunched behind her glasses. “That’s, uh… that’s a fancy way of sayin’ ‘toss my ass out the window’, right?”

“Vocabulary lessons going well, I see.”

“Dunno what’s wrong with just sayin’ it straight and true,” Vinyl muttered before tilting her head to the side again, as if to examine Nightmare Moon in a different light. “So anyway… I also heard that you sort of got smoked. Pretty badly, too.”

Reaching the bottom of the steps, Nightmare Moon flashed her teeth as she growled and, against her wishes, her right hind leg tapped against the marble floor twice.

“I do not wish to talk about that.”

Vinyl frowned. “Hey, I’m just worried about ya, is all…”

The concern struck her like a bucket of cold water. Fortunately, there were no guards around. Nightmare Moon inhaled deeply, stopped a few feet away from Vinyl, and looked down with a somewhat calmer temperament.

“Perhaps… the worst I’ve ever been injured… but as you can see, I’m perfectly fine. Your worries are not necessary.”

“You sure?” Vinyl’s horn glowed and she lifted her glasses to show inquisitive red eyes. “That smile’s not so much reassuring as friggin’ shit-scary.”

‘Wonderful – it’s happening again…’

As soon as she was aware of it, the muscles in Nightmare Moon’s cheeks allowed her lips to push together and tug downwards instead of stretching to the sides and pulling apart. It may have taken more muscles to frown than to smile, but her frown was more likely to put people at ease than her smile.

“Nothing to worry about,” She insisted. “Now, you wanted me for something, correct?”

The DJ placed her glasses back and broke into a cheesy grin. “Yeah! I heard some crazy crap went down and figured you could use your ol’ friend to lend an ear… and some, uh… some hard cider.”

“Vinyl…” Nightmare Moon said with a sigh and closed her eyes in irritation. “It is past noon, but only by a few hours. Do you think I have nothing better that I could be spending time on?”

“I dunno…” She shrugged. “Do you?”

“…”

There was no way Nightmare Moon was going to attempt a recapturing of the princesses and Element bearers when she wasn’t at full strength, even when she was almost one hundred percent certain she knew where they would have fled to.

The Resonator wouldn’t need another inspection until later that night.

Twilight wouldn’t wake for a few more hours.

Her Praetorian Guard would be taking care of their duties.

And… well, she could really use a drink after everything that happened today…

“Sadly, no.”

Vinyl laughed with triumph and gestured to the front doors. “Come on – I know a bar that’s pretty alright for being in an uppity neighbourhood.”

Haze exited the throne room with a curious expression on his face. Fortunately, he spotted Fade attempting to strut down the hallway as a patrol of two female guards passed.

Haze gave him points for trying.

“Fade, have you seen the Empress?”

“You have telepathy, yeah?” Fade pointed out with a slight grimace and stretched out his sore legs.

“It seems rude to intrude on her thoughts like that. It’s not important that I find her immediately, but I am curious as to where she’s gone.”

“Ah, she’s gone drinking with Vinyl or some shit…” He winced as his left foreleg gave a soft click. “Ooh, that’s good.”

Haze quirked a brow. “Drinking?”

It was important that she appear strong and unfettered to any who gazed upon her; she would not and could not stand for seeming weak and deserving of pity.

At the same time however, she also made a point that she didn’t care what other ponies thought about her, especially when it came to the droll bleating about morality and what was ‘right and wrong’.

Maybe it had to do with her mood because right now, Nightmare Moon couldn’t care less how it looked to onlookers to see the Empress of Equestria sitting in the booth of a public if-not-classy bar that was a little too small for her.

The few patrons who dared remain in the bar hid the fact that they were staring with varying levels of success and the only ponies who truly weren’t interested was a band on the stage in the back playing their music.

Nightmare Moon admired their dedication.

“No shit? She called down the actual friggin’ sun?”

“I was not aware she even had such an ability,” Nightmare Moon shifted in her side of the booth a third time – she took up the entirety and it was only just enough. “It makes me wonder if Luna possesses something similar.”

“Maybe,” Vinyl’s horn glowed as she lifted a small glass of whiskey to her lips. She sucked on her teeth once it was empty and shuddered slightly. “Mm. Hey, maybe it’s not a beam of moonlight; I betcha it’s like a… like a sword or some crap.”

Nightmare Moon gave an amused smirk. “A moonlight sword?”

“Why not?”

“Ignoring the fact that lunar rays are in no way harmful to living creatures…” She paused. “Well… at least not the lunar rays from Equestria’s moon… it would be incredibly difficult and impractical to forge an actual sword from the rays.”

“Difficult but not impossible,” Vinyl pointed out and lounged back in her seat. “Didn’t you say at one point that you should prepare for every scenario?”

“That’s hard to do when you are still unaware of the capabilities of your foes…” She took another pause to down her own glass of whiskey and when she placed the receptacle down, Vinyl was eyeing her pointedly. Nightmare Moon nodded with a grumble. “Yes, I am well aware that is hardly an excuse. I should have planned more thoroughly for their inevitable escape attempt, but I didn’t think they were strong enough to…”

Her pride was wounded and no amount of alcohol would fix that; doubly so when her liver processed the liquid faster than she could down it. No, she would always have a clear head: some would call that a curse, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“At any rate…” She continued. “Considering how badly the beam injured me, it would have killed my Praetorian Guard if I hadn’t pushed them out of the blast radius.”

“Whoa, so you saved them?” Vinyl sounded surprised but not unpleasantly so. “Nice going, Wolf.”

“I would have teleported us all out if I had the time and concentration,” Nightmare Moon said dismissively. “It was a knee-jerk reaction that I chose to push them out of the way instead; after all, I have a better chance of surviving whatever Celestia could manage.”

“Somepony’s got a heart~” Vinyl cooed in a lilting tone that didn’t quite suit her scratchy voice.

“And somepony stills plays the role of the jester,” She retorted. “Do not mistake the fact that I am grateful to those who assist me as evidence that I am turning into some saccharine and soft-hearted sovereign. If it were anypony else, I would have let them be reduced to cinders.”

“Mm-hm…” The DJ simply smirked in reply and turned to shout over the music, “Yo – Empress wants some more shots, right stat now!”

“I can only imagine what nonsense you’ve gotten yourself into throwing my name around…”

“Not as much as you’d think,” Vinyl idly traced the rim of her glass with one hoof and watched a lone mare on the other side of the bar exhale into her hoof and sniff suspiciously. “Classy.”

“So how are things with you and your wife? I assume you are still sickeningly mad in love?”

“So much your stomach will blow chunks…” She laughed… perhaps a little too loudly and quickly. “It’s… pretty cool.”

Nightmare Moon levelled her with an unimpressed stare. “The guts and lack of brain cells you must have to attempt to lie to me…”

Vinyl grimaced at being caught out and nodded slowly, “Yeah, yeah… well, we’re both still totally hot for each other, but I’ve kinda been in the kennel for the past few days.”

A young mare in her early twenties brought over their drinks; she shivered so hard the liquid sloshed in the glasses.

Inevitably, some found its way onto Nightmare Moon’s coat.

“Truly, the pinnacle of service can be found in this establishment,” She commented dryly as the mare went white as a sheet and whimpered out her apologies. “Give me those.” With magic, she took the drinks, placed them on the table, and no sooner did she flick her hoof did the mare bolt.

“She’s still super-upset that I’m still pals with you,” Vinyl said and gave a nod of gratitude when her drink was slid over. “Cheers. Like, she didn’t even want me to go check up on you earlier today. I mean… Octy, I love ya so much it gives me diabetes, but I gotta go see how my friend’s doing, right?”

“I get such a warm feeling inside…”

The worst part was she actually did, though she was quick to squash it before it could spread.

“She didn’t like that, so I’m definitely gonna get an earful when I get back home. Meh – worth it.”

“… Are you and Octavia truly well?”

“Huh?”

Nightmare Moon was suddenly struck by a pang of ‘wrongness’; she likened it to how her closest associate was possibly suffering marital problems because of her. Naturally, she was eager to be rid of the blasted sensation.

“It would not please me to hear you two separate because of differing viewpoints.” She said calmly and swirled her glass.

“Separate? Nah…” Vinyl shook her head and her mane fell across her face from the action. “No way it’ll get that bad; we’re just hittin’ a rough patch. That crap’s bound to happen in any marriage, eh? I bet Shining Armor and Cadence have rows over who hogs the blankets, too.”

There was confidence and certainty in Vinyl’s tone, which soothed the wrongness pulsing beneath Nightmare Moon’s chest.

“Besides…” The DJ continued with a so-so wave of her forehoof. “Our viewpoints aren’t exactly different.”

“What do you mean?”

“First of all, you always said for me to be honest with you, right?”

“Right.”

“So I’ll start by sayin’ that I agree with Octavia fully about how what you’re doing, what you’ve done is pretty fucked up.”

“…”

“That being said, I don’t feel right… I mean, I just can’t pretend that I don’t care about you anymore, even after all the crap you’ve done,” Vinyl took a break to sip at her beverage. “Maybe I’m crazy, but we’ve been together for, what, four years? That’s way longer than most of my friendships and the closest, so I ain’t too keen on losing it, ya dig?”

“I understand,” Nightmare Moon nodded as she shifted a fourth time. “Perhaps we’re all a little crazy in our own right because I, too, am… hap… content with our relationship.”

“Heh heh…” Vinyl raised her glass with telekinesis. “Here’s to insanity.”

Despite herself, Nightmare Moon smirked and met the toast, clinking Vinyl’s with her own glass.

“There are worse things to toast to…”

She waited a moment for Vinyl to drink before draining her own glass, watching the DJ intently over the rim.

‘Really… how on Earth did our connection develop?’

She still didn’t know why it was so easy to speak to and be around Vinyl. The fundamentals of friend… companionship seemed to be that it started when any number of ponies with similar interests spent enough time around each another.

She guessed that Vinyl and her had similar tastes, but only in music, the love of a good brawl, and… and…

No, that was it; Vinyl led a rather hedonistic life, and that was something Nightmare Moon didn’t. In fact, she detested the idea of one’s passions overriding their sense of control.

So how did they become so close over the years?

Maybe it was a fluke.

‘What would have happened if I didn’t stumble on that flyer of hers?’

…

The question didn’t sit right in her mind so she cast it aside and instead grumbled out a snarky remark when Vinyl called for another round.

Author's Note

Note 1: "Equestria is notable in that the land possesses its own 'sun and moon', and are completely exempt from the day and night cycle that affects the rest of the natural world. Arriving at the country by sea or air, it appears no different from any other place in that time zone - bathed in sunlight or awash in moonlight - but upon breaching the 'four kilometre radius', the time of day abruptly switches to Equestrian standards.

"This radius is not unlimited in height either, as pegasi who have flown high enough attest that at a certain altitude, the Equestrian time of day switches to the actual time zone in that part of the world. Because of this, it is incredibly confusing as to whether or not Equestria's sun and moon are genuine or illusions as the sunlight is obviously real, but there should be no way of anypony making it to the moon, as they would simply pass through the anomaly that surrounds the country - (See: Mare in the Moon).

"The rulers of Equestria have limited knowledge of this occurrence despite being connected to the celestial bodies and the most-commonly accepted theory is that Equestria partially exists in a state between two dimensions, owing to the unusually high magic energies found there." - Excerpt from A Griffon's Guide to the World by Ezio Tusk-Shear.

Chapter 41: Flaw

1055 AD, November 12th

“Here!”

Zecora looked up from the tome in time to see a bunch of golden trite flowers slap down against the table. She frowned at the lack of care. “There is no need for… My, my – Sunset, what has happened to-”

“Don’t suppose you could have mentioned that golden trite flowers look very similar to sunshine dandelions?!”

Sunset’s body was covered in a bright yellow, sticky substance that clung to and matted her fur down. Her infuriated expression twitched erratically as the most irritating sensations assaulted her skin; her horn was glowing with magic as she telekinetically manoeuvred a back scratcher to alleviate the terrible itching, albeit temporarily.

Hiding an amused grin behind her forehoof, Zecora replied, “My apologies, Sunset – I was not aware the sunshine dandelions had bloomed so soon. A simple wash is all that is needed to soothe the itching on your tush.”

Sunset was drawn out of the enrapturing act of scratching her rump by a chorus of poorly-stifled giggles. Flushing deeply and glaring intensely at any within her field of vision, she held the scratcher close to her side and stomped her way over to the stairs leading to the upper floor of the treehouse.

“I told her those flowers didn’t look right…” Virtue commented as he closed the library’s main door. “But she insisted that she knew what she was doing.”

“Well, lucky you two found them when you did,” Cotton said from his seat at the table. He inched to the side to make room for Virtue, flushed when he realized that inadvertently moved him closer to Luna, and then quickly moved back, almost shoving his friend to the floor. “Ah heh heh… w-we’re all just waiting on you.”

“We have most of what we need…” Zecora carefully spread out the various items across the table’s surface; they ranged from normal – fragrant flowers, honey, tobacco – to unusual – a piece of wizened tree bark, perfume, a strand of baby lion hair. “The final ingredient is a cleansing joke seed.”

“What is that?” Celestia asked.

“A relative to the poison joke flower but with effects far more medicinal; it cleans one’s body of foreign magic and residuals. Far too weak on its own to match a spirit, but mixed with these ingredients and Nightmare Moon’s power it will inhibit.”

“And it’ll force her out of Twilight’s body? Or anypony else she possesses?” Zecora nodded. “… Will it kill Nightmare Moon?”

Zecora furrowed her brow in thought. “… That depends on how well the cleansing joke blooms at noon. Until then, there is nothing else that can be done, so we all should all get some rest on a job well done.”

It wasn’t that late, but sunlight was short during the winter, and by the time they had retrieved all the ingredients, the stars had begun to paint the black sky.

Glancing out one of the library’s windows, Cotton gave a huge yawn and blinked wearily. “S’pose I should be getting to bed if we’re done then.”

“You can stay here if you want.” Spike offered as he helped Zecora carefully move the ingredients to a secure place.

Cotton shook his head. “Nah – got a bed at an inn. Bloody bunny wouldn’t let me sleep in the cottage. Eh… come to think of it, I’d feel off sleeping in somepony else’s bed anyway,” He gave a shrug and turned to bow towards the princesses. “Your Highnesses.”

Celestia chuckled and gestured for him to rise. “That’s really unnecessary, but thank you, Cotton. You have a good rest.”

“I-I will,” Cotton stiffly rose and nodded at the lunar princess by Celestia’s side. “Goodbye.”

“Farewell and I wish you pleasant dreams.”

“Th-thank you…”

Cotton made for the library’s door after wishing everypony else a good night and exchanging a hoof-bump with Virtue. Once he was out and the door shut tight, Virtue stretched out his muscles with a groan of delight.

“Can’t believe I’m this beat from picking flowers.”

“It’s been an eventful day…” Celestia said with a tired smile. “Not just physically; truths and secrets have been revealed, and it’s quite a lot to process.”

Virtue nodded in agreement. “I tell you, the last thing I expected when I woke up this morning was for all of you to arrive at Ponyville. It’s great to have you all here and it’s so good to have a plan of action.”

“Indeed…” Celestia briefly turned her head to watch Zecora packing the ingredients away before trotting over to the stairs. “If nopony minds, I think I’ll head upstairs.”

“The beds are all set up!” Spike called from the kitchen; the sound of water boiling accompanied his call. “You want some tea or something?!”

“I’m not heading to bed just yet; I was just going to go out on the balcony and…” Celestia momentarily paused on her trek up the stairs, hesitating. “… Think on some things.”

“Okay, uh…” Spike poked his head out questioningly. “Do you want some tea brought up anyway?”

“No. That’s quite alright, thank you.”

She gave him a reassuring smile before disappearing to the upper floor. Spike quirked an eyebrow, no doubt sensing something was off about her.

Luna was impressed with his level of empathy – her sister had quite a poker face, and it took her years to figure out when she was using it.

“Young Spike, surely you will need rest, too?”

“Huh?” He blinked up at her before scoffing and waving his claw dismissively. “Nah, I’m cool. It’s too cold to get up in the morning right away, so I just sleep in; I’m pretty amped to be honest.”

“Says the dragon who falls asleep after boasting he could ‘party until the sun comes up’.” Virtue smirked.

“Hey, who gets scolded by the owl for putting the books where they don’t belong? Hm? Is it me? Oh, you’re just gonna walk away? Yeah, I won this round.”

Luna tittered in amusement. “Very well – I won’t nag. Now if you will excuse me, I must head upstairs for a bit, too…”

Spike simply nodded and watched her go for a bit before returning to the kitchen, slightly perplexed by the sisters’ behaviour.

‘Wonder what’s up with them?’

“…”

“Sister…”

Celestia didn’t turn; she had expected Luna to follow her. “Cotton seems rather smitten with you, doesn’t he?”

“… He is nice, but I am afraid I have no interest in a suitor.”

From the balcony of the library, she had a pretty good view over Ponyville, and Celestia knew Twilight had chosen to set up her telescope there exactly because of that reason. The device was folded up and leaned against the balcony’s railing, sadly gathering dust.

Most of Ponyville’s populace had already returned to their homes, but many lights were still on and Celestia could see a few pegasi flying around, no doubt enjoying the crisp air.

Luna didn’t respond and the silence was deep enough that they could hear the shower running inside the library, despite its distance and the number of walls between them.

“… Earlier you said that we shouldn’t keep secrets from each other anymore,” Celestia wetted her lips and continued looking forwards. “You told me the truth about Nightmare Moon, so it’s only fair I tell you why I lied about not knowing what she was trying to accomplish with… with Twilight.”

Again, Luna didn’t respond, but she moved forwards and stopped by her older sibling’s side. She looked concerned and expectant of bad news.

“I didn’t tell Rainbow Dash the truth because – and believe me when I say this – it wouldn’t have mattered,” Celestia shook her head slightly. “If she and the others knew the truth, it would only make them feel worse, and I couldn’t do that… at least not when they were still hurting so.”

“And what is the truth?”

“… I was desperate to get you back,” Celestia hung her head and shut her eyes as old and familiar shame crept into her heart. “When normal magic failed, I resorted to dark magic; the very same that Sombra used. I… I began experimenting with the Crystal Mirror.”

“The one you gave to Cadence and Shining Armor?”

“That was a duplicate I accidentally formed from the original, the one that was left behind when Sombra cursed the Crystal Empire. Although… I suppose it’s called the Resonator now,” She shrugged. “During my studies of dark magic, I came across a means of… implanting crystals into a pony’s body.”

Luna grimaced as she recalled the gruesome memory of Twilight appearing with those horrific injuries and that dead-eyed stare. “For what reason would anypony do that willingly?”

“Immortality.”

“… What?” Luna blinked a few times and prodded at her ear. “Immortality?”

“It is the only type of magic that can grant it…” Celestia said grimly. “And it is not a clean procedure. The crystals must be rooted deep within flesh and bone for it to take effect and the individual must be strong – physically and mentally. Nightmare Moon said she overestimated Twilight, so the procedure mustn’t have worked. I… I don’t want to think about what might have happened if she didn’t give Twilight some of her essence.”

‘Though would death have been a better fate?’

“But why?” Luna furrowed her brow in revulsion and confusion. “Why would she try to make her immortal?”

“Because at the time, she had us all under her hoof. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack… Twilight – they may bear the Elements of Harmony, but they are still mares. They will age and die. Twilight will live longer, but only slightly, and when all of them are gone, the Elements will disappear and choose six other ponies to be Bearers.”

It was a macabre thought, but Celestia had to face the facts, no matter how much it pained her. Just like with most everything and everypony else, they would age and leave her.

All except Luna.

“Nightmare Moon must have tried to grant them immortality, so that they – and by extension, the Elements – would forever remain in her grasp.”

Luna pondered this for a while, her face scrunched up in distaste. Finally, she shook her head. “But that would give us the time needed to escape the demon’s clutches. It seems a foolish move.”

“I won’t try to understand her reasoning or train of thought, if I even could, but what terrifies me is the idea of those young mares also undergoing the procedure and remaining in custody for the rest of their artificially-extended lives. A life without freedom is no life at all…”

“I’m sure Discord would have interjected with a quip if he were here at this moment…” Luna muttered and turned her gaze towards the horizon.

Celestia gave a humourless grin. “Which is why I gave him that chance at reformation and why my heart goes out to him now. Hmph… words I never thought I would say.”

“… Thank you for telling me this, sister,” Luna turned back with a warm but tired smile. “I appreciate you being honest with me.”

“No more lies between us, Lu-Lu…” The older alicorn returned the smile with just as much love and placed a comforting hoof on her kin’s shoulder. “I promise.”

Sunset thought her old mentor would never go to sleep.

It was two in the morning before she heard Celestia leave that balcony and trot to bed. She had insisted on sleeping downstairs so she could keep an eye and ear out.

Snugly tucked in a sleeping bag, Sunset had kept her face hidden and her breathing controlled, pretending to be dead to the world until she was certain nopony was awake. Spike had gone upstairs to curl into his basket, Zecora tiredly shuffled down into the basement – the zebra, strangely, mentioned having trouble finding rest anywhere but there – Virtue had taken the guest bed, and Luna later got into what was previously Twilight’s bed.

‘Why did the princess of the night go to bed later than somepony who brings the day?’

She didn’t know what Celestia had been doing or thinking about, but it took a long time, and Sunset was beginning to risk falling asleep herself. Her eyelids felt heavy and her mouth was paper-dry.

Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip…

Sunset’s ears perked at what sounded like Celestia getting into bed alongside Luna – jeez, that bed was sturdy – and she waited in anticipation for a few more minutes.

“…”

When she felt comfortable, Sunset ducked her head into the sleeping bag to hide the light of a spell being cast. Once the Night Eye spell had been implemented, she slowly unzipped the sleeping bag and slinked out; inch by inch she removed herself, frequently pausing to listen out for any irregular sounds, until she was finally out and on her hooves.

‘Okay, now carefully… move…’

It was just like when she had snuck into the castle, but better because at least here she could play it off that she was up for a glass of water or something of the like.

‘Speaking of drinks…’

Sunset reached back into her sleeping bag and pulled out a rucksack she had stashed away earlier before tip-hoofing towards the kitchen. She had to stop every few steps or so in case somepony was a light sleeper, but she grew more confident with every minute that passed without interference.

The kitchen posed a minor obstacle in that she had to open the fridge and pantry cupboards, but soon, her rucksack had a hearty amount of snacks, drinks, and food that didn’t spoil easily.

‘So far, so good.’

Easing the fridge’s door shut, Sunset lightly stepped back out into the library’s main room and – after a bit of confliction – stashed a few books she enjoyed into the bag. That done, she moved onto the check-out counter, and-

“Hmph…”

Sunset’s heart skipped a beat and she froze in place, not even daring to breathe. That came from upstairs and was vaguely masculine – Spike…

How sensitive were dragon ears? From what Sunset had learned, their greatest sense was their eyesight, not their hearing.

Although, high-pitched sounds like the cries of dragon newborns…

“Mm… Twilight… Don’t… don’t leave me, Twi… Hmph…”

Sunset waited another minute before she released a long exhale of relief.

‘Too close.’

Returning to the check-out counter, she grinned at her own good fortune as she came across a small bag in one of the drawers that held a fair amount of round objects and jingled softly. She had an inkling some bits would be around here somewhere; it was by no means a fortune, but it was better than nothing, and she was confident they’d get her as far as she needed to go.

She put those into the bag as well and quickly ran through a mental list before deciding she had gotten everything she needed. A cloak with a hood would have been nice, but she didn’t want to risk staying here any longer than needed.

‘Nopony outside of Nightmare Bitch and her army of simpletons knows what I look like anyway and the cold never bothered me.’

Nodding to herself, Sunset trotted out from behind the counter and headed for the front door. Her right forehoof wrapped around the handle and she gave a gentle pull-

Creak

Sunset cringed at the noise and froze again.

“…”

After shooting a well-deserved glare at the door, Sunset pulled until there was a gap large enough for her to slip out. The bag got caught on the door’s frame, but that was easily rectified with a quick yank, and then Sunset was outside and free to shut the door, revelling in the satisfying click it made.

‘Heh – easy as pie…’

The full moon was out and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so her path was lit, even without the undulating waves of blue and black that her Night Eye painted the world in. It gave her a headache anyway, so she dispelled it.

Finally…

She was free to walk out of Ponyville and head to the Crystal Empire to-

Fwip

“Who!”

“Wh-?” Sunset held in a startled squeak as a brown-feathered owl swooped in front of her, flapping incessantly and getting in her face. “Sh-shoo!” She flailed one hoof angrily. “Get outta here! Go on!”

“Who! Who!”

“Piss off!” Sunset bared her teeth as she took several steps forward despite the pest buzzing about her head. “Don’t think I won’t set you on fire! I’m not as herbivorous when I’m a human, you know. What, you don’t think I’m serious? Hold still and I’ll-”

Fwoosh

Thump

Sunset’s face fell and her blood turned to ice.

‘Please let that be a big owl…’

Suddenly, she realized that her shadow had been swallowed up by a much larger shadow; it had wings, yes, but the rest of it was… decidedly equine-like.

“Shit.”

“Turn, Sunset Shimmer.”

“…”

Against her better judgement, Sunset turned, and she was mildly surprised to find that it wasn’t Celestia that had caught her.

Luna was precariously balanced on a large branch that jutted out from the tree and just so happened to put her directly in front of the moon. She suddenly seemed a lot larger and more threatening, especially with those glowing white eyes and great wings stretched out to her sides.

“… Is this how you show gratitude?” Luna’s face was shrouded in darkness, but her tone of voice was more than enough to tell Sunset exactly how she felt. “We took you from that demon’s clutches, allowed you a place to sleep, and you respond by stealing away into the night with Twilight’s belongings?”

Sunset almost faltered, but she had had enough of being talked down to. Gathering her courage, she curled her lips into a sneer and curtly replied, “I don’t care what you think of me. I’m not staying here any longer than I have to. You can keep the stupid Elements of Whatever because I’m out.”

She turned away and started walking after telekinetically shoving the owl to the side, eliciting an indignant hoot.

“I was not finished talking to y-”

“Well, I’m finished, so deal with it.”

Sunset heard another gust of wind and the shadow moved so she was bathed in moonlight once more. Unfortunately, the owner of the shadow moved to land directly beside her, easily keeping pace.

“Where will you even go?” Luna murmured in a low tone. Her wings folded back up as she stared down at the other mare.

“I’m going back home. The life I made on the other side of the mirror is way better than what’s here,” Sunset adamantly chose to look straight ahead. “It sucks I didn’t get Twilight’s crown, but I can live with it.”

“Will that mirror even take you to the same place? Will it even work? The Orxoni activates only-”

“I still remember the work we did on the Resonator; I can apply the same knowledge to that.”

“Do you really think Shining Armor and Princess Cadence will allow you that level of access?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“… The journey will be treacherous. Who can say for sure that you will not stumble across an entity from the invading universe?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“You can’t have that much on you. You can’t afford a train ticket from here to there. Do you intend to walk?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“Why don’t you think of it now, hm?”

Sunset stopped as Luna stepped out in front of her. She tried to sidestep, but a large wing blocked her.

“Celestia was right; you act without thinking of the possible consequences,” Luna moved to block her path again, face impassive. “What if a malevolent creature chances upon you? Will you attack? Will you even be strong enough to face it?”

“Get out of my way.”

“How much food did you pack? A week’s worth? There can’t be that much space in that bag. Do you intend to live off the wilderness? Of other ponies’ kindness?”

“Move!”

“Do you have any training in survival whatsoever? Celestia told me you lived a sheltered life and that the instant she didn’t give you the alicorn status you so desperately desired, you fled into the mirror, a mere few doors from where she gave you your very own study room. How do you expect to survive with that kind of up-”

“Fuck you!”

Sunset’s temper flared and she threw all her body weight into a shove. Luna didn’t even flinch, but it did make her go silent.

“What do you know about me?!” Sunset panted and she bared her teeth aggressively. “You don’t know what I’m capable of!”

“I know that you are a spoiled brat that threw a tantrum when she didn’t get what she wanted.”

“I deserve to be an alicorn princess! I worked myself to the bone studying under Celestia. I learned the trades of being a princess, I knew all about diplomatic relations, and I was the most accomplished unicorn in her Faust-damn school! If I wasn’t supposed to follow in her hoofsteps, then why’d she even pick me to be her student?”

“Celestia took on many students in her life,” Luna remarked icily. “None of them were made into alicorns, so why should you be special?”

“Why should Twilight be special?!” Sunset spat. “What’s so great about her? She… Because she learned the ‘magic of friendship’? Bullshit! Anypony can make friends!”

“But not everypony understands the effect friendship has, the role it plays in Equestria. It is a magic far greater than we can understand-”

“Ugh, don’t give me that crap…” Again, Sunset tried pushing past. “Either get out of my way or drag me back because I’m not staying here willingly.”

“You are a foolish mare, Sunset. A foolish and impatient mare who thinks she knows what’s best.”

“Get out of my way or I’ll…” Sunset lit up her horn. “I’ll…!”

“Go then,” Luna took a step forwards, grimly staring down at Sunset as the other mare instinctively took a step back. “You say you’ll ‘think of something’ if your journey is impeded, so think of something and get by me.”

“… Grah!”

Sunset lashed out with pyromancy. Luna safely countered it.

Sunset tried to teleport. Luna easily kept up with her and teleported them both back.

Sunset resorted to her bare hooves. Luna withstood it.

Sunset got angrier and angrier. Luna remained silent and unmoving.

“Let me pass!” Sunset stomped her hoof, her voice cracking and her horn throbbing with pain. “I don’t want to be here! I don’t deserve this!”

Sunset… tried begging.

“Please, just… just let me go. I don’t want to… I don’t want to…”

Her anger boiled over and once she realized she wasn’t getting what she wanted, when she realized Luna couldn’t be intimidated, overpowered, bought off, flirted with, or coerced…

Sunset started crying.

“Wh-why?” She gasped out as she fell to her belly, sobbing out fat tears that splattered against the cold ground. “Wh-why are y-you doing th-this? I d-d-don’t d-deserve th-this… I d-deserve… I d-deserve…”

“And that’s why you aren’t fit to be an alicorn princess,” Luna’s tone had softened but there was still the same amount of firmness. “The greatest traits a leader must have are restraint and humility: restraint to keep from abusing their power and humility to realize that there is always room for error, that nopony is infallible.”

“Sh-shut up…” Sunset sniffed and covered her face in shame. “Y-you did wr-wrong, t-too. Y-you gave Nightmare M-Moon th-the power to… to…”

“Yes, I did, and it eats away at me every single day…” Luna took in a deep breath. “… And I am trying to right my wrongs.”

“… Why are trying to stop me?” Sunset wiped at her eyes as her breathing hitched. “I-I can’t do anything to h-help…”

“You can’t say that for sure.”

“But I d-don’t even want to help. I just w-want to go home.”

“Even so, I can’t just allow you to travel Equestria by yourself,” Luna shook her head. “You are strong, but with the Entropic Fractures allowing dangerous creatures into our world – not to mention the threat of Nightmare Moon herself – I fear that you will meet an untimely end should you leave this village.”

“… Why do you even care?”

“Because my sister cares.”

“…”

“She feels responsible for you, even though your path has been of your own volition, and it would hurt her so much if anything bad happened to you. So please… if there’s any part of you that still cares for her… stay here. At least until things have been sorted. After that, I know that whatever happens next – whether you choose to stay or leave – she’ll rest easier.”

“…”

“Come – you’re a grown mare, so stop acting like a foal.”

“M’not acting like a foal…”

“Then stand up.”

Sunset sniffed a few times, wiped her bloodshot eyes, and rose to her hooves. “I’m pissed, you know,” Luna tilted her head quizzically. “You made me cry like that… I won’t forget it.”

“Hate me all you want, Sunset.”

“I will, you sanctimonious preacher…”

And the two made their way back to the library under the watchful gaze of Owlicious.

“The target’s in sight, Knight Enforcer.”

“Move in.”

Author's Note

Note 1: Self-Teleportation (spell) - as the name implies, this spell allows the caster to traverse a distance – great or small – without the ‘monotonous’ task of using one’s limbs.

Close examination reveals that teleportation is not instantaneous as there is a brief moment between the caster vanishing and reappearing in the desired spot, and that this period extends in relation to the amount of distance needing to be travelled. A caster teleporting several yards will only vanish for half a second while a caster teleporting several kilometres will vanish for several moments.

Note 2: An alicorn is gifted with the greatest strengths of the three races and then some: the precise manipulation of magic of the unicorns, the flight capabilities and weather manipulation of the pegasi, and the boundless strength, resilience, and endurance of the earth ponies. Combined with their extended life spans, an alicorn with many years under their belt is a fearsome foe, and many can't fathom a 'lesser' creature matching one in combat.

But if nobody tries, how can this be known for certain?

Chapter 42: Caed, The Knight Enforcer

1055 AD, November 13th

“Mommy? Mommy?”

“Mm…”

“Mommy?”

“Mmwah? Whuzzat?”

“Mommy, I’m scared.”

Emerald blearily opened her bloodshot eyes and blinked several times until the small brown filly didn’t look like she was behind a pane of glass smeared with Vaseline. She seemed familiar…

“There’s something outside my window.”

“…” The filly was… her… nie- no, daughter! This filly was her daughter! “Erm… Dew…” Emerald sluggishly sat up and rubbed at her eyes. “Dew, what’s wrong?”

Dew clutched her teddy tight with one foreleg and nodded her head towards the bedroom door. “Th-there’s something outside the house. I saw it from my window.”

“What are you doing up? You’ve got school in the morning.”

“But there’s something outside!”

Emerald groaned and used telekinesis to turn on her bedside lamp. The scolding she had prepared fell short on her tongue when she saw just how scared her daughter was. Her eyes were wide and vulnerable, and she shook ever so slightly.

Maternal instincts flaring, Emerald ignored her fatigue and got out of bed with a put-upon groan. “Something… outside? What did it look like?”

“It was big and… and tall…” Dew helpfully provided.

“Show me, sweetie…”

Dew nodded demurely and shuffled out of the bedroom.

Emerald followed her child into the hallway and downstairs, using her magic to flip the lights on as they went. It hurt her eyes, but she needed to see where she was putting her hooves.

Falling down these stairs was not fun.

“You saw it out on the street?” Emerald murmured tiredly. Her daughter’s bedroom window faced Canterlot. This was the first time Dew had been frightened since moving in there. “Are you sure it wasn’t next door’s dog?”

Dew shook her head. “No – Curl Ball and his parents went out of town for the month, and they took Mister Cuddles.”

Emerald frowned at the ironic name of that vicious little bastard. “Maybe it was just some pegasus having a night fly?”

“No, mommy!” Dew insisted, her tone taking on a whine. “I saw it standing on the street! Th-then it walked away… b-but it was looking right at our house.”

Realizing that the only way to assure her daughter that there was nothing out there was to actually show her, Emerald sighed as they ended up at the bottom of the staircase and trudged over to the front door.

“Mommy…”

Emerald looked back and smiled softly at her daughter’s hesitant whine. “It’s okay, sweetie. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

She turned back and used her magic to open the door.

“There’s nothing bad outsi…”

Emerald trailed off as she craned her neck to look up at the blank, metal face of the creature, only vaguely hearing her daughter shriek shrilly.

The creature actually seemed just as surprised and only reacted when Emerald’s fight-or-flight instinct kicked in; it ducked in through the doorway and made a wild grab for her, but Emerald was already bolting back, scooping up her wailing filly and dashing back upstairs.

“Fuck! I’ve been spotted!”

Emerald risked a glance over her shoulder in time to see the large creature force itself through the narrow and low doorway with a burst of splintered wood and wall plaster. It stumbled and followed her, and she mewled in terror, barely hearing it yell again as she took her child back into the bedroom and locked the door.

“I repeat: I’ve been spotted!”

“Boss! Boss!”

Nightmare Moon shifted her intense gaze from the cowering messenger – much to the mare’s relief – as the throne room doors were thrown open. Fade flew in as if Tartarus was on his heels.

She rose and got off her throne, stepping off the dais and flinching slightly as Fade came to a sudden halt before her, the wind caused by his wings strong and carrying a lot of dust. “What is it?”

“So I’m searching the city for the griffon dude, but then I see these…” He waved his forelegs in some unrecognizable pattern that he apparently thought was helpful. “Shit, they’re like that Wisp Knight that Ebony stabbed, but smaller!”

“What? Where did you spot them?”

“Downtown – I didn’t get a good look, but I think I saw one snatch up some dude!”

Nightmare Moon paused but only for a moment: time was of the essence.

Turning around, she addressed the mare and stallion that stood beside her throne, ever diligent. At her call, they stiffened, ready to obey. “Ebony – gather every available guard and meet me downtown. Haze – put the city on alert; tell the citizens to lock their doors and stay inside until further notice.”

“Yes, Empress!”

“It will be done.”

“Wh-what about th-the thing you asked for?” The messenger squeaked fearfully, flinching as Ebony brushed past her in a rush. “Y-you wanted to-”

“Blueblood and the ambassador can wait!” Nightmare Moon snapped. “Either help defend your home or warn the city!” She turned back around and lit up her horn. “Fade – you’re with me!”

Nightmare Moon teleported them both outside the castle. Fade briefly tumbled in mid-air from the nausea of the sudden displacement, but Nightmare Moon was already flying off towards downtown, a vicious snarl spread across her face.

‘Just one thing after the other, isn’t it?’

It took Fade a few moments to catch up, but by then they were already soaring high above downtown.

“You see them, yeah?”

“I do…”

Nightmare Moon dove sharply as she spotted two mares – one still wearing a night cap – fleeing from one of the attacking creatures.

She landed before the mares with enough force to put some cracks in the street. Her sudden arrival made them briefly pause and gawk in fright, but they wisely decided she was the better alternative and dashed by, leaving her to stand against their pursuer.

It slowed to a stop beneath one of the street lights and drew a long silver sword with the sound of metal against metal.

Much like the Wisp Knight, it was bipedal and possessed the same overall body shape, but with a few stark differences: it wasn’t as large for one thing – Nightmare Moon was a few inches taller than it – and there was no black smoke rising from any part of its body.

The armor seemed to be in better condition, too, and had a different colour scheme – deep reds and black contrasts – along with a tabard that hung across its chest. The heraldry on it was of a golden tree, but it was not a symbol she was familiar with.

“For what reason do you attack my city?!” She shouted with a hard stomp of her hoof. “Answer quickly or suffer!”

She had an inkling it was smarter than the Wisp Knight – it actually seemed to recognize her as a threat – but it was still jarring when it responded, and quite clearly.

“Sir, I’ve made contact with a larger variant of the species,” The voice that came through the helmet was undoubtedly feminine and spoke in, strangely, Equestrian, but rang with an unpleasant note Nightmare Moon couldn’t identify. “Assuredly hostile.”

‘Who is she talking to?’

“‘Hostile’ is an understatement,” Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes to slits and took a step forwards. “This is my kingdom and these my subjects you are terrorizing, so unless you start explaining your intentions right now, then your-”

The female shifted and the tip of her sword was levelled.

“…” Nightmare Moon shook her head with a low, sinister laugh. “Well, at least there won’t be any of that tiring diplomacy and uncertainty as to whether or not we’re friend or foe.”

Fwoosh

Magic had been relatively ineffective against the Wisp Knight and though Nightmare Moon couldn’t be sure for certain that this female had the some properties, she felt more confident starting off with a more physical approach.

And when the female yelled in pain as Nightmare Moon shot off from a standing point and swooped in for a hard tackle, she felt it was the right choice.

The female landed hard on her back and the sword slipped from her grasp. Nightmare Moon pushed against her chest with one hoof and raised the other, aiming for what she guessed to be the head.

The female gave a sharp gasp, struggled against the hoof, and one arm shot out in a vain attempt to retrieve her sw-

CRACK

Nightmare Moon was taken aback when the helmet’s faceplate dented and she heard a wet, visceral noise from within. “What?” She prodded at the still body suspiciously. “So easily?”

Well, it wasn’t as if she was going to complain about invaders not being as robust as that Wisp Knight.

“So…” Fade hovered close to her side, staring at the body. “No gift baskets?”

“Stay alert,” Nightmare Moon scanned the streets and centred her attention at the far end, where an armored figure kicked at the door of a furniture store. “They had to come through a Fracture; find it and make sure nopony is taken through.”

“On it.”

As Fade flew up into the air, Nightmare Moon teleported down the street and ended up directly beside the knight-like creature. It emitted a masculine cry of surprise and drew a sword fast enough to leave a slash across Nightmare Moon’s neck.

Barely fazed, she threw her weight forwards and knocked them both to the ground with a sinister laugh that bubbled out through the blood that filled her throat.

Ebony led a platoon of Eclipse guards through the crowded streets as best she could.

Ponies fled the downtown district in panicked droves and it was difficult to fight against it and keep formation, to say the very least. She shouted for them to get out of the way, but she was ignored, and it wasn’t long before she got tired of being pushed around and started physically shoving back.

“Miasma, I need your help up here! There’s a lot and I… I can’t…”

“Okay.”

Over the cries of the panicked masses, Ebony heard the guards behind her exclaim in surprise as they were brushed aside like leaves in a hurricane. She breathed a sigh of relief once Miasma showed up at her side.

“Thanks…” The earth pony’s muscular frame was a godsend; she merely had to keep walking ahead of Ebony and the rush of ponies simply bounced off against her, dazed and sore but far from incapable of running. “I didn’t want to waste my magic.”

“Are you okay?”

“Well…” Ebony blinked against the noise that crashed against her sensitive ears. “This is… Ah, it’s chaotic; it’s like when we attacked the castle, but now I have to lead ponies through all of this.”

It had been easier when they were battling the Wisp Knight; there had been a lot more open space and there were no panicking civilians getting in the way. Also, it was more or less confined to a small area, not the entirety of downtown.

How she was supposed to direct anypony in this mess… she had no idea… but her Empress was counting on her; she couldn’t fail.

“Run, run! They’re here!”

Ebony didn’t know who shouted that, but whoever it had been, it sounded like they ran past her before even finishing the sentence. At the same time, the mob of ponies thinned out and she had more room to move.

Fortunate, because three of the creatures Fade had described were heading straight towards them.

“Stop!” Ebony shouted and held up one foreleg. There were several clangs and clanks of metal behind her as well as a few hisses and grunts of pain. “Weapons ready!”

Ebony drew her sword out of its scabbard and felt the thrum of magic as a dozen unicorns charged up their horns – incredibly, not one misfired; the last guard she punished for that must have been particularly memorable for the others.

Miasma reached for the greataxe strapped to her back. Ebony could never understand how earth ponies could manipulate small things such as straps – especially when it was on their back – with such dexterity, but Miasma did it with little trouble, and the beast of a weapon was clutched in her teeth in no time.

“Um… You three!” Ebony shouted awkwardly. The three creatures clad head-to-toe in armor came to a stop a few yards away. They were indeed bipedal and had a similar body shape to the Wisp Knight, but were a lot smaller. Even so, she would only come up to their waists. “I am the Captain of the Eclipse and the Right Hoof of Empress Nightmare Moon – I order you to lay down your weapons and surrender or we will be forced to use… er, force.”

The three exchanged looks and then the one in the middle raised its right hand to do some strange gestures with the long digits on it – fingers, she was sure they were called.

‘Are they… are they going to surren- oh, nope – here they come.’

All three of the invaders rushed towards them with large kite shields held up defensively; the coat of arms was identical to the heraldry on their tabards. They were clearing the distance fast with their long legs and Ebony’s mind scrambled to come up with a response.

“Manoeuvre K-I 2 – go!”

This was a risk: she had done her best to drill the codenames for specific actions and attack plans into her subordinates’ skulls, but was it enough? If even one didn’t remember…

But as Ebony crouched low against the ground and looked back, she grinned in relief when every other earth pony and pegasi did the same, allowing the unicorns at the rear to channel Kinetic Impact spells and send them right over their heads.

The invaders hesitated when they saw the salvo of colourful bolts, but weren’t quite fast enough to dodge, and the explosion of energy sent them falling to the ground, exclaiming in shock and pain.

‘Yes!’

“Move!” Ebony scrambled back to her feet and broke into a gallop, raising her sword high. “Don’t let them get back up!”

Literally kick the enemy while they’re down – was there ever a finer strategy?

Ebony thrust her sword against the breastplate of the closest invader as it shifted into a sitting position. The thick metal punctured with some effort and red fluid squirted out from the gap like a ketchup packet.

The invader gave a horrible scream and Ebony was shocked by how equine it was; as if she had just stabbed a regular stallion, and…

‘You’re still in danger! Don’t stop!’

Despite the stab, the invader was still moving; he – sounded like a he – grabbed at the blade with a metal gauntlet and gave a hard shove. Ebony’s magical grip faltered, but she remained strong and thrust her sword again as he wetly hacked up some blood.

While her sword tasted blood a second time, in her peripheral vision she could see Miasma engaging another invader. Miasma had incredible strength and she wielded a large, heavy weapon; the invader gave a shrill scream as the axe’s blade sliced deep into their breastplate and became stained with red. She went for another blow.

And when Ebony drew her sword back, certain that her foe was either dead or dying, she saw the rest of the Eclipse taking out the third invader.

It was a messy affair; they were all terrified and simply hacked away at the armored creature. One managed to sever an arm, but even that wasn’t enough to…

God, the screaming!

Ebony pushed past Miasma and planted her sword deep into the invader’s faceplate, finally silencing it… him.

“Huagh… huagh…” Ebony saw everypony staring at her. Some were shocked and horrified at what they had done while others were just waiting for the next order. “The… The invaders are hostile… use lethal force.”

She pulled her sword out with a wet, visceral noise; it made her stomach churn as it provoked mental images of what somepony’s face would actually look like with a piece of metal shattering their skull and digging into brain matter.

“The…” Ebony shook her head and pointed to several mares and stallions. “All of you – you’re with Lieutenant Miasma. The rest are with me. Let’s move! Move!”

As the guards blinked and shook themselves out of their daze, Ebony sorted through her frazzled thoughts to send out a clear message. “Veil? Veil, are you here yet?”

“Up above you guys.”

Ebony looked skywards and sure enough, she could see the faint silhouette of a lone pegasus that was circling high in the air. “Can you see where the Empress is?”

Veil was silent for a moment. “Yeah, she’s just passed that brothel Fade says he never visits. She’s got some of the invaders running and- oh crap, I think she just bit one’s head off!”

“Okay, okay…” Ebony quickly checked her surroundings to make sure they were still safe. “Can you give us eyes? Where are all of the invaders?”

“Alright, hang on…” Veil straightened her wings and started gliding in a wider circle. “Okay, there’s a big group to the… the west; two blocks away, near the park. And there’s another group around the old skate park. Those ones are… They’re dragging ponies away.”

“What?” Ebony must have looked strange to the others at that moment, seemingly staring up at the sky, saying nothing, and going through a mix of facial expressions. “What do you mean ‘dragging ponies away’?”

“Exactly what it means! They’ve got some in ropes and pulling them on the ground, they’re carrying them over their shoulders – they’re foalnapping them.”

‘But why? What do they want with us?'

Veil cursed. “Fade! What sort of smart guy tries to- Fade?! He’s too far away.”

“Is he fighting the foalnappers?” Miasma interjected calmly.

“Yeah, but he’s the only one there; should I help him out?”

“No, stay up there and keep us updated,” Ebony turned to face Miasma and pointed over her shoulder. “You try and stop as many invaders as you can here while I go help Fade. The Empress will be fine.”

“Alright,” Miasma nodded once. “Good luck.”

“You too,” Finally, Ebony addressed the guards standing around anxiously. She gestured for them to follow her and started at a brisk run through a nearby alleyway. “Those with me – get moving! We have ponies to save!”

The group assigned to the Captain of the Eclipse quickly ran after her, several guards muttering in confusion and disbelief over their superiors’ latest and most disconcerting ‘silent conversation’.

Miasma ordered her group into line with a curt nod of her head.

Being an earth pony of significant mass with a bloodstained axe between the teeth meant words were often unnecessary to get others to do what she wanted, which suited her just fine.

“Fucking horse!” The invader cursed as he swiped his sword at the air while backing away. “Go on – attack! Attack then!”

Nightmare Moon snapped her teeth at the retreating invader and quickly pulled back as he retaliated with a swing. Her pupils had constricted to thin lines and a copious amount of blood stained her muzzle and dripped from her armor, a reminder of her last opponent who made the mistake of leaving their neck unguarded.

In one smooth motion, she lowered her horn and fired off a twinkling ball of ice before vanishing in a flash of magic.

The invader instinctively raised his shield to deflect the projectile and stumbled when a layer of ice encased and weighed it down. Nightmare Moon reappeared behind him and lunged forwards.

He cursed and struggled, but she had a significant advantage in weight, strength, and leverage, so she inevitably managed to snag part of his helmet in her teeth and violently thrash around until she heard a satisfying snap.

He still screamed despite that, but could no longer move his body, and she swiftly silenced the cries with another pull and another snap.
Releasing the corpse and spitting out the unpleasant taste of metal, Nightmare Moon turned away and surveyed the street for any more enemies.

‘What are they? They don armor and attack in groups, but they do so recklessly and without coordination.’

The only strategic move she had seen them perform was falling back when they realized that she was not a pony that could be so easily felled.

If she had to give them any sort of praise, then it would be that they did not seem to scare easily; those she had fought would either remain quiet or shout insults and curses, but she had yet to meet one that cowered or begged for mercy.

‘Obviously, I need to step up my game.’

There were no invaders or ponies in distress on this street, so Nightmare Moon crouched and took to the air with a powerful leap.

Hovering at a low altitude, Nightmare Moon searched for more invaders, a slightly mad grin pulling at her lips.

She hadn’t had this much fun since that time she fought Celestia.

The time she had won, not the time she was misfortunate enough to lose.

The memory sent a spike of malice through her and she growled deeply as she scanned the streets and buildings. ‘Where are you? Where are the creatures that would dare attack my city?’

…

There!

She dove towards an intersection a few blocks away, where two invaders were running side-by-side, one carrying a small foal over their shoulder.

The wind rushed past as she quickly descended and hit the ground a few metres behind them, running. She didn’t want to risk directly dive-bombing them with a foal in their clutches.

She could easily outrun them and once the invaders realized they were being chased, they knew that as well. The one that had been carrying the foal pushed the wailing colt into their compatriot’s arms.

“Get to the portal!” The voice was female and carried the weight of authority. “I’ll hold it off!”

The female stopped in place and faced Nightmare Moon by drawing her weapon.

‘She’s different…’

So far, the invaders had been bipeds in concealing suits of armor with swords and shields; this female was still on two legs, but her attire was that of a sleeveless, dark coat and form-fitting trousers. She had no helmet – the facial structure was similar to a monkey but with less hair, softer and more refined features, and an abundance of red hair – and the tabard that was present on the others was absent; instead, the heraldry was painted on the belly of her long-tailed coat.

And the sword and shield had been replaced by a much larger sword – an immense thing with a slender blade that had to be near six feet long and about a foot wide.

‘A higher rank perhaps?’ Nightmare Moon’s grin widened as she galloped closer. ‘Maybe this will put some demoralization amongst their numbers.’

The female didn’t seem to be much of a threat – her ‘protection’ looked as though it wouldn’t even fare well against the cold much less a pair of powerful hooves. Not only that, she didn’t carry a shield; the greatsword required the usage of both her hands. She wasn’t very tall or wide either; swinging that thing around wouldn’t be eas-

Clang

SHHHRRRKK

The greatsword’s tip was placed against the ground to the right of the female; she dashed forwards and kicked up a trail of sparks as the metal grinded against stone before swinging in an upwards arc.

Nightmare Moon didn’t expect the dash to clear the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

She also didn’t expect the greatsword to strike her in the chest with enough force to actually send her flying backwards like she was made of paper.

‘I deserved that. I shouldn’t have judged based on appearances. How irritating…’

Throwing out her wings, Nightmare Moon managed to twist in the air and right herself so she landed on her hooves, teeth clenched together as waves of pain resonated throughout. Her armor had saved her from a nasty gash, but the blow had still cracked a few ribs.

‘Unfortunate – I feel as though being able to breathe properly would be invaluable against this opponent.’

Clang

SHHHRRRKK

The same attack, but it just came out so damn fast that Nightmare Moon barely got a barrier up in time. Several cracks formed in the arcane shield, but the female invader recoiled as her sword bounced off, and her moment of vulnerability allowed Nightmare Moon to drop the barrier and charge forwards.

It should have been done then and there, but the female was slippery and agile; the instant she was knocked to the ground, she rolled to the side and Nightmare Moon’s forehooves ended up crushing roadwork.

The female was already up on her feet and bringing her greatsword in an overhead smash by the time Nightmare Moon looked to the side.

Fwoosh

CRACK

She managed to leap in the other direction and the sword shattered the ground with an explosion of dust and concrete chips.

Clang

SHHHRRRKK

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!!” Nightmare Moon yelled as the invader charged through the dust cloud, her sword spitting up sparks behind her. She barely dodged that, too.

What was with the scraping? It should have been dulling the blade’s edge, but she was half-sure it was getting sharper by the moment!

‘She’s faster and more aggressive than the others,’ Nightmare Moon formed another barrier when the invader used the momentum of her upwards swing to spin and slash horizontally. ‘But she’s not as well-protected.’

Her barrier cracked as the swing connected and the invader recovered fast enough to jump backwards – seven feet high and more than double that, surprisingly – before going into a strange stance; her knees bent as the greatsword was drawn back and levelled horizontally with the invader’s chest.

It looked as if she intended to thrust with it.

And she did except she also seemed to slide forwards at terrific speed, her blade slicing through air with a deadly, high-pitched note.
Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and pulled to the side.

Her left ear was shorn off, but she managed to let off a basic spell for casting light, albeit one with more magic pumped into it than what was suggested by safety officials.

With her remaining ear, she heard the invader yelp in pain, and used that noise as a guide; Nightmare Moon pushed her head forwards and up, the strong length of her horn spearing the air until-

Sklutch

Blood dribbled and followed the spirals of her horn to cascade down her helmet. Nightmare Moon smiled sadistically as she lifted the spluttering and gasping invader straight off the ground.

“Y-you…” Gloved hands grasped at her muzzle and the back of her neck. “D-damn you… horse…”

“I am a pony… in a vague sense.”

Nightmare Moon swung her head and tossed the dying female to the cold ground before taking to the air in pursuit of the stolen foal.

The old skate park was more or less abandoned in favour of the new one that had opened up on the other side of downtown, and it was now home only to roaming cliques of ponies, graffiti artists, or tourists that fancied looking at the old parts of town.

And now, several invaders grouped near one of the skating rinks, shouting and threatening the terrified ponies they had gathered.

Ebony and her squadron arrived from the western entrance and were immediately spotted; she held up her hoof and told the guards to wait as the invaders – eight in total – moved to stand in front of their hostages.

Everypony… Everyone was shouting and that unpleasant note that stained the invaders’ words just made Ebony’s headache worse.

“Yo, Ebs!”

Fade was perched on the abandoned kiosk that would have sold and rented out skateboards. One of the shutters had been wrenched open; it explained where Fade had gotten the battered skateboard in his hooves. It looked like he had been using it as a club.

“Fade, are you okay?” She made sure to keep one eye trained on the invaders as she spoke to her friend.

“They can’t do shit against me in the air, but they’re not budging from the hostages!” Fade paused to heave the skateboard at the invaders. It bounced against one’s helmet and they spat out a curse. “Fucking stalemate over here!”

Ebony worried at her lip as she examined the situation, trying to come up with a plan. The invaders had formed a loose circle around the hostages and were deaf to their pleas for release and mercy.

Eight hostages – five stallions, one mare, a colt, and a filly.

Ebony’s heart thumped painfully as she watched the mare comfort the sobbing filly, probably her daughter.

‘Faust, what do I do? What do these things want with them? Why take them here?’

She looked amongst the invaders for a leader or someone who looked like they were in charge.

One of the invaders had no helmet – what a strange-looking species – and a longcoat and trousers instead of armor, but he – judging by the irritated voice coming from his mouth – kept glancing towards the invader at his side, as if for guidance.

So was that invader…?

“Which of you is in charge?!” Ebony shouted. “I want to talk to them!”

The invader that the male without armor had been looking at turned their head in her direction, but simply stared.

She shouted again, straining her voice to be heard. “I want to talk to the one in charge!”

“… Stand down!”

As if a switch had been flicked, the invaders’ threats and orders towards the hostages died down and they stood rigidly, obediently. The filly was within the circle was still crying, but the mother tried to hush her with gentle coos and whispers.

Ebony swallowed nervously and muttered a soft order to the fidgeting guards behind her to keep quiet and still as the invader in charge broke out of the circle and stepped forwards. They didn’t go far, maybe a few feet from the others, close enough to fall back if the situation turned violent.

It was a smart move; strange, considering the last force Ebony had faced seemed to be fans of ‘reckless charge and hope for the best’.

“I am Knight Paladin Esther,” The invader was female and a young one by the sounds of it. “Who am I addressing?”

Ebony shot Fade a ‘what do I say’ look. He responded by flicking his hoof against his chin while raising his tail.

“Very mature…”

“They won’t know what it means.”

“They’ll get the context.”

Seeing no help there, Ebony sighed and hoped her diplomatic skills were up to par. “I am the Captain of the Eclipse and the Right Hoof of Empress Nightmare Moon.”

“Right Hoof?”

“What’s with the names here?”

“I told you all to stand down!”

“I, uh… I demand you release those ponies at once and surrender! Peacefully.”

“I’m afraid I have to decline,” Esther replied. She planted the tip of her sword against the ground and rested her hands on the hilt. “The Rouge Knight Order requires the usage of these unicorns.”

‘Unicorns?’ Ebony took another close look and realized that the hostages all had horns on their heads. ‘Wait, how do they know about us? Have they… been watching us?’

“These ponies are citizens of Canterlot!” She yelled and took a step forwards. “Taking them is… I-if you take them, then it’s a declaration of war!”

“Ebs, I’m pretty sure we’re already at war with them.”

“Hey, unless it’s something that’ll help rescue the hostages, shut it.”

“Shutting it.”

Esther shifted. Ebony didn’t know how, but she knew that the invader’s mood had just taken a turn for the worse.

“Funny – where we come from, destroying a settlement and killing fifty-two innocent people is a pretty solid declaration of war.”

“… What?” Ebony shook her head, certain that she had misheard. “Killing fifty-two…? What?”

“Incoming hostile! Unicorn-pegasus type!”

Every pair of eyes turned to the park’s southern entrance. Another invader carrying a small colt sprinted into view like Tartarus itself was on his heels.

Perhaps not, but the next best thing was as Nightmare Moon dived down from the sky and hit the ground to give chase, bloodstained teeth bared and snapping.

“Empress!”

Even though the invaders clustered around the hostages and were once again hostile, Ebony felt a surge of relief.

Nightmare Moon’s horn shone and a similar glow surrounded the leg of the invader she was chasing. The telekinetic hold didn’t last for very long, but that moment where he stumbled in place and shook his limb out of the hold was all that the Empress needed to catch up and bite down on his shin.

“Stop!” Esther yelled. “Release him now!”

Nightmare Moon flicked her head to the right and sent the invader tumbling down the curved side of a skating basin. His grip loosened, allowing her to simply pluck the small foal from his flailing arms with telekinesis.

She went no further than that and stood at her full height, sending Esther a baleful glare.

“I presume you are the one in charge here?” Nightmare Moon said in a low and dangerous tone. The colt in her grasp was struggling and whimpering despite having just been saved, so the Empress deposited him on the ground, where he then proceeded to bolt out of the park. “The one that is overseeing this… insult?”

Esther was quiet for a bit, looking at the male invader as he climbed out of the basin and trudged over to join them. “… I am the highest-ranking official here at this moment.”

“Empress…” Ebony sent her thoughts urgently. “They say we started this, that we destroyed one of their settlements and killed fifty-two of their own.”

“My Right Hoof over there tells me that you believe we started this…” Nightmare Moon slowly stalked to and fro like a predator, sharp eyes searching for a gap in defense. The invaders wisely kept their attention on her. “Tell me – how is this possible when we weren’t even aware of your existence until tonight, with this pre-emptive strike?”

“…” Esther made a strange gesture: she touched the side of her helmet and nodded once. “You’re the leader here? Of this city?”

“Of Equestria.”

“What would that be?”

“The country you are in. The country that you saw fit to invade under ridiculous pretences,” Nightmare Moon growled and stopped going back and forth. “Are you the ones creating the Entropic Fractures?”

“…” Again, Esther made the same gesture. “You know what they’re called… do you have the technology to create them?”

“No. It took some time and a few unfortunate encounters with your Wisp Knights before we could create the technology to close them,” Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes and her astral tail churned aggressively. “You have deaths to answer for…”

“… So do you.”

“What are you doing that gesture for?” The Empress pressed forwards with a flash of her bloodied fangs. “Are you communicating with someone? I would very much like some answers because so far, all I know is that there’s a group of poorly-trained soldiers rounding up my subjects for ill-contrived reasons and a misplaced sense of vengeance.”

Ebony fidgeted in place, disliking the tension in the air; it felt like a fight could start at any moment. She would not hesitate to strike at the invaders, but she feared for the hostages. So far, they were unharmed – for what reason, she didn’t know and wasn’t sure if she wanted to – but that could easily change.

“Captain…” One of the guards behind her whispered worriedly – a female, probably Ensign Scarlet. “What are we going to do?”

“Keep alert and don’t do anything until I say so…” Ebony whispered back; she heard Scarlet retreat back into the ranks. “Just… try and keep at ease.”

“Our vengeance is not misplaced…” Esther said with utmost conviction. She raised her arm and pointed at Nightmare Moon. “The blame lies with you.”

Again with the accusations, but Ebony truly had no idea how the invaders came to such a conclusion. Esther sounded so sure, but how could they have committed a crime when they didn’t even have contact with these… monkey-like creatures?

“Start elaborating before I lose my patience…” Nightmare Moon demanded with a stomp of her hoof; her horn also started glowing as she called on her magic. “You sent those Wisp Knights, did you not?”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.” Esther shook her head.

Ebony watched the exchange closely… and realized Nightmare Moon had taken a few steps towards the invaders. Even though they should have reacted… they didn’t.

“Bipedal suits of tarnished armor inhabited by black smoke; they look like you, but are larger in size.” Nightmare Moon took a step to her right and spread her wings.

No reaction.

“Ebony, Fade.”

“Uh…” Ebony frowned at the oppositions’ inactivity. Their body language suggested they were still on alert, so it was strange none called out her Empress’ movement. “Y-yes, Empress?”

“Yeah, boss?”

“Illusion spells seem to work on them; they are keeping their attention on a false copy I left in the place…” Nightmare Moon started lightly stepping around the invaders. “I’m going to try and get close enough to teleport the hostages out of there. I trust you know what to do when they’re safe?”

‘Illusion spells work on them? I thought they were immune to… No, I remember Haze telling me… some illusion spells don’t affect others, but, uh… th-they’re a m-manipulation of the light in a selected area or around an object.’

Maybe if Ebony had been standing where the invaders were, then she would have also fallen for the illusion… but fortunately, she wasn’t.

“We do, Empress.”

“No worries, boss – I’ll be on them like flies on shit.”

“Inhabited by black smoke…” Esther repeated as she kept a cautious eye on nothing. “Yes, we call them Irregulars and they’re from our world, but they have no alliance with us… not anymore. If they attacked you, it wasn’t our fault.”

“So you say…” Nightmare Moon stalked closer, flexing her wing so a primary feather was held in front her lips. The hostages were torn between relief of a rescue and fear of their saviour. “However, you also say we committed the first strike, so I’m disinclined to believe anything you say.”

She was so close now, just a hair’s breadth away from touching one of the armored figures; her horn was glowing brighter, channelling a teleportation spell. Ebony was amazed Nightmare Moon was able to keep up the illusion while simultaneously preparing a teleportation spell, especially since she was planning to take eight other ponies with her.

Ebony could barely manage teleporting herself.

“It doesn’t really…” Esther lifted her hand to the side of her head again. “…”

Suddenly, she gave a short laugh, cold and threatening.

‘Uh oh…’

“You know…” Esther murmured darkly. “Maybe you should speak to someone with a bit more… weight to their name.”

And not a second after that sentence, the empty space behind Nightmare Moon literally fractured like a glass window with a sound like a hundred wind chimes in a hurricane.

Ebony gasped and Fade took to the air in shock. “What the fuck?!”

Esther and her soldiers turned to face the Fracture and the one closest to Nightmare Moon stumbled back, shouting, “Holy sh-”

The Empress batted him aside with a wing and dove towards the hostages, her horn glowing like a miniature sun as-

Esther swung her sword at Nightmare Moon and drew a bloody gash across her back.

There was a flash of magic that briefly blinded Ebony and when it faded, four hostages were safely in front of her while the rest were only a few feet away from the invaders’ protective circle, Nightmare Moon amongst them with a savage sneer and ravaged flesh that was already knitting back together.

‘Faust!’

Ebony dashed forwards, past the dazed hostages, shouting, “Get them out of here!” She lifted her sword with telekinesis, racing towards her Empress as Esther and her soldiers charged over.

“Go, you idiots!” Nightmare Moon swept out her wing and – rather roughly – pushed the ponies with her towards the park’s exit. “Or do you wish to remain with them?”

They scattered as Ebony joined Nightmare Moon’s side, sword hovering and primed to swing out. Esther and her soldiers were closing in, but Ebony’s squadron was rushing in from the sidelines and Fade was high in the air, prepping the blades on his wings for an aerial assault.

All in all, the invaders were outnumbered and, she thought confidently, outmatc-

“Have at thee, fiends!”

Something came out of the Fracture, but the light of the anomaly was behind it, so Ebony only saw a glimpse of a shadowy figure, a flash of red light, and then a blur of motion before a tremendous force knocked the wind from her lungs and sent her tumbling through the air.

“I gotcha, Ebs!”

“Oomph!”

A pair of strong forelegs caught her around the waist and she was dangling upside-down for a brief moment before Fade carefully put her back on the ground, right-side up. She was still gasping for breath, but at least the world wasn’t spinning.

“Th…” She nodded gratefully as he landed beside her. “Thanks…”

“I, uh, might have caught a glimpse of your girl parts, so sorry about that.”

“That’s okay.”

“Didn’t mean to.”

“I know.”

“Super-sexy, by the way.”

“Fade…”

“Yeah, I know…”

Ebony looked around and was surprised to see Nightmare Moon also getting back to her feet, apparently after having been smacked aside like a balloon full of helium. Not only that, but the invaders had halted mid-charge and were staring at…

She followed their gaze.

The ponies that had scattered were backing away in fear of the tall figure that blocked the park’s entrance.

He wore the thick armor like Esther, but without the helmet; his skin was a tanned bronze colour and the hair on his head short, militaristic, and dark as night.

“Fifty-two…”

A pale scar ran vertically across the right side of his face, over the ridge of his brow and down to his cheek. The eye was… wrong. The left eye was natural and a dark shade of green, but the right had a cold, artificial look that wasn’t helped by the sanguine colour of the iris.

“That is how many perished in the Obelisk Sector.”

The ponies before him whimpered when he lifted his weapon – a glaive with a long black hilt etched with golden scripture and a wide, hook-like blade painted dark red – and pointed it over their heads.

Towards Nightmare Moon, who returned the gesture with a scowl.

“You… you are the leader of this place? The one they call Nightmare Moon?”

“I am,” Nightmare Moon cast a scathing glare at the invaders. “And you’re the leader of these… cannon fodder?”

“I am Caed, the Knight Enforcer – leader of the Rouge Knight Order,” Caed twirled his glaive and slapped the bottom against the ground, the tip pointing towards the sky. “For the honour and in the memory of those that have perished, you will pay for your attack.”

“…” Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes and met Ebony’s eyes. “A bit dramatic, isn’t he?”

“… Is that not the point?” Caed frowned and suddenly looked unsure. “To announce oneself in a memorable and bombastic manner so that your enemies may tremble at your name?”

“There are more efficient ways to make your enemies tremble. There’s the popular choice of destroying those who attack your city swiftly and mercilessly…” Nightmare Moon grinned cruelly and jerked her head to the right. “In fact, some of your troops can tell you all about it; they’re lying about in the streets… here and there…”

“I am sure they will have plenty to tell me…” Caed said without any ounce of sarcasm. “But right now, I am more interested in you, horse.”

“Pony.”

Caed looked the Empress up and down, lips turning in a frown. “… As you say… pony. I am more interested in you, the leader of our newest nemesis, and your reasons for attacking without reason.”

“Again with this?” Nightmare Moon growled and stomped her right forehoof so hard it cracked the ground. “I’m going to ask only one more time: what exactly do you think we did?”

“… An Entropic Fracture opened up in one of our settlements – the Obelisk Sector…” Caed started pacing back and forth, but he never took his intense gaze off her. “It was quarantined off for study and the citizens were ordered to stay within their abodes so that they would be safe.”

Ebony worriedly glanced back at the other invaders; they were refraining from any sort of attack in the meantime, but were prepped in case they were given the order. The male without the helmet was giving Ebony’s squadron a scathing look as they cautiously kept their distance.

‘They’re sandwiched, but then so is the Empress and me…’

“We managed to establish surveillance to your world through means of a probe…” Here, Caed stopped and his tone became dark. “The first thing we witnessed was a beam of energy, sent by your people, at the Fracture.”

“B-but it just closed it!” Ebony felt as if she had to speak up; this made no sense to her. “We didn’t attack you.”

“… Just closed it?”

SKRAK

The blade of Caed’s weapon flashed down to strike the concrete with a burst of sparks and stone chips. Ebony instinctively drew back and held up her sword; she heard her squadron do the same with a chorus of metallic clinks and clanks.

She barely saw him move to do that it was so fast.

“Tell me, pony – when you ‘closed’ the Fracture, did it create an explosion? Did that explosion wipe out fifty-two innocent lives – men and women, young and old – and leave a crater large enough to fit our largest building? Did it degrade the very soil so that nothing could ever grow there again?”

“…”

“Did it destroy some of your most prized treasures?”

“… No. No, it didn’t.”

“... Pfft.”

Caed’s eyes hardened, if that was possible, and he turned his gaze back to Nightmare Moon. “Why do you scoff at our plight? Do you admit to your crimes then?”

“I admit to nothing,” Nightmare Moon said with a shrug. “We had no idea the Fracture in your world would wipe out one of your settlements; we didn’t even know you were there. We closed the Fracture because it was hanging directly over my city and posed a great threat to our well-beings.”

She paused briefly, staring at Caed with an unreadable expression. For his part, Caed just stood there, listening.

“For what it’s worth, it was not my intention to cause you and your people any harm.”

“… That is it?” Caed murmured. “That is all you have to say?”

“What do you want? An apology for something I had to do to protect my kingdom?”

Ebony shifted in place, her frown curving deeper and her insides turning with unease. “Empress?”

She didn’t get an answer.

“I’ll admit this much…” Nightmare Moon continued. “If you had killed fifty-two of my subjects and destroyed a portion of my kingdom, then I would do the same thing you’re doing. Even so… just because I understand, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stand idly by; these ponies are under my rule, so they will be protected.”

“… Hm…” Caed smirked. “It pains me to say this… but I can respect a ruler that would personally defend their subjects.”

“… But?”

“But I will not let my people’s deaths be in vain. I promised them a better future and I intend to keep that promise…” He clenched his empty hand into a fist. “No matter the cost.”

Nightmare Moon shook her head admonishingly. “You are making a grave mistake, Knight Enforcer.”

“Perhaps… but it is better than doing nothing and waiting to die.”

Caed lifted his weapon off the ground and planted the pole against the concrete. The tension in the air was palpable; Ebony mentally groaned as she could feel what was about to occur.

“Knights!”

The Knight Enforcer’s shout carried over the park and the invaders stiffened.

“You have heard the enemy’s side of the story! If you believe them to be truly exempt from blame, then I implore you to return through the Fracture!”

Ebony looked back.

Not one of them went.

“Come on, Knight Enforcer…” Esther said light-heartedly. “Who’s going to pull your dorky ass out of the fire when the going gets tough?”

Caed laughed and shook his head fondly. “Ah, so the reason you all charge into battle with me becomes clear. Truly, I fight alongside jesters in plate armor.”

Ebony grimaced. “Empress?”

“Eclipse – to arms!” Nightmare Moon spread her wings with a powerful gust of wind.

When Ebony saw that she had her ‘Nightmare Grin’ on, she knew this was going to be a bumpy ride.

‘Oh, the things I do…’

Caed swung his glaive to point the blade at her. “Rouge Knights – charge!!”

Author's Note

Note 1: For those wondering about the Knight Enforcer's name, the 'C-A-E' portion is pronounced like the name, 'Kay' with a 'd' sound at the end - rhymes with 'spade'.

Chapter 43: Not How It Usually Goes...

1055 AD, November 13th

The first strike of the battle was made by Caed.

All Ebony saw was a blur of motion and then her Empress recoiled in surprise, choking and gurgling as she coughed up blood from a gruesome slash in her neck.

After that, it was pandemonium.

Nightmare Moon swivelled on the spot and blocked another one of Caed’s incredibly fast strikes by letting the blade bite into a foreleg, the rest of the knights threw themselves against the charging Eclipse, and Ebony found herself staring dumbly as Knight Paladin Esther broke from the ranks to bear down on her.

“Hiya!”

Ebony lifted her sword and held it horizontally to block Esther’s downwards slash. Their blades clashed together and Ebony slid back on her hooves with a wince; her magic was strong, but this female had physical strength to match, not to mention being significantly taller and heavier.

Esther growled as she pushed against her smaller opponent. Around them, ponies and invaders fought, filling the air with battle cries and the sound of metal striking metal.

“Hnn!”

Ebony gritted her teeth and grunted in determination; her sword was trembling as her telekinesis fought to maintain stability. If she slipped up for even a moment, Esther’s sword would slide to and off the tip of Ebony’s blade and plunge down against her face.

“…!”

Ebony gave a strong surge of magic that pushed the offending blade up before suddenly ducking and using her smaller size to slide between Esther’s legs as the invader staggered forwards, arms flying out for balance. Ebony quickly spun as she got back to her feet and thrust her sword, aiming for her opponent’s back.

Clang

Esther managed to twist herself around, as if predicting the attack, and hold her shield up to deflect the blow, though the action caused her to clumsily fall flat on her rear. The Eclipse captain’s sword continued stabbing wildly, but Esther blocked each one; it helped that her shield was large enough to cover most of her upper body.

“Rrgh!” Ebony huffed in frustration and stopped her stabbing to channel a spell.

She was quite fast when it came to her Spark Touch spells, but the few moments it took to prepare it was enough for Esther to peek over her shield, recognize the blue electricity spitting within the red glow of Ebony’s horn, and throwing herself to the side.

BZZT

A jagged blue bolt arced through the air and struck the spot Esther had been, leaving a splash of black soot and spots of red-hot concrete.

‘Damn it!’

Ebony prepared another Spark Touch spell and it gave Esther enough time to get back up, shield up and ready to receive another blow.

BZZT

“Yaaagh!”

Ebony hadn’t taken pleasure in causing pain to the Royal Guard, but when Esther recoiled with a sharp cry, a satisfied spread across her face, accompanied by a pulse of warmth that was probably not normal by equine standards.

Nightmare Moon would have been proud.

Esther dropped her shield and shook violently as blue sparks danced across her left arm, the metal-clad fingers on it twitching sporadically.

‘Electricity…’

The Wisp Knight – Irregulars, as the invaders called them – from the Fracture that had once hung over Canterlot hadn’t reacted much to electricity, but it seemed that these Rouge Knights didn’t have that same resilience.

Perfect.

She charged another Spark Touch spell and Esther responded by ignoring the pain and charging forwards with a yell of defiance. Ebony lashed out with a bolt that struck the knight in the chest, but Esther had already gained momentum; the pain and numbness were ignored as she swung her sword to the side.

Ebony ducked to the side, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid injury entirely.

Pain spiked as the tip of Esther’s sword split the flesh of her cheek open.

“Aggh!” Ebony slapped one hoof against the wound, eyes widening in shock as she felt how deep it was; another centimetre and the night air would have been filtering into her mouth.

‘Oh, Faust!’

Fear and rage swelled in her breast as she forced the pain aside; Esther had recovered and was coming for her with another powerful slash.

Steeling her resolve, Ebony deflected the slash and tried to sneak in a low thrust. Esther cleanly parried it with a brush of her sword’s hilt.

Ebony redirected her blade so it swept up like a rising wind and came down from a diagonal angle. Again, Esther adapted and countered with another parry before taking a step forwards and plunging her sword down.

Ebony stepped to the side and when the blade struck concrete, she let off a quick Kinetic Impact spell to blast the weapon from Esther’s hand.

Skrrrrt

Esther cursed as her blade skid far across the ground, trampled on by metal boots and hooves alike, and quickly backed off, recoiling as Ebony pressed forwards, her blade thrusting violently, seeking to pierce her armor.

Ebony heard somebody scream – she wasn’t sure if it was an invader or one of her guards, but she couldn’t afford to look and get distrac-

Clink

Esther swung her forearm to the side and batted away Ebony’s sword before rushing forwards and kicking with her leg. Ebony gasped in pain as it connected with her breastplate; it didn’t hurt as much as the cut in her cheek, but it had the effect of sending her sprawled on her back.

She looked up, eyes widening as her opponent stomped forwards with an infuriated cry. She felt for her sword and called it to her, but Esther was closing in fast; she might have had to roll to escape those heavy feet or-

“Oi, fucker! Heads up!”

“Wh- gah!”

Esther staggered to the side and wildly grabbed at Fade’s mane and body, struggling to throw him aside. He was putting up a fight, but the blades attached to his wings weren’t tough enough to cut through her armor. However, through the scrabbling and batting of his hooves, Esther’s helmet was slowly beginning to come off, revealing the milky-white flesh of her neck.

It was just what Ebony needed.

“Fade, get her helmet off!”

“Trying super-hard here! She keeps hitting me! Not fun!”

She rolled to the side and stood back up before drawing her body back and building the magical tension of the grip she had on her blade. When her muscles were so bunched she started trembling along with her blade, she released it in one powerful thrust, punctuating it with a yell of exertion.

“Ebs, I got her helmet o-”

Her sword cleanly sliced through Esther’s exposed neck, cleaved through vertebra, and burst out the back with a spray of viscera. Fade yelped in shock and fell back, wings flapping madly as he dropped the invader’s helmet.

“Hlk…”

Esther’s chocolate brown eyes bugged out as she crumpled in on herself and hit the ground, facing Ebony with pained surprise. Her glossy black hair fanned out and partially covered her face, saving Ebony from looking at the ghastly expression for the few moments it took for Esther to finally choke on her own blood and go still.

“A-ah…” Ebony shuddered as she wrenched her sword out, feeling physically ill as she heard flesh and muscle shifting and vertebra cracking. She stared at the body in morbid fascination. “O-oh Faust…”

Fade made a queasy face, but recovered quickly. “D-don’t just stand there, Ebs! Help us fight!” He mentally shouted before racing off to assist the Eclipse.

Ebony shook her head and shooed the haze from her head. The pain in her cheek came back and helped her refocus; levitating her bloodied sword high, she charged in to protect her home from another threat.

‘Don’t think on it, don’t think on it! Ponies are counting on you, so keep moving and don’t think about it!’

Despite their advantage in numbers, it became clear to Ebony that the invaders were doing better in this fight.

The invaders were still largely uncoordinated – perhaps the death of Esther had something to do with it? – but even so, they were faring well. She saw one invader using their mace and shield in perfect synch; one second they were swinging and knocking aside the guards and the next they were blocking a counter-swipe – sometimes several at once – before bashing them into a daze.

She saw that several of her subordinates could use a hoof, but she made her way to the closest one that needed it.

Three of her guards had tried to take down the invader without the helmet, but now only one was still standing, the other two prone on the ground and completely still. She didn’t know for certain if they were dead, but there was a disconcerting amount of blood leaking from the crevices of their armor.

Ebony entered the fray by letting loose a Spark Shot.

The bolt struck the invader in the back as he brought his greatsword over his head for a finishing blow against the remaining guard; a pained yell left his lips and he fell to his knees, spasms wracking his body.

One swipe of her sword and his head tipped to the side, barely holding on by strings of muscle and ligaments.

Bile rose in her throat, but she pressed on.

Halfway towards another pony in need of help, Ebony was almost trampled when her Empress suddenly landed in front of her. Nightmare Moon probably didn’t mean to almost crush her; she wasn’t even looking at Ebony, her eyes darted about excitedly as her body twisted on the spot, anticipating…

“Empress, where do we-”

Again, all Ebony saw was a blur of motion in her peripheral and then Nightmare Moon’s blood sprayed across her face. Ebony flinched as it got in her eyes and a few drops coated the surface of her tongue.

The metallic taste was foul, but to her horror, it also invoked a deep sense of yearning – she wanted more…

She pushed down that frightening urge and wiped her face, gasping as the blur shot by again and drew another deep cut in the Empress’ flesh.

‘I can’t even see him!’

“Move!”

“Wha-”

Nightmare Moon’s wing swept out and pushed Ebony to the ground, the sound of her impact immediately followed by a metallic clink and a grunt of pain. Ebony rolled onto her side and looked up, eyes widening when she saw Caed standing where she had been mere moments ago.

His red eye was giving a subtle glow as he tugged at his glaive furiously; the portion of the hilt near the blade was caught by a pair of sharp teeth, some broken and some misaligned from baring the power of his strike.

“You heal so swiftly…” Caed murmured, watching as Nightmare Moon’s teeth grew back and aligned themselves properly. While he was distracted, Ebony scrambled back to her hooves. “A property of this ‘magic’ that is prevalent in your bodies…?”

Ebony gritted her teeth as she put all her might into a diagonal swipe.

Caed didn’t even spare her a cursory glance as he relinquished one hand to catch her blade mid-swing.

“Or is it some natural ability of your kind?”

Nightmare Moon couldn’t really talk with a glaive between her teeth, but the glare and growl she gave was more than enough to get the message across.

Caed smirked. “Truly, your kind are an enigma, nothing like the mystical creatures in the Old Tales.”

Ebony directed a Spark Shot at her sword.

He shouldn’t have been able to react in time, not at such a short distance and with how quick the bolt travelled, but he did anyway; his hand left the blade and he blurred several paces backwards, leaving his weapon in Nightmare Moon’s jaws.

‘Damn it!’

Ebony made to extend her electrified sword and take another swing, but he dashed forwards far faster than her eyes could follow and slammed an open palm into Nightmare Moon’s chest, actually managing to physically throw her backwards and into the air.

The cry her Empress gave sounded more like one of irritation than pain and sounded suspiciously like, 'Faust damn it'!

The glaive had fallen from her jaws and Ebony struck out in a panicked attempt to stop Caed from picking it up.

He deflected her blade with another palm slap and snatched up the glaive, spinning it around thrice in a flashy display.

Caed grinned down at her and it didn’t take a genius to know that she was woefully outmatched.

Still, she had to try, for the safety of-

“Wah!”

Caed’s single red eye had flashed brightly right before he swung his glaive in an arc and brought the blade down, both hands clutched tightly around the hilt.

Ebony didn’t know how she reacted fast enough to dodge backwards, but she did, and the blade shattered the concrete where she would have been.

‘Oh Faust, that was cl-’

WOOOSH

“Aiiieee!” Ebony shrieked in shock as a cyclonic wind swept her up into the air. What views she got of the battlefield whenever she tumbled the right way told her that things were chaotic and that there seemed to be more injuries on their side than the invaders’.

Also, she was falling!

“Fade, help! Fade!”

“What, who, where? Where the hell are you?!”

“Up up up u-”

“Ah, shit!” Fade lunged to catch Ebony, but it was too late, and his heart skipped a beat when she landed headfirst on an invader. “Shit!”

He kicked at the head of another invader as he went past before landing a few yards away from his friend; the invader she hit seemed to be out for the count, much to the relief of the four guards fighting them.

Fade dropped to one foreknee and shook her, shouting, “Ebs, get up!” Her eyes were closed and a streak of blood matted her mane beneath her helmet. “Come on – you’re tougher than this, yeah?! We sort of need you here!”

This fight was going to hell real fast in his professional and most honest opinion.

Wasn’t bad enough that Knight Asshole Caed was matching Nightmare Moon pound for pound, yeah? Now the rest of the Eclipse were getting beaten down and he didn’t even know what was going on with the hostages – he saw one streak by at the start of the match, screaming, but that was about it.

At the risk of sounding like a wimp, he sincerely wished his sister was here.

“Fade!”

“Uh…” Fade looked up and around, squinting through the clashing forces. “Veil?”

“Hold on!”

Several objects fell from the sky and struck the invaders with a very familiar – painful, his memory added – accuracy. Some exploded into ravenous flames, some burst and coated the enemy in thick layers of frost, and some created powerful distortions in the air that flung the enemy aside like ragdolls.

‘Okay, it ain’t Miasma, but I’d settle for Blueblood at this point. Probably make a good weight to swing around…’

Veil descended from the air, her hooves a blur as she reached into the bags at her side and tossed out canister after canister. Not one of them strayed and hurt the Eclipse guards, but things quickly became miserable for the invaders as they struggled to make sense of the unexpected assault.

A few were shouting in alarm about ‘fucking grenades’, but could do little about it; Veil was flying too high, and there were other threats on ground level that demanded their attention.

“Where the hell were you?” Fade frowned as he lifted Ebony into a sitting position and shook her again.

“Out of range!” Veil threw another barrage of canisters, but the Knight Enforcer suddenly dashed by and swung his glaive, one eye glowing as a powerful wind shot upwards and knocked the canisters far out of the park. One flew back at Veil and she barely managed to roll out of its trajectory. “Son of a…!”

Nightmare Moon appeared beside Caed in a flash of magic and lunged forwards, mouth stretched wide like a snake – shit, that was still creepy as hell – and spit-coated fangs glinting in the moonlight.

Caed dashed to the side and swung his weapon down, but Nightmare Moon blocked it with an arcane barrier. When he recoiled, she dropped it and shot a ball of twinkling frost at his leg.

He responded by twirling in place and cracking her upside the head with the frozen leg, knocking her to the ground while simultaneously breaking free. He dashed back to avoid another blast of ice and the Empress followed him, horn flashing as she shot spell after spell.

‘Tartarus, what the hell is with this guy?’

“Miasma should be here soon!” Veil ‘said’. She swooped around the park and came back, tossing out more canisters, and Fade couldn’t be certain, but he swore there was an unsettling grin on her face when she went by. “What’s wrong with Ebony?”

“Knocked out…” He clenched his teeth and fanned his wings around Ebony’s unconscious form when a burst of fire came too close for his liking. “Hey, you do see us here, yeah?”

There was a pressure against his head which might have been her about to reply, but then she thought it more important to concentrate on distracting an invader that was about to deliver a finishing blow on a prone guard.

Fade cursed and looked around, feeling helpless. He wanted to get back in the action, but there was no way in hell he was leaving Ebony alone in her current condition.

She might have been blowing him and the others off for the past few weeks and yeah, she was a total Empress’ pet, but she was still his friend, one of the only few genuine ones he had.

No way was he abandoning her.

‘Shit, where’s a medic when you need one?’ He scanned the area for a white cross, but found none. “Faust… Come on, Ebs – we’re seriously going to get killed if you don’t- oh crap!”

Fade tightened his grip and gave a powerful flap that pushed him and Ebony backwards, barely avoiding a spiked ball of iron that smashed the spot where they had been. The invader – smoking and with a set of freshly-charred armor – spat out a curse and pulled their flail back up, the chain length rattling ominously as they prepared another attack.

“Hey, don’t go anywhere, yeah?” Fade told Ebony as he set her down and leapt forwards to engage his foe.

“-yeah?”

Ebony’s eyes fluttered open and the pain in her head doubled as she was placed down on a hard surface. She groaned in displeasure, but nopony granted her pity; the ear-numbing noises of… fighting? What was that all about?

…

‘Oh no!’

Ebony’s eyes went wide and she sat back up, her gut churning as vertigo and pain made her vision swim; it was a chore to even stand and when she did, she almost went down again.

She fought through the pain though and searched for her sword. It was still in her magical grasp when she fell, so it had to have landed close to her, right?

“Mommy, help! Mommy!”

“Huh?” Ebony’s ears pricked at the shrill cry.

She followed its source and it took a few moments before invader and Eclipse alike moved out of her line of sight so she could see what made the noise.

The small filly from before, struggling in the grasp of a knight that was making their way towards the Entropic Fracture.

Ebony didn’t even think; she leapt into action.

It was like an obstacle course; there were so many sounds, spells, and elemental explosions going off that her already-battered senses were reeling. A knight backed up into her as she ran past and stumbled into one of the skating bowls. She tripped and rolled across the concrete, earning several scrapes and bruises before getting up, a wave of hot air catching her in the back as three canisters were tossed into the skating bowls, cooking the invader inside their armor with a chilling scream.

She skidded to a halt as Caed and Nightmare Moon impeded her path and went back and forth, trying to find an opening as the two leaders battled for supremacy.

‘The Empress needs help!’

‘That filly can’t protect herself!’

She took a risk and ran between them.

A gust of wind almost bowled her over and an errant pillar of ice almost impaled her, but she was finally through.

The foalnapper was within reach.

“Let her go!” Ebony reached out with telekinesis and put all her strength into a hard pull on the knight’s leg, just like how she saw Nightmare Moon do earlier.

However, the knight only stumbled; her magic had slipped off them almost immediately, but at least she succeeded in stalling them and getting their attention.

“God, it’s just one thing…!” The knight wrapped his right arm around the crying filly like a mail package and held up his shield with the other hand.

“She’s just a child!” Ebony yelled, standing her ground and bleeding crimson-tinted magic from her horn and eyes. “Let her go, you… y-you thing!”

The knight moved his head to stare at the sobbing filly and he seemed to falter, just the slightest. “… We… I…” He grunted and shook his head firmly. “We have to do this.”

Ebony wasn’t convinced. She discreetly stared at a spot just behind him and charged her magic – Faust, her headache was bringing tears to her eyes.

“Put her down right now!”

“No,” The knight shook his head again and started backing up to the Fracture. “No, this needs to be done. I can’t just-”

Ebony teleported behind him.

Her vision went dim and an intense pain spiked through her head, but she turned her resulting stagger into a tackle aimed right at the back of the knight’s knees. She heard him shout in surprise and fall on top of her.

The weight knocked the breath out of her lungs and she found it near impossible to draw in another.

The filly landed in front of her and stared at Ebony in terror, cheeks wet with tears. “Ugh…” Ebony choked and managed to whisper, “G-go…”

It took the knight shifting – causing Ebony to cry out in pain – before the filly turned and ran in the opposite direction, shouting, “Mom- eeeee!”

One of the hostages – a stallion – flew over the foal’s head, across where Ebony and the knight were sprawled out, and into the Fracture. His scream was cut short as the blinding, otherworldly light swallowed him whole and shuddered ominously, as if it was about to collapse at any moment.

‘What…?’

Ebony turned her gaze to where the filly laid flat against the ground, hooves over her head, and saw the Knight Enforcer approaching. His glaive was glistening with blood and she immediately feared for her Empress when there was no sign of her.

Ebony struggled against the weight of the knight as Caed paused to swing his weapon and produce a gust of wind to snuff out the flames that enveloped another knight rolling on the ground.

“Rouge Knights!” Caed bellowed and bent over to yank the charred knight to their feet and push them in the direction of the Fracture. “Steel your pride and flee from these colourful creatures!”

‘Th-they’re retreating?’

Caed’s eyes went to the cowering filly.

“No! Get off me, you- unf!” Ebony’s face was pressed into the concrete as the knight on top of her placed his hand on the back of her head for leverage. She felt a tooth chip from the rough treatment, but the instant he was gone, she scrambled back up, tripping forwards and yelling, “Leave her alone! Fade, they’re getting away!”

“Yeah, I see that and I’m trying to help!”

Everypony was behind the knights as they retreated back to the Fracture – Ebony was the only thing standing between them and their escape.

She had to stop them! She was the Captain, the Empress’ Right Hoof; it was her duty to protect this city and its inhabitants.

She had already failed one poor stallion; there was no way in hell she was going to fail this child!

Caed reached down and snatched up the filly in one large hand as whatever Rouge Knights were still able made a dash for the Fracture, a few walking backwards so they could deflect any thrown weapons or spells with their shields.

Ebony stood her ground, bruised and battered but utterly determined. She gathered magic in her horn despite it making her headache so bad it brought tears to her eyes.

“Y-you won’t get past!” She shouted. Caed paused in place once he took notice of her and tilted his head curiously. “I mean it!” Ebony started building a spell to create a thick artificial storm. “The only way you’re getting past is by-”

Caed blurred forwards and struck her aside like a fly attempting to fight a rolled-up newspaper.

Ebony rolled across the ground and ended up on her side, swaying in and out of consciousness with what felt like three broken ribs. Each strained breath sent pain all across her body and it took all her willpower to keep awake.

‘I… He just… I couldn’t even…’

That wasn’t how it usually went in the movies…

She watched helplessly as the knights retreated into the Fracture, each departure making the anomaly flash brightly and shimmer as if it was underwater. Caed gestured the last of his knights to go through and then turned to the encroaching Eclipse.

He performed a full body spin and swung his glaive from right to left, sending out an upsweep of wind that knocked earth ponies and unicorns back, and sent pegasi tumbling out of control in the air, Veil and Fade included.

If there was any good news to be had from every Eclipse in the area being knocked down, it was that it cleared Ebony’s hazy sight line, so she was able to see that her Empress was not dead.

Limping with a leg that’s shinbone had splintered and pierced the skin with a thick tree branch spearing through her belly and coming out her back thrown in for good measure… but certainly far from dead.

“You… coward!” Nightmare Moon’s eyes were filled with rage as she trudged away from a crater in the distance, blood staining the ground in heavy spurts from her ravaged chest. “Get back… here…” Her horn lit up like she was trying to teleport, but it spluttered, and she instead resorted to telekinetically tugging the tree branch, widening the hideous wound and giving the blood spurts more force. “And fight!”

“Valor, chivalry, integrity, and bravery!” Caed swept his glaive out to the side in a grandiose gesture, returning Nightmare Moon’s insults with a confident grin. “These are the virtues prevalent in the Old Tales! However, we have added a new virtue, and that is the ability to, as my comrades would say, ‘know when to fold them’.”

Ebony struggled to crawl even an inch forwards as he kept talking.

The filly trapped beneath Caed’s free arm kicked and struggled, calling the knight a ‘meany-poop face’ and a ‘stink master’.

“But this is far from over, Empress Nightmare Moon! We shall meet again another time, another place – it may not be soon, but mark my words: we shall face one another on the battlefield again, and when that happens, only one of us may walk away alive!”

He pointed his glaive up into the sky.

“For just as the sun rises and the rain falls, the Rouge Knights will cleave a path towards a better future for-”

“Sir, would you just get in here?!”

A knight re-emerged from the Fracture and slapped a metal-clad hand on the Knight Enforcer’s shoulder just as Nightmare Moon wrestled the branch from her chest and disappeared in a burst of magic. She reappeared directly in front of the startled Caed, horn glowing and teeth bared.

Ebony saw the Empress’ magic creep up the filly’s foreleg and hope flared within.

‘She’s doing it! She’s going to save her! She-’

Caed fell into the Fracture and it winked out of existence with a lacklustre flash of white light and the sound of fading wind chimes.

Nightmare Moon stopped dead in the exact spot where it had been, magic still going and…

Empty-hooved.

…

Ebony thought…

Well, she didn’t really know what to think.

She lowered her head to the ground, her brow pressed against the harsh surface, and the sounds of conversation filtered in her ears.

“Wh… Did we win?”

“We saved the hostages, didn’t we? W-we made them retreat…”

“The hell were those things?”

“Oh Faust, I’m… I’m kinda bleeding pretty bad here…”

…

“Dew? Dew?! Dew!!”

Ebony looked up at the shrill shriek and watched as the guards quickly parted to make way for a mare, her face a pained grimace of hysterical panic.

The mare searched and turned in place several times – hyperventilating and shaking her head – before directing her full attention to Nightmare Moon.

“Wh-where is she?! Where’s my daughter?!”

Nightmare Moon swivelled her head to coldly look down at the sweating mare. “…”

“Y-y-you have her? Please! Please tell me you have her!!”

“…”

“No no no no no…” The mare shook her head rapidly and pawed at the ground, eyes wide and unfocused. “Dew, Dew – you were supposed to stay with mommy, not run off like that, I know you must have been scared, an-and I-I was too, but… y-you…”

“…”

“… You… Y-you’re an alicorn!” The mare accused, her tone hitching and cracking at the end. She made a lunge, but Nightmare Moon didn’t react. “What the fuck were you doing?! You’re supposed to be strong, you’re supposed to…! Celestia would have done it! Sh-she would have saved everypony!”

Ebony watched blankly as the mare punched the Empress with all her might, aiming for the wounds that had yet to heal.

Blood splattered across the mare’s coat and hooves as she attacked and shrieked at the top of her lungs.

“It’s all your fault! Dew’s gone because of you! You monster!!”

The next blow never came.

Nightmare Moon continued passively watching as she held her attacker’s hooves in place with magic.

“…”

It wasn’t long before the mare tired herself out and sunk to the concrete, sobbing and wailing for her daughter. When her hooves were free, she laced them over her head and hid herself away from the world.

“… Why are you all just standing there?”

Nightmare Moon did not turn nor did she raise her voice… but a deathly chill swept through everypony that was still conscious.

Ebony saw several ponies nervously back up, armor clanking as they bumped into each other.

“Attend to the injured.”

Another cluster of metal clanks and the ground trembled from a dozen hooves striking it as the Eclipse guards rushed to carry out the order.

“…”

Ebony continued lying on the ground, completely unmotivated to do anything else, but she did manage to shift when she heard a new set of noises.

From the west entrance of the park, Miasma and her platoon stormed in. The platoon balked and gasped and mumbled in shock at what they saw while Miasma’s eyes widened by a fraction, barely noticeable unless you knew her tics.

Miasma gestured and amazingly enough, her platoon understand her wishes, and moved around her to help the Eclipse that were already there.

A few came near Ebony, but she shook her head slowly and sat up, ignoring the pain in her chest.

They awkwardly trotted past her.

She pressed one hoof against her side and looked up pitifully when Miasma approached.

“What happened?”

“… They got two of the hostages,” Ebony replied in a small voice. She felt like crap and not just physically. “Their, uh… their leader showed up through a Fracture. He called himself Caed and… and he and a few of his knights got away.”

“There was a Fracture?”

“I think they can control them.”

“… That’s not good.”

“Mm…”

Miasma parted her lips again as if to say something, but thought otherwise and closed her mouth. She offered a simple nod of acknowledgment instead and walked past Ebony.

“…”

A minute passed – full of staring at nothing and listening to the ambient sounds of healing magic, hushed queries of somepony’s wellbeing, and the occasional authoritative order – before Ebony felt a dark shadow loom over her from behind.

The size and shape could only belong to one pony… unless a lot more happened in the minute she hadn’t been paying attention. It wouldn’t surprise her at that point.

“… Get up.”

Ebony reflexively obeyed and rose to her hooves.

“Look at me.”

She obeyed again and tilted her head up.

Nightmare Moon’s draconic eyes bore down on her and the air felt tensely heavy, chokingly thick. The Empress’ eyebrows were drawn together in cold rage.

“Why are you just sitting there? The morale of the guards won’t increase from such a pathetic display.”

Ebony winced and muttered in a small voice. “I failed…” She took a deep breath. “I was standing right between them and… and the Fracture, but I… He just knocked me aside like I was nothing. I couldn’t save that filly.”

Ebony had never held a particular liking or affection towards children, but at the end of the day, she’d rather see an adult get hurt than a child.

‘They shouldn’t have to suffer because they can’t properly defend themselves…’

“So your response is to sit and wallow in self-pity?” Nightmare Moon sneered in disgust.

“I…”

“Uh, hey, boss?” Landing beside them, Fade cautiously approached, attempting to alleviate the tension with a charming grin. It never worked before, but it didn’t stop him from trying. “Ebs is a little hurt, so maybe… ease up a little, yeah?”

“No, I don’t think I will ease up.” Nightmare Moon snapped without even looking at him.

Fade’s grin faded and a flash of anger came across his face. “Well… that guy was hella tough, yeah? Give us a break!”

Ebony cringed and whispered, “Fade, don’t.”

He didn’t seem to hear her. “We tried, ya know? Can’t get angry for that!”

“You do not tell me why I can and can’t be angry!”

Ebony fell backwards and clutched at her ears, grimacing in pain. Through narrowed eyes, she saw Fade react similarly, but with an expression that screamed, ‘oh crap’.

Which perfectly summed up one’s thoughts when Nightmare Moon was staring you down with split cheeks, bared fangs, and a threatening aura of black smoke leaking from freshly-opened seams in her skin.

The outburst had caught everypony’s attention and even the wounded stopped griping to look over in shock and terror. Veil stood off a bit to the side, eyes wide and brow furrowed, and Miasma looked about ready to dart in to save her sibling.

“I am angry that this is the second time I’ve been… defeated!” Nightmare Moon practically shuddered at spitting out the word and one plume of smoke momentarily grew a set of gnashing teeth. “I am angry that they got away! I am angry that they got away with two of my subjects and I am enraged that I couldn’t kill more of Caed’s accursed knights! But am I angry at you? No!”

“… Wh-what?” Ebony blinked in surprise.

“You…” Nightmare Moon inhaled deeply and some of the black smoke was pulled back into her body, the seams closing with nauseating squelches. “You did all you could. It may not have been enough to stop their escape… but I cannot fault you for giving your best. If their leader… if Caed was able to give me trouble, then of course he would be able to defeat you more easily.”

Some of that previous anger crept back as she glared at Ebony again.

“If I’m upset about anything concerning you, it’s that you’re moping and crying about what happened instead of getting angry and striving to get vengeance.”

“But… the filly and the stallion…”

“… There may be a chance to get them back…” Nightmare Moon’s pause suggested she didn’t quite believe that. “But whether we do or don’t, it doesn’t change the fact that there’s still a city full of citizens to protect. You can’t do that when you’re stewing so… pathetically.”

“…”

Nightmare Moon took another deep breath and the rest of the smoke pulled back into her body. Her torn cheeks healed a few moments later.

“Now, get up and start acting like my Eclipse Captain and Right Hoof; if I have to have another lapse like just now, then I really will give you a punishment. Am I clear?”

“Y-yes, Empress.” Ebony saluted in a slight daze.

“Uh, yeah, boss…” Fade seemed just as shocked by the encouraging – well, encouraging when it came from Nightmare Moon – words as well as remaining uneaten. “No worries.”

“… Well? Go on.”

Ebony and Fade exchanged looks of similar surprise before quickly rushing off. Ebony caught Veil and Miasma’s expressions and they seemed relieved; their concern was touching.

She made her way over to a trio of guards, still deep in thought, and asked, “How is he doing?”

‘Vengeance… vengeance… But I don’t feel like getting vengeance; I just feel sad that I couldn’t save those two.’

The medic – a petite unicorn mare with bright colours that clashed against her armor – looked up from the groaning stallion, but didn’t stop her flow of soothing green magic. “He’s stabilized. Could use some antibiotics though.”

“Other than that?”

“He’s fine.”

Ebony examined the other guard that was there to help the medic before nodding. “Okay – carry on.”

‘But Nightmare Moon’s right – feeling sad won’t accomplish anything; I have to feel angry. I have to keep doing my duties, so… so if I can’t save them, then at least I can make sure that their… that I can make those invaders pay.’

After checking up on several other instances and directing a few guards to more efficient and worthwhile tasks, Ebony eventually came upon a guard laying a white sheet over a body.

“How many?” She asked with a cold thread in her heart.

“Just two…” The buff stallion answered, his eyes dark. He paused to shift in place and stare at the covered bodies before turning back. “It’s… weird.”

“What is?”

‘But to do that, I have to be stronger.’

“Never really seen dead ponies before,” He rubbed at one foreleg where a black and purple bruise was forming, though he didn’t seem to pay it much notice. “Like… ‘fresh’.”

“And how do you feel?”

“… Sad?” He shrugged, frowning. “Also pissed at these knights. Next time I see one…” He made a threatening gesture. “Won’t even see it coming.”

Ebony nodded. She might have had a bigger reaction or feeling towards the deceased guards, but it had been a big night, and she was fatigued. It’d probably come back to nip her in the bud full-force when she got some rest or had a moment to sit down.

“Carry on.”

‘I have to keep learning.’

Her next stop was somepony she knew: Ensign Scarlet, and she was standing with a higher-ranking guard who was busy using telekinesis to loop some thick ropes around the still body of a Rouge Knight that had been left behind.

Something heavy must have fallen on their head to render them unconscious.

“Sir!” Scarlet saluted nervously. “Er, uh, ma’am! Captain!”

“Everything okay?”

“This is the only one still alive, Captain,” The other guard answered as she finished a complex knot. Ebony guessed her to have been a former girl scout or something to make that knot. “The others are dead. A few, uh…” She paused and scratched her head. “It almost looked like a few just… fell over and died for some reason. Mostly ones that were far away from that Fracture.”

“I see.”

“Fucking weird…”

“Yes. Make sure those ropes are tight.”

“Gotcha.”

‘I have to be…’

“Ma’am?” Scarlet cleared her throat. “Are you… okay? You look a little… pale.”

“… I’m fine, thank you. Carry on.”

‘I have to be worth something…’

Nightmare Moon silently seethed.

War.

Caed hadn’t officially declared it, hadn’t said, ‘we’re at war’, but in lieu of this attack, Nightmare Moon had no qualms about treating it as such.

‘Wonderful…’

How humiliating to have been beaten by her enemy a second time. Granted, she hadn’t been reduced to a bubbling pile of flesh and viscera, but this actually felt more personal because there were casualties and missing civilians.

And she hadn’t been the only one to take it personally.

She truly couldn’t blame her Right Hoof – the rest of the Eclipse and the Praetorian Guard, really – for failing to stop the Rouge Knights, especially when Caed had been leading the retreat.

That monkey-like creature was on a whole other level from his cannon-fodder subordinates; he moved so fast her eyes watered to keep up with him, he packed a punch that could make a dragon flinch, and he was largely unaffected by any spells she threw out. Not even illusions spells, which had worked on his knights, had any effect on him, and all she gained from trying was a damn branch through the chest.

So it wasn’t too surprising to see Ebony get swatted aside. Nightmare Moon had faith in her strength, but she also knew that there were limits to that strength; it was to be expected when one had enemies like Celestia, Luna, and Discord.

That being said, she could fault Ebony for that shameful display when things had calmed down.

Sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself was not an appropriate reaction to losing.

Laugh it off, shrug it off, get pissy and spit in your adversary’s face – anything was better than moping about it and not getting anything done.

Personally, Nightmare Moon chose to get even.

And that was what she was going to do.

“You’ve made a grave mistake, Knight Enforcer…” She told the empty spot where the Fracture had been. Not even a spot of soot to mark its existence. “At the end of this, whenever that may be... you will burn.”

“…”

Twilight sat in the middle of her cell with a thick blanket wrapped around her form.

She had woken with an obsidian ring around her horn. It should have been difficult, nigh impossible to perform magic without pain or the risk of shattering the ring.

But somewhere deep inside her…

“I’m so sorry, everypony…” Twilight wept as she looked down at her trembling hooves. A sliver of the crystal beneath the skin of her right foreleg was poking out; it hurt to touch it, worse to try and remove it. “This could have been over and done with, but… but then you were all afraid for me. I would have… I would have sacrificed…”

She trailed off and a few more tears dripped down her cheeks.

A shuddering intake of breath made her form shift and the crystals sprouting from her back, freshly-cleaned of the congealed blood that once splattered their surfaces, scratched at the blanket.

‘I can feel it all beneath my skin. It’s disgusting…’

“But… but I’m not going to sit by like this… while you’re all out there, hiding…”

Somewhere deep inside…

“I’ll find a way to break free and… and then…”

Fanned to life by the force of her will, a power that was similar to the tingling and comforting rush of her mana surged up and coursed through her veins, through the crystals that had been implanted into her body without permission.

Twilight inhaled deeply, held her tears, and looked up at the barred window of her cell. A sickly purple haze bled from her eyes as they shone green and her pupils turned blood-red.

“And then I’m going to make her pay…”

Author's Note

Note 1: Blade Wind Greatsword - a very large sword that would be unwieldy to a normal human, but is swung about as if it was light as a feather by the Blade Winds. Nothing remarkable about this weapon, but many Blade Winds prefer it this way.

Blade Winds are lithe figures in the Rouge Knight Order who, in contrast to their comrades, wear thin but surprisingly durable jackets and trousers. They may not be able to take much punishment, but they make up for this with their astounding strength, speed, and skill with the greatsword. Blade Winds dart around the battlefield to get behind enemy lines and swiftly destroy the opposition, earning them the jesting moniker amongst their peers, ‘jumping jack-knives’.

Knight Enforcer Caed once had a close associate whose unique fighting style fascinated him. When the warrior’s life was tragically cut short in a cowardly attack by enemy opposition, Caed started and named the Blade Winds in honour of his dear friend.

Note 2: "Knight Enforcer Caed... Don't get me wrong: I would literally follow that man to hell and back, even if it meant I would die for real. Like, actually die and not just what Jenkins did five minutes ago. Now that that's out in the open, I have to say... he's such a dork, especially when it comes to those speeches." - Audio Transcript from Scribe Washington.

Note 3 (EDIT): So whoops - I repeated the same passage twice concerning the Blade Wind Greatsword description. Fixed now.

Chapter 44: The Cleansing Joke

1055 AD, November 14th

“…” Zecora stared at the clay pot before her, watching with a critical eye as the sun’s rays washed against the ornate exterior. “Mm-hm…”

She turned to an old cloth that had been laid out on the ground and picked up a piece of wizened bark from the selection of ingredients.

From a short distance away, the princesses and the other current residents of the library watched with baited breath as Zecora sniffed the bark. Most were still bedraggled from being woken up so early in the day, though some fared it better than others.

“These are the methods zebra shamans use to determine the authenticity of their ingredients?” Underneath Sunset’s eyes were dark rings, but she didn’t seem weighed down by fatigue, still as alert and scrutinizing as ever. “She’s sniffing it.”

“It’s their way.” Celestia quietly replied. All her attention was centred on the zebra.

“She… she’s literally licking it now.”

“… It’s their way.”

Zecora smacked her lips loudly after nibbling on the bark and, with a satisfied grunt, dropped it into the clay pot. The swirling, dark green mixture inside rippled from the added ingredient and a small amount of green gas started rising. Zecora grabbed the rim of the pot with both forehooves and carefully tipped it to the side so the morning rays lit up the liquid. The volume of gas increased as if the mixture was consuming the sunlight.

As Zecora carefully fixed the pot so it was standing upright again, a rush of wings signalled the approach of Rainbow Dash. She quickly went out of her diagonal descent when she noticed Zecora working and instead gently flapped over to there the others were standing.

“Hey, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash greeted once her hooves were on the ground.

“Good morning.”

“Greetings, my friend.”

“Yo.”

“Hey, Dash.”

“‘Sup?”

“Ugh, now the pegasus is here…”

“Oh, so funny, ha ha – eat a dick, Sunset,” Rainbow Dash shot a glare at the scowling unicorn before looking up at Celestia, her expression softening. “So is Zecora doing that thing that’ll kill Nightmare Moon?”

“She just started it,” Celestia replied. She brought a hoof up to her eye to get rid of any crust she missed. Ironically, she was not an early riser, and felt sweaty and gross from waking up. “The mixture’s being done, but the final ingredient won’t be added until noon, when the sun is strongest.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Ah…” She quietly joined the others in watching Zecora for a few moments before frowning and turning back. “Can’t you just make the sun go by faster?”

“She said the ingredient would ‘know the difference’.” Celestia’s face creased like she didn’t understand the words either.

“Huh… okay then.”

Zecora had put in another ingredient: the hair of a baby lion. The mixture turned a darker shade of green and, for an instant, it seemed as if the gas swirled to form the head of a roaring lion before a stray wind scattered the apparition.

She reached for the golden trite flowers next.

“I met with Bulk Biceps yesterday…” Rainbow Dash said. “He said that the Wonderbolts aren’t answering to Nightmare Moon. They’re going around helping other settlements though.”

Glancing away from Zecora, Virtue asked, “So they’re gonna help us out?”

“Definitely. They got, like… a huge morale boost when they heard the princesses and the Element bearers…” She paused and cringed guiltily. “When they heard about our escape.”

Spike hid his claws behind his back so nopony could see them curl into tight fists. He reminded himself that Twilight would be alright and that once she was safe and sound, he was going to make her a plate of pancakes, just the way she liked them.

Any alternative was…

He wasn’t going to think about it.

Rainbow Dash continued. “They want to help.”

Celestia frowned worriedly. “Nightmare Moon would not take that news lightly. I would hate to see anymore ponies come to harm because of their goodwill.”

“With all due respect, Your Highness, just because you don’t want them to help, doesn’t mean they’re going to listen,” Virtue replied knowingly. “I’m sure they know that they’re at risk if they help, but sometimes it’s worth it. No pony in their right mind wants somepony like Nightmare Moon in charge… especially if they knew exactly what she is.”

“… I suppose you are right,” Celestia sighed. “In that case… the only way to express my gratitude for such bravery is to accept their help, however shape or form it may come in.”

Virtue nodded in response and his eyes flicked to the length of her horn before quickly darting back to the ground. “Um, if you don’t mind me asking: how’s your horn, Your Highness?”

“Much better, thank you,” Celestia reached up with one forehoof to gently tap it, producing a soft clunk. “Especially when there isn’t a chunk of obsidian in it.”

Luna shuddered at her side with a grimace. “The sooner I rid myself of that memory the better…”

Poomf

A mustard-yellow puff of gas bloomed from the pot and rolled over its rim. Zecora seemed pleased by this as she grinned and nodded to herself; she gave a few flicks of her hoof to clear some of the gas before lifting the pot’s lid from the length of cloth and fitting it on neatly. Her lips moved to speak a few words nopony could hear, but the lid of the pot twisted in place, seemingly of its own will.

The others watched and waited with baited breath as Zecora rolled the old cloth into a bundle, picked it and the pot up, and trotted over to them.

“You may all relax, it was a successful batch,” She said with a calming grin. “Now, we shall plant the cleansing joke seed, and soon, we shall see it bloom at noon.”

There was a collection of relieved sighs as well as a flare of fresh hope, for their captured friend and for the future of Equestria.

“Is there anything you need help with, Zecora?” Celestia asked.

“I appreciate the offer, but you need not bother,” Zecora aimed a smile and a wink at Spike. “If I am in need, Equestria’s ‘number one assistant’ will heed.”

Spike drew himself up, preening like a rooster with pride. “Eeyup, that’s me. Totally not like Virtue over here who can’t organize a single bookshelf.”

“Tch, keep on it, little dragon,” Virtue scoffed and playfully brushed Spike’s dorsal ridges before quickly stepping back from a counter-snap and moving to head back into the library, chuckling. “So who wants breakfast? I make a pretty mean radish soufflé.”

“I’m going back to sleep.” Sunset grumbled, pushing her way back into the library.

Virtue would have called her out on it, but he was quietly impressed that a petite mare like her could shove him aside, and by the time he stopped being impressed, she was out of earshot, so he simply rolled his eyes and continued towards the kitchen.

“I haven’t had radish soufflé in eons!” Luna quipped, wings flaring in excitement as she made for the library, too.

“Aren’t you allergic to radishes?” Celestia frowned.

“Oh, so I get a meagre rash on my face?” Luna waved her off as she went inside. “Tis barely noticeable, ‘Tia.”

“If that’s barely noticeable, then what’s subtle?”

“Hey, um… Princess?”

“Yes?” Celestia turned to Rainbow Dash. When she received a negative shake of the head, she frowned in confusion and turned the other way, finally looking down. “Ah… forgive me, I wasn’t paying attention.”

An unfamiliar pony had shown up while she wasn’t looking; a light grey pegasus mare with a sandy blonde mane and, rather worryingly, two eyes that appeared to have trouble deciding on which direction to look in.

One eye was trained on Celestia, but the other was veering to the side, vibrating as if trying to follow its twin.

Celestia had met with many ponies with disabilities, so she kept the surprise out of her face and smiled warmly.

“Erm, who are you, my little pony?”

“Derpy Hooves,” The mare said brightly. “Some ponies call me Muffin. Mostly because I like muffins.”

“Ah, so do I.”

Derpy beamed even wider. “Really? That’s cool,” Suddenly, her face fell and she gasped. “Oh, I just remembered what I came here for! There’re some ponies and griffons at the gate asking for you.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. She could see Zecora and Spike also start in surprise from behind Derpy and tilt their heads curiously. “Griffons, you say?”

“Yeah,” Derpy nodded and scratched the side of her head with a strained expression. The creases under her eyes deepened as the renegade eye attempted to fixate on Celestia. “And, uh… well, not all of them were asking for you. Just this one stallion. He was pretty loud about it, too, and kept saying all these really long words. It was weird because he wasn’t even using them properly.”

‘Loud, using long words and not even correctly… Could it be?’

“… Could you lead me to them?” Celestia asked.

Derpy nodded and flapped her wings to take to the air. There was a chilling moment where she swayed and Celestia’s muscles tensed to catch her, but the smiling mare quickly balanced out and maintained her altitude with practised ease.

It was very impressive.

“I’m going to see what this is all about,” Celestia told the others as she spread her own wings. “If Luna asks, tell her where I am and to not worry.”

Zecora nodded and Spike gave a playful salute. “No probs.”

“I can’t stick around for too long,” Rainbow Dash said with an apologetic shrug. “The weather team’s really fallen behind on bringing winter in, so I gotta go and help sort things out around eleven.”

“I understand,” Celestia gave a powerful flap and she was airborne, hovering in place as she then said, “I’ll see you all later. Take care.”

“See ya.”

“Farewell, princess.”

“Bye!”

Derpy ascended higher into the air and soared out over the thatched roofs of Ponyville’s homes, Celestia following in her wake, briefly looking over her shoulder and below to wave at the others, who responded in turn.

It was early in the day, so there weren’t many ponies out and about just yet.

The few that were out were mostly pegasi or earth ponies; they saw Celestia flying in the sky and greeted her with a cheerful wave and a hearty ‘good morning, princess’. After so many days of being locked in a dark cell with only Nightmare Moon’s jeers, taunts, and – Faust help her – teasing cake-eating sessions, it was a welcome reprieve.

“So how are you, Miss Hooves?” Celestia asked once she was flying directly beside Derpy. The mare’s speed was unexpected, but perhaps the thing with her eyes wasn’t a disability after all.

“Good!” Derpy replied with a happy grin, one eye focused and the other trailing off to stare at the ground. “Just got voted ‘Employee of the Month’ at my job.”

“Congratulations – what job is it that you do?”

“Delivery mare. Mostly just letters and stuff, but my boss is finally letting me help moving bigger packages,” A blush stained Derpy’s cheeks as her good eye looked away, which meant her other eye chose to focus on Celestia. “Had an accident with moving a piano at my old job.”

“Are you alright?”

“Oh, I wasn’t hurt. It was, uh…” She suddenly gave an expression of fright and quickly turned to look straight ahead, a fake grin spreading onto her face. “H-hey, look! We’re here!”

“Uh…?”

Celestia would have politely pushed for more information about this ‘incident’ with a piano, but her train of thought was derailed when she took one look at the large party gathered by the gates of Ponyville’s high barricade walls and her suspicions were confirmed.

“Abysmal! Unthinkable!” A familiar stallion was shouting and gesturing emphatically, much to the mounting headache of Mayor Mare and the veiled amusement of the rest of the party. “I have been waiting for three minutes! This town is not that big! Why is it taking so long to get a simple message across when you just said that the princesses aren’t too far from here?”

Mayor Mare sighed and took off her glasses so she could rub the spot between her eyes. “Prince Blueblood, if you could just perhaps follow the league of any sane pony and wait for another minute or so – unreasonable as that may sound to you – then I’m certain the princesses will be here shortly.”

Blueblood recoiled like he had been shocked. His gaze hardened and he whispered, “Are you… mocking… me?”

“… Am I?”

Celestia sighed and turned to Derpy. “Thank you, Miss Hooves,” She stopped in place and descended to ground-level before closing the few yards between her and the party. “Blueblood, please restrain yourself before you frighten the children.”

“I’ll frighten as many children as I…!” Blueblood’s eyes widened as he saw her and, as if a switch had been flipped, he let out an undignified whinny and sped over to her. “Aunt Celestia!”

Incredible, seeing as he often got winded trying to open a window.

Nevertheless, Celestia smiled gently and stroked the stallion’s mane as he hugged her foreleg. It was nice to see a familiar face, even if it belonged to somepony who could be… difficult.

“Oh, you cannot imagine the joy I am feeling right now!” He cried with utmost sincerity. “It was a nightmare living beneath… well, Nightmare Moon’s reign. She ignored any of my attempts to talk to her, her brutish guards harassed me to the brink of tears, and she seized half my fortune!”

“I’m so sorry, Blueblood.”

“She distributed it across Canterlot’s districts!”

“I’m… still sorry?”

“I tried to fight her in my own subtle way and with the strengths I have, but she brushed me aside as if I was nothing. My complaints and insults fell on deaf ears, and her Praetorian brutes regarded me as if I was bubblegum on the underside of one’s hoof! Never have I felt so… so much like a… commoner…”

“… Sorry?”

“But I didn’t let that get me down!” Blueblood sniffled and released Celestia’s foreleg from his death grip and stood proudly, his chest puffing out. “Oh, you should have seen it, Aunty! I showed that beast what for! I packed all my things, rallied the griffon delegation, and led them out of Canterlot in the dead of night when Nightmare Moon and her forces were preoccupied!”

“We found him trying to negotiate peace relations with some pigeons to carry his things,” From the party, a griffon walked over to them, his colour markings and plumage familiar to Celestia. “To his credit, he managed to convince them to stop defecating on his belongings.”

“Marquess Aldo! I had heard of your arrival in Eques…” Celestia pursed her lips down at Blueblood as he hugged her leg again before looking back up, smiling. “In Equestria. I’m sorry it’s… not under better circumstances.”

“Hardly your fault,” Aldo replied with a shrug. “Gods know the Griffon Kingdom has had its fair share of dictators and tyrants… even if some books say otherwise,” He shook his head before turning slightly to gesture to his fellow griffons. “These are the guards that accompany me: Luigi, Alessio, Natale, and Vittorino.”

The guards each bowed respectfully upon being introduced, their beaks almost kissing the ground as they did. They were all fit, healthy males and clearly well-trained.

“And of course you know my daughter.”

“Yes, Mistress Gilda, was it?” Celestia aimed a companionable smile at the sole female griffon that huffed and harrumphed in the back. “Are you well? The trip here wasn’t strenuous for you, was it?”

“I’ve flown farther in my sleep.” Gilda rolled her eyes.

“Gilda…”

“What? Dad, you know I’ve actually done that.”

“No need to be rude about it,” He sighed and shook his head again. “Forgive her; she’s had to put up with a lot of unforeseen developments this month.”

“It’s quite alright. But how did you… Ugh, Blueblood, could you please just…? Yes, because I’m starting to get numb. Thank you,” Celestia shot an apologetic look at Mayor Mare as Blueblood trotted over to spill his woes before turning back to Aldo. “But how did you know we were here? And for that matter… why come in the first place? I doubt your status as a foreign diplomat will dissuade Nightmare Moon from coming after you if she finds out you’ve been speaking to us.”

“Ponyville seemed like the most likely place you’d go to; it’s the closest and you and your sister have spoken very highly of it. Add in that it’s the home of your Element bearers and it just seemed obvious,” Aldo looked over his shoulder. “Not only that, but, uh… we weren’t exactly travelling ‘light’.”

Celestia followed his gaze to see a wagon full of luggage and suitcases which the griffon guards were glaring at intensely. The initials on each item, ‘BB’, made it pretty clear as to who it belonged to.

“I see. How much of his luggage did you convince him to throw away?”

“A little over half. You can thank my daughter for her compelling argument against him.”

Gilda guffawed proudly. “Heh heh heh, yeah – keeping some luggage and not having your legs broken is better than the opposite.”

“Impressive.”

“And to answer your second question…” Aldo turned back, his expression calm but carrying a glint of steel. “I decided quite early on after meeting the ‘Empress’ that I, for one, would have no part in playing bedfellows with the likes of a creature such as her.”

“Hell yeah! Screw that bitch!”

“Language, Gilda.”

“Magnifico! Al diavolo che pony!”

“… Like I said… a lot of unforeseen developments.”

“I’m glad to hear that, but I can’t expect you to put your lives on the line to help us, Aldo. Your…” Celestia lowered her head within whispering range. “Your chick and your guards will be in danger. And what of your kingdom and countryflock?”

Aldo gave a small, humourless smile. “I am well aware of the risks, Princess Celestia… but I’m afraid certain events have tied my talons.”

“What do you mean?”

“… I received a letter from overseas not too long ago…” Aldo began with a sigh. “My home has just entered a state of emergency which makes travel by boat and airship impossible.”

“What?” Celestia’s eyebrows drew together in concern. She briefly glanced to read the expressions of the guards and saw their expressions and body language turn forlorn on hearing their Marquees’ words. “A state of emergency?”

“Violaziones…” Aldo answered grimly. One of his talons tapped against the dirt. “Dozens of them suddenly opening and allowing the creatures from the other world to spill in. Most of them occurred in major cities and a lot of their services are down. For the time being… we are stuck here.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Aldo nodded, grateful for her sympathetic words, and continued. “I have seen the true face of the ‘Empress’ and I do not like it. Even when I first met her, I debated whether or not to return home and it was only because she had the means to close the portals did I remain. However…” He turned to look off in the distance, at the mountain that rose up high on the horizon and the city that had been built into its cliffs. “Last night… things took a turn for the worst.”

Celestia didn’t like that; not one bit. A chill went down her spine as she wetted her lips and said, “Blueblood mentioned that Nightmare Moon and her forces were preoccupied? What did he mean by that?”

Aldo continued staring at the distant city for a few moments longer before finally facing her, expression grim. “Last night, an enemy force invaded Canterlot; they were intelligent, dressed for war, and unresponsive to any attempts at diplomacy.”

“No…” Celestia pressed a bare hoof against her lips as her mind instantly filled with horrific images. “Are… are they still there? What of the populace?”

“Canterlot is not burning as far as I can see and the enemy seemed more interested in capturing than killing,” Aldo frowned deeply. “Some tried to attack us, but my guards were able to dispatch them. They are… You have heard of Fumo Demoni? Wisp Knights?” Celestia nodded. “Imagine that, but on a smaller scale and made of flesh and blood instead of smoke. You, princess, are actually taller than all of them, though I and most ponies will only reach just above their waists.”

“… I had feared something like this,” Celestia shook her head in dismay. “Ever since we became aware that the Fractures were letting in things from another universe, I had feared of something sapient and powerful catching wind of our existence.”

“Sapient, perhaps, but far from powerful,” Aldo reassured her with a sympathetic nod. “They bleed just as anything else underneath their armor and, as much as it pains me to say this, I have faith that Nightmare Moon will be able to drive them out of Canterlot, if she hasn’t already.”

Celestia didn’t want to paint her foe in any sort of positive light, but she couldn’t help but hope the same thing, that Nightmare Moon would rise to defend Canterlot. It wouldn’t be out of genuine empathy or concern – not with that demon, parasite, whatever she was – but out of pride and the reluctance to see her playground ruined by anything besides herself.

She shook her head again, sadly. “And you chose then to leave the city?”

“I fear the price for gaining Nightmare Moon’s aid in closing the Violaziones in the Griffon Kingdom is too high for my tastes,” Aldo grimaced sourly at a memory that left a bad taste in his mouth. “And with the sudden interference of this new enemy… I doubt she will be even parting with the Resonator anytime soon. I was already toying with the decision to come find you when I had heard of your escape and what happened last night only cemented my choice.”

“I see. Marquess… Aldo, I am touched that you want to help, but I fear for your lives.”

“It’s not as if we’d be safer in the city or back in the kingdom, especially if this new enemy can use Violaziones to appear anywhere,” Aldo countered and then grinned. “Truthfully, I can think of no safer place in Equestria than here.”

‘But can I even protect you? I couldn’t protect Twilight, couldn’t save her, couldn’t…’

Celestia chased the dark thoughts from her head. Too many ‘what if’s and ‘couldn’t’s that would do nothing but drag her down and her heart heavy.

“I’m flattered you think that, Aldo…” She said, stifling the unease that she felt. “If you truly want to help, then I’m not going to turn it down. Welcome to Ponyville.”

“Oh Faust! The backwater is strong with this one!”

Several looks of disdain and exasperation were directed at Blueblood as he curled his lip distastefully at Big Mac, innocently dragging along a wagon full of apples.

Celestia sighed. ‘Oh dear…’

“Tell me, stallion that places the ‘country’ after ‘bumpkin’ with gusto – do you enjoy the set of joker cards fate has so cruelly dealt to you?”

Big Mac came to a stop and gazed levelly at the smaller stallion, a stick of hay twitching in the corner of his mouth. “Hmm… Ah ain’t you, so can’t be tha’ cruel.”

“Wha-? Pfft! Blagh?!” Blueblood recoiled, completely speechless as he watched the offending farm pony walk off at his own leisure pace. “Th-the nerve! The nerve, I say! Mayor Mare, your sway of power over these commoners is deplorable! Mayor Mare?”

“She left, genius.”

Gilda’s remark sent Blueblood into another fit of outraged splutters and Celestia was quick to go to his side before he had an aneurysm.

“Come now, Blueblood,” Celestia gently soothed the flushed stallion and guided him in the direction of the library. “Why not try and relax? I’m sure Luna would love to catch up with you.”

Blueblood accepted the remark at face value, oblivious to any sarcasm in any shape, way, and form. “Y-yes, a spectacular idea. Oh, and somepony will need to bring my luggage, too. Where is the nearest servant?”

Celestia looked back at Aldo helplessly and he replied with a ‘dunno’ shrug. “Oh, I’ll get that. There’s no need to-”

“Preposterous!” Blueblood politely excused himself from Celestia’s guiding foreleg and trotted back to the luggage. “You should have no need to bother with such trivial matters! Of course, neither should I, but if the help around here is so incompetent that they are not at the beck and call at a moment’s notice, then I suppose I will have to take the initiative. Stand aside, my avian compatriots, and I shall attend to this.”

Gilda and the guards obeyed, hiding snickers and grins beneath talons and wings as they watched the noble stallion march up to the tower of luggage with purpose in his stride.

…

Celestia rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly as Blueblood struggled. Aldo went to her side and flexed a supportive wing against her back.

“There is always a silver lining, Princess. He’s making an attempt, no?”

“Ugh… We’ll give him a few more minutes, then head to the library. I suppose you can call it our ‘base of operations’. Luna would love to meet with you.”

“As would I.”

“And we’re on the cusp of a method that may put an end to Nightmare Moon.”

Aldo blinked in pleasant surprise. “Truly? That is wonderful news.”

“It is…” Celestia’s brief smile waned as her gaze was drawn back to the horizon, to the far-off city.

‘But I wonder how we are going to implement it… Stay strong, my faithful student. We’ll be back for you… I promise.’

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“So…” Spike grunted as he uncrossed his legs and lay flat on his belly, using his arms as cushions to rest his head. “Do you have to say everything in rhyme?”

Zecora’s gaze didn’t shift; her eyes remained locked onto a small pile of disturbed earth as she replied, “No… but it’s expected back in my home.”

“Doesn’t that get difficult?”

“It is easier there than here; Equestrian has so many variances, and quite honestly, I find it queer.”

“… Ever started a sentence you realized you couldn’t rhyme?”

Zecora’s lips twitched into a smirk. “‘Orange’ and ‘purple’ are my bane; I recall when I first used them and had to trail off in vain.”

“Huh…” Spike looked back at the dirt pile, mused quietly for a few seconds, and then looked back at Zecora. “What about… ‘forage’ and ‘hurtful’?”

“…” Zecora pouted, a surprisingly immature act from one Spike thought of as being very wise and mature. “Well, here is one sentence I just don’t want to rhyme now.”

Spike couldn’t help it; he laughed, loudly.

“Sounds like you two have finally gotten heat stroke, hm?” Virtue chuckled and approached them with a plate carrying two glasses, one of chilled water and the other chilled juice.

Spike eagerly sat up as Virtue levitated the plate lower so he could get his claws around the glass, saying his thanks and taking a long sip as the plate then floated over to Zecora.

“You jest, dear Virtue…” Zecora grinned as she gratefully took the glass of water. “It is winter and this day is cool.”

“Right – just making sure your brains aren’t cooked eggs,” He chuckled again. “Seriously though, you two have been out here since we got up,” Virtue jerked his head in the direction of the treehouse. “You sure you don’t want to come in?”

“Nah, I’m good staying out here,” Spike said with a satisfied sigh. He had drained the glass within seconds, crunched the ice cubes and everything. “I can sleep in when the weather starts getting colder.”

Zecora hid a sad smile behind the rim of her glass.

She knew that Spike wanted to hang around her because he saw Zecora as a surrogate for his missing caretaker, Twilight. Having somepony to follow and perform menial tasks for gave him a sense of routine and filled the space in his heart that formed when Twilight was captured.

Zecora let him do things for her because of that small amount of peace he got and she suspected he would want to do even more after getting his hopes dashed upon hearing that Twilight…

She shook her head.

“The time for the cleansing joke to bloom is drawing near,” Zecora looked up at the sun to check its position. “It will not be unusual for it bloom early either, so I would rather be here.”

“Really?” Virtue’s gaze went to the pile of dirt that seemed so bland for the importance it represented. “So how’s it going to bloom? Spike told me about some truth seed you planted a while ago and how it just sprung up in, like… two seconds.”

“The name and beneficial properties are are a mislead…” Zecora took her eyes off the dirt to fully face Virtue. “The truth is that it will look more like a weed. But looks can deceive; the spindly plant that will grow here is the final and most potent ingredient that our mixture needs.”

“And when we add it… it’ll kill Nightmare Moon?”

“It will stun the spirit and cleanse Twilight of her presence without a doubt, but for anything more, we will need to see how the spots turn out.”

Virtue frowned. “Spots?”

“On the stalk, there are spots of various colours that determine its potency; the brighter they are, the stronger the mixture will be.”

“So is that good?” Spike asked, pointing at the slender, sickly white shoot stretching out from the dirt.

“Yes, like that,” Zecora pointed to the spots running along the stalk. “Red, green, yellow – the brightness shows…”

She trailed off.

“…”

Virtue and Spike stared blankly at the growing shoot.

Zecora suddenly made a shocked keening noise and scrabbled for the pot she had set aside. “Oh, stars and moons – how could I be so dense?” A few words in her native language spilled out as she grabbed the pot and placed it beside the shoot; it was still growing. “Spike, Virtue – please stay back.”

Virtue grunted and hummed in bewilderment as he took several steps back while Spike shot up onto his feet, asking, “C-can I do anything? Do you need anything? I thought that maybe… Y-you know what? Imma go get the others, is that cool? Is that- okay, I’m going to get them. Hey, guys?! It’s working!”

As Spike ran into the library, his shouts fading in volume, Virtue watched as Zecora muttered under her breath in her native language and did something with her hooves; it looked like she was trying to dig up the earth around the shoot, but then he looked closely and saw that she was drawing small symbols.

And there was definitely magic in the air – even if he hadn’t cast a spell to detect it, there was a distinct tingle in the base of his horn.

‘Faust, that must be some strong magic if I can feel it without trying to…’

The shoot had turned an olive-shade and was about the length of his foreleg while being about half as thick, though it was somewhat curly, so it could have been longer; the spots were many and very bright, and the tip was peeling apart to reveal a singular, dark purple bulb.

Zecora’s sketched symbols gave a white glow before dimming, each one seemingly charging the shoot with magic as it twitched and the bulb flared larger and darker.

Virtue heard the thunder of many footsteps behind him, but didn’t turn to check, and was soon surrounded on each side.

“It’s working?” Celestia asked in a hushed and hopeful whisper.

“See, now this is what I expected when she mentioned a magical concoction.” Sunset drawled with a so-so tone.

“Ah, yes… this.” Blueblood nodded sagely, as if he actually had any inkling as to what was going on.

“Incredible…” The newly-arrived Marquess Aldo muttered.

Zecora stopped sketching symbols and paused for a few long moments, her eyes intense and completely laser-focused.

“…” When the shoot gave one final shudder and went still, a massive grin spread across her face, and she looked up at the row of expectant gazes. “It is done.”

Upon hearing those three words, the row of faces lit up and some cheered happily. The griffons were a bit more composed – mostly because some were still unsure about what the growth of the shoot meant – but even they smiled and laughed along with those who had more in-depth knowledge.

The only one who didn’t truly celebrate was Sunset, though to her credit, she managed a half-hearted smile and raised her voice to say ‘yay’ before falling back into a scowl when an over-exuberant Spike went to hug her leg.

“Ah, if only the other Element bearers could be here…” Luna sighed. She knew it was only natural to want to spend time with your loved ones after such an ordeal, but still…

“Now all need be done is to add the cleansing joke…” Zecora swiped her brow with one hoof, a shiver of relief going down her spine at such a successful…

…

Odd – the shiver was still going down her spine… and now her ears were twitching.

Zecora’s smile slowly fell as a chill went through her body. It was a very strange sensation, but not wholly unfamiliar. It was the feeling she often got whenever she saw any of the creatures that arrived…

Through the Fractures…

“…!” Zecora gasped softly and turned around, praying that perhaps she was mistaken, or that it was a different type of danger altogether. “No, no…”

Celestia was the first to notice the zebra’s distress. “Zecora? Are you…” The princesses’ initial joy slowly grew cold and was replaced with worry and concern. “Are you okay?”

Zecora glanced over at her after doing a full turn, moved her lips as if to say something… and then turned her head skywards.

Even her stripes went pale.

And when Celestia followed her gaze, she understood why.

Vmmmmm

“Fracture!” She shouted in horror as the unnatural, white light grew from a single dot and started zig-zagging across empty air. It droned a mind-numbing note and flashed rapidly, as if struggling to maintain its own existence. “Everyone! Get-!” Celestia puffed out her wings and pushed those closest to her – Virtue and Aldo – back. “Get away!”

‘No, no! Why? Why here? Why now?’

The anomaly drew a crowd: passing earth ponies and unicorns stopped on the streets and pointed in shocked awe while flying pegasi quickly made an effort to put as much distance between them and Fracture.

But it seemed as though distance had no visual effect, for pegasi that were yards away could see the Fracture clearly, as though it was right in front of them. The fact that everything else was gradually shrinking as they flew away just made things even more confusing and they clutched the sides of their heads, teeth clenched and eyes watery as pain lanced through their skulls.

VMMMMMM

The light grew stronger and the sporadic flashes came more frequently, effectively making it impossible to stare lest one have a seizure. Those directly underneath the Fracture could feel something akin to static electricity dancing across their bodies – even if they knew, somehow, that it wasn’t the static they knew – and the dreadful drone grew both lower and higher in pitch, steadily reaching a crescendo that made it hard to even think until-

A booming roar cut in sharply, as if a record player had been put back on play. It was a sound both organic and not.

CLANK

Vmmmm

The terrible droning note faded and so did the Fracture’s unnatural, burning light. Everyone was free to look back up without being blinded…
Straight at the Wisp Knight that was splayed out on its belly.

Blueblood’s pupils shrunk to pinpoints. “Uh… O-oh my…”

The Wisp Knight’s helmet rotated a full 180 degrees to reveal a jagged tear in the metal that ran down its faceplate lengthwise. There were no eyes to be seen in the black smoke that churned within, but there was no doubt that it was staring directly at him.

The Wisp Knight violently shuddered and its right hand curled around the hilt of a longsword, small compared to the creature, but frighteningly large to everyone else; the worn and chipped blade was a little over half the length of Celestia’s body.

“A-ah…” Zecora was behind the Wisp Knight and her shaky inhale drew its attention. The helmet continued rotating until it had completed 270 degrees and met the zebra’s stare. “…”

Zecora looked down at the cleansing joke and the clay pot.

The Wisp Knight shuddered again and pushed up onto its hands and knee; one knee because the right leg was missing, the cut – a very messy one – being made by something sharp and very heavy. Black smoke gushed out of the hole as if it was blood.

“…” Celestia saw Zecora’s gaze and charged up her magic before saying, “Zecora. Move away.”

“…” Zecora looked at the Wisp Knight and then back at the cleansing joke.

The Wisp Knight gave a low, blood-curdling growl that trailed off into a draconic hiss.

“Zecora. I don’t want you to get hurt,” Celestia licked her lips and felt her sister’s magic as well. “Just slowly… move… awa-”

Zecora lunged for the sprout.

The Wisp Knight dug the claws of its gauntlets into the dirt and pushed off into the air, shrieking wildly and bringing its sword in an overhead swing as its prey moved to protect the sprout.

“DIIIIEE!!”

Author's Note

Note 1: Wisp Knight Sword - a worn and brittle longsword that would be unwieldy to any without strength and size equivalent to that of a Wisp Knight.

The weapons of Wisp Knights are designed to reflect their unnatural and tormented state in order to strike fear into the hearts of their foes. A great majority of the Wisp Knight armaments would be far more effective and durable if they were forged with practicality in mind rather than intimidation. Perhaps this is why the ability to produce blasts of concussive force was added, to balance out the ineffectiveness.

The Wisp Knight that wields this sword recalls the name ‘Anastasia’ with the resonance of rage.

Note 2: Cleansing Joke - originating in Northern Zebrica, the cleansing joke is distantly related to poison joke, but its effects are far more beneficial and are used in several popular Zebrican concoctions that are devised by shamans and witch doctors.

The maturation of a cleansing joke can be sped up dramatically through cultivation techniques known by zebra shamans. They do not keep these techniques a secret and are glad to teach, but the techniques require zebra magic, which is different to the magic prevalent in ponies, griffons, and dragons in the same way salt water is different to fresh water.

Currently, cleansing joke is quite endangered, so it is only used in the most dire of circumstances, and no shaman would see it go to waste.

Note 3: Griffons can fly in their sleep. It's not recommended and frowned upon, especially by owners of expensive windows.

Chapter 45: Sin's Reprieve

1055 AD, November 14th

“DIIEE!!”

The Wisp Knight swung its sword in an overhead arc and smashed the spot where Zecora had been.

“Ungh!” Zecora rolled off to the side, one foreleg wrapped tightly around the sprout – roots and all – and the clay pot. She looked up with wide eyes as the Wisp Knight shrieked angrily and dug its claws into the dirt again.

“No, you don’t!”

Mid-pounce, the Wisp Knight was tackled out of the air by a rush of dark blue feathers and potent magic. Luna and the knight rolled across the dirt, punching, bucking, and grunting, and the residents of Ponyville that had paused to watch the Fracture panicked and fled.

“Luna!” Celestia shrilled and rushed to her sister’s aid. “Go!” She shouted as she went by Zecora. “Take the mixture and get out of here!”

Nodding, Zecora scrambled to her hooves and carried her precious cargo to safety. Spike ran to her side to help.

“Guards – assist the princess!” Aldo cried as he drew a concealed dagger from a strap hidden beneath his right wing.

He, along with the griffon guards and Virtue, made after the princesses while Blueblood squealed in terror and danced in the same spot as if he had just seen a particularly irate mouse.

“Oh no! Oh my! Oh me! What mockery is this that I must constantly be plagued by unfortunate events?! Protect me, common mare!”

“Wha-?” Sunset’s cheeks puffed out as she was embraced in an iron-like grip. “Hrk! L-let go, you simple-minded product of aristocratic incest!”

Gilda rolled her eyes in disgust and flew off to join the fray. “Dweebs…”

A yell of pain fled Luna’s lips as the Wisp Knight struck her across the face hard enough to fracture her orbital bone and knock out several teeth. The creature was on top of her, pinning her into the dirt as it tried to get enough leverage to swing its sword. Luna kept one foreleg wrapped around the sword-arm, her entire body quivering from the effort of keeping it still, and her horn spluttered as she tried to teleport.

The knight was so close to her and its strange nature was interfering with her magic; she could feel herself start to disassemble only to snap back into place with a very nauseating twist of her insides.

Fortunately, Celestia was there; the older sibling grabbed the Wisp Knight by a jagged crevice in the back of its breastplate and pulled it off, threw it against the dirt, and blasted it with a spell of fire.

The knight ignored the flames and kicked with its remaining leg, literally disconnecting it at the thigh so it could reach. Celestia choked as the boot cracked several ribs and sent her bouncing against the ground like a stone skipping across water. With another ground-shaking bellow, the knight reattached its leg and rolled onto its belly, flames licking at the black armor, only to howl once more when several weapons drew sparks.

“The sword!” One of the griffons – Luigi – cawed in warning and thrust the point of his spear at the tear in the knight’s helmet. “Watch for the sword!”

The Wisp Knight roared and hissed at them; it kept struggling to stand, as if unaware of its handicap, and fell over each time, but the frenzied flails that dug grooves and sent up sprays of soil and pebbles kept everyone at bay. Sometimes the hand or the arm disconnected on a shadowy limb and came close to inflicting a lethal wound.

“DIE! DIE!” The Wisp Knight yowled in a tormented voice that was undoubtedly feminine and might have even been melodious if it wasn’t stretched to a hysterical crack and half-buried beneath a distorted, guttural growl. “DIE! DIIEE!!”

Luna helped her sister back up and the two attempted to join back in, but were forced to spread their wings and hop several yards back when the knight pushed itself off the ground to lunge for them.

It slammed back into the dirt, but then its upper body tore free to continue after them.

“Move!” Celestia gasped and shoved her sister out of the way before the knight could-

SKLUTCH

“EYAAAGHH!”

“Oh… Faust…” Blueblood coat turned a sickly shade of green and his stomach churned.

“Ooh, jeez…” Even Sunset had to wince and swallow thickly as the Wisp Knight pressed the claws of its left gauntlet together to form a sharp point that pierced Celestia’s chest in a spray of hot crimson.

“Argh… Gyah…” Celestia bit back another yowl of pain as she grabbed the knight’s arm, though she could still feel it shift about, scratching against ribs that hadn’t even fully healed yet. “Wh-why is it… always m-my sister… a-and me that g-gets th-this hurt?!”

The Wisp Knight had no answer – well, no articulate answer – and raised its sword to deliver a final blow that was intercepted by a blast of frost magic freezing the arm, weapon and all, in a block of steaming ice.

“Remove thy hand from my sister!” Luna roared with eyes glowing white moonlight as she flew towards the creature, a spiralling frigid wind trailing behind her. “Or prepare to suf-”

CRACK

The Wisp Knight shattered the ice on her skull and dropped her to the ground like a bag of potatoes.

“Ow…”

The knight shifted the plates on its armor as if it was flexing and the remainder of the ice broke off. Weapon free, it tried to attack again, but Celestia charged her body with magic, and her blood and innards became superheated, and made the gauntlet inside her melt and buckle. Some of her blood dripped into the newly formed holes and the Wisp Knight howled and jerked backwards, away from the source of its pain.

“Hey, asshole!”

The knight’s helmet twisted in place with a burst of smoke to the insult and received the thick end of a large stick; Gilda’s momentum was such that she flew straight past the knight after its hit, and the Wisp Knight’s helmet spun round and round like a wagon wheel.

It didn’t seem to appreciate that.

Even with its head still having a ways to go before losing momentum, the knight’s floating torso swung its sword-arm sideways to produce an unexpected blast of compressed air that sent the griffons and Virtue tumbling backwards with grunts and cries of pain. While they were incapacitated, the other arm detached on a tendril of smoke, reaching out until glowing hot, melted fingers ensnared Gilda’s hind leg, despite her erratic flying.

The heat scorched her fur and burned her flesh; she couldn’t stop a squawk of pain, but closed her beak firmly before any more could get out, and swatted at the limb with her stick. The metal hand was unyielding and she went for the smoke, but her makeshift weapon simply passed through.

“Cheating! Cheater!”

The shadowy limb started reeling her in just as the helmet finally stopped rotating, conveniently fixating on her. A chill ruffled her feathers as the full ire and malice pouring out from that tear in its face struck her.

“Oh yeah? Try this on for size!”

Gilda clenched her empty claw into a fist and drew on her inner power. A dark golden aura crept up the limb and wavered as more and more energy was put into it.

Growling, eyes beaming with a yellow glow, Gilda pushed out to the knight and splayed open her talons. “Percorso di pietra – vieni fuori!”

The knight shrieked out and pulled harder. “DIE! DIE! D-”

The ground beneath it lurched upwards, the very earth bending to the force of Gilda’s magic; rocks and pebbles shot up with enough energy to dent and leave marks on the Wisp Knight’s armor, and the soil rose like a powerful geyser, carrying the knight up in the air with a roar of enraged surprise.

Gilda shook off its grip as the knight’s upper body dragged the lower part along with it. She ignored the burns on her leg and smirked savagely as she watched her summoned geyser of dirt push it into the air, flailing and roaring.

“Eat it, punk!”

Below, Celestia clenched her teeth against the waves of agony that resonated from the gruesome hole in her chest; her blood cascaded down her chest, staining her fur red and dripping onto the ground with soft hisses and curls of steam.

It hurt – Faust, did it hurt – but she had suffered through worse, and pushed the pain aside with practised ease to yell out to her sister. “Luna!” She coughed up a wad of bloody saliva. “F-freeze as much of it as you can!”

Luna picked herself up off the ground, blinking away blood that ran down her brow and into her eyes. “P-pardon?”

“Freeze it!”

“Sis-”

Celestia didn’t wait and leapt into the air, the strength of her take-off bouncing a few pebbles and tearing out clumps of dirt. Luna swore as she turned in place, looked towards where her sister was flying up to the dirt geyser’s top, and focused on the Wisp Knight that was ineffectively and mindlessly attacking the onrush of soil.

Celestia passed by Gilda, who brought her free claw to her beak and yelled, “Yo, do whatever you’re doing and fast! That’s gonna run out soon!”

‘Soon’ was an understatement – almost immediately after Gilda said that, the geyser she had summoned ran out of power and hundreds of pounds of dirt fell back down.

But by then, Celestia was above the suspended Wisp Knight, and with a flex of her muscles, she rocketed straight down, hooves first.

CRACK

The knight’s breastplate buckled beneath the force and a mighty roar was pulled out of the creature’s maw; it was plummeting back to the ground with the full weight of Celestia pressed against it, and when a blast of frigid wind from below caked its back and arms in thick spires of ice, it couldn’t even move to attack her.

The griffons and ponies were quick to get back to a safe distance as Celestia smashed the knight into the dirt hard enough to leave a huge crater at least a metre deep and more than three metres across. Shards of ice exploded outwards, but fortunately, the majority of them were embedded in the dirt. The few that sliced through Celestia’s flesh were almost immediately reduced to red-tinted water.

“D-DIE-E!” The Wisp Knight’s voice warbled and shook without losing any of its mindless rage, and a sudden eruption of smoke from a large crevice in its breastplate sent Celestia stumbling backwards and out of the crater, choking and wiping at her tear-filled eyes.

It smelled of rust, old blood, and ash.

The burst of smoke continued billowing upwards and the knight’s cries became whines, and it started swatting at the gas, trying to keep it from escaping. Its lower half was completely useless, as was its sword-arm, so only one limb was available; it flailed about desperately, scattering the smoke it was trying to grab.

Luna stepped forwards with a spell at the ready, but Celestia held up her hoof and shook her head. “No…” The older sibling’s face was grim and dark as she watched the once-terrifying creature yell and writhe pathetically. “I think it’s finished.”

“…” Luna grimaced, but let her magic even out.

“DIE… DIE…”

The Wisp Knight’s movements slowed as the smoke started dissipating. Its armor started shuddering and snapping off in portions and bits without the mysterious gas to keep it all together, and without the armor…

“DIE… Die… die…”

The arm that was still trying to hold its existence together fell apart at the elbow and slapped down around the knight’s helmet. It made an attempt at sitting up, growls and whines lowering to strained breaths and grunts.

“… Ah… ah… he… heh heh heh… Hah hah hah hah…”

The laughter was unexpected… and oddly relaxed. Even so, it was frightening to listen to, and several of the onlookers shuddered in disgust.

“F-fr… free… heh heh… free… fr-”

The last of the smoke curled up from the tear in its helmet and was blown away in a stray wind.

The Wisp Knight finally went still with a sound that was too much like an exhale of immeasurable relief.

The griffon guards moved closer after a few moments without any further signs of movement and one of them poked at the armor pieces with his spear. When that drew no reaction, he poked the metal spike into the helmet’s crevice and lifted it out of the crater.

He gave it a shake.

Nothing.

“Definitely dead.” He finally said and shook the helmet off so it fell back down.

Everyone let out an exhale of relief, followed by a single squawk of alarm and the thump of a body hitting the ground as Sunset decided she’d had enough of being held so tightly.

“Gilda!” Aldo sheathed his dagger and rushed over to his daughter. His face fell at the sight of her burnt leg. “Can you move? Do you feel dizzy?”

“Dad, it’s nothing,” Gilda shrugged it off. Truthfully, it hurt like a bitch, but it wasn’t as if it was fatal; she was more upset that her feathers had been blackened and turned brittle. “I’ll just put cold water on it or something.”

“I’m pretty good with healing spells,” Virtue walked up to them. His breathing had yet to even out from the rush of adrenaline, but his heart was quickly returning to its normal pitter-patter. “I can heal it.”

Gilda frowned and shook her head. “I said it’s fine; don’t need any-”

“That would be much appreciated, thank you, Virtue,” Aldo intervened with a scolding look to his daughter that quelled a smarmy rebuke, but not an irritated glare. The Marquees didn’t move away until Gilda stayed still and allowed Virtue to soothe the angry burn on her leg with the soothing glow of healing magic. Satisfied, he walked over to the sisters. “Princesses – how do you fare?”

“We have suffered worse.” Luna swiped away rivulets of blood from her face.

Celestia nursed her breast with one hoof and lightly chuckled. “Not the first time something’s impaled me, but at least this time my heart wasn’t stabbed. How about you? How are your guards and your daughter?”

“My guards are well-trained; they are fine. My hot-heated daughter on the other claw…”

“We wouldn’t have killed the knight so swiftly if it wasn’t for her. She’s a courageous chick, that one.”

“…” Aldo looked over his shoulder and gave a small grin as Gilda was tended to by Virtue. “Yes – in more ways than just one, too,” Before old memories could play through his mind, Aldo turned in the direction of the library. “Ah! Are the…?”

Zecora was slowly lowering the precious pot and cleansing joke sprout to the dirt now that the danger had passed. Spike had run back inside the library to grab a broom and stand guard in front of Zecora, fully intent on protecting the thing that would save his sister/mother figure.

“Y-yeah, we’re cool…” Spike smiled shakily but in a reassuring manner. He let the broom’s handle rest against his shoulder and wiped sweat from his brow. “Th-the mixture…” He looked back, suddenly alarmed. “Is it…?”

Zecora checked the pot and the sprout before looking up and replying with a relieved nod, “It is no worse for wear – thank the stars.”

Celestia relaxed upon hearing that.

She heard various voices and doors opening; those that had scattered upon witnessing the knight were slowly re-emerging, unsure if the situation was safe.

She turned to face the hesitant ponies, smiling, and saying, “It is alright, my little ponies. The threat has been dealt with. You are safe.”

They were reassured by her words and came closer, eyeing the broken form of the knight and muttering beneath their breaths. A few were bold enough to try and touch the pieces, but the griffon guards plus Virtue formed a line around the crater and politely averted such actions. Seeing that it was being dealt with, Celestia directed her attention back to the others in time to see Luna trotting over towards Zecora.

The lunar princess gave Sunset and Blueblood a look as she went by.

“Oh, shut up,” Sunset growled with a flick of her tail. “Maybe I could have helped if this idiot didn’t cling to me like I was his mom’s teat.”

“How dare you push me, you peasant!” Blueblood frantically brushed his coat and suit free of any dirt particles as she got back up, his face a dark grimace of indignation. “And what could I have done? Aunt Luna, you know that my strengths do not lie in the physical-”

Luna cut him off a sharp hiss of annoyance. “I don’t want to hear any of it – that goes for the both of you.”

Blueblood reacted as if she had kicked him, but Sunset just stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes to make a ‘durrh’ expression. Celestia bit back a laugh as she and Aldo followed her sister.

Zecora was wasting no time.

She said a few words under her breath and picked the lid of the pot up once it had finished twisting open on its own. Her forehoof snatched up the cleansing joke and dumped it into the mixture, and just as quickly as she did that, the lid was back on and twisted tight.

“The sprout has sprung strong and the spots are bright…” Zecora looked up at the approaching alicorns with a relieved smile. “With this, we shall bring our friend back to the light.”

“How does it work?” Luna questioned. “Must it be ingested?”

Zecora shook her head and picked up the pot before standing. “Splash it on her as if it were rain; nothing unique for Nightmare Moon, the method is exactly the same.”

Aldo scratched his chin. “It is that easy?”

“To throw, yes, but beware – there is only enough here for Twilight and Nightmare Moon, and the spirit will sense its power when it draws near, for it is the bane of her existence and perhaps the only thing she fears.”

Zecora looked down at the clay pot. It was warm in her hooves and she was actually a little awestruck at the fact that she was actually holding one of the most sacred concoctions a shaman could create… and she was the one that did it.

“… I will make a second container for Twilight.” She told the sisters, looking back up.

Celestia nodded and then, quite suddenly, stepped forwards to nuzzle the zebra. Zecora froze as the larger equine lowered her head to brush against her neck, but quickly recalled what the gesture meant for ponies, and blushed. She was both embarrassed and honoured to receive such an intimate gesture from one with such esteem amongst her people.

“Thank you for your help, Zecora,” Celestia said with a closed-eyed serene expression. “I don’t what we would have done without you.”

“Th-the honour is mine, princess.” Zecora tried not to think about how nice the princess felt against her fur.

‘Sacred waters, Zecora, you are above such temptations.’

‘I’m really not.’

Fortunately, the nuzzle ended before things could get really awkward; once Zecora had room to breathe, she was able to collect herself.

Luna cleared her throat. “I am just as grateful towards her as you, sister, but now that the mixture has been made, perhaps we should turn our attention to other matters of equal importance?”

Celestia nodded and gestured with a nod of her head to the broken corpse just a few yards away. “The Wisp Knight?”

“Not only that,” Luna sighed, though her frustration wasn’t directed at Celestia. “Marquees Aldo – you informed us of this new enemy that comes from the other side of the Fractures, the ones that attacked Canterlot last night. This Wisp Knight is surely from that same faction, so why does only one arrive in Ponyville, half-broken and completely mad? If they had wanted to invade, then surely they would have brought a larger force?”

“Yes…” Aldo agreed with a thoughtful frown. “I think so, too. But the way the Fracture just appeared seems so random. When we were escaping the city, we saw a few Violaziones. The knights – the smaller ones – were arriving through them, but the anomalies didn’t close so suddenly after just one came through.”

“What do you think happened here?”

“Hmm…”

The marquees turned his head towards the crater, his eyes narrowing as he thought. A few of his guards were chatting with Virtue, most likely discussing what to do with the remnants of the Wisp Knight. Luigi was directing the civilians’ attention elsewhere.

In his peripheral vision, he spotted Sunset and Blueblood arguing, which seemed about right.

“… It is possible that these Fumo Demoni are already mad and broken in their world, and that they are sent here to cause as much chaos as possible before they are ultimately destroyed. Griffons used to do a similar thing with the sick and injured.”

Spike made a face of disgust. “Jeez…”

“Our history is a proud and violent one, young dragon, and we insult ourselves by not acknowledging the more… unsavoury events,” Aldo shook his head after briefly shutting his eyes to let out a sigh. “But I digress… that is one reason for why the knight was sent here.”

“What’s the second?” Celestia asked.

“The second reason is that it was a fluke and nothing more,” Aldo held his claw out to the crater. “Violaziones have been constantly opening and closing in both our countries for almost a year, but up until last night, all that came through were beasts, and they did not seem like the type used for war; they seemed like animals that had wandered through a tear in space by accident. The knights use the anomalies to arrive here, but does that mean they are responsible for every single one that’s occurred from the very start?”

“But what you’re saying…” Celestia started, took a moment to sort out what she wanted to say in her head, and then continued with a confused shrug. “If they weren’t responsible for the Fractures that first opened up, then what caused them to appear in our world in the first place?”

Nobody really had an answer. Aldo and Luna went quiet as they thought while Spike just scratched the scales around his dorsal ridges. Zecora politely excused herself to make the second container for Twilight and Spike eagerly tagged along to assist, happy to be doing something that was a bit more in his field.

Finally, Luna just said, “The only ones who could know are the invaders themselves, but if they are so set on going to war with us, then we shall have to live with not knowing. Instead, let us focus on what we do know, and we know that since they are hostile, we should plan for defending ourselves in case they approach us.”

“They could appear inside the village if they so wished.”

“There’s nothing we can do about that, sister. Let’s just focus on what we can do for the time being.”

“Yes, you’re ri-”

“Guys! Guys!”

The trio turned and tilted their heads up at the shout.

Rainbow Dash landed on the ground hard enough to cause a minor tremor and the rainbow afterimage that followed her descent faded out. She was panting a little and her eyes were wide, but it seemed to be from excitement than fatigue.

“Guys, th-there’s something on the…! You’re not gonna believe who’s…” Suddenly, her eyes narrowed as her brain registered the griffon standing with the princesses. “Uh… hey, what’s up?”

“An invasion of otherworldly forces, the untimely arrival of a homicidal construct of smoke and metal…” Aldo paused and scratched at his head. “Ah, you meant it as a form of greeting, no?”

“What?”

Rainbow Dash looked around and her jaw dropped lower and lower. She went still upon turning around fully and noticing Gilda – who lazily put up her middle claw with a sneer – and made a few inarticulate grunts of puzzlement before turning back again.

“What the f…?” She shook her head with a grunt. “Wh-whatever! There’s something you guys need to see on the TV! You’ll never guess who’s on it!”

“Nightmare Moon?” Celestia guessed.

“Nightmare…! Yeah, it’s her.”

Aldo, Luna, and Celestia exchanged worried looks.

Knock knock knock knock knock

“Okay, okay, I’m coming! I… Oh hi, Rainbow – what’s the emergen-”

“Quick! Quick!”

Caramel fell onto his rear in a tizzy as a blur of colour pushed past him and flew into his living room. He barely had enough time to blink when two alicorns and a griffon also rushed past and went into the living room.

“Uh…?” Caramel rubbed his head and narrowed one eye in bewilderment. “Come in?”

After shutting the door and following his unexpected guests, he found Rainbow Dash fiddling with the dials on his television while the others were seated in front of it.

Caramel worried for the ceiling plaster; his home wasn’t designed with alicorn physiology in mind.

Whatever – a guest was a guest.

“Can I get any of you anything? Oats? Sandwiches?” He looked at the griffon dressed in what seemed to be regal wear, or at least the type of attire he had seen foreign delegates dress in. “… Fish?”

“Pffssshhsh!” Rainbow shushed loudly as she finally clicked into the channel she wanted. “See? It’s her!”

“-interrupt whatever dry, shameful activity you were watching game show contestants perform to bring you an important announcement.”

The image was a little saturated and fuzzy – Caramel was going to buy a new one later that week – but there was no mistaking the abyss-black coat and predatory eyes that faced the camera.

Luna growled in her throat at the sight of the demon and her expression became a dangerous glare.

Celestia felt a poisonous hate brew in her chest and adopted a similar expression, but remained silent as she listened to the ‘Empress’ speak.

“I’m not one for beating around the bush, so I’ll just come out and say it: at 2:14 am, Canterlot was attacked by a force from the other side of the Entropic Fractures that call themselves the Rouge Knights. They were hostile and intent on starting a war with our land.”

Nightmare Moon was sitting in her throne at Canterlot Castle and was doing so in a completely relaxed manner. The casualness of her body language – a so-so wave of the hoof there to emphasize ‘war’ and a very brief glare to the side when somepony off-screen coughed – didn’t quite match with the severity of her words. She might as well have been talking about the weather.

Worst of all, Celestia recognized it – it was exactly what she did when she had to make an announcement that wouldn’t sit well with the public. She would purposely restrict her gestures and expressions to exude infinite patience so that the public wouldn’t freak out as much.

‘But I don’t appear that fake, do I?’

Nightmare Moon continued…

“Shining, are you seeing this?”

“Yeah…” Shining Armor glared at the TV as he entered the room. “I am.”

Cadance stood in the middle of the room, right in front of the television, watching that monster talk. The warrior in Shining Armor was listening to her words about an invasion, but the more equine side of him was more preoccupied with moving forwards to nuzzle his wife.

When she felt his warmth at her side, Cadance sadly turned and stepped closer so she could share some of that heat. The thought of Twilight weighed heavily on both of them, but he was taking it better than her; he channelled that worry into anger and determination.

It was more difficult for her to do that.

The couple embraced and silently watched the television.

“They most assuredly have access to technology capable of manipulating the Fractures to some degree, but their arms consist of weaponry similar to ours: shields, swords, and polearms. The invaders are larger than the average pony, but not indestructible, and they were quickly forced into a retreat when faced with the strength of the Eclipse guard.”

“However, this is by no means the last that Equestria has heard of this new enemy…”

“Hey, check it – it’s Nightmare Moon!”

“No shit?”

The words of the two nearby stallions made it through Suri’s alcohol-induced haze and she slowly came out of her stupor of staring at her empty shot glass. Briefly forgetting which direction was which, Suri stared at the empty stool on her left, the bartender in front, and then finally faced the right way.

The two stallions that had been talking were staring up at the TV hanging from the ceiling; it took Suri several moments to squint hard enough to make out the Empress. She was talking, but most of it went straight over Suri’s clouded head.

“I have no doubt that the Rouge Knights and their leader, a male that calls himself Knight Enforcer Caed, will return; perhaps in greater numbers and with better weaponry. But as I have said before, Equestria will not fall to that which is not even of our universe. I will personally relieve the Knight Enforcer of his head and make sure that the rest of his army will think twice before invading another world. As for the rest of Equestria and its inhabitants… though you may not all be soldiers or warriors, you are far from helpless. Should you find yourselves facing any of these Rouge Knights, then you should be prepared to fight, for they will offer no mercy, to you and your loved ones.”

Suri gave up trying to listen and slurred, “Yo, bar guy – ‘nother one. More… m-more stuff in this thing. Th-this, uh… this stuff!” She held up the shot glass, almost tipping over in the process. “More… Ugh… fucking Coco… the bitch…”

It must have been hot because sweat was pouring down her cheeks.

“I advise you all to arm yourselves in-”

SKSSSHHH

A chorus of groans went up around the living room.

“Oh heavens to betsy…” Braeburn rose from the couch and made his way through the mess of limbs belonging to the young foals seated on the carpet.

He was no blacksmith and the family TV was just about the oldest thing in Appleloosa aside from Ol’ Stallion Jenkins, but he had garnered a bit of reputation for being able to make things work through his ingenious methods.

Braeburn went behind the TV and gave the back a thorough thump with his forehoof.

“Tha’ got it workin’?”

“Naw!” His family replied in unison.

He gave it another hit. “How ‘bout now?”

“Naw!”

Clunk

“Tha’ done did it?”

“Yeah!”

Braeburn nodded in satisfaction and stepped away so he could see the screen.

“-lack of coordination. Now, there is a second announcement I wish to make… and it doesn’t concern the Rouge Knights.”

“Shoot – ya’ll seein’ this?”

Sheriff Silverstar’s query caught the attention of not only his deputies that were seated around the table, but of the cloaked figure sitting at another table behind them.

The cloaked figure looked up, adjusted the top hat resting on their head, and followed the sheriff’s outstretched foreleg to the TV hanging from the ceiling of the saloon. The bartender had gotten a small stepladder so he could reach the dial for the volume.

Nightmare Moon’s voice came clearer and the rest of the saloon’s patrons stopped talking so they could hear.

“I know that Ponyville is housing the escaped bearers of the Elements of Harmony and the former princesses of Equestria, and I just want to say…”

Nightmare Moon gave a fanged smile.

“If you do not surrender yourselves in the next 24 hours… the next time we meet, you will all have a very unpleasant time.”

The patrons shivered despite the Empress being miles away.

“… And with that, this broadcast shall now come to an end. I thank you for your time and patience, and I hope you take my words seriously: Equestria may be at war, but we will survive this, just as we have every with every other threat. Take care… my little ponies…”

The channel switched back to the scheduled show with a burst of static and the cloaked figure quietly rose from their table, deposited a few bits, and made for the saloon’s doors, completely unnoticed by the chattering patrons.

“And we’re clear!”

Nightmare Moon dropped her smile and shooed the camera crew away with a flick of her hoof. “Thank you – that will be all. Haze?” She looked to the side to see her Left Hoof straighten dutifully. “Prepare Canterlot’s defences and establish a 24-hour pegasus delivery service; I want communications with every settlement in Equestria by tomorrow’s eve.”

“Yes, Empress.”

“Where’s my Eclipse Captain?”

“Here!” Ebony briskly trotted in through the open throne room doors, her body language hurried and tense. “What did you need, Empress?”

Nightmare Moon rose to meet her halfway. The camera crew wisely darted out of her path. “Are the guards on alert?”

“Yes.”

“Casualties of the battle?”

“Counted up.”

“And what of our, ah… ‘esteemed’ guest?”

“Waiting in the interrogation room.”

Nightmare Moon grinned darkly. “Excellent.”

It had been a stroke of luck that one of the Rouge Knights was merely rendered unconscious during the fight; Nightmare Moon looked forward to making her talk.

She had a lot of frustrations to work out.

“Another thing, if I may?” Ebony said, slightly hesitant as she held out her forehoof.

Nightmare Moon lit up her horn and took the offered pieces of paper, crowded with scribbles and passages. Even before truly seeing them, she identified the scribbles as spell runes.

A very complicated set of spell runes for a very complex spell.

“Hm?”

“…”

“…”

Well then…

“Ah heh heh…” Nightmare Moon felt her lips curl into a smile as surprise and the foreign feeling of pride filled her. She looked down at her Right Hoof, still chuckling lowly. “Yes… this will most assuredly work for you,” But she had to be sure. “Although, I don’t think it’s quite what you want.”

“No! I mean… no, I do want this, Empress,” Ebony’s eyes reflected Nightmare Moon’s visage and they were filled with steely determination. “I am your loyal follower.”

“… Then there’s much to do with you.”

“So it’s official…” Celestia reached out with telekinesis to turn off the TV. Her expression was grim. “Equestria is at war.”

“After 400 years of peace…” Luna sighed despondently. “What is this world coming to?”

“Sooo…” Rainbow Dash scratched her head awkwardly. “What are we gonna do now?”

“Canterlot will no doubt be securely guarded,” Aldo pointed out. “I doubt any of you will be able to get in without being noticed.”

“Was that a weight joke?” Celestia said dryly and an attempt of a smirk.

“If it makes you feel better, then yes.”

“Hm… Jokes aside, this does make our plan to rescue Twilight more difficult.”

“What was the plan to rescue Egghead?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Both Celestia and Luna exchanged a bashful look before the latter admitted, “We didn’t exactly form a proper one, I’m afraid. We were too preoccupied with getting the mixture that would cleanse her of the demon’s presence to work.”

Rainbow Dash swallowed. “Did you get it?”

Luna nodded with a reassuring grin. “Yes – Zecora is at the library preparing batches for both Nightmare Moon and young Twilight,” The pegasus’ sigh of relief mirrored Luna’s earlier feelings, the sense of a weight being lifted. “We require the mixture to douse both, but we only have one shot at it. If we are to make a plan, it needs to have a one hundred percent success rate, or…”

She didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t need to.

“But we’ll rescue her soon, right?” Rainbow Dash fretted. It wasn’t usually her style to worry and fret, but this was her friend that was in trouble, and the inability to do anything to help her immediately was unbearable. “‘Cause… ‘cause she was super-messed up when we saw her and I know it’s only been a day, but-”

“Young pegasus…” Aldo said gently. The low baritone of his voice reminded Rainbow Dash of her father, so she trailed off from a sudden pang of nostalgia. “Your concern and loyalty towards your friend is admirable and it’s only natural to want to rescue her immediately. But with the way things are…” He sighed and shook his head. “It would be foolish to march straight into Canterlot simply because we have the mixture prepared; we don’t know what defences Nightmare Moon has set up or where she’s keeping Miss Sparkle.”

“…”

“I think… I think it would be best to take our time formulating a plan of action.”

“But…!” Rainbow Dash fell short of a good argument. It sucked, but if Aldo was anything like her dad, then arguing when she had no good points and tried to get by on plain stubbornness would not work out. She sighed in defeat and hung her head. “I just want to help…”

“And we will, my friend,” Luna reassured, moving closer to place a forehoof on the smaller mare’s shoulder. “It may not be right now… but we will get Twilight back. I promise you this.”

Celestia supported her sister’s words with a sympathetic nod, though inside, she was just as worried and frustrated that they couldn’t immediately rush to Twilight’s aid.

Centuries of ruling a country taught her the importance of patience and knowing when to strike, but it was a practise easier to preach than actually do, especially when the well-being of someone close to you was at risk.

‘Oh, Twilight… my protégé… my dear friend…’

The din of the others’ conversation became muted as she replayed warm and happy memories in her head, her sorrow hidden behind a supportive and serene smile.

‘Just hang on – it may take a while, but we’ll be back for you. I promise.’

And Celestia would see that promise kept, even if it would cost her own life.

Twilight could never see much outside her window.

Even when she pushed her muzzle as far between the iron bars as she could, there wasn’t much to see outside beside some of Canterlot’s architecture, a bit of sky, and, if she was lucky, a passing pegasus, though they never ventured close enough to see her.

Not that she would want them to.

Twilight looked up at the sky forlornly when a mass of grey clouds covered the sun and the rays of light stopped shining down on her cell’s window.

‘I was enjoying it, too…’

Sighing, Twilight pushed off the edge of the windowsill and dropped to the floor, shuddering violently when a shard of crystal peeking out from her right fetlock chipped the floor and sent unpleasant tremors through her bones. It was like someone was tapping a tuning fork against the inside of her skull.

Still, it was better than when she would lie in bed, staring up at the ceiling restlessly as the crystals embedded beneath skin and muscle scratched and tore the sheets. The sounds they made when they rubbed against anything soft would beat away at her head.

Skritch-skritch-skritch

She felt as if she was going insane.

The isolation… the near-constant stream of dark thoughts… the deep pain that echoed in the marrow of her bones… the sight of her own reflection…

‘Girls… are you in Ponyville? I hope you’re all safe. Celestia, Luna… I know you’ll find some way to defeat Nightmare Moon, I just know it.’

Perhaps due to her OCD, Twilight had counted the crystals sticking out from her body and noted their positions… even though the sight of them sickened her.

They were plentiful and large enough that she couldn’t sit or lie down in a few positions without putting pressure on them, and she hated doing that because it would place pressure on her skeleton.

Medically speaking, her skeletal structure should be brittle and weak from the growth of hardened materials, and should have fractured and cracked several times by now.

It hadn’t and she was certain that her bones had somehow become stronger, as if adapting to her mutilation.

She didn’t like that.

‘I’m still trying to figure out what I can do in here, girls…’

Twilight sat down – a position that didn’t disturb her- no, not hers, the crystals – and held up her forelegs so she could watch when, at a simple pull of her magic, black tendrils sparked and crackled across her skin. A menacing light bathed her hooves as her pupils shone a bright red.

‘This is wrong. I shouldn’t be practising dark magic; Celestia told me that hexes are forbidden, that the allure of this type of magic is too strong.’

But she found herself calling on it anyway.

Maybe the presence of the crystals were corrupting her mind or maybe Nightmare Moon had awakened something twisted inside her when she enveloped her very soul and forced her to move and speak, even when the pain was so great…

Maybe she was irreversibly corrupted.

… If that was the case, then how could she be any worse? What could dark magic do that the ‘Empress’ hadn’t already done?

'You won’t make me hurt my friends, you… y-you… b-bitch. Even if you’ve stuck crystals in me, possessed me, and imprisoned me, I’ll… I’ll never forget who my friends and family are. I will never hurt them as long as I live.'

The memories of them pulsed strong in her mind.

It didn’t matter if her other thoughts had taken a dive into the macabre and violent, those thoughts would remain bright and happy as ever, and would help keep her morals and conscience alive, even if her sanity was slowly, slowly fading away.

Twilight wrapped her forelegs and wings around herself – bile rising for a brief moment as she felt something hard and pointy poke into what felt her stomach – and thought back to happier times, the purple and black glow of her horn consuming the light in the room rather than casting it.

‘I can wait. If it takes days… months… years… eventually there’ll be a time for me to strike at you, Nightmare Moon. I can wait.”

For her friends, she would wait…

Author's Note

Note 1: "Percorso di pietra", roughly translated into Equestrian, means "Path of Stone - Come Forth". Griffons have a higher success rate when it comes to spells if they vocally announce the sentence and/or stanza that is associated with the spell. Dragons, unicorns, and alicorns do not need to do this, and this discrepancy showcases how magic varies between species.

Gilda actually used the incorrect sentence for this spell; the correct translation would be closer to, "Path of Stone - Rise At My Call". The spell was successful because Gilda was wholly confident in her own abilities and that the spell would work.

The words need not be precise, so long as they convey the caster's confidence.

Note 2: The word 'hex' is synonymous with 'dark magic', though many outside of Equestria use the term interchangeably with 'spell' or 'incantation'.

According to Equestrian lore, hexes are to dark magic what normal spells are to normal magic, though nopony knows who or what declared this so, as it goes back further than even the time of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's official reign.

Dark magic is not inherently evil, but the allure of the power of the hexes is too much for individuals with weak wills or visions of self-entitlement and grandeur at any cost.

Chatper 4.6: Harmony Reborn

When one of her guards rushed in, out of breath and sweaty, and told her how the Element bearers and the princesses and the turncoat griffons were out in the castle’s front garden calling for mercy, Nightmare Moon didn’t believe him.

The time she gave them to surrender had been used up, so why would they do so now?

Yet when she exited the castle and stepped out into the garden, she was shocked to find that, yes, they were all there. They were all there and on their knees, heads touching the dirt.

Celestia and Luna were at the head of the group – the latter waving a small white flag – the Element bearers were behind them, and the griffons were behind them. They were the picture of subservience.

“What is this?!” Nightmare Moon charged her horn with magic and bared her teeth. “Is this a trick?” She cautiously looked around the garden, but aside from a few of her guards, Shadow, and the ponies and griffons that were supposedly ‘surrendering’ there was nopony else. That didn’t stop her from snapping at Celestia, “What game are you playing?”

“No game – we surrender unequivocally,” Celestia dared to look up, face drawn and miserable, like a kicked puppy. “Managing a rebellion’s too hard, and you cheat all the time, so what’s the point?”

“… Who are you?” Nightmare Moon prowled closer, primed to strike. “I know my enemies, and they wouldn’t do something like this.”

“Test us all you wish,” Luna spoke, but kept her gaze down and continued waving the flag in her tail. “And when you realize we are genuine, please show us mercy. All we wish to do now is serve.”

Nightmare Moon carefully formed a powerful Dispel and cast it over the group.

Nothing.

‘Could this really be…? Are they truly surrendering?’

As she cast it again, Nightmare Moon thought about how improbable this scenario was. Just five minutes ago she had been writing in her journal, brooding over ways to combat the Rouge Knights and the princesses, and then this happens? Her enemies of the same world just up and waving the white flag – metaphorically and literally in this case – on her doorstep?

She wanted to believe it was a trick, but no matter how many times she cast Dispel, there were no illusions to be unveiled.

It appeared to be genuine.

“Yes,” Celestia agreed with her sister as Nightmare Moon’s seventh Dispel washed over her and made her ears twitch in discomfort. “We only wish to service you… sexually.”

Nightmare Moon didn’t know how to feel about this or what she should do. For the first time in a while, she was shocked and unable to quickly form a plan of…

…

What.

‘What.’

“What.”

“If you would be so merciful to grant us this one request…” Celestia continued, now sporting a light blush on her cheeks. “Then we shall all do our utmost to bring you to untold heights of ecstasy.”

“… WHAT?!”

Nightmare Moon took a step back and looked around again.

Shadow was licking himself, the guards were nervously looking at each other as if she were the one acting strange…

Still no signs of an ambush or surprise attack.

“I would like to inform you, Empress,” Celestia began with a seductive smirk. “That every part of my body can be heated. Any…” She licked her lips. “Part.”

“What is…? How can…? Bwuh?!”

Completely blindsided by the turn of events, Nightmare Moon could only shake her head and struggle to form a cohesive thought, though her plight was ignored by the others, who suddenly stood from their respectful bows and chimed in with Celestia.

“Hey, you know how I’m the fastest pegasus in Equestria? Yeah, well I can totally make you see stars faster than you can say, ‘I can see stars’.”

“I don’t really know what sex is all about, but I bet it has something to do with a party! Watch how many balloons I can blow up in ten seconds!”

“While a lady would normally never discuss such elicit subjects in public, I will say that while my personal experiences are stagnant, I am confident that years of reading risqué literature will put me amongst the ranks of other more experienced individuals.”

“… Um… I take care of animals, so... yeah…”

Nightmare Moon spluttered dumbly for a few moments before finally shouting, “Do you think of me as a joke? Cease this… this… wh-whatever this is!”

“Empress?”

Ebony ran up from behind and Nightmare Moon felt a little more clear-headed at the sight of her loyal Right Hoof.

“Ebony, call the alarm,” Nightmare Moon ordered without taking her narrowed eyes off the group; they were up to something, she was sure of it! Otherwise, they wouldn’t be acting like this. “Prepare for an attack.”

“Attack? Is that how you wish for us to take you?” Luna questioned with the stony face of one who might as well have been discussing politics. “You will be most satisfied if that is the case.”

“M-My Empress…” Ebony gasped in outrage. “I thought we were supposed to get together first, not your enemies.”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened to dinner plate-size and she turned her head so fast her neck clicked. “WHAT?!”

“Is it really so surprising, pony?”

Nightmare Moon’s jaw dropped and she turned her head in the other direction. “No…”

“I am to understand your kind has a ‘herd’ approach when it comes to mating,” Knight Enforcer Caed stepped out of the glowing white tear in space with a few of his soldiers. The tabard on their fronts had their heraldry switched – a happy little rainbow sprouting from a white cloud instead of a golden oak tree. “Of course, it is usually a male equine surrounded by a dozen or so females, but what do I know? I spend my time looking up newer and more complex words to work into my courageous and heroic filibusters!”

“No, no, no.”

“Fear not, pony! The Rouge Knight Order comes in peace and tranquillity for we have discovered, through the magic within the ponies that we kidnapped, what is even greater than the virtues told in the Old Tales,” Caed pointed to the sky dramatically. “Our hearts beat in unison, and why do they beat so valiantly, my knights?!”

“No, no!”

The knights raised their arms into the air and cried in unison, “Because friendship is magic!”

“NO!!”

Nightmare Moon whinnied in rage and stomped her hooves on the ground, creating potholes and sending out violent tremors that made everyone stumble.

“This is insane! You’re all insane! Everything about this is INSANE!”

“Love is never sane, Empress,” Princess Cadance said. She and Shining Armor embraced lovingly, as if to emphasize her point. “It’s just what it is.”

“I have no desire for love or sex!” Nightmare Moon cried as she stopped her stomping. “And there’s no… Wh-?! Where did you come from?!”

“Nightmare Moon...”

“What now?” Nightmare Moon turned around as someone tugged on her tail and… well, a part of her pretty much just died inside when she did. “Oh for…”

“Your essence is inside of me, senpai~” Twilight blushed deeply as she fidgeted on the spot, looking very demure and moe even with the crystals bloodily sprouting from her flesh and bones. “Please do more l-lewd things to me~”

“Get in line, you hussy!” Ebony growled. “She was inside me before you.”

“She was inside me before any of you!” Luna announced with a shameful amount of pride. “Therefore, I am First Mistress.”

“Yo, Wolf – what’s happenin’?!”

“Rrrrggghh!!” Nightmare Moon frothed at the mouth as Vinyl happily trotted into the scene with Octavia at her side. “Vinyl, in case you haven’t noticed, there are some very idiotic things going on and I would really- is that a baby carriage?”

“Eeyup!” Vinyl nodded and preened like a proud rooster as Octavia pushed the carriage over to Nightmare Moon. “We had a baby, somehow, and we’d like you to be the godparent. Say hello to Serenade.”

The carriage rolled into range and Nightmare Moon stared down at the bundle of joy.

It was a girl, and had Vinyl’s mane style and glasses with Octavia’s colours; she was bubbling away in joy and smiled toothlessly at Nightmare Moon. She reached out towards her.

“W… Woo… Wolf…”

“She’s… adorable?”

Obviously, Nightmare Moon would have liked to question how this child was possible and when it happened and why Vinyl didn’t tell her earlier because now she felt very left out and upset because she wasn’t there for the birthing and…

Nope – not following that train of thought, there were important things that needed to be shouted at until they stopped being insane.

“You!” Nightmare Moon winced and carefully trotted around the carriage before pointing at Luna, her voice coming out a tad quieter. “You. This is your doing, isn’t it? You’ve somehow trapped me in some nightmare and are trying to drive me to the brink of insanity, aren’t you?”

“Bwuh?”

“Well, it won’t work. I spent a thousand years on the moon in complete isolation, so if I can survive that, then I can survive whatever ridiculous thing you can throw at me,” Nightmare Moon chuckled maliciously and bared her teeth. “Well, it was an admirable attempt, but I’m waking from this dream now. See you in the waking world, Lu-Lu.”

Laughing victoriously, Nightmare Moon stretched apart her jaws and bit down into her own foreleg.

…

It hurt.

…

Still hurts.

…

Everyone was looking at her.

…

No…

…

“No…” Nightmare Moon removed her teeth, the white-hot flash of pain in her foreleg all too real. “No…” She watched as the flesh knitted back together. “No…”

“Ah, so you’re into masochism and blood? Perfect!” Celestia giggled, brightly and evilly. There was a gleam in her eyes that Nightmare Moon realized was a near perfect reflection of the one she usually got. “I have much experience in that field.”

“This is real…” Nightmare Moon shook her head as she looked down, watched her own blood stain the ground. “This… insanity is real.”

…

There was one last thing she could do to set this right.

…

Discord was still trapped in stone.

His thoughts plucked at her mind, amused but utterly devoid of any deceit.

“My, my, Blanky – what’s happened to you to make such an expression?”

Nightmare Moon’s scream shook the castle.

“More tea, Lu-Lu?”

“Yes please, ‘Tia.”

“Mm-mm! Dang, sugarcube – these here cupcakes got a bigger kick than usual. What did ya’ll put in ‘em?”

“Uh-uh! That’s a super-special secret. Unless you’d be willing to tell ol’ Aunt Pinkie what’s the secret in your family’s cider?”

“Heh – not in a million years. And I’m older than you by the way.”

“Ebony, it’s my turn to sit next to the Empress!”

“You’ve had your turn, Crystal-face; it’s my turn now.”

“No, I haven’t! Right, Sunset?”

“You’re both wrong; it’s my turn.”

Sunset booted Ebony out of The Seat and cuddled up to Nightmare Moon, rubbing it in the others' faces. They went back to their meals, but continued giving death glares, all the while completely oblivious to their beloved Empress making a face like someone had just farted inside her skull.

Pony, griffon, and Rouge Knight – all broke bread in the castle’s banquet hall under the withered and fed-up gaze of Equestria’s ruler, and no one could be happier.

Well, except for Nightmare Moon.

‘Well…’ She thought with a sigh and rested her chin on the foreleg that wasn’t being subtly – a term that was loosely used – dry-humped by Sunset. ‘At least I'm still in power.’

She just had to ride this out until the heat death of the universe.

There were worse ways to spend several trillion years, she supposed.

Happy April Fools Day!!

Author's Note

Note 1: Believe it or not, this story was originally a comedy when I first started it, and went in a whole other direction than what it is now. Basically, it was about an alternate timeline where Nightmare Moon succeeded in the pilot premiere, and went through all the seasons attempting to deal with villains and friendship problems in her own way with the reluctant help of the Element bearers.

Also, in the earlier drafts, when I decided to make this story into what it is now, Nightmare Moon was supposed to be a lot more sympathetic - almost motherly - towards Luna. I took that out, as you've probably noticed, and now Nightmare Moon regards Luna with apathy and a slight hint of ire.

Interlude I

”Hm… I was wondering when you were going to show up."

“My apologies. I had business to tend to first before I could make the time to play the part of the gracious host. I trust you’ve been comfortable in the mean time?”

“Not really.”

“It doesn’t matter. Now… let’s not beat around the bush, hm? You know what I want.”

“…”

“Tell me everything about your species.”

“… We’re humans. We come from a tight-knit community, and we take offense to people – or ponies – that kill our own.”

“Yes, yes – your leader prattled on about it when I met him, so I would appreciate it if we can skip whatever speech you’re planning to go on.”

“Innocent. Civilians. All of them wiped out because of an explosion your kind caused when you closed the Fracture.”

“As I told your leader, we had no idea it would cause such a reaction in your world, and besides… we didn’t even know there were species such as you on the other side.”

“It doesn’t excuse what you did, pony.”

“Perhaps not, but whatever reason fuels your thirst for vengeance doesn’t matter to me. Your forces are attacking my subjects, your forces are threatening my rule, and so I will react accordingly. And if your Knight Enforcer doesn’t surrender, then don’t think I will hesitate to wipe out the rest of your kind.”

“You won’t win. We’ve faced greater foes than a bunch of pastel-coloured ponies; you’re nothing like the mythical creatures described in the Old Tales.”

“I think we may have gotten off-track here. We were discussing your species, not arguing over who has the moral high ground. Now, what are these ‘Old Tales’ you mentioned and what do they mean to your kind?”

“What do they mean? Ah heh…”

“What are you laughing about?”

“The Old Tales, pony, are prized pieces of literature that govern how humanity should govern themselves: through virtue and acts of selflessness. They are how Caed brought together the first men and women that would form the Rouge Knight Order, and how we…”

“… How we…?”

“…”

“Oh, come now – you were doing so well. I really don’t think you would want me to have to resort to, ah… more unpleasant methods of making you talk.”

“There is nothing you can say or do to make me turn my back on the Rouge Knights. Take my armor away, my weapons – it doesn’t matter. I owe the Knight Enforcer my life.”

“Such admirable devotion… I must admit to looking forward to see just how much abuse you can take before it fades.”

“…”

“Hm? What’s that look supposed to mean?”

“Pony, let me tell something…”

“…?”

“This right here? This interrogation? This is a luxury I’ve granted to you. At any point since I woke up in this cell, I could escape. But I haven’t. You know why? Because I wanted to speak to you, person-to-person… pony, whatever. I wanted to speak to you, so I could tell you how absolutely fucked you are.

“See, Knight Enforcer Caed is going to lead us to victory because of one reason: we are the good guys here. And the Old Tales teach us that good will always triumph over evil.”

“Ah hah hah hah! You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right? That’s your reason? The source of your confidence and assuredness in your victory? That’s so sad and pathetic; I love it! Ah hah hah!”

“…”

“Well, let me tell you something, human: the concept of ‘good’ overcoming ‘evil’ is an outdated lie. If one triumphs over another, it is not because they are good and the other is evil, but because they are stronger. Morality has nothing to do with it. Why not take the battle between my forces and yours for instance? If good truly triumphed over evil, then certainly your kind – as the so-called ‘good guys’ – would have won that battle, and your leader wouldn’t have run with his tail between his legs? Wouldn’t he have struck me down on the spot if he were truly a paragon?

“How delusional you must be to believe in such a child-like notion. Might is right – there is nothing else to it, and you should take lessons from that instead of fairy tales.”

“Fairy tales, hm? Some of the Old Tales can be called that… yet they have inspired more people to join our cause than any promise of power could ever achieve.”

“How inspiring. I would love to read these Old Tales you preach so highly and see how it is ‘heroic’ to kidnap defenceless foals and citizens.”

“You will never see the Old Tales, pony. And you will get nothing more out of me. I’ve said what I’ve needed to say, so why don’t you ever so kindly go fuck yourself.”

“Oh, but my dear guest, I’m not quite done with-

“Empress, we heard a- oh, Faust! What…?”

“Empress… what happened?”

“Captain Ebony… it seems as though our enemies have a unique trait.”

“Hlk… think I’m gonna be sick…”

“Empress, his face is…”

“Rather ingenious, really. Almost like a cyanide pill except with more… explosive results. I didn’t even see him gesture or utter a single word, so either it’s timed or is able to be remotely triggered by mere thought alone. Call in the medics, would you, Captain? I wish to see if I can’t scrape out any remains of whatever killed him.”

“Y-yes, Empress.”

“Hmm… perhaps I could replicate it and implant…?”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. Just musing…”

Author's Note

Note 1: Rouge Knight Troop Armor - protective standard-issue gear for the common but virtuous and loyal soldiers that make up the bulk of the Rouge Knight Order. A tabard that bears their heraldry - a picture of a golden oak tree - is draped across the front.

'Rouge' means 'red' in a language that has long been forgotten by any in the Order, but it is Knight Enforcer Caed's favourite word as his happiest childhood memories are of his mother, who often used it as a term of endearment.

Interlude II

“Soooo… how was it?”

“You know, you ask that every single time.”

Fade chuckled and gave a shrug as he watched her from on the bed. “What, is it so wrong for a stallion to hear how he brought a mare to rapture and back?”

“And what makes you think that you did something like that?”

“Bit of a big mouth, yeah?” He smirked lazily as she snatched some perfume from the vanity and sprayed it on her. She didn’t seem like the type for such products, but it was probably more for masking his scent on her. “Lots of, ah… ‘interesting’ words coming out of it when you’re all worked up. It’s fucking sexy, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah – whatever.”

He didn’t miss the amused grin that crossed her face as she turned to face the vanity again. She gave her wings a small flex, and his gaze went from her rump to the appendages.

“Faust damn, girl – those wings are something else.”

“Like ‘em?”

“Love ‘em,” Fade nodded as he hopped off the bed and gave a little stretch. “Nngh! Seriously, what sort of wingpower do you get?”

“Uh… 16.3 last time I measured.”

“And you’re working in a brothel?” Fade lifted one eyebrow in disbelief. “Shit, you could probably get into the Wonderbolts like that, yeah?”

“…”

Fade’s mirth waned faster than the temperature in the room plummeted. She had her back to him and was blocking her own reflection, but when you were around mares like Veil and Ebony, you just knew when shit was about to hit the fan.

Damn it! And she was his favourite; a Faust damn athlete with smoking hot muscles and powerful wings that put the other dolled-up workers to shame.

He had to make this right.

“Ah, but whatever rocks your boat, yeah?” Fade laughed, kept the nervousness out of his voice pretty well, too. “Brothel, opera, academy – it’s a free world, yeah? Plus, they’re not that great, trust me; they have fuck all sense of humour, and don’t know a good flyer when they see one,” She still wasn’t talking and he gulped. “You know I applied for one, yeah? I did, but they kicked me out over some… crap about cooperation and-”

“They kicked you out, too, huh?”

“-sportsmanship and… Uh, yeah? Wait… are you saying…?”

“Believe it or not, selling my body to make bits wasn’t my first career choice.”

She finally turned and trotted over, visibly upset but not at him, thankfully. Even so, he kept his mouth shut as she sat down at the foot of the bed, huffing.

“I was all set to be a full-fledged member, but then some bitch had to go and tell Spitfire on me.”

“Oh yeah, Spitfire’s a hardass.”

“True, but it was all Rainbow Dash’s fault!”

Fade blinked in surprise. “Rainbow Dash? As in… the pegasus with rainbow colours? The one with the Element of Harmony?”

“Unless you know another pony by that name.”

“Shit, it’s a small world!” He chuckled, which was probably a bad idea in retrospect because now she was glaring at him. “Oh, I mean… we totally had her under lock and key back in the castle. At least until she and the princesses escaped.”

“Heard about that. There’s a rumour that the Empress got fucked up when they escaped.”

Fade almost flinched and ducked his head, half-certain that Nightmare Moon would hear that through their shared mental connection. Obviously, she couldn’t have – he hoped – because otherwise she would have said something during those other times Fade walked by somepony mouthing off.

Anyway, Nightmare Moon wouldn’t have continued listening in while he was getting his mojo on; she and Veil were similar in their distaste towards anything to do with sex.

Crazy, but it was a real thing, apparently.

“Hmm… things got… ‘hot’ for a second,” Fade’s heard his Inner Miasma sigh. “But she’s doing alright now. Still as scary and angry as ever, yeah?”

“Heh… But anyway, if it wasn’t for Rainbow Dash, I would have gotten into the Wonderbolts instead of having to do… this. I mean… some mares do it and they’re fine with it, and that’s cool, but me? I could be doing a lot more flying in the air than getting down and presenting to random dudes.”

“Uh, still here, you know.”

“Oh, don’t be a baby; I know you better than other stallions, but it’s not like we’re a couple or anything. If it makes you feel better, then you’re the best fuck I’ve had yet.”

That did make him feel better. And important. And big.

“Shit, that sucks…” Fade scratched the back of his neck. He could sympathize with her; after all, joining the Wonderbolts had been his dream, and he was still pretty bitter about it. Not as much as he had been back in Manehatten, but if anypony really wanted to get on his nerves, then it was probably the best thing to bring up.

“Understatement of the year…”

She turned away, looking angry and morose.

‘Huh… wonder if…?’

He cast another look at her body, and tried his hardest to actually look instead of admiring.

She was definitely a pegasus well-suited for the aerial acrobatics and feats of physical prowess that went beyond merely flying in a straight line from point A to point B: she was lean and toned with wiry muscle, her wings were strong and large, and he knew from their trysts that she had stamina.

Faust, did she have stamina.

…

After regaining his train of thought, Fade cleared his throat to catch her attention, having made his decision. It probably wouldn’t lead anywhere, and would probably get shot down by the Empress, but he had to try at the very least.

He figured that, if nothing else, he was good at picking out a pegasus that could handle some hard labour.

“So, hey… I might know a job offering, but don’t get your hopes up because it might end with a hoof up both our asses. And if you’re willing to hear me out, then… yeah?”

She turned to face him, suspicious but also intrigued.

“Yeah?”

Author's Note

Note 1: Female pegasi are more likely to have higher wingpower and greater strength and endurance than males. Pegasi evolved to make their homes in the clouds, and though they are naturally able to walk upon them and build infrastructures, the looming threat of predators, weather anomalies, and other unforeseen circumstances meant that they also had to be capable of flying at a moment's notice.

Therefore, female pegasi evolved so that they would always - barring sickness or other complications - be able to fly even during the late stages of pregnancy.

A common joke amongst pegasi is that it is unwise to get into a competition with a mare who is expecting, for they would be both faster and angrier than you could ever be.

Interlude III

“Empress.”

“My Empress.”

“Has anypony been here lately?”

“No.”

“Not that I’ve seen.”

“Has he spoken to any of you?”

“Yes.”

“Uh, yeah, a f-few times. Mostly about weird stuff and, uh…”

“And?”

“Insults towards you.”

“Yeah, that kind of stuff.”

“Charming. Move aside – I wish to enter.”

“Yes, Empress.”

“Uh, yeah, just let me… find the… right key. Could have sworn that I had it on-”

“There you are.”

“-this keyri… Oh.”

“Lock the door behind me and do not open it until I give a certain knock.”

“Uh, what sort of knock are we talking about? If you… if you don’t mind me asking.”

“You’ll know it when you hear it. Lock the door.”

“… Okay then?”

“... So… I’ve been getting reports from the guards I station out there that you’ve been communicating with them.”

…

“Nothing to say? From my understanding, you have a lot to say at any given time.”

…

“… Would you like me to start? Very well. How about I start with something… personal? How about I start with saying… you fascinate me?”

…

“Your very nature, your existence, hinges entirely on chaos. The more disorder there is, the stronger you become, which is why when my guards began speaking of hearing you in their thoughts… I wasn’t entirely surprised. There’s been a lot of disorder lately and no doubt your petrification was caused with quite a great deal of reluctance on the parts of the Element bearers.

“You are the personification of the chaotic side of magic, the part that is uncontrollable and prone to the disruption of reality and its laws. In contrast, the Elements of Harmony are the personification of the… let’s say, the ‘lawful’ side of magic, the part that can be controlled and strives to ‘balance’ anything that would cause harm to the very fabric of our world. You are the antithesis to the Elements and vice versa.

“So what fascinates me about you is how despite your very nature… you choose to ally yourself with the Element bearers.”

“… What can I say, Blanky? Those colourful little equines can be very charismatic, especially Fluttershy.”

“So you can spe-”

“Oh, by the by – I never got the chance to give kudos to that little fake-out in the throne room. Arriving to deliver the message yourself in disguise? Quite devious. Consider me impressed. Ah, you probably can’t see, but I’m waving a little flag and clapping with seven pairs of hands. You got that in your head?”

“No.”

“Spoilsport. Anyhoo, what was that you were yapping on about? Chaotic magic striving to wreck stuff and ‘lawful’ magic going around fixing it? My, my – you make it sound like magic is alive.”

“You’re living proof of that.”

“As are you, Fangface. And by that logic, one could say that the Elements are alive, hm?”

“If they are, then it’s not to the same degree as you or I. They cannot act by themselves and have no further goals other than what they were made to do. It is only through outside influence can they be used for anything else.”

“Like that Resonator doohickey you preen about.”

“You’re well-informed. How-”

“Oh, enough about me – I want to talk about you. You said you found me fascinating? Well, to be honest… I feel the same about you. Oh, but not in that way, I hope you understand.”

“I did not come here to talk about-”

“We’re similar, aren’t we? Two drops in the same bucket. We’re both made from the chaos of magic, we both strived to rule Equestria… Oh, that’s it? That’s all the similarities? Huh, I think so. Although obviously, I’m much better-looking and nicer to converse with.”

“I don’t care. I came down here to see whether or not you were able to communicate even through your prison, so now that I know you can, I can devise a way to keep you quiet. The last thing I need is for some mish-mash clown to meddle with my affairs.”

“Ah, you’ve wounded me.”

“You deserve it. How sad that you fell to the saccharine methods of the Element bearers. All that power and to be brought down by such a concept as loneliness and desiring a friend. Pathetic.”

“Well, now that’s just rude. And I suppose you’ve never felt loneliness, hm? Even after all that time on the moon? Although you had Luna for company, so…”

“Luna was in slumber, so I really was alone. But never at any point during those thousand years did I feel the urge to speak with another being or feel any form of encroaching madness that many ponies say they would experience in such a span. My mind and my resolve are strong.”

“Hoo, hoo! You must be even crazier than me! Quite a feat. I mean, I’m stuck in stone, but at least Celestia put me outside in the garden so I could watch the world go by. Or maybe she just liked seeing birds poop on my face.”

“I am stronger than you. That’s what it is.”

“Oh yeah? 1v1 me, bro! I’ll 720 reality-bend all day.”

“Perhaps if you weren’t so immature, then you could have held onto your rule instead of being left to stew in isolation. Enjoy your stay, Discord.”

“Wait! I just thought of something else we’re different in!”

“The ability to read one somebody else doesn’t care?”

“Har har – my sides are splitting… but no. No, we’re different in that I’m actually strong.”

“What?”

“See, if I wanted to, I could crush somepony’s head with one squeeze. I mean, I don’t want to and I never did, but I could do it. Just saying.”

“As could I. What’s your p-”

“Could you do it without possessing a body?”

“…”

“Really, I want to know, so indulge this poor and weak prisoner for a moment, hm? Could you – in your true form – crush somepony’s head?”

“…”

“You know, that’s a little morbid, isn’t it? Let’s think up another scenario, all hypothetical of course. Okay, let’s say… let’s say you want to open a door. Of course, you can just phase through it or slip underneath the crack, but could you physically open a door? That’s easier than crushing somepony’s head, right? So could you do it? Could you open a door in your true form, without the help of a host?

“Could you, uh, make a joke without controlling a host so that you can talk through them? Hm… how about… defeating Celestia? Could you do it without that body you have right now? The one you created from Luna’s essence? Because let’s face it: it’s not you defending Canterlot, it’s not you talking and walking, it’s not you I’m seeing right now – it’s just some vessel you’re squatting in and telling what to do.”

“What do you know about me?”

“More than you think, Nightmare Moon. I’ve heard of some things in Zebrica… about spirits that take control of sapient creatures. They’re sort of like me in that they’re composed of chaos magic, but, ah… not quite as smart or developed. Certainly not as handsome either. You, though… you’re like them, but a bit smarter and bit more cohesive; you have goals besides… ‘rargh, murder and pillage and pee all over myself’. If I have to applaud you for anything, then it’s your drive, your ambition. By the way, I’m clapping with seven pairs of hands.”

“I have succeeded in wrestling Equestria’s rule from the sisters. Your words have no effect on me.”

“Hm, trying to deflect as if you aren’t getting upset? Boy, haven’t had anyone do that to me before. I’m rolling my eyes in case you can’t see it – all eight of them. I’m a spider now.”

“Would you be serious for once in your miserable existence?!”

“Hee hee! There we go! There’s the anger and wrath we all know and love!”

“You don’t even know what you’re saying half the time. Mindless drivel – whatever pops into your head, you just say it, even if it doesn’t make sense.”

“Oh, but it’s so amusing to see you get all flustered.”

“… No, this was my fault. I took your bait; that was an idiotic thing to do on my part.”

“Heh heh… I think I can understand where this anger comes from though.”

“I’m leaving now.”

“You want to make an imprint on history; a reasonable thing to want.”

“…”

“Everyone wants to make their mark on the world before they go. Some are more… desperate to do it than others. The reasons are far and many – the mind is a fickle thing to analyse and I’m more content to just control it than understand it – but I think I’ve got a pretty solid idea when it comes to you, Smoky Joe.

“See, I think – now just hear me out, don’t give me that face just yet… I think that you feel as if you’re inadequate. Because let’s face it: even those mindless spirits back in Zebrica can manipulate the physical world to some degree. A few can possess through force, right? They can possess through force and not cause the body to fall apart like a house made of candy corn. You can’t do that though, at least not with ponies and zebras, not unless they’re willing at first, hm? Smaller things maybe… like, say… mice?

“That must be so frustrating. All that intellect and that desire, but with nothing to back it up. My, my – when you got hit with that beam of sunlight and went into your true form, they could have taken you out without any sort of effort, hm? How frustrating to be so… vulnerable.”

“…”

“Maybe that’s why you want so much power, so much control. For protection, right? Because as strong as that vessel is, the one you’re filling up like it’s a balloon… it can still be destroyed. And then you’ll have nothing to protect you.”

“…”

“Oh gee whizz, I’m hitting all the marks today! Let’s see… and the reason you want to be remembered? Hm… Perhaps it’s because history will remember an all-powerful alicorn born from Luna’s ire that usurped the two sisters… but not the poor, little spirit that couldn’t even hurt a child if it wanted to?”

“… For someone in isolation… you know of a lot of things.”

“Well, when you’re stuck in rock, all you can do is listen. And believe me, Nightmare Moon… I can hear things beyond simple words. I can hear thoughts if I keep quiet. And if I really, really try? Ho-ho, boy… I can hear the echoes that resonate in this castle. The maid from 64 years ago that cut her hoof trying to mend a porcelain vase she accidentally broke. The saucy affair of a noble and a gardener from 231 years ago. The poor mouse that crept inside the walls, guided by your will, up until it finally died around a few months back.”

“…”

“I’m a wild card, Nighty, and you can’t really take anything I say at face value. But believe me when I say this… I don’t appreciate the way you treated my friends… and I’m going to enjoy watching you burn and waste away into anonymity.”

“… A few things wrong with your insightful ramblings, Discord. One – I’ve already made a place in history by creating the Resonator, the only device that can close the Entropic Fractures.

“Two – I’m also going to be remembered as the one that defeated the forces of another universe.

“And three – I accomplished more than you ever did, despite your misguided belief that I am weak and incapable of doing things on my own. But congratulations, Discord…

“You’ve succeeded in pissing me the fuck off.”

“…”

“I know that stone prison won’t hold you forever, but know that when it fails… I’ll be waiting.”

“… Before you go… one more thing? If you’ll indulge me?”

“… What?”

“You’re all nippy about friendship and all that goodness and stuff… so what’s the deal with Vinyl?”

“… She’s an associate.”

“… Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

“Empress.”

“Jeez, you weren’t kidding about that knock. I feel like I’ve heard it before…”

“Let nopony else in there.”

“Yes, Empress.”

“Uh, y-yeah, sure.”

Author's Note

Note 1: Who can guess what the knock sounded like?

Interlude IV

Ebony’s parents had married when they were young and in love.

By the time Ebony – known as Hazel Blaze back then – was born, it became apparent to both her mother and father that whatever had sparked between them had been short-lived, and they now regarded each other with a mutual tolerance, both too prideful to admit their fault and separate.

‘Raising a child shouldn’t be too difficult’, they thought to themselves.

‘There’s plenty of work to be done around Little Plains Drop; the crops need tending, the buildings need renovating each year… Plenty to keep a young earth pony occupied’.

Ebony’s mother’s grandfather had been a unicorn.

“…”

Little Plains Drop had exactly two unicorns in their populace; one was a doctor and the other was somepony from distant Baltimare who may or may not have been on the run from the mafia.

They were respectful of the doctor and the Baltimare unicorn kept to himself, so was tolerated, but even so…

Little Plains Drop was near the boundary that separated Equestria from the Badlands, so the environment was harsh; only earth ponies with their natural talent for cultivating could etch out a living, especially when the weather couldn’t be tamed by pegasi either, not when they were so close to the boundary.

What use was a unicorn filly?

Her parents were disappointed that she had been born with a horn instead of inheriting their earth pony resilience, so it was fairly frequent for them to just get somepony to watch her while they went out to do their own things. They worked on the fields and did odd jobs around the settlement before returning home. Sometimes one of them brought something to amuse young Ebony.

Her curiosity wouldn’t last long and she would soon start crying for attention.

“… I… can help…”

As she got older, Ebony started to yearn for the attention and affection she had seen other parents heap on their children. She quickly made the connection that this praise came when the child accomplished something like a labour that was physically demanding. Ebony ran back to her parents, shrilly announcing that she wanted to help them with work.

The smiles they had given her made her heart soar, but she was too young to realize that they were false smiles given out of amusement rather than pride. To her parents, Ebony might as well have just said that she was going to be an alicorn; it was impossible. After all, there were foals younger than Ebony who were fitter.

But none of them could be bothered to explain to Ebony that she simply wasn’t built for manual labour; it was much easier to just have her do it, realize she couldn’t, and leave it at that.

So that’s what they did.

Ebony’s father took her to the fields, hitched her up to a plough, and told her to dig out a dozen furrows before he got back.

Ebony couldn’t even manage one.

As her father unhitched the harnesses, she had cried and sniffled while blubbering that she tried and tried, but couldn’t do it.

Her father took her whimpers with an impassive nod and grunt, like he knew she would fail, that she wasn’t strong enough.

“Some… There must be something… I-I…”

Ebony was more desperate than ever to prove that she was no different from the other children and decided that if magic was a unicorn’s strength, then she’d figure out how to help using what she had rather than trying to use what she didn’t have.

She went to the doctor, who told her bluntly that while she had magical potential, she lacked the finesse and control to use it for healing, teleporting, or anything else that could have helped Little Plains Drop.

He said that, with practise, she might get teleporting down, but she was already trudging back home, salty tears spilling down her cheeks and plip-plopping against the dry and cracked earth.

Years passed and her attempts at catching up with the rest of her more able-bodied classmates were met with failure after failure, each one hitting harder than the next, especially when her classmates all started finding their special talents, and their cutie marks signalled their approach to adulthood.

With her lacklustre physical prowess, Ebony truly felt like she was stuck in time, unable to age and unable to do anything worthwhile. Even her control over telekinesis was met with nothing more than a half-hearted compliment and a limp pat on her head from her father.

“I want… Please, I have to be useful somehow. Y-you… Mom, dad… you say you don’t care that I can’t do anything, but I can see you’re disappointed. Tell me… Say something! You’re always ignoring me. Please…”

Every birthday she had, it just reminded her of how… stuck she was.

Everypony was doing something to help Little Plains Drop survive and she was just a burden – a useless, magical burden that couldn’t even use magic for Faust’s sake. She desperately wanted to talk to somepony, but nopony could understand her, and she tried! She went to the doctor again, but he was no help, and she went to the unicorn from Baltimare, but he hissed at her to ‘get on’ and stop annoying him.

The earth ponies couldn’t understand and her parents…

Faust, her parents wanted nothing to do with her!

The more useless she felt, the angrier she got. The angrier she got, the more she’d lash out. Ironically, that had been just the thing to get her parent’s attention.

Suffice to say, she didn’t like it one bit.

When she was sixteen, she had muttered a curse beneath her breath when her mother told her to clean the fireplace. Her mother faltered, told her to repeat herself, ‘young lady’, and from there, Ebony exploded.

She screamed about how they never supported her.

She yowled about how they never spoke to her.

She cried about how alone she felt.

Her mother didn’t understand Ebony’s ‘unnecessary rage’; she had never struck Ebony, she didn’t have a drinking problem, and she provided for Ebony.

“So in what way am I abusive?”

That had set off more screaming.

A little while after that, her father walked in after spending a few hours fooling around with a fellow farmer’s daughter.

It was ‘fine’ though; Ebony’s mother fooled around with the local blacksmith and they both knew and accepted each other’s affairs because they couldn’t get worked up enough to try anything in bed.

Her father blinked in bewilderment at the shouting match happening in the home and stepped in asking what in the world was going on.

Her mother told him and he took his wife’s side.

“We haven’t done anything even remotely abusive to you.”

… It was fuzzy after that. Ebony had been so worked up that all she remembered was that the shouting went on for a while and that the most vivid part of the memory was her storming out of the house with tears blinding her and ugly sobs making her choke.

She had to get out of there; Little Plains Drop – her own home was making her physically ill.

“I-I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here anymore. It’s too much. I can’t stand being useless here…”

Ebony ran for what had felt like hours and by the time she had collapsed to the ground, her muscles were screaming and her lungs felt as if they were aflame. Her mind had slowed to a point where she could think clearly again, but even though guilt and shame washed over her as she thought back to her actions, there was no doubt in her mind that she was not going back willingly.

The fact that nopony had come after her spoke volumes; Ebony was ‘just a unicorn’, so there was no way she could have outrun her parents if they were really determined to go after her.

Hell, they probably thought it was just a phase and that she’d come back sooner or later, red-faced and apologetic.

… No. No way was she going back.

Ebony had swiped her tears away and stood on shaking legs, making her way underneath the moonlit skies and towards the closest settlement.

Little Plains Drop was isolated like that; didn’t even have their own train station, just a winding dirt path for caravans and for when the traders went out.

Ebony had never made the trip, least of all by herself.

“When I find my true talent, I’ll… then it’ll show you that I’m not useless.”

The trip was arduous and long, especially when the sun had come up and started beating down on her.

She made it, somehow.

Oatwicker was almost a replica of Little Plains Drop, but had a train station and their main produce was a type of edible cactus that thrived in hot and arid conditions. Her mother had brought some in once and it turned out Ebony had an allergic reaction to the juices which resulted in some irritating burns.

She shook the memory from her head and made her way to the train station, only realizing when she got there that she was lacking in bits or any form of currency.

Ebony spent several minutes pacing the platform trying to figure out what she was going to do when she was approached by a twenty-something stallion with an extravagant mane of loud colours. He was obviously from an urban city; his mannerisms and unusual attire screamed it.

He introduced himself as ‘Bright Bulb’ and Ebony returned his hoofshake, mostly because she was inexplicably drawn to the new and unfamiliar clothes he wore.

He had asked if there was a problem and if he could help. She was out of options, so she told him, innocent hope flaring in her chest as she described her predicament, being mindful to be polite and sincere.

He told her that he could pay her a handsome amount if she helped him and his two friends with something…

Still naïve at her age, she asked for clarification.

“…”

Bright Bulb had mistaken her for being older and Ebony didn’t correct him or his two friends. They might have rescinded the offer. Ebony could not stand the thought of crawling back home and she was determined to make something of herself.

So she accepted.

It was… not as bad as she had feared it would be.

The pain had been brief and their touches – even if they made her wince – had been gentle. It was a little weird having them watch as they waited for their turn, but she managed to tune it out and keep her focus on an invisible spot on a wall, even though her concentration often broke by a particularly hard push or a sudden spike of sensation.

When it was over, Bright Bulb gave her, as he promised, a ‘handsome’ amount of bits. One of his friends – the oldest, probably nearing his thirties – looked at Ebony strangely and with some concern, as if just now realizing that perhaps she hadn’t been as old she allowed them to believe.

She didn’t hang around long enough for him to piece it together; the instant she had washed herself off in a restroom, she hopped on a train to Canterlot.

“It’s… I have to do this, Empress. You took me in as your Right Hoof, your loyal follower, and I… I have to repay that, I have to show you that I can be strong enough to protect you. I’m… I don’t want to be a burden anymore. I have to belong somewhere.”

Canterlot was a bustling metropolis compared to Little Plains Drop; the buildings were so high, the ponies so fancy and sparkling; Ebony’s eyes were drawn to the diverse and embellished clothing as soon as she stepped off the train and onto the platform, a satchel full of bits jingling at her side.

Unfortunately, Ebony stood out like a sore hoof; her lack of clothing and accent – even though it wasn’t that strong – made the elite of Canterlot label her as another simpleton from the countryside.

The first pony she asked for directions sniffed at her and made a scathing insult towards Appleloosa, wrongly believing that was where she was from.

The rest of the day went pretty much the same way.

Ebony tried looking for work, – there were plenty of non-physical jobs at a place like Canterlot, surely? – but didn’t have a resume or any form of identification. The places she went to didn’t like that and she was sneered out of any establishment she went to, her mood falling deeper and deeper into the pits with each pony that turned her away.

Eventually, when she saw that the sun was beginning to set, Ebony trudged into a café to rest her aching hooves. She had never had coffee before, but ordered one anyway to appear more mature than she actually was. It turned out to be a poor decision because she spat it out on the first sip and blushed beet-red when she tossed it away, much to the amusement of the other patrons.

She sighed as she sat alone at a table and buried her face into her forelegs.

“I’ve always felt like I never belonged anywhere. Not in Little Plains Drop… not in Oatwicker… not even in Canterlot, not really. I felt happier there than anywhere else, but it… it was never enough. If it wasn’t for…”

She contemplated leaving for another city when fortune smiled on her.

A stallion who carried himself with an air of importance and sophistication entered the café, the compressed form of a suit draped across his back. He seated himself at a table near Ebony and magically lifted the suit so he could spread it out, and clucked his tongue at the tear in one of the sleeves.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye, feeling an odd pull when he took out a small sewing kit and started on the tear, his magic precise and controlled but ultimately useless when the delicacy of threading the needle proved to be too much.

He was getting upset, but maintaining his cool composure. Ebony watched the crease in his brow – the only visible sign of his frustration – get deeper and deeper with each failed attempt at the needle before she could contain herself no longer.

She approached him and offered to help.

Naturally, he was wary of her, but not so wary that he refused the help, and hoofed over the kit and suit while allowing her to sit. To break the tension, Ebony awkwardly joked about how he had been carrying a sewing kit around, deeming it odd all things considered.

He pointed out his cutie mark – a purple comb crossed with silver scissors – and remarked on how it always paid to be prepared when conversing with Canterlot’s nobility, especially for somepony like him who placed importance on aesthetics.

He missed the sarcasm in Ebony’s remark, but that was fine; it wasn’t a particularly good attempt at breaking the ice anyway.

Ebony didn’t know what possessed her to try and fix his suit, but now that she had offered to help, it would be rude to suddenly take it back, wouldn’t it? Even so, she didn’t know how she was going to thread this needle or fix the tear in the suit – her control over magic was abysmal, so she had to use her hooves, but if this stallion couldn’t do it with magic, then how would she-

Ebony threaded it on the first try.

She sewed up the tear in a slight daze and it came out perfect.

The stallion was pleasantly surprised, but his grateful words were covered by the café patrons suddenly clapping politely and cheering.
Ebony blinked and looked down where a silver needle with black thread looping through the head appeared in a flash of white light on her flank.

It had been the happiest moment of her life at that point in time.

She laughed, smiled so hard her face hurt, and was only partially aware of what she was saying when the stallion introduced himself as Dusk, a scion of a noble house. He said something about letting everypony know of her talents, but all she could think about was how she was going to rub this in her parents’ faces.

So what if it wasn’t a talent that was very useful out in the plains? So what if it wasn’t oriented around physical labour?

She had discovered her talent in a little over a day away from that town, and any regrets she had about leaving were swept away by a wave of exuberance and pride.

Things were finally looking up for her and her parents were going to know of it.

“Empress, I… I feel strange. Where am I? What is this?”

A few days later, after Ebony had gotten a pretty good gig working as an assistant to Hoity Toity, Canterlot received news that a swarm of changelings had taken everyone in Little Plains Drop.

There were no survivors.

Ebony should have been upset over the loss of her parents, but even though she was to a degree, deep inside she knew that her dismay was because nopony would see how far she had come and how wrong they had been.

Light.

Air.

Warmth.

“Huagh! Ack! Huagh… huagh…”

“Welcome back to the waking world, Captain.”

Author's Note

Note 1: This chapter isn't here to try and make you feel sorry for Ebony, but to provide backstory. Whether you feel more sympathetic to her or not is up to you.

Chapter 46: Lazarus

1056 AD, January 11th

Log 35: It has recently occurred to me that perhaps these “humans” are not attacking us just because they have a drive for vengeance.
Four times they have invaded since the day of First Contact and each encounter has seen the humans suffer greater losses. If my reports are to be believed, we have lost about ten lives in the conflict, as opposed to the humans, who have lost – at a rough estimate – over fifty-three of their numbers. My initial thought was that they are ill-prepared for the likes of my forces and I, and are too blinded by their need for vengeance to realize that. The fact that so far, their attacks are largely uncoordinated with many knights splitting off from larger groups to go on their own, was just further proof of this in my eyes.

I no longer believe this to be true.

There is a common theme amongst these random attacks: the knights will prioritize subduing and capturing any unicorns in the vicinity, and risk life and limb to bring them back to the Entropic Fractures they arrive through. Why do they only go after unicorns? Why is it so important that they will throw an entire platoon worth of lives away just to capture a single unicorn, even if it is only a foal?

I have not seen nor heard about Knight Enforcer Caed since he ran during First Contact and I have a suspicion that he’s ordering his soldiers to capture unicorns as part of a much larger plan.

Unfortunately, capturing one of his knights alive is difficult because of their annoying habit of activating some sort of concealed device that causes their craniums to explode.

Autopsies reveal very little aside from an anatomy startlingly similar to equines, though Twilight points out that it seems to have been tampered with in a manner similar to the Animate Augmentation field in the Alteration school.

Examination of their equipment is also fruitless: almost all of their equipment is no more advanced than a regular sword or suit of armor and the gear that isn’t self-destructs when its wearer perishes or it is removed in any way.

We still haven’t figured out how they are able to communicate over long distances.

It is frustrating going on so little information, but I will have to make do, and just be thankful the princesses have been quiet so far.

Obviously, this means they’re planning something, but I have to take this one problem at a time, and right now, the human problem is the one that requires my immediate

“What is it?”

The guard standing in the doorway jumped in surprise. “Oh! Uh… Empress, it’s almost time.”

“I see,” Nightmare Moon waved her hoof at the guard. “I will be out shortly.”

The guard bowed her head and slinked back out the door before softly shutting it.

Nightmare Moon finished writing in her journal-

attention.

-and levitated both the pencil and book over onto her desk. Nightmare Moon unfurled herself and rose up from the velvet cushion, and stepped off to start stretching her limbs.

Once they were firm and free of the crawling sensation, she crossed the length of her room and went out on the balcony. She rested her forelegs on the stone parapet and looked out over Canterlot. It was a little past noon and many ponies milled about below, going about their business.

A serene and quiet day here to be certain, but there was always that nagging worry that perhaps the Rouge Knights were causing trouble in one of Equestria’s other major settlements.

Nightmare Moon was a force to be reckoned with, but she wasn’t omniscient and nor could she zip over to Manehatten or Las Pegasus and back in the blink of an eye.

She had to just hope that the forces she stationed in each settlement could hold out and send a message in time.

Nightmare Moon didn’t like relying on anyone that wasn’t part of her Praetorian Guard, but it was necessary.

…

Having had her fill of watching the populace plod around and try to pretend that the war was some big monster in the far distance, Nightmare Moon pushed off the parapet and went back into her room.

Ebony would be coming out very soon, so that was something to look forward to. She was very curious to see how the procedure had gone and was glad to have one of the few ponies she could actually trust carrying out her orders again.

She didn’t have anything else of significant importance to do, so she might as well get there early.

Nightmare Moon headed for the door and went through, startling the two guards stationed outside. “Nopony enters.”

“Yes, Empress.” They said in unison and stiffly saluted.

She went left, took a right at a ‘T’, and went down a set of stairs. She had gone down them enough to know that the fifth step always creaked; it was near silent but her ears were sensitive enough to pick it up. She had debated hiring a carpenter to fix it, but decided it was a waste of money – even if she had lots to spare – over something of no true significance.

The guards and cleaning staff littering the corridors and rooms she went through respectfully bowed; most had gotten completely used to her presence and habit of wandering about at random times by now.

Sometimes Nightmare Moon missed the initial fear, and would occasionally either flash her teeth or let her throat vibrate with a soft growl when she passed them, just to see their reaction.

It was really immature, but a surprisingly effective method of stress relief since she had no desire and often no time for intoxicants, games, and ‘pleasures of flesh’.

She had no urge to do that though, so the ponies that she passed were free to spend their day without fearing that their Empress had it out for them.

Nightmare Moon went down another floor and took a right, and happened upon a maid struggling to open a door. She was balancing on her hindlegs with her forelegs wrapped around a metal bucket and several cleaning supplies. If she had a wing or a horn, it might have been easier, but she didn’t, and had to resort to awkwardly leaning against the door while trying to stretch her neck down to bite the knob.

“Ah? Ergh! Hm!” The caramel-coloured mare scrunched her face up in determination and waggled her tongue at the door knob. “Ahhh…”

It was both amusing and sad to watch.

“Step away and stop trying to dislocate your spine,” Nightmare Moon sighed. Once the maid had jumped back in surprise, she telekinetically opened the door, ignoring the stammering excuses. “There.”

“Oh, th-thank you so much, Empress. I, um…”

Nightmare Moon was already moving past her. She had no idea why the maid didn’t just put the cleaning supplies down before opening the door, but even the most intelligent ponies could lack in common sense sometimes.

After going down several more floors, the amount of ponies dwindled to a scarce few guards; she had arrived in the ‘Forbidden Wing’, as Fade liked to call it. Technically not inaccurate since Nightmare Moon had performed her surgery on Twilight down here and had forbid anypony besides her Praetorian Guard from entering, and it was also the current resting place of Ebony.

Still, she wished he would stop spreading rumours about how parts of the castle were haunted. Bad enough when he did it, but sometimes his damnable marefriend would get involved and then-

“Empress.”

“Empress.”

Two near-mechanical tones snapped Nightmare Moon out of her thoughts. The two guards stationed outside a plain wooden door – reinforced with security spells – were bowing.

She was actually taken aback somewhat because they were both bat-ponies – thestrals? – and she didn’t remember…

… No, actually, she did remember: she was there when Miasma was training them out in the courtyard. It was about a week ago and she had more important things on the mind, so it didn’t really stick with her.

“Your captain is to wake shortly,” Nightmare Moon said, already igniting her horn to fiddle with the spells she had cast a month ago. “I’m going to wait inside until she does; let nopony else in. Understand?”

“Yes, Empress.”

“Yes, Empress.”

Once the spells were down, she entered the dimly lit room. She turned to close the door and set the spells back up before trotting over to the far side of the room.

The sleek, black coffin resting against the wall was still polished and had that ‘new coffin’ smell. Nightmare Moon smirked as she sat down in front of it, remembering the long argument Ebony and Haze had over what sort of coffin would be best.

Ebony had her heart set on practicality, but Haze was insistent that she take at least some measure of aesthetics in mind; this was a monumental event in her life after all.

Personally, Nightmare Moon agreed with Ebony, but kept out of the argument because it was much too amusing to watch. In the end, Haze managed to convince Ebony to use a more extravagant and ornately-designed coffin made of a rare type of wood distantly related to mahogany rather than the simple oak Ebony had planned to use.

She remembered Ebony’s last words to her as she sunk into the coffin’s interior padding, her eyes fluttering as the ritual spell slowed her heartbeat.

“I guess it is pretty comfy…”

Nightmare Moon hoped Ebony had enough cognition to enjoy that comfort because as soon as she was out, there was much lot to do. She had to catch up on current events, reintegrate into her role as Eclipse Captain and Right Hoof, and gain full understanding of her new… ‘lease’ on life.

It would be-

Skritch… skritch…

Nightmare Moon straightened. ‘Ah, that must be her now.’

The scratching was sort of… sluggish, lazy almost. It wasn’t the mad scratching of somepony desperately trying to get out, but the scratching of somepony unconsciously reaching out and dragging their hoof across the coffin’s lid.

Nightmare Moon stood and ventured closer to unclasp the locks that kept the lid in place. It wouldn’t do for her Right Hoof to wake up, forget where she was, and possibly injure herself in the process of trying to escape a dark and claustrophobic prison.

There were a lot of ponies out there that didn’t respond to well to waking up under such conditions.

She left the lid in place though; if Ebony couldn’t manage to move it out of the way even when it wasn’t locked in place, then she would be very disappointed.

But when Nightmare Moon stepped back after unclasping the last brass lock, the lid swung open a mere three seconds later. It only just barely missed grazing her muzzle; there was enough force behind it that she didn’t doubt it would have stung had it connected.

Still, she took another step back just to be safe, and watched as the body inside the coffin fell forwards with the strained gasp of a drowning pony. They landed on the ground, shivering and coughing and naked as the day they were born, carrying forward the sour stench of rot and lemons.

“Huagh! Ack!” Ebony pressed her face into the ground and coughed wetly, a few specks of blood – much too dark to be healthy – spattering the floor like paint drops. “Huagh… huagh…”

Coughing up blood? Good – that was the least severe of around a dozen possible defects she could have suffered.

Nightmare Moon was not disappointed.

“Welcome back to the waking world…” She said with a grin, bending to extend a foreleg. Ebony started and looked up, wide-eyed and frightened. Oddly, there were damp streaks on her cheeks like she had been crying. “Captain.”

“…” Ebony hesitantly took her hoof. “Nightm… Empress…” She was easily pulled up onto her hooves. Aside from some shaking, she held her own weight. “I… Where am I?”

“Do you not remember?” Nightmare Moon tilted her head as she started making circles around the smaller mare, examining every inch for abnormalities.

“Only… a little bit,” Ebony admitted. “I remember asking for help with something. A ritual spell, I think?”

“Yes. Go on.”

“I had to make a lot of these drinks and… and cast these spells,” Ebony pressed a hoof against her temple and frowned deeply. “… Mortal Recoil.”

Nightmare Moon made a full turn and stopped in front of her. “What about it?”

“That was the name of the spell, wasn’t it? The one I asked for help with. It was supposed to… to…”

Recollection flashed across Ebony’s face and she uttered a small gasp. The hoof against her temple slid across her face and her pupils shone a solid red against the black sclera of her sunken eyes, reacting to the sudden surge of alarm.

“Did… it work, Empress? Am I…?”

Ignoring her captain’s newfound pungent scent, Nightmare Moon leaned in close, tasting it on her tongue as she bared her teeth in a grin. “I believe so. Well done, Ebony – you are now a lich.”

“…” Ebony stared up at her, shocked and surprised and excited and everything in between, as she moved her hoof to rest over her silent chest. “It’s done? It… It’s done.”

Nightmare Moon chuckled, feeling a sense of pride as her Right Hoof explored her undead state. “That it is. But there is no time to stand around – you’ve been gone a little under a month, and there is much to catch up on. Come.”

“The Rouge Knights have invaded once more during your absence. They attacked Manehatten at 7:43 pm on January the sixth, and managed to escape with two more unicorns. The property damage was minimal, fortunately. However, the number of guards in the city has decreased by four.”

“Four?”

“They left to join Celestia and Luna, most likely.”

Ebony grimaced and her eyes shone brightly. “Hmm…”

Nightmare Moon inwardly smirked at the reactions the smaller mare was eliciting in the ponies they passed. Guards faltered at the sudden return of their captain before clumsily saluting, the castle’s staff balked at the sight of her glowing eyes and washed-out colours, and the nobility pressed handkerchiefs against their noses to block out the smell of death.

The latter seemed to bother Ebony the most considering she kept placing her hoof in front of her face and exhaling, her face scrunching in confusion.

“The Resonator still works perfectly…” Nightmare Moon continued. “Twilight’s managed to tamper with the inner workings so that there’s now an option to create an AOE blast that will close any Fractures in the sphere in case the beam option is out of the question.”

“She’s still loyal?”

“Loyal? No. Never. But under my control? Yes. So long as those crystals are still in her body, she can’t resist my commands.”

Ebony nodded and spared a small amount of sympathy for the augmented alicorn. She was the enemy, of course, but how could anypony not cringe at the sight of those crystals poking through flesh? Twilight moved around like it did not bother her, too… and that just made it creepy.

… Then again… Ebony was now a walking corpse, so she didn’t really have room to talk about what was creepier.

Seriously, it was weird not feeling the comforting lub-dub of her heart anymore; Ebony’s hoof kept going back to her chest as she walked alongside the Empress.

“Empress?”

“Hm?”

“What about our newest member?”

“Ah yes – Fade’s marefriend,” Nightmare Moon shrugged in a so-so manner as they turned a corner. The large double doors leading to the courtyard came into view. “Nothing new to report there, thankfully. She seems to have calmed her attitude a great deal lately; I can only assume it’s because of Fade’s influence.”

Ebony chuckled.

Fade getting somepony to calm down – she never thought she’d hear that sentence. Good on him, though.

“She continues to improve physically,” Nightmare Moon continued. “You know I dislike her attitude, Ebony, but her prowess is very impressive. I didn’t expect somepony who worked in a brothel to be such an accomplished flyer, not until I realized who she was,” With a flare of her horn, she reached out to telekinetically push open the double doors. “She’s already surpassed Rainbow Dash if we go by that accursed pegasus' record.”

Sunlight was… not kind to Ebony.

Flinching away from the light, Ebony hissed through her teeth in displeasure, and squinted while raising a hoof to shield her face. Her surroundings were blurred by golden rays, and she had to stand still in case she tripped up. She could hear guards training out here – the clashing of weapons, their voices – and didn’t want to lose face after being gone so long.

“Familiar, Ebony?”

Ebony blinked several times until the vague shapes and colours regained their details, and put her hoof back down to look around. “... Yeah, it’s all coming back to me.”

There was the sparring ring – it filled her with pride to recall her victories – where two guards were duelling with a crowd watching and cheering, there was the line of training dummies against the far wall, and there was the blacksmith’s shed.

“Fitter’s shed is bigger.” Ebony noticed.

“The stubborn stallion’s finally taken on an apprentice,” Nightmare Moon replied. “Requested another room just a week ago.”

Ebony nodded and cast her gaze over the Eclipse in the yard.

She could recognize a lot of faces: Private Tremor by the dummies with Ensign Scarlet next to him, Lieutenant Fissure observing the sparring match with his usual bored expression, Sergeant Moon Current talking to…

‘Miasma!’

A smile pulled at her lips as she recognized the armor of the Praetorian Guard and the imposing size of its wearer, even with their back turned to her.

“She’s done an admirable job standing in for you,” Nightmare Moon said, noticing her gaze. “If you wish to speak to her, then do so. I have business to attend to shortly, so I think I’ll take my leave,” She made to leave, but stopped and fixed her with a questioning look. “Was there anything else you needed to know?”

“No, Empress,” Ebony shook her head. “I think that’s it.”

“Contact me if you feel unusual, and do try to take it easy for a while, hm? Wouldn’t want any of your parts to fall off.”

“Heh… yeah…”

Nightmare Moon’s lips twitched as if she wanted to smile with the joke, too, but…

Wait, that was just a joke, right? She wouldn’t actually fall apart if-

Oh, Nightmare Moon was walking away.

“…” Ebony worriedly looked down at her limbs before cautiously trotting across the courtyard. The Eclipse guards did a double-take at her sudden appearance, but saluted dutifully anyway, and Ebony ignored their non-subtle grimaces of disgust and unease as she raised her voice to be heard. “Miasma!”

Miasma turned at her call, blinked owlishly, and then gave a small smile. “Ebony,” To anypony who knew her closely, it was an extravagant and bright exclamation. “You’re back.”

“Yeah – good to be back, too,” Ebony rubbed the back of her neck as Miasma walked over to her after dismissing the stunned Sergeant. “I can’t really… remember anything in that coffin, but I think it was a little stuffy.”

Miasma scrutinized her carefully, nose wrinkling. “… You smell.”

“I thought as much. Everypony I passed sort of made a face and…” Ebony shrugged, mildly embarrassed. “Apparently, there’s a mixture I can bathe in that eliminates the smell; otherwise, I’ll have to just wear an air freshener around my neck.”

“So the ritual worked? You’re undead?”

“My heart isn’t beating, so I guess so.”

“You’re still breathing.”

Ebony frowned and let out all her breath in one long exhale. She didn’t take another breath, and waited for the tightness in her chest, for her lungs to kindly inform her brain that they would very much like some oxygen so they could both continue living.

… Nothing happened.

Her lungs didn’t complain and her brain kept chugging along.

“Cool,” Miasma nodded, impressed, as Ebony refilled her lungs with useless air. “Fade will get a kick out of this. He’s around here somewhere,” She briefly looked in the air and settled her gaze on a spot behind Ebony’s head. “Speak of the devil…”

Ebony made to turn in place, but a heavy weight smacked into her side and almost sent her toppling to the ground. “Agh! Wha-”

“Ay, Ebony! Missed having you around here, yeah?” Fade laughed, still the same appearance-wise aside from a scar on his cheek that was especially noticeable when he smiled. “All these recruits get some sass when you don’t yell some sense into them, and my sis’ here isn’t exactly big on raising her voice above… ugh…”

His death-hug relaxed as he backed away, cheeks puffing out and eyes watering. Ebony’s opinion on her stench immediately went up a few notches.

“So I know you’re supposed to be a walking corpse, but do you really gotta smell like the ass of one? Kinda puts a damper on a touching reunion, yeah?”

“It’s nice to see you, too,” Ebony smirked and rolled her eyes. “How have things been?”

“Welp, we’re still dealing with the Cosmetic Knights running around and stealing ponies, but aside from that? Not much.”

“You have a scar on your face.”

“Eh? Ah, got that from one of those pillbug things that grow bigger, yeah? Appeared right in the middle of a shop and wrecked the place before we managed to kill it. Lucky hit, that’s all.” He shrugged.

“Everyone else?”

“Veil’s still being emo and Haze is getting off on browbeating nobles and the Royal Court,” Fade glanced over his shoulder. “And… Hey, babe! Guess who's back?”

‘Ah… her…’

Ebony’s expression soured a little as a female pegasus swooped low to come in for a gentle landing. Apparently, she had been training with several other pegasi, who visibly sagged in relief and tiredly floated back to ground level.

She didn’t really like Lightning Dust.

Oh, she was skilled, no doubts there, and Nightmare Moon’s augmentations only made her stronger, but her attitude left much to be desired. Personally, Ebony thought it was a mistake to let her into the Praetorian Guard when Fade first introduced her, but the Empress thought that her abilities were worth a bit of insubordination and wildness.

And so Ebony kept her protests to herself and welcomed the newest member of the Praetorian Guard, keeping her protests to herself even during the initiation, when Nightmare Moon modified Lightning Dust’s body so that now her coat was a deep azure, her mane a muted shade of orange with dark yellow streaks, and her pupils stretched into slits and situated in bright yellow irises.

“Ebony?” Lightning Dust’s eyebrows rose in disbelief as she landed, and then one lowered in suspicion when she fully took in Ebony’s appearance. “Yeesh, no offense, but you look like death.”

“She sort of is.” Miasma replied.

“I’m a lich,” Ebony told her. “It was what the ritual was for.”

“Huh, I didn’t think you’d actually be undead; thought that ‘reborn’ shit Nightmare Moon went on about was a metaphor or something,” Lightning Dust continued to examine her, uneasy. “So… I’m not gonna become a zombie if you bite me or anything, right?”

“Uh, no. It doesn’t work like that.”

“Okay, phew – just got all this power, and I’d hate to be a mindless moron that can’t even enjoy it.” As if it emphasize her point – and to show off – she extended her strong wings and flexed them.

“I dunno,” Fade shrugged and ran his hoof along the plumage with a sleazy grin. “I can think of at least one pony that would still enjoy it, yeah?”

She laughed and swatted his hoof away with a playful wink. “Pfft, keep it in its sheath, slowpoke.”

“Yes, this is what I wanted to see when I woke up today,” Miasma said dully. “It’s not awkward at all.”

“Was that sarcasm? Heh heh – you’re a riot!”

Ebony stumbled out of the way as Lightning Dust suddenly came forwards to lightly punch Miasma in the shoulder.

Miasma actually flinched.

Simply another reason why Ebony didn’t approve of Nightmare Moon’s decision – Lightning Dust was practically on par with Miasma in terms of physical prowess; perhaps not as strong but definitely quicker and more mobile, and if Lightning Dust went rogue for whatever reason…

‘Ugh, no – the Empress knows what she’s doing, I’m sure of it. If she thinks Lightning Dust won’t betray us, then I’ll believe it. She did say that she’s calmed down lately, so that’s something.’

“So you gonna take back position of captain?” Lightning Dust asked. “Bummer – I was set on stealing it while you were snoozing. Heh heh!”

Ebony gave a fake smile. “I bet you were…”

Fade looked between them, appeared to remember that they weren’t exactly ‘close’, and cleared his throat. “So, hey, babe…” He touched Lightning Dust’s shoulder to get her attention. “Why don’t you round up some guards and we’ll do another route? Just to double-check everything’s alright in the city, yeah?”

“Eh? We just checked,” Lightning Dust frowned before giving a shrug. “Alright, whatever – it’s another chance for me to leave your ass in the dust.”

“I’d rather leave my mouth in the ‘dust’, if you know what I mean.”

“Ew, puns – I better leave before they ruin my sense of humour. Catch ya later, hot stuff.”

“Later, babe.”

Lightning Dust took off into the air and flew away to round up some pegasi. Ebony muscles relaxed when she was gone; fellow Praetorian Guard or not, that mare rubbed her the wrong way, and death did nothing to lessen that feeling.

“She’s…” Fade grimaced as he searched for the right word. “… Difficult sometimes, but she’s super-cool, yeah? Give her a task and she gets it done insanely fast. Just, uh… give her a chance, yeah?”

“… So long as she doesn’t do anything stupid, I’ll keep smiling,” Ebony replied with a sigh. “Anyway, is my gear still where I left it, Miasma?”

“Nopony else has touched it since.” Miasma nodded.

“Okay, I’m going to go put it on, and then I’ll come out help you with the guards.”

“Alright.”

“Need me to do anything, Ebs?”

“No, nothing yet. I’ll Call if I do.”

Fade nodded. “Sweet,” Puffing out his wings, he took the air and went after Lightning Dust, shouting back, “Seriously – there’s this super-cool thing called ‘bathing’; give it a go, yeah?!”

Ebony rolled her eyes again before giving a wave to Miasma, and then trotting across the courtyard towards Fitter’s shed.

Oddly, she couldn’t wait to get back into uniform; the metal angles and points poking into her body and hefty weight had grown on her, and without it, she felt naked.

Like, ‘no fur and skin naked’, not just ‘normal naked’.

… She really hoped her fur and skin wouldn’t slough off. The book said it wouldn’t, but nopony had done necromancy, least of all a Mortal Recoil ritual, for almost a thousand years, so there was always room in her mind for paranoia.

Even if, in the long-run, a bit of decay and necrosis was a small price to pay for what she had received.

Ebony inhaled deeply through her nostrils and smiled, a sense of lightness in her bosom that she had never experienced before. Being undead – ironically – gave her a greater sense of freedom and life; she no longer felt held back by her own body’s limitations. There was no longer any need to waste her time eating or drinking or sleeping, and she could devote all that spare time to her work and her Empress.

She had no regrets.

From up high, a maid watched from a window as Ebony opened the door to the blacksmith’s shed and entered.

The caramel-coloured mare hummed and tilted her head thoughtfully. “Hmm… a most curious specimen indeed.”

With a flick of her tail, the maid moved away from the window and sauntered down the corridor.

“A life without life? How defiant. How poetic,” The maid lifted a hoof to her forehead and sighed wistfully, eyes sparkling. “What drive and determination! Oh, a ne’er do well she may be, but surely such traits can be admired no matter which side of the field one might play for?”

Turning a corner, the maid sighed again and looked to the ceiling as she walked to her destination, one hoof pressed against her chest.

“Ah, what am I saying? Sympathy for the enemy will be the undoing of my allies and I. No! If there is to be sympathy at any point, then it should be at the end of all this when the enemy is laying down their arms. We shall show them the true might of what tolerance and acceptance can do, and they shall quake with bladder-loosening terror-”

Two guards turned the corner, and the mare swiftly lowered her gaze to the floor and reduced her confident stride to an uncertain shuffle.

The guards paid no heed and passed her, their voices fading as they went down the hallway she had just came from.

And just like that, her gait and confidence were back.

“-and beg for forgiveness and the chance to be friends and more!” The maid rose up on her hind legs and pointed to the ceiling, beaming and boiling over with pride and confidence. “And of course we shall accept it; for you cannot spell pride and strength without adding and taking several letters from the word ‘humble’ and ‘merciful’.”

Twirling dramatically, the maid faced an open window and planted her hooves on the sill.

The wind blew back her mane, and she inhaled deeply, a winning grin on her face as she looked towards the bright, yellow sun.

“So hear me, Sun Goddess Celestia – I swear that we shall crush our enemies to dust in a most merciful manner, and then ruthlessly offer them friendship. By your life-giving, eye-watering, blinding glory I swear thi- eeeeeek!!”

The maid leaned too far and fell out with an undignified shriek that was cut off in a burst of green flames.

Author's Note

Note 1: Mortal Recoil - a spell that allows the caster to overcome the limitations of life such as circulation, respiration, nourishment, sleep, and cellular breakdown by utilizing magic to keep the body functioning.

Unicorns of old thought that magic could be used to transcend death itself, bringing them one step closer to the ageless immortality alicorns naturally have, and their finest scholars sought to do so. Marrow View, the first official necromancer, discovered such a way by removing the chains of the necessities of life altogether.

However, by removing that which labels us as ‘alive’, is it truly immortality or a grotesque imitation?

Note 2: A ritual spell is the term given to a magical incantation that requires several steps and/or items before the actual casting of it. Ritual spells have powerful effects, but require experience and great magical power.

The most famous user of ritual spells was Starswirl the Bearded, while the most infamous user was King Sombra.

From a strictly professional point of view, King Sombra was the better caster, as he managed to make an entire settlement vanish for over a thousand years, but most scholars would rather not give compliments to such a monster.

Chapter 47: The Old Wisp Knight

1056 AD, January 11th

Celestia’s tea time was sadly interrupted when the library’s front door burst open and allowed a well-dressed stallion in a tophat to saunter in, his coattails billowing behind him.

“Sun Goddess Celestia, it is I!” He proclaimed with a twirl of his red-haired pencil moustache. “Back from my perilous mission, and it was successful to boot!”

Celestia smiled in amusement and carefully placed her cup down on the table. “It’s good to see you, Mirage. Come – sit with me.”

“Ha ha! I came, I saw, I listened, and then I came back here again so that I may grace you with this latest infiltration’s messages,” Mirage strolled forwards, beaming with pride, and sat down at the table, continuing to boast even as Celestia prepared him a cup. “As always, the enemy was oblivious to my presence, for who would suspect a common maid to secretly bunk with the Sun and Moon Goddesses and their loyal followers? Not them, that much is certain.”

“And we’re all very grateful for what you do, Mirage,” Celestia levitated the cup over. She set it down, frowned, and cleared her throat. “Hr-ehm.”

Mirage blinked owlishly before grinning and tapping his hat. “Ah! Where are my manners?”

He concentrated for a moment, and he was swallowed by a plume of green flame that consumed his clothes, fur, and skin.

Celestia nodded in satisfaction as the changeling picked up his cup and took a sip. “Honestly, there’s no need to keep up your disguise around us, you know.”

“You are all very kind and accepting, but I’m afraid old habits die hard,” Mirage sighed woefully, his posh accent thick even with the newfound scratch of his tone and the echo that came with it. “I am at maximum comfort within another persona, so forgive me if I switch later on, Sun Goddess,” He took another sip before shrugging, and his fangs showed as he grinned. “But enough about me – at least for now – let’s talk about what I have discovered during my shadowy escapades!”

Celestia nodded, very much eager to hear about their enemy’s plans as well as how Twilight was getting along. “And what have you discovered?”

“The mystery of where the elusive Right Hoof has been solved. Captain Ebony’s loyalty was so strong that she thought it necessary to steal herself away inside a coffin so that she may be reborn and live her life without life.”

“…” As was the case with mostly everything Mirage decreed – decreed, for he never simply ‘spoke’ – Celestia took a few moments to puzzle out his words. This one left her gaping in surprise and disgust. “You don’t mean…? A lich?”

Mirage nodded, solid teal eyes sparkling with some strange emotion as he sighed again. “What drive and devotion must she possess to do such a thing? Oh, it’s so incredibly barbaric and heroically evil! It makes me shudder and tremble!”

“A lich…” Celestia shook her head. The Mortal Recoil spell had been forbidden for a reason, and now Nightmare Moon had a lich under her command; this could only be bad for them, worse so if Ebony went on to be as deadly as Marrow View.

‘But Marrow View didn’t have nefarious intentions in mind; I can’t even imagine what sort of things Ebony can do with those sorts of spells…’

No. She could, and that was more frightening than not knowing.

“Ah, but now for news that will surely make your heart soar,” Mirage’s grin grew broader, so wide that it showed each and every fang. “I have managed to deliver your and the others’ messages to Twilight the Ascended, and she has responded in turn.”

Immediately, Celestia’s mood lifted. These little snippets of how her former student was faring, they were one of the things that kept her going.

“She says that, as always, she is doing fine and that she misses each and every one of you. She also mentions that, last week, she hid a measuring tape that Usurper Nightmare Moon had been using when they working in the laboratory, and wasted three minutes and forty-two seconds of the Usurper’s life searching for it.”

Celestia laughed at that.

Twilight couldn’t do much and what she did do may not have been particularly spectacular, but the small acts of rebellion were tremendous feats of bravery in Celestia’s eyes, and she knew that many others agreed.

Mirage shared her mirth for a moment before continuing. “Twilight the Ascended also says that Usurper Nightmare Moon is still largely focusing on the Rouge Knights, and that, to her knowledge, she doesn’t have any immediate plans on dealing with us. Surely, our enemy is wary of our potential for friendship and love, wouldn’t you agree?”

‘More like she’s afraid to get hit by a Sun Strike again.’

Celestia nodded instead; shooting down Mirage was akin to denying Pinkie a wagon full of confetti after all, even if it went over his head. “Indeed. Was there anything else you found out?”

“Hmm… Ah, and it seems as though there are rumours concerning the Crystal Empire spreading around the city like a fire of sounds and words.”

“Rumours?”

Mirage lowered his voice…

Well… Celestia got the feeling like he meant to lower his voice by the way he leaned forwards and cupped a hoof to the side of his mouth, but as it was…

“They say that Crystal Rulers Cadance and Shining Armor have found something quite nefarious within the old crystal mines, and have sealed it off until they deduce exactly what it is.”

Celestia’s brow furrowed in concern. “They found something? Do you know?”

“Alas…” Mirage sighed sadly and leaned back, one hoof touching his brow. “The rumours are not as juicy as one wishes; ‘tis all that I could garner without drawing suspicion to myself.”

“Hmm…” Celestia’s lips pressed together worriedly. They hadn’t been able to communicate with the Crystal Empire since their escape; it was simply too far and too risky. She hoped they were alright. “I see. Nevertheless, you did well, Mirage; thank you for doing this.”

Mirage gobbled up the praise – perhaps literally – and stood up to snap off a military salute so fast it jostled the table. “Think nothing of it, Sun Goddess! Your dashing, rogue-like soldier is always happy to lend his skills in this fight for victory! I’m talking about myself, by the way – Mirage!”

“Y-yes, I figured as much,” Celestia cautiously held her cup before the table could be dirtied for the twelfth time that week. “Thank you again for your help. Now, I assume you’d want a moment to relax?”

Mirage’s proud grin waned and he tilted his head like a curious dog. “Rest?”

Celestia corrected herself. “I mean, I assume you’d want to, erm… enthral anypony and… perhaps anything with the capability of listening with your glorious tales?”

“Of course! That will surely raise our fighting spirits even higher! Forgive my sudden departure, Sun Goddess Celestia, but I must take my leave!”

Mirage snatched up his tea and drained it in one big gulp before slamming it down on the table – amazingly, without breaking the fragile cup – and turning to make a dash for the door.

“Aha! You seem as though you wish to spend some confidence-building time with me, sir!”

“Oh Faust, not you again! Help! Somepony help!”

Celestia stifled a chuckle as she saw a stallion run past one of the library’s windows, closely followed by a black and charismatic blur.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have done that; if the stallion’s shouts were loud enough, then-

Tap-tap-tap-tap

Celestia winced and sighed to herself. “Oh dear…”

“What?! Who is attacking us?!” Luna missed the last step, rolled forwards, and recovered without breaking pace. “Where are they?!”

Impressive, even with the fuzzy night cap deducting points.

“It’s alright, Luna,” Celestia chuckled. “It’s just Mirage on the warpath again.”

“… Oh… I see,” Luna’s body relaxed and she gave an exhale of relief before reaching up to tug the night cap off. “Sister, you really must stop doing that.”

“Why? He’s perfectly harmless, and more often than not he actually receives a lot of attention and adoration.” Celestia shrugged, watching as her sibling trudged over to sit down next to her.

“Sister, you may be alert and fully aware at noon, but there are some of us that prefer a more… nocturnal schedule,” Luna paused to crack a big yawn. “Waking to the sounds of somepony crying for help tends to put one on edge.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Lu-Lu; I had no idea. I have a handle on things, so you can go back to sleep.”

Luna yawned again and rubbed at her eyes. “Mmm… Thank you, but I’m wide awake now.”

“Tea?”

“Coffee.”

Celestia chuckled as Luna stood to trudge into the kitchen. Personally, she couldn’t stand coffee, not even as a stimulant to help her wake up, but Luna had grown a craving for the stuff.

Fortunately, Twilight had been similar in taste, and kept a steady supply of coffee in her pantry which, so far, was keeping both Luna and Sunset calm and ready for action.

‘Twilight…’

She shook the thought from her head. “Oh, by the way, Luna! There’s… Are you listening?”

“Yes, go on!” Luna called, and then murmured a curse that was barely audible beneath a clatter of pots and pans.

“Aldo wanted to speak with you about something.”

“What is it?”

“I didn’t ask,” Celestia turned her head sharply at another clatter, and frowned in concern. “Er, he said that he’d be at town hall for most of the afternoon, so you can find him there.”

Clank

Clunk

“… Very well, thank you for telling me!” Luna sounded oddly strained, as if she was lifting something heavy. Considering her strength, the only thing in the kitchen that could possibly be heavy enough to-

CLANG

Celestia jolted as the vibrations resonated through the floor and into her rump. Her tea rippled and a little bit sloshed over the cup’s rim.

…

“Luna, what on earth are you doing in there?!”

“… Perhaps I’ll see what Aldo wants now!”

“What?”

Luna hurried out of the kitchen, smiling falsely and sweating a little as she looked straight ahead. “Yes, perhaps I shall see him now. You don’t mind cleaning up, do you?”

“What?”

“Thank you, ‘Tia; you are simply the best sister!”

“Wait, what are you talking about? A-and you still have your nightcap on! Luna?”

Celestia ended up talking to the front door.

Completely and utterly confused, she stood up and headed towards the kitchen.

“… Why?! Why would the coffee be underneath there, Luna?! Why?!”

Spinning low, Rainbow Dash swept out her stick and harshly smacked it against her opponent’s ankles, and used the split second he was distracted by the pain to launch forwards with the use of her wings and kick him onto his back before neatly landing and lightly pressing the blunt end of her weapon to his throat.

Knowing he had been defeated, the griffon smirked and chuckled in approval. “Nice move.”

“Heh, thanks,” Removing the stick, Rainbow Dash returned the grin and offered her free hoof. He accepted it, and she grunted as she pulled him back up. “Seriously thought that was the end when you knocked the stick clean out of my hooves.”

“Always forget how nimble you pegasi are.” Alessio said and bowed respectfully.

Rainbow Dash returned the bow and flipped her weapon confidently as he walked off the designated ‘battle-cloud’ and joined the rest of his buddies on the spectator-cloud.

“So, who else wants to have a round? Any takers? Luigi? Still haven’t stepped up.”

“I’m content sitting by and observing your form until I have enough weaknesses to exploit.” Luigi shook his head.

“Ah, you’re a coward.”

“Future champion, too.”

“Pssh, dream on,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes playfully and twirled her weapon again. “Seriously, I’m game for another match. Does no one want to take up that offer?”

Much to Rainbow Dash’s disappointment, the griffons seemed battled out; it sucked because it always happened just as she was at the top of her game and feeling like she could take on the world.

‘S’pose I can’t blame ‘em; they were already sparring by the time I woke up. Bummer…’

Huffing and resting her stick against her shoulder, Rainbow Dash glanced over the side of the battle-cloud. They weren’t that high above Ponyville, so she was able to make out various shapes moving below without much squinting.

She saw one shape in particular, more defined than the rest due to being perched on top of the storey-high barricade that surrounded Ponyville.

A wicked grin spread across her face.

“Hey, you think the Marquees will be sore if I challenge his daughter to a fight?”

Rainbow Dash looked back to the griffons, half-expecting a negative response, but instead received a range of expressions that were both amused and uncertain.

“The Marquees doesn’t like his daughter getting into that stuff, but if it’s just sparring…” Luigi shrugged. “Although, you should expect a much more intense match.”

“Why?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously. “Is she that good?”

“She is adequate, but more importantly, she is gifted with magic,” Alessio answered. The rest of his friends nodded in agreement. “She would have a significant advantage.”

“So? We can just get her to not use magic, right?”

Rainbow Dash’s query was met with puzzled looks.

“Why would one not use all of their abilities in a match?” Luigi asked. “That would be an insult to the other opponent.”

“Eh? Well… you know, fair play and…?” Rainbow Dash trailed off and shook her head. “Never mind. Still, can’t be too exciting just perched up there watching a bunch of grazers mill about, right?”

Luigi shrugged. “Do as you wish, but don’t involve us. The Marquess’ daughter can be… err, vindictive at times.”

“Pssh…” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she balanced on the edge of the cloud and spread her wings. “Tell me about it.”

She put the stick between her teeth before diving off the cloud. There wasn’t much distance between her and Gilda, so no fancy stunts unfortunately, but she enjoyed the wind rushing through her mane nonetheless. She pulled up sharply when she was close enough and gently hovered in place.

If Gilda heard her, she didn’t make any sign of movement and continued staring out at the Everfree Forest that was beyond the fields.

She pulled the pole from her mouth. “… Hey.”

“… Hm?” Gilda swivelled her head to face her, made a face, and turned back. “Ugh, hello…”

Rainbow Dash awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. “So, uh, me and the other griffons are having this spar thing up in the clouds. Wanna join us? Show us some moves? I know you gotta have some sweet tricks up your sleeves.”

“Not wearing sleeves.”

“It’s a figure of speech!” Rainbow Dash grumbled with an eye-roll. “Jeez, it’s been, what? Almost two months? You’ve barely said anything to me!”

“Why should I?” Gilda questioned, turning her entire body this time, slender talons gripping the narrow edge of the barricade and making Rainbow Dash wish she had claws like that. “Don’t you wanna be talking with your friends. I mean, from what I gathered, I’m no longer part of that circle. Pfft – not that I even want to be; you and those other ponies are wimpy losers.”

“And you’re still a jerk! Faust, what the heck happened to you, Gilda? Seriously? You were super-cool back at flight camp, but then the next time I see you, you’re going ‘round town bullying everypony. Pinkie told me about what you did. You made Fluttershy cry, for Faust’s sake! Fluttershy!”

“Oh, what? Because she’s too much of a doormat to stand up for herself she gets special treatment? Screw you – go back to playing with sticks.”

“No, screw you!”

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to grab Gilda by the shoulder when she made to turn away, but Rainbow Dash was hardly one for planning out her actions. Regardless, she was angry and ready to let Gilda know it.

“You made a total idiot out of yourself at that party and it’s nobody else’s fault but yours!”

Gilda snarled and slapped her hoof away, spitting back, “You’re the one that did those stupid pranks!”

“Yeah, because back in flight camp, you loved dumb shit like that!”

“Well, maybe if you actually hung out with me instead of those stupid mares, then I wouldn’t have been so pissed!”

“Why the hell can’t I have other friends I want to hang out with?! You’re not the only one, ya know!”

“I used to be! We used to do everything together; I came back so it could be like old times again, but noooooo! You just had to include your new buddies, didn’t you?”

“What’s so wrong with that?”

“It was supposed to be just us! We were…” Gilda stopped, her eyes wide in realization.

“What?” Rainbow Dash pressed, still fuming. “What?!”

“Tch, forget it.”

“No, no – you were about to say something. What do you mean ‘supposed to be just us’?”

“… I just wanted to hang out with you, not anyone else. I just… Like, you know? Do all the stuff we used to do, catch up on what we’ve been up to – I wanted that, but all you cared about was introducing me to your new pony friends.”

“Well, yeah, but I thought-”

“I didn’t want to meet them! At least… at least not yet. I wanted to catch up first, but that pink airhead just kept bugging us. I felt… I felt like…”

Gilda trailed off again, but Rainbow Dash didn’t press immediately; she saw the way Gilda bristled and how she avoided eye contact. She did that when she felt uncomfortable.

“Why was she more important than me? I’m your oldest friend!”

“What?” Rainbow Dash recoiled, hovered back a few inches. “Gilda, there’s… I care about all my friends equally, there’s no-”

“Yeah, right,” Gilda snaps and turns away. “Why don’t you go find your friends? Your new favourite ones?”

Snarling in aggravation, Rainbow Dash flitted to hover in front of Gilda. The griffon grimaced and turned her head to the side, pointedly ignoring her, but Rainbow Dash ranted on anyway.

“Okay, no offense, but you’re being a total bitch, and if you don’t stop acting like one, then Marquess’ daughter or not, I’m gonna land one right in your eye!” Rainbow Dash moved closer and growled, “I love all my friends!”

“…”

“They can be the most annoying ponies on the planet – and I’m friends with Pinkie so that’s a possibility – but come hell or high water, I got their backs no matter what. That means I got your back, too, even if I wanna strangle you because you’re such a…! Nnngh!”

Gilda pulled back a little when Rainbow Dash wrung her hooves against the long sparring stick like it contained the last few drops of cider in the world. Maybe it would have even been threatening if that infuriated expression she was making didn’t look so ridiculous.

“… Hah…” Rainbow Dash sighed and stopped assaulting the poor stick, her body relaxing, not completely but somewhat. “Jeez, how did it come to this?”

“Well, to be honest…” Gilda started, a laugh coming to her, unbidden. “It’s sort of like old times, ain’t it? Us threatening to strangle each other? Can’t really do that with others because they’re so serious about it.”

“Heh, right?” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “I remember when we kept saying that at flight camp and the other students got super-nervous around us. Good times.”

“Sure were…” Gilda nodded solemnly. She blinked a few times, looked down as her talons idly scratched at the wall, and then looked back up again. “So, uh…”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“… You can’t treat ponies like you did before, Gilda. Especially not my other friends. I really, really don’t want to lose you, but if it comes down to it…”

Rainbow Dash trailed off uneasily. There was a bad taste in her mouth at the thought of cutting off Gilda from her social circle, but it just wasn’t fair to the others if she kept Gilda on despite the griffon on harassing. She hadn’t been doing it much lately – not counting the usual ‘Gilda-ness’ – and Rainbow Dash didn’t want that peace to come to an end.

Faust, why was friendship so damn complicated? At least with bad guys, you could always just hit them with a big rainbow and make everything better. Couldn’t really do that with the ponies/griffons you cared about.

But… but at least it seemed as though Gilda was considering her words. Or at least, she didn’t immediately scoff at her and call her a ‘testa d’asino’, which was a phrase not in Rainbow Dash’s vocabulary of Gryphans but could only be an insult of some sort.

“… Hn…” Gilda grunted with a look like she was about to cough up a gizzard stone. It was never a pretty sight. “Pssh… gods, you’re infecting me with your sissy… bah!”

Gilda was glaring, but Rainbow Dash started grinning; she had a good feeling this would have a positive outcome if she knew Gilda’s mannerisms.

And she was confident she did.

“Alright, now look here…” Gilda pointed one claw at her, eyes narrowing. “I may not be a… Duck!”

“Uh, okay? I mean, you look more like an eagle, but-”

“Duck, dumbass!!”

Rainbow Dash briefly heard a faint whistle from behind, like the one she often heard when Pinkie’s tail twitched and everypony scrambled for cover as a random object inexplicably fell from the sky, and then Gilda grabbed her and pulled her back as part of the barricade blew apart in a shower of sawdust and splinters.

Several nicked her in the back before Gilda managed to stabilize in the air and felt it safe to let her go to fly on her own. Rainbow Dash did so and clutched her weapon tightly, turning to face the barricade and the section that had been broken off.

“What the hell?!”

She could hear sounds coming from the other side: the high-pitched cries of the gentle, otherworldly grazers and the deep, resonating bellows of the lion-things with three eyes – the griffon guards called them ‘tri-prowlers’, which was pretty lame in Rainbow Dash’s opinion but she couldn’t think of a better name and-

Oh right – what the hell?!

“Did you see what hit us?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Gilda looked over her shoulder and nodded weakly. “Yep.”

Rainbow Dash turned around to see a very messed up black bear lying in a pool of dark purple blood in the streets below. It was facing away from them, but there was no missing the extra set of legs and scorpion-like tail.

Many of Ponyville’s residents approached the bear cautiously while the rest wisely ran inside their homes and locked up.

“What are you doing?!” Rainbow Dash cried, making the curious citizens jump and look up. “You guys will run from bunnies, but get all up in that thing’s business!” She made a shooing motion with her stick and a few ponies slinked away in shame. “Get! Go do something not dangerous!”

“I think it’s dead.” Gilda murmured.

“GRRAAAAAGGH!!”

“But that’s not.”

The flapping of wings signalled the arrival of the griffon guards as they hastily leapt off their cloud. Alessio ordered Natale to go for their weapons while he, Vittorino, and Luigi surrounded Rainbow Dash and Gilda, bearing their wooden poles and watching the barricade closely as the roars from behind it grew closer.

“Everyone get to safety!” Vittorino ordered, though it was the roars that stirred the citizens into activity. Panicked shouts and cries for the alarm to be signalled filled the air as Alessio turned back around. “Mistress Gilda, you must get to town hall with the Marquees. You too, Miss Dash.”

“What?!”
“What?!”

Gilda shook her head. “No way. That’s one of those Wisp Knights, right? I totally handled myself back at the treehouse, so I’m staying to help.”

“Me too! I’m a Wonderbolt in training, and you guys have seen me fight anyway. Not to brag, but I’m pretty good.”

The griffon guards looked conflicted: Alessio looked to Natale for support, but he merely shrugged helplessly. Vittorino was no help either and since neither guard seemed willing to physically force Gilda to safety…

“Ah, per amore degli…!” Alessio slapped his hand across his face with a frustrated sigh. “I hope Luigi brings enough spears.”

“HRRAAAAH!!”

Rainbow Dash felt chills go down her spine as she spun in place, clutching the stick tight and swallowing hard. “Y-yeah, you’re not the only one…”

She had only seen a dead – were they even alive in the first place? – Wisp Knight before, but from the description of those that witnessed one first-hoof, they sounded like trouble. Big trouble, not just regular old trouble, too.

Another roar shook her down to the bones and with building dread she realized she could now hear footsteps.

Great, heavy footsteps of something very fucking angry.

Rainbow Dash swallowed and steeled herself for when the knight would bust down the barricade. Maybe her stick wouldn’t do much, but she had her speed; she’d take the majority of the knight’s attention, it made sense since she could out-fly it. Hell, they couldn’t even fly, right? At least she hoped not. That would be bullshit. Great, heavy piles of-

“Hey, quit shaking…”

Gilda nudged her from the side and when Rainbow Dash turned her head, she saw the griffon smirking cheekily.

“Seriously, you’re making me look bad.”

“…” Rainbow Dash laughed. “Screw you.”

“Screw y-”

A shadow fell over them as an immense figure in ashen-grey armor leapt clear over the barricade, swinging a misshapen object on what appeared to be a length of chain.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes bugged. “Oh shit.” She muttered in an oddly even tone that didn’t quite fit the frantic way she darted to the side.

Neither did the voice-cracking yelp she gave when the misshapen object snagged a few hairs from her tail when it smashed a hole in the street.

Well, losing a few awesome-points was worth being able to keep her insides where they belonged, right?

“DIE!!” The knight roared and quickly yanked on the thick, white chain so the club at the end could-

“That’s a fucking skull!” Rainbow Dash cried as she dodged away from the swing.

Her mind was working fast and had more important things to focus on than the ‘how’ and ‘what’ concerning the knight’s weapon, but as was expected of any pegasus worth their wings, her keen eyes picked up the skull’s details as it skipped across the street and reduced the Flower Trio’s kiosk to rubble.

The skull was definitely draconic; Twilight had shoved enough biology books in her face to hardwire some snippets of information into her brain. Rainbow Dash didn’t know enough to determine if it belonged to a dragon or a drake or a wyvern, but she knew that the owner must have recently ‘parted’ with it because the bone was bloodstained and still covered in chunks of flesh.

‘Poor bastard.’

The knight yanked on the skull’s spine that conveniently served as a makeshift chain and whipped it out again, this time at Alessio. He went low, ducking beneath the skull as it cracked the side of a building and charging forth to crack the knight upside the head with one end of his stick.

It did little besides make the monster bristle in rage and spit smoke, plated armor vibrating in place as it pulled the skull back and heft it up by using an empty eye socket as a hold.

“Look for holes!” Alessio shouted. “Try and get the smoke to filter out!”

‘Holes?’ Rainbow Dash carefully searched the knight as it whipped back and forth, growling at anyone who came in close. “I don’t see anything!”

“She’s right!” Natale cried. “The cursed creature’s barely scratched!”

“I’ll put in some dents!” Gilda said, flying in closer.

The knight saw her advance and hefted the skull up higher before bringing it down. Gilda flew fast, and went under the skull before it could crush her into the road and spun around to extend her glowing talons.

“Percorso di fuoco – alzati e consumare!”

The golden light surrounding her claws shot forth and solidified into bright red and orange flames. The flames scorched the knight’s back for little more than a second before it wrenched the skull free from the ground and used the broad cranium to block the flames.

Seeing her chance, Rainbow Dash sped towards the knight’s unprotected back and used her stick like a jousting lance. “Grrah!”

Clunk

Her stick bounced out of her hooves and she awkwardly slammed into the monster. She felt her bottom lip bust open and blood dribble down her chin as she flew away.

‘Faust, I’m a dumbass! Why’d I think that would work?’

If her opponent was flesh and blood, then the stick might have pierced their flesh at the speed she was travelling, but this knight was all metal and smoke – no dice.

But she had to try something instead of hovering on the sidelines, watching as the others risked their lives trying to put down this thing.

“You alright?” Alessio was suddenly at her side, concerned. “That was a pretty hard smash.”

She waved him off. “M’fine…” One hoof nursed her bleeding lip as she glared down at the knight; it had successfully fended off Gilda’s flames and was now trying to catch her as she flew around in circles. “We really need those spears.”

“Luigi’s a fast flyer…” Alessio said, looking in the direction of the treehouse. “He should be back any-”

A large, white mass pushed between them with a sound like, “Pardon me!”

“What?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes watered as she followed the blur, cooing in awe as it tackled the knight and lifted it into the air just long and high enough to punt it back over the barricade where it could cause no further damage to the town. “Whoa…”

She made for the barricade as well, clearing the top and flying out over the fields beyond. She was just in time to see Celestia, soaring high above the Wisp Knight, cast down a barrage of fireballs, each the size of her head.

The monster held up the skull to fend off the flames as it climbed out of the dirt crater it made on impact.

“Luigi has gone to warn my sister,” Celestia said without taking her eyes and magic off the knight. There were spears and halberds floating close to her, wreathed in a golden aura. “We need ice to weaken its armor, so right now, we’re just focusing on keeping it distracted and away from the village!”

One of the floating spears moved towards Rainbow Dash when she was a few feet away as if she were some living magnet. She wrapped her hooves around the hilt, grateful and feeling much more confident with its weight. When Gilda and the griffon guards arrived, the spears were levitated into their grasps, too.

Below, the Wisp Knight lunged out of the radius of Celestia’s fireballs like a pouncing cat. It dug its sharp gauntlets into the ground and gouged several inches of soil before it came to a stop. The faceless helm looked up at them, and it really was impressive how it could radiate so much rage without any form of expression.

“We should form a ring,” Alessio suggested. “Keep its attention split. There are more of us after all.”

The Wisp Knight’s left arm started trembling violently and the tips of its claws started emitting white light.

Alessio stuttered. “U-um…”

Screaming and emitting an explosion of smoke from the tiny crevices in its armor, the knight swiped at empty air… and promptly clawed it open into a long, glowing white tear that hummed with a headache-inducing drone.

Rainbow Dash squinted against the painful rays of otherworldly light and sighed, “You just had to say it, didn’t you?”

Author's Note

Note 1: Bone Flail - the ghastly remains of a creature that’s life was abruptly cut short by a rampaging Wisp Knight.

It appears to be the skull and spine of a dragon at first glance, but the size and possession of a second row of teeth mark it as a wyvern, distant non-sentient cousins to the dragons, known for their smaller and more agile body structure and poisonous spit. Wyverns can be found almost anywhere in the world, but prefer places with warmer climates and an abundance of greenery.

The Wisp Knight that wields this unusual weapon was the first of its kind, and recalls the name 'Caed' with a resonance of nostalgia.

Note 2: Changeling culture is an enigma, and little is known about their hives and caste systems. Some measure of individuality and free thinking must exist however, seeing as there are changelings in Equestria who have long left their hives and 'assigned duties' of their own volition. They live as free Equestrians who are prone to work involving positive emotions such as bakers, teachers, and escorts - the latter is particularly popular amongst changelings.

Mirage moved to Equestria in 1051 AD and has since travelled all over, capturing the hearts of many ponies with his charm and charisma, or so he says.

Chapter 48: Uneasy Truce

1056 AD, January 11th

The Fracture droned and glowed with its nauseating presence for all about two seconds before the Wisp Knight stepped in and was swallowed whole as the anomaly winked out of existence.

“Oh…” Rainbow Dash wiped her eyes and looked around. “Did he give up?”

Vzzzt

“DIIEE!!”

“Nope!!” Rainbow Dash cried as she awkwardly dove to the side. The Wisp Knight plummeted past her and landed back on soil. “What?!” She looked up and back down, cursing. “Aw, seriously?! They can teleport now?!”

“Heh – evens the playing field, eh, Dash?” Gilda laughed breathlessly.

“Playing fields are tipped like you wouldn’t believe!”

Rainbow Dash flew to the Wisp Knight’s left side as it howled and swung its weapon up at Celestia, who hovered back out of its reach. She went in and stabbed at the back of its knee, but the monster wasn’t even fazed, and it almost tore her head from her shoulders when it turned to face her with a backhanded swipe.

“Hey, over here!”

Alessio swooped in from behind and smacked the knight upside the helmet with the axe part of his halberd, enraging it enough to try and go after him by throwing out the skull.

“Diavolo!”

Vittorino came in next and landed a hit of his own, and by the time the knight reeled its weapon back in and turned, Celestia bombarded it with another salvo of fireballs. Blind from the flashing fires, the knight ripped into the air again and slinked into the Fracture.

“It’s teleporting again!” Gilda shouted over the hungry roars of fire as it ate away at the greenery. Rainbow Dash saw her fly through the smoke, looking around with a spear clutched in her talons.

“Be on your guard and don’t stop moving!” Celestia cried. “It might try to attack from above again!”

Rainbow Dash instinctively looked up, and for a brief moment was relieved that there was no falling suit of armor before that relief was replaced by paranoia. She frowned and started flying around the area, casting furtive glances this way and that.

‘Ah crap – where the hell are you gonna pop out from?’

It already tried attacking from above, so if it had even the slightest hint of strategic planning, then it’d try attacking from a different angle. Fortunately, she and everyone else could fly, so by default they had the advantage on mobility and speed; it shouldn’t be too difficult to keep out of its range.

Vzzt

The air tore open several yards on her left and the monster dove out, flailing and whipping the skull around in a full circle. It almost caught her, and it came close enough for her to pick up the nauseating stench of rot and death; there may have been a few maggots that poked their heads out of a bit of flesh near the eye socket.

At least they were having a good time because Alessio wasn’t.

He managed to dodge the skull, but the knight stretched out its right hand on a tendril of smoke to snag his hindleg and yank him down with its sheer weight. Rainbow Dash swore she heard a crack as she darted in to the griffon’s assistance.

“Hang on, dude!”

The knight and Alessio hit the ground at roughly the same time, but only the former got back up immediately, completely unaffected by the fall and more pissed than ever. It took hold off the skull with both hands and raised it high above its head with a guttural growl. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and took off the training wheels.

“DIIEE!!”

Flashing by in a blur of multiple hues, Rainbow Dash swept Alessio out from what was undoubtedly certain death.

“Jeez!” She rotated them both so they went back up in the air, briefly looking over her shoulder to see the knight wrench its club free from the dirt and pounce away as a jumbo-sized fireball was sent down. “Hey, you okay?!”

“My leg is broken,” Alessio calmly stated without a hint of discomfort. “Thank you for the assistance, but my wings and talons are still able – we must return to the fight.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded. She turned to look over her shoulder, grimacing as the knight threw a tantrum and started swinging its club all over the place, seemingly just as upset at the ground and the air as it was with them. “Faust, look at it go. How the hell are we gonna get close?”

“Your night princess commands frost…” Alessio gave a slight twitch as he flapped his wings and moved away to hover on his own. Rainbow Dash admired his resolve. “She will be the one to turn the tide of this battle.”

The knight slashed at the ground and went through another Fracture. Rainbow Dash sighed irritably and stayed close to Alessio; he might be able to shrug off a broken leg, but even the slightest injury could completely throw off your flying – she knew that from personal experience.

Fortunately, the knight decided to reappear close to Celestia instead of continuing after Alessio. It flashed in a few metres above her and swung, but Celestia dodged out of the way and grabbed the skull with telekinesis.

The knight fell but with the spinal column still clutched in one hand, it jerked to a stop in mid-air, suspended and swaying as the princess made a strained face from the sudden pull of its hefty weight.

Rainbow Dash suddenly spotted a dark dot flying across Ponyville towards them. She cupped her hooves around her mouth and shouted, “Yeah, you got it, princess! Luna’s almost here, so just hang in there!”

Celestia looked at her, affronted.

“Uh… n-no pun intended!”

The Wisp Knight roared and pulled at the spine like that would make gravity come back. It did make Celestia wince and sweat from the effort of keeping her hold, but Luna was past Ponyville’s barricade by now, and she was close enough that Rainbow Dash could see her mouth set in a tight frown and her horn glowing as she prepared a spell.

She looked pretty badass.

Rainbow Dash whooped as Luna sped straight at the flailing knight like she was in a joust. “Get ‘em, princess! Get ‘em!”

The Wisp Knight twisted sections of its armor until it was facing Luna and swiped at the air a split-second after Luna fired off a twinkling ball of ice from her horn.

The Fracture swallowed the spell whole and it was only with quick reflexes that Luna managed to pull back in time, a panicked grimace spreading on her face as the white light seemed to stretch out a little to invite her in.

She flapped backwards, but the knight dove through the Fracture to grab her, never mind the fact that it had nothing to push off of to achieve that momentum.

‘Huh – yeah, good one,’ Rainbow Dash swore under her breath as she propelled forwards. ‘Talk about physics when there’s some creepy asshole literally flipping reality.’

Luna landed on the ground with a crack that sent chills through Rainbow Dash’s body. She lifted her spear and aimed for the back of the knight’s helmet, but it pounced off of Luna and dove through another portal.

“Oh come on!” Rainbow Dash snarled. “This is stupid! It’s just gonna keep teleporting everywhere!”

“Urgh…” Luna rose from the dirt and lifted herself into the air, rubbing at her chest. “Quite a welcoming…”

“Are you okay, Luna?!”

“Fine, sister…”

Rainbow Dash looked to her right, where Celestia was gathering the skull and spine into a tight ball. She turned and gave it a quick blast of magic that sent it sailing high into the sky where it would hopefully fall somewhere in the Everfree.

At least they wouldn’t have to worry about that thing now.

She ascended alongside Luna to where the griffons were flying around in a tight formation, talons flexing around their weapons as they searched for where the jagged tear of light would appear next.

“They can teleport now?” Luna grumbled.

Celestia nodded with a dark grimace. “This one can. It has no weak points as far as we can see either. No missing limbs, no ruptures in its armor – nothing we can exploit.”

“It has no weapon anymore, so that’s something.” Rainbow Dash said, looking over her shoulder.

She had a sneaking suspicion that the knight would come out from behind, although how it managed to know where they were despite being in the middle of teleporting was beyond her.

Hell, maybe it wasn’t even teleporting; she wouldn’t be surprised if the knight just went into a ghost-form and floated around the area. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing to-

Rainbow Dash saw a visual distortion on the ground a few yards away.

“Hey, there! Over there!” She jerked her hoof at the spot several times as the distortion grew into a glowing fissure of light. The knight was stepping out of it, a tall dark shadow against the Fracture. “Er, ah, t-ten o’clock! Ten o’clock!”

“I have it!” Luna swivelled in place, reared back, and then rocked her head forwards to blast a stream of frosty wind.

The shadow took a step back in surprise and rolled to the side. The wind blanketed the grass in frost, turning the blades of grass white and sharp with cold.

“Aha! I continue to remain warm and content!”

Rainbow Dash froze when she heard the voice. ‘Wait… what?’

She looked again – really looked.

“Uh, guys? I think we have more company…”

Rising up from where he – it sounded like a ‘he’ – had ended up after rolling, the armored monkey-dude dusted off his arms and looked up at them. They were a fair distance away, but Rainbow Dash’s could easily see the intense scrutiny in his mismatched eyes and the hard line his lips formed. He looked a lot like the Wisp Knight, at least in shape and form, but on a smaller scale and with a bit more ‘liveliness’ in appearance.

Gilda flapped alongside her and sharply inhaled. “It’s them.”

“Who?”

“The guys that attacked Canterlot.” Gilda scowled and her grip on her halberd tightened.

“Seriously?”

Rainbow Dash heard the griffons and princesses approach, too, as more figures came out of the Fracture. These must have been the Rouge Knights that had been stirring up trouble all over Equestria.

Ponyville had been lucky enough to avoid being targeted, but Rainbow Dash had heard enough stories from the Wonderbolts when they came through with news to know how they literally appeared from thin air and start rounding up ponies, mostly unicorns.

Regardless of age.

She clenched her teeth and swallowed anxiously.

The Rouge Knight that had first stepped through matched her glare evenly. In his right hand, a long glaive tapped against the ground from either anticipation or boredom; the three other knights that came out after him had their shields and weapons up – featureless helms making their faces unreadable – so she had to guess the tapping was from the former.

The helmless Rouge Knight sniffed and shifted his weight to one leg. “… Greetings, horses.”

…

Rainbow Dash made a face and, just like everyone else, turned to the princesses.

“…” Celestia shared a look with Luna before turning back, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I-”

Vzzt

“DIIIEEE!!”

The knight popped out of a Fracture directly in the middle of their group, swinging wildly in all directions as it fell forwards.

It was by pure luck that everyone managed to get away without being grabbed; the griffons were nimble enough to dodge while Celestia and Luna had thrown up arcane barriers in front of themselves, and the knight’s claws bounced off.

Rainbow Dash flew back, but one of the monster’s claws nicked her across the face, and she felt blood well up against the torn flesh; two drops sailed off and fell to the soil.

She ignored the slight sting and glared down at the Wisp Knight as it landed on the ground on all fours. It craned its faceless helm to stare up at her, plumes of smoke pouring out from crevices too small to take advantage of.

She saw its left gauntlet start glowing again, and prepared herself for-

“Damien!!”

The shout rang clear over the fields.

To Rainbow Dash’s astonishment, the Wisp Knight turned as well, still crouched like a dog.

The dark smoke that wreathed its body suddenly pulled back within the armor, and only the tiniest of wisps curled out, almost hesitantly.
Rainbow Dash blinked owlishly, looked to her side to see everyone else staring with just as much confusion, and then looked back again.

She watched as the Rouge Knight – the one with mismatched eyes – strode forwards, seemingly unafraid of the creature that still towered over him by a few inches despite being crouched.

The Wisp Knight silently stared at him.

“Damien…” The Rouge Knight repeated, stopping when he was a few yards away. He looked… sad. “Damien, do you remember me? Knight Enforcer Caed?”

The Wisp Knight silently stared at him.

“Do you remember when we argued for three days straight over who was fastest with their weapons?” ‘Caed’ gave a small smile. “We had all of our knights involved, didn’t we? We sparred with them spectating, but the matches always ended in a draw, and no one could say for certain who was fastest.”

The Wisp Knight silently stared at him.

“… We jested with one another a lot, didn’t we? I made light of that ridiculous moustache you insisted on grooming night and day, and you were fond of mocking my speeches and interests,” He gave a short laugh. “Personally, I think you were just jealous; the knights love my speeches.”

The Wisp Knight trembled and uttered something like an airy snort.

“But… the truth is… I respected you. You were one of the strongest warriors I’ve ever had the luck of fighting alongside. More than that… you were everything the Old Tales said that a knight should be – honourable, loyal, chivalrous… and willing to fight for those that could not defend themselves.”

The Wisp Knight silently stared at him.

“I’m…” Caed lowered his head, clenched his empty fist, and looked back up, pained. “We were… lost for a bit after you were killed by the enemy. And then… put into that prison. The knights lost some of their resolve, especially the ones that you had trained personally, and it was a while before they recovered. Yes, you had that much of an impact on them. Do you remember any of them, Damien? Do you remember Leon? Nathaniel? Sybil?”

The Wisp Knight groaned, a sound like bending metal, and dug furrows in the dirt with its claws.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like in that suit or how it twists your mind… but please, for the Rouge Knight Order’s sake… for mine… please try to remember. Try to come back. I do not want to hurt you, I really don’t want to…”

The Wisp Knight rocked back onto its heels and clutched at its helmet with another metallic moan.

Caed took another step closer, empty hand reaching out. “Damien… do you remember me?”

The Wisp Knight scrambled forwards, stumbling and staggering until it was on both legs and stretching out its arms, black smoke surrounding it like a miniature storm until its form was barely noticeable beneath the thick miasma until…

Caed moved forwards faster than Rainbow Dash could process.

A shower of sparks and a horrible ripping sound filled the air as Caed blurred past the Wisp Knight, both hands clutching the long hilt of his glaive.

The Wisp Knight remained silent as an ugly gash in its waist bled smoke.

Caed blurred back the other way.

The Wisp Knight remained silent as it collapsed to its knees, smoke billowing from two gashes that seemingly just appeared in its back.

“Caed…”

Caed turned, now standing in front of the kneeling knight, and swallowed hard. “Goodbye, my friend.”

Rainbow Dash winced as the glaive’s blade pierced through the knight’s helm and the body fell apart like a shoddy jigsaw puzzle.

‘Whoa…’

Caed pulled in his weapon and laid a palm against the impaled helm for a moment before tugging it off and dropping it amongst the rest of the pieces.

“…”

One of the other Rouge Knights stepped forwards, reached out, paused, and drew the hand back. “Knight Enforcer?”

“I am fine, Esther. Damien has… He is at peace. It is a day to be happy.”

He didn’t look happy.

The knight, ‘Esther’ – sounded female – finally turned to look up at her, the griffons, and the princesses. “Knight Enforcer? The horses and griffons?”

“Hey, we’re ponies!” Rainbow Dash called out.

Esther leaned in towards Caed as if she was whispering; Rainbow Dash was too far away to hear anyway, and the helmet blocked her lips from view so no lip-reading.

On a whim, she looked back at the princesses again. Celestia and Luna were already talking between themselves in hushed tones.

‘Yeesh…’ Rainbow Dash allowed herself a moment to just breathe and relax. The situation was still tense, but at least the Wisp Knight had been dealt with, so they weren’t in any immediate danger. ‘Out of the frying pan and into another… less heated frying pan.’

“Hey, Dash.”

“Uh?” Rainbow Dash blinked and turned. “Oh, Gilda – hey. Crazy stuff, huh?”

“Tell me about it,” Gilda let out a tired breath. “This creep was tougher than the other one that appeared at the library.”

“Hey, that reminds me…” Rainbow Dash turned further and scanned the griffons hovering by, still on guard. “How’s Alessio? His leg’s jacked.”

“Still flying, so can’t be that jacked,” Gilda answered with a shrug. “Don’t worry about it; griffons are tough. He just needs to keep off it for a few weeks or something,” She perked up suddenly and looked off towards Ponyville. “Jeez, about time…”

Rainbow Dash followed her gaze and saw Luigi flying over towards them with Marquees Aldo at his side. Both had their weapons out, but lowered them when they noticed that the Wisp Knight was no longer a threat. Still, they watched the gathered knights below with caution and wary familiarity.

“Fastest flyer, eh?” Gilda jested.

Luigi flushed and mumbled something about ‘ditzy pony interference’.

The marquees frowned deeply when he saw the weapon in Gilda’s talons. “Gilda, why didn’t you leave? You could have been killed.”

“Hey, I totally helped out a bunch the last time one of these monsters attacked, so why wouldn’t I stay to help again?”

“I don’t like you getting in the way of danger.”

“She handled herself pretty well,” Rainbow Dash interjected, mostly out of sympathy because she knew exactly what it was like to have an overprotective dad. Out of love, sure, but there came a time when daughters needed to do things for themselves. “And anyway, her thick head makes her a super-good brawler.”

Gilda nodded proudly. “Exactly!” Her grin turned into a scowl a moment later. “Wh-?! Hey!”

Aldo gave that infamous ‘Disapproving Dad Stare’ and shook his head. Also disapproving.

“Ponies! Griffons!”

Like everyone else, Rainbow Dash turned with slight alarm at the unfamiliar tone that, for some odd reason, sent chills down her spine. The Knight Enforcer had approached them when they weren’t looking, but still kept a cautious distance.

Though that probably couldn’t be helped seeing as they were still a few metres in the air.

“I am Knight Enforcer Caed, leader of the Rouge Knight Order,” Planting the pommel of his glaive in the dirt, Caed slapped his other forearm across his armored chest. “Earlier, I was almost struck by a ball of ice: did you intend bodily harm or was it bad aim?”

“I…” Luna furrowed her brow. “Neither! I was trying to hit the Wisp Knight.”

“So you did not intend bodily harm on my person?”

“No. The Wisp Knight was teleporting through the use of Fractures; when that one appeared…” She gestured with a nod of her head to the glowing anomaly behind the knights. “I just reacted.”

Caed scratched his chin and narrowed his eyes. “That makes sense. Very well – since you did not intentionally try to kill me, I will not intentionally try to kill you either. So I apologize in advance if at any point my weapon stabs you without my permission or knowledge.”

“… Uh… I see?”

“Thank you for understanding, talking pony,” Caed dipped his head respectfully, a gesture that surprised Rainbow Dash. “Now, we must take our leave. I bid you fare-”

“Wait, what? No! I mean… wait, what?” Celestia grunted in confusion and shook her head, holding both forehooves out. “Don’t go just yet! I wish… We wish to speak with you.”

“Speak?” Caed echoed with a curious tilt of his head. “About what?”

“…” Celestia looked at Luna with a ‘is he serious’ expression.

Luna shrugged in response before turning to Caed. “Perhaps why you are attacking our settlements and taking ponies?”

“Ah, I see,” Caed nodded with a tone of enlightenment. “Yes, you are not in alliance with the one called ‘Empress Nightmare Moon’, so it is only fair you understand our reasons for attacking. Knights!”

He turned in place and the three knights accompanying him straightened with a clatter of shifting armor.

“We have faced off against equines for near three months, but I implore you to set aside your valour and combat expertise so that we may parlay with this group without unnecessary incident. They are not allied with our enemy, so keep your weapons at your sides, and if you get struck by a stray iceball, bear in mind that it may have been an accident or the result of bad aim!”

Rainbow Dash saw Luna shake her head with a sigh out of the corner of her eye.

“Are my words clear to you all?”

“Yes, Knight Enforcer!” The three knights chimed, slapping their forearms across their chests.

“Ponies and griffons!” Caed turned back to them. “As per your desire, we shall parlay. However…” He raised one of the slender digits on his hand – ‘fingers’, Rainbow Dash sometimes heard Spike call his claws. “I ask that one of my knights be allowed to gather Damien’s… th-the Irregular’s remains and return through the Fracture to dispose of them.”

“… Very well.” Celestia nodded.

“Thank you, Miss…?”

“Celestia. Just Celestia, if you don’t mind.”

“Thank you, Celestia.”

Caed made a gesture with one hand and the knight in the middle of the trio moved forwards to gather up the Wisp Knight’s armor. Some were larger than his torso, but they lifted them ease and marched back to the Fracture.

“If you don’t mind…” Celestia began as she slowly descended. “I would like for us to talk here, in this field. Your presence may cause a panic amongst the village.”

Luna gave a subtle gesture that told everyone to follow her sister’s lead. Rainbow Dash hesitated before gradually floating back to the ground.

She didn’t like being grounded when there were hostile forces right across from them, but they hadn’t attacked so far and Caed seemed genuine in them just talking.

But again, these guys were the ones attacking Equestria and kidnapping ponies.

However nice they appeared, she just had to remember that morbid fact to know how she really felt about them.

“That is fair,” Caed nodded. “It is invigorating to be out here,” He said with a grandiose wave of his arm and a deep inhale. “Ahhh… We do not have air like this back home. Nor do we have grass like this.”

“We don’t have grass, period.” One of his two remaining knights said.

“Would you excuse us for a second, Caed?” Celestia called while motioning for them to draw in close. “We’ll talk with you in a minute, but we must quickly tie up some personal issues of our own.”

Caed waved at them, distracted by the grass. “By all means.”

Rainbow Dash arched one eyebrow at him before she was drawn into the tight circle of her friends.

“Well, this day went from zero to one hundred fast,” Luna sighed. “I certainly did not wake up expecting to meet and converse with the beings that have been launching assaults on Equestria’s cities.”

“This easily beats some of the more unexpected and stressful political parties that dropped by back home,” Aldo grumbled, his hard gaze suddenly settling on his guards. “Alessio, what is wrong with your leg?”

“It’s nothing; just a fractured bone.”

“That is not ‘nothing’; Vittorino, escort him to the hospital.”

“Marquees, I am fine.”

“That was not a suggestion.”

“I… Yes, Marquees.”

The two griffons left and Rainbow Dash moved to the side to better fill in the gap. “So… what are we going to do?”

“First, I must ask that you leave the talking to me, my sister, and Aldo,” Celestia answered with an apologetic look. “I mean no offense, but…”

“Nah, nah – I got ya,” Rainbow Dash nodded with a sheepish grin. “I’d probably get upset and say something dumb.”

“You are passionate and firm in your beliefs; it is an admirable trait, but this sort of situation requires… delicacy,” Celestia’s lips set in a tight frown as she briefly raised her head to look over at the knights before ducking back down again. “Aldo, you say these knights simply attacked with no warning?”

The marquees nodded. “They certainly did not seem interested in any sort of negotiations back in Canterlot. We had to fight our way out. It is odd that now they are suddenly passive, and I am very interested in this business with Nightmare Moon. How do they know we are not allied with her? Why do they consider her their enemy, but attack other settlements regardless?”

“We must find out… providing they are willing to explain. Caed seems to be reasonable, so far.”

“The knights he is with hold him in high regards and with much respect,” Luigi interjected. “You could see it in their body language and their tone.”

Luna nodded. “He is right. And the title ‘Knight Enforcer’ is clearly a high rank amongst their kind. Caed is likely an important figure in their ‘order’.”

“Perhaps…” Celestia looked over at the knight again. “Even their leader.”

Rainbow Dash turned her head as well.

Knight Enforcer Caed was on his hands and knees, gauntlets removed.

“This grass is so soft and vibrant!” He exclaimed giddily, like a colt in a candy store. “Esther, Markus – come feel!”

“…” Rainbow Dash turned back, stone-faced and with her eyebrows arched. “‘Kay, just gonna pretend I didn’t see that.”

“He single-handedly defeated a Wisp Knight, so eccentrics aside, he is clearly a formidable opponent,” Aldo said. “It would be wise not to antagonize him.”

“… Rainbow Dash, Gilda.”

“Uh, yeah, Princess Luna?”

“What’s up, princess?”

“I believe you two should go back to Ponyville and inform everypony of what’s transpiring,” Luna said. “Tell them that the Wisp Knight has been dealt with, but they should remain within the barricade while we speak with Caed.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash frowned worriedly. “You sure you don’t want us here in case…?”

“I don’t believe it’ll come to that,” Celestia sounded pretty confident when she said that. “Whatever the reason they decided to come here to Ponyville, it doesn’t seem to be for fighting us.”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t so sure about that; she didn’t trust these knights as far as she could throw them.

She craned her neck to look back over at them and grimaced.

On the other hoof… one of them was in pretty bulky armor. The shield they were carrying was also freaking huge; like they had ripped a sheet of metal from a building and insisted that everyone call it a shield.

Well, she didn’t trust them as far as she could throw them in her imagination.

But she did trust the princesses.

With that in mind, Rainbow Dash nodded and flapped her wings to ascend, slowly, so that it didn’t startle the knights; she still had a weapon, after all. Gilda followed suite.

“I’ll be watching from the barricade, so if anything goes wrong, I’ll be here in a snap.” She told them.

“Yeah, totally.” Gilda agreed.

Rainbow Dash went higher and made the trek back towards Ponyville. She ignored the uneasiness of leaving her friends alone and kept her gaze straight ahead, only looking to get one last look at the knights as they faded in the distance.

“Knight Enforcer, please stop doing that.”

“Where is your sense of adventure, Esther?”

… She shook her head and turned back.

“What a weirdo.” Gilda murmured alongside her.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “What a dork.”

Author's Note

Note 1: Guardian Shield - a large rectangular shield the length and width off an average human being. The face bears the heraldry of the Rouge Knights. The sheer weight of this hunk of metal makes it unwieldy to anyone lacking incredible strength, which suits the muscular men and women of the Guardians just fine. The shield has excellent resistance towards physical attacks, extreme temperatures, and now, magical assault.

Whereas Blade Winds focus on trading protection for speed and power, Guardians trade speed and power for protection. In addition to their shields, their unique plate armor is even tougher and heavier than the standard Rouge Knight armor set. Because of this, many Guardians prefer to act as bulwarks and stand in front of their comrades to weather blows that would be fatal to anyone else.

There was once a civilian who protected her three children from enemy opposition by using a piece of wreckage from a destroyed vehicle to rush through a hail of bullets and clobber the three soldiers into submission. She perished soon after due to several wounds, but her children told of her heroic deeds, and Knight Enforcer Caed emblazoned her name in the Memorial Archives without hesitation.

When her children were grown and strong, they joined the Rouge Knight ranks as the first Guardians.

Note 2: Much like pegasi, the bones of griffons are hollow but very tough, a necessary evolution due to their weaker Aura - colloquially known as 'Spirit' in griffon terms - and tendency to capture prey via divebombing with talons bared and sharp beaks ready to bite down.

Griffons may have once shared a common ancestor with manticores, though they are more closely related to common eagles. Due to these similarities, the manticore and eagle have a place in griffon society as noble and powerful creatures, and there are even two cumulus-ball griffon teams named after them.

The teams are not that good.

Chapter 49: Truth

1056 AD, January 11th

Celestia had to say that this was perhaps the strangest start to speaking with any other species she had ever had.

Knight Enforcer Caed was enamoured with the grass beneath his feet, and ran his bare hands across the field with an expression of wonderment. One of his knights had joined him while she and the others were discussing their plan of action.

It was more than a little strange to see fully-armored bipeds crouching on their knees and expressing fascination over grass of all things. They were so distracted that she was able to come within a few yards before the one other knight – the one Caed called ‘Esther’ – cleared her throat.

“Sir, please stop playing in the dirt.” She moaned in exasperation, as if this sort of occurrence wasn’t new.

Caed glanced at her, then at Celestia; he seemed so surprised that she believed he had genuinely forgotten about her.

“Ah, right!” He stood, as did the other knight.

Now that she was closer, Celestia saw that he was a little shorter than her; the top of his head would only come up to her jaw.

“Once again, I am Knight Enforcer Caed, leader of the Rouge Knight Order,” He did that odd bow again with his arm across his chest. His glaive was in his other hand, but the blade was pointed up and the pommel anchored in the dirt. “The proud knights that are with me are Knight Markus and Knight Paladin Esther. The one that is retrieving the remnants of… of the Irregular is Knight Arthur.”

In response, Arthur, in the midst of picking up a gauntlet, gave a lacklustre wave. “Hey…”

“Hello…” Celestia waved uncertainly. “Well, first off…” She turned back to Caed. “I would like to extend my gratitude for your assistance in dealing with the ‘Irregular’. Although, I must admit… I thought that they were allied with you.”

“Whatever alliances they might have had are long gone…” Caed sighed sadly, though his amicable disposition returned quickly enough. “Truthfully, we only arrived because we picked up the Irregular’s signal as it teleported and planned to deal with it anyway, but you are welcome nonetheless.”

Celestia nodded once. “That being said, I must know some things…”

“You wish to know why we are attacking, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Celestia paused as she carefully selected her words. Caed was being friendly enough, but she had dealt with enough diplomats from enough species to know that even the smallest of slights could be considered a major offense. “When I first heard of your attack on Canterlot, I was confused: as far as I am aware, we did not initiate any form of hostile intent towards you.”

“We were not even aware your kind existed.” Luna added.

“So why?” Celestia continued. “Why do you attack us?”

Caed seemed… taken aback by her question. For a brief instant, unease and discomfort flashed across his face.

“To answer that…” He began, clasping his hands behind his back. “I will need to tell you about our Order and how we came to stumble upon your world. It is… a long tale. Do you wish to get some snacks and drinks first?”

“…” Celestia blinked and exchanged a perplexed look with Luna and Aldo. “Uh, n-no. No, we are fine, Knight Enforcer. Please proceed.”

“As you wish...” Caed bowed his head in affirmation. “It all started with the QC-Spectrum Shifter, a powerful machine manufactured some fifty or so years ago as an experiment in teleportation. Records and files are sparse on what exactly they were attempting to teleport, but our scribes tell us that, as far as they can figure out, it was meant to transport us off our planet and to another.”

“I’m sorry?” Celestia interjected with a surprised blink. “Off your ‘planet’?”

“To another planet that was allegedly the origin of humanity, our race…” Caed furrowed his brow and turned his head to the side. “Um… Esther, what was it called?”

The female knight didn’t answer for a moment. “… Earth, I think.”

“Earth?” Luna frowned. “That… is the name of our planet.”

“Two different universes, two different dominant species… or at least that’s what the scribes tell me,” Caed shrugged. “I am not intellectually gifted; the scribes tell me what I am able to follow and understand, but alas…” He chuckled. “The only literature I seem capable of reading without error are the Old Tales.”

Celestia filed ‘Old Tales’ away and made a mental note to ask about it later; this information about other planets – habitable, apparently – and a teleportation machine was too interesting to wait.

“So if you do not live on Earth, where do you come from?”

“We’re still deciding on what the name of the planet is,” Caed replied with another shrug. “Some of the records and print we find in abandoned settlements say ‘Olympus’ while others say ‘Manna-45’. There are a few old paintings on walls that even say ‘Hellhole’, though you can imagine that no one really wishes to think of our home like that.”

“… How do you not know?” Luna asked in disbelief.

“We don’t know much of anything that happened more than sixty years ago,” Here, Caed paused with a frustrated expression. “I was born during a time of war and it is all that I have ever known. Personally, I have not met a single person that wasn’t born into strife.”

‘That’s… so sad,’ Celestia felt a pang of sympathy for these ‘humans’, even though she was completely aware of the lives being lost because of them. ‘It’s like when Luna and I were born during Discord’s reign…’

“But those times are over,” Caed visibly perked upon saying that. “The war that once enveloped our home – whatever it may be called – ended three years ago, and we have all united underneath the same banner! Behold the heraldry of the Rouge Knight Order – the Golden Oak!”

He half-turned and gestured to one of his knights – Markus – or more specifically, the tabard that covered the human’s front. Sure enough, it bore a picture of a solid gold tree in full bloom.

“Isn’t it cool?” He suddenly asked, turning back and clasping his hands together with wide, sparkling eyes. “It was a team effort, but I was the one that suggested using an oak instead of a… a ‘pine’ tree… whatever they’re supposed to look like.”

Celestia mustered a smile, too soft-hearted to tell him that didn’t look like an oak tree. “It’s beautiful.”

Caed was visibly moved and continued speaking, riding high on her praise. “The Golden Oak represents the Order’s goals to pave the way for a better future and preserve humanity’s culture! The war may be over, but its effects still remain: much of our land is barren and incapable of sustaining life; we have lived on synthesized food for the most part, but even those are running low.”

He suddenly clenched his hand into a fist and held it up, eyes hard as steel and full of solid determination.

“But… perhaps the worst impact the war has had on us is the erasure of our history. Books, documents, computer files – you would be appalled at how completely and thoroughly the war ravaged such knowledge.”

“The erasure of culture and history…”

Startled by the sudden voice, all eyes settled on Marquees Aldo. The ageing griffon was shaking his head grimly.

“In my flock’s history, there were tyrants that sought to do the same thing to their own subjects. They sought to replace it with propaganda that cast them in a positive light. It was a means of subjugation, albeit a more subtle approach. For what it’s worth, you have my sympathies.”

“I… Thank you, griffon,” Caed seemed surprised but not displeased by Aldo’s words. “It is kind of you to say that, but I’m afraid that there were no tyrants wishing to deify themselves. Our culture was destroyed not through spite and manipulation, but sheer ignorance. Our enemy, cruel as they were, were as lost and in the dark about what they were fighting for in the first place. The truth is… even now, we are not sure what could have caused our forefathers to devote themselves and their children to such devastation.”

Caed made a disgruntled noise and waved his hand dismissively.

“Hmph – but that is information we can live without for the time being. Right now, the Order and its scribes are more interested in finding information that can help us: agriculture, algebra, calculus – words that I have no understanding of but I just know are important nonetheless.”

“You… you have no idea what ‘agriculture’ is?” Luna repeated. “‘Tis farming; the plantation of seeds and the harvesting of their end results.”

“We don’t know how to do that.” Caed admitted, oddly nonchalant about the whole thing.

“Our land is literally barren,” Esther chimed in from the back. Her voice echoed inside her helm and resonated with an otherworldly note. “I think we planted some seeds once, but nothing grew. The only dirt that had some promise was in the Obelisk Sector, and that…”

She trailed off, suddenly bowing her head and giving off an air of melancholy.

Celestia noticed this, and the way the Knight Enforcer’s jaw set, and realized that this was a highly sensitive subject. She swallowed, hoping Luna and Aldo picked it up as well, and wetted her lips nervously.

“Knight Enforcer Caed… may I ask what happened?”

“… The QC-Spectrum Shifter has a limited supply of power and the means to power it has been… woefully inefficient since we ran out of the materials usually used to power it. We have only activated it a few times to try and set up a connection with ‘Earth’. The times we did activate it seemingly resulted in no effect, so we left it for the time being and instead focused on keeping ourselves fed and watered and sheltered. It was only when an Irregular – a different one, long since destroyed – sent out a signal upon its destruction and we received it.”

“You said they had no alliances.”

“None, but they were once able to be controlled, at least until the souls trapped inside were driven mad from isolation and what they were forced to do.”

“…”

“We traced the signal and discovered that, every time the Spectrum Shifter was activated, it weakened the bonds that held our world together.”

“So you’re the ones that made the Fractures appear in our world…” Luna said quietly.

Celestia winced. “Luna…”

“We were ignorant of your world’s existence,” Caed replied, seemingly unmoved by her accusing tone. “We had no idea of the effects we were causing until one of the Fractures appeared close enough to our location for us to monitor it. From then, it was a simple matter of sending drones through the anomaly to record your world. And what we found…”

Celestia and the others grimaced at the thought of being spied on for who knows how long, but Caed didn’t notice; he was too busy turning in a circle, arms spread out towards the sky and speaking in a tone bordering on reverence and awe.

“Do you realize the significance of finding this place, Celestia?”

“I-”

“Lands that are ripe with magic, greenery, and mythological creatures – it is exactly as described in the Old Tales, where the knights that existed long before our ancestors set foot on our planet defended their homes and undertook grand quests that brought them renown and glory! This… is…!”

He clenched his hands and laughed.

“This is everything we have dreamed of!”

“Sister…” Luna murmured out of the corner of her mouth. Her muscles had tensed, and there was a muted rustle from behind as the griffons flexed their wings. “He is starting a monologue.”

“I see that, Luna.”

“It is not a good sign when they monologue.”

“I know that, Luna.”

Caed spun around to face them, beaming a smile as bright as the sun.

“Ponies… griffons – surely, you understand the beauty and significance of your home, do you not? It is rich and bountiful and beautiful. In my most imaginative dreams, I could not conjure a sight as lovely as the field we are standing in right now. Even your more… ah, what’s the word? Are… Arid! Even in your more arid areas, there is still so much life and energy. There is no soil contaminated by the alchemy used by our enemies in the war, there are no craters formed by exploding shells, and there are no husks of war machinery.

“Griffon, you say your people have had tyrants, but we have seen your home as well through our drones, and it is still a majestic sight: mountain ranges with clear skies and extraordinary creatures. There is so much to see…”

He took a breath and his voice softened as he gained a faraway look.

“I want us all to experience it.”

Celestia paled. “What?”

“Are you…?” Marquees Aldo swallowed, much more successful in tempering his expression. “Do you mean to tell us that you wish for your Order to… live here?”

“Not here, exactly,” Caed waved dismissively, slightly flushed from both his speech and excitement. “We managed to open a Fracture on an immense land mass that you appear to have not yet colonized. Several dozen miles to the south of an island filled with oddly large butterflies.”

“…” Luna paused in thought, and then turned to her sister, whispering, “I was not aware of another mass anywhere near the Milliaun Island.”

“Neither was I.” Celestia murmured, staring at Caed in a new light.

The Knight Enforcer continued, half-turning to gesture to his knights. “We’ve talked it over with everyone: the knights, the scribes, the civilians – we all like the look of this place. Esther, in particular, seems to enjoy the, er… ‘beaches’.”

Esther’s helmet gave a small clank as she nodded. “There is so much water…”

“Indeed there is, Knight Paladin.”

“I’m sorry, but could we backtrack just a tiny bit?” Celestia asked with a forced chuckle. “To about the part where you said you and your Order wished to stay here?”

“Yes, I suppose that is a rather large surprise, isn’t it?” Caed said calmly. “Our… actions towards your kind seem counter-intuitive to our goal.”

“… What are you playing at, human?!”

Celestia winced as Luna took a step forwards, seething. “Luna, please just-”

“No! No, I want to understand this human’s motivation!” Luna growled and stomped the ground hard enough to make a gouge several inches deep. “First, they launch an unprovoked assault on Canterlot, doing Faust only knows what sort of damage to the city and the populace, and for the past three months they’ve been attacking our settlements and foalnapping innocent civilians! And they expect to just colonize an island in our world while we stand by? What sort of fools do you take us for, Knight Enforcer?!”

“…” Caed didn’t react to her outburst aside from a slow, methodical nod. “What you say is true: we are taking your people. However, our first attack was far from unprovoked,” He clasped his hands behind his back and drew in a breath, briefly looking off to the side, and then back. “Luna, is it? Luna, do you remember a Fracture above your city of Canterlot? Roughly a mile across, hard to miss?”

“We were…” Luna grimaced like she had ingested something putrid. “‘Occupied’ during its initial appearance, but yes.”

“In our world, the Fracture connecting to that appeared in the Obelisk Sector: a district that is not too far from the Rouge Knight base. There are other districts surrounding our base as well; they act as settlements for those that survived the war – civilians, mostly; those that choose not to fight. The Obelisk Sector was built on fertile soil, and was our most successful attempt at agriculture until… until the day Empress Nightmare Moon launched some form of energy beam at your side of the Fracture.”

Caed’s empty hand clenched into a fist again. It wasn’t as dramatic as the last time.

“You must realize… we were still discovering how the Spectrum Shifter worked back then. We had no idea how to control where the Fractures appeared, only when. If we knew how, we wouldn’t have opened them on your side in such dreadful locations. Honestly, the size of the Fracture in your world was surprising when we commandeered one of our drones to look at it – it was only about the size of a man on our side.

“Believe me – I wished only to make peaceful negotiations when that Fracture opened up, but seeing as it was up in the sky and, ah… humans are not particularly fond of heights, we needed to come up with a way to safely go through without immediately falling and dying. To make matters worse, an Irregular managed to get into the Sector when we were preparing safety measures around the Fracture. It managed to destroy some of our equipment before we were able to force it into retreating. Unfortunately… it did so through the Fracture. Our drones showed us that Nightmare Moon and her knights destroyed it, but we knew that we had to try and make contact as soon as possible so they did not think we wished for war.

“But… we were too late.”

“They sent a beam at the Fracture and closed it,” This time, it was Esther that spoke, her voice cold as a blizzard. “But whatever energy they used, it caused the Fracture on our side to explode.”

“The Obelisk Sector was wiped out.” Markus added.

Arthur straightened from where he had bent at the waist to pick up the last piece of the Wisp Knight. “Every civilian – man, woman, child – they all died. There’s no one left there anymore.”

“And the explosion caused long-term damage,” Caed picked up with a sigh. “The soil and any organic food that was growing were also destroyed. The explosion… It wasn’t just fire and smoke; it was some sort of…” He gave a small shiver. “Invisible wave of heat – people, plants, animals were cooked from the inside out. It travelled through stone and metal as if it weren’t there. Imagine this field, where we stand, had been turned to ash. Imagine the charred corpses of those you once knew frozen in the streets in the exact moment they had died.”

Celestia swallowed thickly. In the corner of her eye, she watched as Luna lowered her head and stared blankly at the ground.

“And of course…” Caed’s voice became thick with scorn. “Of course it would be civilians, wouldn’t it? Their data is not in the cultivation tanks, so it is not as if they can be reborn; if it had only been knights or… or… if I had only evacuated everyone, but I didn’t know… I didn’t think.”

“Knight Enforc-”

Caed held up his hand and Esther cut herself off. “… Our technology can do wonders… but it cannot create life from nothing. Even our cultivation tanks are running low on synth-gel, and God knows we can’t eat that. The rations won’t last for very long either. The truth… the truth is my people are going to die living on that planet. In just a few months more, the last of our reserves – water, food – will run out and we will perish.”

“… But what about now?” Celestia asked, gesturing to the anomaly hovering behind them. “Clearly you must have figured out how to choose the location where your… your machine opens up Fractures, so why didn’t you just go to that island when you could? What do you need us for?”

“Why do you think only three of us arrived?” Caed retorted. “Why did the Fractures from before our arrival abruptly close? Because things go through it.”

“I don’t understand…”

“There is… ah…” He grunted in annoyance. “What did the scribes say? Mass Imbalance? Well, I do not remember the term, but there is a ‘strength’ factor to each Fracture that determines how much substance may pass through it before it closes on its own. The one behind me is not all that strong; it can handle myself, my knights, the remains of the Irregular, and perhaps something as large as, say… a tree before it closes.

“The Fracture that opened above your city? That was a fluke: a rarity that we will likely never receive again; such a Fracture could transport an entire city and still have enough strength to re-transport it. We need a Fracture like that, and we can replicate it… but the Spectrum Shifter would need more power than we could ever manage on our own, especially with the time limit we have.

“And so, Celestia, we come to the reason why we need your kind.”

He seemed to be preparing himself for her reaction, like he knew she wouldn’t like what he had to say.

She also had that same feeling; a heavy lump of lead settled in her belly, and her skin crawled as she imagined what sort of possible fates had come to those that the Rouge Knights had taken over the past few months.

She wanted to sympathize with the Knight Enforcer and his people, she truly did, but what they were doing was deplorable.

A part of her didn’t want to sympathize; it’d make it so much easier to hate them.

‘It must be so easy for you, isn’t it, Nightmare Moon?’ She found herself thinking of her enemy, laughing maliciously as she broke Celestia’s horn with joyous sadism. ‘To not have the ‘burden’ of empathy clouding your judgement and influencing your decisions.’

“Do not sugar-coat it,” She said tonelessly. “Tell me what you are doing with those unicorns.”

Caed nodded solemnly.

“… You’ve probably realized that anything from our world is more or less immune to magical energy. Perhaps it is effective when it is transformed into fire, or ice, or lightning, but on its own it does nothing to anything with physicality. It’s too… ‘dense’. However, that does not mean it is entirely useless to us.”

He looked up.

Celestia followed his gaze and realized he was staring at the sun. It was a warm day, perfect for going outside and having a game of catch.
Even with her sensitive hearing, she couldn’t pick up anything coming from Ponyville.

“The scribes say that the sun’s rays can be converted into power for the Spectrum Shifter, but we do not have the resources to build the equipment needed for that, and we would not be able to gather enough power in time anyway,” He looked back at them, blinking. “But we possess another device – a reactor that was built long ago by our forefathers and used to convert heat energy from the planet’s core into useable power for their machines. Err… don’t ask me how it works – I am just repeating what the scribes tell me when I ask.

“That energy isn’t enough either, but through the readings of our drones – amongst other scanning equipment – we discovered that ‘magic’ functions as a form of radiation. Magic cannot interact with anything that has physicality from our world, but it can interact with our energies – they are more or less identical, except for, um… magnetic energy. An interesting thing happened this one time actually; see, one of the knights walked near the reactor while in full armor and it-”

“Knight Enforcer.”

“Sorry. Yes, our reactor can convert magical energy into power that is useable by the Spectrum Shifter, and the amount it receives dwarfs any other form of energy that could be converted. Your kind has magic, but none more so than your unicorns.”

“So that’s why you’ve taken them…” Celestia said. “To power your machine. But…” She shook her head as her brow furrowed. “But no… if that’s the case, why didn’t you just… ask for help? We would have-”

“Celestia…” Caed cut in with a sigh. “Do you truly believe that Empress Nightmare Moon would have actually helped us? After the closing of the Fracture in Canterlot, our drones monitored her and scouted out information about her. Our understanding is that she is not a very altruistic horse- er, pony. Am I wrong in that assessment?”

“… No, you are not. But even so, if you are as informed about our relationship with Nightmare Moon as you appear, then why didn’t you come to us? We would have helped.”

“…” Caed gave a small grin. “You would have… wouldn’t you?”

“Of course!” Celestia insisted with a firm nod. “We will! To help your people and to prevent your foalnapping of ours. This… this war can be avoided!”

Caed kept smiling, but his eyes wandered off to the side and looked… sad. Like something about her offer to help rubbed him the wrong way.

“You remind me of someone that was close to my heart, Celestia. Your offer is appreciated… but I cannot accept it.”

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t know the whole story,” He shook his head and his smile went away. “You must think that you can help by simply charging our reactor with magic, hm? Well, we thought the same thing – we were only going to keep the unicorns we took for as long as they were needed to charge the Spectrum Shifter enough to create a Fracture that would be able to remain open long enough for my people to go through. After that, we would have released them back into your world.”

Luna narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “So why didn’t you?”

“It took some time to calm the first unicorns we took, but eventually they agreed to cooperate, and we activated the reactor while they channelled magic. It worked as our scribes said it would, but… it was still inefficient.”

“You said a unicorn could provide enough power for a Fracture.”

“I did. But that’s from all the magic in their body, not just what they can channel. The amount they were able to consciously put out was very little, and then they were too exhausted to do it again.”

“It’s Mana Exhaustion,” Celestia answered, gesturing to her own horn. “Ponies cannot survive without magic; Mana Exhaustion is when the body shuts down to prevent the unicorn from using up too much magic and literally drain themselves of life,” She put her hoof back down and nodded again. “And you’re correct – compared to the cache of magic in our bodies, that which we put out by using spells is miniscule by comparison.”

Caed gave a short chuckle. “I would be fooled considering how many spells I’ve seen your unicorns can cast. But at any rate, the fact that the output is very little makes it inefficient to charge our machine; even if we brought through seventy unicorns and had them channel through the reactor at the same time, it would still take a while. More time than we have.”

“And you can’t do that because of the ‘mass imbalance’ factor of the Fractures,” Celestia frowned deeply. “I see your problem.”

Caed matched her frown, adding in a sigh. “We tried bringing more unicorns in, but again, it didn’t result in enough power, and by doing that we wasted more. We had to do something…”

Both his hands went around the hilt of his glaive, twisting around it idly. He looked off into the distance and then back again.

“… I killed one of them.”

Celestia blinked, the words hitting her like a train. Still, she tempered her expression; she had anticipated hearing something like this, after all – ever since she heard of the Rouge Knights kidnapping unicorns.

Luna was quiet, as were the griffons, but at least Celestia could see Luna’s face without turning around. Predictably, she was trembling with rage; one step away from shouting, or maybe even attacking.

‘Not even sure I’d try and stop her if she did…’

Celestia inhaled deeply and swallowed a bad taste in her mouth. She watched the Knight Enforcer carefully, seeing that he was waiting for her response. Unfortunately, she didn’t really have one.

Seeing this, he continued.

“Death causes the magic within your kind’s bodies to release into the world – all of it. I killed one of them and the reactor processed and converted all of the magic into power for the machine. But we were still a ways from collecting the necessary power that would send my people here… so I killed the rest of the unicorns. That still wasn’t enough. And that’s why we’re doing this.”

He paused, seemed to remember something, and shook his head, eyes darkening.

“No. No, that’s not the only reason. We’re also doing this for revenge. Empress Nightmare Moon tells me that she had no idea that closing the Fracture would cause an explosion on our side, but it is clear to me that she is not truly sympathetic. Why would she be? We are from another plane of existence and alien creatures to her – what reason does she have to care? So of course we want her head on a pike, and it would be delicious irony if we were able to use her magic to power our machine – she would be worth ten unicorns or more. But she is strong, stronger than any other foe I’ve faced, and heavily guarded. The most we can do as of now is go after those that march under her banner.”

Luna inhaled and closed her eyes. “I believe I have heard enough. There is only so much I can stomach.”

Celestia didn’t say anything, merely watching as her sister took a step forwards.

The three knights following Caed shifted into stances, prepping their weapons and shields.

The Knight Enforcer made no move; he stared straight at Luna with a calm expression.

“You take our ponies…” Luna began, stopping when she was mere yards away and opening her eyes. The whites were beginning to glow. “And you harvest them for their magic.”

“Yes.”

“It is disgusting, deplorable. Even if it is to save your people, it is a despicable act.”

“I know.”

“But what really vexes me…!” Luna bared her teeth and snorted as her mane churned like blue fire. “Is what you plan to do with all that harvested magic! Do you expect us to turn a blind eye to what you’ve done just because you’re on some far away island?! I hope – I really hope you do not believe that you will go unpunished for your crimes.”

Caed said nothing.

“We may share a common enemy in Nightmare Moon, but we are not allies!”

“We try to avoid taking ponies affiliated with you; we know you’re-”

“Oh, and that makes what you’re doing more noble in your eyes, does it?” Luna rolled her eyes in revulsion.

Caed said nothing, but the knight at the back – Esther – did. She stomped forwards, growling out, “We’re doing this to save our people! The amount of unicorns we need is nothing compared to the number of our own that need help!”

“And how many do you need, hm?” Luna scowled darkly. “How many of our unicorns do you need to harvest? Hundreds? Thousands?”

“Forty-seven,” Caed answered immediately. “We’ve taken nineteen so far.”

“And that’s all we are to you, hm? Numbers?”

“Cursive Flaunt,” Caed retorted. “Glidewatcher, Rubygaze, Floran, Abra Lens… Dew – should I continue?”

“…” Luna blinked, surprised. “You know their…?”

“Of course, that doesn’t excuse what I’m doing… but what choice do I have?” Caed’s eyebrows drew together and his grip on his glaive tightened. “You care for your people? I care for mine, and as the Knight Enforcer, it is my duty to make sure that they are safe, healthy, and surviving. If there were any other way than this, I’d take it in a heartbeat, but there isn’t.”

“You-”

“What else can I do?!”

Caed lifted his weapon and slammed it into the dirt.

The grass around him bent backwards from a gust of wind that seemed to emanate from his body. Celestia broke out of her thoughts and flinched as the gust slapped her in the face. It wasn’t particularly strong, but it stirred up dust that irritated her eyes.

She noted through her squinted vision that Caed’s hair was moving in the breeze and his single red eye was glowing brightly.

“You can bring food, but it won’t last forever, and we can only make so many Fractures before the Spectrum Shifter runs out of power! We cannot grow anything in our soil and without the Obelisk Sector’s greenhouses anything you may bring over will die anyway! It will take time and resources we don’t have to rebuild those from scratch! There is also the threat of roaming Irregulars and the wildlife, not to mention the environmental hazards that our forefathers inflicted upon us in a war that we still have no idea what was about in the first place!”

The wind died down and his eye dimmed, but he was far from done. He snorted humourlessly and held his weapon in front of himself. Celestia tensed, prepared to leap to her sister’s defense, but Caed merely stared at his glaive, an odd mix of disgust and fondness flashing across his face.

“Pathetic, isn’t it? We can forge weapons that can summon great winds, armor that can deflect bullets, machines that can convert energy and rip open holes to other worlds and even transfer our hearts and minds into new bodies when we die… but anything to do with preserving life instead of taking it? It’s beyond us. All the knowledge we have is to do with fighting. The Obelisk Sector was our last chance to try and rebuild the planet, start a new life… and now it’s gone.”

He lowered his arm and closed his eyes, releasing a sigh. When he opened them, his eye had dimmed entirely.

“You care for your people… right? If you were in my place, what would you do?”

“…”

“Heh…” Caed smiled tiredly. “The Old Tales say that a knight must be honourable… chivalrous… valiant… They must not harm the innocent or those that cannot fend for themselves. But how honourable is it to let your people die because of pride? When everyone is dead, who will remember the ‘valiant knight’? Who will record the tale of he who let his people die?”

He shook his head.

“Nightmare Moon is the only one I have any qualms with, but her death alone will do nothing for my people. I do not want to kill your kind… I do not want my knights to fight you… I do not want my people to enter their new home based on the blood of another race that we could have possibly been friends with… but if it means that they survive… then I will gladly bear the weight of my actions.”

“…” Luna looked down at her hooves then turned to her sister. “‘Tia?”

Celestia met her sibling’s gaze, smiled fondly…

… then glared at Caed with a deep frown.

“I am truly, very sorry for your plight, Knight Enforcer. But as you said, I care about my ponies, and I will do anything to protect them. They say that… small sacrifices must be made for the greater good, but to tell the truth, I’ve always had a hard time believing that. Maybe…” She wetted her lips. “… Maybe if it was just Nightmare Moon… then I’d help, but you’ve taken more than that, and I cannot abide by it.”

Celestia drew herself up and her hard eyes locked with Caed’s.

“Knight Enforcer Caed, you and your people are our enemies; I cannot consciously side with someone that kills and harvests the magic from the corpses of unicorns, no matter their intentions.”

“That goes for me as well.” Luna nodded.

Marquees Aldo let out a quiet sigh and brushed at the feathers of his brow before saying, “I stand with the princesses.”

The clatter of his guards prepping their weapons behind him reinforced his statement.

Caed gave a low hum and nodded, unsurprised. “Very well. Then the next time we meet, it will be as adversaries,” He flicked his arm to the side, made some strange gesture, and the knights behind him held their shields in front, forming a protective wall. “I will not look for you on the battlefield, but if we should meet, then please… bring everything you can muster.”

Quicker than the eye could process, Caed slashed at the ground before him, gouging out great clumps of dirt and sending it surging forwards with a gust of wind.

Celestia blinked in shock and the next moment, her vision was impaired as the dust cloud enveloped her. Particles filtered into her nostrils and she reflexively coughed wetly, one wing fanning out to protect her eyes. She could hear the others coughing and crying out in surprise as well.

‘Damn it!’

Channelling magic into her wings, she gave a savage flap and dispersed the cloud in one swift movement.

But not swift enough to retaliate – the Fracture winked out of existence with a flash of light, leaving them as the only ones standing in a battle-scarred field.

Celestia sighed and folded her wings before pressing a hoof to her forehead. She felt the signs of an approaching headache. “Faust… damn it.”

“Sister?” Luna looked at her worriedly. “Are you alright?”

“Not really,” She admitted. “Luna? Aldo? Let’s head back to Ponyville; there are… many things to go over, to say the least.

Author's Note

Note 1: "Knight Enforcer Caed, this is the fifth time you've inquired about this line of topic, and the answer is still 'no'. Each cultivation tank is tailored to a single knight and to try and implement another's information would override the existing one - you'd gain a life at the cost of another. I understand that you want to do more for the civilians, but you must understand that you and the rest of the knights are our defenders. You are the ones that protect us and, I'm going to just come out and say it, it'll be better in the long-run for you and your troops to have the ability to come back from death than it would be for a civilian.

"Synth-gel is limited as it is, we do not need to waste it on non-combatants. Please understand and please stop asking." - Letter from Scribe Anderson, Head of the Scribe Division.

Note 2: Muramas (Moo-rah-mus) - a glaive with a long, black hilt decorated with golden etchings and a dark red, single-edged blade.

Much like the weapons of the Wisp Knights, this glaive can create cyclonic gusts of wind through means known only to those who manufactured the arms.

Within the treasured fables that Caed’s people hold are tales of legendary knights wielding powerful weapons which befit their strength and unwavering resolve. On the first anniversary of Caed’s rule, his people created this weapon for him as a representation of their loyalty, respect, and faith in his leadership.

Chapter 50: Silence in the Outskirts

1056 AD, January 11th

“So there you have it…” Celestia took a breath and picked up her cup of tea. “The Rouge Knights wish to move to our world because they are dying, and they require magic to fuel their machine,” She took a sip; tasty as always but it was lost on her at the moment. “I am sorry to say that now we have two enemies to watch out for.”

Silence reigned after her lengthy explanation, broken only the soft sounds of porcelain and silverware clinking and Luna moving about as she cleaned the mess she had caused in the kitchen.

Mayor Mare, Virtue, Spike, and Zecora were seated around the library’s round table, quietly turning over Celestia’s recount in their heads.

Mayor Mare was first to break the silence. “Princess, do you think they will come here again?”

“Caed avoided Ponyville because he knew we weren’t allied with Nightmare Moon, but now?” Celestia shook her head slowly. “I’m not so sure. His people apparently don’t have much time left, so he may target us once the clock ticks down.”

“We need defense,” Virtue stated, firmly placing his hooves down on the table. His tea shook in its cup. “More than what we have now. A wall won’t hold them off, especially if they can just jump over it.”

“We have little else besides a wall though,” Mayor Mare said. “You, the rest of the guards, and the griffons have been training the townsfolk for months now, right? How’s that coming along?”

“Better than expected, but…” Virtue shook his head, frowning. “They’ve still a long way to go.”

“Some progress is better than none.”

“I agree,” Celestia nodded, turning to the stallion. “Give me the run-down. How are we looking?”

“… Not counting me, the other guards, and the griffons, we have about thirty-six able-bodied ponies. Twenty earth ponies, eleven pegasi, and five unicorns.”

“Only five?” Mayor Mare questioned.

“We have to be strict on unicorns, mayor; only a few among your town actually have the capacity to cast magic in battle without us worrying that they’ll panic and zap us accidentally,” He rubbed at his head with a wince. “Still sore from that last drill…”

“Perhaps fewer unicorns is best,” Celestia said grimly. “I do not wish for our own to be used as fuel should they be captured in battle.”

“Yeah…” Virtue shuddered and reached up to touch his horn with a shiver. “So bottom line is our numbers are nothing to scoff at, but I’m still having doubts of putting any of the recruits out in a fight. Especially Shimmer – I’m half-certain she’ll just teleport out the moment things go pear-shaped.”

Celestia knew that was likely – her former student wasn’t one to put herself in harm’s way for others – but it still triggered a strong impulse within her to hear somepony speak negatively of Sunset. She couldn’t just ignore those wonderful years they spent together, when Sunset thought of Celestia like a second mother.

But Virtue couldn’t have known of those years, so she couldn’t get upset at him.

“What of the other unicorns?” She asked instead. “How are they coming along?”

“Basic offensive spells,” Virtue answered. “Three have discovered their affinity already: Rarity, Lyra Heartstrings, and Amethyst Star. Minuette’s… she still needs help, but she’s coming along. Rarity’s turning out to be the most promising of them; her magic reserves aren’t too great, but she’s got spectacular finesse and can draw out complex spells in her head just like that,” He flicked his tail for emphasis. “She’s pretty driven.”

Celestia frowned. “Not too driven, I hope?”

Virtue shrugged. “Sorry, princess; I haven’t checked up on her too closely.”

“Oh! I’ll do it!” Spike’s small arm shot up and waved about excitedly. “Is it alright if I go see Rarity, princess?”

“You really don’t have to ask, Spike,” Celestia chuckled. “Go along if you wish.”

Spike quickly downed the rest of his drink, said goodbye, and raced out of the library, leaving a small dust cloud in his wake.

It was pretty cute.

“Princess…” Virtue began once the front door has swung shut. “I don’t mean to sound like a broken record… but we really need a plan for dealing with Nightmare Moon. It’s been months and we’re still just – with all due respect – ‘sitting on it’. We have the thing that will weaken her and purify Twilight, and Mirage has already proven to be capable of getting in close enough to either.”

“The purification mixture Nightmare Moon can sense,” Zecora said. “From a fair distance away, too; she will surely go on the defense.”

“How far are we talking? Maybe if we’re fast enough-”

“She will sense it; through metal and clay, magic and stone. Even if it is not in sight, the qandisa will know that something is not right. I do not know for certain at what distance she will grow wary, so our plan must be as solid as can be. We will not get a second chance with her, of this I am sure.”

Virtue frowned and blew air through his nostrils in frustration. “Yeah, alright… but what about Twilight?”

“We still don’t know how her connection to Nightmare Moon works…” Celestia sighed. “Mirage says that even Twilight doesn’t know all the facts, only that she feels a strange ‘pull’ from time to time. She thinks it might be Nightmare Moon checking up on her with magic. If that’s correct, then purifying Twilight might immediately alert her to what’s going on.”

“So we need a plan that will save Twilight and also hit Nightmare Moon with the Cleansing Joke stuff. Preferably at the same time…” Virtue grimaced. “That’s… gonna be tough. There’re guards around both of them 24/7. I guess… Hmm…”

Mayor Mare pressed her hoof against her chin thoughtfully. “… Ah! Why don’t we use Mirage? He can get in and out of the castle without any trouble, can’t he?”

“He’s only one changeling…” Celestia replied. “I have faith in him, but I can only see him getting the mixture to Twilight. According to Zecora, Nightmare Moon will sense if it’s on his body, and his cover will be blown.”

“Well, we’re only really holding back on attacking because of Twilight, so if we can get her safely out, then we can directly attack Nightmare Moon.”

“A good point.” Celestia nodded, briefly turning and offering a greeting when Luna strolled out of the kitchen and sat down beside her.

“Are we talking of Nightmare Moon?” Luna asked. “Should we not be more worried about the Rouge Knight Order?”

“We really can’t do much against an enemy that can appear anywhere,” She replied. “And Equestria is very… divided at the moment. Some ponies are throwing their bits in with Nightmare Moon because – and I really don’t like saying this – despite everything she’s done, she is fighting back against the Rouge Knights and she’s the one that has the means to close the Fractures.

“If we can just concentrate on defeating Nightmare Moon, we can unite Equestria again while also obtaining the Resonator. From there, we can turn our focus back onto the humans.”

“Yes… you are right.”

“Mayor Mare suggests that we should get the mixture to Twilight first using Mirage, so that as soon as she’s safe, we can launch an assault against Nightmare Moon.”

“That makes sense,” Luna nodded. “But we’ll need some way for those two to successfully get out of the castle; you already know Twilight’s guarded at every moment of the day.”

“Not every moment,” Celestia countered. “She isn’t accompanied when she goes to the bathroom, or at least the guards don’t go in, they just wait outside.”

“Is there a specific bathroom she uses or can she go anywhere?” Virtue asked, pressing his forehooves together and resting his chin on them.

“Ninth floor.”

“Mm… bit of a ‘leg-break’ fall there, but maybe Mirage can fly her out?”

“We should ask him that. Where is he anyway?” Luna questioned, glancing around. “He needs to be here for this discussion if he’s going to play such a large role.”

“I set him loose on the unsuspecting population after he gave his report earlier today,” Celestia said with a small grin. “The last I saw of him, he was chasing somepony… Thunderlane, I believe.”

“I’ll go look for him,” Virtue rose to his feet and walked over to the door. “If there’s one great thing about how he never shuts up, it’s that you can find him quickly.”

“Well, while he’s looking for Mirage…” Luna began as the door clicked shut again. “Perhaps we should start discussing a plan of attack?”

Celestia sighed and took another sip of her tea. “I must admit… I’ve been dreading this talk. It’s going to be a nightmare no matter how you look at it: we have finite resources, few experienced fighters… and I’m not too keen on the thought of sending them out to fight in the first place.”

Luna nodded sympathetically, a deep frown of worry crossing her face. “Yes. I would rather that we shoulder this fight ourselves, but Nightmare Moon is a powerful foe and she will not be alone. The last time we tried to fight her outnumbered, we were nearly defeated.”

“And I doubt I could get another opportunity to use my Sun Strike. She knows I can do it, so she’ll avoid anywhere that’s in direct sunlight,” The elder sibling sighed again. “Still…”

Mayor Mare cleared her throat. “Princesses, if I may? We all chose to fight alongside you. We all know how dangerous Nightmare Moon is, but if it means saving our home, then we’ll face her down, you can be sure of that.”

“Your courage is commendable, but there must be a way that will avoid unnecessary bloodshed.”

“Perhaps if Discord was free of his prison, it might tip the odds in our favour a smidgen.” Zecora suggested.

“By more than that…” Luna rested her forelegs on the table and leaned her weight on them. Her brow scrunched in thought. “But we would need the Elements of Harmony to free him. Three are kept in the Resonator, but not even Twilight knows where the others are kept.”

“Let’s keep thinking of ideas about the plan of action then…” Celestia said, idly tapping one hoof against the rim of her cup. “We already know that the mixtures are our trump card and all we need to do is splash them on Twilight and Nightmare Moon. Zecora, the mixture will kill Nightmare Moon, won’t it?”

“If enough of it connects and perhaps if she ingests, then yes.”

“Excellent. So, let’s see what we can brainstorm on how to get it on her…”

Spike knew that Rarity trained with the other unicorns from 5 am till 4 pm at the park. She had been doing so for a little over two months now, but he hadn’t seen her there; the last members of the Royal Guard were pretty strict about non-combatants staying away from their training zone when it was in use. The unicorns could get distracted and accidentally shoot someone.

Spike’s scales made him practically invulnerable and even his underbelly was pretty tough against magic, but he still stayed away out of respect, and kept his visits to Rarity for when she was done with training and back at the boutique.

Though, admittedly, he hadn’t popped in for a while, now that he thought about it…

‘Well, Rarity’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself,’ Spike thought as Carousel Boutique loomed into view when he turned a corner. ‘I’m sure she doesn’t need me checking in all the time. The others do that as well, so… yeah.’

He padded up to the door and gave it a push, entering the shop with a jingle of the bell nailed into the door’s frame.

‘But I’m sure she won’t mind a visit from her favourite little dragon in all of…’

“…?” Spike paused and looked around the boutique. There was a notable lack of… purchasable clothing. “Rarity?! Rarity, you in here?!”

A sound came from upstairs – like something had fallen – and then came a series of light taps that went over his head and over to the stairs leading to the upper floor. He heard the same taps again, louder this time, and a pair of white hooves came into view.

“Oh, Spikey dear! I didn’t hear you come in,” Rarity flashed him an amiable smile and hurried down the last few steps before trotting over. “And how’s my favourite dragon in all of Equestria doing?”

‘Heh, heh – knew it.’

“Eh, same ol’, same ol’,” He shrugged coolly as he met her halfway, joining his claws behind his head and giving a nod to their surroundings. “So what’s up with all the space? You doing some spring-cleaning?”

“Oh… not quite,” Rarity glanced at the space around them and made a flicking gesture with her hoof. “Just moving a few things out of the way for now. With all that’s been going on, nopony’s really in the mood to buy dresses and… well, I haven’t really had much time to create new pieces. Or been in the right mood, really.”

“Right mood??” Spike frowned in concern and tilted his head to get a better look at her, his arms lowering back to his sides. “Hey, are you tired? You’ve got dark stuff beneath your eyes, and this time I’m ninety percent sure it isn’t eyeliner.”

“Hm, is it that noticeable?” Rarity made a face of distaste as she rubbed at the area beneath her eyes. Theatrically, she inhaled and raised one hoof to the heavens. “Yes, I’m afraid what you see is true, Spikey-Wikey – the evidence of not enough sleep!” She lowered her hoof with a soft titter. “Ah, but it’s no big worry; just a slight amount of restlessness that everypony gets at least once in their lives, no?”

Spike’s frown deepened. It wasn’t like Rarity to not make much of a fuss about how she looked. Usually, if he had said that, she would have gasped in genuine horror and pulled a make-up kit out of nowhere to correct the imperfection.

And it wasn’t just the sleep circles; her coat and mane seemed a bit… duller than usual. He had thought the same thing a few weeks ago when he last visited her, but hadn’t paid it much mind.

“Darling, all that frowning will cause early wrinkles,” She lightly teased before turning and heading towards the kitchen. “Now, seeing as you’re here, why not join me for some tea? I have that special brand you so enjoy.”

“I had some before I came here, so I’m good,” He replied, following her into the kitchen and taking a seat at the table. He watched her bustle about, now a little worried. “You know, I actually thought I’d come by and check up on you… er, you know? See how you’re doing and stuff?”

“I’m doing quite well, as you can see,” Rarity briefly turned to give another smile before returning to the tea she was boiling. “But you don’t seem very convinced.”

“Well…” Spike awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. “Virtue just mentioned that you were doing really well and Celestia just wondered if maybe… you were pushing yourself a little too hard?”

Rarity didn’t answer immediately. There was a quiet splosh as she poured milk into her cup and then levitated a spoon to stir it in. “And she sent you to check up on me?”

“No, I wanted to come on my own.”

“Well…” Rarity placed the spoon in the sink and trotted on over to the table, her cup floating next to her in a blue aura. “I appreciate you and the princess’ concern, but I really am fine. If I’m pushing myself, then it’s for a good cause, isn’t it? There aren’t many unicorns that have volunteered, so we all have to make up for numbers with strength.”

“I guess…” Spike nodded uncertainly. He waited until she was seated before adding, “But I mean… you’re not sleeping well if you have dark circles, and I know how much you hate getting one of your ‘designer’s block’. And, to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you push your dresses off to the side, not even when ponies haven’t been coming into your store.”

“… It is a bit frustrating to look at a piece of paper and not being able to draw out a design…” Rarity admitted, though she didn’t seem too upset about it. She took a sip and then said, “But it made me realize that all the time I usually spend creating can be put to better use. Namely, honing my magic.”

“Don’t you have training for that?”

“There is always room for improvement and I need as much of that as I can obtain!” Rarity put her steaming cup down and looked straight into his eyes as she tapped her horn. “Spike, darling, you see this on my head?”

Spike made a puzzled face. “Uh, yeah? Your horn.”

“Correct, and none of our friends here has one,” She lowered her hoof and smiled – it looked more tired than the last one. “Spikey, aside from Twilight, I’m the only one in our circle that can cast magic, and with… with Twilight not being here… it falls to me to be capable enough with magic to protect you all. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, even you, Spikey – you are all strong in your own way, but there are things magic can do that can only be countered by more magic, nothing involving physical strength or willpower. I have to be strong enough to counter that. Do you understand where I’m coming from?”

“Yeah…” Spike nodded, brow furrowed. “Yeah, I do… but still, it-”

“And I cannot afford to slack off now…” Rarity cut him off, apparently without even realizing he had started talking. “Especially not when I have just discovered my affinity. Rejuvenation, Spikey! Can you believe it? Now I can mend flesh instead of just fabrics. I’m told that it’s a rare affinity to have and very important, as you can guess.”

“Rarity?”

“Virtue tells me that my connection with my Element – Generosity – means that my healing spells are significantly more potent; the potential within me is greater if I'm-”

“Rarity.”

He reached out and touched her foreleg, the one that was resting on the table. She gave a start, looked down at their joined limbs, and back up at him questioningly.

“I’m really worried about you. Especially now,” He said, distress evident in his expression. Rarity’s words just made the weight in his belly grow heavier and colder. “It really sounds like you’re gonna… I dunno, work yourself to exhaustion?”

Rarity scoffed amusedly and patted his claw. “Darling, I know my limits.”

“I don’t think you do.”

She drew back, reassuring smile falling in shock.

“I know I’m still young and stuff, but I got this feeling that you’re not gonna take it easy. I know you want to help Twilight… so do I… like, a lot. Heck, I’d probably go charging into Canterlot by myself if I thought there was even a teeny-tiny chance that I could save Twilight, but we both know that’s not gonna happen,” Drawing his hand back, he rubbed at his arm awkwardly, glancing off to the side. “I guess what I’m trying to say is… don’t push yourself until you get hurt because that won’t help anyone. Just… take a break, you know?”

“…” Rarity pulled her leg back in to her chest and thoughtfully stared into her tea. “Oh, Spike, I… You don’t understand, I’m… I can’t… Oh dear…” She gave a long sigh and rubbed at her face. “Am I really so bad that it’s caused you so much worry?”

“I grew up with Twilight; I can sort of recognize when someone’s about to go on some sleepless crusade,” He shrugged, sympathetic. “But if it makes you feel better, I think you look even more beautiful without your make-up and stuff.”

Rarity laughed gently, taking her hooves away from her face. “You know just the right thing to say to cheer me up, don’t you? Alright. Alright, I’ll take it easy – I promise.”

Spike let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, good.”

“I appreciate you coming out to talk to me, Spike. I guess I really needed it, but didn’t think that I did. It’s… hard to talk to your friends sometimes…” She shook her head, suddenly frowning in concern. “Oh dear, I hope it’s not too much of a burden to listen to me, is it? You are very mature for your age, but you’re still quite young.”

“Nah, it’s no biggie,” Spike waved off her worry with a casual shrug. “Spike’s got it all under wraps.”

“As you say,” Rarity tittered before pushing her chair back. “Now, I’m sure you must be in the mood for some biscuits at the very least?”

“Errr… Yeah, I could go for some, definitely. You got any of those big ones with the chocolate chips and peanuts?”

“I believe I do…” Rarity searched around in her pantry for several moments before returning with a packet of cookies. “Tee hee – it truly seems as though I only buy these for you, Spikey dear.”

Spike flushed in embarrassment, but he played it off with another shrug, his mouth already wetting at the sight of the packet as it was placed on the table. “Twilight bought these all the time when I was still super-little; they were her favourites,” He sliced open the packet with one claw and took out a cookie, the fragrance reminding him of early hatchling days. “She hasn’t eaten them in a long time though. I guess she just grew out of them…”

Twilight levitated another chocolate-peanut cookie over and snapped her jaws down on it with more force than necessary. The poor snack didn’t do anything wrong; it was just an unfortunate victim of Twilight’s rage and irritation.

She munched what was in her mouth slowly, letting her emotions play across her face as she watched Nightmare Moon pace about her- no, not her, Celestia’s room, mainly addressing Ebony and Haze, but also directing a remark or question towards Twilight, who answered in the smallest amount of words possible with the greatest amount of hate possible.

Hate was a strong emotion and previously unfamiliar to Twilight, but this time spent beneath Nightmare Moon’s hoof gave her ample opportunity to understand it.

Twilight’s muscles tensed – shifting the crystals tearing through them – and quickly chomped the remainder of the cookie before fishing out another one from the packet floating next to her.

“You can tell the Royal Court that they can have their meetings when Equestria isn’t at war,” Nightmare Moon snapped, then suddenly stopped in place and levelled her forehoof at Haze. “No, you know what? Tell them that if they insist on having my presence at a meeting that I’ve already refused to be at, then they’re free to come and complain to me. Personally.”

Haze nodded stoically. “I’ll be sure to relay your message.”

Nightmare Moon resumed her pacing, restless and annoyed. “We cannot remain idle and on the defensive forever; sooner or later, we have to strike back at the Rouge Knights. Preferably, in a way that actually hurts them because it’s clear that culling their troops is doing very little in the long run.”

“I don’t really see what we can do…” Ebony said. An air freshener in the cutout of a pine tree dangled from her neck. “They can just show up almost instantly and vanish just as quickly. We can’t predict where they might show up either,” She paused and turned to Twilight, red eyes shining. “Can we?”

Twilight munched on a cookie and ignored her.

“Well? Do you know or not?”

Crunch crunch crunch

Nightmare Moon stopped pacing again and glared coldly at Twilight.

“No, we can’t.” Twilight said sharply as an unwelcome pressure started building in the back of her head.

“There you have it, Captain.” Nightmare Moon turned away and the pressure left as well.

‘Thank Faust…’

“I would like nothing more than to have the means to predict where they will show up so that I can march through the Fracture he opened and tear his head from his shoulders,” Nightmare Moon chuckled darkly. “Let’s see what his ‘righteousness’ does for him then, hm?”

Twilight grumbled beneath her breath. She wasn’t interested in hearing Nightmare Moon growl and bare her teeth at nothing again; it hurt to walk around too much, and she could feel her mood getting lower and lower as time went on.

“Look, is this all you called us here for?” Twilight sighed. “To tell us about things we already know? If that’s the case, then I’d rather go back into the lab.”

Ebony’s tail swished in annoyance and the lich glared at her, a look made all the more intimidating by her ghastly, black eyes. “You…!”

“Oh, am I boring you? My apologies,” Nightmare Moon sneered – her attempt at a smile, albeit a fake one – as she walked over and lowered her head so she was eye-level with the smaller mare. “I would have thought that any amount of exercise would do you some good.”

Her lips split apart and her pupils shrunk to tiny pricks.

“Although, I imagine those crystals must put you in some amount of discomfort, don’t they?”

A few months ago, Twilight would have flinched, recoiled, but she was jaded to the ‘Empress’ crazed expressions. By now, it was just a foal pulling a scary face, and she had long grown accustomed to those in no small part to her big brother.

“… Anyway…” Nightmare Moon pulled away and turned on her hooves, seemingly disappointed that she hadn’t drawn a reaction. She headed over to her- Celestia’s desk and idly shuffled some documents. “There’s something you don’t know, Twilight. I was going to bring it up before you interrupted me.”

Twilight dared to roll her eyes, and levitated another cookie to her lips. “Don’t keep me in suspense, I guess…”

“I wouldn’t dream of it considering that it involves your precious brother and his wife.”

The cookie hung in mid-air.

Nightmare Moon turned her head far enough to regard her with one draconic, slightly amused. “Hm, so there is some of that old Element bearer alive in there.”

Twilight ignored the remark and cautiously asked, “What are you talking about?”

Nightmare Moon turned around fully, the amusement falling from her face and replaced with the cold rage she seemed to perpetually exist in.

“Communications with the Crystal Empire have always been unreliable. Their location combined with the turbulent weather that surrounds their home makes it near impossible for letters to be delivered by mailpony; they have to use the trains, and those have a tight schedule. Even so, it’s been a week, and the last train scheduled to stop at the Crystal Empire hasn’t returned when it should have.”

“Shining Armor…” Twilight swallowed with some difficulty, a cold lump of lead settling in her belly. “Cadance…”

“Perhaps I shouldn’t assume the worst…” Nightmare Moon murmured, making her way over to the corner of Celestia’s room. “But I’m not a very optimistic mare.”

“The Crystal Empire is certainly far away from most outside assistance, save for the yaks…” Haze said. “But the Rouge Knights haven’t gone anywhere near it ever since this all began.”

“Maybe they just haven’t heard of it until now?” Ebony suggested.

Nightmare Moon approached a tall object with a heavy blanket draped over it and magically pulled it off. Instantly, Philomena shrieked and flapped her wings furiously from inside her enchanted cage, spitting out fire and shedding feathers that burned up in the air.

“Whatever has happened, I intend to find out,” She touched the cage’s door and lit up her horn. Philomena attacked the cage’s fire-resistant bars furiously, trying to stretch her legs through the gaps far enough to claw out the alicorn’s eyes. “The Crystal Empire is rich with the purest crystals in all of Equestria, and the Resonator goes through those like you wouldn’t believe,” She paused, then briefly looked at them with a shrug. “Also, I suppose we should help them or… something.”

Twilight scoffed in disgust. “Is it that strange to you? Helping others out without expecting anything in return?”

“Twilight, I am currently defending my kingdom from vengeful humans, volatile animals, and rabid suits of animated armor, and I am going to send help to your insipid brother and sister. But by all means, continue whining and splitting hairs on what’s morally just; I’m certain to listen this time.”

Nightmare Moon pulled the door open and exhaled a thick cloud of frost that blew Philomena against the cage, snuffing her flames out long enough for Nightmare Moon to replace the food bowl and close the cage up again.

“Or you can shut up and be thankful that I even bother with these things.”

“…” Twilight closed her mouth, but refused to spare a shred of gratitude.

“Who are you going to send, Empress?” Ebony asked.

“I would go myself, but that would just leave Canterlot open to assault…” Nightmare Moon trotted back over, casting a meaningful glance at Ebony. “So I am sending you, my Captain.”

Ebony seemed surprised. “Me?”

“You will travel to Crystal Empire with a platoon of guards to determine what exactly is happening and to assist in any way that you can. I have already given the word to have a specially prepared airship to transport you there: Fancypants and I have overseen the construction; it is small, fast, and will hold against the frozen tundra’s erratic weather reliably.”

“I… Okay, I-I won’t let you down, Empress,” Ebony nodded determinedly and saluted. “Will I be choosing the platoon myself or do you have recommendations?”

“Choose at your leisure, but have a list brought to me by night’s end. I ask that you leave Haze and Veil: I will need them here.”

“Understood.”

“Your mission starts at 8 am tomorrow, so go and prepare quickly,” Nightmare Moon gave a flick of her hoof. “Dismissed.”

“W-wait!” Twilight stepped forwards, the packet of cookies falling next to her, forgotten. “I want to go with them. I have to!”

“No, you don’t,” Nightmare Moon retorted coldly, flicking her hoof again so that Ebony would take the hint. The lich saluted one more time and made for the door. “You will remain here where you can be useful.”

“They’re my family!” Twilight cried, worry and rage churning inside her. “I have to see if they’re-”

Be quiet.

As if a dam had materialized in her throat, Twilight’s words were blocked and forced back down. Her eyes widened as the ice-cold pressure in the back of her head washed over her mind and prevented her from speaking, no matter how hard she coughed and grabbed at her neck.

“Let’s ignore the fact that you can’t venture to a place like the Crystal Empire because the cold would most likely freeze the crystals in your body until your bones turned brittle and fragile enough that your ribs would break merely from trying to breathe…”

Nightmare Moon moved closer and lowered her head, just like earlier.

However, unlike earlier, Twilight flinched and recoiled, still gasping and choking, struggling to her words out – vomit them out if she had to.

“Why in Equestria would I let you far enough away that you can resist my influence and have a chance of escaping to your friends and telling them everything?”

Twilight grimaced. ‘I already have, you… abomination!’

“You like to test the length of your leash…” Nightmare Moon nodded. “I can respect that. Really, I can. Without trying, how can we know, hm? But that respect won’t sway me into allowing you such leeway, so listen very closely…”

Do not speak of what has transpired in this room to anyone.

Twilight grunted in misery, feeling the slimy order lodge itself into her brain.

“Have I made myself clear?”

“…!”

Answer.

“Yes!” To Twilight’s revulsion, a part of her trembled in ecstasy, all too happy to follow out Nightmare Moon’s commands.

She despised that part, wanted to reach in and wrench it out.

Nightmare Moon nodded, sneering. “Good.”

Twilight fell to the floor, rubbing her throat even though it wasn’t sore. “Damn you…” She sniffed, swiftly wiping away a stray tear. “Damn you to… to Tartarus!”

“Been there, done that,” Nightmare Moon shrugged in a so-so manner. “And I’m not talking about the moon. Haze?”

The stallion blinked, indifferent to Twilight’s plight. “Yes, Empress?”

“There was something else you wished to discuss, wasn’t there?” Nightmare Moon rolled her shoulders with a sigh. “Make it quick, would you? I promised Vinyl I’d meet her later on and I’d rather not have to postpone.”

“Of course,” Haze nodded in understanding as Twilight got back up, savagely wiping at her eyes and snorting in frustration as a stub of a crystal on her fetlock drew a pale line across her brow. “It’s to do with a rather interesting report from one of our scouts…”

Author's Note

Note 1: Airship - a marvel of engineering and magic - officially known as 'magitech' - the airship is a transportation vessel that utilizes propellors, enchanted crystals, and steam to achieve flight. They come in many shapes and sizes, and are manufactured by Aero Vistas, a company owned by Fancypants.

The first airship was manufactured in 1025 AD by Suavebritches, Fancypants' great grandfather, and was called the Soaring Dolphin, after its unusual shape. It was also the first airship to travel to every settlement in Equestria in one continuous flight, and currently resides in Canterlot's Museum of History. However, due to the recent reappearance of the Crystal Empire, its claim to have travelled to every settlement is being called into question.

Currently, all legally manufactured airships are stationed in Canterlot, and are popular for taking ponies on voyages around the city. The smallest and more streamlined vessels - so small that only three ponies are permitted to ride it - are also used in airship races that are held once every year, starting in 1050 AD. The Quartz Crown, Fancypants' personal airship, has won each race in a five-win streak and is expected to win for the sixth time this upcoming July.

Note 2: Fancypants is one of my favourite characters, and I am saddened that he returns from a whole bunch of chapters as a mere mention. Sorry, old chap, but just you wait...

Chapter 51: Scourge

1056 AD, January 12th

Knock knock knock

“Captain?”

“… What is it?”

“We’re coming up on the Crystal Empire. Six minutes, maybe less.”

“Okay. I’ll be out soon. Tell everypony to gather at the bridge.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Their steps were muffled as they trotted away, and faded altogether when they were far enough. Complete silence was impossible with the ever-constant fwip-fwip of the airship’s propellers and the stifled roar of its furnace, but within the first hour of riding on the ship Ebony had learned to tune out the ambient noises and find a quaint peace in her quarters.

As it turned out, being undead made it easier to find one’s inner peace, although it was more of a thoughtless trance.

Lucky for her.

Her first solo mission? Away from her Empress? She’d have worked herself up several times over in this cramped, metal space on this five-hour flight thinking up all the ways she could mess this up if it wasn’t for the ease of clearing her mind.

‘At least now I won’t have time to worry about how things can go wrong…’ She thought to herself, hopping down from the simple cot that took up the majority of the room. ‘Hm... hopefully there’ll be nothing wrong with the Crystal Empire; maybe it’s just a small issue that’s interfering with communications.’

She walked over to the door, her hoof briefly resting on the handle.

‘Faust, I hope it’s got nothing to do with the Rouge Knights. If that Caed guy’s there… I don’t know if I could handle him.’

Pushing her fears and doubts aside, Ebony turned the handle and stepped out into the corridor.

“Fancypants calls it the Frost Giant.”

Ebony examined the airship as it came to a halt several metres above the soil of the courtyard, its propellers slowing to a complete stop. A large iron anchor hanging at the end abruptly dropped on a long length of chain from a metal-rimmed hole and crashed into the dirt.

“It’s not that big.”

“I told him the same thing, but he has a flair for the dramatic when it comes to his airships,” Nightmare Moon gave a short chuckle. “And this is a fairly new design, so it’s to be expected.”

“New?”

“It’s almost as fast as the airships used for racing in optimal weather, and despite its size it can withstand a great deal of punishment. The furnace is magically protected so that its flames won’t die out once you get to the frigid temperatures of the north,” The Empress watched in silence for a little bit as a hatch opened on the side of the airship’s rotund body and a rope ladder was pushed out to clatter against the dirt. “She was christened just two days ago if I remember correctly.”

Ebony had never been on an airship before, but she had been taken into the air by pegasi before, so she imagined it was similar to that experience only a lot more safe – she hoped – and with a lot less jostling.

The Frost Giant didn’t have the open poop decks that the larger airships had, where tourists could gawk and point over the railings and nobility could converse and clink their glasses full of wine together; it didn’t seem to have a poop deck at all, it was almost almond-shaped with the only flat bit being the stern, presumably to hold the four propellers arranged in a square-pattern.

There was a single window at the front – ‘bow’, her Inner Haze staunchly corrected – and Ebony saw a shadow through the thick glass before it slinked away and reappeared at the open hatch as an aged stallion wearing one of those sailor caps with the anchor on the front. He took the ladder down rung by rung, swift but cautious at once.

“That is your pilot – Broad Sails,” Nightmare Moon told her. “He will get you to the Crystal Empire, so you would do well to make sure he stays alive. I would hate to have to send another airship looking for you.”

Ebony nodded. “I will, Empress.”

“Have you gotten your troops ready?”

“They’re ready.” Ebony nodded again, glancing over to the side where six guards stood at attention.

Well… more like ‘five’ since Lightning Dust had broken formation to adjust her armor again. Not entirely without reason, but it still annoyed her.

She wished Fade wasn’t busy, wished that there was somepony else as good a flyer as him or Lightning Dust, but there wasn’t, so she’d have to grin and bear the mare’s company.

“Then this is farewell for now…” Nightmare Moon turned to face her fully, one hoof coming up on the side to stop the airship’s pilot in his tracks when he tried to greet them. “I place my trust in you, my Right Hoof – do not disappoint me.”

“I won’t, Empress. I promise.”

When Ebony arrived on the bridge, the six guards she brought along were all lined up in threes on either side of the bridge. Impressive – she didn’t even order them to do that.

She walked down the middle – surreptitiously eyeing Lightning Dust as she passed her – and approached Broad Sails. The stallion had been single-hoofedly piloting the vessel, and though Ebony was no expert on airships, she assumed that was worthy of admiration.

Especially when she saw the mess of a blizzard through the window.

“Aye, it be a fierce ‘un out there, lass!” Broad Sails said when she stopped beside him. The brown pipe sticking out the corner of his mouth twitched as a few puffs of smoke curled out the end. “No pegasi ta be corrallin’ this here weather, sure as sure be. Gives ye some insight ta th’ power of that ol’ witch, Mother Nature.”

‘Why is he talking like a pirate?’

Ebony shrugged and turned her attention back to the window with narrowed eyes. “How can you even see where you’re going?”

“Sailor’s intuition, lass!” Broad Sails chuckled, and then released one hoof from the brass iron steering wheel to tap one of the many gauges on the control station. “Also, this be a compass.”

“Ah.”

“We’ll be headin’ through th’ Empire’s magical-whatchamacallit shield in a few ticks, lass, so ye had best be prepared.”

“Okay.”

Ebony nodded and turned to face the guards.

Her guards.

“You heard the stallion: we’ll be in the Crystal Empire shortly,” Stiffly, she marched back down between the rows, catching each guard’s eyes as she did. Some flinched. “You’ve been briefed, but I want to remind you all that we’re going into unknown territory: the Crystal Empire could be under siege or it could be just having some issue with communications and travel. Whatever the situation is, we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

Reaching the end, she abruptly turned and started trotting back up.

“If anypony has any questions, then ask them now.”

Almost immediately, Private Tremor cleared his throat.

“Captain, what happens if we discover Rouge Knights? More than we can handle?”

“Then we retreat,” Ebony said. The words left a bad taste in her mouth, but she had to let them all know. “We retreat and inform the Empress of what’s happened so that we can plan another course of action.”

Lightning Dust was keeping quiet so far – though Ebony could hear her running up and down the ship during the trip – but she was shifting restlessly and flexing her wings. The blades attached to them slid against each other with a soft skritch, skritch.

She worried that the pegasus would get too excited if they did encounter the knights.

‘Although if she dies…’

Ebony swiftly cast that thought out of her head.

Annoying she may be, but unless she does anything that actively compromised the mission, she was a Praetorian Guard just like Ebony and unworthy of those kinds of thoughts – albeit, one that still had to refer to her for orders.

Hopefully, she’d take to them without much complaint – this was their first mission together.

Facing the window, Ebony had no defense when the raging blizzard that blinded their way suddenly came to a grinding halt and she was blinded by a flash of light.

Her lich eyes burned and she sucked air through her teeth in displeasure, and squinted.

“Here we be, lads and lasses!” Broad Sails announced with a grandiose gesture towards the window. “Th’ Crystal Empire.”

When she could bear to face the light, Ebony moved closer and peered out, awed by the sight of beautiful buildings and spires constructed out of materials that glittered and shone in the sunlight. As if the city wasn’t already stunning enough, fields of lush and healthy grass surrounded the empire as far as the magical barrier extended.

‘Well…’ Ebony thought with a small smile as they soared over the greenery. ‘I finally saw the Crystal Empire in person, so I can cross that of my bucket list.’

…

‘Oh. Right…’

Fade was right: she could get a lot of material from being undead should she ever decide to pursue the path of comedy.

“Don’t seem ta be in th’ middle of a crisis, eh?” Broad Sails asked, reaching off to the side to push a lever up to make something in the airship’s belly go click-clunk. “S’pretty as th’ eye of a storm an’… Eh?”

Ebony frowned worriedly when Broad Sails leaned closer to the window, and attempted to follow his gaze. “What’s wrong?”

“Ya can see th’ train tracks from here.”

“Oh?” Ebony searched for the tracks far below and found them. “Yeah? What’s wrong about…?”

Then she saw it.

A huge cluster of crystals as black as a shadow that ran along the tracks, all the way up to the train station in the distance.

But even from their height she could see the missing train – waiting for nopony at the station with jagged spires of black crystal gouging out the carriages.

Ebony stared with a cold weight in her belly, and only vaguely heard Lightning Dust calling for her. “Yo, what’s up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Get up here. All of you.”

The clanking of their armor filled the bridge as they crowded around Ebony to look out the window. She heard some gasp and others swear.

“Black crystals?”

“You heard the stories, right? About him?”

“Shit, is that…? Is Sombra back?!”

Ebony blinked, suddenly alert, and spun to face Broad Sails. “Stop here. Now.”

Broad Sails took his pipe out of his mouth and cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “Empire’s got a landing space near th’ coliseum, lass, so I might-”

“No! Not in the city,” Ebony said firmly, pushing her way through the throng of bodies so she was mere inches from the now-unsettled pilot. “Let us off here. That’s an order.”

He placed the pipe back between his lips and worked the controls, and the airship shuddered to a complete halt.

“King Sombra was the only unicorn who used black crystals…” She said, pulling away from the window. “So either he’s somehow come back or there’s somepony else doing the exact same thing.”

“The Empire has that heart-shaped crystal thing, don’t they?” Lightning Dust said, turning away from the window. “Why don’t they just activate it and blow whoever’s ass to shards?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Halfway to the bridge’s door, she turned and said, “Broad Sails, if you go into the city with a unicorn that’s strong enough to form crystals – Sombra or no – on the loose, then they can easily shoot down this ship. Let us off here with the ladder and keep well out of the city’s range.”

“How long, lass?” Broad Sails tapped his hoof against a gauge. “Can only hold so much fuel, ye know.”

“Until we send out a green flare or… or if you’re in danger of running out of enough fuel that you can’t return to Canterlot. If you get anywhere close to that, then turn around and head back. Tell the Empress of what’s happened.”

Broad Sails frowned and reached up to adjust his cap. “Five hours, lass. That’s as long as I can give ye.”

“Understood,” Ebony nodded firmly before beckoning her guards. “Come on. We’re getting to the bottom of this.”

“Hell yeah!” Lightning Dust hoof-pumped and was the first to trail after her. “Let’s kick some ass!”

“Reign it in.”

Ebony was partly relieved that it didn’t seem to be Rouge Knights that the Empire was dealing with because at least with Sombra or whatever created those crystals, they were from the same world so they would be affected by magic just like anything else.

But on the other hoof, Lightning Dust brought up a point: why didn’t the Empire just turn to the Crystal Heart to vanquish whatever evil was plaguing them? It worked the first time, so why not a second?

Unless it was somehow stolen again.

Considering how most of these things went, that might just be the case.

Ebony shook her head to clear any ‘if’s’ and ‘might’s’ and focused on getting the airship’s escape door open. The hinges gave a most unpleasant squeak when she pushed it open and knocked down the rope ladder. She was quick to descend it down to the fields, knowing that time was of the essence.

Once all four of her hooves were safely on grass, she turned to face the city; they weren’t too far away – they’d be there in under two minutes if they galloped – and from her new vantage point, she could see something that she didn’t pick up on in the airship.

“Ensign Onion…” Ebony turned her head to address the petite unicorn mare that shakily got off the ladder. “Pass me your binoculars.”

Onion nodded and rummaged through her side satchel to hoof them over. “S-sorry – I’m not a fan of ladders…”

Ebony said nothing and brought the binoculars to her eyes. “Hm…”

It was easier to see on ground level than from the airship: there was nopony traversing the city’s streets.

She doubted a settlement as large as the Crystal Empire would have a quiet day where everypony simply decided to stay indoors – she doubted that even from a place like Ponyville.

And a few seconds of scanning confirmed spikes of black crystal jutting out from the streets in random places.

‘If it was King Sombra, then I’d guess he’d be putting the citizens to work again…’ Ebony frowned as she lowered the binoculars and hoofed them back to Onion. ‘But it’s quiet.’

“Everypony’s here, captain,” Lightning Dust said, walking up to her side and glancing at the city before looking back to her with a cocked eyebrow. “I can do some scouting if you need info.”

“No, we’re going in as a group. For now at least,” Ebony retorted, and looked over her shoulder at the other guards. “Did you all hear that? We’re going in together: pegasi keep their wings folded and unicorns keep their magic on hold. Don’t need anypony injuring one of the civilians because they’re jumpy.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Alright – let’s move out!”

Broad Sails had already rolled the ladder back up and shut the door, and as Ebony and the others moved in a tight formation, the airship’s shadow passed over them to begin its route around the city. Ebony watched it shrink in the distance, recalling Broad Sail’s words.

‘Five hours. Hopefully we can settle this by then.’

Ebony started off at a canter that quickly developed into a brisk jog. Another great thing about being undead: she didn’t ‘tire’ in the traditional sense. She still felt the strain that came with using magic, but physical exertion had no drawback. Haze had offered an explanation, but she admitted that she zoned out around ‘lactic acid build-up’ and ‘muscle fibre stasis through arcane influence’.

Fortunately, it wouldn’t be too long a run, and the guards had been trained extensively enough to handle a jog in full armor for considerable distances.

Lightning Dust kept up easily; she seemed to be making a conscious effort to not pull ahead, as her competitive streak demanded.

“So what’s the plan if it’s Sombra or some unicorn with dark magic?” Lightning Dust asked as she slowed her pace for the third time and fell alongside Ebony again.

“Pegasi take to the air and circle until you see an opening,” She responded, raising her voice loud enough for the others to hear. “Earth ponies – that means you, Tremor – hang back behind the barriers that me and the unicorns will put up. A unicorn’s a unicorn, and Sombra’s not immortal or a lich, so he should be just as vulnerable to fatigue and Mana Exhaustion as anypony else.”

“What if he’s not?”

“Then we slit his throat and burn his body so there’ll be nothing for him to come back from.”

Lightning Dust laughed, surprised. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

“Moreover, we want to get to the castle and the Crystal Heart, if it’s still there. If it isn’t, then we need to figure out where the prince and princess are. And if it isn’t Sombra or a unicorn…” Ebony paused as the Empire’s buildings grew closer, and the lack of ponies on the streets became painfully obvious. “Then we need to observe and figure out a new approach.”

The soft crunch of grass flattening beneath their hooves became a chorus of clip-clops as they ended up on the Empire’s roadwork; Ebony raised her hoof and slowed her pace to a slow trot, and her platoon followed suite.

Together, they traversed the barren streets, looking on at the silent buildings. There were more crystals here: they covered buildings, the roads, and even a white-stone fountain with flowing symbols on the rim.

The sculpture of a pony rising on their hind legs in the middle didn’t seem too happy, and miserably dribbled water.

Now that she was closer, Ebony saw that the crystals weren’t actually black, but a very deep shade of purple; it looked black from a distance, but it wasn’t.

Whether that meant it was Sombra or not… she didn’t know.

“… Lightning Dust, fly up and give us a view.” Ebony ordered, gesturing for the others to stop.

“Sure thing!” Lightning Dust nodded and leapt into the air with a strong updraft.

She rose, hovering a hundred yards in the air and turning in a full circle before coming back down.

She looked disturbed.

“Soooo there’s a whole bunch of these crystals beneath the castle. Like… literally covering the entire space where the Crystal Heart is; I can’t even see the damn thing.”

Ebony’s brow furrowed in worry. “What about ponies? Anything?”

“Not as far as I could see.”

“… Let’s keep moving. Be on your guard.”

There wasn’t much else they could do. It was either move forwards and figure out what was going on at the castle or head back to the airship, which defeated the point of getting off it in the first place.

Doing nothing would accomplish nothing.

Ebony took lead once more and led her platoon in the direction of the castle.

Their approach to the castle was just as eerily quiet as when they first entered the city, but the closer they got to the massive building, the more presence the crystals had.

It wasn’t just clusters anymore; there were great, conical spikes that jutted up from the cracked roadwork and tiny little shards no bigger than her hoof scattered across the ground like pebbles.

The others were unnerved, and made a conscious effort to avoiding treading on them. Even Lightning Dust seemed put-off; she didn’t say anything aloud – nor did Ebony think she ever would – but it was all in her expression and body language: the way her eyes shifted about, the way her tongue rolled about in her mouth and pressed at her gums, her cheeks…

Ebony wondered if they felt something she couldn’t; she was unsettled, yes, but no more than any regular pony would be upon discovering a place overrun by deep purple crystals.

Her hooves crushed several of the smallest pieces littering the ground before they turned a corner and came upon the spacious plaza which the Empire’s castle was built upon. The structure was immense and towered over them, but its magnificence was lost upon Ebony as her attention was drawn to what was underneath the castle’s arching foundation.

Dark crystals – covering the area like a giant spiderweb: they jutted out from the ground, stretched across the concrete like a sickly rash, and ran up whatever other surface was close to it.

And in the very midst of the crystalline mess was the Crystal Heart, still floating serenely, completely untouched by the plague.

Ebony swallowed, disturbed at how… unnatural the growths seemed; it spread everywhere and layered upon itself like a healing scab.

Still no sign of life.

“What happened here?” She murmured beneath her breath.

“Maybe we should check inside?” Lightning Dust suggested with a shrug. “I seriously didn’t see anything else when I was up in the air aside from… this.”

Ebony nodded. “Yeah, good idea,” She took a few steps forward. “The entrances are in the castle’s legs, aren’t they?”

Ensign Onion pointed off to the side. “There’s some stairs over th-”

Krk-crack

Ebony stopped dead in her tracks. “Did anypony else hear that?”

“… H-hear what?” Onion asked.

Ebony turned towards the sickly infestation of crystals. “I thought…”

Krk-crack

“That. Did any of you hear that?”

“I did.” Private Tremor nodded.

“Same here,” Lightning Dust agreed with a twitch of her wings. “Came from the crystals.”

Krk-crack

There was no doubt that everypony heard that one because it was much clearer and a portion of crystal was shaken loose from the body of one of the larger spikes. It shattered upon hitting the ground with a sound like glass, and the sound from earlier, the one of something moving, stretching, cracking, continued.

“F-formations!”

Ebony’s silent heart leapt into her throat as her platoon rushed into their positions: pegasi taking to the air, unicorns moving to the back, and earth ponies getting in front with their weapons drawn.

She remained in the front as she was the leader and many degrees tougher than the average unicorn.

Krk-crack

More crystal fell and shattered.

Ebony drew her sword, taking comfort in her magic gripping something solid and with weight.

Krrrrrk

Some of the larger crystals were pushed to the side: somepony or something was in that mess, hidden beneath the blanket of mineral and substance. Maybe if they were regular crystals that weren’t dark as a shadow, then she could see what was beneath it, but they weren’t.

Krrrrrrrrk-crack

crackcrackcrackcrack

The chorus of snapping crystals assaulted her ears as even more crystal was pushed up into sight, previously hidden by the first layer, like skin peeling away to reveal muscle and bone.

Whatever was beneath that mess must have been huge, or at least larger than a regular pony to be pushing so much mass aside like it was of paper, but no matter how hard she peered Ebony saw nothing except that damned crystal!

But she kept peering, kept trying to see who their enemy was.

Until a portion of the crystals twisted in a way that shouldn’t have been possible, and Ebony was struck with the chilling sensation of being watched.

‘No… No way…’

One of the spikes – longer and more slender than the rest – shifted and rose into view, followed by another piece almost identical in shape and length that was fused to the first, and then another piece that was fused into that one. The joined pieces bent and anchored themselves against the ground like-

‘Legs…’ Ebony thought with another splash of cold realization.

Two more ‘legs’ crawled out at different angles and stabbed the concrete. With a shudder that ran through the entire infestation – like a creature tensing up – the mass of crystal that Ebony thought was merely being pushed aside rose into the air.

Once, Miasma had gone to the coast, and brought back a sea urchin. It was small, round, and so completely covered in spines that it took several minutes – and pricks on Fade’s end – to find the mouth.

Ebony was reminded of that odd creature as the mass of crystal – easily twice her size in every dimension – clumsily turned on its three legs to face her, and a crevice stretched sideways across its face widened even further only to abruptly snap shut with a shower of shards falling from its maw.

The inside was pure blackness, but Ebony swore that she saw…

“What the shit is that?!” One of the guards cried – might have been Ensign Crème.

“S-stand your ground!” Ebony shouted, trying not to flinch at the sounds spilling from the creature’s maw.

Crystal breaking and growing back on itself, heavy clunks as its legs stabbed the ground in irregular patterns, ghastly groaning as…

No. It wasn’t the creature that was groaning.

A cluster near one of the creature’s legs shifted as a shimmering body rose up.

‘Moon’s shadow…’

Wide, bloodshot eyes stared blankly at her as the pony – a stallion, earth pony – staggered over towards her. His ribs pressed against his skin and dried blood flaked off his matted fur. He groaned through dry, cracked, and bleeding lips – a sound of pain and misery.

Crystals tore through the skin on his face, cluttering around his temples – it would have been the most horrific part of him had his eyes not held some light, and had his chest not rose and fell with irregular breaths.

He was alive.

Ebony balked and took a step back in disgust as three more bodies rose from the bed, each just as gaunt and haunted as the stallion.

An ageing mare with crystals shredding through her fetlocks.

A young stallion with jagged spikes sprouting from his ears.

A small filly with a line running on top of her muzzle and between her eyes.

Another mare with her jaws stretched wide open like it was broken; glittering crystal peeking behind her teeth like a second row.

They all stared with wide and unseeing eyes, but it was the mare with the bleeding mouth that pointed towards them, hissing out air as she struggled to speak.

“Do you... have... it?”

Ebony gritted her teeth, panting needlessly as she brought her sword to bear.

“Did he… send you?” The mare croaked, still reaching towards her. “To… help?”

The creature stumbled towards them, maw opening and snapping like a trap with two glowing green dots burning within its body.

“Please... Don't leave... I just need your help... to find him...”

Author's Note

Note 1: "It's getting harder and harder to drag myself back to the light. This magic is unfathomably dark and primal; it speaks to a decrepit part of me, a part I would rather leave alone. Were it not for my love, I would abandon this altogether. But for my love's sake, I will endure. This magic may be the only thing which can save her, and I will risk all that I am to save her. I can only hope my subjects can forgive my meddling in the dark arts.

Right now, the main thing keeping me lucid is writing in this journal. Going back over it and reading my previous entries gives me closure that what I am doing is for a reason, a good one. As long I have this journal, I can endure." -Entry from a journal found in King Sombra's personal quarters. There is no mention of who this 'love' is, and no pony in the Crystal Empire remembers seeing Sombra as anything other than a tyrant, much less a loving ruler.

Chapter 52: The Needless

1056 AD, January 12th

“He promised to come back… I waited… alone in the darkness… But if you can just help me… I know I can find him…”

The mare never once raised her tone or showed any sort of inflection; even when Ebony pushed her back with a Kinetic Impact spell she never stopped talking, and she struggled back to her skinny legs as the crystal-urchin stepped over her with the other infected ponies stumbling alongside it.

Ebony took a few uncertain steps back: she didn’t expect anything like this. It was horrific, nightmarish – she might have actually preferred Sombra over whatever the hell this thing was.

Pushing her revulsion aside, Ebony conjured up a barrier, made it as high as the urchin and as wide as possible. “Everypony stay back!”

Her platoon was faring just about as well: some were slack-jawed in horrified awe, and it took the more clear-minded guards to prod and jostle them out of inaction. At the very least, nopony had run off.

“What the hell is this?!” Lightning Dust grimaced in disgust as the crystal-infested filly reached the barrier, bumped against it, and suddenly started sniffing the air. “This is some Scythe Crucify bullshit!”

Ebony gritted her teeth as pain lanced through her skull; it started when the filly bumped into the barrier, and intensified as the ageing mare with crystals poking through her legs started prodding her barrier. Each of her touches made her vision blur, and her barrier wavered, threatening to collapse from that meagre contact.

“They’re interfering with my magic…” She growled out, feeling her eyes burn from tears and pain. “I-I can’t hold it up for much longer!”

The mare that spoke managed to get close enough to lick her barrier before the crystal-urchin loomed up from behind and stabbed one leg clean through it.

Ebony shrieked as pain bloomed behind her eyes; it was only for a brief moment, but the backlash still sent her staggering as she dropped her sword.

“Captain!”

She ignored Tremor’s concerned cry and shouted, “Unicorns – aim for that monster’s mouth! Fire!”

Spells arced over her head and slammed against the urchin’s hide.

Ice, lightning, and pure magic struggled futilely to bring the urchin down: it had closed its maw the instant the unicorns started firing and its crystal hide wasn’t even scratched by the assault. Charred from lightning, perhaps, but that didn’t slow its eerie gait; the legs creaked and crunched at the joints as tiny crystals broke and were instantly regrown.

Ebony grimaced and snatched her sword up, taking another step back. ‘Ah, jeez… what are we going to do against this thing?’

She didn’t think her sword’s edge would do much against its hide, but she extended her sword to give a few test swipes anyway.

As she expected, her weapon slid off the urchin’s body uselessly.

Unexpectedly, the urchin reared back, twisted, and stabbed a leg forwards.

Ebony gasped – Lightning Dust cried, “watch out!” – and backpedalled, watching as the leg fully extended with the tip halting mere inches away, and then grew longer as fast as she could blink so it cleared the space between them, pierced her armor, and split her flesh.

Agony flared as she pulled away.

She fell to her front knees, gagging as the leg slid out – the urchin awkwardly stabbed the ground with its bloodied leg so it wouldn’t fall over – but left a piece of jagged crystal in the wound.

Panicking, she dug at the crevice in her armor, but her hoof was too wide to fit through the gap.

“Ebony, what the actual hell?!” Lightning Dust yanked her back – practically dragging her against the concrete – until she was the rest of the platoon, having fallen back a good distance the instant the monster made that lunge. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Get this off of me!” Ebony slapped at the straps keeping her armor from falling off with the desperation of a drowning pony; she just knew that she had to get that crystal out before… before…

Lightning Dust’s confusion was all over her face, but she helped as best she could, undoing the straps so the chestpiece came off.

Ebony’s hoof went to her wound and plucked out a four inch length of dark that clattered on the ground, leaving a few dark red spots.

“Oh shit…” Lightning Dust dropped the chestpiece and cried out over the sounds of spells being fired and tortured groaning, “Uh, healer-unicorn-girl-guy over here!”

Ebony stared down at the ugly gash that divided her flesh in awe: it wasn’t bleeding and the pain had already faded.

And as she watched, it was beginning to close up.

‘Of course…’

A unicorn – Onion – came to her side with her horn glowing orange, but Ebony pushed her away.

“I’m fine!” Ebony stood up straight – not exactly on steady legs – and looked back at the urchin and its… victims making their way towards them.

The urchin’s steps were slow, but they covered a lot of distance, and the groaning ponies were no slouches either; a brisk trot was still a brisk trot, and their vacant stares loomed closer with each passing second.

But Ebony was reluctant to attack them: they were still alive and clearly being controlled by the urchin, so if they could just take that monster out, then maybe the ponies could be rescued?

Although, if this kept up, then she might not have a choice.

She gathered her sword again and bit her lip as she tried to devise another strategy. If the urchin was seemingly immune to magical assault and bladed weapons would only spark off the urchin’s hide, then the only other way she could think of was to either get the urchin to open its maw and strike whatever the hell was inside, or use tools with a bit more ‘oomph’ to them.

Private Tremor had a halberd with a thick and blunt edge, and definitely had the strength to crack a skull with it, but how was he to get close enough without being stabbed?

Maybe if she-

“HEY!!”

Ebony’s attention switched from the monster to one of the castle’s massive legs, where one of the doors was currently being held open by a burly, blue and white stallion gesturing frantically to them.

“Sh-Shining Armor?”

“What are you doing?!” He shouted. “Get in here before it infects you!”

Couldn’t be worse in there than out here.

“Into the castle!”

Ebony and her platoon sprinted over towards the door, past the urchin that sluggishly turned to follow them and past the groaning crystal-infected ponies; one of them – the stallion with bleeding eyes – put on a burst of speed and made a grab for Ensign Coral as she passed, but she managed to dodge and lashed out with her sword in a mindless panic.

The blade sliced deep into the stallion’s flesh and opened his neck like a second mouth; he gurgled and spluttered as one of the other infected ponies – the ageing mare – approached and wordlessly prodded at the spurting gash.

Lightning Dust was the first one there, naturally, followed by Ebony; she remained outside by the door frame, urging the others inside. “What are you…?! Coral, stop freaking out and get in here!”

Coral sped past her – “oh Faust, I cut his fucking neck!” – and only then Ebony ran inside as well after shooting one final look over her shoulder in time to see the infected stallion limply collapse and go still.

Once she was inside, Shining Armor, fully decked in purple and gold armor, threw his weight against the door and slammed it shut; he kept himself pressed against the door, listening to the muffled shuffling and groaning beyond it.

“… None of them can get through here,” He said, still braced against the door. “We’re safe for the time being.”

“Thank goodness…” Ebony released a sigh and a relieved chuckle. “Thank you so much for your help, Prince Shining Armor; we had no idea about the-”

“I don’t want your thanks.”

She trailed off when he turned and she got a good look at him: bloodshot eyes with dark circles beneath them, matted and grimy coat, messy mane…

And one hell of a glare.

“… You’re cut.”

Ebony blinked, looked down at herself. “Oh! Th-this? It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“And your eyes…” The more he examined her, the more his lip curled in shock and disgust. "What... happened to you?"

“It’s… a long story. I-I could tell you, but…”

"Are you safe?"

"Safe? I'm not going to hurt you, or anypony else if that's what you're afraid of."

"You're dead."

"Uh, 'undead', technically," Ebony chuckled awkwardly; if her circulation still functioned properly, she'd be blushing. "I'm a lich - I still have my thoughts and magic, but it's... it's not like I want to eat your brain. That sounds... gross."

"And Nightmare Moon sent you?” When she nodded, he made a few motions with his mouth like he was struggling to say something, but ultimately seemed to decide against it in favor of shaking his head in bewilderment and walking straight ahead, right past her; he would have knocked her aside if she hadn’t moved away. “This is... Ugh, if you want answers, then follow me.”

“Uh, okay?”

He headed over to a staircase on the far side of the room that led up to the floor above them at a brisk pace. She awkwardly gestured for her platoon to follow, but slowed so she could fall alongside Coral; she was at the back of the group and sobbing loudly.

“Ensign, get a hold of yourself!”

Coral flinched and stared at her with big, watery eyes, and Ebony tried to not feel guilty. “I-I didn’t mean to…! Oh Faust, I cut his throat a-and now he’s…”

“You knew what you might have to do when you signed on with the Eclipse,” Ebony whispered harshly. “Don’t you dare break down on me. What you did… honestly, I think you just did that stallion a favour.”

“B-but-”

“Are you going to continue with this mission properly, or do I have to pull you out of the Eclipse?”

“N-no! I can…” Coral trembled, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes and released it, she had at least stopped convulsing with sobs, even if the tears didn’t fully stop. “I-I’m fine, really! I’m… I’m fine.”

Ebony frowned suspiciously, but decided to give her another chance. At the very least, Coral had responded appropriately by cutting down that stallion – nothing worse than suffering a loss on your first mission.

Speaking of which…

“Ensign, where’s your sword?”

“Um…” Coral went bright red in shame and avoided eye contact. “I… dropped it outside.”

Ebony groaned and slapped her forehead. “Moon’s shadow… We’ll find you something later. Just keep up with the others for now.”

“Understood, Captain.”

Ebony quickened her pace so she was at the front of the group once more. As they followed Shining Armor up the stairs, Lightning Dust came up alongside her, using her wings and completely forgoing the steps.

Fade didn’t like steps either.

“So are you, like, okay?” Lightning Dust asked, actually sounding concerned. “I know you’re a zombie and everything, but still…”

Ebony looked down at her chest again, idly noting that her air freshener was missing. That was depressing; her scent of decay would soon overpower whatever fragrance still lingered on her.

“Lich. It… hurt when it pierced me… but now it’s like nothing happened,” She gave Lightning Dust a sideways look and a hesitant grin. “It’s… actually kinda cool.”

Lightning Dust nodded firmly and laughed. “Hey, you might smell like ass, but it’s a tough ass for sure.”

“Thanks?”

Lightning Dust winked and slapped her on the back. “No worries, Cap’!”

Ebony stumbled and scrunched up her face in a grimace. “Please don’t do that.”

“No promises, Cap’!”

“Ugh…”

As genuinely amicable as Lightning Dust was being, Ebony was glad when the pegasus lapsed into silence and hovered alongside her with a small smirk at some random thought; right now, Ebony just wanted some quiet so she could think and reflect on what had just happened.
Firstly, the story behind that crystal monster and the infected ponies.

On one hoof, great – the Empire wasn’t under siege by the Rouge Knight Order.

On the other hoof, that monster didn’t like your garden variety monster; this wasn’t some hydra infestation or wandering yeti, this was… unfamiliar.

She didn’t like ‘unfamiliar’; you couldn’t prepare for ‘unfamiliar’.

Ebony desperately wanted to ask Shining Armor what was up, but the way he looked at her back on the ground level made her uncomfortable.

Beneath the discomfort and revulsion at her state, he was pissed.

Understandable, given that he was certainly no ally of Nightmare Moon and his little sister was being held captive; he had every right to be angry at them, being loyal to the Empress and all.

But surely them being there to help was something, wasn’t it? They were in the same boat, after all.

“…” Ebony cleared her throat. “Prince Shining-”

“Stop.”

He turned and held his hoof out so swiftly that Ebony halted out of sheer surprise; the others behind her weren’t so quick, and she stumbled a little as somepony bumped into her from behind, followed by several other grunts that sounded over the din of clanking metal.

Awkwardly reaching up to adjust her helmet, Ebony looked to the side and realized that they had stopped in front of two large doors – aquamarine and covered in flowing scripture that ran along the frame.

Beyond the doors, she could hear a great many voices, muffled.

Shining Armor put his hoof down. “Stay out here. I’m going to go get my wife.”

Ebony nodded, figuring that whatever she had to say would just be ignored.

Shining Armor opened the doors with a purple flash of his horn; the voices became louder, clearer, and remained that way as he went in and neglected to shut the doors.

“… Everypony – at ease,” Ebony said, sitting down on her rump. “He’ll… Just relax.”

What else could she do? They needed answers, and if waiting would provide them, then so be it.

It wasn’t like there was really anything they could do anyway.

Ebony heard her platoon’s armor shuffle as they sat, leaned against the wall, or remained standing; a few took the time to chat to each other.
She heard two familiar voices and briefly looked over her shoulder to see Onion talking softly to Coral, her tone and face sympathetic.

‘Hope she can do something…’

She turned away, back to the door, and waited.

…

It was only about a minute before her curiosity got the better of her; she really didn’t think one small look inside would harm anypony. If she had to guess, then the rest of the crystal ponies that populated the Empire were in there; the castle seemed big enough to hold them all and Shining Armor already said that the urchin couldn’t get in.

Ebony got back up, took a few steps forward, and poked her head around the corner.

Yep, just as she expected.

Dozens upon dozens of ponies of various ages and builds filled the astoundingly spacious chamber; she had no clue what sort of purpose this large a chamber might have once served – the walls were bare and bland with the only thing of note being two other doors, both open, on opposing walls – but right now it reliably served to house the many ponies that occupied it.

A lot of them were in groups, a few in pairs, and even fewer completely on their own. A scarce few were dressed in the Empire’s armor and shuffled back and forth, handing out food rations or simply checking up on the ponies with a few words and nods.

Unlike the stories she had heard, their coats did not shine or possess any spellbinding lustre; they were all dull and dark, their bodies reflecting the despair and fear in their eyes. Only the youngest – children and babies – had any form of brightness, still too young to properly understand the danger they were in.

Even with their sad state, Ebony was relieved at the sight of so many ponies. ‘Thank goodness – at least the majority of them seemed to have made it safely.’

Her heart went out to them.

Ebony pulled her head back and sat down again, curiosity sated.

She was halfway into another trance when two masses of white and pink came around the corner.

“So you’re the ones Nightmare Moon sent, hm?”

Ebony quickly stood and gave a respectful bow of her head. “Yes, princess. I’m Ebony, captain of the Eclipse and the Empress’ Right Hoof.”

Cadance was… gorgeous; there was no other word to describe her.

There were a lot of beautiful ponies in Canterlot, but whether that beauty was authentic or cosmetic, it didn’t match the radiance that Cadance possessed. The princess was frazzled, tired, and clearly wasn’t putting any effort into keeping her personal appearance up to standard, and still she managed to outclass anypony Ebony had ever met before.

In the past, before all of this, she might have even felt self-conscious, but she had changed over the months and worrying about how she looked was at the near-bottom of her list of priorities.

Still, it was hard not to feel slighted when Cadance’s brow drew together in disgust upon taking in Ebony’s less than lively appearance.

"Oh Faust, I can't believe you're actually..." Cadance bore a mixed look of sympathy and repulsion. "I... I'm sorry for being so crass, but how on Earth did this happen to you?"

Ebony went to explain, but Shining Armor butted in, grimly muttering, "Nightmare Moon, if I had to guess. Wouldn't put it past her to turn ponies into undead."

"No, no! It wasn't her; I chose this!" Ebony said. "The Empress helped me... a little, but I'm the one that did the spell that changed me into... well, the pony I am now."

Shining Armor squinted at her in disbelief.

Cadance looked and sounded utterly confused. "But... why? Why would you do such a thing to yourself?"

"... Because this makes me stronger."

The princess frowned. "I don't understand."

"Well..." Ebony rubbed the back of her head, trying to find the words to explain. "As a lich, I don't need to eat, drink, or sleep. Something that would kill a normal pony just hurts me. A lot, yeah, but at least I'm alive, and I can heal it really fast anyway."

"But why do you need to be stronger?" Cadance asked. "Just to serve somepony as horrible as Nightmare Moon?"

Ebony froze, realizing that this was the first time anypony had asked her why she needed to be stronger. It caught her off-guard; neither the Empress nor her friends had ever asked her why she was so set on becoming stronger; she suspected that her friends simply assumed that it was because of her devotion to Nightmare Moon, similar to how they were devoted to Nightmare Moon.

As for the Empress... well, Ebony didn't know. Aside from some personality traits and tics, Nightmare Moon was still an enigma to her. Haze thought she was a god, Veil simply thought of her as a powerful pony... or demon, and Fade and Miasma didn't give much thought as to what she was, only that she was frighteningly powerful and they'd rather serve than oppose.

As for what Ebony thought...

"That's... part of it," Ebony admitted, lowering her gaze to the floor. "If I'm going to be the Empress' Right Hoof and the Captain of her guard, then I have to be strong enough to suit it, don't I?"

Shining Armor gave a very subtle nod; he was wary of her still, but he seemed to agree on that.

"And... well, I've always been... weak. I was never very strong - physically and magically, and that led to some... problems at my old home. Nightmare Moon helped me get stronger; she made me feel like I can actually do something, and I have to repay her for believing in me, for giving me a chance to prove myself. So..." Feeling more certain of herself, Ebony lifted her gaze back up. "I want to be stronger because that's the best way I can think of repaying her."

Cadance blinked, seemingly astonished at her answer.

Shining Armor sighed and pressed his hoof against his forehead. "Yeah. She's totally brainwashed you. Or Stockholm Syndrome - something like that."

"Wha-? No, she hasn't! I'm here on my own free will!" Ebony stomped her hoof for emphasis, now quite vexed. "We all are! Right?"

She turned to face her platoon, looking for support.

A few of them avoided eye contact, one stallion made an unsure face and tilted his forehoof from side to side in a gesture of ambivalence, and Lightning Dust nodded wholeheartedly before getting upset at the others.

"Oh, you guys are huge liars," She snorted. "I overhear most of you talking about how you - not anypony else - signed up for the Eclipse to clear your criminal records or some shit."

Ebony groaned. 'So much for that...'

"Oh, so Nightmare Moon's conscripting criminals as well as undead..." Shining Armor quipped dryly. "That'll help me sleep better at night."

Ebony turned back, silently seething. She hadn't much personal experience with Shining Armor, but she always thought him to be a respectable and strong pony; one didn't get to the position of captain of the former Royal Guard by being antagonistic and soft. However, he was really starting to annoy her.

Cadance sighed and gently touched her husband's shoulder, which seemed to calm him a little. "I understand how you feel, but these ponies... even if some are criminals and... well, dead-"

"Er, undead, princess."

"'Undead', then... even if they are, they're still here to help. You are all here to help us, right?"

“Yes. We were sent to investigate and to provide assistance if we could,” Ebony replied, then saluted after a brief pause. "We're ready and willing to help in any way we can, princess."

"I appreciate that," Cadance said. “So I suppose you want answers, hm? About the monster? Well, I’m sorry to say that we’re just as in the dark about it as you are. My husband says you were fighting it when he opened the door? Then you’ve already as much experience as any of us.”

That was… disappointing to hear.

“You don’t know anything?” Ebony asked. “A weakness? What it’s trying to do? Where it came from?”

Shining Armor suddenly laughed.

A spiteful and ugly laugh, at that.

“Oh, we know where it came from…” He snorted contemptuously. “You know those caves around here? The ones that we mine crystals from? The crystals we send to your Empress by train for her Resonator? That’s where the thing came out from.”

“So… was it just hiding down there, or did-”

“The mining disturbed it,” He cut her off and suddenly took a step towards her. Ebony took a step back in response, alarmed. “We dug down deep enough that we disturbed it. Do you know why we dug down so deep in the first place?”

“I-I…”

“Shining Armor, don’t start this…” Cadance sighed.

He ignored her.

“Because the most conductive crystals are found deeper in the mines; the very same mines that Sombra forced these ponies to work in, the ones that I promised to have demolished so nopony would ever have to be reminded of him again!” Shining Armor growled as his voice grew louder with each word. “But no! No… your fucking ‘Empress’ needed those crystals. And because of her, because of who you follow, we’re plagued by that monster!”

“W-wait a minute!” Ebony stammered. “N-none of us knew there would be something in the mines.”

“Yeah!” Lightning Dust chimed in aggressively, moving from the back and towards up front. “How the hell was anypony supposed to know there was something down there? I mean, if you guys didn’t know, then how is somepony a hundred kilometres away supposed to? Maybe if you checked properly, then we wouldn’t have had to come and bail your asses out.”

Ebony gaped at her and then facehooved. ‘Oh Faust…’

“Right – you were sent to help out of the goodness of Nightmare Moon’s heart…” Shining Armor scoffed. “Not because she wants her supply of crystals, no, nothing like that at all.”

“Dude, real talk? What the actual shit is your problem? We are here to literally help you!” Lightning Dust slammed her hoof on the floor, holding back just enough so that she didn’t crack its surface. “Be… happy, or something!”

“My ‘problem’ is what Nightmare Moon has done to Celestia and Luna!” Shining Armor copied her, stomping down with a harsh clack and dragging his hoof against the floor. “What she’s done to Canterlot! What she’s done to the Element bearers! What she’s done to my sister!”

“ENOUGH!!”

Cadance’s yell wasn’t just loud, it carried physical force; Shining Armor staggered to the side while Ebony and Lightning Dust flinched backwards, an uncomfortable ringing settling in their ear canals as the shout shook the walls and rattled a few nearby windows. Ebony could only barely hear the rest of her platoon shouting in pain and alarm.

Ebony hissed air through her teeth and rubbed at her head with a grimace as the double doors burst open to allow several crystal guards to filter into the corridor.

“Your majesties, we heard a shout!” One of them cried while readying his spear. “Is everything alright?”

Shining Armor was still trying to shake the bells from his head, so Cadance took a deep breath, tempered the – frankly terrifying – expression on her face, and turned to the guards.

“Yes, we’re fine, thank you. It was just a disagreement between two hotheads…” She shot a glare at her husband and Lightning Dust for emphasis. “Please leave us and reassure the ponies that it’s nothing to worry about.”

The guard and his friends didn’t seem so certain, but obeyed nonetheless, returning to the room and closing the doors after a quick and respectful bow.

Once they were shut, Cadance turned on her husband. “Shining, did Ebony saying that 'they're here to help' somehow go completely over your head?”

Shining Armor shrunk beneath her words, but his jaw was still set tightly. “No, but they're still part of-”

“Yes, I know who they fight for, but are you really going to let your pride stop you from accepting help? We have to think about the lives of our subjects, Shining.”

“… Yeah… you’re right.” He sighed in defeat and hung his head.

Lightning Dust broke the quiet with a triumphant laugh. “Ha! See?”

Ebony, eager to avoid another conflict and also irritated by the pegasus jumping in, turned on her with a snarl. “Lightning Dust, it was you as well! Don’t even try to start things up again.”

“What?” Her face changed, confusion giving way to outrage. “Hey, I’m on your side here! I was just-”

“I don’t care! Just… don’t start anything, alright?”

“…” Lightning Dust narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw. “Sure. Whatever you say, Captain.”

Ebony inwardly groaned in annoyance; she hadn’t meant to be so hostile to her, but she really needed to crack down before Lightning Dust said something else that would cause another argument.

She was also slighted by how terribly she handled Shining Armor; maybe if she responded more quickly, that argument could have been avoided.

Well, no use bemoaning on what could have been.

Ebony turned back to the princess and tried a disarming grin. “I’m sorry about that, princess.”

Cadance dismissed her apology with a shrug. “It’s fine. Shining Armor's just been building a lot of hate towards Nightmare Moon. I can't say I'm any better, but... well, you're not her, so you don't deserve being yelled at. Right, honey?"

"Yeah, I guess not," Shining Armor said sheepishly. "Sorry." He even sounded sincere.

Ebony smiled again and shrugged. "It's okay. No harm done, your highness."

"We're all in this together now," Cadance said, gesturing to the entire group in the hallway. "And arguing gets none of us anywhere, so let's just put our differences aside and focus on getting rid of that monster.”

Shining Armor gave her a warm and loving smile. “Jeez, if we had you instead of my hard-ass commander back in the Royal Guard…”

“You’d be busy focusing on something other than your training,” She laughed lightly. “Now, you’re the one with the military know-how, so bring these ponies up to date.”

“Yes, ma’am,” He turned to face Ebony and her platoon; he still seemed iffy about addressing them, but his face and tone was no longer openly hostile. “So… you’ve already seen the monster and what it’s capable of. Those ponies out there? They’re not the first ones; the damn thing infected three others when it was unearthed. Just one scratch and those crystals were growing like wildfire. By the time we got word of what was happening at the castle, the thing was out in the streets.”

Ebony nodded, waiting for him to continue. ‘Finally, we can get some answers…’

“When I got there along with some guards, we tried taking it down with magic,” Shining Armor grimly shook his head. “Nothing. Pure magic just bounced right off its hide. We tried using fire, but it only left scorch marks. Ice slowed it down, but that’s all – it just slowed down. We tried encasing it, but it just let off this… pulse of dark magic that shattered the ice.”

“Dark magic?” Ebony echoed, drawing her brows together in alarm. “It can use dark magic?”

“Primitively – it’s powerful, but it’s got nothing on Sombra. Even so, it was doing things that I’ve never seen regular magic do before, so keep an eye out.”

“What about electricity, or lightning? You said fire and ice, but…?”

Shining Armor gave a minor shiver, as if reliving a bad memory. “Just… no. Nopony use any lightning or electricity spells against it. If you use too much for too long, then it… Just don’t.”

“… Okay? So what do we use against it? It has to be vulnerable to something. Oh! Wh-when it attacked us there was some sort of mouth that opened up, and there was something inside it.”

“Yeah, we tried casting spells inside, but nothing hit the mark; it clammed up the instant it realized what we were doing. That’s… that’s when it got really angry. It’s a lot faster than it looks.”

“What about the Crystal Heart? Can we use that?”

“We need ponies to actually go out and channel their energy into it, and that thing will be on us in an instant.”

“Hrm…”

“We had some success with… killing its victims,” Cadance said with a despondent look. “From what we’ve seen, the creature is almost completely blind to the world, and it infects ponies and uses some mental link to get a clearer picture. One of the miners that got infected… there were crystals growing out from her eyes and suddenly the creature was more ‘aware’ of its surroundings. Before that it was just thrashing around madly.”

“I think we saw something like that…” Ebony agreed with no small amount of revulsion. “There were five ponies that were with the thing when we arrived. There was a stallion with crystals on his eyes – like you said – and the others had some on other parts of their bodies. Sight, smell, touch, hearing… one was a mare that kept saying strange things. Was that…?”

“It was the creature talking through them, yes…” Cadance affirmed. “Although… diplomacy hasn’t exactly been met with much success; it’s dead-set on ‘obtaining’ our help, and it’ll doom all of us to do it. Every stallion, mare, and foal,” She sighed sadly. “I pity it, but we must think of the Empire’s citizens first.”

“So… what about the infected ponies? One of my guards may have killed one before we came in.”

Shining Armor gravely shook his head. “They’re already gone. The only thing we can do for them is put them to rest. If nothing else, you’ve taken away the monster’s eyes, though I suspect it’ll be a hell of a lot more aggressive now until it finds somepony else to replace the poor bastard.”

Ebony grunted in frustration and glanced over her shoulder. “Anypony have any suggestions then don’t be afraid to speak up.”

Her platoon hemmed and hawed and avoided eye contact, afraid to get called on. Tremor briefly perked up like he was about to say something, but frowned and shook his head, muttering, ‘stupid’.

“… What if we just hit it?” Lightning Dust suggested with a shrug. She held up her hoof and made a swinging motion. “Like… really hard. With a big hammer.”

“… Break through its shell?” Ebony pondered skeptically.

Though she had to admit that a lot of the problems Equestria was facing could actually be solved by hitting them hard enough…

“Actually, that’s our best bet,” Shining Armor said with a nod. “Anything sharp just slides or bounces off, but with maces and hammers we can chip away at it.”

“Why haven’t you?” Ebony asked.

“Like I said, one tiny scratch and you’re infected.”

“He’s right. I’ve seen it happen,” Cadance added solemnly. “When I was there trying to stop it with my magic, it scratched one of the guards,” She raised her hoof to her cheek and drew a small line towards her nose. “Barely an inch long, but he started screaming; crystals grew on his body and he fell down. He turned in a little over five seconds.”

Ebony grimaced and heard somepony in the back murmur, “Yikes…”

“You’re the only one I’ve seen that’s survived being hit,” Shining Armor said, staring directly at Ebony. “I'm guessing that has to do with you being dead."

"Undead."

"Right. That's all well and good for you, but unless you can transfer that immunity to the rest of us somehow – preferably not by making us liches as well – then it’s too much of a risk for us to go out and try to smash the monster.”

“No…” Ebony pressed her lips together in frustration. “I can’t. I can’t even make you liches even if I wanted to.”

The Mortal Recoil spell was much too complex for Ebony to do it by memory, and she had left Studies of Flesh back in her office in Canterlot, so it wasn’t like she could just pull it out here and now.

‘I’ve only learned a few of those spells…’ She thought. ‘And most only work on dead bodies or living creatures; that urchin… I have no idea where it falls on that scale.’

Ebony gasped. “The infected ponies…”

Of course! How did it take her this long to realize it?

“What?” Shining Armor asked, seeing her expression. “You got an idea?”

“I think so…” If Ebony’s heart was still active, her blood would be pumping as she fixed Cadance and Shining Armor with a determined stare. “But firstly, I must ask you two, as the governing rulers of the Crystal Empire, to allow me, Captain Ebony, to utilize your deceased for the purpose of warfare.”

They both stared at her incredulously.

“Ebony, I gotta say this… you are one crazy bitch.”

“Uh, thank you?”

“No, I’m serious!” Lightning Dust proceeded to make the situation even more uncomfortable by grabbing Ebony by the shoulders and flash a big smile in her face. “If you pull this off, you’re totally moving up on my list. Way past Miasma!”

“Okay…” Ebony grumbled, trying not to recoil from the unfamiliar touch. “N-not to be rude, but could you please not…?”

“Oh, right!” Lightning Dust gave a short laugh, unbothered as she removed her hooves and backed off. “Gotta prepare those magicky muscles, eh? I get it. No worries, Ebs – I’ll be over here with the boys and girls ‘til we’re ready, yeah?”

“Sure…” Ebony gave a little wave. “Thanks.”

She watched Lightning Dust wander off to join the rest of the platoon for a little while before turning her attention back to the sturdy door just a short few yards away.

The very same door that would take them all back outside and into the crystal urchin’s territory.

Naturally, she was filled with apprehension that made her skin tingle and her insides cold.

After all, there was a lot riding on her plan to succeed; if somepony died, then it would be on her head.

But that was the risk of being a leader, wasn’t it? Taking responsibility for the consequences of one’s plan and bearing the weight of lost lives? Everypony faced that, not just her.

‘… Would Nightmare Moon take responsibility for what happened to the Empire?’

Of course Ebony didn’t think what happened here was the Empress’ fault; she didn’t know about the urchin after all, and the mining of the crystals despite Cadance and Shining Armor’s protests was ultimately for a good cause. The Resonator needed to be kept in prime condition to close the Fractures.

Ebony sighed and turned her head to the left.

Shining Armor and Cadance talked to one another in low tones, backed up by four crystal guards who respected their rulers’ privacy and maintained a fair distance.

‘Though not everypony feels that way.’

Well, she was there to help, not change minds.

Ebony walked over to the couple.

“… out there with you.” Cadance murmured uneasily.

“No, the Empire can’t risk losing both of us, and anyway, you’re the one with the actual Crystal Heart on her flank. If somepony needs to stay safe at all costs, then it’s you,” Shining Armor’s tone was soft but firm. He clearly wasn’t going to budge on this. “I’ll be fine, honey. I promise.”

Cadance gave a low keen of worry as her wings rustled against her sides. “Faust damn it, Shining, you know saying that sort of thing just reminds me of those movies. You know – the ones that don’t have a happy ending?”

Shining Armor chuckled and gently nuzzled the side of her head. “Good thing I’m tougher than some whiny actor in a bad romance film, huh?”

“Up for debate,” Cadance hummed in delight at his touch and leaned forwards to kiss him on the lips. “I’ll be waiting by that door, so just yell and I’ll have it open in a blink. Stay safe, goof.”

“I will.”

The two embraced.

Ebony stood on the sideline, awkwardly rubbing one foreleg and looking off in a random direction. It was less overt than when Lightning Dust and Fade flirted, and that made her feel all the more like she was intruding.

Fortunately, it didn’t last long.

When they parted, Shining Armor finally took notice of Ebony. “Hm? Are your soldiers ready?”

“Yes. We’re just, um, waiting on you.”

“Alright. Honey?”

Cadance nodded. “I know. Be safe.”

They shared one more hug before Shining Armor called his own guards over. Ebony fell alongside the prince as they trotted over towards the exit.

When they were a few yards away, Shining Armor suddenly stopped.

“Hey, give us a second, would you?" He said to his guards. "I want to speak with Ebony. Privately."

Ebony set her lips in a worried frown. Those words would set her on edge if it was one of her friends that said it, never mind somepony she barely knew and probably hated her guts.

'Although he did say sorry earlier. Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to assume...'

Shining Armor led her away, far enough that nopony would overhear them. Ebony looked over her shoulder, concerned about leaving her platoon alone with the crystal guards, but it seemed as though both sides were happy to not speak to each other and just mind their own business.

She looked back to Shining Armor and found him glaring down at the floor and idly scuffing it. He looked like he very much wanted to say something, but didn't know how to.

Ebony hoped they weren't going to have another disagreement.

"Um, is everything...?"

"Ebony..." He finally said, lifting his gaze to meet hers. "Are you sure you can do this?"

‘No.’

“Yes, I’ve done it before. Mostly on rats and rabbits, but the same rules apply; you just have to put in a bit more magic.”

"That's not really what I meant."

"Oh..." Ebony furrowed her brow, trying to figure out what he could have meant, and failing. "Then what did you mean?"

"You don't..." He paused, eyes flitting over her form. "You don't seem like the type of pony that would work for Nightmare Moon."

"... Okay?"

"What I mean is ever since I heard that Nightmare Moon formed her own guard force, I had this mental image of what that would look like," He raised his foreleg, putting his hoof high over their heads. "I imagined this big, ugly brute of a stallion wearing skulls around his neck like jewelry; the type of guy you don't want to meet in a dark alleyway. But then you come along..." He lowered his hoof, tilted it towards her. "The captain of the Eclipse, Nightmare Moon's Right Hoof... and just look at you."

Ebony felt heat flare within her; embarrassment and anger. "What are you saying?"

"The way you stand, the way you talk, the way you avoid eye contact... it all just says to me that leadership is new to you, and you haven't quite adjusted to it."

She blinked, stunned at his observation. "That's... Yes, it... kinda is. I'm doing the best I can, though."

"I'm just... astonished," Shining Armor shook his head. "You're not the pony I would give that sort of position to, and the idea that Nightmare Moon would, of all ponies..."

"... Heh..." Ebony chuckled, smiling a little. "You know, I thought something similar a long time ago, when Nightmare Moon was training me. She said that I would be her loyal general, the leader of her forces. I was terrified - I thought I would fail her, fail my friends. But... I don't think I have. The Empress... if she thought I failed at any point, or maybe I'm not the right pony to be doing this, then I'm sure she'd have me removed immediately. But she hasn't. She believes that I can do this."

Ebony blinked, realizing the significance of her own words.

"Nightmare Moon believes in me as a leader."

"But she's evil," Shining Armor said with a disapproving frown. "Look at what she's done."

"Look at what she's doing!" The words left Ebony in a rush; she raised her head high, looking directly into Shining Armor's eyes. "She's built a device that can close the Fractures, she's personally involved in fighting the Rouge Knights - she even sent us to help you and the Empire!"

"And how did she figure out something was up?" Shining Armor retorted sharply. "Let me guess: it had something to do with the trains, right? Or more specifically, the train that ships the crystals she needs for the Resonator."

"That's the-"

"Ebony, look at yourself..." Shining Armor said, tone suddenly desperate. "You've turned undead to become stronger, to become more useful to Nightmare Moon. I don't know what sort of life you've had where you think serving somepony that violently overthrows a benevolent ruling body and holds innocent mares captive is a good idea, but please trust me when I say there's a better way. You don't have to ally yourself with her."

Ebony set her jaw firmly; she could feel her eyes burning brightly. "You're right. I don't have to... but I want to. Nightmare Moon believed in me when nopony else ever did in my life, and look where I am because of that! I owe her everything, and I'll repay her in any way that I can."

Shining Armor didn't say anything for a while. He just looked at her... piteously, like she didn't know any better. It annoyed her greatly, but she refused to speak; the sudden blaze within her helped keep her tongue still.

"... Fine," He finally said with a slow nod. "You think what you want to think."

He turned and left.

"Get ready. I'll rally the troops."

Ebony watched him walk between her platoon and the crystal guards... and let out a shuddering exhale, giddy and lightheaded that she had actually managed to win the argument. Not only that, but she was running on a high over how she had, all by herself, instilled the fact that Nightmare Moon did believe in her. Why else would she continue to hold the title of 'Right Hoof' and Eclipse guard captain?

Nightmare Moon was nothing if pragmatic and logical; she would definitely replace Ebony if she felt her performance to be lacking.

But she didn't.

It was... exhilarating!

Ebony was one step away from dancing on her hooves when Shining Armor shouted; she had to take a moment to compose herself before trotting over to the others, forcing herself to concentrate.

'Okay, don't fly off the handle, Ebony; there's still work to be done. No need to give the Empress a reason to remove you.'

“Everypony know the plan?” Shining Armor shouted, moving so he was ahead of the group. As befitting of a leader, everypony’s attention was drawn to him. “We’re leading that monster as far from the Crystal Heart as we can, but under no circumstances are we to engage it unless I give the order. That means no magic, no weapons, and no wings – we are strictly on the defensive until Captain Ebony completes her task. Remember – it just takes one scratch for that thing to infect you, and the same goes for the infected ponies. For Faust’s sake, be alert and be careful. Are there any questions?”

Ebony looked around. Nopony said anything or raised their hoof.

Shining Armor nodded firmly. “Okay then. Everypony – with me!”

Ebony stayed back while the others marched after Shining Armor as he trotted over towards the door, his pace slowing and his steps softening the closer he got.

The urchin might have been without sight, but none of them knew how sensitive its hearing was. Or rather, how sensitive the stallion who acted as its ears was.

Better to be safe than sorry.

Ebony watched them, waiting for the plan to fully commence, and wetted her dry lips – tasting nothing, as usual.

For her part, she had to be quick and successful – if she wasn’t able to get that stallion’s body and complete her spell – that is, if the crystals didn’t interfere with it – than they’d have no choice but to fall back and get inside the castle.

And she had no back-up plan.

“Excuse me.”

Ebony almost jumped out of her skin when she realized Cadance had moved to her side. “Oh! Princess, I-”

“Don’t,” She said sharply. “You’re about to go outside, so just listen.”

Cadance moved even closer with a dark expression that made Ebony panic a little when she likened it to something her Empress would wear.

The princess was only a few inches taller, but Ebony felt very small all the same when they were muzzle to muzzle and she was halfway from being pushed to the ground.

“My husband will make it back. Understand?”

A dumb pony might have replied with ‘or what’?

Ebony was not dumb.

“U-understood.”

“Good.”

Cadance and her oppressive aura left, and Ebony did not hesitate to run forwards so she was directly behind the group.

‘Nope - still feeling up to it. Just don't look back and you'll remain that way.’

Fortunately, Ebony didn’t have the time to ponder what might happen if Shining Armor didn’t make it back because not even three seconds after she made it to the back of the group, she witnessed Shining Armor shove the door open with all his strength and sprint out into the courtyard.

“With me!”

And then came the thunder of hooves as Eclipse and crystal guards alike rushed through the door in an ordered fashion so nopony would get wedged and vulnerable; the air was filled with shouts and battle cries.

Ebony waited back; she couldn’t see the urchin or the infected ponies from her position, but she could feel the monster’s earth-shaking steps and she could hear the ghastly groans of the infected, as well as the mare that the urchin spoke through – her placid calls for the guards to stop and help could barely be heard over the rest of the din.

Ebony swallowed, jittery as she watched the last guard filter out, and proceeded to wait for a few seconds longer.

‘One… two… three… four…’

She tensed her muscles and burst outside.

The door slammed shut behind her, but she was already scanning the area.

To her relief, the distraction was perfect: the crystal urchin and its victims – four, as opposed to five – were trailing after Shining Armor and the others towards the southern part of the Empire; they were a good distance away and moving fluidly as a group, but then again, so was the urchin and the infected.

She forced herself to look away and concentrate on her true goal.

‘There!’

The stallion that Coral had cut down was exactly where she had last seen him spluttering and choking on his own blood; the urchin and the infected had simply left him where he fell.

Ebony thanked her lucky stars and galloped over to him.

Shouts and groans in the distance filled her ears as she dropped to her knees beside the corpse and pulled him off his side and onto his back.

His neck gaped obscenely like a second mouth.

She closed her eyes to gather her magic.

‘Come on, come on – you can do this!’

She could feel her magic surging up into her horn; she let it all gather there, churning and swelling as she drew out the symbols of her spell.

‘You can do this.’

Completing the spell, Ebony called on the magic in her horn and let it slide down the length of bone, across her forehead, and down into her throat.

‘Please, please work…’

Opening her eyes, Ebony leaned down, cupped the stallion’s head between her hooves and pulled his mouth open.

The smell of blood and something else rotten wafted over her face as she parted her lips and let out a long exhale, watching as red mist poured out and into the stallion’s mouth.

‘Please…’

Once all the magic that had gathered in her throat was gone, she pulled back…

Almost immediately after, the stallion twitched and started convulsing.

She wasn’t out of the woods yet; he could easily just explode like the many deceased pets before him.

But she prayed and held her breath – needlessly – as the stallion convulsed and contorted grotesquely like his bones were trying to break free.

“Come on! Get up!”

The stallion’s neck bent with one final sickening crunch before he suddenly sat up, pitched forwards limply, and then rigidly righted himself before standing.

Ebony blinked in astonishment.

The stallion stared at her with unseeing, milky-white eyes.

Carefully, she telekinetically unhooked an iron mace hanging from her side, opposite to her sword’s scabbard, and held it out.

“Take it.”

The stallion did so, holding it by the handle between his teeth, stained orange with blood.

“Attack.”

The stallion lurched to the side, legs moving before he could even turn his head to fully face the direction he ran in, and Mother Faust did he run, completely and utterly without fear or thought.

“…” Ebony gawked at the sight for a second before letting out a giddy laugh and a shriek. “I did it!” Triumphant, she sprinted after the stallion. “Shining Armor, it worked! I did it!”

Shining Armor was currently holding up a light purple barrier that, unlike Ebony’s, actually stood against the urchin’s swipes. His face was creased in pain and he was sweating furiously, but the urchin’s spindly legs could only put cracks in the wall of magic, and they were repaired as quickly as they were made.

He couldn’t hear her, but he took notice when the stallion- no, her thrall, ran into view, went straight over to one of the infected, and viciously walloped them across the back of their skull.

The ageing mare with crystals piercing her legs fell without a sound.

“What the…?! Everypony get back!” Shining Armor backed up, still maintaining the barrier, and the rest of the guards taking cover followed suit; many watched the newly risen stallion with a mix of awe and horror. “Ebony, you’ve…”

“It worked!” Ebony came to a stop beside him, panting in nervous excitement. She spoke to him, but daren’t take her eyes off her thrall as he swung the mace at the urchin’s legs, forcing its attention to settle on him. “I-I can make more of them, but I need those infected ponies to die.”

“Faust, what have I let happen?” He made a face and turned a light shade of green before drawing a spiked morning star from his side with magic and lifting it high into the air. “That’s our cue, boys and girls! You and you – stay here and guard the captain while she does her stuff. The rest are with me!”

Shadows passed over Ebony as the pegasi took to the air and the ground rumbled beneath her hooves as the unicorns and earth ponies advanced towards the urchin and its victims; underneath Shining Armor’s leadership, they formed a crude circle around the monster while keeping a maximum distance.

The earth ponies shouted and jeered while the unicorns extended their weapons with telekinesis to safely strike at the urchin and the infected ponies. With so many targets, including one undead stallion that ran rampant without fear, the urchin lumbered around clumsily while the infected constantly switched their attention to whoever shouted the loudest.

The pegasi added to the mess by swooping in and using long polearms to pester the urchin; the bladed edges glanced off and chipped the crystals on the creature’s round body, doing little harm but further enticing it to futilely swipe at the air.

And with the urchin so distracted…

Ebony reached out with her telekinesis, snagged the aged mare’s cooling body, and roughly reeled her in.

Blood stained the ground where she was dragged like paint.

The two ponies watching over her – Tremor and some crystal guard she didn’t know – gave Ebony a wide berth as she flipped the mare onto her back and closed her eyes to prepare the Resurrection spell.

It was harder this time, with the action being so close and loud and with her magic reserves already drained from animating the stallion, but Ebony was determined not to fail.

She completed the spell quickly and sent it into the mare’s mouth.

“Damn it, Treb Loft, what did I tell you in training about holding your spear like that?! Lower and with your legs bent!”

“Yes, my liege!”

“You! Eclipse mare with the white coat – use your magic to your advantage! Don’t let yourself get within its range!”

“Uh, yes, sir!”

Once Ebony had given all she had stored in her throat, the mare beneath her began spasming. She stood and backed off as her thrall shot up and turned to engage the urchin; the sense of balance was incredible considering how deep the back of her skull had been caved in.

Ebony felt something akin to pride.

“Please, I need… help… If you will all just-”

SPLAT

One more infected – the mare that the urchin spoke through – fell to the ground as Lightning Dust swooped in and viciously bucked her in the temple.

Ebony was on her in an instant, magic stretching out, grabbing, and dragging in before surging up to fill her horn.

Halfway into the spell, she realized the mare was still alive.

“Shhah…” The mare slurred, one eye half pulverized with a smear of blood streaming down her cheek. “Shhah… ah…”

Ebony physically reached for her sword and plunged it deep into the mare’s chest where there was no chance to miss the heart.

The crystal guard swore loudly in shock.

Reviving the mare was even more difficult this time; Ebony was panting hard when she completed it, and grimaced as she held her head, feeling a headache-

One of her thralls had been impaled.

She didn’t hear it and nopony shouted it, but she just knew.

The stallion, her first thrall, wildly swung his mace at the urchin’s out-of-range body as he was lifted off the ground, completely uncaring to the spindly leg that had crushed his ribcage and exited through his back.

Her other thrall was directly beneath the creature’s body, hopping up and down as her flail went everywhere, even glancing off her own head at one point and leaving a bleeding dent.

‘Damn it, they’re just going on my last order!’ Ebony frowned in irritation as she sent her latest thrall out into the battle. ‘They need me to do more complex actions.’

Shining Armor and the others were doing well in keeping at a safe distance, but with the loss of three of its senses, the urchin was becoming more wild and unpredictable.

As Ebony watched and coordinated her thralls through the force of her will, the urchin flicked its leg to fling the impaled stallion away, and then cracked open its maw, sending out a crackling bolt of black energy accompanied by a sickly green aura that swept across the ground near the guards, blackening stone and conjuring up flames as bright as emeralds.

“Don’t let that get on you!” Shining Armor’s magically amplified voice carried across the courtyard, over the chaos. “You have to dispel it; water and ice won’t do anything!”

A primal part of Ebony shuddered in terror at the sight of spitting embers.

The urchin swept its beam in a semi-circle before letting up and skittering over to a group of ponies that weren’t with Shining Armor.

Several ran out of its path, but one – an Eclipse guard – froze in uncertainty.

“Coral! Get out of there!” Ebony screamed, already rushing over with her bloodstained sword drawn.

The crystal guard and Tremor shouted for her, but she ignored them.

One of the infected ponies intercepted her – the small filly.

She moaned and reached for her.

Ebony swung her sword as she passed and forced down thoughts of a hard-boiled egg getting cut in half to reveal the cooked yolk.

“Coral!!”

Her shout caused something to flicker in Coral’s teary eyes; the other mare gasped as the urchin’s maw loomed in close and just barely managed to throw herself off to the side.

The creature smashed into the ground, sending out a hail of splintered crystal that flew fast enough to slice through the skin on Ebony’s face.

She couldn’t see if anypony else was hit or if Coral was fine, but she could see her advantage.

She called on her thralls and they answered in an instant; the two mares and stallion ran past her and swarmed the urchin’s body before it could raise itself.

Her thralls clung to its body, latching into footholds wherever they could find them, even if it meant they were stabbed and their flesh sliced to ribbons by its protrusions.

Blood sluiced over the urchin, making it glisten in the light as the thralls struck it over and over with their weapons and hooves.

Ebony backpedalled as the urchin shook and stumbled about, shattering the concrete with its immense weight and strength. Its last link to the world was effectively silenced as it took one wrong step and cleaved through the stallion with crystals in his ears; he didn’t make a single sound as his upper half was flung several yards away when the urchin lifted its leg back up.

A sharp crack rang out and was then drowned as a warbling cry, like a hoof being dragged across a balloon’s skin and amplified a thousand-fold, poured out from the urchin’s maw.

Along with a thicker, more intense bolt of dark magic.

In its desperation to shake free the thralls that beat away at its hide and cracked it like an eggshell, the urchin mindlessly cast its bolt and flailed in a huge circle; Ebony couldn’t stand still for a second lest the beam come round and catch her, and she could tell from the way everypony else was running that any semblance of order had left with the creature’s rampage.

“Fall back!” She cried, waving towards the castle, trying to get anypony to hear her. Shining Armor was shouting something similar somewhere in the field, but the blinding lights of the green fires sprouting everywhere and the urchin’s screaming made it impossible to know where he was. “Eclipse – fall back to the castle! Hey! Onion, fall ba-”

Her attempt to run forwards and grab the frazzled unicorn was rebuked as the beam of dark magic swept between them and sent up a roaring wall of fire. Ebony screamed and fell backwards, her dry skin crawling at the heat washing over her.

A shadow fell over her.

She rolled to the side as the urchin’s leg crashed down and half-crawled, half-ran out of its path, only stopping to look over her shoulder when she could hear that it was no longer practically on top of her.

Her thralls were still tirelessly working, mutilated and drenched in blood as they were, and as they each struck the same spot, a beam of green light burst from the crack.

Ebony gasped as she watched the light grow as the crack grew along the urchin’s shell, its cries becoming more frequent and loud.

‘Do it! Aim for the light! Kill it!’ Ebony dove to the side again as the bolt of magic came at her and created another wall of fire. ‘Kill it! Kill it now!’

Several more cracks rang out.

One thrall – the ageing mare – was flung off in the urchin’s flailing and hit the ground in such a way that her damaged skull completely caved in – her demise left an odd emptiness in Ebony.

The sound of shattering crystal rang out again.

The urchin shrieked, went rigid, and crumbled as the green lights went out.

Its legs snapped at the joints, and its momentum was such that the main body tipped forwards and skidded across the ground; another of her thralls fell between it and the concrete, and was violently crushed – his head included.

Her last thrall was stuck between two large spikes and way too damaged to get out by herself.

‘It… It’s dead?’

The fires were still blazing and ponies were still trying to get out of the maze; nopony else could see the urchin’s maw stretched open, nor the two green dots glowing from within.

It was still alive.

Ebony gasped and made her way over to it as fast as she could; the fires and the dreadful heat made her hesitant to approach, but she needed to kill that thing now!

For a second, she thought she heard Shining Armor’s voice, but any thought of him was swept away instantly when she saw the urchin’s maw slowly beginning to grow over with a layer of crystal.

“No!” She screamed, suddenly and immeasurably angry at the hideous thing. “No, you don’t! You…!”

When she was close enough, she levitated her sword, aimed it at the urchin point-first, and hit it with a Kinetic Impact spell.

It soared through the air, dispersing wisps of grey smoke, and-

-clattered harmlessly against a layer of crystal with a burst of sparks.

“NO!!”

Ebony increased her speed-

“You fucking pincushion!!”

Lightning Dust shot down from the sky and landed directly in front of the urchin, cratering the ground beneath her.

In her hooves was a bloodstained mace.

“Lightning Dust!” Ebony cried.

She didn’t hear her.

She slammed the mace against the creature’s ‘teeth’.

“Open up, you Faust-damn coward!”

CRACK

“Come on, you bastard!”

CRACK

“Open! Up!”

CRACK

Ebony ran forwards, fully intending to help, but slowing in shock when she saw green light shining through the urchin’s cracked shell.

‘Oh Faust…’

“Lightning Dust, get out of there!”

The pegasus didn’t respond, too focused on the urchin to pay attention to anything else. “I said…!”

CRACK

Ebony called on her magic, focusing on Lightning Dust and struggling to teleport to her side.

Her horn spluttered red as she failed the spell.

‘No! Why now?! I can’t have used that much magic!’

She tried again, same result.

“Lightning Dust!!”

Lightning Dust lifted the mace again. “Open! U-”

When she was in range, Ebony pushed her out of the way with telekinesis, and gawked in horror as the urchin’s maw cracked open and a blinding green light spilled forth, filling her vision as agony wracked her body.

She screamed as every nerve was set aflame.

Her vision darkened like she was going to pass out, but her lich anatomy wouldn’t let her; it kept her painfully aware and conscious as the light ran its course for what felt like hours before cutting out.

Ebony choked out a sob as she collapsed onto her side.

“Ebs!”

A familiar face loomed over her, horrified and shocked.

“Aw, shit, Ebs…”

It hurt to speak, but Ebony did it anyway. “H… H-how…?”

“How bad?” Lightning Dust’s eyes looked down at Ebony’s chest before she tried to play off her horror with a suave smile. “S-still bring all the stallions to the yard, heh heh…”

“U… urch… in…”

“Faust, I have to get you out of here,” Lightning Dust looked from side to side, the luminescence of the green fires casting part of her face in shadow. “I don’t think any of our guys have the horsepower to dispel all of this fire.”

Ebony felt the air turn thick and heavy before a pulse of magic scattered the green inferno and dispersed the smoke cloud; her eyes burned as sunlight washed over her.

“O-kay…” Lightning Dust blinked in surprise. “Screw what I said.”

Ebony’s pain was fading quickly, but standing on her own power was still more than she could muster, so she readily leaned on Lightning Dust and tried not to cry when she was in a position to look over her body.

The fur on her chest had been burned off and her flesh was partially melted; numerous boils ruptured and bled as the damaged skin sloughed off in clumps to the earth. The sight was horrific, but Ebony desperately reassured herself with the fact that already was starting to regenerate.

It could have been worse – the brunt of the attack could have been focused on her face.

She forced herself not to look at her steaming body and instead focused on anything else, like the sight of her platoon and the crystal guards carefully traversing the scorched courtyard.

Miraculously, everypony was still alive, aside from a few bearing soot-covered fur and minor bruises.

“F-fire…” Ebony wheezed out as she leaned against Lightning Dust. “How did…?”

Lightning Dust gestured ahead with a small smirk. “Heh… guess ‘love’ isn’t that bad of a power after all.”

A few yards away, Cadance floated down from the sky and ran forwards the instant her hooves were grounded; tears streamed down her face as she embraced Shining Armor, the colour of his armor hidden beneath a layer of ash.

Ebony managed a nod. Her bones ached. “R-right…”

‘Wait.’

“Urchin…” Ebony struggled to turn around, but she needed Lightning Dust to help her do so. “Where’s…?”

The urchin was still there, but it was utterly still and silent; the only way she could tell it was still alive was due to the green dots still glowing within its maw.

Her thrall had died at some point – from a shard of crystal that had been blown through her eye, not the burst of magic that cooked her and created an unpleasant smell.

The cracks that had once burned with that terrible green light were still spreading, and each time they grew, more of the urchin’s shell came apart.

As she watched, a decent chunk came loose, revealing what was inside.

“…”

As everypony cautiously gathered around the shell, the shivering mass laying amongst the discarded remains of the crystal shell emitted a strained exhale.

Shining Armor moved up beside her, eyes wide. “It’s…”

Cadance gasped once she got a full look.

Ebony didn’t know what to think as the emaciated mare swivelled her head about, eyes letting off a green mist as bright as her sclera while her irises were stained a deep and unnatural red.

Her horn crackled with purple-green magic.

‘I don’t… Who is this?’

The mare may have once been beautiful, but her face was gaunt and slimy, her figure thin and scrawny… she just looked so diseased and filthy.

The unknown mare opened and closed her mouth lamely, uttering trembling grunts and whimpers. She didn’t seem to be aware of their presence without leeching off of other ponies’ awareness.

“…”

Ebony was more confident swinging her sword when the urchin was just some faceless monster, not this sad sight…

She heard movement to her side and watched as Shining Armor trotted forwards, magically hefting his morning star into the air.

Cadance stepped forwards. “Shining…”

He didn’t stop. “She’s trying to pull it all back together. Do you see it?”

Ebony took a closer look and realized that the crystals surrounding the emaciated mare were being pulled in to cover her body. Not just that either – some of the larger crystals were lengthening, turning sharp.

She didn’t want to know how long it would take for the dark magic bolts to start up again.

“We can’t communicate unless she has somepony to speak through, and we’ve seen that she’s not interested in listening,” Shining Armor stopped a few feet away so his hooves weren’t stepping in the remains of the shell and lifted his weapon higher. “We have to protect the Empire.”

“… I know.” Cadance murmured, looking away just as her husband brought the morning star down.

The wet splat made Ebony grimace.

With that, the crystal shards ceased movement and the glow of dark magic went out.

Ebony sighed and hung her head low, a smile spreading across her face when she heard exuberant laughter and cheers from the others; a loud din that she was all too happy to hear.

“Fuck yeah, what’d I tell ya, Ebs?!” Lightning Dust jostled her as gently as she could with an ecstatic laugh. “Straight past Miasma!”

“I can’t believe we did it…” Ebony whispered.

She had mixed feelings about their success, about how well her plan would go; honestly, she expected a few of their numbers to perish, and the fact that everypony was still walking and breathing – more or less – was nothing short of incredible.

Ebony looked back up and saw Shining Armor trotting over with a tired but relieved grin.

“Thank you for your help. I don’t think we could have done it without you.”

Ebony shrugged bashfully. “It’s… okay.”

“How’s your chest?”

“Okay…” She briefly glanced down, seeing that half of her melted flesh had been replaced. “Still kinda stings…”

“Will you be alright?”

“Yeah.”

“Good – I want you and your platoon out of my city as soon as you’ve recovered.”

Ebony’s smile waned. “What?”

Shining Armor’s grin was also gone; now he just looked tired. “I’m grateful for your help, truly I am; you’ve helped save my kingdom and its citizens from a horrible fate. I don’t think I can ever repay you,” He paused, then shook his head. “But Nightmare Moon ordered us to mine for those crystals when Cadance and I just wanted to close it down. When I initially refused, she made it clear that she’d harm my sister if I didn’t.

“You’re not Nightmare Moon, but you follow her, and though you have your reasons for doing so, it just drives home the point that you're following her willingly.”

“I-”

“And what you’ve done to these ponies' corpses…” He sighed. “I… really don’t know how I’m going to explain to their families that we used their loved ones as a makeshift army.”

Ebony blinked, staring blankly.

“You and your platoon… you might be good ponies, but you’re on the wrong side. Thank you for your help, but please… leave when you can. Preferably soon.”

Shining Armor turned and walked back to-

"H-hey, wait a minute!" Ebony yelled. It hurt, but she was too upset to care. "Nightmare Moon might have ordered you to keep working in the mines, b-but it was for a good cause! The Resonator's the only thing that can close the Fractures that are letting the Rouge Knights into Equestria!"

Shining Armor was half-turned, not entirely facing his body to her, but enough so that she could see his attention was on her. He was stone-faced at her outburst, unreadable.

She didn't care.

"And how could she have known about this... thing if none of you knew? Maybe... maybe the urchin getting free was partially her fault, but it was also because of her that me and the others are even here in the first place!"

Around them, her platoon watched in shock, though a few were nodding in approval.

She continued, irate at Shining Armor's stoic reaction. "If... if you can look past me being loyal to Nightmare Moon enough to thank me, then you can do the same for Nightmare Moon as well! For sending us here!"

Shining Armor didn't reply; he blinked a few times and turned away, staring at the ground.

Again, Ebony didn't care. "Come on..." She murmured, throat sore, unused to yelling. "Let's get back to the airship. We're going home."

"Yes, ma'am!" Lightning Dust laughed loudly and helped Ebony turn away and limp back towards the fields. "Well, what are the rest of you bozos waiting for? A parade? Mission's done and I'm buying when we get back to Canterlot!"

A few cheers went up as Ebony's platoon trotted briskly to catch up with them. They crowded around her and Lightning Dust, congratulating her, one another, and already exaggerating the stories they would tell back at Canterlot.

Ebony responded to the noise with a tired grin. She was relieved and grateful that they were still there and alive, but she'd probably feel more relieved and grateful when her body had fully healed. Right now - all she wanted to do was sleep. Or rather, go into a trance.

“Jeez, Shining Armor can go suck a fat one...” Lightning Dust hissed to her. “Some thanks we get, huh? Not even a hoofshake. You know, I can go kick his ass if you want?”

Ebony shook her head with a groan. “No. It's not worth the hassle. We completed our mission, so we don't really need to stick around for much longer.”

Lightning Dust frowned, not liking the idea, but didn’t argue. “Sure. Can’t wait to get outta here anyway. Crystal Empire sucks anyway; even without some creepy crystal monster clogging up the streets.”

“I always wanted to come here when I was a kid,” Ebony muttered, looking at the buildings they passed. "Maybe... if things get better and I have time, I could come and really see the sights..."

“… Hey, Ebs?”

“Hm?”

“You pushed me out of the way when the urchin…”

"... Yeah?"

“Well, you saved my life,” Lightning Dust gave a big grin. Genuine and without a hint of the usual mischief that accompanied it. “That’s… pretty cool.”

“Oh… you’re welcome.”

Truthfully, Ebony didn’t mean to take the hit; she had been Calling for Lightning Dust to move and was struck by the attack instead because she simply hadn’t reacted in time after shoving the other mare out of the way.

But what was the point in saying that? Lightning Dust was grateful and Ebony – surprisingly – was happy that she’d done it – why split hairs?

“When we get back…” Lightning Dust said as she helped Ebony limp along. “I’m buying you a drink so strong it'll wake the dead. Or put the undead back to sleep.”

Ebony wasn’t fond of alcohol – not that it would affect her anymore – but a stiff drink sounded like ambrosia itself after all of this…

Author's Note

Note 1: Resurrection spell - a spell that breathes magic into a corpse to make it move about under the caster’s command as a zombie. Larger corpses require more magic. The corpse is unable to use magic and is vulnerable to fire, but no longer decays. Corpses missing their brain – or the equivalent of a brain – cannot be resurrected.

The soul has long since moved on after death and the corpse is no more a living being than a wooden chair; even so, many are understandably disgusted/horrified by this macabre act of puppetry.

Note 2: "When it comes to barriers, the most common mistake unicorns do is think that the more magic you pour into it, the more success you'll have at warding off assault. Now, granted, this does have some truth to it: barriers with more magic poured into them are, ah... let's say, 'thicker'. I guess a good analogy would be to take an actual, physical shield for instance: the thicker and heavier you make it, the greater the chance a sword will be deflected, right? But that comes at a price: the shield is heavy, so you aren't as mobile with it, and no matter how stable it is, repeated blows and attacks will wear out whoever is carrying it. You just apply the same thing to magical barriers. Yeah, you might be able to hold back an angry earth pony with a big stick, but chances are that you'll run out of mana long before he runs out of stamina. You ever seen earth ponies running the track? Crazy stuff.

"So what's the secret to a good barrier? The trick is not to withstand a blow, but redirect the force. An amateur takes an attack head on, so they take the full brunt of the force, which means they have to expend more magic to make sure their barrier keeps standing. But a professional is able to redirect the force of the blow so it 'slides' off. Going back to the shield analogy, if you angle it in just the right way, your opponent's sword won't just bounce off, but completely go in a direction that, if you're lucky, will catch your opponent off-guard. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen my buddies come at me with a wooden sword during a sparring match, hit my barrier, and then just fall to the dirt because their momentum was directed elsewhere during the most vulnerable part of their swing.

"I try to drum it into the recruits, sometimes the vets as well; in a battle, all it takes is one wrong move and your opponent will cut you down. Can you imagine how many lives can be saved if all unicorns just knew how to properly use their barrier?" - Excerpt from Captain Shining Armor in An Interview with the Guard Captain, written by Inquisitive Smokes.

Chapter 53: Contrast

1056 AD, January 13th

“… and that’s when we got back on the airship and came back, Empress.”

“And what of the remains of the crystal urchin? I don’t suppose you managed to procure a sample of it?”

“We did,” Ebony nodded. “It’s a good thing that Tremor suggested it; we were all worn out, and I wouldn’t have thought of it otherwise. I put some in this bag.”

Her horn turned a scarlet hue as she levitated a tiny, burlap sack – one usually used for holding bits – from her belt and over to Nightmare Moon.

Her curiosity piqued, Nightmare Moon cleared any clutter from her desk to make a small space, and waited until the bag was carefully placed down before using her own magic to loosen the string keeping it shut.

“Uh, be careful!” Ebony said, twitching like she wanted to move forwards and stop her.

Nightmare Moon simply nodded, and slowly opened the bag to peer inside. Glittering shards peered up at her; there were nine in total, and the biggest shard wasn’t even the size of her hoof.

“And these were infecting ponies?” She asked, upending the bag and spilling the crystals onto her desk.

Ebony watched her nervously. “Y-yes.”

“Intriguing.”

The shards were violet in the light, and she couldn’t sense any sort of magic surrounding them. Cautiously, she ignited her horn to prod and lift some of them, finding it effortless to do so.

“They don’t resist me in any way.”

“I picked them up with my hooves,” Ebony said. “I was too drained to use magic.”

Nightmare Moon nodded again before using her magic to remove the armor covering her right forehoof.

“Empress?”

“If the mare within the crystal construction is dead, then I don’t think the crystals will continue to infect.”

“But…”

“I’ll be fine.”

Nightmare Moon was positive of this, and was not surprised when her bare hoof prodded one of the shards and nothing happened. Assured of its inertness, she picked up the biggest shard and rolled it between her forehooves, watching how it caught the light peeking in from the windows.

“I doubt we’ll get anything from studying it,” She said, only a little disappointed. “I’ll have it done anyway, but the real goldmine is that mare’s body. It’s a pity you didn’t bring that back.”

Ebony hung her head in shame. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Nightmare Moon let the shard fall back onto the desk and raised her head to look at her Right Hoof. “Your mission was a success. Be proud of that.”

She meant it, too. Placing her faith in other ponies was a necessity she wasn’t comfortable with, but her Praetorian Guard continued to prove themselves loyal and competent. She was genuinely proud of Ebony, and tried to show it by curling her lips into a smile – one that spoke of her gratitude instead of just conveying ‘look how many teeth can puncture your face’.

Ebony looked surprised, relieved, happy… and minimally uncomfortable.

Damn – still needs work.

“However, now I’m curious about the crystal mines within the Empire. If such a mare was unearthed, then how many more could there be? This needs to be addressed immediately: the Empire and their mines are the most efficient way to gather the crystals the Resonator needs, and we can’t have any more corrupted ponies halting productivity and shipments.”

Nightmare Moon picked up the shard again with her telekinesis. She turned and trotted over to the balcony’s open doors, holding the shard up so the light went through it.

“Tell me, Ebony… did this mare look similar to Twilight Sparkle? Were there crystals perforating her body?”

Ebony nodded. “Yes.”

“Exactly?”

“N-no… Twilight’s crystals are clear and sort of blue while the crystals in that mare were like the one you’re holding – purple.”

Nightmare Moon rotated the shard. “I see.”

A few empty moments passed before she heard Ebony shuffled over to stand next to her. She entered Nightmare Moon’s field of vision, squinting a little as sunlight beamed into her sensitive eyes.

“Empress, do you think… what happened to Twilight was because of the crystals? Maybe they were corrupted, but not as obviously.”

“Do you even know what I was trying to do with Twilight in the first place?”

“No, I…” Ebony quickly averted her red eyes. “Sorry.”

“Hm?” Nightmare Moon blinked, breaking her stare away from the shard. “I’m not being hostile – do you actually know what I was attempting with her?”

Ebony shook her head.

“I was attempting to make her biologically immortal through a very… very old method. A rather sketchy method – illegally so. More than a few would say ‘inequine’. Using this method, grafting crystals into the recipient's body will allow them to absorb ambient magic in the environ to provide a consistent source of energy that keeps the body's cells rejuvenated and prevents damage to the DNA. The process is traumatic and agonizing, but not fatal if you know what you're doing, so I was confident in having Twilight undergo it.”

Ebony blinked and looked at her, surprise and a fair amount of unease written all over her face. “Oh… But, uh, why were you trying to make her immortal?"

“First, let me ask if you are aware what happens when an Element bearer dies? What happens to their Element?”

“You told me this before, I think…” Ebony said, scrunching her brow together as she searched her memory. “If a bearer dies, then their Element chooses another pony, right?”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “I plan to rule Equestria for a long time. Before all this business with the humans, when the bearers and the princesses were under lock and key, I wanted to make the bearers immune to the ravages of time, so that they would not rot in prison from age, thus circumventing the Elements finding a new host, one that I would need to search the lands for.”

A memory resurfaced, unbidden, and Nightmare Moon scoffed in annoyance at it.

“Fate has a way of bringing the bearers together like we’re in some fairy tale, and I had no wish to deal with all that again.”

“So you were going to keep them imprisoned forever?” Ebony shuddered. “That’s… I mean, I understand why, but…”

“If they behaved themselves, then I might have granted some small freedoms,” She snorted humourlessly and gave a little shake of her head. “They never would have behaved,” She sighed. “… I severely underestimated them. Ridiculous, isn’t it? I’m better than that; I should have had several plans already laid out in case of a break, but I didn’t. I was so sure that I had them all beneath my hoof.”

“They took all of us by surprise,” Ebony said with a sympathetic smile. “It wasn’t just you.”

Part of Nightmare Moon automatically labelled the sympathy as pity; she had to supress a sneer. Sympathy also didn’t sit well with her either, but it was tolerable and a step-up from pity at least.

“True, but that doesn’t excuse my lack of hindsight,” Nightmare Moon said, and then shook her head. “Ugh, but enough ruminating on what could have been; it won’t help us in any way, and it just eats up time. Now, you asked me a question, right? About Twilight and the crystals and why the procedure failed?”

Ebony nodded.

“Hard to say – I checked those crystals thoroughly before I implemented them, and detected no abnormalities. Same goes for the Resonator; I wouldn’t use crystals if I thought they held some sort of magic that may do the device some harm. Twilight hasn’t detected any either in the time we’ve worked together.”

“So what do you think made her… like that?”

“… I don’t know,” Nightmare Moon admitted with another sigh. “Perhaps I made a mistake. Perhaps Twilight’s link with her Element caused interference. Perhaps it was just some random fluke. I don’t know.”

Faust, it pained her to say that.

She hated not knowing things; it put her at a disadvantage; it made her feel weak and ignorant.

And with this war raging, there were so many things she didn’t know, and that lack of knowledge could mean the difference between successfully repelling an attack by the Rouge Knights, or failing.

She didn’t like to fail.

“I thought I worked out all the kinks, but nearing the end of the procedure, Twilight went into shock," Nightmare Moon clucked her tongue and frowned at the memory. "Successfully and correctly grafting a crystal into the body will cause physical damage, but not enough to warrant a fatality, and the safeguard spells prevent the recipient from going into shock from pain and stress; everything was accounted for, but something had gone wrong, and whatever it was had placed Twilight's life at stake. I was losing her fast - there is no healing spell around that can reliably pull a victim of shock back from that state and I am not very proficient in them either. There was only one option left for me."

Ebony gave a slow nod, her brow furrowing as she thought back. "You said... when you were 'her'... that you implanted a core crystal?"

"Laced with my magic, yes," Nightmare Moon tapped one hoof against the bone protruding through the hole in her helmet. "It's... I suppose you can call it a more non-consenting form of what I did to grant power to you and the others - the idea was that Twilight would be in no shape to fight my magic off, which would allow it to give her that bit of extra strength to survive until I properly stabilized her."

"I... didn't know you could do that."

"You never show all your cards. Not to anypony. At any rate, it worked far better than I had expected. It stabilized her, but I didn't expect it to also bring her beneath my control like this."

Unable to help a small smile of delight, Nightmare Moon searched her mind for that invisible tether and strummed it with phantom hooves; she felt a strong response from the other end, one of hate and anger that failed to cover up the underlying fear that she would send out an order the pony on the other end would have no choice but to obey.

"Not only does Twilight act as another vessel for me to occupy should my body perish, but she is presently at my beck and call, utterly and completely," Nightmare Moon's smile widened into a smirk. "It seems as though the crystals already in her act as a foci to channel my essence that burns inside her, amplifying it. Incredible, isn't it?"

Ebony's eyes briefly flicked to the floor. "Y-yes."

"It was the very thing which stopped Celestia, Luna, and the others dead in their tracks when they escaped - a stroke of luck," Nightmare Moon gave a little shrug, her smirk waning slightly. "Winning by 'luck' isn't necessarily spectacular, but I won't look a gift mule in the mouth. And now that I am aware that I can control the bearers so completely, I look forwards to recapturing them more than ever."

"Glad I'm not in their horseshoes..." Ebony grimaced.

"Indeed. However, that is something that will have to be addressed later on. Right now, a more urgent matter requires our attention: the humans."

Ebony blinked, and tensed up, apprehension etched into her face. “Has something happened while we were away?”

“If that were the case, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. No – there haven’t been any signs of the humans in a while. Naturally, I’m more suspicious of them now than I am whenever they attack.”

Nightmare Moon moved back over to her desk and sat down while putting down the shard in her hoof. She ushered it and the other pieces back into the sack while Ebony trotted back in front, waiting for her to continue.

“For an enemy that has the capability to attack anywhere in Equestria at any time, we’ve fended them off better than I expected, especially given that so far they’ve attacked everywhere but Canterlot.”

Nightmare Moon couldn’t be in two places at once – at least, not in a way that would allow her to remain in a capable and powerful state – so she had to spread her Eclipse force across Equestria, placing outposts in the largest settlements such as Manehatten and Fillydelphia.

The attacks from the humans resulted in loss of life and property damage, but it was far less than what she had feared, and the cost of the property damage was easily rectified.

As a plus, Blueblood’s fortune was almost squandered; the thought of that petty vengeance gave her quite the high whenever she had to quell the rage-driven urge to bite somepony’s head off.

“November 20th… November 29th… December 10th… December 22nd… The amount of times they’ve attacked us is too small to glean any real pattern, but since December 22nd the humans haven’t shown their faces – that’s twenty-two days, a little over three weeks. Needless to say, this lapse in activity has me on edge. Caed has to be planning something.”

“What do you want to do?”

“There’s nothing we can really do, is there? The Rouge Knights exist in a different universe: we cannot attack their base when we have no means of getting to it, and we have little to no information about them – their plans, their supplies, their numbers, nothing,” Nightmare Moon telekinetically placed two sheets of paper in front of her and, with an irritated scowl, she started writing on them with a pencil. “The most we can do is just make sure we’re prepared as best we can be. Until they show their cards, we just have to concentrate on what we can deal with for the time being.”

Nightmare Moon filled out the two sheets and hoofed them over to Ebony.

“That form is to be delivered to Haze while that one should go to Veil. Once that’s completed, you’re free to go about your usual duties.”

“Okay. Is that all, Empress?”

“Yes. Farewell.”

“Goodbye.”

Ebony bowed, but Nightmare Moon was already sliding the next form that demanded her attention in front of her to review.

‘... Is this just a copy of that construction form from last week? Rubbish. So is this form. Have I actually gone through everything of importance for today? Unlikely.’

When she pushed all the papers aside to actually go through the stack at the edge of her desk, Ebony’s journey to the door came to a halt as it swung inwards, clocking her across the muzzle.

“Empress, there’s somepony-” The stallion in Eclipse armor froze in the middle of the doorway; Nightmare Moon found amusement in his expression when he realized he had just bopped his captain. “C-Captain Ebony, I…!” He swiftly saluted. “M-ma’am, I didn’t mean to… I didn’t think…”

“It’s fine, it’s… okay, really,” Ebony rubbed at her muzzle and wrinkled her nostrils with a sniff. “Just surprised is all.”

The stallion awkwardly nodded, clearly avoiding her glowing gaze. “R-right, ma’am. I, er, have a message for the Empress.”

“What is it?” Nightmare Moon asked with a sigh. She was already preparing herself for something bad – maybe a sudden invasion by the dragons, or a Fracture swallowing Las Pegasus whole.

Faust forbid it be something good.

“Somepony wishes to see you. Personally.”

“Who is it?”

The guard made to answer, but suddenly turned his head to the left, his eyes widening in surprise. “What are…? Y-you’re not supposed to be…!”

Whoever was out in the hallway seemed to have a poor grasp on volume control because Nightmare Moon could clearly hear them whisper, “Tell her it’s her bestie – she hates that crap.”

‘Of course…’

Nightmare Moon sighed again – chasing away the spike of elation that inexplicably welled up within her – and face-hooved while closing her eyes. “Vinyl, get in here before you bring all of my guards running.”

The stallion awkwardly stepped to the side so that Vinyl could come around the corner and go through the door, her ever-present shades bobbing as she gave a single nod to Ebony.

“Yo.”

“Uh, hello.”

“Your eyes are metal as hell.”

“Thank you?”

“Hope Wolf isn’t working you too hard to the bone. I think she still has some lingering frustration from the times I made her drag out the ponies that kept blowing chunks in my bathroom.”

“Vinyl…”

“Alright, take it easy – I just dropped by to see what’s up anyway.”

Nightmare Moon lowered her hoof from her face and opened her eyes to give a meaningful look at Ebony. Her Right Hoof quickly got the point, and went on her way to deliver the papers; she gave a short order to the stallion in the doorway, and closed the door behind her with magic once they were both out in the hallway.

“I’m fairly certain we spoke not too long ago,” Nightmare Moon continued sorting through her papers, watching out of the corner of her eye as Vinyl trotted around to look at the room. It suddenly occurred to her that Vinyl had never actually been in here before. “Also, I would appreciate it if you refrained from touching and subsequently breaking anything important.”

“Can I see what’s under that blanket?”

“No.”

“Fiiine…” Vinyl moved away from Philomena’s cage and trotted up to the desk. Nightmare Moon picked up the sack of shards and placed it one of her drawers. “Sketchy. So… what were you saying? Oh right, us just speaking and stuff. Well, yeah, we did, but I actually wanted to show you something that just happened, like… yesterday.”

“Show me something?”

“Yeah.”

“Vinyl, I cannot just leave my duties whenever the mood suits me; I have already indulged you in ‘hanging out’ not too long ago.”

“It’ll be quick,” She insisted with a charming grin. “I promise. It’s just in downtown Canterlot – you can fly us there, can’t you?”

“I have more important things to do,” There was a bad taste in her mouth as she watched Vinyl frown in disappointment, but she ignored it and kept shuffling through her papers. “You’re welcome to stay and talk, I suppose, but I can’t just…”

Nightmare Moon paused and re-shuffled through her papers.

Nothing.

She re-shuffled a third time.

Still nothing.

‘… Do I really have nothing that requires my immediate attention?’

There were a dozen or so forms and documents that she could spend time going over and signing, but she had nothing that was absolutely essential; she could put these papers off for a few days.

But did she really want to do that?

Did she really want to delay her duties to go see what Vinyl had planned for her? Nightmare Moon was no fan of procrastination.

“Vinyl, is this thing you wish for me to see truly important?” Nightmare Moon asked, placing the papers down and staring straight into the other mare’s glasses. “I have a kingdom to run, in case you’ve somehow overlooked that.”

Vinyl hummed and tilted her head, her lips pursing. “Mmm… it’s important to me. Sort of. I suppose I could just tell you, but… I really want to show you.”

“… Vinyl, you know that sort of expression doesn’t work on me.”

She kept making it.

“… You’re beginning to encroach on my limits, you know.”

“Just like old times, eh?”

Nightmare Moon pushed her papers aside and stood with a put-upon sigh, reluctantly admitting to herself that she wanted to spend time with Vinyl more than she wanted to go through those papers.

How annoying.

Before doing anything else, she sent out her thoughts. “Haze, Ebony – I’m going downtown; I’ll be back shortly.”

“Understood, Empress.”

“Okay, Empress.”

With that taken care of, Nightmare Moon gestured Vinyl over as she walked over to the balcony and stretched out her wings.

“Let’s make this quick.”

Vinyl cocked her head in surprise. “Seriously? You’re gonna let me ride you?”

“Make one joke or sexual remark and I will literally drop you from this balcony.”

“You like it rough, huh?”

Nightmare Moon stared at her, astonished at the complete lack of hesitation at saying such a thing. Part of her wanted to cross the room and wipe that smug grin from Vinyl’s face, but another part of her firmly held that desire back.

“Sorry, Wolf – couldn’t help myself,” Vinyl chuckled as she trotted over, a slight amount of apprehension in her stance as she looked over the balcony’s edge. “You’re… not upset, are you?”

Nightmare Moon sighed and decided to let it go; it wasn’t worth the hassle. “No. I was just surprised by what could have been a grand amount of boldness, or stupidity,” Lighting up her horn, she lifted Vinyl and set the smaller mare onto her back. “Have you ever flown before?”

“Nah, but no worries – I ain’t afraid of heights,” Vinyl wrapped her forelegs around Nightmare Moon’s neck, and Nightmare Moon made an effort to not just brush off the contact. “Jeez, your coat’s really friggin’ soft.”

“Thank you.”

Nightmare Moon walked up to the balcony’s edge and looked out into the city.

The ground was far below them, and Vinyl’s grip wasn’t all that secure.

“You like it rough, huh?”

A powerful urge built up within her, and Nightmare Moon smiled evilly.

Before the cold and logical side of her could protest, she suddenly bucked, and Vinyl soared over her head and the edge; Nightmare Moon saw the other mare’s upside-down expression of utter shock even through her glasses before she was hurtling towards the ground.

“What the fuuuuuuuu-?!”

Nightmare Moon let her plummet for a few seconds before leaping off the balcony and teleporting a short distance down so that Vinyl landed on her back as she hovered in place.

Vinyl yelped and scrambled to hold her neck in a death-grip, her glasses askew and her eyes wide and terrified. “Wh-wh-what the flying crap in a shit-basket was that?!”

“I told you that would happen!” Nightmare Moon laughed, ignoring the logical part of her that shook its head in admonishment and pondered how she must have looked to anypony who had seen it.

To Tartarus with what random strangers others thought of her; she didn’t strive for their acceptance.

“You suck, Wolf!” Vinyl pressed her face into Nightmare Moon’s neck, shivering and gasping for breath that was slowly giving way to giggles. “I… Faust, you’re an ass…”

“Now, are you holding on tight?”

“After that crap, you’ll need a crowbar to pry my hooves off of you.”

Wisely, Vinyl did not follow that up with another crass remark, and Nightmare Moon gave a sly smirk of victory as she flapped her wings to ascend higher and fly across Canterlot’s buildings and streets.

It was around three in the afternoon, and the sun was shining brightly on a cloudless day; there was no shortage of pegasi milling about the skies, mostly civilians but they were all quick to make themselves scarce once they noticed her in the air as well. The few pegasi in Eclipse armor gave her a wide berth and saluted respectfully.

“Where exactly are we going?” Nightmare Moon asked.

“You remember the club? Where we worked together?” Vinyl was close enough to her ear that she needn’t shout over the rush of wind. “We’re going there.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

“I sincerely hope this isn’t a trap of some sort.”

“Ha! Hell no – not with your friggin’ track record of surprise parties.”

Nightmare Moon chuckled briefly, and for a few moments after that, there was only the beat of her wings and the whoosh of wind to fill the silence.

‘Huh… it’s been a while since I’ve gone for a glide. I forgot how much I enjoy them…’

The sight of Equestria stretching everywhere towards the horizon was nothing unfamiliar, but it was still a calming sight; if she just turned off thinking altogether, she could probably even imagine that there was no war going on.

Wouldn’t that be pleasant?

Nightmare Moon felt Vinyl shift on her back, adjusting her grip, and heard the twinkle of magic as she corrected her shades.

“So, Wolf?”

“Hm?”

“What’s up with that mare back there? The one with the cool-looking eyes?”

“She’s my Right Hoof, and the Captain of the Eclipse Guard – she turned to lichdom so that she could become stronger, which would allow her to serve me better.”

“You taught her about it?”

“She discovered it on her own – I just helped build the path she already chose.”

“Wicked,” She felt Vinyl nod. “So she must be pretty loyal, eh?”

“Along with five others who are in my Praetorian Guard.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen a few of those guys. Are you close with them? Like, are they your friends?”

Nightmare Moon paused. “… What makes you ask such a thing?”

“Dunno,” Vinyl shrugged. “Just curious to see if you’re making any new friends.”

“… I… They are my most loyal and strongest guards… but we’re not that close.”

“Oh.”

“Friendship, ultimately, is something that can be used against you, and the more friends you have, the more your enemies may use against you. It is the same for lovers and family.”

“Damn… that’s cold.”

“It’s the truth,” Nightmare Moon looked down at the city below, watching the specks of its citizens going about their business. “It’s how I conquered Equestria in the first place; I used the Element bearers’ and the princesses relationships against them. The Elements of Harmony, powerful as they are, were rendered useless because of their bearers’ weaknesses.”

Silence.

Nightmare Moon looked over her shoulder, her face impassive. “However I appear when we are together and whatever you thought of ‘Star Secret’, remember that I will do anything to achieve my goals.”

Vinyl just nodded, and the shades were doing an adequate job at veiling her thoughts.

Nightmare Moon looked forwards again, watching as downtown Canterlot gradually came closer.

Her words may have disturbed Vinyl, but it wasn’t as if she was completely ignorant of Nightmare Moon’s nature, not anymore. After all, Nightmare Moon’s violent overthrowing of the princesses had sent the entire country reeling, and it was still recovering from that, even after all these months alongside the news that they were at war with a race from another universe.

It would be truly miraculous if somepony didn’t know about the coup.

Because of that, everypony knew that Nightmare Moon was not one to be messed with lightly.

Which suited her just fine – ‘fear’ was a good way to keep everypony in line.

Vinyl shifted again.

“So why are we friends if you think that friendship’s a weakness?”

…

... Ah.

“It’s… complicated.” Nightmare Moon found herself floundering for an answer that wouldn’t leave a bad taste in her mouth to say, a reason that didn’t make part of her recoil in revulsion.

She struggled.

“I told you that you pretty much had nothin’ to gain from being friends with me, right?” Vinyl said, her tone uncharacteristically reflective. “My music’s great, but can’t actually help you. If you have nothin’ to gain, then why be friends since it just gives you a weakness?”

‘I am not weak!’

Nightmare Moon said nothing.

“Like… even Fleur and Fancypants have something to offer you, but not me. As awesome as I am… I’m just… You know what I’m sayin’?”

Nightmare Moon did.

“… Wolf?”

“Because you’ve gotten under my skin.”

“Huh?”

“I never wanted to be your friend. You were just a means to an end. I only came to your club when I was Star Secret because I needed a job, money – if you hadn’t hired me, I would have gone somewhere else. Maybe I would have stolen if I had no luck. As it was, you did hire, but you were supposed to be nothing more than my employer. And when you were being assaulted by those stallions that night? I didn’t help out of the goodness of my heart; I helped because I was more concerned about my paycheck. And I certainly didn’t want to ‘room’ with you, and I only did so because you had lemon meringue pie. Everything else? The reason I stayed? Because it was convenient for my plans.

“I had no intention of befriending you. Zero.”

Nightmare Moon watched the cityscape below.

“But something changed. You began to grow on me. I don’t know or why, but you did. As much as I tried to distance myself, you just wormed your way back in. Eventually, it got to a point where I tired of trying, and relented to calling you an ‘associate’ – somepony I could reliably ‘hang out’ with and not just strangle out of frustration. I told myself that was it, that was as close as I was willing to let somepony come. You were a pony I would do more for than anypony else in terms of favours, but you were not somepony I would let stand in the way of my goals. It’s why I left the apartment. My desire was more important than your silly fear that we’d grow apart.

“And we remained in contact, didn’t we? For the most part, we still managed to see one another, at least until the time came to put my plan into action and recruit my followers, those who would become my Praetorian Guard. You asked if I am close to them? No. I trust them to carry out my orders and not betray me – not that they can do so easily – but no, I am not close to them. If one of them should die, I would be genuinely upset, and not just because they are useful to me, but I will not mourn them for long. Even Ebony and Haze, my Right and Left Hooves, hold no special place in my heart.”

Nightmare Moon turned, searching Vinyl’s face for… something – she didn’t know what – but only found stoicism behind dark shades, and just continued speaking, suddenly angry.

“Do you see, Vinyl? I will do anything to get what I want because you have only one life on this planet, and you make the most of that. Your goal was to be a DJ? You have succeeded. My goal was to rise into a position of great power, by force or election, it doesn’t matter, and to earn my place in history. I have succeeded in both regards, but does that mean I should stop? No – now I will endeavour to rule my kingdom for a long time and drive these accursed Rouge Knights into the ground. I will do it because I am strong, and strength, whether it be physical or otherwise, is what determines one’s fate.

“Preach the value of ‘friendship’ and its ‘magic’ all you want, but the bottom line is that the Elements of Harmony accumulate the combined magic of Equestria’s denizens into a powerful blast that overpowers a foe – that is strength, albeit one shared amongst many instead of an individual. I sought to overcome that strength, and succeeded. I did it by threatening the lives of my enemies’ friends and families, and for all their strength, they are rendered weak because of their relationships. One who has no close ties on an emotional level is completely and utterly free.”

Nightmare Moon felt her cheeks split as she snarled, and didn’t stop it.

“I could have been like that, but instead, I chose to keep you as my friend, my weakness, and it’s because I want to have you in my life! As my friend! The very thing I once mocked my enemies for, I now have! And part of me hates it so very much – it wants to tear your head off and grind your bones to dust. And then there’s another part of me that hates that other part of me – it fills me with a sense of ‘wrong’ whenever it sees you unhappy. When I told you I was moving out and you were upset, that sensation plagued me; you are the only pony to make me feel that way and I have no idea why! What is so special about you?! We share very few interests, hobbies – we even clashed about my lying to you about being Star Secret and my overthrowing of the princesses! You are a weed… but it pains me to think about getting rid of you…”

Vinyl said nothing.

Nightmare Moon turned away, panting, cheeks healing, still angry but at herself and not as intensely. Mostly, she just felt like a fool; irritated that she had let her emotions get the best of her like that.

‘It must be the stress of dealing with these cowardly humans and the lack of activity from those damned princesses. That has to be it…’

Her chest became less constricted reinforcing that thought.

She wondered what was going through Vinyl’s mind, and as if in answer…

“Wolf… we kinda sorta… passed downtown.”

Nightmare Moon silently turned around to fly back.

She had almost completely flown out of Canterlot because of her outburst – how annoying.

Now that she was actually looking where she was going, she was able to spot Vinyl’s club below and descend to street level; ponies walking about either turned the other way abruptly or just cautiously trotted on by.

Nightmare Moon paid no mind to them; she was focused on the building in front of her.

“Vinyl, what happened to your sign? It’s gone.”

Vinyl climbed off her back and walked to the entrance. “Just come inside.”

Nightmare Moon trotted after her, her frown deepening as she entered the club and noticed it was unusually empty and clean. The tables were wiped clean, the floors dusted, the light fixtures above missing – even Vinyl’s station where she mixed the music was gone.

“Vinyl?”

“Crazy, huh?” Vinyl turned to face her with a small grin. “I’m giving away ownership of the place.”

Nightmare Moon blinked, shocked. “What?”

“It’ll still be here, but it’ll be under Neon Lights’ name. As for me? Well, you know how me and Octy have been mixing and matching our music together? All that work’s finally paid off; we’re going to open up a new music club in Canterlot. It’s gonna be revoltinary, she says.”

“‘Revolutionary’.”

“Yeah, that word,” Vinyl was beaming happily now as she turned in the same spot, just looking at everything. “You remember how this place was packed with all those glowstick waving, spiky-haired stallions and mares? Imagine that, but with the classical-lovin’ ponies as well.”

“I do not think they would mix well.”

“You could say the same about me and Octy’s brands of music, but we managed that, right? Music is… It’s got this energy, ya know? It can bring ponies together and make things not crappy even when things are crappy.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. She wasn’t entirely convinced that two different crowds could really be brought together, but it was hardly the unlikeliest of things.

For crying out loud, there were hairless monkeys in armor coming through tears in reality.

“I just… wanted to show you, that’s all,” Vinyl said with a sheepish laugh. “We’ve had some great times in this place and I thought bringing you here would be…”

“Nostalgic?”

“Yeah, that.”

Nightmare Moon looked around again and gave a slow nod. “I suppose.”

“… Okay, that’s… not just it. I…” Vinyl scratched her head as she lit up her horn to slide her shades onto her forehead. “I wanted to say… thanks.”

“For what?”

“Seeing this place get renovated… giving ownership to Neon Lights… it got me thinking back to how we met, how we used to hang back in my apartment. Those were some of the best times in my life, and, well… Ugh, I’m not good at this sappy stuff.”

“That makes two of us,” Nightmare Moon grumbled. “Vinyl, about what I said…”

“I don’t think you’re as much of a ruthless bitch as you think you are.”

“Oh?”

“Well, I mean… you are pretty friggin’ ruthless. Like… wow, you took down the princesses and the Elements of Harmony, and kept them locked up. Jeez, that’s hardcore – in the good and bad way. But you’re not totally bad – you let me in close enough to be your friend, you’re on good terms with Fleur and Fancypants, and you even have a soft spot for that giant-ass timber wolf,” Vinyl shrugged, smiling a little uncertainly. “I know you don’t like that crap, but… it can’t be completely bad, can it? We have fun hanging out, don’t we?”

“We do.”

“Yeah! So why-”

“But I shouldn’t be like this.”

Nightmare Moon shook her head in disgust and went over to one of the alcoves with the tables. The chairs stacked on top of it were too small, so she just sat on the floor.

She had a headache thinking about all of this – it was often the reason why she didn’t do it in the first place.

She waited until Vinyl trotted over as well and took down one of the chairs before speaking.

“Vinyl, you must know that I am not a pony. I look like one, yes, but I am not one. I am not equine, nor am I like anything else you might imagine.”

The other mare nodded as she sat on her seat. “Sooo… what are you then?”

“… I am… something that should have no business with any form of genuine relationships.”

It was difficult to come out and say what she was.

Never had Nightmare Moon told the truth about what she was, that would just give others information that could possibly be used against her; she’d rather everyone think of her as a god, a demon, or just an incredibly powerful pony; her kind wasn’t widely known, and she intended to keep that information obscured.

Even now, part of her urged her to cease this conversation, lest someone get a hold of it by going through Vinyl.

But she had to make Vinyl understand…

“I was born from a dozen desires and dreams lurking within the minds and hearts of living, thinking creatures like you. Desires and dreams that would go unfulfilled because those that have them lack the ambition, the strength, and the courage to do whatever is necessary to achieve them, never mind who gets hurt or how many. A child wishing for a toy… a princess wishing for her night to be appreciated… a young mare wishing to prove that she is worth something… I am all of that, coalesced into a single, thinking being.

“By my very nature, I am selfish, and the only reason I would help others was if it would further my own goals. To me, it only makes sense to do anything you can to get what you want; you only live once, and nobody knows what comes after death, but we know what life holds, so you should make the most of it. There are some that wish to have a family, make friends, have children – none of those appeal to me. My goal is to continue to rule this land – friendships should not hold any value to me, for they are just tools that can be used against you, things that weigh you down and detract you from your desires.

“… I should not want you to be my friend. I should not show mercy to my enemies. I should not feel sympathy or empathy. I should not worry about my pet. I should not… worry about you. They would detract me from my goals, and achieving my goals is the entire reason for my existence; it is what allowed me to think, to act, to desire. So why would something like me experience these emotions in the first place?

“I should be incapable of it. I should not be able to experience them. They have no place within me… yet they are there.”

Nightmare Moon looked down at the armor covering her chest. She looked down at her hooves. She turned her head and looked down at her unmarked flank.

"... This... Could this be because of the Elements?"

It was a thought she paid no heed to, a thought that just lurked in the back of her mind, useless and unimportant because it contributed nothing to her goals.

But now, it was repeating itself in her mind endlessly.

"Luna was purified of me, and I wound up with this physical form. I didn't know why and I saw no reason to question it: I was still alive and aware of what I wanted; the Elements had done nothing to change me, so why complain? But maybe it did change me. Perhaps that is why I have these... emotions. Perhaps that is why I was able to become your friend. They are the embodiment of friendship, after all."

The more she thought of it, the more sense it made.

Her whole life, she had not experienced any yearning for intimacy or understanding or companionship from another creature.

When she first formed in a flash of consciousness and self-awareness and potential, she did not yearn for it.

When she gazed out to the plains of what she would later come to learn as 'Zebrica' and just knew, somehow knew that she wanted to be remembered, to be strong, to be better than what she was, she did not yearn for it.

When she met more spirits that were like her and sneered with formless lips at their lack of ambition beyond 'possess and kill' and knew that, for whatever reason, she was the only one amongst them that was truly intelligent, she did not yearn for it.

When she traversed the continent and watched and plotted from the shadows as her 'brethren' stalked and possessed the zebras by force, something she could not do, and turned them into slavering, instinct-driven beasts, she did not yearn for it.

When she searched elsewhere in other lands, and learned and observed how she could use trickery and manipulation and honeyed words to allow zebras and griffons and ponies to let her in their heads to make up for her inability to possess them by force, she did not yearn for it.

When she wandered the surface of the moon for a thousand years with nothing to observe and no one to talk to, surrounded by the void of space and beaten down by the unshielded rays of the sun, she did not yearn for it.

"Vinyl..." Nightmare Moon began, tingling with a sensation like cold water washing over her. "My entire life I have been alone with nothing but my goals and desires. Up until I was forcibly removed from Luna's body, concepts such as friendship and empathy were alien to me; I understood what they were and how I could mimic it, but I never truly experienced it. Could the Elements have changed me in some way? Changed me so that I would find such concepts more relatable? It seems so unlikely that I would be spared with seemingly no consequences for my actions."

Vinyl blinked, mouth agape. "I... I dunno. I barely scraped by in school; there's no way in Tartarus I could understand something like the friggin' Elements of Harmony. All I know is that you point it at something bad, shoot a rainbow, and the bad thing goes away."

"But I didn't 'go away'!" Nightmare Moon growled in frustration and slapped her hooves down on the table. "I was not destroyed, I was not banished, and I was not turned to stone; it removed me from Luna, I lost consciousness, and when I next woke I just had this body! It..." She stopped and took a breath. "... I have been struck with the Elements' magic two times now and I still maintain my freedom and free will, as opposed to Discord, who was turned to stone each and every time. And I don't know why."

“Jeez, Wolf…” Vinyl said, quiet and subdued. She had a face like Octavia had unzipped her skin to reveal a bunch of rabbits riding on top of each other. “That’s heavy shit. Like, I woke up today thinkin’, ‘oh, I’ll see if Wolf wants to come to the bar and remember good ol’ times’, and I get… I mean, I’m not complaining or anything, but I just… got more than I expected.”

“I did not intend it, but it seems you asked the correct questions,” Nightmare Moon grumbled, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her chin on her forehoof. “So congratulations – you’ve managed to ‘break through my walls’ as they say. I don’t whether to be impressed or enraged.”

“You can probably manage both.”

“I certainly can, thank you for pointing that out.”

“Heh heh… Serious talk, though? I’m pretty stoked you shared all of that with me. And it sucks that I don’t really have anything to say that’ll make you feel better,” Vinyl frowned, annoyed at herself. “I have no friggin' clue if the Elements did do something to change you, but if they did, then it's a pretty lousy job in my opinion. No offense.”

"None taken."

"Like... it makes you able to form bonds and crap with ponies, but not get rid of your whole 'I'll eat your face if you get in my way' shtick? That's seriously half-assed and lame for a supposedly powerful magical artefact. Jeez, it turned friggin' Discord, the god of chaos or whatever, to stone, but it can't do the same to you? Either something went wrong, or you're way stronger than I think you are."

Vinyl had a point: if the Elements truly did attempt to purify her, then they should have wrought greater results and completely removed Nightmare Moon's unfettered desires. As much as she hated to admit it, she was quite helpless before the power of the Elements.

But she didn't know if that's what happened - the Elements might not have implanted these new and unfamiliar emotions in her.

Which was actually worse because at least she'd have something to blame if it was the Elements; she wouldn't just be guessing and wondering and contemplating how the hell she had managed to obtain something that so went against her nature.

"I-I don't know," Vinyl tossed her hooves and shoulders up in a shrug and shook her head. "It's way over my head, ya know? The only other reason I have is that you're not as much as a sociopathic bitch as you think you are and that you've always had those emotions; it just took spending time with me to bring them out. Which is crazy because I'm... not really anypony. Just a regular DJ that makes awesome music."

"Yes..." Nightmare Moon rubbed at her temples and exhaled through her nostrils. "You are."

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence. Whatever - I have no idea why you're this way when you think you should be another way, but it all turned out well enough, right? We're friends, and it's not the end of the world, huh?"

Nightmare Moon stared at her blankly. “That doesn’t answer why I'm like this.”

“Figured. But what can you do? You might not want to feel all that crap, but you do. You remember when I was still dating Octy? I was scared shitless when I realized I was falling in love, but it was happening, so I just had to suck it up and make the best of it. And I’m friggin’ glad I did because now I’m married to the coolest mare in Equestria.”

“Hrm…”

“The coolest mare that I’m not having sex with.”

“Mm…”

Vinyl smirked and rolled her eyes. “What I’m trying to say is that there’s not much point in complaining about how you should be, not when the present is here and now. Didn’t you always say how you hated ponies that moaned and whined about their lives instead of doing something to make themselves feel better?”

“… Yes, I did.” Nightmare Moon growled as a surge of self-loathing filled her.

"Besides, who the hell made it a law that you have to be a certain way just because of where you're born or what you were born as? Octy was born into a hoity-toity family that wanted her to marry a stallion, but she told them to 'fuck off' and married me instead," Vinyl snorted contemptuously. "Pfft - I hate ponies that are like that..."

Nightmare Moon looked off to the side in thought.

Again, she had a point, but the difference was that Nightmare Moon had no intention of straying or defying her nature; she was a spirit that was born to achieve what it wanted at any cost, and she embraced that. She wasn't supposed to have empathy for others, and she made no attempt to feel it.

The development of these feelings, her friendship with Vinyl, occurred in spite of her efforts to maintain a distance.

And she had no idea why.

"You can gripe about it all you want, I suppose..." Vinyl said with another shrug. "But I think that 'this' is how you are now, so you should just deal with it."

Hardly something one would say at a self-help seminar, but Nightmare Moon was not one who lacked self-esteem, and had a very firm grip on her self-worth.

There was still so much Nightmare Moon didn't know and so much that she was just confused about, but… Vinyl was right; nothing would come of bemoaning it, and if Nightmare Moon couldn’t find the resolve to cast Vinyl aside, to purge herself of these feelings, then she’d just have to live alongside them and deal with the drawbacks.

She knew that the questions would come back to haunt her now that she had said them aloud.

Later on, she would still be pondering how she had managed to develop a friendship when such a thing was such a possible risk to her goals and she would still be pondering why she was still around despite being struck by the Elements, but for now, she had a headache and just wanted to stop thinking about it for even a few minutes.

Part of her bristled, told her to deal with it all now, but the other part of her told it to shut up, and won.

“… Thank you, Vinyl,” She said, her lips turning up in a smile. “This brief outing was more enlightening than I anticipated," It wasn't a total lie; she had more questions than answers, but at least they had been addressed to some degree instead of just being left to stew and curdle in her head. "I… What’s with that expression?”

Vinyl round eyes blinked, and she closed her mouth, previously in an ‘O’ shape. “Oh, nothing, I was just… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile so un-creepily before.”

“I assume that was a compliment in a technical sense,” Nightmare Moon chuckled with a shake of her head. “But how do you feel now that I’ve told you about myself? About my nature?”

“Shit, Wolf, you were always scary, even as Star Secret. Honestly? Knowing for sure that you’re not a pony actually makes you less freaky. Weird, huh?”

“And being friends with something inequine that was born from the deepest and most shrouded desires of dozens of minds?”

“Could probably get a few songs out of something like that.”

Nightmare Moon laughed.

“Seriously, though?” Vinyl said through her own chuckling. “Doesn’t bother me as much as you’d think. Like, think about what Canterlot’s already faced: a bug invasion, a god of chaos or whatever, and one hell of a Galloping Gala with those Element mares. You’re up there on the list-”

Nightmare Moon’s mirth vanished as she felt a tremor beneath her rump.

“-but you’re really not the weirdest-”

“Quiet.”

Vinyl frowned at her, but kept still.

Nightmare Moon felt another tremor, and judging by Vinyl’s twitching ears and furrowed brow, she felt it as well.

She didn’t waste time with talking: Nightmare Moon immediately got to her hooves and ran over to the door that easily gave under her bulk. She saw ponies out on the streets looking in the direction of the castle.

Nightmare Moon looked as well, but the buildings were in the way; she flapped her wings and ascended as Vinyl came out of the club and called out to her.

She saw, in the distance, plumes of smoke and dust, and a bunch of pegasi darting about over a grey building.

The grey building shifted, turned, and black spires jutted out, pulling it forwards.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened. ‘A behemoth bug…’

One of the otherworldly creatures that had once laid siege to Blueblood’s room; Celestia had described it to her, told her how it went from a barely knee-high ball of spindly legs to a fanged giant as large as an alicorn.

This one was as large as a building – the pegasi flying around it looked to be mere dots in comparison.

Nightmare Moon scanned the skies for a Fracture, but saw nothing. ‘How could there be nothing? With the size of that creature, there must be an equally large…’

She heard Vinyl call her again, and snarled in frustration as she darted back down to hover just above the road.

“Wolf, what the hell’s happening?” Vinyl asked, her eyes hidden behind shades once more.

“I have to go – there’s a massive creature attacking the city!” Nightmare Moon growled. “Of course it chooses now to attack when I’m not there!”

“W-wait, it’s in that direction?” Vinyl gestured towards the pillars of smoke, and panic came off of her in waves. “That’s…! Octy lives over there! I-I have to…! Take me with you!”

“It’s too dangerous,” Nightmare Moon shook her head, shoving aside the distracting thoughts of Vinyl being crushed. “Remain here, and I’ll see that Octavia is secured and safe.”

“Wolf!”

“I can’t fight that thing if I’m worrying that you’ll get stepped on! Stay here!” Nightmare Moon couldn’t wait for an answer, her city needed her; she turned away from Vinyl and took off in the direction of the chaos, ignoring the cry of her name.

She narrowed her eyes at the enormous mass of segmented armor and chitin that lumbered several blocks away – even at her distance she caught brief glimpses of its clustered eyes and twitching fangs; the crescent shape of its body didn’t do well in its environment, and as she rapidly gained ground, she could hear its piercing wails of frustration as it bumped against buildings.

It was a dumb beast that had no idea of the harm it was causing, but she would show it no mercy.

“Faust damn it, Wolf!!”

Vinyl stomped her hooves in helpless rage as her friend disappeared over the roofs of the highest buildings. She couldn’t see what was attacking Canterlot, but the smoke going up in the air indicated that it must have been pretty fucking huge.

She was angry at Wolf for leaving her there while Octy, her one true melody, was still in the upper districts, completely at risk of being harmed or worse.

‘I-I can’t stay here! No way – I have to go find her!’

Ponies around her gawked or ran in the other direction, looking completely baffled as to why she was running towards the smoke and source of the tremors. If they had any loved ones in the upper districts, they would understand, perhaps even join her in her frantic gallop.

She knew the streets like the back of her hoof: she knew which alleyways to take, which corners to turn, what street would get her to the other districts of the city the fastest.

‘Hang on, Octy – I’m comin’ for ya!’

The thought of her love was clear in her mind; it kept her running at full sprint even when her sides began to ache and her lungs started to burn.

But when she turned a corner, she slammed into something metal and unyielding, and bounced onto her side, feeling her nose sting horribly and hot blood leak over her lips.

She looked up, dazed and confused, into the faceless helm of a large creature carrying an enormous shield.

“Command – I’ve found one. Transporting it to the Fracture ASAP.”

Author's Note

Note 1: "I don't have much information about the aptly named 'behemoth bugs' because of their rarity and difficulty in capturing, but as with most of the other fauna from the human universe, they possess a fear of flames. Much like insects, behemoth bugs have small openings on the side of their bodies called spiracles, and they appear to perform the same gas exchange function as our universe's insects.

"I don't know how they are able to grow; they may possess an unknown form of magic which is only found in the human universe it defies all of our natural laws as to how they grow; they are literally producing mass from nothing. I can't properly apply science to something which spits in the face of logic. You want a weakness? Hit it with electricity - that's all that I can really say.

"Come study it yourself. I'm tired." - Letter from Twilight Sparkle to Nightmare Moon concerning the physiologies of the fauna from beyond the Entropic Fractures.

Chapter 54: Beyond the Fracture

1056 AD, January 13th

This was why she never took her armour off.

The behemoth bug approached the size of a fully-matured dragon; what it lost in length, it made up for in sheer width and bulk. Its sides brushed mortar and brick from nearby buildings and its legs made massive potholes in the streets; a single one of its bulbous, shining red eyes was half the size of an ursa minor.

From what Nightmare Moon could see once she was close enough, the bug’s trek of destruction had seemingly started several blocks away near Canterlot’s Museum of History. Several buildings had been heavily damaged on its way, and she could see firefighting pegasi working to put out fires that had sprouted up.

Far below, earth ponies and unicorns sprinted through the streets, their cries and screams faint at her altitude.

She gave another scan of the city, but could not see any Entropic Fractures beaming their headache-inducing lights.

Nightmare Moon sneered and circled the bug. “Is everypony here?”

“Empress! Yes, everypony’s here!” Ebony was the first to Call back. Nightmare Moon couldn’t pinpoint her location with the smoke columns and bulk of the bug obstructing her view of the roads, but she must have been close to respond so readily. “W-we, uh… What do we do?!”

“Don’t panic.”

“Tell me there’s more to that, yeah?” Fade chimed in – Nightmare Moon saw a flash of his colours zip underneath one of the bug’s arched legs. “I really don’t think this big bastard cares if we’re calm or not.”

“Ebony – have the guards evacuate the civilians to the safe zones. Fade, Veil, Lightning Dust – try to keep the creature contained to this district to minimize the destruction.”

“Any suggestions?” Lightning Dust’s trail of cloud and sparks looped around one of the legs and in front of the bug’s maw, catching its attention. “I’m pretty much just a fly right now.”

“Lightning and electricity – it’s our best bet at doing damage. Haze – attempt to confuse it with an illusion.”

“Will that work?” She couldn’t see Haze either.

“If it doesn’t, resort to electrical spells. I’m going to-”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes picked up something by the creature’s backmost legs and she quickly swooped in.

Wind roared past her as she flew along street-level and snatched up a limping mare as the bug stepped down and shattered the roadwork. Nightmare Moon flew up, darted to the side to avoid another rising limb, and was thrown into shadow as she went beneath the bug’s thorax and emerged out the other side, her wings furiously flapping to regain altitude.

The mare she had rescued continued shrieking and struggling.

“Oh yes, fight the mare who is carrying you a hundred feet off the ground – that will turn out splendidly!”

The mare’s struggling ceased and her shrieks turned to whimpers.

As soon as Nightmare Moon dropped her off on a road out of the bug’s path she sprinted off with a frightened keen – not too bad for somepony with a bad leg.

“Ugh…” Nightmare Moon shook her head and flew back towards the chaos. “As I was saying, get the civilians to safety and keep the creature confined to this area for the time being. I will be back soon.”

“What, you’re leaving?” Veil asked.

“There’s something I have to do. I won’t be long,” Nightmare Moon turned her head to the side and smirked. “Besides, you have back-up…”

Pouncing off of Canterlot’s high rooftops, Shadow Strike landed on top of the behemoth’s head and dug his claws into the metre-thick crevices of its scaled armor before viciously tearing into one of its eyes.

A geyser of green-beige liquid burst out and covered the streets as the behemoth bug let out a stomach-churning scream and shook from side to side while enormous jets of steam billowed out from several holes in its grey carapace.

Shadow Strike held on tight and bit down harder, his rumbling growls audible over the bug’s cries.

Nightmare Moon gave a sharp-toothed grin of pride before flying forwards in front of the bug.

‘Good boy.’

There wasn’t much air traffic in front of her, so she teleported a few blocks forwards and ended up hovering over a large house – Octavia and Vinyl’s home.

The bug had been set to demolish it in just a few more clumsy steps; Nightmare Moon was glad that she had arrived here when she did. She didn’t want to imagine how Vinyl would react upon hearing her love had been squished.

‘I hope she’s still here – I don’t want to have to waste time scouring the city looking for her.’

Flying down to the front door, she rammed it down and entered the foyer. She knew Vinyl and Octavia to understand.

There was classical music playing.

She galloped through the rooms, following the music, and wound up in the living room, where the music was so loud that it drowned out the bug’s distant cries and thunderous steps.

Octavia was facing a set of speakers that vibrated with the force of the classical symphony on play; she was balanced on her hind legs and waving one forehoof in patterns.

Nightmare Moon glowered in annoyance and stomped over, using magic to twist the speakers' dials down to zero.

Octavia faltered in place and stared at the speakers in confusion as Nightmare Moon reached out to grab her shoulder.

“Octa-”

The grey mare gasped and spun around and clocked her in the face with a wicked hook.

Impressively, it stung.

Nightmare Moon sniffed and scratched her muzzle, quirking one eyebrow as Octavia went pale and gestured wildly with her hooves.

“I didn’t mean to…! I didn’t hear you enter, I-I thought that-”

“Save your apologies – you need to get to a safe area immediately. Do you hear that?” Nightmare Moon paused so that a distant screech could be heard. “That is the sound of an immense beast that needs to be put down, and I intend to do that once you are safe.”

Octavia’s hooves were a blur. “Wait, Vinyl was going to meet you! Is she okay? Where is she?”

“She’s fine, don’t worry about her,” Nightmare Moon snagged Octavia with telekinesis and tossed her onto her back before she could struggle, and galloped back towards the front door. “You are the one who is currently in danger!”

Octavia made a bunch of displeased noises at the roughness of her rescue, but Nightmare Moon ignored them and leapt back into the air once she was back outside.

The behemoth bug still raged in the distance, nothing new there; Shadow Strike was up on its back biting away at anything soft and numerous pegasi were pushing storm clouds into the vicinity as unicorns assaulted it with spells from the ground.

Nightmare Moon heard Octavia inhale sharply. “Yes, that’s the beast that would have flattened you while you were playing ‘composer’, and it’s the beast that will soon be dead once I ensure you are safe.”

She turned and flew towards one of the shelters scattered across Canterlot; there were throngs of earth ponies and unicorns below in the streets that had the same idea, and their shared destination made them appear as colourful rivers.

Octavia frantically prodded at her shoulder while grunting.

“What?!” Nightmare Moon hissed, looking over her shoulder. “I can’t look at you and watch for pegasi at the same time!”

“Vinyl?” Octavia skipped out on a few signs for efficiency and fear of falling.

“Downtown – she told you we were going to her club, didn’t she?”

“Yes, but she’s not with you!”

“The creature isn’t downtown, so as long as it remains where it is, she’s perfectly safe there!”

“I’m worried about her.”

“She’ll be fine,” Nightmare Moon affirmed, looking straight ahead once more and beginning to descend to street level. “Worry about yourself for now.”

There were a some benefits to being feared by the masses; for one thing, Nightmare Moon never had to want for space because the instant ponies saw her coming in to land, they gave as wide a berth as possible.

“We’re here,” Nightmare Moon said, looking at a sturdy, grey concrete building that’s doorway was mobbed by frightened ponies. “It’s heavily reinforced; I won’t say completely, but it’s better than anywhere else in the city. Get inside and wait until the all-clear siren is sounded.”

Octavia slid off her back, got jostled by a stallion running past, and looked up at her, tense and anxious. “You’ll watch out for Vinyl, won’t you? You promise she’ll be safe?”

“I can’t pro…” Nightmare Moon stumbled over her words. Swallowing, she wetted her lips and said, “Yes, fine – so long as I’m breathing, I’ll make sure she lives to see you again.”

Octavia nodded. “Thank y-”

Something in the top corner of Nightmare Moon’s vision caught her attention, and she turned her head to see-

“Look out!!”

Ponies screamed in terror as a shadow fell over the area, and Nightmare Moon swiftly jumped into the air and raced towards the enormous chunk of what had once been part of a building. The debris was easily four times her size and several times heavier, which made it very disconcerting to see it twirl in the air towards the defenceless crowd like a piece of paper.

Nightmare Moon lit up her horn and fired the strongest Kinetic Impact spell she could muster before following it up by throwing her entire body into its center.

The spell took away enough of its momentum so that she only broke a little under half the bones in her body stopping the debris from continuing its path, and both she and the chunk dropped straight to the ground.

She landed on a fire hydrant, broke it, and the geyser of water pushed her back onto the cobblestone streets.

‘Annnd there goes the little bit that wasn’t broken.’

She spat roughly 70% of her teeth out into a puddle forming beneath her and struggled back to her feet, forcing her limbs to align so the bones could form correctly. She twisted her neck with a painful crack and bit down on her mangled wing to pull it back into shape.

‘Ah, pain – always there to keep my mind sharp.’

“Whoa, you… saved us.”

Nightmare Moon stared at the stallion that had approached her – he was a dirty-looking pony with buck teeth and an accent that put the ‘hill’ before ‘billy’. “Shocking, isn’t it? Though that will hardly matter if that giant beast isn’t slain, so if you’ll excuse me…”

Her take-off wasn’t clean; she struggled to remain aloft and almost swung round into the side of a building. Appearance was hardly ever concern, however; she needed to get back to the fight as soon as possible.

Her new teeth bit through her bleeding gums by the time she was high enough to see over the buildings; the behemoth bug was still rampaging, and its thrashing limbs were shattering nearby constructions, sending debris flying over large distances, which at least explained why she had to body-check a hunk of concrete and rebar in the first place.

A black mass of storm clouds cast the creature in shadow, interrupted by the occasional bolt of lightning striking down, or the arc of electricity zapping up from ground level. Shadow Strike moved across the bug’s body like an aggressive leech, biting and snapping, eyes glowing bright green.

She had no intention of missing out on the fun.

The sky ahead of her was completely clear, so she teleported across a huge gap before flying the rest of the way.

“Status report!”

“Shit’s bad, yeah?”

“Preferably some details on exactly how bad the ‘shit’ is?”

“It’s causing a lot of damage to the city,” Ebony answered. “There’s… dead ponies on the street, but… I don’t think I can use them to much effect.”

“Save your magic. Are you having difficulty keeping out of its path?”

“A little, but I- uh, everypony on the ground is managing… somehow.”

“How is the electricity and lightning working?”

“The spells aren’t working too well; I think it’s too big to feel it. But I think…”

“Lightning’s getting its attention, but that’s about it,” Lightning Dust interrupted. “The big wolf’s the only one actually doing damage as far as I can tell.”

That wasn’t comforting to hear.

Nightmare Moon growled as she wracked her brain for a plan of attack while circling around the behemoth bug, searching for a weak point. They had very little information about this type of creature and Twilight’s none-too-helpful letter only suggested using electricity, which didn’t seem to be very effective after all.

She had half a mind to go back to the castle and drag that mare outside and dangle her over the beast’s toothy maw.

Wait a minute…

Nightmare Moon looked down, sighting the numerous street lights, and quickly flew down.

‘Perhaps we just need to hit a bit deeper!’

Landing on a road pockmarked with huge holes, Nightmare Moon lit her horn and encased a teetering street light with magic before giving a strong pull. The concrete around the base spider-webbed and began to give.

“I’m going to drive a street light into one of its eyes!” Her face was set in a scowl of determination as she pulled and twisted. The tremors and sounds of battle a mere block away rang in her head; it felt as if the chaos was right on top of her. “Fade, Lightning Dust, Veil – order the other pegasi to hold off for now, and then let loose with all the lightning you can muster once I tell you so.”

“Got it, boss.” Fade replied.

“Ebony – tell your troops to refrain from any heroics for the time being.”

“Understood, Empress.”

“Haze – I don’t suppose those illusion spells are having any effect?”

Silence.

“Haze?”

“… I fear we may have yet another problem, Empress.”

“What? Where are you exactly?” Nightmare Moon finally tore the light free with a burst of pebbles and dirt; she magically held it over her head with little effort, and got ready to take to the air again. “And what do you mean by another-”

Several yards in front of her, a glowing white tear appeared for a brief instant before vanishing, but not after depositing a tall, armored figure.

Nightmare Moon stopped dead in her tracks and, after a few moments of disbelief, snarled ferociously. “You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?”

“I am not ‘kidding’, my nemesis! I have come for our rematch!”

Caed twirled his glaive and smacked its hilt against the road, his teeth bared in a confident grin. He looked the same as when Nightmare Moon last saw him, though he seemed to have a new gauntlet on his empty hand – it was black and, oddly, seemed overly-large.

“The last time we faced you, my forces and I strategically retreated…” He said, swinging his weapon to point the blade at her. “But now we have returned to the place of our initial encounter, and it is here we-”

Nightmare Moon threw the street light at him.

With a high-pitched yelp, Caed ducked down, and the length of metal whistled over his head to impale the side of a book store with a loud crack.

Caed stood back up, turned to look at the shuddering metal pole, and looked back at her incredulously. “You interrupted my speech! I spent weeks working on that!”

“I don’t care,” Nightmare Moon growled. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you again, so that I can tear your head from your shoulders and parade it on a pike in front of your soldiers.”

“Better humans have tried and failed,” Caed shot back, regaining his composure. “And you, too, shall fail.”

Nightmare Moon scoffed and jerked her head to the rampaging behemoth in the distance. “I assume you’re the one to blame for the sudden appearance of this creature?”

“It took a significant amount of time and resources…” Caed nodded. “But it was worth it. Your forces will be split up having to deal with both my knights and the beast, making you less effective.”

“Incorrect – it’s made me more angry,” Nightmare Moon flashed a bloody rictus. “And being angry makes me far more effective.”

“Empress!”

“What is it, Ebony?”

“There are Rouge Knights in the city!”

“Yes, I’m speaking with their leader right now. About to eviscerate him, really.”

“B-but they’re not just here; a few scouting pegasi just told me that there are even more in the city!”

Nightmare Moon frowned, keeping her sights on Caed as he strutted from side to side, but blocking out whatever monologue he had prepared. “Where?”

“Uh… s-some are in the eastern part of the city, but the majority are away from where we’re fighting the monster – downtown Canterlot.”

“…”

“Empress?”

Nightmare Moon had no idea what it would be like to freeze to death, but the sensation that came over her in that instant gave her a vague idea – it was like a pit had opened up in the depths of her belly and sent ice-cold water flooding into every gap and crevice.

Ebony was still talking, crystal clear in her skull, but Nightmare Moon heard none of it.

‘Downtown… I left Vinyl in downtown. She’s… If there are knights there, then…’

She quickly made her decision.

With a powerful leap, she took to the air and sailed over Caed’s head as he paused and stared at her dumbly, and wrenched the street light free from the wall with magic; she only barely heard the human cry out as she ascended into the sky and flew towards the behemoth bug.

“Wait, I thought you wanted to fight?! Why do you keep interrupting me?!”

Oh, she wanted to go back down and pop his head like a melon, but she was set in her decision; nothing was going to impede her.

She cut through the air like a fish through water, whizzing past all other pegasi that hung back nervously with their hooves on rumbling clouds and through the chokingly thick dust clouds billowing up with each of the behemoth’s steps. She could barely tell what was thunder and what were footfalls.

The bug’s multi-eyed, squat face was wet with saliva, blood, and water, all mixing together with dust and dirt to form a semi-thick sludge that dripped against the streets. One of its eyes was dim and ruptured; pinkish fluid poured out around the socket.

Shadow Strike was still holding on to its back; Nightmare Moon swiftly flew in until she was close enough to purse her lips and whistle out a tune, which Shadow Strike immediately responded to by clambering off the creature’s shell and hop down onto a nearby rooftop that groaned beneath his weight. His teeth and claws were saturated with a mix of liquids.

“Get ready for my order!”

Now that he was out of the crossfire, Nightmare Moon flew back to a spot where she had a clean view of the behemoth’s maw place, took aim, and threw the street light like a spear.

The behemoth’s shriek of pain must have rattled every window in the city.

“Do it now!” She ordered, and ducked as the behemoth unexpectedly swirled in place, one of its building-sized legs cutting through the air like a scythe. The wind that slammed into her was akin to a small hurricane. “Strike at the metal pole!!”

A split second later, she was blinded by the sheer number of lightning bolts that struck the pole, the effect heightened by how dark the storm above her made the area.

She squinted, flying back still, and saw that the creature’s erratic movements ensured only a few lightning bolts actually struck the pole, but it was clear that it hurt by how it teetered and staggered before collapsing on its belly, flattening a few more small shops.

It didn’t scream this time, but it was far from finished – its legs still twitched and kicked with life.

But she couldn’t stay.

“Ebony – I’m going to stop the Rouge Knight activity in the downtown district. You’re in charge now.”

“You’re leaving again?!” The worry in her thoughts was palpable.

“I have to save Vin… I have to protect the civilians. Just concentrate on that street light and have the pegasi jam in as many metal objects as they can to strengthen the lightning and electrical spells.”

“But-”

Nightmare Moon didn’t wait for the reply – she did a half-turn and flew for downtown; the sinking feeling in her gut tugged harder with each passing second.

Deep down, she knew that this was exactly what she feared would happen by letting Vinyl in: she was prioritizing one life above all others, letting emotion rule over logic; there may have been ponies in trouble in downtown, but the true threat was the behemoth bug and Caed, both in the exact same place.

She should be staying.

She should be trying to kill the leader of her enemy.

It was the logical thing to do: a few lives sacrificed for something of greater worth.

Unfortunately, one of those lives was Vinyl’s, and it was a life she found difficult to pass off like some errant thought.

This was most likely going to cost her, she knew that much…

But she kept on her path, eyes narrowed as she chased away the part of her that growled and bristled over her emotional attachment.

And really, with that lack of spatial awareness, it was no surprise that she ended up getting smashed back to street level by a tremendous blow.

The cobblestone cracked along with a few of her bones, and her mouth suddenly started filling with warm, harsh-tasting fluid; she must have bitten off a portion of her tongue on impact. The pain was sharp and fiery like a red-hot stake, but she stood firm against the crashing waves of agony, as she always did.

A weighty clunk from in front caught her attention, and with blood dribbling down her chin, she sneered hatefully as Caed rose from a kneeling position.

“Goodness, that’s disorienting…” He scrutinized his oddly-shaped gauntlet for a second before turning his odd eyes upon her. He gave an infuriating smirk. “Ah hah! Did you truly believe you could escape me so easily? My nemesis, you shall not escape my blade – now prepare yours-”

“Ah ‘on’ have ‘ime for you, foo’!!”

“-elf for glorious battle and- Hey! Stop flying away!”

Nightmare Moon’s desire to find Vinyl was stronger than fighting Caed – she was dead-set on relieving his body of his head, but that would come later, once she had-

“Defend yourself, horse!”

Caed came out of a Fracture that suddenly tore the air asunder in front of her and landed on her back. His weight was enough to make her falter in mid-air, and before she could throw him off, she felt his fingers grabbing onto her wing and something very sharp pierce her side.

With a guttural scream of fury, Nightmare Moon wrestled her wing free and swooped back down to the streets. She veered to one side and smashed into a line of buildings, crushing and grinding the human in an explosion of shingles and mortar – she was exuberant to hear his grunts and yells of pain.

He suddenly yanked at his glaive, widening the gaping wound in her side, and the blinding agony forced her to roll to the other side and smash through a window.

She rolled across the floor and heard a scream. She ignored it.

Nightmare Moon forced herself back onto her hooves and violently bucked around the apartment, sending the lone mare occupying it running for the door as Nightmare Moon threw herself against walls and furniture.

“Get off me, you pathetic cur!” She reared up and slammed backwards into a wall. “I will not let you delay me!” She slammed again and broke into the neighbouring apartment.

“You were eager to face me again…!” Caed cried. He sounded completely unaffected by having her weight upon him. “So why do you suddenly flee? Don’t you wish to harm me? Kill me? Or at least try to?”

“More than you can imagine!” Nightmare Moon snarled, and rolled over before flapping her wings and leaping up into the ceiling. Chunks of plaster cascaded around her as she fell back down with a floor-shaking whump, and then charged at a window. “But I will do it at a later time!”

SKRASH

Shards of glass bit into her flesh as she emerged back into Canterlot’s streets – she immediately tried to teleport upwards, but Caed’s magical resistance was like an anchor and kept her in place.

She threw herself against the road instead.

CRACK

Caed spluttered as he was crushed between her and stone; his grip loosened, and she wrenched herself free, shaking the glaive from her side.

Nightmare Moon turned with a frenzied hiss and blasted him with a cold spell that he easily dodged by rolling off to the side. Once he was on his feet, it was like trying to fight the wind – he moved around so fast that she could only catch a vague blur, just like the last time they fought.

But she didn’t intend to stay.

She spread her wings and took off again.

Caed’s frustrated cry followed her. “You’re making this battle very un-dramatic!”

So now the human could use Fractures as some sort of personal transportation – wonderful.

She craned her neck to look over her shoulder in time to see Caed rush towards his glaive and snatch it up before clawing at the air with his mismatched gauntlet – his fingers created four vertical lines that merged together and bloomed to create a wide, glowing white gap in reality.
He jumped through, and the Fracture sealed itself back up, leaving no evidence he or it were even there.

‘This is going to be a problem.’

She didn’t know where he got this tool, but with it, he could keep up with her and consistently hold the element of surprise by attacking at odd angles. It would make her search for Vinyl incredibly difficult with Caed constantly hounding her.

She had to get rid of him somehow.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of wind chimes, and reactively veered to the right. The whoosh of a blade went by her ear, but by the time she looked down, Caed was already slipping into another Fracture in mid-air.

‘Try it again. Come on – try it again. I am ready.’

She slowed her flight speed, just enough so that the wind rushing past her wasn’t so loud, and listened and waited…

Vzzzm

Nightmare Moon rolled off to the left, dodging another of Caed’s slashes, and quickly took aim and fired off a ball of twinkling frost from her horn.

A victorious grin crossed her face as Caed was pulled towards the ground, his arm encased in a thick coating of ice. She relished the look of surprise on his face as he plummeted and landed on top of an abandoned kiosk selling souvenirs.

‘Got you.’

She knew from their last encounter that even having a limb weighed down with ice did next to nothing in terms of slowing Caed down and that he would soon smash free of it, but it would hopefully stall him long enough for her to get far enough away.

Long enough for her to make sure Vinyl was safe.

The roadwork blurred below her as she flew beneath the cover of the city’s buildings – it didn’t take much longer for her to arrive in the downtown district, and when she did…

She saw two unicorns being carried off, kicking and screaming, slung over the shoulders of two Rouge Knights sprinting towards some destination in full armor.

Nightmare Moon’s fury intensified – she bared her teeth with a chilling growl and shot forwards like an arrow with one powerful flap of her wings.

The first knight wasn’t aware of her until she bit down on the back of their chestplate and savagely pulled them onto the ground. The knight uttered a masculine gasp as the unicorn flew from his arms and rolled across the ground. Fortunately, the unicorn was smart enough to run and never look back.

The second knight doubled back in alarm, and their arms around the second unicorn shifted like they was trying to reach for their sword, but Nightmare Moon was having none of it – she charged forwards and tackled them, hard. The armor dented around the middle as the human fell, and the unicorn was thrown a safe distance away – a few bruises and scrapes did not deter her from running away.

“Ah, it’s the fucking Empress!” The first knight cried. Nightmare Moon turned on him as he drew a single sword and gripped the hilt with both hands. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

The knights charged together and swung their swords in an overhead arc. Nightmare Moon cracked her jaws open and slammed her teeth down on one blade while simultaneously turning so she could buck the other knight with one hind leg. The knight was knocked a good ten feet backwards from the blow and rendered useless, allowing Nightmare Moon to twist her neck and tear the sword from the male knight’s hands before charging and knocking him to the floor.

He struggled, but she swiftly dispatched him with three stomps to the helmet, crushing it like a tin can.

The other knight didn’t put up much a fight either; Nightmare Moon received a few shallow slashes across her neck before she managed to stun the knight – female, judging by the grunts – with an electrical spell and knock her to the ground and follow it up with a few more vicious stomps.

She saved two ponies, but none of them were Vinyl.

“Argh!!” Frustration and unfamiliar helplessness welling up within her, she took to the skies again for a better viewpoint, and cast a spell to amplify her voice. “Vinyl!!”

She continued to cry her name, flying all over and scanning every nook and cranny of the district for a glare of white or a shock of blue hair. She swung by the club, but Vinyl was no longer there.

“Vinyl, where are you?!”

There were no more ponies on the streets. There were no more knights.

The feeling in her gut worsened.

“Vinyl!!”

Chills swept through her body as she became deaf to the far-off sounds of inequine shrieks and thunder – it was just background noise at this point.

‘This is pointless.’

‘I’m needed elsewhere.’

‘She’s just one pony.’

‘You’re getting far too emotional.’

The dark thoughts swirled in her head, but she ignored them as well, and channelled her mounting frustration and worry into rage; she snarled and flapped her wings harder, swooping so low through alleys and streets that she kicked up a strong gust of wind like a contrail.

“Vinyl!!” She passed through another alleyway, scattering trash cans and errant pieces of paper. “Damn it, Vinyl!”

She emerged out into another road and along it.

“Vi…!”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes went wide as she abruptly puffed out her wings to catch the air and come to a faltering stop.

Vinyl’s glasses glinted up at her from the cold ground.

Landing, stumbling, she jogged over to pick them up with her magic.

~~There was a possibility she was~~

There was no blood on them and they weren’t broken.

Vinyl would never leave her shades out in the open, so they could have been knocked off by another panicking pony or… or yes, perhaps in a struggle with a knight.

But there was no body, no blood, and the knights attempted to take unicorns alive.

So she was alive – she had to be – but then… she was…

It took her a second to realize that the reason her teeth were tingling wasn’t solely due to the flurry of emotion within her, but also because there was an incessant droning key that was just barely on the cusp of her hearing range.

‘That sound…’

Her ears told her that it was coming north-west, and she wasted no time in running off in that direction with the shades floating alongside her.

She passed through an empty pawn shop and went through the back entrance to emerge out in an alley. The sound was clearer now, and she ran straight ahead, flying over the chain link fence that separated two alleyways from each other.

She could hear shouting – a familiar voice.

‘Vinyl!’

It wasn’t far.

Nightmare Moon ran so fast that when the next corner came up, her hooves skidded against the concrete as she made to turn.

And she saw Vinyl being carried towards an Entropic Fracture over the shoulder of an astonishingly bulky knight.

“Vinyl!!”

“Wolf?” Vinyl ceased her struggles as her eyes widened; there was a smear of crusted blood running from her nose. Instantly, she brightened and grinned. “Wolf!”

Nightmare Moon felt her rage boil over as the large knight turned around and stared at her through the thin slit in their helm.

“Let. Her. Go.”

The knight’s helmet clanked as they cocked their head…

And swiftly turned to lift one leg and put it through the Fracture.

“No!!”

The light began swallowing the human as they advanced, and Nightmare Moon launched herself forwards unthinkingly, one forehoof reaching out as Vinyl extended her own foreleg to-

Vinyl disappeared through the Fracture.

Nightmare Moon didn’t think what would happen if she went through, if she just left Canterlot as it currently was – her body reacted before she could take a moment to plan and carried her through the anomaly.

~

Nightmare Moon stumbled onto a hard surface with a sensation like millions of ants crawling across and beneath her skin.

She looked around at the grey, metal walls, the sterile white floor, and the beeping electronic devices furnishing the spacious chamber. Black and yellow hazard tape sectioned off a square portion of the floor – she was standing within the square along with the Fracture that marred the very fabric of reality just mere feet behind her.

And then she looked at the many humans occupying the room – pink bipeds in thin clothing stationed behind some of the many electronic devices, or carrying clipboards and papers.

She stared at them, and they stared at her.

“Wolf!”

Nightmare Moon blinked and broke eye contact with them. “Vinyl!”

Several feet away, the large knight dropped Vinyl to the floor and took a step forwards, the bulk of their form shifting as they heaved a massive shield into a guarding stance – the slender shape of their sword stuck out to one side.

‘This is… I’m in their…’

She shook her head and lowered into an aggressive stance, her lips pulling over her sharp teeth.

Questions for later – right now, she had a knight to kill.

The shield-bearing knight fell upon her as the other lightly-armored humans scurried to the machinery, shouting to one another in a panic.

“Close the portal – we have a breach! I repeat: we have a breach!”

Author's Note

Note 1: "Knight Enforcer, in regards to your suggestion to re-engineer the gauntlet found on Dami the Irregular, I am pleased to say that it is indeed possible. To elaborate a bit, the device appears to operate very similarly to the Spectrum Shifter, but on a smaller and less powerful scale. Put simply, it does not so much as 'transport' matter from one spot to another, but 'shifts' them into a state which is not affected by gravity nor friction and is invisible to the naked eye. From our few experiments, the user seems to 'swim' while they are in this state, and 'shifts' out of it by operating the gauntlet once more.

"The operation of the gauntlet is child's play: this is most likely so that the Irregular would still be capable of using it without much dexterity or thought. Should you wish, you are more than welcome to have it, although I ask that you allow the Scribes to study it for at least a few days in case it may be trapped.

"P.S. We also ask that you NOT paint skulls onto it to make it more 'edgy'. Do you not remember what happened with Knight Guardian Lena's shield?" - A letter from Scribe James to Knight Enforcer Caed.

Chapter 55: Disparity

1056 AD, January 13th

Nightmare Moon taking off so suddenly wasn’t unsettling.

It was terrifying.

The weight of leadership crashed down on Ebony’s shoulders as the Empress flew out of range of Calling, and she had a brief fit of panic before clenching her jaw and squashing that panic altogether.

She had done it once in the Crystal Empire and she could do it again.

‘Otherwise I’m probably going to get stepped on.’

As if in response, a giant leg crashed down onto the road she was on; it was several hundred yards away and sent out tremors strong enough to make her stumble.

‘Yep.’

Ebony shouted orders to the Eclipse soldiers around here – Faust knew if they could even hear her – and ran further back along the road, wincing and gagging as the dust from the cracked roadwork overtook her; it was hard to see, but she couldn’t stop – the behemoth only needed to take two or three unpredicted steps for it to be upon them.

Faust, was this what it was like to be an insect? To look up and see some horrifically huge creature lumbering about, so large that its apathetic stride could result in being crushed without it paying the least bit of mind?

Ebony vowed to be more empathic towards insects once this was over.

She shouted another order, coughed on the particles that eagerly coated her throat, and ducked around the corner of a building; she was joined by five other ponies – she had no idea where the sixth one went, but she couldn’t afford to worry about them just yet.

She pressed her forehoof against her temple. “Fade, how are you coming along with the lightning?”

“Trying to land another hit,” He replied with a mental link that was taught like a stretched rubber band. “Street light’s a pretty small target, yeah?”

“It’s wonky as all hell,” Lightning Dust chimed in. “That lightning took a lot out of it, but now it’s all wobbly and moving around randomly – hardest thing you can fight is somepony that doesn’t know what they’re doing.”

From outside of the mental talk, the behemoth shrieked, and Ebony clenched her teeth as her head rung. “… Can any of you land a hit? I can’t… No unicorn down here can get a clean shot.”

“We’ll try, but…” Lightning Dust cut herself off, though she responded almost immediately again, an edge in her tone. “You guys got knights down there – they’re moving in on you.”

“What? Which direction?”

“Uh, wes- no, I mean east!”

Ebony’s sense of direction was muddled by the thick clouds of dust choking the streets, but several seconds of jerking her head in every direction eventually drew her gaze to flickers of movements on the other side of the street.

From around the corner of a shop, came towering, armored bipeds.

Ebony grimaced, her chest tightening with anxiety; she used her magic to draw her sword out from its scabbard. ‘Damn.’

She heard the scrape of metal from behind; the Eclipse with her were following her lead and drawing their weapons as well. They may have been next to useless against the rampaging behemoth, but they all knew that beneath all that armor, humans bled like them.

Even so, Ebony wished Nightmare Moon was here.

The humans were moving towards them, so Ebony ordered what troops she had to fall into a more defensive formation; it wasn’t much considering their low numbers, but it was better than just standing on their own.

The humans – five in number – marched across the road, the red of their armor almost completely covered by the layers of dust sticking to it; the lead knight in front of the group had their shield up to block incoming debris, but quickly lowered it into a more defensive position when they were but a few yards away from them.

“You!!”

Ebony flinched at the – female – enraged voice that she just knew was referring to her; she was even pointing the tip of her blade directly at Ebony, excluding everypony else.

“I didn’t think I’d get to meet you again, but it seems luck is on my side.” The female knight lowered her sword and swiped it to the side – some sort of duelling salute?

Whatever it was, the rest of the humans responded by setting up behind her, prepared to fight, just like them.

Another of the behemoth’s shrieks shook the air.

‘Faust, how are we supposed to deal with them with this giant thing walking around behind…?!’ Ebony swallowed, and took a deep breath. ‘No, no – focus.’

“I… I don’t know who you are, but lay down your arms and surrender!” Ebony cried – her soldiers were watching her, she couldn’t afford to appear unsure. “I am Captain Ebony of the Eclipse Guard and the Right-”

“I know who you are!” The female knight cut her off with an aggressive wave of her arm. “You drove your sword through my throat last we met!”

“Wh… what?”

“Surprised?” She chuckled nefariously. “It’ll take more than that to keep any of us down.”

Ebony shook her head in disbelief. It couldn’t be true, could it? That female knight she killed all those months ago, what was her name? Knight… Knight Paladin Esther? Ebony remembered how her sword had punctured her flesh, the sound it made; it couldn’t be the same person standing right in front of her…

“B-but I saw your body!” Ebony retorted. “You were dead!”

“I intend to correct that mistake…” Esther growled. “You… I don’t know what’s happened to you to make your eyes glow like that, but I don’t care about that. No matter what you are or what you’ve done, I’ll find a way to drag you back through the Fracture and slit your throat myself!”

‘Oh my…’

Though she was reeling and deeply disturbed at how these knights could seemingly come back from the dead, she couldn’t afford to stand there and ponder on it; Esther and her knights were advancing, and she needed to respond immediately.

Five humans against eight Eclipse – they had the numbers advantage, but the humans were strong and determined; this wasn’t going to be an easy battle, especially with that damn behemoth roaming around.

Ebony started by calling her guards into formation. “Unicorns – at the back! Everypony else in the front lines! Remember: they’re vulnerable to electricity!”

It was close: the humans already had a head-start, and by the time Ebony and her troops shuffled into a passable formation, they were upon them.

Unsurprisingly, Esther went for her.

Ebony blocked a fast swipe with the flat of her blade and tried for a thrust, but Esther deflected it with her shield. The human retaliated with a series of powerful slashes that forced Ebony to back up, away from her platoon; they had their hooves full with the rest of the knights – no help there.

Ebony parried one of Esther’s swipes and drove the blade beneath the shield with her telekinesis; it clashed with Esther’s belly and drove her a few steps back, and followed it up with a Spark Shot spell.

Judging by how Esther froze and convulsed with a pained cry, it seemed that her armor hadn’t gotten any more insulated.

Ebony tried the spell again, but her concentration broke when a strong tremor made her stumble.

“What…?”

She looked over her shoulder in time to see one of the behemoth bug’s building-sized legs crash down on the road she was on. The bug was so close that she could see the streams of blood dripping down its carapace.

A phantom pressure settled behind her eyes. “Ebony, are you okay? I can’t see you.”

Veil.

“I’m fine!” Ebony turned back around. “I’m-”

“Agh!”

Esther lunged forwards and lashed out with her shield. Ebony tried to block it, but the bulk of the shield and the knight’s strength was more than her blade could handle; she staggered, and couldn’t react as Esther’s sword cut through air and into her side.

At first, the feeling of metal splitting her side and knocking against her ribs was just a cold and otherworldly sensation; it wasn’t until her mind caught up with what had happened did the pain come – hot and intense.

She gave a short scream before her mind sharpened and she cast a Kinetic Impact spell on instinct.

Esther was flung backwards, her sword slipping free of torn muscle and skin, the tip shining with red. She rolled with her momentum easily and came up back onto her feet.

Ebony gritted her teeth as the pain resonated through her; it was bearable and she would be healing soon, but every movement caused it to flare up – it was going to hamper her seriously in this battle.

“Ebony, what’s going on?”

“Veil, I can’t…!” She huffed in frustration. “I can’t talk right now; I need to concentrate!”

A flash of blue lit up her vision, and the behemoth responded with a shriek that lingered on a pitch which brought tears to her eyes.

“How…?!” Ebony narrowed her eyes as she pushed all background noise to the side and focused solely on Esther. “This is insane! Nopony can fight like this!”

“I’ve fought through worse,” Esther growled, even as she swayed from another strong tremor. “If you and your troops are hindered by this, then the Knight Enforcer’s plan was a success. Your forces are distracted with the creature and unable to focus entirely on us!”

“Your Knight Enforcer planned this?” Ebony’s side flared as she gestured to the chaos around them. “Do you know how many ponies could be dying? How many could be injured? I’m sorry for what happened to your kind, but for Faust’s sake, we didn’t know about you!”

“It doesn’t matter!!”

Esther screamed furiously and charged at her.

Ebony backpedalled – she put her sword up to defend against a powerful blow that almost broke her telekinetic hold.

Esther continued attacking, her sword-arm a blur of motion.

“I knew most of those people that died!” She cried with a vicious downward slash. “They were my friends! Some were like family to me! You think an apology makes up for all of that?!”

Ebony tilted her sword sideways and locked blades with Esther with a burst of sparks and a loud clang.

“N-no!” She shouted back. “I don’t!”

Her eyes flicked to the side; she saw her troops fighting against the other knights, holding and standing their ground, but clearly struggling.
Rage burst to life within her, and she pushed against Esther with all her might; she glared deep into the eyes visible through the slit of the knight’s helm.

“But that doesn’t mean you and your Knight Enforcer can do this and think it’s justified!”

She forced her opponent’s blade to the side and ended the lock; she took a step back with her sword held in a stance that could more easily parry a strike.

“We’re trying to save ourselves…” Esther replied, and lifted her shield to cover her torso. “Even if you didn’t mean to harm us, you still landed a bleeding wound on us; our time is even shorter because of you.”

“What are you talking about?”

Esther didn’t answer; she sprinted forwards with her sword raised.

Ebony dodged to the side as the blade whistled past her and let off a Spark Shot spell; Esther groaned in pain, but fought through the spasms to parry one of Ebony’s thrusts and bash her in the face with her shield.

Ebony felt something in her nose give way; she ignored the pain and blocked a counter-slash as blood streamed down over her lips.

“This is the only way we can survive!” Esther cried, her tone gaining an edge of frustration as Ebony blocked another slash. “The fate of our people rests on the Rouge Knight Order’s shoulders – we cannot fail!”

“And what does attacking us and kidnapping unicorns have to do with that?!” Ebony replied with a deep grimace; the blow from the shield made her feel groggy, and she blinked furiously to keep her vision clear. “You haven’t explained anything – maybe we can help you!”

She didn’t think the Empress would be up for that, but it was worth a shot.

“You can help by laying down your weapon!” Esther growled, lashing out with her sword for emphasis.

Ebony blocked the swipe, her own frustration rising.

This was going nowhere – she thought she could try reasoning with the knight, but she seemed to have no intention of stopping and listening. She wished she had more information about these knights and their motives.

This ran deeper than just mere ‘vengeance’.

Esther slammed her sword against Ebony’s; the force was enough to make her teeth vibrate. She tried to force it off to the side, but Esther adjusted her grip to keep it steady, and slowly began using her weight to push forwards.

“Caed does what he must to ensure that we survive!” Esther growled. “Whatever he does, his intentions are always righteous!”

Ebony grunted in exertion as her blade shook violently; her magic was beginning to falter, and the bloodstained edge of Esther’s blade began inching closer.

“Is your ‘Empress’ any different?!”

Ebony’s eyes widened. She stared at the chocolate brown eyes visible through the human’s helm.

“We’ve studied your kind – before and after you caused the explosion in our world – and Nightmare Moon can hardly be hailed as a ‘hero’. We know that she overthrew the original leaders and we know of her ruthlessness. Can you deny it?”

Ebony recalled the way Nightmare Moon used those three fillies to force the Element bearers to do her bidding.

She recalled her treatment of the princesses.

She recalled the way Nightmare Moon’s eyes seemed to always light up at the prospect of violence.

Esther pushed harder; the blade came closer.

“Caed cares deeply for those he promised to lead and protect! Each one of us trusts him wholly and will lay their lives down for him! Can you say the same for your Empress?”

She remembered Veil spilling her doubts and fears to her.

“I-I…”

Ebony clenched her teeth and narrowed her eyes as she squashed any rising doubts.

“No! I can’t!”

Ebony twisted to the side and let her sword drop; Esther’s blade crashed into her shoulder, but at the same time Ebony thrust her sword upwards with as much force as she could muster and electrified it with a spell.

Her sword’s thick blade punctured the armor on Esther’s shield-arm, and the human howled in pain, viciously yanking her weapon back and severing a few of Ebony’s tendons.

Faust, it hurt, but her lichdom and her anger kept her from passing out.

“You’re right…” Ebony hissed as her right foreleg trembled. “Nightmare Moon isn’t ‘good’ or benevolent. She can be scary and violent. But you know what?” She swallowed hard, coldly glaring at her opponent. “Good or evil – anypony can see that you need to be stopped!”

Esther’s left arm was limp as a noodle; she could see blood seeping from the puncture wound, and the human was breathing heavily. Rage and hate radiated from the slit in the knight’s helm.

“I can’t say that everypony will follow her so loyally, but I know that I will!” Ebony continued with only a brief glance to her shoulder; the wound was uglier than she imagined. “So, don’t even try comparing Caed and Nightmare Moon because at the end of the day, Nightmare Moon isn’t the one kidnapping and killing – you all are!”

Ebony stomped her good leg – it was a mistake, as she almost collapsed from the pain, and only barely saved face.

“Nngh! You’re… I’m through trying to reason: there’s a giant monster destroying my home, and I’m not wasting any more time talking!”

The sky above her rumbled again, as if in response. The immense bulk of the behemoth’s carapace shifted in the distance, sending up another cloud of dust; the streets would be difficult to traverse if it started raining.

No time to worry about that, though.

Esther chuckled darkly as she let her shield fall from her weak fingers and pointed her sword at Ebony. “I can agree with you on that at least. No more messing around.”

“You’re the one with the limp arm.”

Esther chuckled again. “As if I haven’t fought without one before. I advise that you don’t hold back because of it: it’ll be the last thing that you…” She suddenly went quiet and tilted her head to the side. “… What?”

Ebony blinked. “What?” Esther said nothing and just stared at her. “Why are you just standing there?”

She was half-expecting the human to rush her down when Esther finally jerked like she had just been shocked. Ebony flinched as the knight’s voice rose sharply.

“What do you mean ‘we’ve lost contact’?!” Esther cried, seemingly at herself. “Knight Enforcer, what is…?!”

‘Why is she calling for…? Wait, she’s done this before…’ Ebony realized.

She recalled the first invasion, where she had first addressed Esther and the human would perform an odd gesture – she would touch her helmet before replying. Nightmare Moon was suspicious of some form of communication.

It appears she was correct.

She didn’t know if it was telepathy or what, but Knight Enforcer Caed was communicating with Esther somehow…

And she didn’t like whatever he had to say.

“What?!” Esther cried again, her body language shifting from enraged to anxious and tense. “Oh god, Caed, don’t tell me that…” She was silent for a second before swearing loudly. “No, no! If she’s in our world and we’ve lost contact with home base, then…!”

''In their world’?’

Ebony figured it out quickly, and her cold heart would have jumped if it could.

‘Nightmare Moon…’

Ebony knew that the knights came through Entropic Fractures; she hadn’t seen any around, but the Empress must have found one when she went downtown to stop the other division of Rouge Knights.

But to go through by herself?

Nightmare Moon was powerful, but to go into uncharted territory like that? Who knew what sort of opposition could have been in the humans’ world?

And to have lost contact… did that mean the Empress was trapped? That the humans were? Neither was a very comforting thought.

Esther jerked her head back up, as if just remembering that Ebony was still there and within earshot. She straightened and started to advance like a rabid predator.

“You damn horses…” She snarled in such a low tone that Ebony barely heard her. “If one hair is touched on any of the children’s heads…” She suddenly exploded into a dead sprint, her limp arm flapping behind her. “I’ll make you wish for death!”

‘Been there, done that, and all the stronger for it.’

Ebony felt proud of that rebuke, and wished that she had said it before she was forced to bring her blade up to block one of Esther’s vicious swipes.

She needed to concentrate on what she could control instead of what she couldn’t, so she spared a brief thought towards Nightmare Moon and hoped that the Empress was well and that she wasn’t in over her head.

~

The knight’s tower shield smashed into Nightmare Moon’s face a third time.

Physical shields were useless to ponies; their physiology meant that, unless they were a unicorn, they couldn’t effectively use both it and a weapon, and unicorns were more reliant on magical barriers anyway.

The knights and their shields gave them an advantage over regular ponies, but Nightmare Moon was no regular pony, and could easily break through their guard with her strength.

This knight? Not so much.

The tower shield smashed into her face a fourth time.

“You petulant…!” Nightmare Moon snorted blood from her nostrils and struck the elbow of the knight’s sword arm as it arced towards her with the shoulder of her wing. She tried charging forwards, but the hulking knight shifted his shield to block it.

She strained and pushed against him, gradually gaining ground, but he was a lot heavier and stronger than any of the fodder knights she’d previously gone up against.

As if to prove her point, the knight anchored himself into the floor and pushed her back with a rumbling growl of exertion. He tried swinging as soon as she was off, but Nightmare Moon dodged to the side and grabbed his sword with her teeth; they struggled for a second, and his blade slit her cheek, but she managed to yank it from his grasp and spit it off to the side.

He responded by bashing her a fifth time.

‘Oh, this is getting annoying.’

Before he could act again, she spun and delivered a well-placed buck with her hind legs. The knight staggered back several feet with two small dents in his shield’s face; Nightmare Moon continued her assault with a quick blast of ice that coated the wall of metal, and kicked it again.

The shield began to buckle inwards.

Suddenly, with a rumbling roar, the knight charged forwards, clocking her a sixth time and-

Oh wow – he was pushing her all the way across the room.

Admirable strength, really.

Nightmare Moon pushed back and dug in her hooves, but the human had enough momentum and weight that she was unable to stop herself from being crushed up against a metal wall. A few of her ribs cracked and put some pressure on her lungs – it was harder to draw in the air needed to make an effective push.

She could probably get out with a spell, but it was very hard to concentrate with a 300-something pound creature repeatedly bashing a big metal object against her horn.

‘Damn it! I just need some leverage and then I can-’

“YO, DROP THE BASS!!”

As a high-pitched ringing filled her head, Nightmare Moon was hit by a sense of nostalgia – oh, how many times she had thrown threats at the DJ when she amplified her voice as Nightmare Moon crossed by her station…

The knight had it worse; Vinyl had, at some point, clambered up onto his back and shouted directly into his helm, and now he was yelling in pain while reeling backwards. Vinyl was thrown from his shoulder, but he also dropped his shield to clutch at the sides of his helmet, unpleasant retching noises bouncing from within his armor.

Seizing her chance, Nightmare Moon lunged forwards and knocked the knight onto his back; she kept him pinned with her weight as she bent down, stretched open her mouth, and exhaled a freezing mist that filtered in through the eyehole of the knight’s helm.

Credit where it was due – the knight still struggled fiercely until his lungs were caked with frost from the inside out, and he could no longer draw in breath. Once his movements slowed and fully subsided, Nightmare Moon got off his chest and took a breath.

“Wolf!”

“Vin-”

A warm and fuzzy body pressed against her side with a joyous laugh.

Nightmare Moon froze.

Before the urge to wiggle her leg overcame her, Vinyl let go and looked up at her with a happy grin that was accentuated by her naked eyes.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe you actually got here in time! I didn’t think you’d…” She shook her head, dismissing whatever she had been about to say. “Ah, who friggin’ cares – you came through that Fracture like one of those whiny superheroes in the comic books. Except cooler. And more violent.”

Nightmare Moon was distracted by the dark red blood that caked the fur around Vinyl’s muzzle. It made her insides turn uncomfortably. “You’re hurt,” Her forehoof moved almost on its own accord to touch the blood, but she put it back down on the floor firmly. “What happened?”

Vinyl brushed it off – of course she did, it was clearly a minor injury, nothing worth fretting over – and said, “Ran into the big guy you just offed; hurt like shit, but that’s it. You?”

“Nothing new.” Nightmare Moon felt a surge of relief go through her as she idly pressed a forehoof against her side and pushed her ribs back into place.

It was remarkable how much tension left her body now that she had confirmed that Vinyl was – for the time being at least – safe. She really didn’t know what she’d have done if she came through the Fracture and-

‘The Fracture!’

Nightmare Moon turned and spat out a curse. “It’s gone.”

“What?”

“The Fracture is no longer there.”

Vinyl looked around the room, her dismay evident on her face. “Aw… aw, fuck – that sucks.”

And it wasn’t just the Fracture that was gone.

There had been others in the room when Nightmare Moon arrived; more humans, ones that weren’t in armor. They had panicked upon seeing her, and she recalled one of them screaming about closing the Fracture. She had been too busy fighting with the knight to notice, but that was exactly what they had done, and then fled the room while they were at it.

This room that held a staggering amount of machinery.

This room that she and Vinyl were alone in.

Nightmare Moon grimaced. “This is it. This is the base of the Rouge Knights,” She looked around again and spotted a thick metal door on the far side of the room. On the top of its bolted frame was a warning light that silently flashed red. “Hmph – I suppose the element of surprise is out of the question.”

Vinyl nodded, her gaze going over the room. “Right? I don’t think- oh, hey – you found my shades!”

Nightmare Moon had forgotten that she even brought them through the portal in the first place.

She made her way over to one of the many machines while Vinyl retrieved her shades and cast a scrutinizing eye over the columns of buttons and screens.

‘Ugh, I’d have better luck building another Resonator from scrap metal than figuring out what these buttons do,’ She scowled in displeasure, but lifted her forehoof to push a few buttons anyway. ‘Hm… it seems to be inert. They must have powered it down before they left.’

Turning her gaze back towards the door, Nightmare Moon growled in her throat and flexed her wings.

“It seems as though we’re trapped here.” She said aloud.

“Shit,” Vinyl cursed, trotting back over with her shades covering her eyes. “Hey, Wolf, is Octy alright? You got to her in time, right?”

“Yes.”

The DJ sagged in relief, her breath coming out in a whoosh. “She’s safe?”

“More than we currently are,” Nightmare Moon looked around the room once more, intrigued by the unfamiliar technology that surrounded them. “Although, this is not without a silver lining: this is the opportune time to gather information about the humans,” She bared her teeth in a dark grin. “The Knight Enforcer shall regret attacking Canterlot a second time.”

“Assuming we can get back to Equestria…” Vinyl murmured. Her body language spoke of anxiety. “I mean… we’re in another world. This is some friggin’ Professor When shit right here and we don’t have a fancy telephone to teleport us everywhere.”

“What?”

“Jeez, I can barely figure out Octy’s new TV let alone any of this crap.”

“Then it’s fortunate that we have a base full of humans to help us out, isn’t it?”

Vinyl frowned. “I don’t think they’re gonna help us if we say ‘please’.”

“Oh, come now,” Nightmare Moon chuckled. “You know how persuasive I can be.”

Vinyl smirked at her and laughed as well. “True that. Okay, yeah, I trust you, but we’re still up shit’s creek without a paddle; do you have a plan or are you just gonna make it up as you go?”

“First, we need to get out of this room,” Nightmare Moon gestured towards the door. It was one of the sturdiest-looking doors she had ever seen and the metal walls didn’t look much more breakable either. “After that, we find a human and make them talk. If they can operate the technology to open a Fracture, then all the better.”

She turned to look at Vinyl.

“Stay close to me and hide should we encounter more knights.”

Vinyl frowned at her. “‘Hide’?”

Nightmare Moon looked back at the motionless knight; the frost on his helmet was beginning to melt. “Very well – you can help, but only if it doesn’t put you in immediate danger. This isn’t a bar brawl where the worst you might get is a glass bottle to the face, and I don’t… I’d rather you not die.”

“Awww, love you, too.”

Nightmare Moon didn’t dignify that with an answer. She trotted straight up to the metal door and gave it an experimental buck with her hind hooves.

It didn’t even budge.

She couldn’t see herself tearing this down with brute strength alone; it felt as if it was a foot thick. It appeared to be made from steel, but looked more like iron. Perhaps it was a type of metal indigenous to the human world.

“Can you teleport through it?” Vinyl asked, coming up beside her.

“I don’t know what’s on the other side,” Nightmare Moon rammed her shoulder into the door and winced. “Ngh… I might put us halfway through a wall or a machine.”

Vinyl scratched her head, her brow sinking as she thought.

Nightmare Moon already had a plan, though.

Pressing the tip of her horn against the door’s frame, she cast an ice spell that caused frost to creep along the frame and squeeze into the gaps. She watched the frost thicken and harden until eventually she heard a feather-soft groan of metal bending and twisting.

“Hey, I saw that in a movie once!”

“Vinyl, I am trying to concentrate.”

“Sorry.”

She had faith that this would be the key to escaping the room, but… then what? This was unfamiliar territory – very unfamiliar. She and Vinyl were a universe apart from Equestria, so even the environment would be a mystery. Whatever was beyond that door would have to be dealt with on the fly.

In the past, that sort of ‘unknown’ element might have excited her, but ‘Past Nightmare Moon’ didn’t have somepony that she cared for enough to worry about.

Vinyl was going to be a distraction to her, no doubt about that… but she had to make it work. She put way too much at stake to just let her…

The metal groaned again, much louder this time, and Nightmare Moon stopped casting to give the door another kick. The edges buckled inwards as splinters of ice fell to the floor – perfect.

“Stand back,” She ordered Vinyl. “Preferably behind some cover.”

The DJ nodded and hurried off to crouch behind a table.

Nightmare Moon resumed kicking away at the ridiculously tough door. She felt each impact right down to her teeth, but she was gradually making headway, even if the din she made was just reinforcing how ‘out of the window’ any notions of stealth were going.

CLANG

CLANG

The wall around the door strained and screamed before one final kick knocked the obstruction down with another ear-rattling clang. Nightmare Moon grunted and shook her head free of the ringing as she turned to poke her head through the open doorway.

A corridor just as sterile and dull as the room she was in – she had expected something more.

Although, not too far down the right, light was streaming in through what appeared to be a window…

“Vinyl?”

“Yup!” Vinyl emerged from behind the table and jogged over to her side, snorting and wriggling her nose. “Ugh… don’t suppose you can spare some healing?”

“I am not adept with healing spells, unfortunately,” Nightmare Moon looked down the other way, frowning at the lack of activity, before moving towards the window. “You must grin and bear it for the time being.”

“Eh, not my first busted nose…”

“Hmph – I expected opposition,” Nightmare Moon stopped by the window, looked out, and waited for her vision to adjust to the light. “They must have sounded an… alarm…”

Awestruck, she heard Vinyl gasp beside her. “Whoa…”

It was… hardly a pleasant sight, but at the same time… there was a sort of macabre beauty to it all.

When ponies thought of Canterlot, they imagined spires and buildings of white marble and dazzling gold. If they thought of Ponyville, they might imagine homely and rustic houses with a backdrop of rolling hills and vibrant greenery. If they thought of Manehattan, then they’d think of tall, imposing skyscrapers and diverse cultures and arts.

When she looked out at the city beyond the window, Nightmare Moon immediately thought of ruins, the ageing remains of a once proud civilization.

Buildings and houses – like what one might see in Manehattan – reached towards an empty skyline, their faces charred and broken with only a scant few splotches of colour that were either paint or graffiti. Between the buildings were the cracked, sun-baked streets where Nightmare Moon saw flickers of movement. They were too high up and far off to make out any vivid details, but they were walking upright.

And through the gaps of two tall buildings, Nightmare Moon could see an expanse of barren wasteland, completely devoid of greenery or anything of interest save for hundreds of small craters and husks of twisted wreckage.

“Wolf!” Vinyl cried, pushing her muzzle up against the glass. “Look at the sky!”

Nightmare Moon did and felt the sting of sunlight beaming at her from two different sources.

“They have two suns…”

She didn’t know what that meant, but one sun was enough for her, thank you very much.

“This is where they live?” Vinyl muttered with a frown. “Looks like a crap-hole.”

“Indeed.”

“Might make a good cover album, though.”

Nightmare Moon grunted, though she wasn’t really paying attention to what Vinyl was saying.

Seeing this got her thinking: did the humans evolve in such an inhospitable place, or did they make it this way? A natural disaster could explain the weathered structures and roadwork, but not the wasteland. The ground looked scorched, but if the humans outside could walk around, then could the two suns be at fault? The humans had access to advanced technology, and such advancement often led to war and infighting.

This had her curious.

Nightmare Moon pricked her ears as she heard footsteps bouncing down the corridor.

However, her curiosity would have to wait…

She turned right and stepped forwards, ushering Vinyl behind her with one wing while igniting her horn.

A trio of knights rounded the corner at the end of the hall, two with regular swords and shields and one toting a greatsword.

‘That one goes first.’

The greatsword-wielder stomped into some sort of stance with his sword extended and blitzed forwards with such speed that Nightmare Moon barely got a barrier up in time; it felt like a train had smashed against it.

He pirouetted to the side, slipping past her barrier with a downwards slash that she barely dodged away from. Nightmare Moon cast off a ball of frost that he side-stepped before jumping back between the gap left by his two associates.

Glancing at the floor, Nightmare Moon ignited her horn and stomped her forehooves, sending out a creeping web of ice that blanketed the metal floor; the knights were going too fast to stop and flailed as their feet slid out from beneath them and they fell flat on their rears. The greatsword knight jumped at the wall, kicked off it to sail over their heads, and bring his weapon down before Nightmare Moon could capitalize.

She stepped back, watched as the sword sparked against the floor, and stomped down on the flat edge; the knight tried pulling back but her strength surpassed his, and he was forced to leave it behind as she lunged at his neck with snapping teeth.

She flicked her hoof back to send the sword sliding behind her and heard Vinyl cry, ‘got it!’ before charging after the unarmed human, forcing him onto the sheet of ice.

He was more sure-footed than his associates, however, and still managed to avoid her bone-crushing bites while skirting the ice, and when she put too much momentum into one lunge, he pirouetted to the side again, wrapped both arms around her neck and twisted his body in such a way that her own body weight caused her to crash to the floor.

The next thing she felt were two swords piercing her side as the other two knights recovered and capitalized; with a pained snarl, she thrashed and twisted to get back on her hooves, lashing out at the two while the unarmed human used her head as a springboard to get behind her.

“Vinyl, watch out!!”

She scrambled for purchase on her own sheet of ice – how embarrassing – and cast Kinetic Impact spells to send the two knights sliding away so she had enough room to spread her wings and hover above the ice to pursue the more agile human, swords in her side be damned.

She was greeted by the sight of the DJ running circles around the human, kicking his large sword all over while her bone-white horn pulsed with bright and vivid colours in a nauseating pattern; the human had his hand over his eyes and grunted as he unsuccessfully tried to grab her.

Nightmare Moon dove at him, and he must have heard the flap of her wings because he tried to dodge again, but she was too fast and clipped him hard enough to knock him on his back. She landed, hooves scraping against the floor as she doubled back and pounced before he could get back up. Her teeth sliced into his jugular and ripped out a chunk of flesh.

Spitting at the potent taste of iron, she stepped over the twitching body and went for the remaining knights. She had punted them straight off the ice, but solid footing didn’t help them much when they had no enhanced strength or speed to be wary of and one was without their sword.

It took Nightmare Moon less than a minute to kill them both.

Once the threat was dealt with, Nightmare Moon checked to see if Vinyl was still there and unharmed – the DJ trotted towards her after skirting around the puddle forming beneath the greatsword-knight – before finally turning her attention to the sword buried in her side.

She lit up her horn… and sighed in annoyance a moment later. “Right – anything from their world is almost impossible to manipulate with magic.”

“Holy crap…” Vinyl blinked in repulsed awe, still panting slightly from her earlier run. “That’s… I mean, that’s right in there.”

“Yes, my ribs can attest to that,” Nightmare Moon grumbled and stretched her foreleg in front of her. “Nngh! Would you do me a favour and pull it out?”

Vinyl blinked. “Just… pull it out?”

“With your teeth.”

“I… guess I can do that,” The DJ nodded, glanced over her shoulder for any danger, and stepped forwards to bite down on the sword’s grip. “Reggy?”

“Yes.”

A primal noise tore from Nightmare Moon’s throat as the sword was pulled out, the edges slicing through muscle and skin that had already healed around it. Vinyl plonked onto her rump, glasses askew as she stared down at the sword staining the floor; there was wonder in her eyes as she looked back up.

“Dude, you’re hardcore.”

“It’s nothing,” It really was, but Nightmare Moon still flexed proudly; the praise was all the sweeter coming from a friend – who knew? “Now, we should get moving before more show up,” She nodded her head down the corridor. “I suggest we head in the direction they came from.”

“Okay, I’m down for that.”

They fell alongside each other as they walked. Nightmare Moon had no way of knowing if this was the right direction, but it had to lead somewhere; they couldn’t just wait around for more of the knights to find them while Canterlot was still in danger. There had to be a way to get back home.

“So, how do you do that?” Vinyl suddenly asked.

“Do what?” Nightmare Moon asked, cautiously approaching a ‘T’ intersection.

“I mean, I think I’m pretty friggin’ tough, but if I had a sword in my guts, I’d be cursing up a storm and rolling around in pain; how do you ignore that?”

She looked both ways at the intersection for danger before choosing to go left. “It’s not difficult – I feel the pain, but if I let it consume me, then my opponent will win. With that in mind, it becomes easier to fight through it,” She paused for a moment before looking down at Vinyl. “At least, that’s how I’ve always experienced it. I don’t know how Celestia or Luna handle it; perhaps it’s just a trait of alicorn physiology.”

“Must be nice being able to just regen through everything.” Vinyl murmured, prodding at her nose with a wince.

“It is, actually.”

“And all those times I took those hits when you were Star Secret…”

Nightmare Moon smirked. “What, should I have shared in the punishment you frequently brought upon yourself?”

“That’s what friends are for!”

“To serve as meat shields? Then let me find some rope and tie you to my back.”

“Har har.”

They passed a few notices and posters, but they were jus that: posters and notices with no critical information. The most informative thing she saw was that one of the rooms was sealed off until further notice due to 'equipment damage caused by an EMP'.

It was a full minute of walking before they came upon a door and something familiar.

“Three?” Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes at the number painted next to the door in black. “Does this mean we’re on the third floor? Or does this lead to it?”

Vinyl shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

Nightmare Moon nodded and turned the door handle before pushing inwards. She stepped out onto a metal platform with two sets of stairs leading up and down; a railing in front of her blocked off a long fall.

“A stairwell, huh?” Vinyl muttered as she trotted onto the platform. “So, I guess we’re on the second fl-”

Heavy clanging filled the narrow space as a lot of feet pounded up towards them.

Nightmare Moon grimaced as she looked at her surroundings; there was very little room for her to manoeuvre and by the sounds of the clanging, there were a lot more knights than just the three they encountered. She could back up and fight them in the corridor, but…

Thinking quickly, she closed the door behind them and grabbed Vinyl with her magic before pushing up against the wall near the stairs that led up. “Hold still and be quiet – you won’t be able to see for a moment.”

Vinyl nodded once as Nightmare Moon ignited her horn and washed them both down with magic that let light pass through them.

Darkness – actual darkness, not just the type when she blinked – made her blind to the world, but Nightmare Moon could still hear the knights jog up, closer and closer until the platform they were on trembled beneath heavy boots; the humans were so close that she could hear their measured breaths.

The door was pulled open and the humans went through, one by one; there was a squeak of boot against floor as the last of them suddenly stopped and doubled back, panting lightly as they lingered…

Nightmare Moon’s left eye twitched as the base of her horn began to throb.

Finally, the human grunted and ran to catch up with their squad, slamming the door shut behind them.

Nightmare Moon waited a few more seconds before cutting the spell off; her vision returned and the intensity of the throbbing lessened.

“Ugh…”

Vinyl laughed in relief. “Stallion, that was tense, huh? Hey… you alright?”

“Nothing major…” Nightmare Moon grunted. “Come on – we should hurry before they return.”

As with most stairs, it was difficult for Nightmare Moon to traverse; they were too small and narrow, and it wasn’t long before she damned them all to Tartarus and just used her wings to fly down alongside the DJ, who had a much easier time.

“Can’t you just keep us invisible all the time?” Vinyl asked.

“We can’t see with that spell active and this world… it’s devoid of magic; it’s taxing me, and a spell like that would drain me too much,” She hated weakness, but she felt more comfortable admitting it in Vinyl’s company. “Any other obscuring spells won’t suffice – we’re moving around too much.”

“Yeah, I felt the strain too when I was blinding that sword-guy back there,” Vinyl sighed. “Faust – we’re on a time limit, aren’t we, Wolf? Find a way back before our magic runs out. I mean, you’ve got strength and crap, but I’ll just be dead weight.”

“More or less.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I could swing you around like a club if it makes you feel better.”

“Real class act, Wolf.”

Personally, Nightmare Moon felt that swinging Vinyl around would make an effective bludgeoning weapon, but she would have to cast a spell to protect her from the trauma; if the situation became desperate enough than she would seriously consider it.

Probably better not to say that out loud.

Another platform soon came into view and Nightmare Moon landed on it before signalling for Vinyl to wait. She pushed the door of the first floor open and poked her head through, looking both ways to scan for any more humans; there weren’t, and they quietly entered the hallway.

“Now where do we go?” Vinyl asked.

Nightmare Moon grimaced. “Let me think for a second…”

The hallways looked the same and she couldn’t read any of the posters and papers pinned to the walls; they had different symbols, which told Nightmare Moon nothing besides that the humans had different languages and dialect. The only thing she could think of was to go in the direction the knights were coming from, as much as risk as that put her and Vinyl in.

She considered breaking a nearby window and flying outside, but what would that accomplish? They’d still have to figure out where to go from there – if they couldn’t navigate a single building, then they wouldn’t fare any better in a city.

Ugh, this was frustrating!

What they really needed was a guide or a picturesque map that could help them-

“-with you? I have to get you out of here.”

Nightmare Moon blinked and turned her head to look down the right corridor, where a knight had just walked out of a room alongside another human – one adorned with a white coat and plain, black leggings.

Like the ones back in that room.

The knight glanced in her direction, looked at their compatriot, and then quickly jerked back to stare at her again; the sudden action caused the other human to look at her as well, and her exposed face went chalk-white.

Nightmare Moon grinned toothily. “How fortuitous.”

“God, did those guys really miss you?!” The knight cried, reaching for their weapon and moving in front of the female. “Get out of here now before it-”

Another spike of pain went through her head when she teleported down the corridor, but it was worth it to get the surprise attack on the knight; they didn’t even get their sword out of its scabbard before Nightmare Moon body-checked them into the wall and crumpled their helm with a savage kick of her hind legs.

The female human gasped and tried to run back into the room, but Nightmare Moon bit down on her loose ponytail and pulled her down to the floor.

“Hello there,” She greeted pleasantly, spitting out a clump of brunette hair as she towered over the groaning human. “I am Empress Nightmare Moon and I require your assistance.”

The human peered up at her, panting heavily and too frightened to get up.

“The Fractures that your kind manipulate… I need one that can transport me and my friend back to our own world,” Nightmare Moon made sure to show off her teeth as she smiled. “Surely you can assist us in that matter considering how fond you all are of invading and kidnapping my subjects?”

The human blinked, pupils small and twitching…

And then a wad of saliva struck Nightmare Moon’s eye.

“… I see.”

She lifted one hoof and pressed down on the human’s chest with enough force to create a sound like celery snapping. Nightmare Moon inhaled and exhaled through her nostrils as she listened to the human scream and used the tip of her wing to wipe away the insult.

Oh, she was deliciously enraged right now…

She heard footsteps and folded her wing to see Vinyl approaching her, body language subdued and cautious.

“Wolf?” She queried softly. “You okay?”

“Of course,” Nightmare Moon nodded, gaining some enjoyment from feeling her hostage squirm in agony beneath her hoof. “Although, it seems our ‘associate’ is being rather uncooperative – I may have to use more… ‘persuasive’ methods,” She paused and then added, “Steel yourself if it comes to that – it may be unavoidable.”

“I… I don’t…” The human gasped, weakly pushing at Nightmare Moon’s unyielding leg. “I don’t know anything about the Fractures. I’m… I’m a doctor, not a scientist.”

Nightmare Moon scowled coldly. “Then what good are you to me?”

“A-Anna?”

The airy whisper was followed by a shocked gasp; Nightmare Moon turned her head to the source of the noise and saw a smaller version of the humans standing near the doorway of the room the other two came out from.

A small, pitiful thing – female, by the looks of it – with dirty blonde hair, pale skin, and freckles – her eyes were big and full of fear.

‘Offspring?’

Nightmare Moon cocked her head and one of her eyebrows. “Well, hello, young one…”

“No!” ‘Anna’ struggled even harder beneath her, a very prominent tinge of terror in her voice. “Amelie – get back inside and close the door!”

Amelie remained rooted to the floor, her attention completely centred on the alicorn.

“Oh? You know her?” Nightmare Moon chuckled – she had found the right leverage. “One of your patients?” She removed her hoof and took a step towards the girl, who whimpered and backed up. “Or something closer?”

“Stop!” Anna cried, clutching her chest as she got on her knees and snagged Nightmare Moon’s hind leg, her actions reeking of desperation. “She’s just a child!”

“So were some of the unicorns that your kind took.” Nightmare Moon answered darkly.

Anna flinched and shut her eyes. “I… I know, but… I don’t agree with what the Knight Enforcer is doing! I… I’m just trying to keep my patients alive!”

Vinyl shuffled in one spot, looking at the human anxiously.

“You’re no…” Anna sniffled, her voice hardening. “You’re no better than them if you hurt Amelie.”

Nightmare Moon couldn’t help it – she laughed, loudly.

“Hah hah hah hah! What, is that supposed to make me reconsider?” She turned her head to sneer at the human. “If I was some hopelessly optimistic hero, then it might, but unfortunately for you, I’m nothing like that.”

She shook the human’s grip off with a jerk of her leg.

“I once threatened to harm the children of my enemies, my own kind to get what I wanted and I had every intention of doing so if they didn’t cooperate. I shackled two of my most powerful enemies by subduing their magic and I converted one of their own to my side against their will. I’m not a hero. I’m not even a good pony.”

Nightmare Moon turned back to the shivering girl and ignited her horn.

“So, I hope that your plan of getting me to leave this child alone isn’t by appealing to my better nature.”

“W-wait, please! Please, just wait!” The human grabbed at her leg again. “Please, I… I’m telling the truth: I don’t know anything to do with Fractures…”

Nightmare Moon waited.

“But… but I know people who do… Please, leave Amelie alone and I’ll take you to them…”

Nightmare Moon looked down at the human – ignoring Vinyl’s queasy look that made her stomach cold like ice – with a small smirk.

“Then by all means, lead the way, Anna.”

Author's Note

Note 1: Obscuring Veil - a spell from the Illusion school that manipulates the light around the caster, as well as anypony near them, to render them invisible to the naked eye.

This was one of the many spells developed by Starswirl the Bearded and it is the originator of all other spells tailored to manipulating light to become obscured from view, whether it be direct or indirect. This spell is the only one of its type that can make a target completely invisible; there is no flicker of light, no ripple in the air, and no other visual distortion that may give the target away.

However, this 'complete' invisibility comes at a cost: because the spell also makes the eyes invisible, the target - if alive and capable of sight - is rendered blind for the duration of the spell. Another drawback is that the spell is taxing to maintain for long periods of time.

Edit: Corrected a misnaming.

'Tis the Season

1055 AD, December 25th

Normally, walking into one’s office and seeing a delicately wrapped present on one’s desk would incite feelings of wonder and cheerfulness, quick thoughts of, ‘oh my, what kind soul could have left this for me’ and ‘what could it be’?

When Nightmare Moon walked into her office and saw a delicately wrapped present on her desk, she was filled with feelings of suspicion and paranoia, quick thoughts of, ‘who broke in here’ and ‘how large will the explosion be if I opened it up’?

‘Could it be Celestia and Luna’s work?’ Nightmare Moon pondered as she cautiously approached the present like a cat on the prowl, horn glowing as she prepared to throw out a barrier. ‘It seems odd that they would deliver a means to inflict harm upon me by disguising it as a Hearth’s Warming Eve present – they lack that sense of dark irony.’

The present was box-shaped and wrapped in green packaging with red polka dots that were tied together with a red, satin ribbon. It was around the size of a regular pony’s head and reeked of innocence and anticipatory delight.

‘Surely they would know I’d be suspicious?’ Nightmare Moon frowned as she circled her desk like a shark sensing blood. ‘If anything at all inexplicably appeared in my quarters while I was out, then I’d be alarmed – this seems… almost like it’s daring me to open it.’

There was a white tag on the top.

After several more seconds, Nightmare Moon’s curiosity finally won over; she looked rather ridiculous giving an inanimate object the stare-down anyway.

First, she lifted the present with telekinesis, anticipating some sort of backlash.

Nothing.

Then, she physically picked the present up.

More nothing.

Humming suspiciously, she held the box at length and shook it a little.

Something rattled from within – it sounded solid.

Then, she brought it back in to read the tag.

To: Nightmare Moon
From:

The sender had chosen not to identify themselves.

Her first suspect was Vinyl, but this was a little too subtle for that mare; if Nightmare Moon had come back to her quarters and was set upon by a herd of ponies yelling, ‘surprise’, then that’d be something more along the lines of what Vinyl would do.

Not this… secretive gift-sending.

Nightmare Moon looked over her shoulder, her frown deepening. ‘The windows are still locked. No sign of forced entry. How did…?’

She’d investigate it later, but for now…

Nightmare Moon carefully placed the present down on the desk and s-l-o-w-l-y pulled the ribbon loose with her magic. The knot came undone and fell to the sides, leaving only the packaging to be unwrapped.

And Nightmare Moon did so.

Slowly and carefully, so much so that the sound of the packaging crinkling and tearing was almost louder than the soft crackle and spit of the fireplace. Outside her windows and balcony doors, snow fell across the city silently.

A pleasant Hearth’s Warming Eve all things considered.

‘I could almost forget that we’re at war with the humans.’

Finally, the red and green packaging lay spread out beneath the plain cardboard box – it was utterly unremarkable.

Nightmare Moon blinked at the unassuming nature of the box.

Clearly, whoever sent it wanted her guard to be let down, but she wouldn’t allow it! She was prepared for whatever was within this threateningly unthreatening container!

Assuming a confident stance, Nightmare Moon magically lifted the flaps of the box aside, her eyes narrowing dangerously as the contents of the box was revealed to be…

…

Another wrapped present.

“What.”

Blinking twice, Nightmare Moon used telekinesis to upturn the box and let the present inside slide out to plonk on her desk. It was just as big as the container it came in, but had black packaging with a purple ribbon.

There was a tag attached to it.

To: Ebony
From: Nightmare Moon

Nightmare Moon blinked owlishly. “What in Equestria?”

She was so befuddled that the sound of her door swinging open caused her to jolt.

“Empress…” Ebony strode in and gave a quick salute. “I was going over our ranks and…” She blinked in surprise and pointed to the present. “Is… is that a present?”

Nightmare Moon looked down at the box and then at Ebony. “I… I’m not entirely sure why, but…”

She came around the table and held the present out, mostly because she was still so surprised by how it came to be that she couldn’t think of any other action.

“It’s…” Ebony blinked again and hesitantly took the offered present in her own magical grasp. She read the tag, blinked again, and looked up at Nightmare Moon. “You got this for me?”

Nightmare Moon shook her head and turned to gesture to the original box. “No, it came from… from…”

There was no sign of the present on her desk.

No box. No packaging. No ribbon.

Nothing.

Nightmare Moon cocked her head; she had to admit that she was somewhat at a loss in that instance. She didn’t look away until she heard tearing packaging and turned in time to see Ebony open her present and gasp.

“Empress, it’s…” Ebony blushed deeply as she grinned like a lunatic; there was a disconcerting heat in her eyes when she looked back at Nightmare Moon. “I can’t believe you would do something like this!”

“Wh-what?” Nightmare Moon furrowed her brow. “What was inside it?”

“Oh, you know…” Ebony giggled – giggled – and revealed what she had pulled out from the box.

It was a wooden photo frame.

Inside it was a photo.

That photo was of Nightmare Moon in a very provocative pose while holding a rose between her teeth.

‘To my favourite mare ;]’ was written across the bottom-right corner of the frame.

Nightmare Moon’s mind went blank. “Bwuh?”

“Oh Faust, I’m so embarrassed, but…!” Ebony squealed in unrestrained delight and held the photo close to her chest while prancing in place. “I-I’ll keep this in my room and I won’t tell a single soul! Oh my gosh, I can’t believe…! Eee!!”

“Bwuh?”

Nightmare Moon could only stare dumbly as Ebony danced out of the room and down the corridor, her giggles and squeals slowly fading out of her hearing range.

“… Bwuh?”

Nightmare Moon didn’t…!

She would never…!

That photo was fake! It… Somepony was messing with her; she would never, ever agree to pose in such a manner for anypony, even if they were her most loyal!

And what the hell was with that present she received?!

Nightmare Moon turned around.

The box was back on her desk, unopened.

Immediately, she lunged at it, grabbed it with her magic, and rushed out of her room to chase Ebony down.

“Ebony, I would never gift you such a thing!” She howled, her mighty hooves crashing against the floor and down a set of stairs leading to the floor below her; Ebony’s room wasn’t too far, she would catch that mare and demand that humiliating thing back! “It was this accursed box that held your so-called ‘present’; I had nothing to do with-”

She slipped.

To be fair, she was in too much of a rage to spare time for such things as observing where her hooves were going.

Nightmare Moon tumbled down the last few steps and face-planted, hard. A split-second later, five objects bounced off her flank and skull.

‘Ow.’

Peeling her muzzle from the floor, she looked up and saw five more presents sitting there, mocking her with their colourful wrappings.
The original box was nowhere to be seen.

Snarling ferociously, she stood up and prepared to crush the presents beneath her-

“Whoa, are these for us?”

A blur of colour swept by and whisked the presents away.

Nightmare Moon blinked and looked to the side, her stomach dropping as she saw Fade hand out three of the presents to Haze, Veil, Lightning Dust, and Miasma. “You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?”

Fade opened his the fastest. “Aw, no way!” He lifted a poster from the box with a surprised laugh of joy. “The Limited Edition poster for Scythe Crucify autographed by the lead actress?! Fans breaking into her house and holding her up with water guns couldn’t get this! Thanks, boss!”

Nightmare Moon’s right eye twitched. ‘At least it’s not another photo of me…’

“A jar of feather preening oils?” Lightning Dust cried. She pulled the cork out and took a whiff. “Hot shit – this is genuine Cloudsdale oil, too! This stuff costs a fortune.”

“Oh my…” Haze pressed a hoof against his trembling lips as he levitated a plastic-wrapped box of grooming tools. “Are these… polished silver from the remaining descendants of the Princess Platinum bloodline? You can’t even… barter for…” He sniffled, eyes wet. “I will allow myself to shed tears, just this once – gentlepony rules be damned.”

“I did not get those for you!” Nightmare Moon growled. “Somepony sent a present to my room and when I opened it-”

“Empress!” Ebony darted to her side, furiously blushing. “I don’t think you should discuss such a private thing so publicly. Unless… you’re open to that sort of thing?”

“What?! No!” Nightmare Moon pulled a face in disgust. “I was just going to tell them that…” She blinked as something suddenly occurred to her. “Ebony… aren’t you supposed to be in a coffin for your lichdom?”

The smaller mare looked to the side and smiled happily. “Aw, you even got Veil that book about the dumbest ponies in history.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Now whenever I feel sympathy and hope for my fellow pony, I can always look inside this.” Veil sighed in content as she hugged the book tightly.

Miasma hugged a plush, pink elephant, joy evident in her dull eyes and flat expression. “Thank you for this gift, Empress – I’m so pleased.”

Nightmare Moon shouted in frustration and stomped her forehooves, shaking the entire hallway. “I didn’t do this! I have far more important things to do than go around buying presents for everypony! What, did you expect me to hand out presents and hang up decorations?”

“But there are decorations.” Fade replied.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes went wide. “What?”

He gestured to the walls. “The entire castle is decorated, yeah?”

Nightmare Moon looked – actually looked around and a cold lance went through her.

“No…”

Red, white, green all over – decorations lit up the hallway with exuberant festivity; they stretched across the walls and ceiling and all the way down around the corners, infecting the rest of the castle with Hearth’s Warming cheer.

Nightmare Moon had never seen a more unnerving sight.

But she would not be intimidated!

With a furious shake of her head, Nightmare Moon puffed herself up and spread her wings with a cyclonic rush of wind that knocked a nearby wreath to the carpet.

“Enough! This madness shall end by my hooves!”

With a tremendous leap, Nightmare Moon soared over the heads of her Praetorian Guard and flew through the castle’s winding hallways, driven with determination to find the source of this madness.

She had a good idea on who it was, too.

Discord.

No other being could cause such chaos in such a short span of time; when Nightmare Moon had been walking up to her quarters, everything was fine and non-festive, she was certain of it!

But now… now everything was wrong.

The servants and guards she flew over on her way to Discord’s prison ducked and dived and dodged and cheered and-

Wait, ‘cheered’?

“Thanks, Empress!

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Empress!”

“It’s just what I always wanted!”

Nightmare Moon spread her wings to slow down and hover in place as she turned around, her jaw dropping as ponies opened the colourful presents that were inexplicably scattered across the floor.

“Where did you…?” She shook her in confusion and adjusted her grip on the box. “How did these get…?”

Nightmare Moon jolted and brought the plain cardboard box in her forehooves up to eye level.

It was upside-down, so a single present slid out and plopped into the waiting forelegs of a maid. She eagerly popped it open and laughed in delight.

“Ha ha! Usurper Nightmare Moon has given an empty box for me to cherish and care for! I shall place so many things inside; it makes my head spin with joy and vertigo!”

Nightmare Moon screamed with rage and threw the box as hard as she could, causing it to strike the head of another servant and spit out another present.

She flew away from it all – from the cheers, the joy, the slurred cry of the servant as he thanked her for the bottle of aspirin; she needed logic and common sense and she needed it now.

And like most things in life, she would get it by beating the snot out of someone else.

At this speed, it only took her another thirty seconds before the heavy metal door leading into Discord’s chamber came into view; the two guards stationed there went ashen-faced as she zoomed towards them and violently landed on the floor, mere feet from just crushing them beneath her.

They lightened up considerably when two presents sailed over Nightmare Moon’s head and into their clutches, however.

Nightmare Moon turned and aimed a scorching glare at the open box precariously balanced on her back. “Guards – open the door.”

“Empress, how did you know that I needed a new sweater?”

“Open the door, you fool!!”

She used her magic to grab the box and hold it in front of her as she walked forwards once the door was open; she didn’t even bother telling the guards to close it as she threw the box against the floor, watching it skid and bump into the base of Discord’s stone-imprisoned form.

“What is this?”

A pregnant moment where Discord’s grey, unmoving face stared at her.

“Why, it appears to be a present.”

Nightmare Moon shook her head with a growl. “No, it’s a…”

The box had been replaced with a wrapped present.

“Is… Are you giving me a gift?”

Something inside Nightmare Moon snapped.

She tensed and lunged at Discord with enough momentum to send them both crashing to the floor. She saw red as she bared her teeth and shredded cheeks at Discord’s face, speckling the surface with blood and spit.

“Don’t play dumb with me, fool! I know you’re the cause of this! Are you trying to drive me crazy? Because that won’t work – the only thing you’re accomplishing is making me angry!”

“I’m… imprisoned in stone, Blanky,” Discord said with a measure of hesitance. “If I could still use my powers, then I wouldn’t waste time playing you. Tartarus, I’d go straight for the neck. Nobody hurts Fluttershy.”

He sounded… sincere.

But… but that couldn’t be!

He was the only one that had the power to do something like this! If… if it wasn’t him, then who could-

Suddenly, music filled the chamber.

Nightmare Moon turned her head in horror. “No…”

Where the present should have been, there was now a bright blue plastic radio that spat out a familiar and horrifying tune – it sat in the shredded remains of the packaging it came in.

“No…”

“Ooh, I love this song!” Discord chuckled. “Ah, a reprieve from the tedious monotony of this chamber – it’s the perfect Hearth’s Warming Eve gift for an old spirit like myself. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… thank you, Nightmare Moon.”

Nightmare Moon shook her head vehemently. “No…”

The music looped its energetic tune, and Discord’s disembodied voice accompanied it in a nightmarish din.

“My name is Pinkie Pie – but not really – and I am here to say – though not with my lips – I’m gonna make you smile and I will brighten up your daaaay~”

Nightmare Moon howled in dismay and flew out the chamber.

“How did her song even reach all the way to Canterlooooooot?!”

Nightmare Moon wasn’t entirely sure of what happened after that.

When she finally took her hooves away from her ears and opened her eyes, she found herself in the city and heading straight towards a snowpony being built by a couple of foals.

‘Ugh… maybe destroying this will calm my thoughts.’

She bust through it with a pomf and an explosion of powdery snow; she kept on going and ended up crashing into a snow dune, her head popping out the other end, much to the shock of the couple that just so happened to be walking by.

Nightmare Moon sighed. ‘Nope.’

“Dear me, is that you, Star- er, I mean, Empress?” The stallion of the couple said with a minute adjustment of his monocle.

Nightmare Moon blinked a few times in surprise. “Fancypants? Fleur?” Once she looked past the thick jackets and garish scarves – newest trend, apparently – and saw that it was indeed them, she stood back up, shaking her wings to remove snow. “I wasn’t expecting to see you two today; it feels like you’ve been gone for half the year.”

“We’re both busy ponies,” Fancypants said with a tip of his top hat. “You have a country to rule and my dear wife’s been swamped with all the festive-themed clothing the designers are heaping upon her.”

“And Fancypants has been dealing with some disgruntled workers,” Fleur added. “They always get a little… odd around this time.”

Immediately after she said that, a scratchy voice jeered from the side. Nightmare Moon glanced in that direction to see a stallion in ragged clothing hissing and booing while carting a sign saying, ‘Fancypants is a scrooge’.

“Force me to work Hearth’s Warming Eve, eh, ya cheap bugger?!”

“I gave you time off to spend the holiday with your family, Rusty, my boy!” Fancypants retorted.

“And you cut our pay!”

“I’m fairly certain I gave you a bonus, old chap!”

“Can’t even afford to feed the lads at the orphanage!”

“Those are students at the school for gifted unicorns; I’m fairly certain they told you not to come onto their campus anymore.”

“Yer a horrible boss, ya overpaying muppet!” The stallion shook his hoof as he stomped off. “Ya deny me my right to complain by making the workplace a safe environment again and I’ll praise you so hard you’ll never want me to work there any longer, ya understanding scrooge! See you next week!”

Fancypants gave an unsure smile. “I’m… very confused. All the time.”

Nightmare Moon snorted. “Bah – humbug. You’re not the only one dealing with idiocy, though; I’m being pestered by some sort of eldritch being that has taken the form of a plain box that spews out presents in such a way that it makes it seem as if I had bought them of my own willpower.”

“It’s making you look good to make you look bad?” Fleur blinked. “My, how dastardly.”

The fact that she said it so unironically weirded Nightmare Moon out.

“And of course, it disappears when I try to point it out, so I just appear crazy in addition to being benevolent,” Nightmare Moon continued, slapping a hoof to her face in exasperation. “Ugh, I won’t even dare to imagine how this day could get any stupider.”

“I came to kick butt and be heroic!”

“Oh, I just had to say that, didn’t I?”

The sight of Knight Enforcer Caed and a bunch of his knights stepping out of a Fracture just down the street filled her more with irritation than outright anger. Hell, the ponies walking around didn’t even seem scared – they just stared at the human like he was one of those creepy mascots dancing outside fast food establishments and quickened their pace to get away.

Clearly, the insanity haunting Nightmare Moon had already spread into the city.

“And I’m all out of heroism!” Caed twirled his glaive with a confident grin before his head finally caught up with his mouth. “Oh, uh… I mean… And I’m all out of kicking butt! No, wait… Can we go back through the Fracture so I can try again?”

Cross-dimensional insanity – the newest force to drive Nightmare Moon into an anger-induced coma.

“No, but you can go back through the Fracture and stay there,” She growled. “I’m busy dealing with some sort of hostile entity and I’m not…”

She trailed off once she realized that the box in question was directly at her feet; she got the feeling of anticipating emanating from it and realized what it wanted.

“No.”

The box did nothing.

“I refuse.”

The box did nothing.

“This is stupid.”

The box did nothing.

Caed cleared his throat in annoyance. “Hey, I’m right here! Come and fight me, my nemesis! Or are you afraid? In that case, allow me to list off the reasons why that is an appropriate response…”

Nightmare Moon groaned miserably and opened the box with her magic. “And today started off so normally, too…”

Inside was a present with golden wrapping and a red bow; it slipped out of her magic when she tried to pick it up, seemingly made from the same magic-resistant nature of the human’s universe, so she used her mouth to do it instead and tossed it over with a jerk of her head.

“Here – Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve, you overgrown monkey.”

Caed’s long-winded speech came to an abrupt stop as the present landed by his feet; he flickered in a sudden blur of motion too fast to follow and the next second the wrapping had been cleanly shredded.

“Ha! Your pre-emptive attack accomplished nothing! This harmless box will never-”

“Look in the box, idiot.”

“Oh?”

Caed kneeled and opened the box. Almost immediately, his jaw dropped and his lips quivered.

“It’s… I…”

“Knight Enforcer?” One of his knights questioned worriedly. “Are you okay?”

Caed scooped up what was inside the container and twirled to face his soldiers. “Look, Esther! Look what the magical flying horse has given me!”

“We’re ponies!”

Esther leaned in to read the title of the book. “‘One Hundred and One ways to Inspire your Friends and Demoralize the Enemy with Words: Special Edition – Now 20% more Linguistic’.”

“This is perfect!” Caed laughed giddily and turned back around. “I… Thank you for this wonderful gift, my most hated enemy! I’m… Oh, but I have nothing to give you in return.”

“You could not attack. At least for today,” Nightmare Moon grumbled. “I’m so angry that I’m tired.”

Caed pointed to the sky dramatically. “Done! Knights – lay down your weapons and let us examine this strange white substance falling from the heavens!”

“Knight Enforcer, we wasted quite a bit of energy by opening this-”

“Come frolic with me, Esther!”

Esther sighed and dropped her sword and shield before taking Caed’s hand. “Only because it’s you, Caed.”

Nightmare Moon stared blankly as the two humans proceeded to frolic through the snow while the other knights made snow-angels and threw snowballs, eventually enticing the ponies standing around to join in.

‘Maybe I actually died when Celestia hit me with that beam of sunlight and now I’m in Tartarus. Certainly feels like it…’

“Hey, Wolf! Hey, Fancypants and Fleur!”

Nightmare Moon blinked and looked to the side to see Vinyl and Octavia walking up to them, both also wearing garish scarves. “Oh… hello.”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, my dears.” Fancypants greeted while Fleur nodded politely.

Vinyl took one look at the humans and ponies playing and her eyebrows quirked over the rim of her shades. “Huh – there’s something you don’t see every Hearth’s Warming.”

“The amount of ‘crazy’ in this area will no doubt tear the fabric of reality asunder, but at the very least it’s a ceasefire. For now,” Nightmare Moon shook her head with a sigh. “I feel like I’m trapped in some dream; if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve already felt pain, then I would bite myself to wake up.”

Vinyl shrugged. “Eh, there are worse dreams if that’s the case, right?”

“I suppose…”

Nightmare Moon looked down at her hooves again. The box was still there, and again, she heard the unsaid suggestion.

She looked at Vinyl.

“… Hm.”

Using her magic, she levitated four presents out of the box. Nopony around her seemed to acknowledge it; they didn’t even blink until she handed them out.

“Here.”

“Really? Sweet!” Vinyl quipped cheerfully, also not even acknowledging where Nightmare Moon got the presents in the first place.

Fancypants admired a smart-looking top hat that sparkled in the light – “genuine stitching from Crystal Empire tailors” – while Fleur got another scarf to replace the one she was wearing; she almost cried in joy as she cast the garish thing aside.

Octavia shyly signed, ‘thank you’ as she held a beautifully crafted bow made from what was no doubt a rare type of wood and Vinyl whooped as she levitated a sleek pair of headphones.

“Dude, this brand doesn’t even come out until next year! How’d you get them?”

“If I’d known they existed, then probably through the threat of eating the president of whatever company makes them,” Nightmare Moon shrugged, feeling… warm at everyone’s reaction.

“Aw, jeez, Wolf! Now, I…” Vinyl swore in sudden dismay. “The present I got for you sucks compared to yours! I gotta go buy a new one!”

Fancypants’s eyes went wide. “So do I! Quick – I know of a store that will grant us special access! Follow me!”

Nightmare Moon’s right eyebrow rose as her four f-friends dashed off in a panic towards the ‘special access’ store. They were making impressive headway and she had to applaud their perseverance and drive when they steamrolled over random bystanders.

“Huh…”

At some inner urge, she glanced down at the box again and saw that it had opened by itself and the duke blue of a bow was peeking out of it.

“Ugh, look – I’m grateful that you gave me those presents, but you’ve possible permanently ruined my reputation. Now, everypony’s going to think I’m sort of ruler that goes around hoofing out presents; they’re going to expect this every year, you know that?”

She sighed and lifted the present.

“What further humiliation do you wish to…?”

To: Nightmare Moon
From: A Friend

“…”

After some tearing and opening, Nightmare Moon was left staring at a framed picture of her and Vinyl standing together. Vinyl was beaming happily at the camera while Nightmare Moon was…

Also looking quite happy.

It was fake, though; Nightmare Moon didn’t recall ever posing for a picture next to Vinyl, at least not without her Star Secret disguise. Still…

Still, she liked it.

Nightmare Moon’s lips twitched into a small smile. “Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve, Vinyl.”

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!

Author's Note

Note 1: It's been almost two years since I first posted this story and I've recieved so much feedback for it. Thank you to everyone who has followed it or even just glanced at it once and moved on - I wish you all the best in 2017 and I hope you've all had a great Christmas.

Note 2: I love making Nightmare Moon the only sane individual in these types of scenarios.

Chapter 56: How the Other Side lives

1056 AD, January 13th

“… You’re hardly inconspicuous.”

“There’s not much I can do about that; if you wish to avoid discovery and further casualties, then I suggest you find those that can assist me quickly.”

Anna pressed her lips together and kept limping down the stairs, keeping Amelie in front of her as she used one hand to press against the side of her chest. The small girl kept throwing wide-eyed glances over her shoulder; Vinyl tried waving at first, but the human girl was more fixated on Nightmare Moon, who paid her no mind.

Nightmare Moon had every intention of harming and killing the girl if Anna tried to cross her, but she didn’t think it’d come to that – Anna was genuinely desperate to keep the girl – her child, perhaps? – safe, so she would follow through and lead Nightmare Moon to what she wanted.

A way back home.

Well, Nightmare Moon wanted a lot of things, some of them before she could leave, but those demands she’d save for the humans that could operate the Fractures; Anna said she was a doctor, so it’d be useless to demand that from her – she couldn’t even fix Vinyl if she got injured because it wasn’t like human physiology carried over well to equine physiology.

No, this human was only useful for getting them to where she needed to be.

She looked at Vinyl just to make sure she was still there before looking up at the winding stairs above them.

‘The knights must have discovered the bodies of their fallen by now. I wonder how long it will be before they come back down?’

“Hey, Wolf?”

Nightmare Moon looked back down. “Yes?”

“You okay?”

“Physically and mentally, yes. As for being ‘okay’ considering our circumstances…” Nightmare Moon trailed off and shook her head, deciding to end the train of thought. “How are you faring?”

“Can’t complain,” She shrugged. “S’pose I can, but it’s not like that’ll do anything.”

“If only everypony else could understand that…”

When they finally reached the bottom of the stairwell, Anna lifted her hand, gesturing for her to wait, and carefully opened the door so she could peek out. She waved her hand again a moment later before exiting; Nightmare Moon followed her swiftly in case she decided to try and run.

They were in a much wider space this time – it appeared to be the lobby of the building, for there was a desk to Nightmare Moon’s right and dozens of folding chairs pushed up against the walls; there were a few paintings hung up to make some attempt of liveliness, but they were in such poor condition that it just looked depressing.

“Everyone’s at a shelter nearby,” Anna said, sounding and looking miserable; Nightmare Moon didn’t know how much of that was from her ribs. “I... I’ll take you there, but you can’t hurt anyone else.”

“Well, that depends now, doesn’t it?” Nightmare Moon said with a sarcastic sneer. “So far, violence has been the only way to get what I want with you humans and there is no reason why I should stop now.”

“But-”

“It’s really simple: if they do what I say and don’t attack, then I will stay my hoof. If, however, they deign to cooperate or attempt to harm myself or my companion, then I will act accordingly.”

“There are kids there.”

“Again, do I look like I care?”

A dark look flashed over Anna’s face; the muscles in her neck visibly tensed as she stopped herself from doing something she would undoubtedly regret.

“… Fine.”

She led them to the lobby’s doors and out onto a weathered sidewalk of grimy concrete next to a road riddled with potholes and cracks; they sharply contrasted the maintained roads in Canterlot and were uncomfortably hot to touch.

“Yeesh, it’s stuffy…” Vinyl murmured as she wiped her brow.

Nightmare Moon grunted in agreement – the glaring rays of the twin stars was merciless and she already disliked being outside under Equestria’s solitary sun.

Anna didn’t seem all that bothered by it and looked both ways down the road nervously before gesturing in one direction with her head.

“There are lots of shelters around, but the nearest one – the one where the scribes that work with the Fractures – is just down there.”

Nightmare Moon squinted against the light and saw a squat, bland building that wasn’t as derelict and beaten-down as the ones surrounding them. It looked strong enough to withstand… well, she was going to say one of her magical blasts until she remembered how near-useless magic was in this world.

“No one to guard it?”

Anna shook her head. “Not from the outside. There’ll be Rouge Knights inside, though; they’ll answer if someone knocks on the door.”

“How many?”

“Two, usually. No more than three, but… I don’t think there’ll be that many there; all of them are probably back in the facility, looking for you.”

“Excellent. Then knock and get them to open that door,” Nightmare Moon bent her neck and flexed her wings to work out a few kinks. “After that, well… I’d advise that you get out of the way.”

“Noted.”

“Don’t run too far. Even if you managed to fight through your injury and get away with the child, I might be inclined to harm any of the other young ones within that shelter.”

Anna nodded solemnly.

“Good to see you can follow orders. Keep moving.”

The ground was hot, and Vinyl hissed and grumbled as softly as she could as they walked, her hooves lacking any form of protection; Nightmare Moon’s own metal shoes weren’t very effective in keeping the heat out either, but at least it was something. The two humans were seemingly unaffected, their feet protected by shoes made from… leather.

Vinyl likely didn’t know about leather, or didn’t pay attention to the humans’ feet or she would have undoubtedly made some sort of disgusted comment along the lines of ‘what the friggin’ fuck’?

The use of leather in the humans’ attire suggested they were familiar with tanning animal skin – a process that she previously only knew to be practised by griffons and minotaurs. She randomly wondered whether they used the hides of the grazing beasts that wandered into Equestria through the Fractures.

“Uh, Wolf?” Vinyl whispered, catching her attention. “You have a plan for this shelter thing, right?” Her eyebrows curled inwards over her shades. “Because I’m assuming it has a crap-ton of humans.”

“Well, once Anna gets the door open, then I go in and take out any knights. Stay outside and keep an eye on these two, but if you see things going badly…” Nightmare Moon curled one corner of her lip. “Then I would appreciate some assistance.”

“Cool – got it. You know, it’s not bad to ask for help if you’re fighting an army.”

“My wounded pride says otherwise.”

“Big baby.”

Anna stopped right in front of the door of the bland building with Amelie at her side, one hand tightly clutched in the palm of the older female’s, and swallowed nervously and looked at Nightmare Moon, a single bead of sweat trailing down her brow.

Nightmare Moon made a ‘go on’ gesture with her forehoof before quietly trotting over to stand to the side, as close to the door as she felt comfortable with. Vinyl moved behind her and rolled her shoulders, looking anxious but determined.

Anna turned back to the door, lifted her hand, let it hang, and shakily lowered it.

Nightmare Moon exhaled loudly and waved her forehoof in circles impatiently. ‘Hurry up.’

The human grimaced and reluctantly knocked on the door, a rehearsed knock that Nightmare Moon guessed to be some sort of code.
Not even two seconds after the final thump of her fist did a section of the door slide open, slightly above Anna’s eye level; Nightmare Moon pressed closer against the building and listened as a gravelly voice came through the slot.

“Anna – why th’ hell are you alone? No one come to escort ya and th’ munchkin?”

“They wanted as many people dealing with the threat as they could spare; it wasn’t far for me and Amelie to walk.” Anna lied, hiding her pain with a shaky grin.

“Still no reason to leave you two alone,” The knight – male, by the sounds – said, and a second later, Nightmare Moon heard the definitive noise of heavy bolts being slid out of their fixtures and primed herself to pounce. “So, you heard what th’ threat is, right? Something came through th’ Fracture and th’ Scribes barely managed to sound th’ alarm and lock th’ thing in before it could escape.”

“Oh…” Anna murmured dully, her eyes darting nervously to the side. “I hope they deal with it soon.”

Seconds later, the door gave a shuddering groan as it swung inwards. Nightmare Moon stretched to her full height and unhinged her jaw as a human came through, his head exposed and his face creasing in confusion as Anna grabbed Amelie’s hand and pulled her backwards while covering the child’s eyes with one hand.

The human turned his head in Nightmare Moon’s direction and looked quite surprised in the half-second before she slammed her teeth down on his neck and twisted to the side.

Metallic tang flowed across her taste buds as the human’s head bounced off the doorway and his body spun back into the building from the force of her tearing; a din of screams, shouts, and cries kicked up almost immediately.

Nightmare Moon dashed through the doorway, wincing at the sheer cacophony of noise and only just managed to sidestep a falling blade that sparked against the floor. She stomped down on the blade, snapped it in two, and threw her weight into tackling the attacking human, throwing him into two other humans that weren’t nearly as armored.

Before he could recover, she clamped her teeth down on his foot and dragged him back so she could rear up on her hindlegs and slam her forehooves down; the armor crumpled and she heard several bones cracking, but she stomped three more times just to make sure, all to the tune of screams and shouts.

“Every…” She scowled darkly and stepped off the mangled corpse, flashing her fangs and stretching her wings to their full length. “Everyone be silent!!”

There was no magic to augment her voice, but it rang out across the brightly-lit room regardless, pressing down against the humans like a physical force that eventually stifled their noises to hushed whimpers and panicked breathing.

“You!” Nightmare Moon turned to several humans that were to her left and right and jerked her head. “All of you! Get with the rest of your kind now! Quickly!” When they looked to each other and didn’t move, she snapped her teeth. “If by the count of five you are not in front of me, I will kill someone for each second thereafter! One! Two! Three!”

They almost tripped over one another to obey, and Nightmare Moon cut herself off just as ‘five’ was about to leave her lips.

As she glared and stalked to and fro, culling any notions of rebellion through sheer presence and predatory intimidation, she took in her surroundings and noted that it looked like the interior of one of Canterlot’s emergency shelters – there were shelves, a high ceiling, fluorescent lights, and everything was made from grey cement.

The humans in front of her must have been non-combatants; none of them wore armor or held any weapons. Good – less trouble for her.

Without taking her gaze off the humans that pressed tightly together, shielding their young on some base herding instinct, Nightmare Moon pricked her ears and said in a low voice, “Vinyl – are those two still out there?”

“Yep!” Vinyl chimed back. “Still here.”

“Send them in and then you come stand next to me. Close the door when you do so.”

Several seconds passed before Anna and Amelie passed by on her right to join the crowd; she heard Vinyl grunting in effort and the door swinging shut with a clang before the DJ approached until she was on Nightmare Moon’s left, wiping her brow.

Nodding in satisfaction, Nightmare Moon shifted her stance so she was at her full, towering height. “Which of you are familiar with the technology used to interact with the Entropic Fractures? Step forward.”

There was movement at the back, of someone hastily pushing their way through the crowd; the humans at front eventually caught wind and parted like a zipper coming undone, allowing a male in a white coat with the crest of a golden tree on his shoulder to come through.

He appeared to be an elder judging by the wrinkles on his face and the starch white of his hair, though he moved with fluidity that suggested spryness and energy.

Nightmare Moon stared at him coldly as he stopped a few feet from her, and adjusted his thin-frame glasses. “Who are you?”

“Scribe Eiswhel…” He said, back straight and body language tense. “… You’re… you’re the Empress of the other world, the one the Knight Enforcer told us about.”

“That I am and I wish to go back to my world,” She kept her voice even and quiet as she watched him and the crowd carefully; she didn’t know the layout of the place, or if there was some switch nearby that anyone could flip and alert any of the knights. “Along with any unicorns you have taken.”

Eiswhel swallowed, but kept his face straight. “Not all of them are… with us.”

“So, there are still some that are alive?”

“Y… yes.”

“I see,” She nodded and took a step forward. “Now, here’s what’s going to happen: you’re going to lead us to whatever means you use to create Fractures, you are going to open one leading back to Canterlot city, where you sent your Knight Enforcer, and you are going to release any captive unicorns that are still alive into my custody. If you cooperate fully, then no harm will come to anyone in this room.”

“I’d ask if I have your word, but you don’t seem the type to honour it.”

“As if your opinion of me mattered; kindly keep it to yourself and take me to where you create the Fractures, or would you like the blood of your own kind on your hands instead of mine for a change?”

“No. I’ll come with you,” Eiswhel swallowed with some difficulty. “Just… don’t hurt anyone else.”

“Good choice,” Nightmare Moon stepped to the side and gestured to the door. “Get moving.”

Once he walked by between her and Vinyl, she started walking backwards to keep a cautious eye on the humans; they didn’t seem eager to test her might, but fear and numbers were prime components for a mob. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, this magic-barren world made her weaker than normal and she would just continue to weaken by using magic.

She had her strength, resilience, and accelerated healing, but the restriction placed on her magic was a severe one nonetheless; too much and she would be unable to use it entirely.

For now, she’d try to keep physical confrontations to a minimum.

“Wolf?”

Nightmare Moon looked over her shoulder; Vinyl was holding the door open expectantly. Nodding, she gave the humans one last glare before turning and striding out into the streets.

Eiswhel waited for her tensely.

“I don’t know how you expect to get by undetected,” He said, hair almost glowing in the light of the two suns. “The knights will be searching all over the place and when they radio back to the shelter and no one picks up, they’ll come check.”

“Then be quick about getting us back to our own world,” Nightmare Moon growled. “Let’s go.”

She emphasized her point by gesturing towards the building they came out of, but Eiswhel shook his head. “It’s not there.”

“What?”

“The machinery we use to manufacture the anomalies is in another facility.”

“Hey, I popped out of a portal that was in a room in that building there,” Vinyl said. “So, all the… reality-bending bits and pieces are in there by default, right?”

Eiswhel blinked at her, one eyebrow rising. “Unfortunately, that’s not how these Fractures work. I understand it may be difficult to believe what I’m saying, but the lives of innocent people are at stake – I would not put them in danger by lying. Please.”

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes, trying to search for any tell-tales; it was difficult when their ears and eyes were so small. “… Very well. I’ll trust that you are no fool. If the means to create the Fractures is not in that building, then take us to the one that is. Is it close by?”

“Not too far.”

“Can you create a Fracture by yourself?”

“I can.”

Nightmare Moon nodded thoughtfully. “… Proceed. If any knights attempt to stop us, then they will be dealt with.”

Eiswhel didn’t seem very upset about that. “Fine. Just so long as no civilians are hurt.”

He began walking across the street. Nightmare Moon and Vinyl followed him.

‘Odd…’ She stared at his back, eyes narrowed. ‘I almost expected greater resistance. The knights would always kill themselves if they were captured rather than cooperate. Perhaps these ‘Scribes’ don’t have the same fervent loyalty…’

“So, I know we’re enemies and crap…” Vinyl began, presumably talking just to fill the uncomfortable silence. Nightmare Moon didn’t think it needed filling, but she’d allow it until they were inside the building and needed to be quiet. “But can I ask you something? Human dude?”

Eiswhel looked over his shoulder with a confused expression. “I… suppose that’s alright,” He turned back forwards with a shrug. “Though it depends on what question you ask.”

“Ah, I’ll leave all the hard questions to Wolf here; I just wanna know some dumb stuff. Like… I dunno. Why is your home such a shitshow?”

Unexpectedly, Eiswhel chortled after a brief silence.

“Well, you’re a blunt one.”

“Yeah,” Vinyl beamed proudly. “People are always getting angry at me for it.”

“I can imagine. The answer to your question is very simple: war.”

“With who?”

“Other humans. We’re not entirely sure why we were fighting though.”

Nightmare Moon’s attention shifted. “How can you not know the purpose of your war? Was it for territory? Currency? Religion?”

“I have no idea what set off our fathers and their fathers, but by the time I was born, it was a fight for survival. Either we perished, or the other side did.”

Vinyl frowned. “Wow, that… that sucks.”

‘How intriguing,’ Nightmare Moon thought. ‘To fight an enemy without knowing the reason. If only I could study these humans under different circumstances; their plight would be extraordinary to record, I’m sure.’

“Your environment seems inhospitable; I don’t suppose this is all due to the unfortunate incident that I partially played a part in by forcibly closing the large Fracture that was once suspended above Canterlot?”

“No, but it didn’t help us in any way, that’s for certain,” Eiswhel snapped with an impressive amount of spite. “Decades of fighting turned the environment stale and infertile, but we were on the path to re-planting and growing our own food. The Obelisk Sector is… was our greatest triumph in agriculture, and your actions destroyed it.”

Nightmare Moon sighed in exasperation. “I had no inkling that your kind even existed when I closed the Fracture. I…” She hissed in disgust. “Why do I need to reaffirm this? Did your Knight Enforcer not tell you how I had no idea, or did he fabricate some fantastic tale that makes him the noble protagonist, completely exempt from blame and able to do no wrong?”

“As a matter of fact, Caed did tell us your side of the story.”

Nightmare Moon blinked, taken aback. “Truly?”

“Yes, although that doesn’t mean we don’t despise you. Ignorance aside, sixty-one lives are gone because of you.”

“Six…? I recall Caed saying ‘fifty-two’.”

“Seven more died from injuries they sustained from the explosion,” Eiswhel’s hands curled into fists. “Two committed suicide.”

Nightmare Moon clenched her jaw.

She saw Vinyl look at her in concern out of the corner of her eye and felt an inexplicable flash of hot anger that she barely tamed lest she give a biting remark that the DJ didn’t deserve. Instead, she chose to add that anger to the ‘human’ category.

Of course she regretted that her actions caused the death of these humans; it wasn’t like she went around slaughtering masses for fun. True, they may not have been her kind, but inadvertently causing the deaths of sixty-one sentient creatures that understood the concept of revenge and family with nothing to gain wasn’t just idiotic… it was… well, it gave Nightmare Moon a feeling like there was lead in her belly.

She blamed Vinyl, she blamed Fancypants, she blamed everypony that she was close with for instilling in her the capacity to feel that dreadful leaden weight.

“You…” Nightmare Moon trailed off; she wanted to say something, to rebuke Eiswhel’s words, but what for? He was completely right in saying that fifty-two – sixty-one, whatever… - of his kind were dead because of her, so why go on about it? She had her reasons for doing so, she didn’t need to defend herself to the enemy. “Pick up the pace – I have a city to get back to.”

They walked in uncomfortable silence for several long moments – during which Nightmare Moon almost tripped over a piece of cracked roadwork because she was so lost in thought – before Vinyl suddenly cleared her throat.

“So… can I still ask you stuff?”

Against all odds, they arrived at the facility without incident.

The outward appearance of the tall building that cast a great shadow over the street they were on didn’t seem to fit its supposed purpose for housing a machine that could tear the fabric of space apart to act as a gateway; its windows were broken and grimy, much like how the rest of the buildings around here appeared – at least it wasn’t gutted by flames that had long since died off like the flower shop behind Nightmare Moon with the shattered pots full of withered vegetation.

“I hope for your sake and your fellow humans’ that this isn’t a ploy.” She growled, turning to glare at Eiswhel.

“I’m well aware,” Eiswhel muttered sourly; it was the first time they had spoken to one another in a little over ten minutes. “Look – it’s a miracle we haven’t come across another living soul so far, but I guarantee you that there are knights in there along with a few other Scribes; they would’ve stayed behind to monitor the Spectrum Shifter. That’s the machine we use to create the Fractures,” He added upon seeing her lost frown. “I doubt we can sneak past, or operate the machine without alerting them.”

“Then they die.” Nightmare Moon stated simply.

“I…” Eiswhel grimaced. “Spare the Scribes, please; they are unarmed.”

“No promises.”

“Wait, are we just gonna walk in?” Vinyl asked. “That… doesn’t sound like a good plan, Wolf. It’s a plan, but it’s not a good one.”

“Technically, we’re going to charge in, but if you have a better idea, please share.”

“Uhh… can’t you, like… morph into a knight and pretend that you’re delivering me as a prisoner? The human dudes like capturing unicorns.”

“I wouldn’t say we ‘like’ to do it.” Eiswhel weakly protested.

“I’d have better luck transforming into a frog; their shapes are strange and alien to me. Perhaps if they weren’t immune to magic, and I could cast a spell to analyse their physiology, but we don’t have that luxury.”

“What about an illusion?”

“Manipulation of the light – it won’t stop anyone from reaching out and feeling my real shape.”

“Invisibility?”

“I can’t replenish magic naturally here, so I’d more than likely just run out.”

“What an abundance of utilities magic has…”

“You stop fishing for weaknesses,” Nightmare Moon flashed her teeth threateningly at Eiswhel, who pondered deeply. “Forget everything we’re saying.”

“Come on – there has to be a way inside that doesn’t involve you going ‘rargh, rargh, I’m the pony that eats dreams and gives zero shits’,” Vinyl scratched at her head and looked at the building. “Hey, in spy movies, they always use ventilation shafts, don’t they? I…” She turned back to Nightmare Moon, her face falling as her head turned up. “Oh, yeah… you’re three times my size or something…”

“Wait…” Nightmare Moon turned to Eiswhel. “Are there ventilation shafts?”

“Yes. Years ago, Caed got stuck in them playing hide and seek with the children,” Eiswhel sighed and shook his head like a disappointed father. “Never listens – just like with Lena’s shield…”

“Vinyl…” Nightmare Moon turned back to her friend and grinned maliciously. “I believe you might just be a genius.”

The DJ looked worried. “Whoa – you’re scaring me, Wolf.”

“Good – hold onto that fear because you’ll need it,” Nightmare Moon turned her grin onto the building. “Here’s what we’re going to do…”

It was a risky plan.

Especially for Vinyl.

But she was just as desperate to get back to Canterlot as Nightmare Moon was, so she was all for playing the role of the helpless unicorn if it got them where they needed to be.

Even so, Nightmare Moon felt a cold lump of worry as she watched Eiswhel walk up to the building’s heavy metal doors with Vinyl trailing behind him, doing her best to look hopeless and pathetic, and press his thumb against a small, grey box with a red LED screen installed next to the door; she heard it beep cheerfully.

Nightmare Moon whisked away to a spot a little ways above the door’s frame and floated there, making sure that she kept her gaseous form as compressed as possible.

Breaking apart into mist was, like her strength and resilience, a natural ability that was less reliant on magic; she guessed that it wouldn’t be as difficult or magically taxing and so far, she was correct – it was like she was misting back in Equestria.

She couldn’t attack, however; she needed a few seconds to regain physicality, so she had to trust that her threat of going back to harm and kill a few civilians would keep Eiswhel in line because if Vinyl got hurt…

She… Nightmare Moon didn’t know exactly what she’d do, but there will be a lot of death and destruction.

‘Someone’s coming.’

‘Looking’ down, Nightmare Moon heard the muffled footsteps from the other side of the door approach and stop before the grey box lit up with a red light again.

“Scribe Eiswhel? What are you doing out here?” A feminine voice filtered through it, jittery with static. “You should be back in one of the shelters.”

“I was already on my way to deliver another unicorn with Knight Paladin Portman when he was called back to deal with the intrusion,” Eiswhel said. “He went off and I decided to bring the unicorn myself; not like I could bring her to one of the shelters.”

His tone was so sure and genuine that Nightmare Moon might have believed him if she was in the female knight’s boots – she begrudgingly admitted to being impressed.

“Really? He just left you alone?” The knight questioned with a tone of disapproval.

“She’s a very frail unicorn; quite weak, really.”

Nightmare Moon was thankful she didn’t have a mouth to snicker with as Vinyl sharply glanced up at the human with a look of great offense.

“He isn’t picking up – as usual – so I’ll have to chew his ass out some other time…” The female sighed. “Alright, let me get the door open.”

She clicked off, and the metal door gave an electronic chime before swing outwards. Eiswhel stepped back and adjusted his glasses while Vinyl lowered her head to look hopeless again.

A knight stepped out, shield across her back and a glinting axe hanging from her side; Nightmare Moon didn’t see straps or a bandolier, so she didn’t know how they were kept in place – it must have been human technology.

‘Equestria could have benefited from a partnership. Alas, we’ll just have to do with whatever technology we loot from their bodies. Perhaps I can take a few items before Vinyl and I leave.’

The knight was deliciously unaware, intent on looking straight ahead instead of up, and Nightmare Moon was tempted to reform and drop down like an oversized spider; she refrained from doing so and continued watching as the knight and Eiswhel exchanged a few words – queries on their well-being mostly – before the female waved them inside.

Nightmare Moon waited until Vinyl went inside before moving from her spot and creeping in before the door shut.

‘Excellent.’

Eiswhel was talking to the human and keeping her attention as they walked down a sterile corridor lit up with fluorescent bulbs; the knight didn’t seem too concerned about watching Vinyl – it all seemed like a routine for her.

‘I wonder how many unicorns have come down this hallway?’

She wondered how many were still alive.

While the trio were walking ahead, Nightmare Moon floated over to the wall, and just like Eiswhel said, there was a grate leading to the ventilation system, small and inconspicuous.

‘Perfect.’

Nightmare Moon wasn’t up for phasing through walls to follow the trio; it was too nauseating and she couldn’t see through walls – she saved it for thin obstructions.

Much like the grates bars.

Quiet as air, Nightmare Moon misted over to the bars and phased-

-bumped into them.

‘Really?’

She pushed a few tendrils of purple mist into the bars, ‘scowling’ in irritation at her lack of intangibility.

‘Hmph – I wouldn’t have been able to go through the walls even if I wanted to it seems.’

Normally, she could just go through solid objects like they were liquid, but the material of this world felt to be many times denser.

An unfortunate drawback, but she had to make do; she seeped into the vent through the gaps and misted in the direction of the two humans and Vinyl. Fortunately, Eiswhel and the knight’s voices carried clearly in the confined space, so at least she wasn’t completely blind on where to go.

“So, what are we going to do about the Knight Enforcer?” The female knight’s voice resonated in the vent, catching Nightmare Moon’s full attention. “He and the others… they’re still stuck in the pony world. I tried asking the other Scribes, but they just gave me the usual, ‘it’s complicated’ shit. You’ve always been honest with me, so I thought…”

Eiswhel paused for a long moment before sighing. “We just have to wait until the threat is dealt with. Whether it be through violence or… or other means.”

“Pfft, what other means?” The knight scoffed. “Violence is the only ‘means’ there is. You know what came through the portal, right? I heard one of the Scribes on the radio: it’s that big black horse with wings and a horn – Blight Noon. Try talking down that thing.”

Nightmare Moon ‘growled’.

Eiswhel briefly looked around as if he heard her. “They respond with violence because it is the only thing we’ve shown them. Perhaps it isn’t entirely implausible that we can talk peacefully.”

“Yeah, right…” The female chuckled humourlessly. “Like that’ll happen.”

Nightmare Moon passed by another grate and saw that they were coming up on a ‘T’ at the end of the corridor. She stayed there long enough to see them turn right – the knight snapped at Vinyl to hurry up – before rushing ahead and taking the first right in the vent passage.

She could hear them directly below her now.

“Why should we talk with them anyway?” The knight murmured after a long stretch of silence. “They killed so many of us and destroyed our future. I don’t care what Mason says; we’re not gonna be able to remake a whole greenhouse like the one in the Obelisk Sector.”

“It was an accident.”

“I know, but it doesn’t mean shit because we still lost people and our only working greenhouse is a pile of ashes. Knight Enforcer Caed said-”

“You can’t just listen to him blindly!”

Nightmare Moon heard their steps falter for a second before picking back up.

“I’m sorry,” Eiswhel murmured softly. “I didn’t mean to yell,” Another long pause. “The Knight… Caed is an incredible leader: he created this Order on his own and led us against the enemy to finally end the war, he created this community so that we might rebuild what was destroyed by our forefathers, and he inspires hope and ambition within everyone. Without him, I don’t think any of us would be here.

“But he is obsessed with the Old Tales; he wants to be the paragon they describe so badly that I fear it blinds him to what we’re doing.”

“What does…? But we’re the good guys!” The female protested. “We’re-”

“Are we?” Eiswhel interjected. “The Old Tales, from what I’ve read, hold no accounts of these heroes capturing living, thinking creatures and killing them while they are incapable of defending themselves.”

Nightmare Moon looked down at them through each grate she passed over, listening intently.

“We’re… He’s…” The female didn’t seem to have an answer for this and let out a frustrated growl. “What the shit? You didn’t do anything to stop him. If it was so wrong, then you would have done… I don’t know. You would have done something, but you didn’t.”

“Because I was angry,” Eiswhel stated calmly. “We all lost someone in that explosion; it was a horrific thing to walk through the streets and sift through the ashes, wondering if you were treading on a loved one, or if they were fortunate enough to be far away enough that they were one of the scorched figures frozen in the streets. At least you had something to bury, to say goodbye to.”

The female was quiet for a few moments. “I’m sorry we couldn’t find anything of him.”

Nightmare Moon passed by a grate and briefly saw Eiswhel bowing his head.

“… I’m still angry, Ren. I’m not sure if I can ever forgive the Empress of the ponies for what happened, but… this isn’t us. What we’re doing is not what the Order stands for.”

“But you…”

“I went along with all of it in the beginning because the wounds were raw; humans act without thinking when they’re upset – there are no exceptions. But now… after looking into the eyes of every unicorn we’ve captured… I just feel tired.”

Their footsteps veered off to the left, and Nightmare Moon took the vent passage on her right; she passed by a message scrawled in red chalk. There was another message below it written in yellow chalk.

‘Sybil? How interesting.’

She decided to ignore it and moved on to another grate ahead to confirm they were still walking below her.

“It’ll all be over soon…” 'Ren' said in a softer tone. “We just need more unicorns and then we can live happily. Think about it: we won’t ever have to worry about food or water or anything. It’ll be paradise.”

She sounded like she was trying to reassure herself as well.

“I can only dream of that for now…” Eiswhel replied with a longing tone. “Ah, we’re almost there it seems.”

The knight turned to face him; Nightmare Moon imagined a look of confusion beneath the helmet. “Yeah, I can… see that.”

There was a ‘T’ ahead of Nightmare Moon; she thought for a second before going right and then taking the first left passage she came across. There was another grate ahead that she whisked over to and looked out of.

If her eyes were still physical, they would have widened.

‘Interesting…’

From her vantage point she could see Eiswhel, the knight, and Vinyl go through another metal door, where they were greeted by another knight standing guard and a human wearing a plain white coat. There were four other humans in white coats in the room, but they were preoccupied with the two mechanical contraptions that took up the entire length of one side of the room.

On the left-most side was something that resembled a giant blender – not a comforting thought – or an observational chamber – still not a comforting thought; the see-through glass looked thick and hard to break. There was a stainless-steel table inside the chamber and nothing else. A rectangular section of the chamber was fitted with a steel handle which must have functioned as a door.

There was a metal cap on top of the chamber that sealed it off, but it also held a number of LED lights and curling wires; the main thing that drew her ‘eye’ was an extraordinarily thick cable that ran from the top of the cap all the way to the second machine.

It was considerably smaller than the first machine, perhaps just a foot or so over the tallest human in the room and slightly taller than her if she was in her physical form; it was almost shaped like a coffin, but the face held a staggering amount of lights and wires. The aspect that really caught her attention – in a morbidly fascinated sort of way – were the mechanical limbs that poked out from the side and curled inwards like a spider seeking to drain its prey dry.

A metal discus was on the floor, large enough to hold a human; it was within the mechanical appendages’ grasp, as if one stood there so that they may be embraced by the sharp limbs.

‘That… actually looks impressively intimidating. I’m sure Vinyl is getting a kick out of seeing it.’

“It’s almost cooled down, Eiswhel.”

Nightmare Moon turned her gaze to the centre of the room, where a female in a white coat was speaking to Eiswhel. Vinyl was being roughly pushed forwards by the female knight and the one that had already been in the room – it took all of Nightmare Moon’s will to not burst through the grate and rend them to pieces.

“What are you talking about?” Eiswhel said.

“We’re going to re-open another Fracture for the Knight Enforcer.” The female said, gesturing with one arm for another Scribe to go over to a mechanical station.

“Right here? Natalia, you know the risks of creating a Fracture in this facility.”

“We’re not going to make one in the other locations when the Empress of the ponies is running amok,” Natalia retorted. “I know it’s risky, but we can’t leave Caed without any support. We’re firing up the Spectrum Shifter and getting him and the others back.”

Nightmare Moon perked up as she watched Natalia walk over to the coffin-shaped machine and start busying herself with the wires and switches.

‘So, that’s the Spectrum Shifter. And they’re going to open up a Fracture right here? What fortune. I still need to find the other unicorns, but as soon as they create a Fracture, then I’ll be able to-’

“Hey, prepare that unicorn for processing.”

Though it was impossible, Nightmare Moon felt her blood run cold.

‘What? No!’

Through the grate, she saw the two knights usher Vinyl towards the machines, who immediately dropped her quiet and hopeless façade to start struggling.

“H-hey, watch the goods! Th’ hell are you guys doing?!”

Eiswhel glanced at the scene in alarm and rushed over to Natalia, brushing past a bewildered Scribe that was carrying some papers.

“Natalia, we have enough power to create one without using another unicorn.”

“So?” The female looked over her shoulder with an uncaring expression. “She’s right here, so we might as well use her.”

“She can go with the others.”

“She’s right here,” Natalia stated firmly, features turning annoyed. “Does it really matter? We either use her now, or wait for, what? A day? Three at the most? We’re already wasting enough food keeping the ones we have alive,” She slapped her hand against the side of the machine, shutting a metal panel she had used to gain access to the inner workings. “Lately, you’ve been acting really weird, Eiswhel…”

She briskly walked off, leaving Eiswhel to stand around helplessly, but Nightmare Moon didn’t care for his distress.

‘What are they doing?’ She thought with a twinge of ~~terror~~ anxiety as Vinyl was pushed towards the chamber, and one of the knights pulled the door open. ‘No! I will not lose her again!!’

Reeling back, Nightmare Moon billowed through the gaps in the grate and willed herself back to physicality, reforming so quickly that by the time she landed on the cold floor, more than half of her was tangible again.

One of the Scribes squawked in alarm when they noticed her and shouted a warning, but Nightmare Moon was already galloping across the room with murder in her eyes; the knights pushing Vinyl looked up in alarm and scrambled to draw their weapons.

They wouldn’t have stood a chance on a good day, and Nightmare Moon was running on boundless rage; she tackled the female knight with such force that she was crushed against the wall with the sound of bones cracking beneath crumpled armor and turned to catch the bite of a mace with her shoulder before headbutting the other knight to the floor and viciously smashing their helm in with a few good stomps.

“Wolf!”

“Get behind me!” Nightmare Moon ordered, stepping forwards and using one wing to shove Vinyl to her rear.

The Scribes were shouting to one another in panic and darting about in a panic, all save for two – Eiswhel and Natalia.

Eiswhel was baring a pained grimace as he looked at the two knights while Natalia…

Natalia just looked enraged.

“God damn you!!” She snarled, clenching her fists as if she was about to run over and physically beat Nightmare Moon.

Pushing the entertaining thought aside, Nightmare Moon inhaled and bellowed over the noise, “All of you remain where you are! Don’t even try to escape because I will hunt you down and tear the flesh from your bones!”

As with the civilians from earlier, the Scribes came to a stop and lessened the amount of noise they made, but Natalia continued seething and glaring.

Nightmare Moon turned on her with a snarl, reminding herself that she was the one that ordered Vinyl to be ‘processed’. Whatever it meant, it couldn’t have been good.

“Do you have a death wish, human?!”

Natalia defiantly met her gaze – Nightmare Moon would have been impressed under any other circumstances. “Do you? Once the knights know you’re here, they’re going to carve you into pieces.”

“Well, it’s a good thing they won’t find out before we’re gone then, is it?” Nightmare Moon flashed a bloody smile. “Now, get with the rest of your kind.”

Natalia glowered darkly.

“Please, Natalia…” Eiswhel stepped forward, reaching out to her reassuringly. “Just do as she asks. We’re not like the knights, we can’t just-”

With a flurry of movement, Natalia drew something from out of her pocket.

Nightmare Moon blinked, wary but puzzled at the strange, L-shaped piece of black metal Natalia held in her hands. “What, is that some sort of weapon?”

“Natalia…” Eiswhel said cautiously, freezing in place with a look of shock. “Those were supposed to be melted down. Where did you get that?”

“I’m not going to let you order us around!” The female snarled, looking down the top of the metal… crossbow? “I’ll plant one right between your eyes!”

Nightmare Moon laughed. “Truly? I have a helmet in case you are blind,” She tapped her right forehoof against it for emphasis. “Or do you believe a bolt will be able to kill me before I can come over there and grind every bone in your body to dust?”

“Caed never gives up or surrenders,” Natalia said with utmost conviction. “And neither will I.”

“Well, would you look at that?” Chuckling again, Nightmare Moon turned to the other Scribes, who were cowering in their boots. “Look at your associate willing to risk her life and yours to follow a fool. Isn’t that-”

BANG

“-just prec…”

Nightmare Moon’s ears were ringing from the blast that left the tip of Natalia’s device smoking and she stared at the human in disbelief before glancing down at herself.

At the wound in her shoulder, barely bigger than a bit coin, that a rivulet of blood leaked out from to pool around her hoof.

The pain came a second later after the observation; an intense but tolerable sting of white-hot intensity that caused her muscles to tremble.

“Well…” She looked back at Natalia, thoroughly unimpressed. “I guess you want to see your associates die, is tha-”

There was a flash of light and another ear-splitting explosion followed by the loss of sight in her right eye and pain like someone had hammered a red-hot stake through the socket; she would have screamed if she hadn’t suddenly forgotten how to.

She heard a familiar sound make another sound that held meaning to her, but in a bout of dizziness, Nightmare Moon crashed to the floor and stared up at the ceiling out of her good eye as colours mixed and greyed out and blended into one another.

She could feel her body working to repair the wound, but whatever had penetrated her orbital bone had lodged itself into her brain, and the shock made it difficult to remain conscious.

Just for a moment, it promised.

‘But I have to kill that human.’ She protested.

Sadly, her brain won out, and she was subjected to oblivion for the second time in her life.

Author's Note

Kayd Caed was here

And so was Sybil! ;)

Chapter 57: The Rescue

1056 AD, January 13th

It took extreme circumstances to render Nightmare Moon unconscious.

She could push through any sort of pain through sheer willpower and her accelerated healing rendered most injuries null unless they were so catastrophic that she needed a moment’s respite to let her body deal with them; not even Celestia’s beam of scorching sunlight was enough to knock her out.

Whatever that human’s tool did, it burst her eye, drilled through her orbital bone, and displaced enough brain matter to fill a petri dish.

Suffice to say, once Nightmare Moon regained consciousness, she was very impressed, even with the debilitating haze of traumatic brain injury that impeded most of her higher thought processes.

‘Such a small device capable of felling something me at a distance, however brief; truly remarkable.’

She opened her eyes and was greeted by Vinyl’s terrified visage, her lips moving furiously as she shouted her name and- oh, she was shaking her, too.

‘Hm? What is she…?’

Suddenly, it all came rushing back.

Nightmare Moon shot up with a rare surge of panic and spun to face Natalia. “Where you are?! Pieces tear you- hurrk!”

She violently expelled the contents of her stomach onto the floor.

Bile, the slushy remains of lemon meringue pie from two days before, and some blood she must have swallowed at some point splattered grossly against the metal floor in a rust-brown puddle – lovely.

“Faust, Wolf, are you okay?!” Vinyl nudged her incessantly, her voice taking on an irritating high-pitched drone that may or may not have been in her head. “Yo, can you hear me?”

“Loudly, yes…” Nightmare Moon swiped away some remaining fluid that clung to her lips and looked around, squinting at the hot flashes of pain that pounded in her head. “Everyone…? Humans where are the?”

“They’ve left to sound the alarm.”

Nightmare Moon turned to face… Eiswhel, his face briefly forgotten to her. “Alarm?”

He nodded, looking at her with… concern? “You’ve… taken a bullet to the head. That would kill almost anything; are you… well?”

Truthfully, everything was sort of disorienting, but Nightmare Moon was damned if she was going to let some human get the better of her!

Ah, there was some comforting anger to help keep her head clear.

‘Take a second…’ She instructed herself while closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. ‘You’re in the human’s world, Caed is back in yours, you need to open a Fracture to get back there, and Eiswhel can do that.’

Firmly nodding, she released her breath and opened her eyes before fixing the human with a levelled glare. “Eiswhel, stay did you?”

Eiswhel blinked. “I…”

“Wolf?” Vinyl interjected with a note of worry. “You’re talking weirdly.”

Nightmare Moon turned to her. “What?”

“Your words are muddled up and crap.”

“Mean what you do…” Nightmare Moon trailed off and started over, listening carefully. “You what mean…”

‘Oh, that’s just peachy.’

Well, it wasn’t like she could dig the bullet out there and then; she’d just have to try harder to overcome whatever faults were thrown her way.

She tried speaking again, minding her tongue. “Eiswhel… the humans le… have left?”

“The second you fell Natalie told everyone to get out; I think she would have stayed, but you were already regenerating. I don’t think she wanted to push her luck; we all know what you’re capable of.”

“Lacked the guts to f… finish me off,” Nightmare Moon spat in spite, or perhaps at the sudden taste of copper. Was blood leaking into her mouth? “And why are… you still here?”

“I said I’d get you back to your world, didn’t I? With how strong you are, it’d be madness to just let you roam free in our facilities.”

“A surprising level of clear-headedness from you,” Nightmare Moon spat again, mostly to cover up that she had briefly forgotten how to pronounce the next word. “They’ve gone… to sound the alarm, you said?”

The blare of a siren filled the room as a few red lights on the ceiling started flashing; their spinning colours made her migraine even worse.

“I believe so.” Eiswhel said dryly.

Nightmare Moon was tempted to snatch up one of the bodies of the knights and throw it at the lights, but she resisted the urge; there was no time that could be spent on petty things like that.

“You told me you could operate this machine by yourself, didn’t you?”

“I can.”

Eiswhel walked over to a metal box covered in buttons and dials in front of the coffin-like machine; Nightmare Moon followed him to watch as his long fingers flew over the box’s face with assorted electronic noises. She began to hear a steady hum building underneath the din of the alarm like something big and important charging up.

“We avoid generating Fractures inside the facility,” Eiswhel said without looking up from his tampering. “As much as we try to stabilize, there’s always room for error, and Fractures have an unfortunate tendency to create bursts of electromagnetic waves that knock out electronic equipment. It’s rare, but it happens, so we ‘send’ the Fractures to other facilities so the equipment here isn’t damaged.”

“What, you just send them like a parcel?” Vinyl queried in disbelief. “Big ol’ anomaly of time and space and whatever, and you just tell it to go here and there?”

“It’s more complicated than that, but that’s the general idea. Honestly, if you know what you’re doing, there’s a long list of things you can do with the Fractures,” He paused and looked over his shoulder. “Of course, that’s provided you don’t attempt to go over how much mass can pass through it, or allow the constant threat of EMP pulses to affect your work.”

Nightmare Moon glowered. “And how l… likely is that scenario?”

“One in one thousand. With just me monitoring it? One in one hundred.”

Vinyl aimed a sarcastic smile in her direction. “Still beats flyin’ an airship, eh? The magazines say those are death traps if something goes wrong.”

“The worst that could happen is if part of you is through the Fracture and it suddenly closes,” Eiswhel said, turning back to the machine. “We’re still arguing over whether it’ll be like amputation, or if your arm will continue to exist in that dimension and float around in accordance to your movement and position.”

“You’re literally not making me feel better, dude.”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Just get that Fracture back to Canterlot up and going. How long will it take?”

“Twenty minutes.”

“Twenty…? We’re not going to be left alone for that long!”

“I said I can do it by myself; I never said I could do it fast.”

Nightmare Moon practically hissed at him. “Fine. Do what needs to be done. Now, you… also said you would tell me where you are holding the other unicorns.”

Eiswhel nodded slowly. “Yes,” He was quiet for a few seconds, concentrating on his hands, and then he moved away from the box over to the machine, speaking aloud on the way. “The unicorns are held on the floor above us in a secure room; it’s guarded, but whoever’s there would likely be responding towards the alarm, so you shouldn’t have any confrontation.”

“How will I find it?”

“It’s the only room with a door that could withstand a blast.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Got it. Do your work, and I will free the unicorns. Vinyl – you remain here and keep an eye on him.”

“Yeah, I can’t really turn to smoke and shit anyway,” Vinyl agreed. “Uh, but what about the door? I mean, I’d like to think I can take a knight in a fair fight, but if they’re going mob-style on me?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

With several long strides, Nightmare Moon was stood in front of the door, where she proceeded to take a deep breath and call on her magic.
Her head informed her that it didn’t much like that.

Ignoring the throb, Nightmare Moon pressed the tip of her horn to the door’s surface and started to layer it with thick spider-webs of frost that grew into even thicker chunks of clear blue ice; she dragged her horn across and along the doorframe, making sure every inch of it was covered.

She drew back with a wince to survey her handiwork.

With ice that thick, it would – should – take the knights a while to get through, during which she could find the unicorns and get them back here.

“I’m leaving… now,” She announced, moving over to the air vents. “Eiswhel – I swear to you… if there is one… one scratch on Vinyl when I get back, you will truly know what suffering is.”

Eiswhel gave a hollow laugh. “I fear that is something you cannot promise.”

Nightmare Moon ignored the remark and evaporated into purple mist.

With a sharp tink, the small, metal cylinder that was in her head dropped to the floor, and Nightmare Moon revelled as the cobwebs were dusted from her mind. Now, the wound would heal properly.

With that small bit of good news, she slipped back into the ventilation shaft. She moved quickly, slithering through the vents like the air it carried until she came across an opening that went straight up, presumably to the second floor.

She could still hear the alarm as she went up and up until she could ascend no further and took the vent on her right.

She passed by a grate and the sound of footsteps alerted her; she peered out to see three knights running by, two with shields that were left in the metaphorical dust by the lithe figure that darted ahead of them, a large sword glinting in the artificial lighting on their back. One of the slower knights whined at the speedy human to slow down because they just ate.

Nightmare Moon proceeded ahead.

She moved at the same pace as an average pony’s trot while in her mist-form, but she couldn’t traverse the vents fast enough; with each grate she passed by and didn’t spot the reinforced door in question, she grew more and more impatient as her mind drifted back to Vinyl.

‘I shouldn’t have left her with the human. I should have prepared more defences. I should have done more to make sure that she’s-’

The thoughts were distracting her; she violently cast them aside to focus on what she was doing, what needed to be done. There was no use dwelling on ‘if’s’ and ‘maybe’s’ in the present.

Nightmare Moon paused at the ninth grate for a second longer before pressing through the gaps.

She had found it.

A heavy, thick door that – as Eiswhel said – looked like it could withstand several explosions at point-blank range was left unguarded at the end of a corridor. The intimidating bolted frame and charcoal-grey metal surface spoke of terrific durability, but that didn’t deter Nightmare Moon.

She merely slipped beneath it.

Before she even reformed, she surveyed the chamber, taking in its plain metal walls, floor, and the many cells housing the kidnapped unicorns. To her surprise, they were in relatively good condition, aside from the expected dishevelled look and expressions of misery.

So much misery, in fact, that it took Nightmare Moon reforming her physical body and clearing her throat for any of them to take notice.
They looked at her in surprise and cautious optimism.

“Hey, it’s Nightmare Moon!”

“Are we saved, or even more doomed?”

“Shit, dude, I’ll take Sombra at this point.”

There were more than a dozen unicorns of varying ages – the youngest was around nine or ten; the small filly stared at Nightmare Moon through the bars with curiosity and awe.

“I’ll have you all out soon,” Nightmare Moon strode over to the nearest cell and gestured at the two prisoners. “Move back.”

“W-wait – there’s a… there’s a thing on the wall by the door,” One of the mares said as Nightmare Moon went to bite down on the bars. “I’ve seen the knights push the buttons and make the cells open.”

Nightmare Moon looked over to the door and spotted the ‘thing’ in question – another electronic device like the one Eiswhel had operated. It looked different, though.

“I think the buttons are coded for each cell,” The mare continued as Nightmare Moon walked over to the device. “They push one button and it makes the door open and close.”

There were nine buttons arranged in rows, all of them marked by a number. Easy enough. Her hooves were too large, so she had to use her horn to push the first button.

She grinned victoriously as the first cell on the left side of the room rattled open and proceeded to open the rest to the sound of cheers and relieved laughter.

Once she had pressed all the buttons and opened the last of the cells, she turned to face the ponies spilling out, happy to be free but still wary to go near her; they congregated together for safety in numbers.

Nightmare Moon frowned as she counted. “Is everypony out? I assumed two for each cell, but only see sixteen.”

“Uh, that’s us!”

A bedraggled stallion – more of a colt, really – leaned out from the backmost right cell and awkwardly waved. He was wearing the uniform of a doorstallion, albeit stained and unkempt, and his accent designated him as a Manehattanite.

Nightmare Moon moved between the crowd as they parted for her. “Are they injured?”

“No, but… she’s been like this since they brought her in.”

The inside of the cell is much more sparse and clean than the dungeons in the castle; aside from a sink on the far wall and two bedrolls laid out on the floor, there wasn’t much to see. The lack of facilities caused her to wonder what happened when they were needed for all about three seconds.

She instead focused on the mare in the corner of the room, who appeared to be whispering something.

“Are you injured? Can you walk?”

The mare, lying down on her belly with her head bowed, started and turned just enough to see Nightmare Moon. “… Y-you came…”

“I didn’t expect to play ‘rescuer’ today either, but here we are. Now, if you’re not hurt, then get up and-”

“Ah, Divine Daughter – bless you!”

Nightmare Moon would have thought that making sudden moves around her, towards her especially, was universally considered a bad idea; a consensus shared by anypony who knew her or even looked upon her for the first time. She had that sort of presence.

The mare’s bright blue eyes clearly worked, so she had no excuse; she was lucky that Nightmare Moon could process that she was harmless before her instinct acted instead and reduced the mare to a smear on the wall.

But then the mare had to push it by pressing up against Nightmare Moon in a hug.

“Get off me.” She pushed her off with a growl.

The young mare was undaunted. “I… I prayed to Mother Faust that we would all be saved, and she has provided us with one of her Divine Daughters,” She was hyperventilating; there was an aura that surrounded her and gave off ‘feel-good’ vibes that complimented her mane and coat of sunshine yellow and mellow tangerine. “Bless you, Empress, for hearing my plea.”

‘Oh, wonderful – there’s a devout Alicasist amongst them.’

Her kind tended to pluck Nightmare Moon’s nerves, but she wasn’t knocking on her door with a bundle of pamphlets or trying to cleanse her with religious psalms; she seemed genuinely grateful, in fact, so she didn’t have much reason to complain. For now.

“Yes, yes…” Nightmare Moon waved her off and turned to walk back towards the door. “Faust is telling me to tell you to hurry up, so you better get to it.”

She heard the mare usher the colt along as if she hadn’t been the one holding them all up and turned to face the room once she was at the door.

“I assume you are wondering how I got here, amongst other things; truth be told, I’m curious as to what sort of experience you’ve had here as well. However, we have no time to play Twenty Questions. There is a way we can all go home, but you need to do exactly as I say, when I say. Understood?”

They all nod carefully, save for one enthusiastic affirmation from a pair of starry eyes that pushed their way to the front.

“Good. Now, a few rules before we go: first one is shut up unless you’re calling out something that could potentially kill us. Secondly, I don’t expect any of you to fight given the lack of magic in this world and your imprisonment, but if there’s something pointy next to you and the chance comes up, do not be afraid to stab any of the knights,” She turned to open the door, but looked back at the crowd again. “Also, try not to die.”

Watching Eiswhel work the machines was fun for a little while before Vinyl was getting flashbacks to science class and she quickly lost interest; she moved over to a chair and sat down with some difficulty.

It wasn’t made for pony physiology, but it had wheels.

“So… what’s that other machine for?” She asked, rolling by Eiswhel while turning clockwise. “The one those jerkasses were trying to stuff me in?”

Eiswhel looked over as she came to a stop near the machine and made a face like someone had farted. “That’s… how we gain the magic needed to power the Spectrum Shifter.”

“I thought magic didn’t work for you guys.”

“It’s more accurate to say that anything from our universe is just very, very…” He paused. “Very resilient towards magic. The level of resilience is based on physicality and the formation of molecules.”

“Yeah, you’re gonna have to dumb that down for me; I dropped out of school to mix music.”

He gave her a weird look – Faust, what hell was this where they didn’t know about mixing music? – before nodding. “Put simply… the more ‘solid’ something is, the less magic can affect it. I assume you already know that humans are largely unaffected by magic? Well, we’re still affected, but it would take a tremendous amount of magical energy to do anything to directly harm us. However, something like water or gas, would be more susceptible. Less than if the substance was from your universe, but still more susceptible than flesh or metal.”

“Okay – I’m with you so far.”

“Your species can convert magic into other types of energy – incredible stuff, by the way-”

“Cheers.”

“-such as heat, light, and kinetic, and that can affect us. Although, it’s not quite as powerful as the natural forms of it.”

“They told us that in elementary. Can’t filter out all the magic in the spell, or… or something like that.”

“But magic is still very useful to us, even if we can’t manipulate it by hand,” Eiswhel continued. He moved over to the Spectrum Shifter and looked at the same panel that Natalia bitch examined. “Using that machine – yes, the one you’re next to – we can take magic and convert it into power for everyone.”

Vinyl turned to stare at the machine. “This thing powers everything?”

“Not exactly. It’s connected to a reactor we have in the lowest level of the facility; this is what we use to extract magic from unicorns and convert it into energy the reactor can use.”

Vinyl nodded. “Huh.” She didn’t even want to imagine how the hell they managed to do all that conversion… whatever stuff.

Unfortunately, Eiswhel took her grunt as an invitation to elaborate.

“The machine you see was built with parts from a subterranean network initially connected to the reactor that converted thermal energy into power.”

“… There’s thermal crap beneath us?”

He went on, seeming to have not heard her, which wasn’t comforting in the slightest.

“The Spectrum Shifter… what I’m working on right now… it is able to transport matter from one location to another instantaneously by creating a tear in the fabric of space, visible as a white ‘crack’ that emits an unusual noise, as well as forming an invisible worm hole that folds space in a linear line going from the point of origin to the desired destination.”

“So… it teleports?”

“Precisely.”

Vinyl let out a small chuckle, immensely pleased that she had gotten that.

Eiswhel stood from fiddling with whatever ‘over-her-head’ mechanisms were behind that panel and closed it before walking over to one of the metal boxes covered in dials and buttons and glass screens.

Vinyl rolled herself over to watch him work. This stuff went way over her head, but it was slightly more interesting than looking at the big-ass block of ice covering the door; the pale blue mist curling off it just made swirls and wisps that not even the most overdramatic and angsty of artists could imagine pictures out of.

Not that imagining shit was doing much good for her; she kept worrying up new and ‘out-there’ scenarios that Wolf could have gotten herself into.

Crazy, considering Wolf was a scary and bad motherfucker that didn’t afraid of anything, but if you could make something bleed, then you could kill it. And she definitely bled.

‘What if something with a lot of kick got to her? What if that metal thing scrambled her brain worse than it looked? Can alicorns heal from that sort of crap no problem? I dunno…’

She needed to take her mind off it.

“So, if this thing can teleport, then why don’t you teleport someplace that doesn’t suck? No offense.”

“None taken. We would teleport…” Eiswhel grimaced.

“I hear a ‘but’ coming.”

“The entire planet has been affected by war; there is no place we can grow crops or vegetation. Not only that… during the war, the Spectrum Shifter was damaged. We managed to repair it, but whenever we activated it, it seemed to do nothing. We discovered that wasn’t true later, but it was a demoralizing blow to know we could not teleport off this planet to another one.”

Vinyl’s eyes widened. “Whoa, you guys can go into space? Shit, I always wanted to go there when I was a kid. One time, I tried to pay a pegasus my lunch money to fly us as high as she could go. She didn’t take it.”

And now that pegasus was the captain of the Wonderbolts. Funny how life works out.

“A lot of records and documents were destroyed during a war that our forebears started; it’s how we know of another world out there that can sustain us – our true home, the one we originally came from. Earth.”

“Are there ponies there?”

“I… believe so, but they are not as intelligent as your kind. I think,” He shook his head. “As I said, a lot of our history and culture has been lost to us. Where the Spectrum Shifter once had a connection with Earth, it is now without one.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Thank you.”

Vinyl licked her lips and rolled over to watch Eiswhel better. She felt oddly relaxed around him; he didn’t give off that ‘antsy, peeved to all hell’ air that surrounded most of the humans she came across.

Plus, his fingers were creepy-awesome to look at.

“We tried to fix it, to restore the connection, but to no avail. Eventually, we decided to try and make the most of our situation, try to survive on a planet torn apart by war,” Again, Eiswhel shook his head, frowning. “It was difficult with the poor composition of our soil, but hope bloomed when we finally manufactured our first greenhouses.”

“I heard about that when we were walkin’…” Vinyl bit her lower lip. She might not have played a part in what happened, but you’d have to be cold to not feel the slightest bit guilty. “I… I’m not sure what to say. Sorry?”

Eiswhel’s hands slowed their flow across the buttons and dials as the low hum that was present throughout their talk turned into a low, ear-tingling drone; it was just on the cusp of Vinyl’s hearing range. She tried to ignore it and focus on Eiswhel, whose eyes were dull and tired behind his glasses.

“I hated your kind for what happened. I wanted to hurt all of you as much as you hurt all of us. Even when Caed informed us that it was an accident, that you weren’t aware of our presence or how closing the Fracture as you did would affect us, I still wanted vengeance. The fact that we could use your kind to power the Spectrum Shifter was just a bonus.

“You see, it-”

Vinyl jerked upright at the sound of something banging against the door.

The ice didn’t so much as shudder with the strikes, but it didn’t ease the anxiety that came with the fact that there were angry knights knocking on the door in the universal language of ‘I can only knock for so long before resorting to smashing through and repeating it on your face’.

Vinyl reckoned that if she was close enough, she could hear voices through the metal and ice. Not a happy thought.

“The ice seems to be holding,” Eiswhel observed, briefly looking, and then continued tapping away at the buttons. “Although, any Guardian could beat it down with enough time.”

“Guardian? Usually that’s a name for good guys, but I’m guessing it actually isn’t.”

“Well, not good for you, certainly.”

Vinyl winced as a particularly meaty thud caused a few ice shavings to cover the floor. “Goody. So, back to the whole teleporting thing… how did you even get into another universe if the thing couldn’t even take you five feet in one direction?”

“Well, for starters, it’s easier.”

“… How?” Vinyl frowned. “Like, I’ve watched a lot of science fiction movies, and those guys make a bigger deal about teleporting to another dimension than to, like… another city or something.”

Eiswhel looked at her weirdly – poor bastard never seen a movie? – before replying. “Because your universe and ours occupies the same space, just not on a frequency where we are able to interact with one another. Earth, our Earth, is light years away, so we have to deal with space and distance.”

Vinyl blinked and put on her best ‘I don’t understand what just came out of your mouth’, hoping Eiswhel would pick up on it. He did.

“Imagine…” Eiswhel made a sound of frustration and bit his bottom lip. “The Spectrum Shifter once had a connection to Earth, so that means there was something there it was connected to, most likely a relay or even another device that functioned similarly to it. Without that connection, the Fractures it creates are just pockets of distorted space that lead nowhere. Useful for dark areas, but still useless. We couldn’t even control where the Fractures would end up, not at first; the machine’s sole purpose was to create Fractures and it was ‘lost’ in a sense, without the Earth connection.

“We had originally given up on it, but one day, Natalia – the woman who shot Nightmare Moon – activated it again on a lark, and by sheer luck, the Fracture it created ended up in a place where we were able to see and monitor it. Once we could isolate and study it, we discerned that all the times we used the machine and it seemed to do nothing, it was creating portals in random locations across the planet.”

Vinyl blinked and nodded. “You know… back before all of this, we were having trouble with weird animals appearing all over Equestria. A bunch of pegasi called the Wonderbolts found out where they were coming from, and the princesses came out and told everypony about the Fractures.”

“I assume they wandered through the portals when they opened up outside the city. Anyway, that’s when we looked through the anomaly and realized…”

He suddenly stopped his tapping and analysing to fully face her.

“There was another world out there.”

In a surprising bit of fortune, the second floor seemed to be entirely evacuated. No humans rounded the corners or walked through doors; it appeared that they had all gone to the ground floor in response to the alarm.

That made things easier for the time being, but considerably harder when she arrived at the sealed door later. She’d deal with it when the time came; for now, she had to make sure nopony else died on the way back.

Not an easy task considering how squishy unicorns were, but the lot she had rescued had the smarts to keep behind her and keep their eyes peeled. The majority were fit and able-bodied save for one filly that was worryingly quiet throughout everything and one ageing mare with a cough that admirably insisted she was fine, that she hadn’t lived in Manehattan for fifty years just to die to a few monkeys.

“Divine Daughter?”

Nightmare Moon fought back a grimace. “Do you see something that could kill us?”

“No.”

“Then why are you talking?”

“Forgive me, Divine Daughter, but I only wished to tell you that if you are injured… or, or if anypony else is injured, then I can help,” The mare smiled with a sort of cautious confidence. “I am… I’m quite good with healing spells.”

“If you can help, then do so; there’s no need to ask for my permission.”

“Of course, Divine Daughter,” The mare said, keeping in step with her and smiling so widely it took up most of her face. “I… My name is Vitae.”

“Good to know.” Nightmare Moon grumbled, looking up ahead at a slightly ajar door; must have been left open when the humans inside ran out.

“I… I was afraid at first when you took over Canterlot. Y-you were one of the Divine Daughters, but you were… you were different…”

As she passed, Nightmare Moon looked in through the gap.

“I didn’t know what to make of you, but now I’m certain that-”

“Vitae?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up for a second.”

“Okay.”

Something pulled at Nightmare Moon as she reached out to push the door open; it wasn’t just curiosity, she felt a familiar tingle that could only be concentrated magic. But how could that be? Humans couldn’t generate magic on their own and they were effectively immune to it.

As she walked in, her sense of smell was bombarded with ambient magic, antiseptic, and other assorted chemicals.

The room was crowded with stainless steel tables covered in scientific tools, apparatuses, and crystals imbued with magic, some shattered and some whole. It eerily resembled the time Twilight and Sunset ordered all those crates of crystals and turned the lab into some pointy, funhouse mirror-esque lab.

Fortunately, there weren’t as many crystal shards for Nightmare Moon to stand on as she ventured further into the room. Her muscles quivered as the ambient magic was drawn into her body, replenishing her reserves and quieting down the migraine that had been persisting for some time.

“What is this room for?” She questioned aloud.

The others filtered in, too nervous to remain out in the hallway, though one of them mustered up the courage to stand by the door and keep an eye and ear out. Nightmare Moon was all too aware of the risks of dawdling, but something niggled at her…

She blinked down at a pair of dissected crystals before turning her head and noticing the blackboard with wheels attached to its frame.

“Hm…”

Numbers, words, and diagrams became clearer as she approached. A lot of the scrawls involved equations she had never seen before, but what she did understand…

Magic-rich crystals insufficient for charging; very little ambient energy released upon destruction, most remains inside shards

Living cells from inhabitants of (Be)Universe contain naturally replenishing magic; self-generating – renewable resource? Negative

Look, guys – if you’re confused, look at the diagram ->

Is that a pony or a dog? Who gave Johnson the chalk?

‘They were using crystals for charging? Or…’

There was a clipboard sitting on the ledge where the chalk usually went; Nightmare Moon picked it up and skimmed a few of the pages, her frown deepening as she read.

“Approximately forty-seven… twenty used… might need an extra unicorn or two depending on how heavily we use the Sp.Shifter…” She flipped to the last page, but it was covered in equations she didn’t understand; both from how complicated they were and the presence of several symbols that weren’t in the Equestrian language. “Use the unicorns to… power the machine perhaps?” She licked her lips and placed the board down. “That could explain why they’re taking them, but how do they-”

“Uhhh… E-Empress?”

The urgency and tremor in the stallion’s tone was enough to her on edge. Nightmare Moon turned to the source and saw one of the unicorns standing beside a slightly ajar door at the far wall of the door they went through.

He was ashen-faced, shaking, and looked one droplet of blood away from vomiting.

She quickly trotted over. “What is it?”

“You… There’s something in this r-room you might… want to see…”

He didn’t want to tell her directly? That was never a good sign.

She used the edge of her wing to nudge him aside before opening the door with the same appendage and stepping inside.

Frigid air washed over her as she took in the sight of a dead unicorn laid out on a steel table.

She had been young – mid-twenties – and quite a looker, but any lively lustre was gone and replaced by a vacant expression and uncanny grey-tinted eyes. She had been positioned to be prone on her back, forever facing the metal ceiling.

Nightmare Moon barely paid her a second thought as she turned her gaze to three other body bags on separate tables beyond the mare.

So, this was what happened to the kidnapped unicorns.

It wasn’t surprising, really; she had a strong feeling that this was the outcome. It would have shocked her more if something like this didn’t happen.

Without a word, Nightmare Moon walked further in, drawn by yet another clipboard hanging from a hook on the wall.

She heard the others crowd around the doorway, curious, only to recoil and gasp.

“Oh Faust, they are killing us.” Somepony whimpered.

“I… I hoped that she…” Another one said before trailing off with a choke. “That could have been us if…”

Nightmare Moon took the clipboard off the hook.

ATTENTION

The last person to leave needs to make sure the temperature regulator is
functioning properly. We don’t need the place to stink and let the smell filter
into the lab. Scribe Eiswhel got on my case when I went to leave without checking,
so make sure you do it.

Scribe Penson

Nightmare Moon let the board clack against the floor and moved over to the body bags.

She unzipped the first.

A stallion, young with an almost invisible puncture mark on his neck, likely from a needle.

She unzipped the second.

An elderly mare – puncture mark.

She unzipped the third.

A colt – puncture mark.

These wounds were the signs of a cold and deliberate kill that would cause no unnecessary complications or mutilation; it certainly wasn’t done with any sort of emotion behind it.

The clean precision of the mark – bordering on surgical – and lack of bruises or abrasions made her guess that they weren’t restrained; they might have been knocked out with a chemical or gas first, or perhaps the cause of death was so efficient and unremarkable that they didn’t know they were dying until it was too late.

… Well, there was nothing else in the room aside from that notice and the bodies, so Nightmare Moon could only leave.

One of the unicorns looked up at her as she approached the door. “Should we… do something?”

“They’re dead,” She retorted with a shake of her head. “They will feel no gratitude if we carry their corpses back home.”

She walked out, knowing that she should return to Vinyl soon, but then her attention was caught by a thick manila folder nestled in an alcove beneath the table nearest to her. A closer inspection revealed that it wasn’t just a table like the rest, but a desk – a pencil holder painted in bright colours and errant papers were spread out over the surface.

But what really made her stop and snatch up the folder was the name ‘Scribe Eiswhel, T.’ printed on it.

She flipped it open and read through the important documents that had been so conveniently coloured orange.

The more she read, the more a wriggling black ball in her chest festered and grew.

“Hm, I would have never guessed…”

Vitae walked by her side and craned her neck to see. “Divine-”

She closed the folder and tossed it at the mare without looking. “Hold onto this.”

She was feeling… enraged but also excited.

Enraged because she had found several more reasons to hate the humans, but excited because right now, she had so many ways to make them suffer, all thanks to that lovely folder.

Nightmare Moon wetted her lips and pulled them into a toothy rictus; she was feeling strong and unstoppable from having absorbed some of the crystals’ magic and learned new information about her enemy’s weaknesses.

The thought of Vinyl waiting for her gave her some pause, but she argued that this was the opportunity to strike a major blow against the humans or… perhaps even turn the tides of war altogether.

She could not pass this up.

“We’re leaving,” She said to the others over her shoulder. Vitae was insisting she could carry the folder, apparently seeing it as some task given by Mother Faust herself to fulfil. “There’s a place we’re going to make a stop at. These humans will rue the day they crossed me…”

“The multiverse theory, that is to say, the idea that there exists an infinite number of universes with their own discrepancies and similarities, has been tossed around between the Scribes, but we didn’t get any solid evidence of its existence until we discovered your world. It caused… quite a stir.”

Vinyl chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, totally. When I heard that the animals appearing all over Equestria were from another universe, I was like… ‘hot shit, that’s pretty crazy!’”

“Caed was a firm believer of the multiverse theory; he was like a kid when he found about it,” Eiswhel’s fond smile suddenly curled into a frown. “Although, I think that was because he wanted to fight a dragon.”

“Heh – hey, who doesn’t, right?”

Eiswhel snickered amusedly.

For the fifth time, he went over to one of the work stations to check something before coming back to the one Vinyl was seated next to and resume staring at rows and rows of little neon green numbers that zipped by on a screen.

She didn’t even pretend to understand what all that crap was about.

The Spectrum thing was still making that charging noise, but Eiswhel had stopped darting around to push and flick stuff, so Vinyl guessed that’s exactly what it was doing – charging.

She had to say, she wasn’t too comfortable waiting around with nothing to focus on when there were a bunch of angry humans making angry human noises behind the only exit.

The ice was holding still, even against the wall-shaking thumping that had been going on earlier; Vinyl asked what that was, and Eiswhel merely replied that a Knight Guardian must have finally arrived.

So, yeah… not looking forward to that introduction.

“I’m sorry for what we’ve done.”

“Hn?” Vinyl turned from the door, almost fell out of her chair from doing so, and narrowly saved face to stare at Eiswhel. “Come again?”

“I’m sorry for what we’ve done,” He repeated with a sigh. “The kidnapping… the fighting… all of it.”

Vinyl blinked and scratched her head. “O… kay?”

“Our world was torn apart by death and destruction wrought by our forefathers’ hands; we shouldn’t be inflicting the same thing on anyone else,” He sighed again, leaning heavily against the station. “No matter our need.”

“Okay…”

Vinyl felt like this was something that should be reserved for somepony who knew about diplomacy and interspecies interaction. Wolf immediately crossed her mind, but went away just as quickly when she realized Wolf’s brand of diplomacy with the humans would probably involve a clean-up crew.

She had no idea how to converse with someone they were supposed to be at war with aside from casual inquiries and small talk that she picked up from attending soirees with Octavia.

She just wanted to go home to kiss and hug her wife and tell her how much she loved her.

Eiswhel went on to stare at the screen, leaving Vinyl to awkwardly turn back and forth in her seat, struggling to come up with something poignant to say.

She couldn’t and went with whatever was on the tip of her tongue.

“Look, dude…” She shrugged. “If there’s one thing movies have taught me, it’s that it’s never too late to just stop, ya know? You and the other humans don’t have to keep doing this. The hole’s already halfway to the other side of the planet, so don’t keep digging, right?”

Eiswhel snorted bitterly. “If only that were true.”

“Yeah, and that’s another thing that happens in the movies: the bad guys always go, ‘oh, it’s too late for us, so we shouldn’t try’, and I think that’s bullshit; there’s no reason you shouldn’t try if you really feel bad about it.”

He turned to look at her, seemingly surprised. Vinyl randomly wondered if humans understood the concept of ‘telling it like it is’ because he really seemed shocked by her words, if only for a few moments.

Then he turned away.

“There are others like myself that are tired of this, but we are in the minority. Besides… it’s not quite as simple as just ‘stopping’.”

“Why not?” Vinyl furrowed her brow and wheeled closer.

“If someone close to you…” Eiswhel began with looking at her. “Really, very close to you… was killed due to the actions of another person… do you think you could just ‘stop?’”

“… Shit, when you put it like that…”

“God, I want to stop…” Eiswhel groaned and ran a shaky hand through his hair. Now more than ever, he looked old. “When Caed brought the first unicorns in, I was so ready to do what had to be done. I felt justified in it. But once it was all over… I didn’t feel any better. The one I cherished most in life was still gone, and nothing I do can bring them back.”

Vinyl grimaced sadly.

She had an inkling of what Eiswhel meant by ‘doing what had to be done’. She felt bad for the unicorns that had passed on and guilty because… well, she didn’t know anypony who had been taken, so she had no strong emotions to wrestle with.

Maybe if she did, then she wouldn’t be feeling sorry for this human.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Eiswhel beat her to it.

“The Knight Enforcer… Caed… he wasn’t always like this. If Sybil were still alive today, I don’t think we would be having this conversation.”

“Sybil? Who’s that?”

“His surrogate little sister – quick as a whip and always managing to bring a smile to everyone’s faces. She was the whole world to him and… one day, she got sick. It wasn’t anything we could cure; her immune system just got weaker and weaker until finally…”

He closed his eyes and shook his head, removing his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose.

“Oh dear… Caed just… he changed for the worst. Only a few of us noticed. Caed prides himself as being a fearless and capable leader to keep hope alive in the city, so he pushed his grief aside and insisted he was fine. He wasn’t. There were days when he would shut himself away and just go over the Old Tales for hours. We had to bring his food to him.”

“Old Tales?”

“Literature containing stories about people who took up knighthood to become paragons and protectors; they tell of us how our ancestors used to be before we lost our way. They’re the very foundation of our city, metaphorically speaking; without them, none of what you see would be here. It was Caed and Sybil that found them, brought us all together, created something instead of more chaos, so… so now you may have a better understanding about why he is so respected and why so many of us follow him.”

“… What about you?”

Eiswhel’s lips turned up in a pale imitation of a smile. “He is my Knight Enforcer, and I will gladly lay my life down for him. But I fear he is losing himself. At this point, he’s becoming less like himself and more like what he thinks he must be. But I…”

He shrugged.

“There’s nothing for me outside this city, but I don’t like what my friends and my Knight Enforcer are becoming. At this point… I’m running on routine because it’s the only thing I can think of.”

“That’s a crappy way to live.”

“I don’t see any other way.”

“Then why shake up the routine? I’m no good at reading my own kind let alone a human, but I got a real solid feeling my gut that you’re not just helping because Wolf’s threatening to kill some of your dudes.”

Eiswhel opened and closed his mouth like a fish, clearly shaken. “Because… I see every unicorn that we capture and all I can think is… how much you resemble us. You’re not human beings, but you’re so similar. And then I remember… a long time ago… how Caed promised humanity would never fight amongst themselves ever again.”

He blinked down as the screen suddenly let out a chime and flashed green.

“‘Humanity’ is a broader term than I originally thought…”

Once again, Nightmare Moon and the others traversed the corridors without incident.

When Nightmare Moon finally saw the door she had been searching for come into view at the far end of a hallway, her rictus grew wider and bloodier.

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

Synth Station

She dug her hooves into the floor for a second before sprinting forwards fast enough to turn a hundred metre dash into a casual stroll.
She reached the door within seconds and threw her body weight into a shoulder tackle.

Fortunately, the door wasn’t quite a sturdy as the one she had barricaded; the only damage she received was a dislocated shoulder and some bruising.

She clicked her shoulder back into place with a grunt and smirked darkly as she looked around the room.

“Perfect.”

The phrase ‘peas in a pod’, or more appropriately, ‘fish in a barrel’ came to mind as she examined the cylindrical metal containers, each large enough to fit her, and the slumbering figures lying within, viewable through a see-through glass face. There were ten pods in total, five on each side of the wall in a slanted position; a mess of tubes and wires curled out from the pods and into a box just on their side that helpfully bore yellow stickers announcing the care needed when dealing with the machinery.

Nightmare Moon was going to raze this room and enjoy every second of it.

“You run so fast!” Vitae panted as she ran through the buckled doorway, her tone holding awe and reverence. “I… W-what is this room?”

“As it turns out, there’s a reason the humans can afford to attack so aggressively,” Nightmare Moon replied, turning to her as the other unicorns stumbled in, similarly out of breath. “It appears that they have manufactured machines that can transmit their consciousness into bodies grown in these pods. Synth-gel, they call it – it’s all in that folder I gave to you.”

She prowled across to the closest pod and peered inside, looking past her faded and distorted reflection into the face of a sleeping human – female, if those bumps on its chest and flat pelvis were any indication.

They were suspended in some clear fluid that seemed to be breathable since there was no apparatus on their face, or perhaps it was like how a foal developed in the mother’s womb.

… Oh well.

Nightmare Moon walked to the side of the pod, bit down on a tube, and tore it free of its socket with a spray of the strange liquid that smelt of cinnamon.

There was an alarmed bleep from the pod that grew higher in pitch as she ripped another tube out.

“This will go faster if you all help!”

Some looked uneasy, but a few quickly ran over to the other pods to begin destroying them in any way they could. Without Nightmare Moon’s strength and magic, it was slower, but at least they were trying.

A chorus of bleeps soon began filling the room along with flashing red lights from within the pods.

“Ah! Is this retribution for what the humans have done to us, Divine Daughter?” Vitae quipped, trembling with rebellious anticipation.

“What? Sure, whatever – just hurry up and break something.”

Vitae proceeded to do so.

It took Nightmare Moon half a minute before the pod she was dismantling finally stopped beeping and flashing. A splattering and dripping noise started up as the liquid within the pod started leaking out through gaps and around the sockets where she had pulled the tubes and wires from.

A monitor inside the pod, just above the human’s head, showed a flat line in the last seconds before power stopped flowing to the machine altogether and it winked out.

A dark feeling of satisfaction filled Nightmare Moon as she went on to the next pod.

Some of the humans appeared strange; they had underdeveloped limbs, skin pressed too tightly against their bones, or seemed to lack entire muscle groups. Nightmare Moon assumed they were still in the process of regeneration.

Unfortunately for them, they would never get the chance to complete.

The floor was covered in the cinnamon-scented fluid by the time Nightmare Moon started on the second to last pod; the dismantlement was greatly sped up now that the other unicorns were focusing their efforts – the pod barely had the time to blare all its annoying sounds and lights as wires and tubes were yanked, panels were bucked, and the-

The human inside opened their eyes.

Nightmare Moon was the only one to notice as she had already been in the act of rising on her hind legs to stomp down on the pod’s door.
She met their gaze for a second before deciding to flash a mocking smile and grant them an extra second to process what was happening before she threw her weight into her hooves.

The strange liquid was at least useful in washing away the blood on her hooves as she planted them back onto the floor, shaking each foreleg as the gashes faded away.

The last pod was dealt with just as swiftly.

“Well done, everypony,” Nightmare Moon commended as the unicorns nodded and smiled at one another in cautious optimism and a strong sense of justice. Vitae was practically bursting with pride. “Even if this isn’t the only set of pods, we’ve struck a critical blow nonetheless. Now, what say we finally get back to Equestria?”

Vinyl winced as another blow made the ice crack and splinter, shavings flicking into the air.

“Stallion, I hope Wolf didn’t come across a room full of pie…”

“What?”

“Never mind.” She shook her head and swivelled in her chair, grateful that she had her shades on.

A Fracture hung in the space in front of the Spectrum Shifter, just having blinked into existence a few minutes earlier.

It was a disappointing show, too; she had expected something with a bit more ‘oomph’. She expected the world to distort and lose colour as time and space was torn apart with psychedelic waves of light, but it was more like ‘boom, here I am’ and that was that.

Still awesome to look at though, even with the migraine it caused.

She didn’t know how Eiswhel managed to stand being near it; he was right next to the Spectrum Shifter looking at some panels and didn’t seem the slightest bit irritated.

Must have been a human thing.

As she watched him work, a random thought came to mind.

“Hey, maybe you should come with.”

He started, stood rigid for a few seconds, then looked over at her in bewilderment. “What?”

“Yeah, come with us back to Equestria. I mean… I don’t think your buddies will be too happy that you’ve helped us, ya know?”

“True, but I am in no danger from them. I will come to no harm.”

“Okay, but you can still come with. I’m sure our world is better than staying here.”

Eiswhel made a face like he ate something off. “I… That’s not a good idea, Vinyl. I have committed many crimes against your kind; I would not be welcome there…”

“Like I said, you can always try to redeem-”

“And I could not go with you while my people stay here and suffer.”

“So why don’t they come along, too?” Vinyl questioned, frowning. “You know, I always figured… instead of revenge, why don’t you guys just ask us to give you a piece of land or something? Yeah, I don’t really see Wolf negotiating something like that either, but I heard you saying to that knight earlier – Ren, I think? – that you guys are going to try and move to our world in secret? Why don’t you ask the unicorns you get to charge the machine and promise to let them go?”

“That would be a sensible alternative,” Eiswhel nodded. “But emotion has a funny way of blinding you to alternatives: I’m certain many others feel like this war isn’t worth it, but we’re outnumbered – Caed and his knights and most of the scribes want vengeance.”

Vinyl sighed in frustration. “Shit.”

“And there’s another problem…” Eiswhel continued. “Fractures are unstable from the moment they are created and they only become more unstable the more mass that goes through it. The one you see before you is enough to transport you, Nightmare Moon, and the rest of the unicorns without difficulty, but anything more and there’s a chance it will close altogether.

“It requires a vast amount of energy to create Fractures, even more to make one capable of transporting every man, woman, and child within this city to your world. Caed wants no one left behind.”

“Damn.” Vinyl scowled.

She really wanted to find a solution that would help settle things between both sides, but she was coming up with nothing. If this was a movie, then she’d probably get at the climax or something, and that was no good.

“If having unicorns consciously charging the machine would do the trick, then this would be simple, but they cannot put out enough energy to be sufficient, even in groups and with breaks in between. It’s just too slow, and we’re on borrowed time; our food reserves will only last for so long.”

“And you can’t accept food from us because you’d run out of energy to make a Fracture?”

“You could have provided seeds, but we have no other soil to grow them in. The part of the city that was destroyed when you closed that large Fracture was the only location with adequate growing properties within miles. The wildlife is slowly dying out, too, so… that source of food isn’t going to last for long either.”

“Faust…”

Eiswhel smiled apologetically. “Thank you for trying to help. But I don’t see an alternative.”

Another heavy blow made the ice shudder.

In hindsight, she really should have thought of a way to get back to the Spectrum Shifter sooner.

She also should have acknowledged that their luck would run out at the most inopportune time.

The humans, having been absent and thus leaving her and the unicorns free to search and destroy, were now present and grouped together in front of the door she had barricaded, and were attempting to break through.

It was a good thing they were loud enough to hear before she could turn the corner.

“What do we do now?” A unicorn stallion in a sharp – if rumpled – tuxedo whimpered.

Nightmare Moon carefully peeked around the corner to count the opposition.

‘Seven with swords and shields, two with greatsword, and two with greatshields.’

Alone, that would give her enough trouble, but from the snippets of talk audible between the heavy clangs of the heavy-shielded knights as they slammed against the door in tandem, there were more knights that had left to find equipment and tools more suitable for the job.
Nightmare Moon could clear the ice with a spell, but the hard part was getting there.

Clearly, she would have to kill the humans before reinforcements could arrive.

“You will all stay here and refrain from entering melee,” She ordered. “If any of you are familiar with spells from the Elemental school – preferably cryomancy – than feel free to bombard them from a distance while I keep them occupied.”

“You’re… going to fight them?” The stallion blinked in awe.

“I’m going to kill them. There’s a difference.”

“Divine Daughter…”

Nightmare Moon waved Vitae off. “I have a lot of pent-up aggression, so allow me to indulge in this. You don’t think these humans are truly a match for me, do you?”

Vitae shook her head emphatically. “N-no. Of course not!”

Truthfully, there was a chance Nightmare Moon could be slain by a lucky hit – several of them – but she wasn’t one to let death stand in her way.

She just had to work extra hard to make sure that chance was as miniscule as possible.

She stepped out into view without hesitation and started charging her horn with magic.

“Greetings!”

One of the larger knights slammed into the doors, so her shout was partially drowned out and noticed by the knights at the very back, but they were helpful enough to yell out a warning before scrambling into defensive stances.

They showed some intelligence by putting the greatshield knights in front with the others taking cover behind them – the corridor was narrow that shoulder-to-shoulder they could prevent almost anything from flanking them.

Nightmare Moon chuckled malevolently as she walked forwards, deliberately flashing a split-cheeked grin to unnerve them.

“What do we have here? A group of humans stumped by a door – how pitiful. And what’s this? You appear to have no other way of retreating; that’s never a good sign.”

None of them replied, but she could see their animosity and tension in the way they fidgeted and gripped their weapons.

“You know, I’m feeling generous today…” She stopped, continuing to charge her spell with a cracked tombstone grin. “I’m going to give you the opportunity to cast aside your weapons and let you leave. Doesn’t that sound splendid? No blood needs to be shed.”

One of the normal knights behind the greatshields raised a finger.

She recognized the gesture from griffon culture and laughed in response.

“Yes, I figured as much. Truth be told, I wasn’t planning to let you live anyway. It’s just that if you were unarmed my task easier would be easier. Quicker. That being said, I hope you provide with me a challenge.”

She let out a deranged laugh, just to see them flinch.

“I imagine killing defenceless unicorns have made you a little soft.”

“You’re outnumbered,” A female responded, her voice bouncing within her helm. “Talk shit all you want because you’re going to die.”

Nightmare Moon laughed again and shook her head.

“No. Now, I’m going to have fun…”

Start off strong.

Her spell fully charged, Nightmare Moon galloped forwards, jumped into the air, and became a swirling maelstrom of ice shards and freezing winds.

It took a lot of practise to figure out how to maintain spatial awareness whenever she did this, but it was worth the time and effort; she could ‘hear’ and ‘see’ where she was as she led the storm trailing behind her through the ranks of the humans before reforming her body behind them.

The knights at the front blocked almost all the glass-thin ice shards, but not the mist that billowed around their shields to blast each knight by creeping through the gaps in their armor and stealing the heat from their bodies. They crumpled with gasps and wet coughs, slapping at the parts of their armor where flash-frozen flesh screamed beneath.

While they were distracted with the pain, she snagged a human with a greatsword by their unprotected neck and crunched down with her teeth until the spine gave way with a noise like celery stick being broken. She tossed them forwards hard enough to knock over two normal knights before delivering a vicious stomp to the back of another’s knee and headbutting them when they fell onto it.

The next one she selected to kill managed to raise their shield in time to ward off a swipe of her foreleg, but the force sent them sprawled on their back anyway. Another knight got in front of them, thinking themselves a defender, and Nightmare Moon responded with a body-check that flung them against the wall.

The rest of the knights forced themselves through the pain of the cold and descended upon her, but as she suspected, the confined space of the hallway, their numbers, and the length of their limbs made it difficult to get any sort of momentum behind their swings or attack without the fear of hitting their comrades.

They were reduced to stabs and pommel strikes that hurt but barely faze Nightmare Moon as she used her size and strength to knock them down and crush them against the walls, all with a bloody grin on her face.

Her heart was thumping wildly with excitement.

One of the burly knights with the large shields pushed aside the remaining greatsword-wielder who was having trouble finding the space to swing his abnormally long weapon and tried to shove her towards the door, looking to make space.

Nightmare Moon rose onto her hind legs and braced her forelegs against the shield, stopping them dead in their tracks.

“Not again.”

Whether it was because this knight was weaker than the other one she had fought earlier or she had better leverage, they were gradually being forced to their knees. She could hear them grunting and panting in exertion, and if she had another few uninterrupted moments, she was certain she would have crushed them beneath their own shield.

But then the other hulking knight had to rush in and lend them support.

The other humans rushed behind them to attack from the sides of the shield; hardly effective since most lacked weapons with any real length, but one of them had a flail that kept striking her face and that was very annoying.

Before she could chomp down on the chain, the knight let out a choked howl as a spark of blue light struck them in the back during their wind-up; Nightmare Moon saw sparks spitting off their armor.

She looked over the heads of the humans to see the smartly-dressed stallion standing at the end of the corridor with a glowing horn and an expression of utmost horror and disbelief.

Clearly, he could not believe he had just done that.

She sent him a smile that he would preferably not take as terrifying.

Deciding that this back-and-forth had gone on long enough, Nightmare Moon spread her wings and leapt back with a powerful beat to help her clear some extra feet. The large knights, pushing with all their considerable strength, tripped forwards and fell on top of one another with the rest staggering and flailing their arms to keep balanced.

Nightmare Moon fixed that by diving forwards and knocking them down, placing the fallen knights between her and the dead end.

She flashed her teeth with a hearty laugh and bent over to grab the greatsword-wielder by the ankle with a bone-crushing bite.

Like she said, this was going to be fun…

“I think she’s back.”

Vinyl watched the door with baited breath; she could hear a hell of a ruckus going on behind it, like someone had taken a bunch of tin cans and was banging them together, interrupted by the occasional shout or scream.

“She’s really not good at subterfuge, is she?” Eiswhel said dryly.

“I dunno – she was right underneath Celestia and Luna’s nose for a few years, and they didn’t suspect a thing.”

He frowned, likely aiming to ask who Celestia and Luna were and how Nightmare Moon accomplished something like that before the sounds from beyond the door abruptly stopped, leaving the type of silence that’s deader than ‘silence’.

That always creeped Vinyl out, being a firm believer that there should be some sort of noise no matter where you are. It was also worrying.

She was about to go over there, but stopped when she saw that the ice was breaking away in a manner that could hardly be called a natural process.

‘Duh. It’s fucking Wolf, of course she’s alright.’

She climbed off her chair and trotted over in excitement.

Once most of the ice had been cleared, the doors slid open, and Wolf practically strutted through.

“I’m back with the unicorns.” She said, casually disregarding the pile of dead knights behind her.

In Vinyl’s humble opinion, that was a pretty badass entrance.

A bunch of unicorns entered right after Wolf, similarly dumbstruck and in awe. So, Wolf did manage to save the unicorns – fucking A.

One mare in particular looked like she was right on the verge of climax.

“Y-your strength is incredible, Divine Daughter! I never would have imagined to see somepony beat a human with another human!”

“Consider yourself enlightened. Now, give me that folder. The rest of you go wait by the Fracture. Try not to look directly at it.”

She obeyed, hoofing over a manila folder before going with the others to stand with the machine.

Wolf finally turned to Vinyl and, wow, it was a hell of a sight to her face relax into a genuine look of relief and carefully measured joy.

“You had no trouble?”

“Me? Pssh – naw,” Vinyl shrugged with a dismissive sniff. She couldn’t really reveal that she had begun to feel nervous during those last few minutes, could she? “Just wondering if I’d have to stretch and break out the old boxing hooves.”

Her lips twitched a little. “Of course,” She then looked up and her face settled back into its usual predatory glare. “Eiswhel.”

Vinyl frowned worriedly, but took a step back to watch as Eiswhel walked over, ignoring the confused and wary looks of the other unicorns.

“The Fracture is open, as you can see.”

Wolf gave a little nod. “Yes. Tell me – do you recognize this folder?”

She held said folder out.

Vinyl watched as Eiswhel’s lips parted in a quiet gasp before setting in a tight line. He swallowed – hand clenching into fists – before nodding.

“Yes. It’s mine.”

Wolf didn’t even blink. “Is everything in it true?”

Eiswhel nodded again. “Yes, it’s all tr-”

Wolf’s head darted forwards and drew back in the blink of an eye.

Clack

Vinyl blinked at the sudden noise that she recognized a moment later as Wolf’s teeth snapping together before picking up another noise – something like when she stepped on a loofah in the shower or when she squeezed a sponge when washing the dishes…

She turned to Eiswhel in time to see red blossom against his white coat and spray from his torn throat.

He stepped back, stumbled, and fell.

“Oh, fuck, Eiswhel!”

Nightmare Moon licked her bloodstained lips, watching with confusion as Vinyl scrambled to the human’s side and shouted his name in… concern?

Shock – it must have been shock.

The unicorns were also staring, but they appeared to be just confused.

“Wolf…” Vinyl stared at her, mouth agape; she looked back and forth between her and Eiswhel’s twitching body. “What did you do that for?”

“The humans harvest magic from our bodies to charge their machine; they want to colonize an island in our world,” Nightmare Moon held up the folder. “It’s all in here. Eiswhel was part of it. He was there when the first unicorn was killed.”

Eiswhel wasn’t quite dead, but he was fading quickly; he had six or eight seconds at the most.

Strangely, he had an odd look on his face… something like contentment? Relief?

It didn’t matter – he would soon be dead.

“B-but he…!” Vinyl spluttered, wincing like she was trying to argue something but couldn’t find the right words. “Yeah, I know, but… he helped us!”

“So he did something worthwhile before death,” Nightmare Moon shrugged. “Come on – we’re going home.”

She didn’t know why Vinyl was so upset about this – it seemed to be personal. They would have to speak about it later, when there was time and no threat of being attacked.

Eiswhel breathed his last as Nightmare Moon used her wing to nudge Vinyl along; the DJ was oddly upset about what happened, but she trotted towards the Fracture nevertheless.

The anomalous tear in space waited for them patiently.

It was a shame Nightmare Moon couldn’t smash anything in here for fear of prematurely closing the Fracture, but she’d settle for destroying something that was obviously of critical importance to the humans and taking back the unicorns they kidnapped.

Besides that, Canterlot was still being invaded.

She hoped Ebony and the others had gotten a hold of things.

“One at a time,” She told everypony when they were all ready. “Who wants to go first?”

Silence.

“Very well,” Nightmare Moon walked forwards, squinting as the intensity of the white light grew stronger. “I’ll go first.”

~

Never had she been so happy to be back in Equestria.

To be surrounded by ambient magic again was like being dipped into a hot sauna – Nightmare Moon’s body felt rejuvenated as she soaked in the magic and smoke-filled-

Oh, right.

She looked around and saw that they were back in Canterlot, the upper-class district it seemed.

Over the roofs of the buildings, she saw a few plumes of grey smoke rising high into the air, but could hear nothing like the sounds of chaos there had been when the behemoth bug was stumbling about; it was almost too quiet.

She wasn’t sure to be happy or cautious.

After looking over her shoulder to confirm that the unicorns were coming through the Fracture, Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and sent out her thoughts.

“Can anypony hear me? Are you close by?”

Fortuitously, she was answered.

“Empress, you’re back!” Ebony cried, elated. “Are you okay? Where did you go? Do you need help?”

“I’m fine-”

“Boss, I am so stoked to hear your voice again!” Fade chimed in.

Nightmare Moon grimaced as Lightning Dust, Haze, and Miasma’s thoughts filtered in, spilling over each other with their questions and concerns.

“Enough!! I am fine; I’ve rescued the unicorns that were being held by the humans when I went into their world through a Fracture.”

Five cries of, “Wait, what?!”

“I’ll explain later – where is the behemoth bug?”

“It’s dealt with, Empress…” Ebony replied.

Nightmare Moon nodded in satisfaction. “Good.”

“B-but there are still humans in the city. I… Some ran off, including the one I was fighting, and Veil’s having a hard time finding where they-”

Veil interjected, loud and panicked.

“Empress, they’re right on top of you!”

Nightmare Moon opened her eyes and shouted, “All of you get behind me!”

Vinyl and the unicorns swiftly obeyed after a moment of confusion, and Nightmare Moon spread out her wings and ignited her horn as she scanned the roads.

“Where?”

“West!”

She looked up for a second, spotting a speck in the sky that must have been Veil, before turning her body west.

Not two seconds later, an armored figure nimbly leapt off the roof of an antique store and landed on the road several yards from her position.

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes. “Caed…”

The Knight Enforcer stood. “You…”

“Forgive me earlier departure, but something came up,” She smirked, unable to resist the urge to tell him of the damage she caused to his facility and see what reaction she would elicit. She imagined it would be just as satisfying as getting it from Celestia. “Incidentally, I stumbled across one of the Fractures you used to-”

Her ribcage buckled beneath a colossal blow that sent her skidding across the cobblestone, leaving fur and blood in her wake.

She was still processing what happened when a red blur scooped her into the air with a swipe that split the flesh of her side, rose alongside her, and spiked her back to the earth with a vicious kick.

Several bones broke as she put a barrier to ward off further assault.

Her attacker bellowed and smashed her barrier to pieces with an aerial dive.

Her throat was suddenly crushed beneath an iron grip as a face loomed over her, shadowed with rage save for one red eye that shone like the sun.

“I’m going to kill you…”

Huh… she expected another long-winded speech.

Author's Note

Note 1: The Old Tales - A platoon of soldiers, disillusioned and lacking purpose, born into a war with forgotten origins, wandered the aftermath of a city that had been struck with a terrible weapon.

It was there that one man found two things: a girl and a cache of aged literature.

The girl read to him from the cache; she told him of warriors in shining armor sworn to serve the greater good, of men and women finding enlightenment in a world of fantastic creatures, of places where people grow, live, and die.

The man became enamoured with these ancient warriors, and with ambition burning within his heart, he shared these tales amongst others.

Chqpter 58; Hate-skin

A messenger burst into Nightmare Moon’s office, sweating in fear as he told her of a Fracture appearing in the courtyard, depositing one human, and winking out of existence just as quickly.

Nightmare Moon wasted no time; she forsook the door and stairs in favour of going out onto her balcony and taking off in a quick flight that landed her in the courtyard’s walls in just a few seconds.

She saw numerous ponies forming a ring around the lone human, her Praetorian Guard among them – pegasi hovered close by, spears and bows primed to attack.

The lone human regarded them with an expression that was almost incredible in its simplicity and utter lack of concern.

Nightmare Moon watched him carefully as she approached, her presence causing the Eclipse guards to shuffle and make a path for her. The human shifted their gaze to her, but betrayed no emotion.

‘Who… is this? They’re not armored like Caed and his knights…’

Though Nightmare Moon was still learning to identify human males from human females from appearance, she was confident that she was looking at a male, albeit one unlike any she had seen before.

He did not wear armor, but a suit of such offensively vibrant yellow and red that even she, somepony who didn’t care much for the field, had to fight back a cringe; if Rarity were here, there’d certainly be a headache-inducing amount of affronted noises. There was a white cape attached to the suit that hung loosely behind his scrawny frame, but it wasn’t as if that made it better somehow.

Clothing aside, the male looked very unthreatening; his skin was pink and soft, his face blank like there was no thought going on behind those glassy eyes, and good Faust, that hairless head could give a polished jewel a run for its money.

He did not look like a knight, but he was still a human, and Nightmare Moon had yet to meet a friendly human.

She puffed herself up confidently as she walked forwards and stopped just a few yards from the male, whose only movement came from a flaring nostril as he sniffed.

“You are either brave or foolish to come by yourself…” She observed, giving a toothy sneer. “Tell me – do you intend to make peace, or are you like that fool Caed, and you wish to issue a challenge?”

The male blinked. “… Huh. A talking horse.”

“Pony.”

“Pony?” He blinked again and looked at the guards before turning back to her. “Well, these guys look like ponies, but you’re awfully big for one.”

Nightmare Moon faltered. He sounded as if he didn’t know about her or the ponies – could that mean he truly wasn’t part of Caed’s order? There was a possibility that he was lying…

“If you didn’t know about us, then why did you come here?” She asked, narrowing her eyes as the human scratched his side and stared at nothing. “You used a Fracture to get here, didn’t you?”

“‘Fracture?’” The male repeated, one pencil-thin eyebrow rising. “I don’t know. I was walking to the store to buy some eggs when some portal-thing opened up next to me,” He shrugged. “I was kinda bored, so I figured I’d see what was up. Uh, but now it’s closed, and I’m kinda lost, so… do you know how to get back?”

He sounded so casual and blasé.

“Do you really expect me to believe that you would walk through a portal just because you were bored? Well, I-”

“Yeah.”

“-don’t…” Nightmare Moon blinked and scowled. “Well, I don’t.”

The male blinked at her. “Okay.”

She stared at him.

He stared at her.

The Eclipse guards stared at one another.

“… I am Empress Nightmare Moon of Equestria, and you are trespassing on castle property,” She stomped her hoof against the dirt – not as dramatic as stone, but what can you do? “If you do not bow to Caed, the Knight Enforcer of the human world, then tell me your name and real reason for being here.”

“Hey, I’m Saitama,” He lifted his hand in a lazy wave. “I’m a hero for… well, I guess I’m a hero for profit now. And I’m telling the truth – I really did just come through because I was bored. Kinda regretting it now, though; I’m not sure if this is a thing where time moves differently, but I want to get back home before the store shuts. My home,” He sniffed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Also, I have to check on Genos – he gets antsy when I’m not home on time.”

“A hero?”

“Yeah. Hey, what’s with that look? I’m fully registered with the Hero’s Association, you know. I don’t have the papers on me right now, but it’s true.”

Now that Nightmare Moon thought about it… he did remind her of a comic book hero – his attire was bright and colourful and he had the cape that had come to be associated with the stereotypical ‘hero’.

Her mind suddenly prickled as Ebony Called her. “Empress, what do we do?”

“Stand by for now; I want to question him more.”

Nightmare Moon had come here expecting a fight, but ‘Saitama’ was showing no signs of hostility nor any affiliation with the Rouge Knights. She had a hard time believing that the humans would come up with something like this as form of reconnaissance or infiltration, especially when there was no way anypony could miss someone as visible as him.

She let her horn dim, but remained in anticipation of an attack.

“A hero? As in, one who fights for ‘the greater good?’”

“That’s what heroes do, so yeah,” Saitama scratched beneath his arm. “Hey, did I interrupt something? Everyone’s got armor on – you guys fighting something?”

“Humans.”

Saitama blinked owlishly. “Really? You guys don’t look like monsters. Well, you do, especially with a name like ‘Nightmare Moon’. And to be honest, the word ‘empress’ doesn’t bode well either. Blame that on decades of cartoon villains.”

“I’m not a shining example of good intentions, I’ll admit, but we’re fighting humans because they are attempting to kidnap our kind. For what reason, I do not know, but it cannot be good,” Nightmare Moon cocked her head curiously. “If you’re not aware of our war, then you cannot be part of the Rouge Knight order. And yet, you’ve arrived through a Fracture, a portal, so that must mean you’re from another world inhabited by humans.

“There is a pony named Sunset Shimmer who came from a world of humans, but from her descriptions, they are of various skin colours ranging from purple to green and the world is more or less parallel to ours. Your skin colour and name does not match the world she described, but neither do you fit in with the world of Caed and his Rouge Knights.

“Therefore, it seems as if-”

She was interrupted by a loud yawn.

Nightmare Moon paused in surprise before gritting her teeth and growling in anger. “Am I boring you?!”

Saitama wiped at his eyes blearily. “Sorry. I’m just so used to hearing people and monsters talk a lot that I sort of nod off when it happens. Look, I’m not sure what’s going on, but I need to get back home. Can you open up another… Fracture, did you say?”

Nightmare Moon bristled in irritation, but decided to let it slide – he sounded genuinely apologetic. “No, we cannot; only the humans possess that ability.”

“Oh,” Saitama blinked. “Well, maybe I can talk to them.”

“They exist in a different universe altogether; the only way you could communicate was if-”

She paused as a distant roar ripped through the air.

Faint wingbeats of something large.

Nightmare Moon knew what it was even before Lightning Dust went higher and shouted in alarm.

‘Dragon.’

The dragon migration wasn’t for another few months, so she had no idea why one would be here in Equestria, especially if it was as large as it sounded, but the time for questions would have to come later – right now, they needed to prepare.

“Everypony to your stations!” She shouted, flapping her wings to hover above the ranks of her Eclipse guard. “Fade, Lightning Dust – assemble the pegasi! Veil – sound the alarm! Ebony, Miasma – go and prepare the surface-to-air catapults! Haze – go wake Shadow Strike!”

Everypony scrambled to carry out her orders, several terrified faces glancing to the sky as the wingbeats and roars grew closer.

Saitama just stood in the same spot and watched.

Damn it! What was she to do with him? He could slip away while they were fighting!

“Saitama!” She cried. “Stay where you are, or I will hunt you down!”

“Okay.”

“… I mean it!”

“I believe you.”

…

Whether he was being sarcastic or not became irrelevant as a great shadow fell across the courtyard, and Nightmare Moon lit her horn up in a blue glow as the dragon flew over and landed on the castle, its talons – each longer and thicker than a pony – digging into the walls to keep it anchored as it folded its massive wings against its back.

Nightmare Moon’s knowledge on dragon biology was slim, but she could tell from the physique and length of horns that it had recently reached maturity – perhaps thirteen years ago – and was male. The burgundy tint of his scaly hide shimmered in the sun as glowing green eyes peered down at the ponies running in his shadow hungrily. He had to be thirty feet tall and almost eighty feet from snout to tail.

When he spoke, it was like thunder.

“WELL, WELL, WHAT HAVE WE HERE? WHERE IS YOUR SUN GODDESS CELESTIA, HM?” The dragon crawled down the castle, his great head looming closer as chunks of debris rained down into the courtyard. “I HEARD THE RUMORS OF A COUP AND CAME TO SEE IT FOR MYSELF. WELL, THAT AND THE DAZZLING BRILLIANCE OF THE GREAT CANTERLOT OF EQUESTRIA.”

Nightmare Moon stared him down without fear. “The rumours are true. Canterlot, and by extension Equestria, is now under my rule. And I must say that I do not appreciate uninvited guests destroying royal property.”

“I AM RAVAGE, THE GUARDIAN OF THE MOUNTAIN IN SMOKE. LONG AGO, CELESTIA BANISHED ME FROM THE CITY WHEN I WAS STILL A FLEDGLING. NOW, I HAVE COME BACK, STRONG AND OLD, TO CLAIM THIS CITY FOR MY OWN,” Ravage leered at her, grey smoke billowing from his parted jaws. “YOU CAN EITHER SWEAR FEALTY TO ME, OR BE BURNED TO ASH. FEAR NOT – I WILL BE A MERCIFUL KING AMONGST YOU.”

Nightmare Moon had to roll her eyes and sigh. “Dragon, we’re rather busy fighting an actual threat, so I’m going to give you a chance to slink back to your mountain because unlike Celestia, I am not soft-hearted.”

Ravage roared with laughter, shaking the windows of the castle. “SO BE IT! PREPARE YOURSELF FOR FIERY OBLIVI-”

KRA-KOOM

Ravage’s serpentine head cartwheeled into the sky that had been rendered cloudless by the sheer force of an ungodly powerful blow.

Saitama dropped back down into the courtyard, face still blank as Ravage’s body fell of the side of the castle and crumpled into a bloody heap behind him.

He turned to her. “Sorry, but he was really loud. Now, what were you saying about getting in touch with the Red Knights or whatever?”

“Hello?”

“Hm… Maybe if I punch the air hard enough, then I can open another portal…”

CANTERLOT DAILY NEWS

Empress Nightmare Moon relinquishes crown to Celestia and Luna – Old Rulers Reinstated!!

After an encounter with a human not affiliated with the Rouge Knight Order,
Nightmare Moon – formerly Empress – has handed the rule of Equestria back
to Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight Sparkle.

The former Empress quoted:

“When you meet someone who you could never beat in a million years, you
just sort of lose hope to do anything. I think I’ll be much happier in my new job.”

Nightmare Moon is currently serving as Princess Celestia’s secretary, where she handles
all the paperwork and complaints. Celestia is reported to be “surprised but pleased” at
this sudden turn of events, citing that “now all we have to do is deal with the threat of
the humans.”

In other news, there has been a recent string of mental trauma suffered from those in the
now-disbanded Eclipse Guard that once served Nightmare Moon. Several were found
soaked in blood next to the decapitated corpse of a mature dragon, ranting about an
alleged ‘god’ that felled a great foe with but one punch.

Authorities are investigating this matter.

In other news, Princess Twilight has suddenly launched a campaign against the anime media…

Happy April Fool’s Day!!

Author's Note

Note 1: The true next chapter of Ambition will be up later this week! Until then, have a little something for April Fool's involving everyone's favourite superhero parody!

Chapter 58: The Strongest Knight

1056 AD, January 13th

Well, seeing as he wasn’t going to start giving speeches…

Nightmare Moon threw him off with a blast of kinetic energy and rolled to her hooves, coughing at the tightness of her throat.

Hell of a grip he had.

“You seem upset,” She sneered, watching cautiously as Caed got into a crouched stance; the blast didn’t seem to have even rattled him. “Tell me – how many knights did you lose fighting my-”

He lunged forwards.

The tip of his glaive sliced a furrow in her cheek as she dodged to the side and countered with a left hook-

-that swiped through air as Caed stepped away from its trajectory and smashed his shoulder into her breast.

Her armor absorbed most of the damage, but the force made her stumble backwards. His movements became a red and black blur as he pursued with a flurry of glaive strikes, punches, and kicks.

Nightmare Moon had a few jeering remarks in mind, but she couldn’t find an opportunity to use them; she struggled to follow Caed’s movements and her body cried out as strikes found their way through her defence.

‘Well, I’ve always thought that a good defence is a good offense.’

She parried one of Caed’s kicks with her wings and swiftly let loose a tempest of frigid winds to freeze his legs in place.

He wasn’t in front of her.

She blinked in surprise before something crashed down on the back of her neck like a guillotine.

The ground was unforgiving as her jaw dislocated upon impact, but her body didn’t even have time to complain about it as the cold edge of a blade swiped across her back, bringing an acute, unfamiliar pain and a powerful gust that sent her on a path to collide with a lamp post that bent on impact.

O-kay, that was… embarrassing.

She got back up, dizzier than she expected and unbalanced.

Caed was strong and fast but still a human; she’d have a better advantage if she was in the air. He could still jump and use that gauntlet to teleport, but he didn’t have the mobility she had.

Focusing her attention on the Knight Enforcer glaring balefully at her from the other side of the road, she spread her wings and-

The sharp pain in her back sparked.

Nightmare Moon turned her head to the left and saw empty space where a wall of feathers should have been.

She looked back at Caed and saw a twitching mass gathering dust on the ground.

‘Oh.’

Ice spread from the bleeding nub on her back all throughout her body – the pain wasn’t crippling, even if her awareness made it ache that much more, but the realization that she had lost an entire appendage had her reeling.

Thankfully, instead of capitalizing on her shock, Caed saw fit to walk forwards slowly, the blade of his weapon sparking against the ground.

“The first thing I heard once that Fracture opened and our signals got through was that our cultivation tanks were offline,” He was breathing heavily, red eye flashing bright enough to be seen through his eyelid whenever he blinked. “Do you realize what you've done?! Four of my knights are dead, and they're never coming back!”

Nightmare Moon ignored her missing wing and folded the remaining one before clicking her jaw back into place to smirk at Caed. No use in crying over severed wings. “More than that, I assure you. There are plenty more dead humans back at your base of operations. I didn’t get the exact numbers.”

It was going take a while for her wing to grow back.

Perhaps she should try to grab the lost appendage and see if it would reattach to the nub? She’d never had the opportunity to see if alicorns could reattach lost body parts since dismemberment almost never happened.

The only other time she could think of was when Celestia hit her with that beam of sunlight, but her organs and limbs had been liquefied, so there wasn’t anything that could really be attached.

She prepared to teleport behind Caed.

“Although, I’m sure that it was over ten,” She continued with a chuckle. “There are several humans I’m not counting because… well, they were in the tanks you use to grow new bodies and didn’t put up much of a fight.”

Caed tensed up.

“Wolf!!”

Nightmare Moon’s dark glee went cold like the sensation in her nub as she saw Vinyl running over with some of the unicorns in tow. Were they insane?

“Vinyl, stay back! Get to safety!”

The DJ stumbled to a stop several yards away, face creasing in worry and indecision. Fortunately, Caed was more interested in Nightmare Moon; he didn’t even turn to look at Vinyl or the other unicorns.

But the two other Rouge Knights that emerged from around the corner of a burning bookstore did.

They looked, but they didn’t make a move to capture or attack. It was difficult to tell with their helms obscuring their faces, but they seemed to be more interested in the Fracture.

One of them, seemingly having issues with their left arm if the way it dangled was any indication, shouted. “Knight Enforcer! We have to go!”

"Go, then!" Caed shouted back. "Get to safety! I will make this scoundrel pay!"

"The tanks are dead!" The female pleaded, her voice high with desperation. "You can't...! There aren't any second chances for us!"

“You should listen to your soldier, Caed,” Nightmare Moon said. “I’ve rescued the unicorns you’ve held captive and destroyed a portion of your facility – I’ve already won this battle. Go and tend to what remains of your pathetic forces.”

“… Pathetic?”

Caed clenched his teeth together so hard they might have chipped. He looked almost demonic with such a murderous expression.

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes and prepared to teleport to her wing – his stance and tone just screamed that he was about to attack.

He moved in front of her so fast that it might as well have been a teleport; Nightmare Moon’s reflexes saved her from taking a glaive to the face as she cast her spell and relocated to where her wing was.

She swiftly snatched it up with magic and-

Caed blew her back with another charge.

Okay, to hell with the wing, then; she would just have to adjust to her uneven weight.

“I fought alongside these men and women against an enemy with weapons that could turn cities to ash. Who are you to call them pathetic?”

Caed lunged forwards while she was still getting up; she had to move on pure reaction to dodge a stab, but was hit with the follow-up – a left-to-right slash that split her throat open.

“You don’t know how hard they fought!”

Nightmare Moon backed off to avoid another slash before stomping her hooves against the ground and sending out a wave of frost that encased Caed’s feet in ice. She quickly formed a spear of ice and thrust it against his face, but he shattered it with one lightning-fast chop off his hand and then smashed the haft of his glaive against the ground, producing a dome of powerful winds that cleared the ice and pushed her back several feet.

“They deserved better!!”

Nightmare Moon would have countered by pointing out they were kidnapping ponies – some innocent – to serve as literal batteries, but it was all she could do to keep up with his assault; he was fighting harder than she had ever seen him.

The thought of him holding back during their previous matches made her blood boil – the nerve of someone else doing that to her!

She was pushed back several more feet by a flurry of slashes and kicks before a wide swing left her a big enough opening to bite down on his forearm and pull him to the ground with a violent tug.

Stomping one hoof down on his chest to keep him pinned, she opened her jaws wide and went for his throat.

“GLUK!!”

Her eyes widened as she pulled backwards, her hooves scrabbling against cobblestone as Caed clenched his fist within her throat.

“Not now…” Caed rose into a crouch, keeping her still as he aimed the tip of his glaive to her head, a hateful snarl on his face. “Not ever.”

“Hey, asshole!”

A piece of debris bounced off Caed’s head; it barely caused a flinch, but it did distract him for an extra second, allowing Nightmare Moon to finish charging her spell and then slam her hoof on the ground to conjure a massive spike of ice that struck Caed in the chest hard enough to get his arm out of her throat.

“GRAH!!”

Nightmare Moon teleported a few yards away and rubbed her neck, saliva slicking her lips and chin. “V-Vinyl! Stay away!”

To her dismay, Vinyl continued stomping forwards, scowling as she telekinetically chucked whatever she could scoop up off the street. “Friggin’ anime-villain reject – eat a dick!”

Caed deftly got back on his feet and walked towards Nightmare Moon, not even glancing in the DJ’s direction as rocks bounced off his body.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!”

“Vinyl, get back – you’ll distract me!” Nightmare Moon anchored her hooves in the dirt and watched Caed carefully; he was proving to be a more dangerous human than she expected. “Go somewhere safe!”

“I’m not letting you fight by yourself!” Vinyl shouted adamantly before turning to some of the other unicorns – why were they still there? “Come on – there’s more of us than there are them! You gonna let this idiot beat on the mare that saved your asses?!”

The unicorns looked nervously at Caed and the two knights, who had suddenly decided to abandon the idea of going through the Fracture to walk forward, drawing weapons to-

"No!!" Caed's head jerked in their direction, the force of his tone bringing them to a dead stop. "She is my opponent! The only life I will risk in a direct fight is mine! Stay your blades!"

The knights faltered, but reluctantly stayed back, although the female continued to appeal to Caed, trying to sway him.

It was all background noise – to Caed and to Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon shook her head and cast an Iron Fur spell since Caed seemed to be taking his sweet time to glower and loom. “Vinyl, I have guards already on their way! Don’t be an idiot!”

Vinyl grimaced in concern. “But-”

Whatever she was about to say was drowned out as a voice chimed in Nightmare Moon's head.

“Empress, we’re here!” Ebony’s link was strong, close.

Though she’d never admit it, Nightmare Moon felt a surge of relief. “About time.”

“Got your ass from above, boss!” Fade added, and Nightmare Moon looked up to see him, Lightning Dust, Veil, and a few other pegasi flying overhead. “We killed their pet bug, so how’s about we do the same for these jerks, yeah?”

Caed stopped walking and glanced up, his frown deepening. “…”

“Why, are we having second thoughts, Caed?” Nightmare Moon chuckled with a vicious grin. “Perhaps it’s-”

“No.”

“-not too late for-”

He moved.

He moved in that way that obscured his form in a blur of motion too fast for her eyes to follow and suddenly he was in front of her.

His hand grabbed her horn, and the protective coating of magic from the Iron Fur spell recoiled at his touch before falling apart altogether as Caed twisted his hand and snapped it off.

Her roar of pain was silenced as the chunk of horn was pushed through her neck and the haft of a glaive smashed against her torso so hard that her bones rattled and she was flung into the air.

Her Praetorian Guard were Calling to her in alarm, but were swiftly cut off as audible shouts and cries slammed against her ears.

Nightmare Moon’s remaining wing flapped purely on reflex, even though she knew it wouldn’t help her. She pushed the pain aside and pawed at the stub of horn sticking from her throat. Pegasi flew over to help, but Caed materialized in mid-air from a portal and swung his glaive to create a cyclone that sent numerous pegasi spiralling in random directions – the only one unaffected was Lightning Dust, who rode the winds and maintained aerial control.

‘I forgot he has that gauntlet.’

She hit the ground at an awkward angle, but managed to remove the bone from her neck. She didn’t get a chance to try and see if it would set back in place because a shadow fell over her and she barely managed to dodge to the side to avoid Caed’s strike that cracked the road. A blinding flash of red-orange sparks kicked up as Caed swept his glaive through the stone to send a volley of rocks at her.

She swept her wing out to deflect them, but Caed had disappeared in the one moment her sight was blocked.

Nightmare Moon turned to her right and summoned a metre-thick wall of ice that spider-webbed with cracks as Caed’s glaive punched through and came a few centimetres away from gouging out an eye – it was pure luck she guessed the right direction.

Thinking fast, Nightmare Moon bit down on the glaive and yanked it through the freshly-made hole; there was some resistance, but it ended as there was an immensely satisfying thunk on the other side of the wall. Her first response was to break the weapon in half, but even her jaws weren’t tough enough for that; she quickly Called Lightning Dust before tossing the glaive high into the air.

“Lightning Dust – get this thing far away!”

Lightning Dust swooped down and caught it in mid-air as Caed dashed around the ice wall with a red mark on his forehead.

“That was a gift!”

Nightmare Moon sent a hail of icicles at him, but he covered his head with his forearms and ran through them. She went to knock him down with a charge, but he used her head as a springboard and leapt straight over her back. She dug her hooves in to stop and turn just in time to see Caed grab Lightning Dust by the tail and pull her to the ground.

The glaive fell from her grasp, and Nightmare Moon quickly spelled it within a block of ice before charging forwards to keep Caed from breaking it.

Instead of retreating, Caed swung his leg in a powerful roundhouse that sent her tumbling backwards. She recovered swiftly and ran forwards again, dodging his next attack, and then ramming him in the belly with her head before flipping him into the air. Her follow-up, a large spike of ice, failed to connect as he ripped open a portal that swallowed the projectile before closing.

Caed landed several yards behind her, infuriatingly unharmed.

Nightmare Moon panted, sore all over, but still grinning. Caed was more dangerous an opponent than she gave him credit for – he might have just been on par with Celestia.

It was exciting; she’d be feeling high for a while after beating him.

As she stared Caed down, a spear suddenly whistled towards him from the sky, which he avoided by slightly leaning to the side and letting the point spark against the stone.

The next pegasus to throw their spear screamed in pain the following second as it was thrown back to puncture their wing.

Nightmare Moon spared the effort to catch and put them on the ground in a safer manner before Calling.

“Where are the rest of you? I only see Fade, Lightning Dust, and Veil.”

“We’re coming up now; just behind Caed!”

Sure enough, Nightmare Moon spotted Ebony appear from around the corner of a building with Miasma and several other Eclipse guards in tow. As she said, they were behind Caed – a perfect opportunity to flank!

“I’ll keep him occupied, and you hit him when I give the or-”

Something must have shown in her expression because once Caed caught the next spear, he turned around and sent it hurtling through the air with an almost lazy flick of his wrist, one that caused the spear to pierce an unfortunate guard’s breastplate.

They were dead before they hit the ground.

The others – including Ebony and Miasma – stumbled and looked in shock, which proved to be a fatal mistake as Caed was upon them in an instant.

Nightmare Moon snarled in irritation and teleported over.

It was only a few seconds, but it was enough time to see enough to get an inkling on what it must have been like for an average pony to see her in a fight.

Without her strength and size, the guards might as well have been made of cardboard: Caed sent three flying with one kick, grabbed an earth pony by the tail and swung her into a pegasus, and caused a unicorn to stab another with their sword by just dodging at the right time.

Not even Ebony or Miasma stood a chance – Ebony was almost immediately on the ground with a broken leg, and Miasma was sprawled on her back after Caed caught her greataxe mid-swing and cracked her in the jaw with the flat side of the head – his larger size made it seem more like a regular axe.

Impressive, really, but those were her ponies he was attacking.

She tackled him from behind, and they rolled across the ground, punching and kicking, but Caed wrestled the advantage from her with a knee to the belly that winded her long enough to get kicked away. Caed flipped back onto his feet and dashed towards her.

Still breathless, Nightmare Moon clumsily dodged a roundhouse that blasted a hole in the brickwork of the building behind her. She tried moving in to counter, but Caed kept his momentum and transitioned into a spinning back kick that was just as painful and bone-rattling as that strike with the glaive. She staggered and received another kick to the jaw before a shoulder tackle to the chest sent her flying back a dozen feet.

“Unf!” Nightmare Moon grabbed her jaw and clicked it back into place as she stood. “Such strength…” She turned to give Caed a grim sneer. “You would have been a useful ally under different circumstances.”

“Perhaps…” Caed nodded, lifting his hand and squeezing it into a fist before sweeping it out to the side dramatically. “But the lives of my people weigh heavily on you, and I cannot forgive that.”

“And I suppose the lives of my subjects do not weigh on your shoulders?”

“I have taken the weight of my sins, and the sins my knights have committed,” Caed inhaled deeply and shifted his weight to one leg. “Whatever happens, the blame will lie with me.”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Martyrdom falls flat when you’ve harvested the bodies of unicorns for magic to fuel your machines. No one except your fellow humans think you’re a hero, and there are at least two there who don’t even think that. Cease your ridiculous grandstanding and die quietly.”

Caed’s red eye shone balefully as he scowled.

“Not until I give my people a new home.”

She expected him to lunge at her, not towards his encased weapon.

Nightmare Moon teleported between him and the glaive and stood her ground, horn blazing with magic like blue fire.

“Knight Enforcer!”

A sword – much too large to belong to a pony – was thrown from the side and was deftly caught by Caed, who transitioned into a flurry of slashes and thrusts that turned the blade into a silver blur. Nightmare Moon swiped and snapped her teeth at him, weathering the blows that sent spurts of blood into the air like satin ribbons, but it was like trying to bite an apple in a bucket of water, one that sliced at your face off every time you tried.

There was chaos all around her as Eclipse guards came in to help, but their efforts were futile - Caed had clairvoyance-level reflexes and spatial awareness; no matter what he was doing to preoccupy her, he always managed to dodge a blow or lash out and cull whoever was attacking him. She saw him smack away a sword with the flat of his free hand while simultaneously kicking backwards to twist the neck of an unfortunate mare who got in too close.

Miasma jumped in from the side with a swipe of her axe, but Caed stepped back, stabbed Nightmare Moon when she tried to charge, and dashed low to grab Miasma by the neck and throw her into a pegasus struggling to aim their spear.

Nightmare Moon stumbled back, the thrust having ruptured her eye; she was more than just ‘miffed’ that despite her best efforts, she didn’t land a single hit.

With her sight effectively cut in half, she didn’t properly see what happened next, only that Ebony telepathically told her that she was coming to help, and Caed suddenly angled his sword over his shoulder to deflect something with a metallic chime before lunging forwards and-

-sliding between her legs.

“Oh, no you don’t!”

She turned and reared up on her hind hooves while Caed was still on the ground and threw her body weight into a vicious stomp-

-that missed as Caed rolled out of the way and instead broke her own ice block that held the glaive.

Her functioning eye blinked.

‘You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?’

Caed launched her back with a powerful kick.

She hit something soft behind her and heard a familiar cry.

“Nngh! He’s really beginning to annoy me!” Nightmare Moon stood back up and used magic to peel Ebony from off the ground. “Shake it off!”

Ebony shook her head and wiped away a smear of blood trickling from her nose. “S-sorry, I tried to attack from behind, but he just-”

Her eyes widened as she looked past Nightmare Moon and swung her sword.

Nightmare Moon looked to the side, barely fazed by the two knights that had finally decided that helping their leader was better than trying to persuade him; it was the female knight with the limp arm that had tried to blindside her, all-too ready to fight on with a bloodied morning star despite her disability. The other knight was helping Caed with the Eclipse that continued fighting him by drawing some of their attention and leading them away.

Not that Caed appeared to need the help - he had his glaive back and was batting ponies aside like bowling pins.

"I told you to stay back!" He cried.

"When have we ever listened when you say that?!" The knight replied, voice and pitch designating it as male.

With a snarl, Nightmare Moon kicked the female knight back. “Deal with her, Ebony,” She walked forwards, glowering and forcing her ravaged eyelids to open and expose the freshly-grown organ to air. “With any luck, she’ll stay alive long enough to watch her leader die.”

This had stopped being fun.

Celestia and Luna were fun, the regular knights were fun – to feel their hits fall upon her and then strike back with equally powerful blows, to feel the molten threads of rage and excitement going through her body, to know that her strength was making them cry out and bleed gave her a warm feeling in her belly.

Caed was not fun – he was too fast to land a proper hit, and worse than that, he was embarrassing her in front of her subjects by tossing them around like rag dolls, like they were barely a challenge.

Nightmare Moon would not accept that she wasn’t a challenge for him.

“I will save my people, even if I must give all that I am to do it!” Caed spun his glaive over his head and gave a full clockwise spin that sent out a corona of air that knocked her guards back. He still has the sword in his off-hand, but had flipped it around to hold it by the blade. “I will do what must be done.”

“Oh, would you just shut up?!”

She uprooted a nearby lamp post with magic and threw it at Caed, who easily sidestepped and rushed her, thrusting the sword’s hilt at her face like a spear. She ducked to the side and exhaled a freezing cloud of mist that Caed dashed away from. Nightmare Moon channelled magic into the stub of her horn and used the mist to form a salvo of icicles that she propelled towards him before charging, sending out a much larger spike of ice as she did.

Caed deflected the needle-thin icicles with a blast of wind from his glaive and shattered the larger spike with swing of the sword. He didn’t dodge away from her charge, but she quickly discovered it was not because of a slow reaction – Caed planted his feet in the ground and braced against the resulting impact; it was like trying to push a stone wall, and Nightmare Moon only managed to force him back a few feet before stopping, her neck and back muscles straining.

She lit her horn and discharged a burst of electricity that she knew hurt from hearing Caed’s cry, but he powered through the pain and brought his knee into her jaw, crushing it into the top of her mouth with such force that several teeth were pulverized against each other. She pulled back, but Caed’s grip was like iron, and he slammed his knee into her face once more before letting go, spinning to gain momentum, and swinging a wind-strengthened glaive into her side with enough power to send her flying off to impact against the side of a building.

“D-damn it…!” Bits of rubble rained on her skull as she slid out of the crater she had formed and dropped to the ground. She thought electricity would have more of an impact on him, but-

Caed blurred forwards and sent her through the weakened wall with a shoulder tackle.

A thick cloud of dust obscured her vision as she rolled through the furniture of somepony’s home and ended up sprawled on the kitchen floor.

Shaking her head and standing, Nightmare Moon snarled hatefully and tore all the cupboards and drawers off in a burst of telekinesis and brought every piece of cutlery to float above her head. Once Caed stepped through the hole, she sent them all slicing through the air – forks, knifes, and spoons.

Caed pirouetted, letting the cutlery bounce harmlessly of his back, and slammed his glaive against the floor to send out a crescent wave of air that sheared the carpet and ripped the faucets of the sink clean off as Nightmare Moon dodged out of the way.

Caed kicked a coffee table at her, flung the sword in his off-hand, and even flipped over a seafoam green sofa as he closed distance, using everything to his advantage to stop her from casting.

Nightmare Moon ignored the table, dodged the sword, and bucked the sofa back, the force breaking it into two halves that sailed over Caed’s head as he ducked and dashed forwards. She summoned another wall of ice, but he was fast enough to get by before it was fully up and send her reeling with a roundhouse before blurring to her side, digging his blade between her ribs, and pushing her to the floor with leverage and incredible strength.

With a rare surge of panic, Nightmare Moon lifted her head to cast a spell, but Caed interrupted it by stomping his boot against her neck. She felt the glaive slide out of her flesh and heard it cut through air as Caed twirled it, aimed the tip at her head, and-

-pierce her neck as a rock collided with his temple and stunned him; it was all she needed to let off another electrical discharge – made more potent by the water spraying from the sink and leaking all over the floor – and shake him off long enough to teleport to the other side of the room.

“Hey, we got your back, boss!” Fade stood in the archway of the destroyed wall, another rock in his hoof as he flexed the blades on his wings. “For real this time, yeah?!”

Nightmare Moon spat a mouthful of blood, barely hearing him over the rush of blood in her ears. Her vision was tinted red with rage – it wasn’t that she needed help to kill Caed in the first place, it was more than that.

It was…

“Incoming!”

Veil flew in through the hole, grim-faced, and tossed out three grenades.

Two were dodged and one was sent hurtling back with a well-timed glaive swipe.

Nightmare Moon erected an arcane barrier as the grenade struck Veil with a crack and bloomed into a fiery explosion that sent her rolling back onto the streets with patches of charred fur and blazing feathers.

Her mental connection didn’t cut out, so she wasn’t dead at least.

Fade caught a lash of the flames that left him unprepared to deal with a blindingly fast charge by Caed that had the human grab him by the throat and viciously toss him against the ceiling hard enough to send him straight to the upper floor.

Two of her Praetorian Guard dealt with so easily, but it shouldn’t have mattered because…!

“Die!” Nightmare Moon dropped her barrier and swung at him, using her hooves, teeth, and remaining wing to force him on the defensive. “Would you just die alre-”

Another wind-powered strike she couldn’t react to, couldn’t stand her ground against.

She slid against the ground, skin breaking and bleeding against cobblestone as she was knocked back outside; her breathing came in harsh pants as she forced herself back up and let loose a flurry of ice and electrical spells.

“Why! Can’t I! Hurt you?!”

The sight of Caed dodging her spells, weathering her blows, taking everything she had when she was trying her damndest to kill him and only receiving the most superficial of injuries wasn’t annoying – it was maddening!

Celestia and Luna could heal, but at least with them, Nightmare Moon knew she could hurt them badly, beat them even! She was strong enough to go up against any one of them in a fair fight and do some serious damage.

She didn’t…

She didn’t feel like that with Caed.

She didn’t feel strong.

She felt like she was struggling.

Even now, Caed was dodging her spells with barely a hint of strain on his face, and she felt… helpless before him.

Her Praetorian Guard were brushed aside before they could even cooperate.

And if Nightmare Moon couldn’t synch up with them, then-

Caed flipped between two twinkling orbs of frost and blurred forwards, crushing her airway with a flash of his knuckles before knocking her onto her side with a spinning kick. She found herself pinned beneath his boot and saw his glaive pull back and come screaming down.

She twisted her head enough so that his glaive scraped against and slid off the curved shape of her helm so that only a portion of her ear was sheared off; the glaive continued sliding off her helm until it was embedded in the ground, and she charged her horn to let off a burst of frigid wind that knocked Caed back enough for her to thrash and shove his foot off her neck.

Caed suddenly clutched at his chest with a pained grimace, allowing her enough time to stand up before he swung his weapon and launched another gust of hurricane-force wind that was too fast for her to dodge; it knocked her flat, and she was really getting sick of being floored!

Also, what was with that pause? It almost seemed like he was experiencing-

“Arggh!!”

Nightmare Moon rolled back onto her hooves, glancing over at Caed’s shout and-

“Vinyl! Get away from here, you fool!” She cried as Caed twisted about, reaching for the white unicorn clinging to his back and holding onto a shard of glass that was dug halfway where his shoulder met neck.

Panic turned her insides to ice as she ran forwards, lighting her horn and reaching out with telekinesis; Caed was turning erratically, making it difficult for Nightmare Moon to grab Vinyl as she held on tight and struggled to work the shard in deeper before-

“Get off me!”

Vinyl yelped as she was grabbed, pulled off, and thrown aside.

The thud of her head hitting the road was impossibly loud.

‘V… Vinyl…’

“You…”

Nightmare Moon stumbled, paused; her breathing turned ragged as she clenched her teeth and trembled with a surge of white-hot emotion that was both unadulterated rage and crushing despair.

Her horn burned with blue light as her eyes turned a solid white; blue sparks of energy danced along her bristled fur as the image of Vinyl being thrown played over and over in her mind’s eye.

“You bastard!!”

She may not have had both wings, but with how fast she charged towards Caed, she might as well have been flying.

Her horn let off a contrail of blue light as she slammed her hooves on the ground to send out cracks that released sub-zero vapours of mist and small, razor-sharp flakes of ice that surrounded Caed, keeping him trapped as she formed a solid blade of ice from her horn and jumped, her head swinging to the side as Caed took a step back, surprise and shock showing on his face.

And then he stepped forward, dodged her blade, and drove his glaive through her belly and out her back.

Nightmare Moon gasped in pain, her eyes and horn dimming as she flopped, boneless, against Caed.

“Wh…?”

He lifted her over his head, as if she weighed nothing, and tossed her off his blade through her own cage of vapour and flakes; they were harmless to her, but she didn’t even register a tingle.

‘But…’

She stared up at the sky, dumbstruck.

‘That’s not how it was supposed to go. Vinyl… I saw her get hurt. I felt this… surge of rage and power that… that should have been enough to kill him.’

She rolled over, the gap in her stomach spilling red across the ground; the pitter-patter of the droplets was awfully loud.

She looked up, blinking as Caed dashed around her spell and strode forwards.

Undaunted.

Unharmed.

‘How am I not a challenge to him? At the very least he should be tired, but…’

Nightmare Moon struggled to her hooves, her rage and hate turning from a boil to a simmer that eventually calmed into… nothing.

‘I… I can’t beat him.’

She watched numbly as Caed batted aside Lightning Dust.

‘I’m just an inconvenience to him.’

The ground shook as a building-sized timber wolf bounded over some rooftops and charged at Caed. Shadow Strike’s jaws closed on empty air and he looked around in confusion before collapsing into a pile of wood and foliage as one savage strike from above took his head off.

‘He’s beyond me. He’s beyond any of the alicorns sisters. I… I can’t protect Vinyl…’

Nightmare Moon heard a whimper and realized it was coming from her.

‘I can’t even protect myself.’

Caed took another step forwards, and Nightmare Moon took one back, uncertainty and fear seizing her heart.

“What? Why are you backing away?” Caed asked, loud enough that Nightmare Moon could hear a faint rasp in his voice. “You want to kill me, don’t you? Then fight,” He sneered viciously, striking his glaive against the ground. “Fight! This is what you wanted, isn’t it?! I’m your hated enemy, aren’t I?!”

Nightmare Moon continued retreating, realizing that she really didn’t want to fight him; she didn’t want to fight something she could barely hurt. That wasn’t challenging, that wasn’t fun; what use was there in fighting a battle she had no chance of winning?

She didn’t want to lose like this, not in front of everypony.

Caed stopped walking and curled his lip in disgust. “You boast, but now you stand there and quiver? Facing death with dignity is not reserved for humans; if one believes that they are the leader of a community, then they must face any threat with utmost conviction. The safety and wellbeing of the people they lead is priority. Are you really going to cower when your people fight on? Will you hide behind them? You should know that I have a particular hatred for foes like that.”

Nightmare Moon’s seldom-used flight instinct screamed at her to run, justifying it with claims that it was foolish to waste her life for others, that her pride wasn’t worth her life; she could live to fight another day.

She just needed to run.

Nightmare Moon’s right forehoof scraped against concrete as she went to turn. She inhaled shakily, swallowed…

'But... if I run now, I'll lose everything. Nopony here besides me is even close to a match for Caed.'

Yet she was still going to lose.

'Everything I've strived for... power, dominance, a kingdom... it's all right here. This city belongs to me. Everypony knows of me as the first to successfully overthrow the princesses, the one that created the means to close the Fractures. I can't just risk all of that by being seen running from a battle.

She didn't want to die.

'I've been at risk of dying since the moment I came to existence; nothing I've wanted or tried has come with zero risk. But I had to do it - to achieve my dreams and ambitions. Furthermore...'

Nightmare Moon turned her head and saw a white unicorn lying on the ground, visibly shivering as she struggled to stand.

'I didn't go through all that trouble just to abandon her. What was the point of it, then?'

She didn't want to die.

But maybe... some things were worth that.

Caed growled and bellowed, "Nightmare Moon! What say you?!"

“N... no... no!! I won’t run!”

She wished she experienced a surge of confidence by shouting it, much like the ‘heroes’ of Equestria did, but the fear persisted like a terrible plague.

“I've worked too hard to just abandon everything! I refuse to give everything I've worked for up without a fight! If I die here, then fine, but no one - no one - will say that Empress Nightmare Moon was too cowardly to protect what is rightfully hers!”

She stomped her hoof, cracking the road.

“You miserable waste of skin – face me with everything you have! You will pay for threatening that which belongs to me!!”

Caed cocked his head, though his expression didn’t soften. “Very well.”

Two things happened:

Nightmare Moon failed to react to another charge that split her side apart.

The wound didn’t fester for very long because a gentle, sunshine glow sealed it up almost instantly.

She blinked in surprise and earned another slash across her throat for her lack of attentiveness, but even that sealed up before the spurt of blood even splashed across the ground.

‘What is…?’

Nightmare Moon dodged and weathered Caed’s blows even as she looked around for the source of her accelerated regeneration. Eventually, she spotted a similar golden corona in the distance that was emanating from a unicorn.

The Alicasist – Vitae, was it? She was casting the healing spell. And with far greater proficiency and power than Nightmare Moon had ever seen; it was boosting her regenerative capabilities to a degree where she was healing the wounds as quickly as she was receiving them.

She didn’t dare risk looking back, but she could feel a familiar weight as her wing reformed, already sprouting midnight-black feathers on newly-grown flesh.

She couldn’t waste this chance.

With the power of a healer behind her, Nightmare Moon forced her fear down into her stomach and started fighting back, letting off jets of freezing air and bolts of electricity. She noticed that Caed was breathing a lot more heavily than before and his difficulty just inspired her to keep the pressure on.

She received a staggering amount of grievous injuries, but with Vitae keeping her intact, she could afford to ignore it.

Suddenly, a rock arced off from the side to hit Caed in the temple, eliciting an irritated grimace.

“Screw you, asshole!”

Another rock.

Several more rocks.

Nightmare Moon glanced to the sidelines to see a dozen ponies – regular civilians, including the ones she had saved from captivity – hurling debris at Caed, with even more suddenly appearing from nearby buildings to join the fray.

A heartwarming sight, some would say, but Nightmare Moon’s first thought was more along the lines of, ‘it would have been more helpful if they assisted from the very beginning.’

Well, better late than never – she wasn’t going to bemoan their help.

“Get him, Nightmare Moon!”

“Kick his ass!”

“Go back to your own universe, monkey!”

“You suck!”

And then, from above came a bolt of purple light that struck Caed in the back and pushed him forwards – a Kinetic Impact spell – which allowed Nightmare Moon to punch him in the jaw so hard he fell onto his back, though he was upright again with a push of his hands and an acrobatic flip.

She looked up and was surprised to see another alicorn hovering above them.

‘Twilight?’

“Apologies, Empress!” Haze’s voice chimed in her head, and she glanced to the side while Caed was distracted to see him running over, horn glowing with magic. “I released her to help with that behemoth bug, and she needed to recover before coming here. Now, let’s give this barbarian a beating he’ll never forget!”

She set her lips in a frown, nodded, and turned to engage Caed.

The ponies lobbing debris didn’t have the best aim, but it wasn’t as if the constant barrage of projectiles helped Caed.

Twilight initially stuck to the air and rained down purple bolts of magic, but when it became clear those weren’t doing much damage, her eyes brightened with a neon green glow and her horn was engulfed in sicky purple fire. She sent bursts of this magic down and whatever it touched, black crystals sprouted like moss.

‘Dark magic?’ Nightmare Moon watched as small patches of crystal appeared on the ground, growing long and thick like charred claws. ‘And to use it in public like that…’

Dark magic was still magic despite its more stranger properties, so direct hits did nothing to Caed, but the crystals clustering the ground made him stumble, severely limiting his mobility. He could still run circles around her, but for the most part, her eyes could keep up.

Haze knew very few offensive spells, so he supplemented her attack with random bursts of light in front of Caed’s face to blind him and telekinetically throwing debris with better aim and force.

But even with the advantages she had, it was still a struggle.

Caed was just so fast and strong – he took hits that would have felled his knights in one blow and just kept on going. His spatial awareness and reflexes were also incredible; there were over a dozen hazards he had to watch out for yet he managed it far better than anyone Nightmare Moon could think of – it was as if fighting several foes while dodging countless projectiles was the norm for him.

She couldn’t even imagine what sort of foes he had to go up against to get this sort of natural experience.

He weaved around her, dodging rocks while simultaneously striking her – he had become more defensive now; his swings didn’t carry as much momentum and he was relying more and more on the sharpness of his glaive to slice into the tendons on her legs, stunning her long enough to launch quick gusts of wind at the ponies tossing debris.

She refused to let that slow her down.

The nerves in her wing twitched, informing her it had grown back entirely, and she launched herself into the air, gathered magic, and sent it all surging forth in a blast of freezing air propelled from a powerful flap.

Caed swiped his gauntlet at the air, but the winds hit him before he could slip through the portal.

It must have been significant because he popped back out of a Fracture in almost the exact same place and on his knees, his form quivering as he coughed wetly, droplets of red flying from his mouth.

Sensing his vulnerability, Nightmare Moon dive-bombed towards him, but only ended up crushing concrete – he had rolled at the last second and got to his feet, but was swaying unsteadily, red staining his lips.

She prepared herself for an attack, but faltered when Caed’s eyes widened in horror.

He pulled his weapon back and swept it upwards, sending out a wave of air.

Nightmare Moon ducked to the side, but it sailed far past her – she wasn’t the target.

She couldn’t help but look over her shoulder, wondering what in the world could have frightened him so.

The answer was Ebony, who was standing over the female knight with her sword primed to stab down in one final plunge that was interrupted as the air punched her clean through the window of a clothes store.

Part of her wanted to go over and help, but she turned back instead, only to catch the dying flash of a Fracture closing. She instantly turned back around and flew over to the knight as a Fracture opened behind her.

When Caed bent to help his soldier, she lit her horn to cast a spell, but his foot swept out and kicked the knight’s discarded mace straight at her horn; freshly grown, it was broken anew, and the pain caused her to flinch and lose concentration.

“You will not take her life, too,” Caed growled, his expression one of resigned rage. He lifted his glaive in a motion that told her of another impending wind strike. “Not while I continue to draw breath.”

The pain in Nightmare Moon’s head was quickly soothed by Vitae’s spell, so she was already prepared to strike before he finished speaking. But she paused. Unlike the rest of his attacks, this one was telegraphed and didn’t come out faster than she could blink – she didn’t know what he was doing, but she wasn’t about to charge in blindly.

Caed shifted his weight, the entirety of his body following the motion of his glaive as he swung it at the ground, hard. There was an explosion of wind that swept up dust particles in a thick miasma.

Nightmare Moon’s ears popped and a wave of nausea overcame her as the dust expanded to swallow her; it was like standing in the middle of a sandstorm, her eyes were pelted with not-so-small pieces of debris and she couldn’t hear anything other than a piercing ring.

‘Damn it!’

She lit her horn and erected a barrier around herself, deflecting the winds and debris long enough to clear her eyes and repair her ruptured eardrums. She cast a freezing ball of ice through her barrier to hit Caed, but when the dust and winds died down, she saw that he and the female were gone and the only thing she managed to freeze was a lamp post.

She’d probably be getting complaints about all of those.

Nightmare Moon searched the area and witnessed Caed lightly pushing the knight through the Fracture she and the captive unicorns came through – the other knight was there, helping the injured one through.

Caed met her gaze.

She knew there was no way she’d get over before he could go through and the idea of fighting him on his home turf didn’t appeal to her. Honestly, after everything they had gone through, she just wanted him gone – dead or not.

Caed was shaking with hate, but one glance at his two remaining knights softened his expression. With one final look and a reluctant scowl, he stepped through the Fracture.

Nightmare Moon released a breath of relief.

‘… Wait, Vinyl!’

“Vinyl!” She turned, ignoring everypony looking at her and the mental threads of her Praetorian Guards Calling to her so she could focus on the white body that hadn’t moved from where it had landed. She sucked in a breath and ran over, ice flowing through her veins. “No, no, no…”

The red was vibrant and shocking against Vinyl’s coat – Nightmare Moon carefully lifted her with magic and searched for the source. A vice seized her heart as she saw the split flesh near Vinyl’s broken horn, matting the fur around it with blood.

Her shades were broken and fell to the ground as Nightmare Moon lifted her.

“Vinyl? Vinyl, open your eyes.”

Vinyl didn’t, but her chest was expanding with breaths, so she was still alive.

Nightmare Moon placed the unconscious mare on her back and stood, her mind racing as she looked back and forth from Vinyl’s face, the Fracture, and the faces of the ponies crowding in around her.

Damn it! Didn’t they see she needed air?!

“Y-you! All of you!” Nightmare Moon pointed to Eclipse guards, who flinched in uncertainty. “Go and guard that Fracture! Make sure no humans come out! Fade, Lightning Dust – get them set up. Haze? Where are you, Haze?!”

“Right here, Em-”

“Get Veil checked and tell Ebony to take things from here. Have Shadow Strike guard the Fracture once he reforms!”

“Twilight! Remain here.”

Twilight blinked as she landed nearby, looking from her to Vinyl questioningly. “You’re…”

Nightmare Moon ignored her and shouted, “Vitae! Where are- Agh!”

She snarled in frustration and took to the air, ignoring the pegasi who squawked and flapped back to avoid collision, and flew over the heads of the crowd. Vitae was easy to pick out with her bright colours, and the mare gave a yelp as Nightmare Moon pulled her up with telekinesis and then set off for the nearest hospital.

“Fix her!” She cried, dumping Vitae on her back, too. “You healed me, so you can heal her!”

“O-of course, Divine Daughter!” Vitae's horn began to glow. "She... She doesn't have your incredible regeneration and brain damage isn't as easy to-"

"I don't care! Just do it!"

Canterlot’s ravaged buildings billowed smoke from below, and the massive carcass of the behemoth bug in the distance emitted a foul smell that carried on the wind, but Nightmare Moon didn’t pay attention to any of it.

Canterlot General Hospital was still standing, and her friend needed help.

Author's Note

Note 1: Gentle Embrace - poetically named by the creator, Purple Prose, this spell is tailored for healing and the results are as fruitful as the spell is complex.

By surrounding the injured party in magic, the caster tends to wounds by replicating parts of the injured, such as blood and tissue and even bone, and 'sewing' it onto the injury. Additionally, the receipient's healing factor is bolstered so that the formed mass can be grafted on faster. This spell is a concentrated effort, so the caster needs focus and drive to sustain it, especially in stressful situations.

As one of the rare healing spells that can literally convert energy into physical mass, unicorns that can cast this reliably are widely sought after, and they enjoy renown and fame for their ability.

Indeed, it would be odd for a unicorn to know this spell and not wish to seek profession in the medical field.

Note 2: Crystal Growth - a hex that solidifies one’s magic into crystals – a distant ‘cousin’ to a spell of similar making in the Alteration school.

Despite the similarities, this hex differs in that the crystals formed by it absorb ambient magic and feed it into the caster. Therefore, a hexer that has just completed this hex gains instead of losing.

Ingenuity can greatly expand upon the use of this hex.

Chapter 59: Changes

1056 AD, January 13th

The hospital’s lobby was full when Nightmare Moon arrived.

Ponies - some injured, some inquiring about loved ones - made a path once they were aware of her presence; their eyes were wide with shock, fear, and confusion as she stomped up to reception.

“You!” She barked at the quivering nurse. “I have somepony who is injured and needs medical attention!”

“W-we’re already busy…” The nurse stuttered, shrinking behind her desk. “Th-there are other ponies waiting for-”

“I don’t care!” Nightmare Moon stomped her hoof and pulled the nurse up to eye-level with a surge of telekinetic power. “Find us a room and tell the closest doctor that if they’re not there within the next minute, I will find them. Do you understand?!”

“Y-yes, Empress. Please just-”

“Pull them out of surgery if you have to!”

“-put me down, p-please…”

Seeing the nurse’s eyes turn watery cut through the haze that clouded Nightmare Moon’s mind; she placed the mare back on the floor and took several breaths. The nurse quickly shuffled along, leading Nightmare Moon through multiple corridors. As they walked, she looked over her shoulder.

Vitae hovered over Vinyl, still casting her healing magic – as large as Nightmare Moon was, it was clear that Vitae had to manage clinging on as well as her flow of magic.

As for Vinyl… she was still unconscious; the blood stuck to her stubbornly, but at least the gash in her head had sealed.

“H-here…” The nurse said, stopping next to a door. “Th-there was a patient in here earlier, but we haven’t-” Nightmare Moon ignored her and barged in. “-c-cleaned the… blood yet…”

It was a typical hospital room with two beds, one of which was dirty with red-splotched sheets. Nightmare Moon paid no heed and zoomed in on the clean bed.

“Vitae, can I move her?”

“Yes, Divine Daughter – she should be stable for that.”

Nightmare Moon used her magic to lift both mares off her back, place Vitae on the floor, and gently lay her friend on the bed.

Her wounds had sealed and her horn was no longer a stub; it was almost fully-grown again.

Nightmare Moon wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light, but the horn seemed… off-centre.

“I think she might have some damage done to her brain,” Vitae said, moving to the bed’s side. Nightmare Moon felt compelled to shove her away, but squashed that compulsion by reminding herself that Vitae was helping. “It’s… more complicated, if that’s what happened.”

She turned with obvious fatigue in her expression; it mustn’t have been easy to maintain such a potent healing spell on two parties for prolonged periods. Even so, there was nothing but determination in her eyes.

“We need somepony else to help in case my magic runs out.”

Nightmare Moon nodded and turned back to the nurse. “Well?! Where is the doctor?”

She whimpered and scampered off.

With nopony else to yell at and no experience with healing magic of her own, Nightmare Moon planted herself next to Vinyl and stared at her solemnly.

‘Idiot. I told her to stay away, but she throws herself at him to… to…’ She growled and rubbed at her face, uncaring to how much blood and dust she was smearing her face with; it couldn’t get any filthier with the amount of fighting she’d done. ‘To help me. All because I was unable to best Caed in a one-on-one fight. Pathetic.’

Her ego bristled at the thoughts, but her self-loathing was stronger; she stewed in self-pity and helpless rage as Vitae wordlessly tended to Vinyl. Right now, she couldn’t be bothered by appearances.

She looked up when two stallions, both unicorns, and the nurse raced in. Without a word, she stood, nodded to Vinyl, and walked to sit in the opposite corner of the room. There were chairs, but they were too small for her. The stallions frowned and looked at each other before the sight of an injured mare called to their better nature and they rushed to Vinyl’s side.

They spoke amongst themselves and with Vitae and the nurse, who hurried to set up everything they needed. There was a quiet urgency to their movements that was unsettling to Nightmare Moon.

She had seen ponies rushing to save a life with barely a care on her own part, but this was different: this time, it was Vinyl that they were rushing to save; somepony who mattered enough that Nightmare Moon felt a stab somewhere deep within when she imagined the DJ not getting up from that bed, whether she was alive or not.

She didn’t know what she’d do if that happened; she was just recently coming to terms with the fact that she had a friend that she dearly wanted to keep and to just suddenly lose them?

Part of her cursed Vinyl.

Part of her cursed that part of her.

The conflicting sides rolled around in her belly until she forced it all down with an audible gulp and watched as the ponies worked, catching snippets of conversation.

“... hit the ground at an angle…” Vitae said.

“Could be internal…” One of the stallions suggested, lifting Vinyl’s eyelids and shining a light into the pupils. “See how her horn is cracked around the base?”

“… the bone could have been driven back…” The other murmured, motioning for the nurse to bring an IV stand. “… prepare an operation to reset it.”

One of the stallions came over – he wore the attire of a doctor over a black coat and his short, grey mane was cropped up in a modest bob. “Nightm- Empress?”

She nodded in acknowledgement. “Speak.”

“Your, uh…” He hesitated, too afraid to assume what this mare was to the alicorn in front of him. “Miss Scratch has-”

“‘Mrs.’”

“Right, Mrs. Scratch has suffered a severe concussion. Miss Vitae healed most of the superficial damage, but I’m afraid Mrs. Scratch has a misaligned horn.”

Nightmare Moon said nothing.

“A tremendous amount of force at the right angle can, in addition to breaking the horn, cause the bone around the base to weaken. This can cause the horn to ‘sink’ into the skull and damage the nerves around it as well as place pressure on the frontal lobe. This often leads to a catatonic state. It’s a condition we call ‘root horn deficiency.’

“Due to the complexity of the thaumthynx... Erm, those are the nerves below the horn that allow the conduction and manipulation of magic, Your Grace. Yes, well, due to the complexity of those nerves and the unpredictability of an unconscious unicorn’s magic, injuries like this require more than just a session of healing spells. We’ll have to prep her for surgery to correctly align the horn. We’ll be putting her under and using tools to, uh…” He swallowed, looking at her nervously. “‘Dig’ the horn out and apply an alchemic mixture that will hopefully repair the damaged nerves and tissues. Once that’s done, we can wrap up the hole, and the new horn should grow back in due time.”

“You said ‘hopefully.’”

“We’re not alicorns, Empress. Sometimes we get hurt in a way that we just can’t recover from, even with the most powerful healing spells. Sometimes… the nerves just don’t heal properly.”

“Are you saying that Vinyl might not be able to perform magic again?”

The stallion sighed. “That’s a possibility, but it’s not the worst outcome. If… the horn was pushed in deep enough and the brain was damaged enough… it might be a while before she wakes up.”

“Will she live?”

“Yes.”

“… Do it.”

“Uh… we should get the permission of family or the patient’s spouse rather than-”

“You have the permission of your Empress. You’d be wise to accept it.”

He swallowed and nodded. “Right. We should be able to use the operating theatre on the second floor near D-wing. Bright, could you go inform them of what’s transpired?”

Bright, the nurse, nodded, clearly grateful for the opportunity to be out of the room. Once she was out, the stallion went back to Vinyl’s side, and Vitae trotted over to Nightmare Moon after he said a few words to her. Vitae was unashamedly exuberant at being so close to Nightmare Moon despite the tense situation.

“She’s going to live,” She said with a nervous swallow. “Divine Daughter, I just want to say that the way you fought that awful human was so incredible and-”

“‘Fought…’” Nightmare Moon scoffed, her lip curling in disgust. “I was barely a threat. All this time, Caed was holding back, and when he revealed himself, I was outmatched. Without your help and that of the others, I would have failed more than just Vinyl.”

Vitae almost shuddered, as if the mere hint that the part she played was a worthwhile contribution was enough to please her. Nightmare Moon was repulsed by the craving for praise, but didn’t show it.

“How could I have known?” Nightmare Moon continued with a growl. “With all the emphasis that fool places on ‘saving his people,’ I would assume he’d be motivated to constantly fight at full strength. Yet I had to permanently kill several of his followers before he was motivated enough to attack with all that he had.”

She didn’t know why she was telling this to one obsessed mare she barely knew. It seemed like something she’d tell Vinyl in private, but… well, she couldn’t. Anyway, what did it matter if speaking of this made her seem vulnerable in front of these ponies?

Plenty had already seen her moment of weakness in front of Caed, when she had suffered a brief crisis upon realizing just how outmatched and helpless she truly was against him. Could anything really do more damage to her ‘terrifying and unknowable’ image than that?

She didn’t think so.

Besides… it felt sort of pleasant to talk. At least she was doing something.

“… Did you see how he coughed?”

Vitae blinked. “Caed? Yes, I did. There was blood in it.”

“It only occurred late into the battle after Vinyl stabbed him with a shard of glass. Yet I don’t believe that was what caused him to cough blood; it seemed to be internal and it debilitated him greatly when I struck him with a cold spell. Towards the end of the battle, he was running out of breath. Perhaps he inhaled the air and it…”

She shrugged.

“Clearly, he is not invulnerable, but he is a powerful foe, stronger than Celestia and Luna. Even if he has some sort of weakness that causes him to be short of breath, he is still a force to be reckoned with – I cannot take him alone unless I have some major advantage.”

“You have ponies to help you, Divine Daughter.”

“Yes… I suppose you’re right,” Nightmare Moon jerked as if she had been shocked when Vitae took a step closer. “Yes, I am grateful for your help, but kindly keep your distance. And stop staring at me like that.”

“I’m sorry, Divine Daughter.”

Vitae continued to stare with the minimum amount of distance she could get between them.

Nightmare Moon sighed. “Were you like this with Celestia and Luna, too?”

“Oh, I could never be granted an audience with them – they were too busy. I mean… at least until you took over, and then I couldn’t see them because they were locked up. And now they’re in Ponyville, and I don’t really like to travel, so…” Vitae blinked and looked clueless for a moment before brightening up again. “I-I just have to thank you again for rescuing me and the others!”

‘Here we go…’ Nightmare Moon rubbed at her brow.

“It was horrible to watch as we were taken out of our cells, one by one, never to be seen again. There was such darkness in my thoughts; only praying helped ease my despair.”

Nightmare Moon couldn’t be happier when the nurse came back.

She spoke to the two stallions a little before trotting back out, leaving the doctors to make sure Vinyl was safe and secured on the bed before being wheeled out. Nightmare Moon stood and walked over, as much to escape Vitae as to see her friend. The doctors stopped at her approach.

Vinyl looked… relatively unharmed. If it wasn’t for the blood on her fur, anypony would guess that she was asleep.

‘Ridiculous…’ She thought. ‘Vinyl snores. And she hates hospitals. She wouldn’t be happy going into surgery.’

“Empress, you…” The doctor from earlier cleared his throat nervously. “I’m afraid you can’t accompany us in the operating theatre. Only medical personnel. I-it’s to prevent-”

“I am aware,” She snapped. The doctor clamped his mouth shut, and Nightmare Moon took a deep breath after a second. “I am just bidding her farewell and good luck,” She paused. “Good luck, Vinyl. It would be in your best interest to pull through. I would not be happy if you didn’t wake up.”

Vinyl remained unresponsive.

“You have a wife to get back to, you know. And I would even go as far to say that her wrath may be equal to mine.”

Vinyl remained unresponsive.

“Addition…” Nightmare Moon swallowed. “Additionally, I still have to address how you foolishly interfered with the fight even when I told you to run.”

Vinyl remained unresponsive.

“… I commend your bravery, even so. And I am…” With a moment’s hesitation, Nightmare Moon lifted her hoof and very lightly touched Vinyl’s shoulder. “I am hoping for the best outcome,” She retracted her hoof and nodded once, looking off to the side. “You may go.”

She found it difficult to watch as they wheeled her away and didn’t look forwards again until the squeaking of the beds and the clip-clop of their steps had gone beyond her hearing range.

The door leading to the empty corridor was before her.

She knew there were things that needed her attention, but she suddenly felt exhausted. She was not a creature that needed rest, physical or mental, but that didn’t stop her from picturing a warm, fluffy bed and a soft pillow. The thought of going back outside, to where her soldiers and the Fracture were, made her miserable.

‘Yet it must be done,’ She told herself and began to trudge down the corridor. ‘The threat isn’t over until I see Caed’s dead body with my own eyes.’

The lobby had gone deathly quiet since her arrival and that same silence greeted her when she came back in, aware that everypony was watching her but doing their best to appear otherwise.

‘I might as well inform them all of what’s happened.’

She stood near the receptionist’s desk and, on a whim, tapped the small, silver bell on it.

“The behemoth bug and the bulk of human forces have been dealt with for the moment,” She announced, unable to keep the tiredness out of her tone. “However, I advise you all to remain wary and be prepared in case of another attack.”

She made for the doors, but stopped upon seeing Lightning Dust lightly dropping Ebony onto the road just outside. They exchanged some words before Lightning Dust flew off, and Ebony jogged through the doors, snapping off a quick salute.

“Empress.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Report.”

“The Fracture closed shortly after you left; we couldn’t get the Orxoni there in time.”

“Where is the machine now?”

“It’s still there. Twilight asked if she could study it.”

“Why? The Elements are not near her, are they?”

“I told Fade to take them back and… I’m not entirely sure why she wants to study it, but it seemed like she was onto something. She had that… ‘look’ in her eyes.”

Ah, yes, that look – Nightmare Moon had seen it when she was helping Sunset and Twilight with the production of the Orxoni. She had issued a command in Twilight’s psyche that prevented her from tampering with the Orxoni, so that wasn’t a worry.

“Leave her be,” Nightmare Moon said. “If she’s onto something, then I will not stop her. And what of the others?”

“I’m fine. Lightning Dust is a little roughed up, but nothing serious. Fade’s fine, too, and so is Haze and Miasma. Veil’s getting treated for burns and a concussion, but she should be okay. Shadow Strike’s reformed and he’s guarding the Orxoni.”

“Casualties?” When Ebony paused, Nightmare Moon shook her head. “Not in total; the ponies that were killed during the fight with Caed.”

“Oh. Um… nine.”

Nightmare Moon sighed in frustration. “Curses…”

“The unicorns you rescued from the human’s world are fine, too. A little shaken, but…” Ebony swallowed, glanced to the side, and then looked back up, nervous and uncertain. “How is…?”

“She’ll live, but she needs surgery. Her horn was pushed inwards when Caed threw her,” Nightmare Moon numbly shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. It was. “Hardly anything to worry about if it were me or you, but it’s not.”

Ebony nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t hurt her.”

“I-I know, but I…”

“Yes, yes, I understand what you mean,” Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and rubbed her muzzle. “Forget it.”

“Divine Daughter?”

‘Ugh…’

Vitae trotted up next to her like a lost puppy. “If you have a headache, then maybe I can-”

“Vitae, do you truly wish to help me?”

“Y-yes, of course!”

“Then go help Ebony. As of now, you have earned your place among the ranks of the Eclipse Guard.”

If there was a unicorn in Canterlot with a more ecstatic expression…

“Her healing spells are noteworthy; she will be a welcome addition to the Eclipse,” She told Ebony. It wasn’t a lie – Vitae had potential, even if Nightmare Moon’s action to draft her was more so that the mare would get out of her mane for a few seconds. She just wanted to be alone and not talk to anypony for now. “I’m sure you will make a fine guard out of her.”

Ebony nodded slowly as Vitae prowled closer to her. “O… kay…”

“Otherwise, tell Haze that he is in charge for the time being. I will remain here for a while.”

“You’re… just going to wait here? For Vinyl?”

“I want to see if she is okay when she comes out of surgery. Even if she’s not awake, I must know. Once I make sure, I’ll take over from Haze. Do you have anything else to report?”

“No, I think that’s it. I’ll make sure to let Haze know. And, um… Vinyl… she’s going to be alright, Empress.”

Nightmare Moon grunted ambiguously; she didn’t want to accept the concern in case it was pity, but she didn’t want to reject it either. It was strangely reassuring to hear somepony say that it was going to be alright. How sad.

She watched as Ebony led Vitae – the mare looked disappointed at having to part with her ‘Divine Daughter’ – back to the doors where Lightning Dust was waiting outside. She focused on Vitae as something else niggled at the back of her head.

“… Wait.”

Vitae stopped and turned. “Yes, Div-”

“I retrieved a folder from the human world. I believe I dropped it when Caed attacked me.”

“Oh, that! I picked it up, but didn’t have anywhere to put it, so I teleported it back to my apartment. I hope that’s okay.”

“Go get it,” Nightmare Moon ordered. “Ebony, that is full of relevant information, so make sure it is safe and secure. I want to discuss it with you and the others once things settle.”

Ebony nodded. “Understood, Empress.”

“That’s it; nothing more.”

This was the waiting room, so there was no better place to wait.

Nightmare Moon trotted over to the water cooler, filled a cup, and splashed the contents over her face before conjuring a towel to wipe the dust and blood away. She dispelled the towel with a puff of smoke and decided to just lie down there; the chairs were too small for her anyway, and nopony else was near the water cooler.

The other occupants of the waiting room were attempting to be discreet as they watched her from their peripherals or from over the tops of magazines they pretended to read. She didn’t care enough to growl at them to look elsewhere lest they lose the privilege of sight, so she ignored them and watched the clock that hung on the wall behind the receptionist’s desk.

It was ten past three in the afternoon and she was certain that it had been nearing noon when she had spotted the behemoth bug. Had this ordeal only lasted for three hours? She knew from experience that battles seemed to make time crawl, but even so, it felt longer than just three hours.

‘More daylight to work with at least.’

Nightmare Moon suddenly felt her flesh prickle and turned to see a big pair of eyes watching her.

What differentiated these eyes from the rest was the fact that they belonged to a filly that was standing in front of her.

“… What?”

The filly was wearing one of those garish smocks with too much embellishment, but it had a thin layer of brownish dust and was torn in several places. The satin bow on her back, which should have been tied, was undone and trailed on the floor listlessly. She had a small stub of a horn.

The filly was also staring at her, seemingly unafraid.

“Shoo,” Nightmare Moon flicked her hoof lazily. “Go to your parents.”

“My mom and dad got lost,” The filly replied, startlingly calm. “I couldn’t find them, so I came here to wait.”

“I see…” Nightmare Moon felt a small twinge of guilt before waving her hoof again. “Then wait someplace else – I am not in the mood for dealing with children.”

The filly stayed. She was a slight thing and her black mane was styled in twin pigtails that just screamed ‘I am small and innocent.’ Nightmare Moon had to look down to meet her gaze even though she was prone and the filly was stood. Quite admirable that she had ventured her on her own, really.

“Are you waiting for somepony?” The child suddenly asked.

“Did you not hear?” Nightmare Moon growled, flashing her teeth. “Get away from me. Do you not know who I am?”

The filly nodded. “Empress Nightmare Moon.”

“… And?”

“Hm? Oh… I don’t know. You have pretty eyes?”

“What?”

“Mom told me that I have to be nice to grown-ups and say nice things.”

“Apparently, she didn’t teach you about ‘stranger danger.’”

“She did. But you’re not a stranger – you’re Empress Nightmare Moon. You have a beautiful mane.”

Was this a joke? Had she fallen so far that she could no longer intimidate a child?

“Are you okay?” The child asked. “You’re making a weird face like you ate something yucky.”

“Merely contemplating my life and the ramifications that have befallen me,” Nightmare Moon lowered her head onto her hooves and, after a second’s hesitation, removed the greaves covering them and placed them to the side. “You’ll experience it sooner or later, so best prepare now.”

The filly blinked and lowered herself to the floor, too. “My name’s Fluorspar.”

“Mm…”

“So, are you waiting for somepony?”

“… Yes.”

“Are they your friend?”

“She is. Unbelievable, isn’t it?”

“How did she get hurt?”

“By helping me. I was facing Knight Enforcer Caed, the leader of the humans, and I wasn’t strong enough to best him, so she tried to help. It didn’t go well.”

Fluorspar nodded. “Oh. Do you know if she’s going to be okay?”

“She’ll live, but… she may be asleep for a long time,” Nightmare Moon scowled. “If she just stayed away like I told her, then maybe she wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“Sounds like she was worried.”

“She was. In fact, I feel that she was more concerned about my safety than she was about her own. Or maybe she just didn’t plan ahead. She’s that kind of mare. Tends to think she’s invincible.”

“Like you?”

Nightmare Moon chuckled bitterly. “I’m not invincible. I’ve never thought that. Although, today was a particularly sore reminder.”

Truth be told, Nightmare Moon wasn’t even certain if Caed could have truly killed her. He would have destroyed her body, no doubt, but could he harm her essence, her true form? Only magic could touch her, and he sorely lacked that trait.

But it wouldn’t have mattered. Whether he could or couldn’t end her existence, she wouldn’t be able to affect him, to stop him from destroying everything she achieved. Caed could have killed her guards, her pet, ravaged her city for unicorns… kill Vinyl or worse… and she’d be known as the alicorn that failed to protect what she held close. Just like Celestia and Luna. She didn’t want to go down like that and the thought almost caused her to flee.

Yet she would have been damned if she had fled, too; Caed would have demolished her forces anyway, and she’d be known as the alicorn that ran away from the fight. She was not above tactical retreat if the situation called for it, but, again, everything that she held close was here in Canterlot and running would have meant giving the humans the chance to destroy or take it.

In the end, she chose to be defiant to her last breath, so at the very least, no one could call her a coward.

“Mom and dad say that you’re really strong,” Fluorspar said with a slow blink. “Dad saw it when you beat up Princess Celestia.”

“He saw that? By chance, was he part of the Royal Guard?”

Fluorspar cocked her head.

“Did he wear gold armour at any point?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmph,” Nightmare Moon smirked morbidly. “And despite that, his offspring is speaking with me. Ironic, isn’t it?” Fluorspar just stared. “You’re a strange one. Even children should know that I’m dangerous.”

“But you’re not going to hurt me.”

Nightmare Moon considered the filly’s wide eyes, but found no trace of a challenge; the filly was stating a fact, nothing more. “Even so, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be cautious. Life is full of dangers and what you trust or love one minute may be your downfall the next.”

“That’s sad.”

“That’s reality.”

A comfortable silence settled between them, during which Nightmare Moon felt yet another pair of eyes on her. Lazily, she turned her head, past Fluorspar, to see a young mare watching her from a nearby chair.

Correction: she felt another eye on her.

The left side of the mare’s face was wrapped in gauze with a few strands of purple hair peeking out. When she realized she had been caught, her face went pale and she reached to her side for a magazine that had already been swiped by the pony next to her.

“Hello,” Fluorspar greeted, her expression the same bland look. “You have a lovely coat.”

Nightmare Moon exhaled sharply and her lips twitched, the result of a chuckle that had bubbled up in her throat and gave up. “Would you believe that she’s giving a pep talk without even knowing it?”

“Um…” The mare murmured, pupil darting around. She swallowed nervously before saying, “I… I wish your friend luck, E-Empress.”

That was surprising.

Children were innocent and ignorant, so she didn’t find it odd to be wished good fortune by one, but for an adult to say the same thing? One that was just an ordinary citizen and not part of her Eclipse?

“Yes, thank you...” She replied off-hoofedly. "And I would appreciate if you didn't stare at me like I'm some caged animal."

“S-sorry!" The mare whimpered in distress before clumsily getting off her chair. Nightmare Moon stared, trying to process what she was doing, until she recognized the submissive posture of a bow. "I didn't mean to insult you, Y-Your Grace! Please don't hurt me!"

"Oh, stand up, would you?" Nightmare Moon grumbled. "I'm not in the mood to hear your grovelling. Perhaps another day. No, I’m serious; get up.”

The mare did so, but not without a wince. Nightmare Moon saw one of her legs twitch in obvious discomfort. “S-sorry... I didn’t mean to stare, but... I was...” She blinked - winked? - and swallowed nervously. “It’s just... Do you remember me?”

“No.” Nightmare Moon shook her head, beginning to get annoyed. She was certain she would have remembered this mare if she was important.

“My name’s Scripture. You saved me. I was running from that terrifying bug, and you flew in and saved me before it stepped on me.”

Now Nightmare Moon recalled that event; she could still feel the rush of air as the behemoth bug’s leg struck the ground inches from her body. “Ah, yes, I do remember. You struggled when I grabbed you.”

“Yes! Oh, I mean...”

“I suppose I can understand your reaction considering the circumstances,” Nightmare Moon shrugged. “Although, I don’t remember you having an eye injury.”

“I got it a little while after you put me down,” Scripture touched her gauze with a slight grimace. “Random debris from a building. It should be fine,” She started and put her hoof back down, as if remembering something, and went into another bow. “I-I just wanted to say thank you, Empress. For saving me.”

“... Very well. You’re welcome,” She hadn’t expected that. When was the last time a normal pony who wasn’t Vinyl thanked her? To be fair, she hardly made a habit of saving random civilians.

“If... I may, Empress... C-can you tell me about... the human world?” Scripture swallowed, nervous yet hopeful. “I heard that you got something from the human world. You went there?”

“Yes, I have,” Nightmare Moon hadn’t expected that; it was still somewhat incredible she was still talking despite being so obviously frightened. Was her curiosity that great? “But there is not much to tell: I entered the human world, rescued the captured unicorns, and landed a decisive blow against the humans while I was there,” She glanced up at the clock, then back. “If you wish for me to go into further detail, I suppose I can do so while I wait, but be warned that there are things you may find disturbing.”

Fluorspar blinked and tilted her head, drawing Nightmare Moon’s attention. “But if you saved the unicorns, that means it has a happy ending, right?”

“For them, but… not for everypony.”

Scripture carefully settled down on her belly. “I would love to hear it, Your Grace.”

Nightmare Moon paused. “Fine. If you’re so set on hearing it… I would have to start earlier today when the behemoth bug first arrived…”

Nightmare Moon didn’t tell them everything; she downplayed the importance of her and Vinyl’s relationship – writing her off as a casual acquaintance that just so happened to be the unicorn being taken through the portal that Nightmare Moon found – because she didn’t feel comfortable talking about it with them and she glazed over the landscape of the human world and their city because it was a desolate wasteland anyway.

She also might have inflated the number of knights she faced, but nopony was going to argue with her about that.

Her audience was enraptured: while it had started off with just Scripture and Fluorspar listening, now it seemed half the waiting room was hooked. The stallion who had swiped the magazine from earlier had given up pretending to read it and was now listening intently from his chair, much like several others. They, too, had fallen over themselves with ‘Your Grace’ and all the bowing when she gave them a puzzled look. It was good for a few seconds of amusement before she calmed down with a vague gesture; if they wanted to listen, then there was no law against it.

Besides, it was rather interesting to have ponies look at her and listen for reasons other than fear of injury. A kind of ‘interesting’ she liked.

The nurse, Bright, came back an hour ago, but the situation with Vinyl was still unclear: she was still in surgery, and Bright had come to relieve the other nurse that came in as Nightmare Moon was getting into her recount of the events in the human world. Bright, too, got over her fear of Nightmare Moon so she could listen in after she was brought up to speed by one of the others.

As Nightmare Moon was getting to the part about fighting an army of knights to get back to Vinyl and Eiswhel, a stallion and a mare burst through the doors, dishevelled and dirty with a frantic look in their eyes. Nightmare Moon paused and looked over with a raised eyebrow.

“Please, has anypony seen a filly?” The stallion pleaded, lifting his hoof and placing it near chest-level. “She’s about this high and wears a...” When his gaze went past the crowd and settled on her, a flare of shock, fear, and anger filled them. “You...”

Fluorspar squeezed between Scripture and another stallion before running over. “Mom! Dad!”

The mare gave a relieved and frightened cry and held Fluorspar against her chest. “Oh, thank, Faust you’re okay! My little jewel! I’m so sorry it took us this long…”

“It’s okay,” Fluorspar said in her unusual monotone. She wriggled back to face the crowd and pointed, a task made more difficult as her father joined the hug. “The Empress looked after me.”

Nightmare Moon was… happy?

Well, more like glad – she was glad to see that Fluorspar’s parents weren’t dead. It was the same feeling she got whenever she saw a puppy and it wasn’t being kicked or something, or when she saw Vinyl smiling and it wasn’t because she was planning to annoy her.

Well, maybe not as strong as that.

“Y-you looked after her?“ The father repeated, looking as if Celestia had just revealed herself to be several foals in a suit.

Nightmare Moon examined him closely before replying. ’Solid build, excellent posture, familiarity with me on a more personal level... Definitely somepony who was in the Royal Guard. I wonder if he was in the hall when he saw his ruler cast down?

“I didn’t look after her - she came beside me and wouldn’t leave, and I had no compulsion to shoo her off. She’s remarkably tenacious.”

“She wasn’t so bad, daddy,” Fluorspar added. Her father jerked at her words like she was suddenly hot to touch. “Maybe you were wrong about her?”

The poor stallion looked so conflicted that Nightmare Moon almost laughed. She wondered what must have been going through his mind. Was he going to chastise her and say that she was definitely bad - which she was, honestly - or was he going to just nod along, like most parents did?

As it turned out, he did the latter.

“Y-yeah, maybe...” He then looked directly at Nightmare Moon, grimacing like he wanted to spit at her, but another part was stopping him. “I-I don’t know what to say...” He paused. “Th-thank you, Nightmare Moon...”

He didn’t call her ‘Empress,’ she noted, but there was a small victory in getting somepony like him to convey his gratitude, wasn’t there?

She shrugged. “Think nothing of it. It was hardly a monumental task to keep her entertained. Speaking of which, where was I?” She turned back to the crowd. “Around the part about getting back to the human scientist? Well, I was travelling with the unicorns when...”

But just as she was about to continue, she noticed the sudden arrival of one of the doctors from earlier in her peripheral. Immediately, she excused herself from the crowd, stood, and walked over, only doubling back to grab her armor.

Her captive audience moaned in disappointment. They were unhappy to see her go.

An unfamiliar notion…

The doctor waited for her to approach before speaking, his voice low and subdued. “Empress, I’m happy to inform you that the operation was a success. We surgically removed her horn to alleviate the pressure on her brain and applied the alchemical mixture to repair the damage; there were no complications.”

Nightmare Moon exhaled slowly, but kept her expression still; the relief and joy was like a splash of warm water that soothed the tension between her shoulders. She was swift to get a reign on it, however, knowing that with every bit of good news, there was always…

“And the bad news?”

“… The thaumthynx are severely stunted.”

Nightmare Moon grimaced. “She won’t be able to cast magic?”

“The nerves may heal given time, but at this point in time, she will be incapable of casting magic,” The doctor sighed and rubbed at the dark circles framing his sockets. “She hasn’t woken up yet. I told you this before, didn’t I?”

“About how she may remain in a coma for some time?” She nodded. “Yes.”

“… Do you…” The doctor looked around and avoided eye contact. “We have pamphlets and staff members if you wish to talk about it…”

“Unnecessary – you will take me to see her.”

“Normally, we would wait until permitting visitors… but I suppose we can make an exception considering your circumstances.”

There might have been a subtle insult somewhere in there, but she didn’t care enough to call attention to it.

The doctor turned to walk back the way he came, and Nightmare Moon followed him.

As they traversed the corridors to a room different than the one from earlier, Nightmare Moon scowled at the floor tiles as she thought of how Vinyl’s state would interfere with her life. While she couldn’t see herself leaving Vinyl in hospital to recover where she could possibly come to more harm from another invasion, she couldn’t just keep going back and forth between the castle and the hospital, not when there was a city to rebuild.

Perhaps it would be better to have Vinyl recover at the castle and move some medical equipment and staff there?

‘That would negatively impact the hospital.’

She didn’t care, not if it would ease her fear- worry, if it would ease her worries.

“Six out of ten cases of root horn deficiency often involve the patient regaining consciousness within the next ten days. Additionally, it’s rare for a patient to remain in a coma longer than four months.” The doctor said; it sounded rehearsed, as did most of what they said, she supposed.

“Rare, but not unheard of.” Nightmare Moon interjected.

“... Th-there’s a theory that comatose patients are still somewhat aware of their surroundings and that family and, uh…” He briefly glanced at her uncertainly. “Well, speaking to them may help improve their condition through auditory stimulation and familiar voices would, naturally, provide the best results.”

“Hmph…”

“It’s just a suggestion,” The doctor paused as he stopped before a plain wooden door and lit his horn to grab the handle. “She’s the only one in here, so you’ll have full privacy.”

Nightmare Moon nodded, holding back another melancholic sigh; she just remembered that she would have to break the news to Octavia. It was somewhat surprising that the mare hadn’t shown up yet, but Nightmare Moon was thankful for that because at least now she could figure out the right way to say it.

Her usual blunt manner always served her well, but maybe, for Vinyl’s sake, she could find a gentler approach.

“I’ll just check her vitals before I go,” He said, pushing the door open and entering. “There are plenty more patients that I… should…”

He had stopped.

“What? What is it?” Nightmare Moon’s heartrate quickened a little as she strode forwards and used her large stature to look over his head.

She saw two beds in the room, one occupied by a unicorn who had shifted her head to give a drowsy and crooked smile.

“H-hey, Wolf… did you get him?”

“Mrs. Scratch, you’re-”

Nightmare Moon pushed him aside and briskly trotted over to Vinyl, first staring in disbelief, then half-smiling in joy, and then scowling with a baleful glare.

“You are an insignificant fool with more bravado than common sense! If you weren’t in that bed, I’d smear honey against your coat and toss you into the Everfree Forest! I’d turn your blood to acid and banish you to the sun! I’d hoof you over to Octavia and fabricate a lie that you cheated on her!”

Vinyl’s eyes widened. “W-Wolf, I’m already woozy and shit – you don’t need to make me friggin’ pass out again…”

“You deserve it and more, you reckless, short-sighted foal!”

It would have been easy to continue – she had a lot more – but Nightmare Moon’s anger was cooling fast and what was the point of hurling insults if there was no venom behind them?

She took a deep breath to compose herself. “Vinyl?”

“Y-yeah?”

“… Thank you for trying to help. And I’m happy you’re alive and awake.”

Vinyl beamed as her initial trepidation was washed away. “Heh… no worries, Wolf. You got that asshole?”

“He escaped. But make no mistake: we landed a decisive blow against the humans. Caed will almost certainly try another attack in the future, but he will do so without the advantages he used to have,” Nightmare Moon heard the doctor approach from behind and stepped to the side; it was a good idea to let him examine Vinyl, especially if she just woke up. “Enough about that. How are you feeling?”

“Like I got kicked in the head,” Vinyl chuckled, wincing as the doctor lit his horn. “Ah, jeez…”

“Follow the light, Mrs. Scratch,” The doctor moved back and forth slowly, watching Vinyl’s pupils follow. “You received a very serious head injury that caused considerable damage to your horn, the nerves below it, and the frontal lobe of your brain.”

“It occurred when Caed threw you.” Nightmare Moon added.

Vinyl grimaced. “Asshole.”

“Mrs. Scratch, it is imperative that you understand the severity of your injury. Due to the damage, you required surgery-”

“Whoa, seriously? Shit.”

“-to remove your horn, which had become misaligned because of blunt force trauma and was placing stress on your brain, resulting in a coma.”

“A… coma? I was…?” Vinyl reached up to her bandaged head and felt around until she touched the empty space where her horn should have been. “Holy fuck.”

“It’s… astonishing that you woke so fast,” The doctor turned to Nightmare Moon. “I was in here not ten minutes ago, and she was out like a light.”

“An unexpected but not unwelcome turn of events.”

“I could sense her ‘I’m gonna kill you, Vinyl’ attitude approaching and got scared awake,” The DJ snickered, and Nightmare Moon was happy to hear her remarks again. “Oh, what’s that? Do I see a tear?”

“Clearly, she is hallucinating, doctor. I assume shots are in order?”

“Hey, whoa, I don’t do shots, okay?”

“Please try to avoid moving around so much, Mrs. Scratch. There’s something that you need to know, and I’m afraid that it isn’t good news.”

A small amount of Nightmare Moon’s elation evaporated. ‘Right, I forgot about her magic…’

“Oh shit, please don’t tell me I’m never gonna walk again.”

“Uh, no, nothing to do with that – your limbs are perfectly functional aside from a minor dislocation in your left foreleg that can easily be healed. No, I’m talking about your… magic.”

“… Oh, yeah?”

“You see, Mrs. Scratch, there are complications that arise from your type of injury…”

“Uh oh, here comes the bad news, huh?” Vinyl kept grinning, but there was anxiety in her tone that she couldn’t mask. “As much as I want you to, don’t sugarcoat it. Just... tell it like it is, I guess. Heh heh...”

Nightmare Moon’s chest felt as if there was a weight on it. She had a compulsion to tell Vinyl about her injury herself, but for once, she wasn’t very willing to be the bringer of bad news. Besides, the doctor could explain it better than she could.

Speaking of which...

“Mrs. Scratch...” The doctor started, sombre and sympathetic. “Because of your injury, the nerves beneath the horn which conduct and allow the manipulation of magic are stunted,” He paused as Vinyl blinked and drew her brow together, confused. “You are unable to cast magic.”

“… Oh.”

That was it; a quiet, neutral acknowledgement, which was sufficient cause for concern.

“Bear in mind that you’ve just gotten out of surgery, so it’s not as if there’s no chance that they’ll heal, or that you will never be able to cast magic,” The doctor added. “There are several treatments that can help with that.”

Vinyl didn’t have her shades, so it was easy to see how she felt; her eyes were lowered, her jaw tense, and her eyes flicking back and forth over the bed, pointedly ignoring any contact. She was shocked.

“… Can’t I…?” Vinyl turned to look at a glass pitcher of clear water resting on the bedside table.

Her eyelids twitched in concentration.

Nothing happened.

Nightmare Moon levitated the pitcher and filled the empty glass beside it. “Save your strength for recovery. I didn’t go through all that trouble to save you only to have you perish from an aneurysm.”

“Yeah… yeah, you’re right,” Vinyl forced a grin as she sat up with a slight wince, and then took the glass with her hoof. She drained it all in one go. “Aw, stallion, that’s good. Shout me another?”

Nightmare Moon filled the glass again as the doctor finished checking the heart monitor. He seemed half-distracted by her and Vinyl’s interaction and stared openly as Nightmare Moon levitated the glass over while making sure Vinyl had a grip on it before letting go.

She glared at him coldly. “Unless you have something to say or do, then leave us. I’m sure you have other patients to attend to.”

“I…” He trailed off and instead gestured to a small, white box with a button it, hanging next to Vinyl’s bed by a plastic-covered wire. “Her vital signs are stable, but if there’s any complications, or if you need assistance, then press that button to transmit a magical signal to the desk. Somepony will come.”

“Yes, I’m aware of hospital protocols and processes.”

The doctor nodded and gave an awkward bow. “Yes, y-your Grace...” He bowed again before slipping out of the room, clearly thankful to be away from there.

“Maybe it’s best not to give the whole ‘grr, I’m gonna chew your face off’ shtick to the doctors and nurses, eh?” Vinyl chuckled as she swallowed the last of her water and handed it back. “Thanks. So… are you okay? Not hurt?”

Nightmare Moon grinned wryly. “I believe that’s my line. You’re not the one that can shrug off a hole in her stomach, remember?”

“Totally jealous of that, by the way. Seriously, though?”

“Seriously? I am…” Nightmare Moon mumbled, placing the glass off to the side. “I am relieved that you are awake, Vinyl. I was happy knowing that you would live, regardless, but for you to have recovered so swiftly… It is fortuitous.”

“Heh – still can’t be more open with your emotions?”

“That was still only a few hours ago. I believe I am being more open, at any rate. More than I am with most.”

“Yeah, true. You’re wrong about me recovering, though.”

“Hm?”

Vinyl waved her hoof where her horn should be and gave a sad little smile. “Don’t suppose there’s some super-secret, forbidden spell like something out of a Lovecraft book?”

“Unfortunately, even a mind as imaginative as the late Sir Hoof Prance could not create such a spell. The horn is simple, but not the nerves beneath it,” Nightmare Moon felt a surge of sympathy and guilt as she looked at Vinyl’s bandaged head. She concentrated on her eyes instead. “I have only basic understanding of pony physiology from books and knowledge that I obtained from others throughout my life, but I can explain the magical complications of your injury. Put simply, I think you would understand better if you thought of it as an organ transplant.”

“Why?”

“You’re aware that sometimes organs may be rejected if they’re transplanted?” A nod. “Imagine that except in this case, each unicorn’s magical signature is unique and always rejects anything different. Basically, somepony using a spell to try and repair the damaged nerves wouldn’t work because they would reject the other magical signature. Which is not a good outcome.”

Vinyl nodded, her grin waning. “Oh. Yeah, I… I don’t mean to be a sad sack, but… I need my magic for my music, ya know?”

“I understand.”

“I’m glad to be alive, but…” She swallowed heavily and slowly began to look ill and, somehow, paler than usual. “Fuck. I can’t use magic. I-I can’t use magic, Wolf!”

“You don’t know that for certain. There is a chance that you will recover fully.”

“Oh, really? What are the chances of that? 1 in a 100?”

Nightmare Moon hesitated because she was almost about to reply that, statistically, the odds were lower than that. Although, her silence was equally damning.

“Yeah, that’s really comforting, Wolf…” Vinyl grumbled with an unusual amount of spite.

The words carried an astonishing amount of weight; they hit Nightmare Moon in her belly, cold and sticky.

‘She’s upset, lashing out; she doesn’t mean it,’ She thought to herself, dimming the embers of anger that tried to spark to life. ‘Music is her life and magic is what fuels her music.’

Theoretically, Vinyl could still DJ and create music with her hooves, just like her wife, but Nightmare Moon understood that artists were infuriatingly complex individuals when it came to their creations; any little change in their lives could throw them off. Although, in Vinyl’s defense, losing the ability to manipulate magic was hardly a ‘little’ change.

But what could she do to help?

…

Unless…

Unless she took over and changed Vinyl, just as she did with her Praetorian Guard.

“H-hey, um… I’m sorry…” Vinyl said with a frustrated sigh. “Didn’t mean to snap like that. I was just…”

“Vinyl…”

“Tch, I don’t even know…”

“Listen to me – I believe I can help you with this.”

She looked at her in surprise, but nodded to show she was listening.

“Normally, your nerves would reject foreign magic, but I know of a way in which I can… well, ‘force’ them to accept. My magic, that is. Personally, I’m not adept with healing spells, but there is someone in my Praetorian Guard who is, and his magic contains traces of mine, so your body wouldn’t recognize it as foreign. He could heal you.”

Vinyl furrowed her brow thoughtfully. “O-kay, but… what is this… ‘change’ exactly?” Her lips twitched and mirth lit her eyes. “This isn’t gonna be some ritual where you stick your hoof in my chest while I’m dangling over a pit of fire, right?”

“Just listen: remember what I told you in the club? About how I am something more than equine? My power is not limited to my own will; I can share it amongst a few select ponies – my Praetorian Guard is the result of me sharing my power. I suppose you could call it... an ‘Induction.’”

Nightmare Moon paused, then grinned because she felt good that she could help Vinyl.

“I can fix you. I can make you better.”

“Wolf, you’re kinda freaking me out.”

“Apologies,” Nightmare Moon reeled her expression into a contented smirk. “But I speak the truth, Vinyl – I can do this. You just need to trust me enough to allow me to Induct you.”

“Wolf, I… I do, but…” Vinyl laughed nervously. “You realize this is kinda huge, right? I get you’re trying to help, but… I just woke up from a coma. Or… what could have been a coma, I guess. And I’ve just learned I’ve lost my magic, maybe permanently…”

“It doesn’t have to be. Just allow me to-”

“Wait, let me finish: what I’m trying to say is… we’ve all had a long day, and I just want to take some to… take things in, ya know?”

Nightmare Moon’s smirk wilted.

Vinyl made sense; it was only natural to take time to recuperate, especially after what she had been through. Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to spring this on her so suddenly.

But at the same time, she wanted to see Vinyl better and she was confident that she could help by infusing the mare with her power; it would not only fix the damage to her nerves, but make her stronger, faster, more resilient.

She could defend herself better, survive more easily.

“Yes, you are right,” Nightmare Moon nodded, deciding to acquiesce. “With everything that’s happened, perhaps we all need time to recover. Even so, I urge that you allow me to make you stronger – you will not regret it. The process is… uncomfortable, but it will be brief. After that…”

Vinyl smiled and nodded back, seemingly relieved. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll… have to think on it, though.”

“‘Think on…?’ If you’re concerned about the danger, then rest assured that there is none. I have been doing this since I first came into existence; it is as natural to me as walking or breathing is to you.”

“Um…”

“Don’t you want your magic back as soon as possible?”

“Of course, I do! But I… ugh, look…” Vinyl grimaced and shook her head. “Can we just… not talk about this now? I mean… we won, right? We should be celebrating that!”

“… Perhaps. However, it was not a victory without cost and effort.”

“Well, yeah, but… Wolf? You okay?”

Nightmare Moon furrowed her brow and growled lowly in her throat. “Caed was stronger than I could ever imagine. If you and everyone hadn’t helped, I would have lost.”

“Seriously? I mean, I saw he was holding his own, but, shit, I didn’t think he was that tough.”

“Astoundingly so. It was that strength which allowed him to overcome me. That strength that left me unable to retaliate when he…” Nightmare Moon trailed off with an irritated growl and glared at the floor. “It was because I wasn’t strong enough that you were hurt in the first place.”

“… Wolf, do you feel bad over what happened to me?”

“I… wish I had been able to protect you. To see you harmed, to try but fail in avenging you… it’s infuriating.”

Vinyl was frowning deeply. “Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you hard on yourself. Normally, you’re blaming everypony else for being a shit, and I can’t think of a single time when that wasn’t true.”

“Hmph…”

“Anyway, what the hell are you moping for? We won, didn’t we? Yeah, a lot of ponies got hurt and that… well, it really sucks, but it could have been a lot worse, eh? Come on…”

There was a sound of shuffling and Nightmare Moon looked up in time to receive a light punch to her foreleg. She blinked at the spot before looking at Vinyl’s cheerful grin.

“Lighten up?”

She was trying to comfort her.

Even though she had been kidnapped and suffered a traumatic injury that may have left her completely unable to use magic.

“Truly, I must seem pathetic standing here next to you.” Nightmare Moon sighed.

“Hey, we all get a moment of weakness: nothing to cry about. Remember that time when I hid in the closet at my own wedding? Heh… never thought you could come out of the closet twice.”

The remark managed a wry chuckle out of Nightmare Moon. “You are right, however. We did win. We landed a blow against the knights’ morale and survivability.”

“Hm?”

“I’ll tell you about it later. For now, focus on recovering. And… consider my offer.”

“Yeah, I will, Wolf. Thanks.”

Nightmare Moon managed a grim smile.

‘You’ve become an important part of my life, Vinyl. Just like my rule over Equestria and this city, I will keep you until my last breath.’

Author's Note

Note 1: Sir Hoof Prance Lovecraft is famous for his book series detailing the possibility of powerful, otherwordly deities observing and interacting with equine-kind. His best-selling book, The Deep that Calls, has sold almost 2 million copies. Sir Hoof Prance Lovecraft was born in 970 AD and, unfortunately, met an untimely end in 1035 AD when his stage coach lost a wheel and went off the side of a ravine.

Sir Hoof Prance Lovecraft was a well-known introvert, but became close friends with Harmonics, another author who originally wrote romance novels, but then switched to writing the horror genre to honour the memory of his friend.

Note 2: "Thaumthynx (thaw-m-th-inx) - a network of conductive nerves found beneath the horn of unicorns. The nerves consist of unique cells which draw in ambient magical energy through a process similar to ATP and, through the transmission of electrical currents via the brain, allow the manipulation of magic, commonly in the form of 'spells.'

"These nerves constantly emit magical energy, even when a unicorn is not actively casting, and through the process that allows the manipulation of magic, this energy gains a 'signal' or 'tone' that is unique to that unicorn; no other unicorn has the same magical signature, not even kin. This differentation means that two unicorns cannot mingle magic unless they are somehow channeling the same signature.

"The signature is stronger around the nerves, so while spells that affect the body will not be rejected if the affected unicorn isn't resisting, the horn and the thaumthynx must be avoided to prevent damage to either party.

"Damage to the thaumthynx can result in temporary or even permanent loss of magic manipulation."

Chapter 60: Lingering Traces

A Chance Encounter with Canterlot’s Ruler

Three days ago, on January 13th, Canterlot was attacked by the dastardly enemy
known as ‘humanity.’ The attack started at 11:52 am, when bystanders were horrified
to witness an immense creature known as a behemoth bug – see pg. 15 – and several dozen humans emerge from recently discovered phenomena referred to as ‘Entropic Fractures.’

The attack caused millions of bits worth of property damage and resulted in nineteen known fatalities and more than thirty injured cases. While most of the damage to the city was secluded to the upper districts, it is expected that the downtown areas will be experiencing sporadic losses of water pressure due to damage to the pipe lines over the course of the next few weeks. Furthermore, most roads have been closed off while debris is cleared.

In other news, families across Equestria were delighted when loved ones, previously taken hostage by earlier attacks by humans, were unexpectedly rescued and returned home. The hostages had Empress Nightmare Moon – see pg. 16 – to thank for their rescue. The Empress was accounted to have travelled through one of the anomalies opened by the humans in her pursuit of renowned musician and local DJ, Vinyl Scratch – see pg. 16 – who had been kidnapped during the confusion of the attack. It was there that she battled through hordes of humans to save her and the ponies that had been captured.

After the rescue, several eyewitnesses attest to the Empress then proceeding to engage in one-on-one battle with what is believed to be the current leader of the human force, Caed. Despite the human’s incredible strength, the Empress emerged victorious and sent him and the rest of his forces into a retreat. Almost immediately after that, the Empress was witnessed to personally carry an injured Vinyl Scratch to Sunny Ray General Hospital. One of Canterlot Bugle’s own journalists, Scripture, was there due to injuries sustained during the attack and was lucky enough to receive a verbal account on the events from the Empress herself. For the full recollection, see pg. 16. Elsewhere, denizens are lauding the Empress’ contributions, particularly during one instance where she blocked a piece of debris with her own body

1056 AD, January 16th

“They’ve actually published this?”

Haze nodded. “Their first paper since the attack. It’s caused quite a stir, so I’ve heard.”

Nightmare Moon was barely listening to him. She shifted through the newspaper, speed-reading, her disbelief growing with every article. She didn’t expect this. When Haze cantered into the throne room and told her that she needed to see this paper, she rolled her eyes and expected to read a hundred articles bemoaning about how she was ruining the city and how she allowed the attack to happen.

She didn’t expect to be appraised.

“Scripture was a journalist..." Nightmare Moon echoed those words, remembering the bandaged mare. "I thought she was a little more direct and curious than your average pony. They’ve printed almost everything I’ve said at the hospital.”

“Is that legal to do without your permission?” Ebony asked, standing beside her throne like a statue. She leaned over for a better look at the paper. “Empress, do you…?”

“Do I wish to do something? No. I don’t see why I should,” Nightmare Moon shrugged. “It isn’t worth my time to try and manage every news outlet in Canterlot. Besides, this speaks highly of me.”

“Hey, are any of us mentioned in that?” Fade asked, taking to the air so he could hover above her throne. His flapping disturbed the pages, and Nightmare Moon huffed in annoyance before standing up. “Be nice to get an actual commendation, yeah?”

Nightmare Moon flicked the paper into his face and walked off. “There’s a photo of you on page 9. I think it captures your good side very well.”

“Well, it’s nice to have some measure of positive recognition for once,” Haze said, falling into step alongside Nightmare Moon. “Ah, another matter: Twilight has requested your presence on a matter concerning the Orxoni. She believes it’s a breakthrough.”

“Requested, hm?”

“I will not repeat her exact words for propriety’s sake.”

“Mm. Very well – let’s go see what this ‘breakthrough’ entails,” Nightmare Moon stopped and turned back to make a beckoning gesture. Ebony noticed, nodded, and trotted towards her. “I was on my way to see Vinyl anyway; her lab is on the same path.”

Fade suddenly cried out, and Ebony flinched and shot an annoyed look over her shoulder. “They got all these badass photos of everypony else, but I get the one where I got knocked into a trash can with my ass sticking out?”

Nightmare Moon smirked as she started walking towards the doors. “I said it captured your good side, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, real nice, boss. Shit, Lightning Dust’s gonna bust my balls over this…”

“That aside, how is the city’s current condition, Haze?”

“Coming along well. Most of the debris has been cleared and construction has been completed on several key structures. The populace is wary, but calm. I believe they have newfound confidence and a sense of safety in you, Empress.”

“They’ve finally realized that I am the lesser of two evils.”

He cocked one eyebrow. “You sound disappointed.”

“Do I? Oddly enough, I feel like I’ve lost some sort of competition.”

Nightmare Moon looked out the arched windows as they walked down the hallway. She could see almost the entire city from there. A few days ago, columns of smoke dominated the sky, but the weather ponies had cleared most of it and brought in some rain clouds to wash away any lingering embers on damaged buildings.

“How goes the clean-up of the behemoth bug?”

Haze turned a few pages he was carrying. “Forty percent of the carcass has been safely disposed of. We’re getting requests from Minos for the meat, and the shell has been proven effective in making up a portion of airboat hulls.”

“I’m sure Fancypants would appreciate those remains, and the minotaurs are welcome to however much of the bug they wish,” Nightmare Moon snorted and looked to the cloudy skies again. “The last thing we need is the corpse attracting a dragon.”

Ebony was content to be quiet on the walk, and Haze parroted whatever was on the sheets of paper in his magical grasp. Nightmare Moon half-listened to him and answered when prompted, but she was more preoccupied with her personal thoughts.

‘Caed retreated to his home, but we dealt a major blow by destroying those resurrecting pods and denying him a source of energy for the Spectrum Shifter. He must be getting desperate. But how much power did that machine have? Could he still use it?’

It pained Nightmare Moon to admit it, but she was hoping that he wouldn’t come back to Equestria and that was the last they would ever hear from him. It was an anticlimactic end, and her pride would be forever bruised that she would not get a rematch, but perhaps that was a worthy sacrifice if it meant she no longer had to worry about the humans.

But, of course, she was a realist; if Caed still had the means to use the Spectrum Shifter, then he would undoubtedly do so. Nightmare Moon recognized ambition when she saw it, and Caed was bursting with it; he was driven to save his people and would do anything to accomplish that.

‘Assuming those pods were the only ones and they are damaged beyond repair, then he and his knights can no longer come back from the dead. They can no longer throw themselves at us so recklessly. It may make them more cautious.’

Would Caed be willing to throw away the lives of his knights for his goals? If Nightmare Moon were in his position, then she would do it, but they were of two separate minds. In a way, Caed was more like Celestia and Twilight in that they would always choose the lives of their loved ones over the opportunity to destroy their enemy – a classic trope of choosing the lives of the few over the many.

‘And yet, isn’t that what I would do if Vinyl were in peril?’

… Regardless, Caed valued the lives of his knights, enough that he was driven into a rage that almost ended in her defeat. That sort of devotion might make him pause and debate on sending his knights out to fight again when they have no way returning from death.

‘The way I see it, he has two choices: send his knights out to try and get more unicorns, or find some other means to power his machine. The second scenario is highly unlikely, but the first has a lot of risks. Not only that, but we have the advantage of knowing just how dire his situation is. We can outlast them if we plan accordingly.’

Again, that was if the machine still had enough power for another assault.

She could only hope that was the case.

Nightmare Moon caught movement out of the corner of her eye and realized that Ebony was frowning in concern. “What is it?”

“S-sorry, I was asking if you’re okay. You… didn’t answer.”

“I’m fine. I was lost in my thoughts is all. What about you?”

“Me? Oh, I’m… I think I’m starting to smell a little better.”

Nightmare Moon sniffed the air. “Yes. Less like lemons and necrosis and more like sulphur and aged Griffonic cheese.”

Ebony’s smile wavered and she laughed weakly before staring down at the floor. “Great. Now, I have to find a freshener that masks sulphur and cheese.”

Nightmare Moon went back to her thoughts while keeping one ear attuned to Haze’s monotonous voice. She could see two Eclipse guarding the reinforced door that led to Twilight’s laboratory/room farther down the hallway.

“Empress Nightmare Moon! Empress Nightmare Moon!”

She turned in time to witness a mare in a maid’s uniform trip over her own feet and send a plate of muffins bouncing across the floor. The mare herself managed a spectacular flip before landing on her face with her rump in the air.

“Very nicely done,” Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes as the mare stood with a blush. “Ah, I remember you. You’re the one that has trouble putting things down to open doors.”

“And other things, heh heh…” The mare scrambled to pick her muffins off the floor and back onto the plate. “I’m good at cooking, though. Or, or at least that’s what the chef told me. Anyway, I made these muffins and I would be honoured if you would be the first to try some. My Empress.”

“They were just on the floor.” Haze turned his nose up in disgust.

The mare flicked her hoof against the top of the muffins. “Is… that better?”

Nightmare Moon picked one up with magic. “Marginally," She could use something sweet to chew on, if only for the taste. Besides, she had tasted things worse than this. Blood was not a flavour one just forgot. "Thank you. Now, leave us and try not to put any more imprints in my floor.”

The mare bowed reverently and trotted away as Nightmare Moon opened the door and entered. Cinnamon filled her nostrils as she passed by tables and science apparatuses. She grimaced and took a bite of the muffin to dull the fragrance.

‘Yuck.’

She spotted the Orxoni up against the farthest corner of the room with Twilight standing in front of it, lost in thought judging by her lack of reaction. She probably didn’t even know Nightmare Moon was there.

“Ahem.”

No response.

“Twilight, your friends are here to rescue you.”

A jolt. “… Rot in Tartarus.”

Nightmare Moon snickered. “Later. Now, what was so important that you needed to request my presence of your own volition? Normally, I must pluck at your brain to get you to tell me anything,” Nightmare Moon moved up beside her and nudged her with the muffin. “Would you like a bite? It’s refreshingly bitter.”

Twilight glared at her and the offending muffin. “… Do you remember when I asked for the Orxoni to study the area where Caed and his knights escaped through that Fracture?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve finished going over my results and I believe I might have found something that could help Equestria.”

Nightmare Moon looked over her shoulder and gestured for Haze and Ebony to close the door. “Do tell.”

Ebony used her magic to shut the door, and Twilight walked over to a nearby blackboard. Nightmare Moon could hear the tap-tap of the crystal in Twilight’s left hindleg as it scraped against the floor with each step. Twilight appeared to have grown used to the crystals in her body, or at least learned to ignore the worst of it. Nightmare Moon wished she had time to examine Twilight’s body and see just how the crystals interacted with her physiology.

Twilight picked up a piece of worn chalk, and Nightmare Moon pushed those thoughts aside for the time being and stepped closer, taking another bitter bite of her snack.

Twilight wrote ‘Entropic Fractures’ in large, block letters, and then turned to face her. “What do we know about them?”

“Pockets of space that have been weakened to a point that the barriers that separate our world from others are torn apart, allowing those worlds to interact. This is common knowledge by now, Twilight.”

“Yes, but what else do they do?” Twilight questioned, swiftly writing down Nightmare Moon’s answer. “Entropic Fractures aren’t invisible, so they must emit…?”

“Light.”

“And they make a very distinctive noise, so…”

“They also emit sound.”

Twilight wrote down the two answers and drew a line between them. “And what do ‘light’ and ‘sound’ have in common?”

“They are both forms of energy.”

“Specifically, ‘radiant energy’ and ‘sound energy’.”

Both Haze and Ebony joined Nightmare Moon, though their expressions told her they weren’t feeling very confident in answering themselves.

Twilight was on a role, briefly forgetting their shared animosity as she fell into the role of ‘lecturer’. “And what do all forms of energy have in common?”

“… They power… th-things?” Ebony murmured unsurely.

“Energy can be transformed?” Haze tried.

“You’re almost there…” Twilight said.

Nightmare Moon mulled it over for a while. “Energy cannot be destroyed.”

Twilight nodded. “Energy is transformed into one type or the other, most of the time into ‘heat’. It’s where the theory of the heat death of the universe comes from. How this ties into the existence of other universes is open to speculation, but-”

“Twilight, how does this help us with the war?”

Irate at being interrupted, Twilight gave her a scathing glare before returning to the blackboard and drawing a zig-zagging line. “Pretend that this is a Fracture,” Next to the line, she drew an oval. “And this is the Resonator. As you know, the Resonator is our only means of forcibly closing Fractures; it does this by emitting magical energy to force the energy that’s creating the Fracture to transform into kinetic and heat. This abundance of heat and kinetic energy would result in a massive explosion if it wasn’t for the Elements of Harmony safely absorbing the energy.

“Additionally, the mirror portion of the Resonator – the Orxoni – is capable of using magical energy to create a ‘Fracture’ of its own into other worlds – such was the case with Sunset Shimmer. However, the Fracture is locked to that world and we can’t control it any other way. So, it’s better to use the Orxoni to close the Fractures the humans create.”

Levitating the wiper, Twilight brushed the oval until all that was left was a white smudge.

“But like you said, energy can’t be destroyed, so what happens to the Fractures that the humans close themselves? Well, I examined the spot the last Fracture had been in and found very high levels of ambient energy, mostly heat but also magical.”

“How did you find that out?” Haze questioned.

“I saw you waving this device around back then,” Ebony said, scratching her chin. “It was like a… metal detector.”

“That was a Arcanometer – it detects and gives a visual reading of the current level of ambient magic in the area. I only used it because the air felt unusually heavy. Like the change in air pressure before a storm. Once I got solid evidence that there was magical energy in the area, it was simple to find a causality between the two: when Fractures are closed by the humans, the energy in our world is converted into magic and heat.”

Nightmare Moon nodded in understanding. “And you’re planning to use this energy in some way?”

Twilight nodded, smiled a little, and lifted the chalk again. “It all comes back to the idea that energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed. I believe that with some adjustments to the Resonator, we can use magic to transform the ambient energy that results from a Fracture closing back to its original state.”

She drew the oval again within the smudge.

“Effectively re-opening the same Fracture the humans closed.”

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes and placed the muffin on the top of a nearby table before stepping closer. “That’s… brilliant.”

“Um, sorry, but… could you explain that again?” Ebony asked, blushing. “I want to be sure I understood what you just said.”

“Put simply, we could rig the Resonator to re-open any Fractures that the humans create.”

“Theoretically,” Twilight interjected. “As for practicality…”

“Yes, it’s the same problem we encountered when we first began work on the Resonator…” Nightmare Moon picked up another piece of chalk, her mind racing as it did calculations that her hoof replicated onto the board. “The heat and potential energy that would result from the transformative process would be tremendous. However, that should be easily rectified by using the Elements of Harmony to absorb it all.”

Twilight grimaced and shook her head. "It's unnerving how much you know about this."

Nightmare Moon flashed a smug grin. "Uncomfortable with the idea that your nemesis might possess a similar intellect to yours? You had the most interesting expressions when I worked on the Resonator with you and Sunset Shimmer."

"Can you blame me?" Twilight grumbled. "I don't know anything about you."

"And I intend to keep it that way. When you've, ah... 'chatted' to as many individuals as I have, you absorb a very diverse field of knowledge, like how it is generally a bad idea to talk too much about oneself."

"'Absorb'..." Twilight shuddered. "I don't even want to know. Anyway, we still need to calculate how much energy would be created by this new process,” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “That should be simple enough by applying the Law of Transformative Magic to the same calculations we used during the testing phase of the Resonator.”

“This is leagues beyond my education, Empress, but I assume you will need materials,” Haze pulled a pencil from seemingly nowhere as well as a clean sheet of paper. “That, at least I know I can assist with.”

Nightmare Moon nodded and turned to him. “We-”

“Crystals, first and foremost,” From a nearby table, Twilight levitated a clear blue quartz and glared at it like it had defecated on her paperwork. “Preferably crystals that I can work with; not these dime a dozen minerals that Starswirl wouldn’t even use to season his salad.”

Nightmare Moon curled her lip in irritation. “If I can work with them without issue, then you can.”

Twilight turned on her with a huff. “I can crunch these numbers by myself; I don't need you here."

“Watch your tone.”

“Don’t you have somepony to check on, anyway?”

In that instant, Nightmare Moon could see the regret in Twilight’s eyes, half-hidden behind cynical rebelliousness that had yet to be quashed; the smaller mare took a step back and tensed up, expecting a blow. Nightmare Moon might have done so, but she stopped herself in time. Her veins burned with acid as she swallowed her rage and gave a cold smile.

“Yes. Thank you for reminding me. I’m often so busy that I don’t have time to enjoy the simple things like enjoying the company of a friend. Of course, you know all about friendship, don’t you? You have so many friends,” Her grin widened, grew colder. “Out there, somewhere.”

Twilight snarled at her and magic sparked from her horn. “You…!”

“As much as I love exchanging insults with you, I think your time and energy is better devoted to ‘crunching these numbers’, isn’t it?” Nightmare Moon slapped the chalk down on the blackboard’s groove, reducing it to dust, and stepped away. “Since you’re so confident, then by all means, do it yourself. I’ll be back later during the day.”

Twilight snorted and turned her attention to the blackboard. “Fine. Go.”

“Haze, stay and take her requests for whatever she needs. Run them by me before you submit them, though.”

Haze dipped his head respectfully. “Of course.”

Nightmare Moon picked her muffin back up and headed back to the door, opened it and waited for Ebony to trot through, then plucked at the link she shared with Twilight as she went out.

‘Fall.’

The sound of a body hitting the floor and an indignant yelp brought a smile to her face and alleviated some of the anger that had built up. Petty as it may be, she was satisfied with what she did as she closed the heavy door.

“He-llo again, Empress!”

Nightmare Moon looked down the hallway and saw the same maid walking towards her. Her plate was empty, however, aside from a few crumbs. “You again.”

“Yup!” The maid giggled. “I finally found enough ponies to eat my muffins! Now I’m going back to make more. Oh, you’re still eating that?”

“I wish to savour the taste.”

“Oh, okay! What a compliment,” Sarcasm was clearly too esoteric a concept for this mare. “Well, thank you for trying it again, Empress. See you later!”

Nightmare Moon grunted ambiguously and watched the maid walk off for a second before moving in the opposite direction.

As much as she detested Twilight’s backtalk, she couldn't deny what she said was true. Ever since Vinyl got to the castle, Nightmare Moon had been struck with a strong temptation to check on her every couple of hours. It was ridiculous paranoia, of course; the castle was the safest place in Equestria – especially since Nightmare Moon made it her abode – but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Ebony suddenly made a little noise, and Nightmare Moon turned to watch her expectantly. “Um…” She stared with a vacant expression before blinking and clearing her throat. “Sorry, but about what Twilight said… that’s good, isn’t it? If it works, I mean.”

“Being able to manipulate the Fractures beyond merely closing them opens up more options; that’s always a good thing. The main advantage is that we could pursue the knights should they attempt to kidnap more unicorn. Furthermore, it allows us to finally go on the offensive instead of waiting for them to make their move.”

“We’re going to launch an assault on their world, then?”

Nightmare Moon took another bite of her muffin and thought on it. “… Perhaps. If you would remember the information I took from their headquarters, they are living on borrowed time. While we could launch an assault, perhaps it’s better to wait and let them bleed out. If we are lucky, the humans will perish with a whimper, having accomplished nothing. A sad but fitting end, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I can’t imagine going out like that. But I agree with you.”

“As would many others.”

“Empress, there’s another thing I wanted to know more about…”

“What is it?”

“I’m not sure if it’s my place to ask, but…” Ebony looked around to make sure they were alone. Two guards were on patrol, and she waited until they passed before continuing in a hushed whisper. “Are you really planning on making Vinyl one of us?”

“Should she accept, then yes.”

“So, she’ll be part of the Praetorian Guard?”

“She… No. I didn’t clarify. She’d be like you, but she won’t be a part of the Praetorian Guard.”

“Oh…”

Ebony was quiet, but Nightmare Moon felt this crawling sensation against her skin. She looked over to see a faint smile on Ebony’s face. Immediately, she was suspicious.

“What is that for?”

“Hm?”

“That smile… Why are you doing that?”

The grin faded and Ebony blushed. “Um, well…” She avoided eye contact and her ears flattened. “I just… thought…” Nightmare Moon continued to stare until Ebony looked back and panicked. “It’s just… It’s a little funny to see how much you care for her.”

“Don’t say that out loud.”

“And it’s kind of cute that you’d give her your power without expecting anything in return, so that’s why I-”

“Silence.”

Nightmare Moon shoved the remaining bit of her muffin into Ebony’s mouth to emphasize her rather lacklustre command. Truthfully, she wasn’t annoyed enough to be intimidating, but she wanted her Right Hoof to shut up.

This seemed like a good compromise.

“I discuss many things with you, Ebony, but my relationship with Vinyl is not one of those things. You’re welcome to think whatever you want, but kindly keep it to yourself.”

Ebony pulled a face and extracted the muffin with a disgusted gag before her expression changed into one of shame. “Sorry, Empress. I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Hm. Anyway, how have the Eclipse forces been faring?”

“Oh… good. I mean, ‘good’ like… I can’t complain, really,” Ebony seemed at a loss to what to do with the muffin, so she held it off to the side with magic. “The training is going well, the recruits are being fitted, and everything’s just… going really well. I think Lightning Dust is really helping the pegasi improve.”

“And how are things between the two of you?”

“Good. We’re not clashing over anything, if that’s what you mean. I think we’ve gotten better since the Crystal Empire; she doesn’t treat me so casually in front of the guards anymore, and I… I’m starting to really respect her flying skills.”

“I saw potential; that’s why I recruited her at Fade’s behest,” Nightmare Moon waved her hoof dismissively. “If it weren’t for that, then I don’t think I’d have bothered. Her desires are quite potent.”

“Desires?”

“She’s consumed with a need for vengeance against Rainbow Dash. She believes that it’s her fault that she was expelled from the Wonderbolts. Considering her natural talent even before I gave her some of my power, I don’t doubt that she would have been an exemplary Wonderbolt,” Nightmare Moon snorted and gave a little grin. “It’s all so piteous, isn’t it?”

“Consumed?” Ebony frowned, looking concerned. “I… didn’t know. She’s sort of egotistical, but I never imagined it ran so deep.”

“Oh, it does. But then again, I have an eye for these sorts of things. Believe me – Lightning Dust’s grudge against Rainbow Dash runs deep as an abyss.” Nightmare Moon smirked as she recalled the festering desire that lurked within Lightning Dust’s psyche; trouncing through it during the augmentation process was rather refreshing.

“Is that safe?” Ebony fretted.

“She’s anxious to humiliate Rainbow Dash; Lightning Dust may not be the most intelligent amongst our inner circle, but she’s smart enough to get that so long as she stays on my good side and remains loyal, she’ll get her chance soon enough…”

They came upon a door in the guest wing, utterly unremarkable and no different in appearance than any other door. However, it was a door Nightmare Moon had become familiar with over the past few days.

“We share a common enemy with Lightning Dust. Besides, should I feel she’s becoming a burden, I can always take back what I gave,” Nightmare Moon lifted her forehoof and knocked several times. “All I need is one touch.”

Ebony blinked. She might have said something else, but there were hoofsteps coming towards the door and she decided instead to press her lips together and remain quiet. Nightmare Moon didn’t press; if it was important, she could have used telepathy.

The door swung inwards and Nightmare Moon’s greeting smile faltered. “Oh, hello, Octavia,” The grey-coated mare nodded uneasily and took her forehoof off the doorknob. “How are you?”

Octavia moved her hooves. “I’m fine. Vinyl’s in the shower.”

Octavia had been spending every minute of her free time with Vinyl since the near-death experience. Nightmare Moon understood that and granted Octavia free access to Vinyl’s quarters, knowing that as much as Vinyl enjoyed Nightmare Moon’s company, a romantic partner fulfilled desires that a platonic partner couldn’t, both physically and emotionally.

“I see,” Nightmare Moon nodded. “I’m just going to wait for her, then; there are things I wish to discuss.”

Octavia nodded and trotted back into the room, leaving the door open.

“This is where we part, Ebony,” Nightmare Moon said. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find something to occupy yourself.”

“Yeah,” Ebony agreed and offered a little wave. “Goodbye, Empress. I’ll see you later?”

“Of course. Farewell.” Nightmare Moon walked in the room and closed the door without looking back. She felt a little bad leaving her with that muffin, but oh well.

Octavia took up a loveseat in the middle of the room and pretended to be interested in the steaming teacup on the coffee table. Nightmare Moon decided to remain standing near the door. She could hear the shower running in the bathroom and Vinyl humming to herself inside.

“Good tea?” Nightmare Moon asked. Octavia took a sip and shrugged. “Yes, it doesn’t smell all too good from here,” She rubbed her chin. “How has Vinyl been today?” Octavia put her tea down and signed her answer. “Still no progress? Unfortunate.”

A forced conversation. They weren’t enemies, and Octavia had already expressed her gratitude for saving Vinyl’s life, but their relationship was still cold and distant. Small talk was painful unless they were discussing music, but Nightmare Moon didn’t feel like talking about that. Although, Vinyl was also an awkward topic considering she had spoken to Octavia about Nightmare Moon’s offer. She secretly hoped Octavia would convince her to do it, but she wasn’t going to count on it.

The cascade of water ended not a moment too soon. Nightmare Moon stood straight and waited, her ears twitching as she heard Vinyl step out. There was the scritch-scritch of a towel against fur and the bathroom door creaked open, letting steam roll out and creep up the wall to the ceiling.

Vinyl stepped out, vigorously rubbing her mane with a blue towel, and her gaze went to Octavia, lighting up as it did, and then over to Nightmare Moon. She felt warm to see it light up, too.

“Oh hey, Wolf!” She tossed the towel away. Octavia gave a disgruntled ‘hmph’ that went unheeded. “How’s it goin’?”

“Fairly well, all things considered. The city is recovering,” She tilted her head, gesturing to Vinyl’s horn. “You are still having issues, I understand?”

Vinyl’s grin wavered a little. “Y-yeah. Sucks, but…” She shrugged and the grin returned full force. “What can you do? Hey, want something to drink?” She headed towards a mini-fridge in the corner. “I asked for a bunch of drinks and somepony came in and stocked it all the way up. Soda, beer – you still like beer, right?”

“I’m fine,” Nightmare Moon paused and rubbed her foreleg with the other as Vinyl rooted through the fridge. Octavia was sitting there, quiet but far from unnoticeable. “Vinyl, may I speak with you in private?”

Octavia looked at her, then to Vinyl.

“Uh, now?” Vinyl closed the fridge with a can of grape-flavoured pop in hoof. She met Octavia’s gaze and frowned. “Sure, I guess. I mean, you can just say it here if…”

“I’d rather it be in private. Octavia…” She met the cellist’s gaze when she turned. “If you will excuse us.”

She didn’t look entirely pleased, but she gave a nod and returned to her tea. They had her ‘blessing’, so to speak.

Vinyl shrugged. “Okay, sure. Let’s go out on the balcony. I think this is around the time that gardener comes out; he has a vendetta against this mole that digs everything up.”

Nightmare Moon crossed the room over to where Vinyl opened another door that led to the bedroom, and then over to the open balcony doors. Golden sunlight reflected off the pristine white railing and two wicker chairs faced the horizon, unoccupied and absorbing heat. Nightmare Moon stepped up to the railing and inhaled deeply; she could enjoy the spring breeze, if not the sun.

Vinyl joined her. “So, I think I know what this is about…” She sat down in one of the chairs and fumbled with the tab of her drink. She scowled in frustration. “Friggin’… Look, Wolf, I totally get where you’re coming from. Like, I see all the good shit. But I still need to- agh! Fucking can!”

Nightmare Moon lit her horn and snatched the can away before popping the tab. Vinyl grumbled and glared at the ground, but took it back when it was returned anyway. Tabs weren’t hard to pull even without magic, but Vinyl struggled nonetheless, and that concerned Nightmare Moon.

“Vinyl, you have difficulty with mundane tasks without your magic. You rarely ask for help and even when you succeed, I can tell you’re still miserable,” Nightmare Moon sat down, facing her friend. She couldn’t stand the way Vinyl pouted, but she wouldn’t look away when saying this. “Accept my offer to fix you, Vinyl.”

“I still need time to think.”

Nightmare Moon couldn’t help but growl in aggravation. “Why? Don’t you want your magic back? Your music?”

“Of course I do,” Vinyl murmured, swirling her hoof against the can’s mouth. “But if you do that, then it’s not really my magic, is it?”

“You’ve said that before…” Nightmare Moon rubbed the bridge of her nose and tried to reign in her temper. When it came to Vinyl, it was easy to let her guard down and be more emotional. Anger wouldn’t help Vinyl see reason, though. “And personally, I find it ridiculous. I may be the one that restored your magic, but it’s still you that wields it.”

Vinyl pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Yeah…”

“Look…” Nightmare Moon spread her forelegs. “This body was based on Luna’s form, but it’s still mine.”

“But you’re badass; you don’t care what ponies think of you.”

“And you do?” She snorted. “Since when have you been so hung up on what everypony thinks of you?”

“When it comes to my fans and my wife, I do.”

Nightmare Moon went to respond, then paused when she begrudgingly had to concede Vinyl had a point. It would be hypocritical of her to call out such sentimental reasoning when she was guilty of considering Vinyl’s emotional wellbeing, too. She wanted Vinyl as a friend, so she chose to not force augmentation upon her unless she had a straightforward answer.

That’s what being considerate was about, wasn’t it?

“I’m not an idiot, Wolf,” Vinyl continued with a sigh. She paused to take a drink. “I know Octy will love me even if I weighed as much as you with none of the height…” Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “And grew seven spider legs. Hell, she flat-out said she’d be fine if I accepted. And I know I have a lot of fans that also won’t care. But you know… some ponies do. Some ponies might even think that I’m allying myself with you.”

“You are my friend.”

“Friends can disagree,” Vinyl looked out into the garden. “I don’t agree with a lot of the stuff you do, even if you are protecting Equestria. But if I take your offer and look like the rest of those guys you hang out with, then ponies will think that I’m a legit part of your guard. Like a spy.”

“Hm… That is a possibility,” Nightmare Moon nodded. “And I don’t think any amount of affirmation that you’re not part of my guard will change their opinions.”

“I could probably handle it if they just thought bad of me…” Vinyl looked back, her brow furrowed in worry. “But what if they badmouth Octavia? Or my other friends? My fans? This is Canterlot: words hurt more than shills and stones, or however the hell it’s supposed to go…”

Nightmare Moon frowned in annoyance. As much power as she had, she couldn’t be everywhere at once and she couldn’t stop free speech. It would be a waste of time and resources to control every news outlet in Canterlot and monitor what is published to make sure no gossip would harm Vinyl or Octavia's reputation, especially when they were in the middle of a war.

Fancypants and Fleur were fine; their relationship was more professional than personal, so it would be hard for anypony to point at them, find a specific point where they were acting like they were in cahoots, and cry ‘treachery’.

‘I want to help her, but how can I do that if she doesn’t accept?’

“And between you and me…” Vinyl lowered her voice and looked back to the bedroom door. When she turned to Nightmare Moon again, she was grinning sheepishly, embarrassed. “I know Octy will love me no matter what, but I still want to keep my natural looks, ya know? That goth and edgy look your personal guards have will look shit on me.”

“Yes, I, ah…” Nightmare Moon cleared her throat. “I can’t control that.” Visual changes were the one thing she couldn’t control with her augmentation; they would always have draconic eyes and muted shades.

“So, now you know, huh?” Vinyl laughed weakly, though it stopped when she looked at her can. “I seriously hate not being able to use magic. Like, imagining never being able to use it is like…” She trailed off and shook her head. “I dunno. Maybe I will take your offer, but I need to make sure that… well, that I’m sure. Don’t want any regrets. That’d be like spitting in your face, huh?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Nightmare Moon responded on what felt like reflex. “I would be…” She swallowed and fought back a cringe. “I would be happy to know that you have your magic. I already told you that I offer this because it would give you a greater chance of defending yourself.”

Vinyl chuckled, a genuine one. “Yeah, I know. You’re actually a little overprotective now,” Nightmare Moon scowled at her, and she gestured to the bedroom in response. “Well, you gave me this sweet-ass place for my recovery. Hell, you practically threatened me to stay here because it was the safest place in Canterlot.”

“I did not threaten you.”

“Don’t sweat it; I knew you were just putting on a show for everypony at the hospital.”

Nightmare Moon scowled harder. “Vinyl…”

“I know, I know.”

Nightmare Moon shook her head. She was really lenient with this mare. It was somewhat astounding just how much. And how much she didn’t mind it. “Very well.”

“Hm? What’s that for?”

“I came here to persuade you into making up your mind, but now I believe it’s better to just let you decide on your own time,” Nightmare Moon wasn’t happy with it, but she would be more unhappy forcing augmentation on her friend. “I still wholly believe you should do it, but my offer will stand for as long as you desire it. Whether you have already healed on your own, or not.”

Vinyl beamed with joy. “That’s… I’m really stoked to hear that, Wolf. Thanks.”

“I must admit…” Nightmare Moon returned the smile through her disappointment. “I am upset that I can’t threaten you into accepting like I do with my enemies. It would be so much easier.”

Vinyl blinked at her, red eyes glinting in the sun’s rays, like she wasn’t sure if that was a joke or not – it wasn’t – then chuckled. “Yeah, true. Honestly? If it was for something really important, then I’d take your offer no matter how I felt at the time.”

“Oh?” Nightmare Moon cocked her head in intrigue. “Like saving the world?”

“Well, yeah,” Vinyl nodded. “Everypony loves a hero.”

“What if it was to save me?”

Vinyl grinned from ear to ear.

“Wolf, if it was to save you, I’d get augmented to hell and back within a heartbeat.”

Nightmare Moon returned the grin with more subtlety. She liked this feeling; this sense of warmth and fulfilment that was similar to what she got when she inflicted harm on something she didn’t like, or when she obtained something she’d desired.

Unfortunately, her good mood evaporated the instant she felt a pressure at the back of her head.

“Empress?” Ebony’s mental link twitched with anxiety; she didn’t even wait for Nightmare Moon to answer before continuing. “Empress, I think you should see this. I-I’m coming in right now.”

“Wolf?” Vinyl tilted her head as Nightmare Moon’s face turned impassive and cold. “Everything okay?”

Nightmare Moon stood up. “I’m not sure,” She turned and walked back into the bedroom. She heard Vinyl quickly follow her. “My Right Hoof has something she needs to show me.”

She didn’t even make it to the door – Ebony practically barged in with a worried Octavia in tow when Nightmare Moon was halfway across the room. She had two pieces of paper in hoof, and Nightmare Moon grabbed it with her magic. If Ebony looked and sounded this alarmed, then the situation needed to be dealt with as quickly as possible.

She read the papers.

She re-read them.

“A guard ran up to me saying both of these were found nailed to the door of your personal quarters…” Ebony mumbled. Nightmare Moon was only minding her a little; she was focused on what was on the paper, a seemingly innocuous scrappy thing. “He didn’t see anyone leaving.”

“Wolf…” Vinyl said carefully, putting her drink down so she could return the concerned hug Octavia was giving her. “What’s going on? Are the knights back?”

Nightmare Moon finally looked away from the note. She met Vinyl’s gaze and shook her head. “No. It’s from Celestia…” How did it get in the castle? “She wishes to parlay.”

Vinyl’s eyes widened, and Octavia covered her mouth with her hoof in surprise. “Seriously?”

"That's what this one says..." Nightmare Moon levitated the note to the said and raised the other. "This one is in different hoofwriting: it appears to be an apology note, saying that whoever delivered the note was pressed for time and had no tape, so they took a nail from a nearby wall painting and used that instead."

Vinyl scratched her head. "That was..." She looked at Octavia, who shrugged. "Nice of them?"

"Are you sure the first one is from Celestia?" Ebony asked.

Nightmare Moon nodded. “It must be: somepony would have noticed an Entropic Fracture if it was a knight, and I can’t think of anybody else that would have the fortitude to elicit such a dangerous reaction from me.”

Nightmare Moon glared at the notes until they began to cake over with frost and crumble in her grip. She hadn’t heard a peep out of those fools in Ponyville since the princesses and the Element bearers escaped, yet now it seemed that they were finally making a move. And such an odd one, too…

No, it had to be a trap. Unless…

“They want to meet here in Canterlot,” She murmured, mostly to herself. “Celestia, Luna, even the Element bearers… what play is this? They know I have the advantage here.”

“Maybe they want a truce?” Vinyl suggested. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Nightmare Moon glared at her. “Or… my ally? Will ‘ally’ calm your teats? Don’t eat me.”

“Ebony – put the castle on alert,” Nightmare Moon ordered. “Somepony had to have snuck in to place that note. Check every Eclipse guard’s routine and found out whose route takes them near my personal quarters.”

Ebony saluted. “Right away, Empress.”

“In the meantime…” Nightmare Moon licked her teeth, her mind already working on how to turn this unforeseen development in her favour. Of course there were risks – Celestia and Luna wouldn’t risk a meeting unless they had something up their sleeves. And to include the Element bearers as well? That was an ambush if she ever heard one, but Nightmare Moon had more than a few tricks and precautions to counter whatever they might have. Let those mares come, then; she would be ready. “Send me a messenger – this calls for a swift response.”

Ooh, this was quite thrilling! She’d love nothing more than to capture those alicorns and inflict the same pain and humiliation she experienced back then!

“Wolf?” Vinyl swallowed. Nightmare Moon remembered her company and reigned in the bloodthirst in her face. “Seems kinda redundant to ask if you’re ‘alright’, so I’m just gonna ask if I need to be worried.”

“My nemeses are simply arriving in two days’ time for talks,” Nightmare Moon replied with a comforting, knife-toothed rictus. “Depending on what they say, there may be a few explosions and corpses. Nothing you need concern yourself with so long as you remain within the castle,” Vinyl cocked one eyebrow and lowered the other. “Come now – it’s nothing compared to what you went through in the human world.”

“Yeah, that’s what they say in the movies right before things go to shit.”

“… so I gave her the note, and then she slips this muffin to me,” The burly stallion shrugged emphatically to his friend. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”

Said friend took one sniff of the muffin in his friend’s hoof and recoiled in distaste. “Throw it in the rubbish, dude. Look – we gotta secure this place before General Zombie gets her teeth on our asses.”

The burly stallion sighed, but followed his friend as they ran down the corridor and narrowly missed a maid cleaning a nearby window.

Said maid turned her head to watch them vanish around a corner before harrumphing. “How rude to pawn off such a passionately created baked good…”

Before anypony could turn into the corridor, she pushed the window open and jumped out with a flash of green fire.

Author's Note

Note 1: "Eh? How does it work? I don't really know, honestly - the boss doesn't really talk much about herself, yeah? I... heard something from Haze about it... I think he said that the boss acts like this big conduit of power, and me and you and the others are 'connected' to her with magical cords or some shit; it's how we get this power and how she does that telepathy shit, yeah? Kinda had this bad dream about her taking a pair of scissors to those cords after I heard that..." - Fade in a conversation with Lightning Dust.

Note 2: The Law of Transformative Magic dictates [the amount of magical energy converted into another form of energy will always exceed the original usage]. Therefore, barring certain circumstances, magic will almost always surpass any form of energy as a power source. However, magic is also unpredictable, especially in an active state, so using other forms of energy is not an obsolete practise.

A Hearths-warming Carol

Nightmare Moon put aside an hour each night to gaze out upon Canterlot, solemnly going over her thoughts. The night air helped her think and watching the hustle and bustle of the city she had under her rule was satisfying on some base level.

If she just so happened to look cool with her astral mane billowing behind her in the snowflake-strewn winds, then that was just a convenient side benefit.

Suddenly, she heard the door to her quarters creak open and somepony walk up behind her, their footsteps slow and measured, cautious to let her know of their presence.

Nightmare Moon had sent for Haze via telepathy not too long to talk about outfitting the Eclipse ranks with lighter and sturdier armor. He got up here rather quickly – she was impressed.

“What is it?” She asked without turning.

The visitor did not answer.

Her lips made a deep frown and her eyes slid to the left suspiciously. “Haze?”

No response from the visitor, or from Haze.

She Called for Veil, Fade, Miasma, but nopony answered her. She couldn’t sense their presence, either. Something was wrong.

Well, first rule when dealing with what may possibly be a hostile entity: threaten it with violence.

“You must be very confident in your skills, or overwhelmingly foolish to enter my quarters in such a manner,” Nightmare Moon growled, lighting up her horn. “You have five seconds to identify yourself before I turn and scatter your form into blackened ash and smoke.”

“Your words are full of such malice and hate, but I’m afraid you cannot so easily avoid your fate.”

“What? What sort of…?” Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened. “I recognize your voice. I recognize your speech pattern,” She turned in place to get her first look at the visitor. “You.”

“Yes, it is I, Zecora, who gives greetings, Nightmare Moon – I am happy that we may finally commune.”

Zecora was dressed in the attire of the shamans from the tribes from Zebrica: her head was adorned with a crown made of bird beaks and leaves and she wore a skirt of flaxen grass decorated with small animal bones.

Nightmare Moon was familiar with the get-up: many shamans had tried to banish her and failed.

“How did you get in here?” Nightmare Moon questioned, taking a few steps forward. She didn’t expect to meet Zecora like this; she wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “Are you alone?”

“It is only I that walks in your home…” Zecora pulled out a pouch from beneath her skirt and opened it. “Put your fears at rest and do not let them-”

Nightmare Moon blasted the pouch with a beam of magic. Zecora bayed in alarm and ducked to the floor as the remains piled on the floor in a black, sooty mess.

“By my ancestors, long since dead!” Zecora shot back up, looking miffed. “You almost took my head!”

“You’re surprised?” Nightmare Moon snorted. “You break into my quarters, somehow having slipped past my guards, and begin spouting your rhymes while pulling out a pouch of who-knows-what-but-would-most-likely-be-bad-for-me. Honestly, how did you expect me to react?”

“It is a spice made from the fat of Zebrican geese, used between two parties as a showing of peace!” Zecora huffed and looked down sadly at the remains. “What a waste – most ponies are understanding when I break into their place.”

“I’m going to just ignore that. Now, tell me what you are doing in here.”

“Hmph. For Equestrians all over, ‘tis the season to be jolly, but I am here, not to celebrate, but to expose your folly,” Zecora puffed out her chest with a fierce expression as her mane inexplicably started swishing in a non-existent wind. “Here me, Nightmare Moon, and take heed:

“For all that you have done,
The ire of three spirits shall come;
The first shall show your past,
A history of sins as long as the ocean is vast;
The second will show the face that looks back in the mirror,
I can only pray that it will make things clearer;
The third will show you where your path will lead,
The ultimate fate of your heartlessness and greed.”

“… Did you really just break into my castle to spit a nursery rhyme in my face?”

“Think what you may…” Zecora huffed and turned her to the side haughtily. “I have said all that I came to say.”

So, Nightmare Moon just stood there listening to an unapologetic intruder for nothing? Oh, that won’t do at all.

“Well, if you will allow me…” She started, smiling deviously; so devious that her cheeks parted with wet snaps of muscle and sinew and exposed her long, sharp teeth. “I have something to say, too.”

Zecora blinked and looked back, her courage faltering as she stared into the face of an avatar of evil, a powerful force of destruction. “Oh?”

Nightmare Moon inhaled and cocked her head creepily:

“My name is Nightmare Moon,
I am a conqueror,
The enemies I’ve crushed and beaten?
Discord, the Element bearers, Luna, Celestia, too.
Have you heard of her?

“And you come into my castle,
Just to waste my time,
You can spit rhymes,
But you can’t match mine.”

“Uh…” Zecora took a step back.

“What’s wrong, my dear Zecora?
What a funny look of horror,
You know you trotted into the slaughter?
So I think that you oughta,
Run, run, run as fast as a cheetah,
Tell the mothers,
Tell the fathers,
To lock up their sons and daughters,
Because it’s about to get hotter,
Than a hot spring sauna!”

Nightmare Moon lit up her horn and summoned a glass.

“Oh, did you need a drink of water?”

Zecora backed into the wall, her eyes wide like dinner plates. “Y-you are… Uh…”

“That’s too bad because now I’m getting mad.”

Nightmare Moon flashed the water away and got even closer, jabbing her hoof into Zecora’s chest.

“You snuck into my house,
Quiet as a mouse,
Nothing but a louse,
What? You thought your words were heavy?
That I wasn’t ready?
That I wouldn’t have rhymes that’d make you learn envy?
Zebra, I’ll blow you out like confetti,
I’m sharper than a machete,
I’ll make you messy,
Like spaghetti.”

Nightmare Moon jabbed her again.

“Are you feeling unsteady?”

Zecora whimpered.

“So get a clue because that’s your cue,
To take your leave before I heave,
You out that window and send you to limbo,
Your threat was hollow, remember to swallow.”

Nightmare Moon closed the zebra’s slack jaw with telekinesis.

“Before you choke as hard as you choked in this battle.”

From the side, Nightmare Moon’s Praetorian guard and several random Eclipse soldiers let out a row of whoops and yells like a symphony of caterwauling cats. Nightmare Moon could question how the hell they all got there, but she was too busy basking in her victory.

Because a victory was a victory, no matter how it was won.

Words to live by.

“I-I have brought shame to my ancestors this day!” Zecora wailed as she staggered towards the door as if she had gone ten rounds in a boxing match with a grizzly bear. “What a horrible… d-day? Oh, dismay! I have lost my way!”

With a snort, Zecora turned in the doorway and scuffed her hoof against the carpet.

“This is what happens when I try to help the community. Next time anypony asks, they can kiss my booty.”

“Yes, yes, run along,” Nightmare Moon snickered as the shamed zebra trotted off in a dark mood. Swelled with pride, she turned to bask in the praise of her cheering crowd, but they had inexplicably disappeared. Odd, but she’d seen weirder. “I suppose it’s back to the business at hoof, then.”

She turned to make for the balcony.

And bumped snout-first into somepony.

“Hello, there.”

“What?!” She jumped back, prepared to lay waste to this intruder and skip the roasting, but when she got a good look at their face, she stopped. “You’re…”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Said Star Secret. Or rather, the pony that looked like Star Secret. She had gotten every single detail, right down to the barely-there smirk that just oozed fake reassurance. Damn it – Nightmare Moon was proud of that smirk and here was somepony using it like she owned it! “I must admit that I feel betrayed.”

“My heart would weep for you if it had a care to give,” Nightmare Moon remarked with a scrutinizing glare. “Who, or what, are you?”

“You have eyes, do you not?” ‘Star Secret’ quipped with a smarmy tone that Nightmare Moon was unnerved to realize that it was very similar to the one she used sometimes. “I am you.”

“Oh, spare me the cliché lines. If you were truly me, then you would have known that I wouldn’t have done that if I were in your position.”

“Touche. Also, slightly confusing,” Star Secret shrugged. “But I digress. Yes, I am not you fully; I am the Ghost of Hearths-warming Eve’s Past. Your past, specifically.”

“You are one of the spirits that Zecora warned me of,” Nightmare Moon hummed and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I wonder…”

She reached out and her hoof went through Star Secret’s unamused face.

“Don’t do that.”

“So, you truly are a spirit,” Nightmare Moon retracted her hoof, then grinned evilly. “If I can find out the workings behind your incorporeal nature and replicate them, then I’m certain I can use it to great effect.”

“Pragmatic of you,” Star Secret nodded approvingly and went over to the balcony. She seemed to glide more than walk. “Unfortunately, an autopsy is rather difficult when the body tends to phase through solid objects.”

“We already have spells for raising the dead and time travel,” Nightmare Moon followed the spirit out onto the balcony; she was fascinated with this development. Of course, she had questions, but for now she’d let them sit. “I’m certain I can cut into you if I try hard enough.”

“And there’s that ambitious attitude that got you this far,” Star Secret’s grin waned as she peered out over the cityscape. “However, I did not come here to be an unwilling resource in your personal endeavours. I came here with a purpose.”

“I assume it has to do with the zebra’s warning about ‘showing me my sins’?” Nightmare Moon made air quotes with a chuckle. “As if I do not already know them? You waste your time, spirit. Why don’t we use this time for a more worthwhile pursuit?” She leaned in to her phantasmal doppleganger with a toothy smile. “Tell me – did you by any chance originate from Zebrica?”

Star Secret looked over with an equally toothy smile. “It’s funny that you mentioned Zebrica…”

She lit up her horn in a gentle blue glow.

“Because that’s where we’re going.”

Nightmare Moon’s vision was obscured by pure whiteness and rainbow pixels for a brief second before it came back, and she looked around.

She was only partially surprised to see Canterlot’s high-rise buildings replaced by sun-kissed plains and the balcony replaced with a watering hole.

Of which she stood upon the water’s surface next to the spirit without making a ripple.

“Impressive. Time travel?” She poked the water beneath her and frowned as her hoof went through. “Hmph. Perhaps a visual recreation of my memories? No, I would be seeing the world through my own eyes if that were the case. Perhaps you’ve-”

“Perhaps…” Star Secret touched her shoulder. “You should turn around.”

Still curious to see where this was all going, Nightmare Moon obeyed.

“Ahhh…” Her eyes lit up fondly as she watched a zebra in tribal wear hobble towards the watering hole, using an aged branch for support. “Yes, I do remember this. This was my first host.”

“Akumbe of the Naga tribe,” Star Secret said as the witch doctor fell at the watering hole’s edge and dunked his head within. “Well, formerly. Banished for delving into the forbidden arts.”

“Curiosity killed the cat…” Nightmare Moon’s cold eyes were drawn to a miasma of black smoke filled with gnashing teeth and bulging white eyes that crossed the scorched lands and made for the unaware zebra. “And that cat fed a much larger predator.”

Akumbe jolted when the miasma touched him, curled around him like a boa constrictor, but he relaxed quickly after. Nightmare Moon remembered whispering sweet nothings into his ear.

“He was the youngest witch doctor to succeed his mentor, so it was a simple matter to play on his pride and sense of self-entitlement,” Nightmare Moon said as Akumbe sat and listened to her past self. “I complimented his looks, his strength, and his virility.”

Star Secret snickered and looked at her. “His virility?”

“I may have been a spirit, but I wandered the plains in the night, searching and learning from the zebra tribes. I knew how they thought. I learned that young males are particularly susceptible.”

She watched as a dreamy grin stretched across Akumbe’s face.

“He could not see me, but he could hear me. I whispered about all the ways the beautiful young mares would service him should he accept me into his body. That I have a rather low and sensual voice helped, I think.”

“How unfortunate to be hindered by the desires of flesh,” Star Secret sighed before lighting up her horn again. “Now, why don’t we skip ahead a little?”

Even before Nightmare Moon had her vision back, she could hear screaming and crackling wood.

“Ah, yes. I remember this, too.”

Several yards ahead, Akumbe’s body roared with laughter as it twirled in the midst of burning huts and rampaging spirits. Unlike Nightmare Moon, the spirits were vaguely equine in shape and seemed to be made of shadow rather than smoke; their red eyes shone balefully as they moaned and shrieked to the night sky.

“The first village you came upon after completely taking over Akumbe’s body,” Star Secret watched impassively as zebra warriors fought against their possessed brethren and shamans tried to banish the wailing spirits. “Quite an impression.”

“It was the first time I had a body at my disposal,” Nightmare Moon shrugged, idly turning her head to watch a screaming mare run by, wreathed in fire. “The ability to feel the wind on my face, the pain of my injuries, the weight of my hooves crushing the dirt… I admit that I lost control of myself.”

“Run, fools!” Akumbe-Nightmare Moon laughed, flinging around satchels that burst into flame as they hit ground, building, and zebra alike. “Flee for your pathetic lives! Know of my indomitable will and power!”

Nightmare Moon snickered fondly. “Back when I could give speeches without being interrupted.”

“You’re still more composed than these creatures,” Star Secret nodded her head to a shadow spirit that cornered a zebra warrior and wrestled with him for control. His screams echoed through the night. “Be thankful for that.”

“My more feral brethren were mindless but useful for creating chaos,” Nightmare Moon held her head up again and shrugged. “However, I did not remain this way for long. Eventually, I realized that as much as I enjoyed causing rampant chaos and being feared, I wanted to rule and achieve my desires more.”

Star Secret nodded and lit her horn. “That you did.”

They ended up on a shore in the night.

“The zebra tribes eventually got over their petty squabbles and banded together to drive me out of their lands,” Nightmare Moon said over the crashing waves and wet coughing. “I made for the sea and took control of a shark that allowed me to get all the way to the shores of the Griffon Kingdom.”

Several yards away, Akumbe-Nightmare Moon dragged herself away from the thrashing body of a shark as it regained its will and struggled to breathe. Akumbe-Nightmare Moon vomited sea water and made for a line of trees in the distance.

“Quite a journey,” Star Secret said. “Tell me – what was your plan during all of this? Right there, as you’re vomiting and coughing and crawling… what plan did you have for achieving what you desired?”

“I was unfamiliar with anything outside of Zebrica; I knew there were other sapient species, but that was it. My first step was to observe these griffons and their culture before I could even think of infiltrating their numbers,” Nightmare Moon made a so-so gesture with her hoof. “Fortunately, there was a village nearby.”

“Cristcad?”

“Where I first tried my hoof in possessing a griffon.”

Nightmare Moon and Star Secret watched from afar as Akumbe-Nightmare Moon observed a lone griffon picking berries by herself. Akumbe-Nightmare Moon took care not to rustle the bushes and alert the young hen.

“Agostina? The hen from the tale?”

“That’s her. Although, contrary to what the story says, I did not take her over by force. I couldn’t. So, instead, I shadowed her until I knew her daily schedule and tossed my body over a nearby cliff before waiting near where she foraged,” Nightmare Moon let out a slow exhale, eyes glazing as she went over memories she hadn’t recalled in ages. “Unfortunately, it did not go as planned.”

“What happened?”

“She called me a demon – how original – and sought to kill me by slitting her own throat.”

Star Secret’s eyebrows went up and she nodded. “I must give her credit for being so ready to take her own life if it meant destroying you. But what gave her the idea you would perish, too?”

“I can be a very good actor,” Nightmare Moon shrugged. “A bit of panicked shouting here, a ‘death’ cry there, and she passed with a victorious smile on her beak. I didn’t have the heart to take that away,” She turned to her doppleganger and moved her forehoof in a circle. “Well, let’s get on with it: where are we off to now?”

They arrived in another flame-engulfed village.

“I didn’t realize how much of these defined my background,” Nightmare Moon quipped casually as a griffon warrior phased through her body in pursuit of a fleeing hen. “Perhaps that’s why I’m so partial to violence.”

Star Secret laughed loudly. “Oh, yes. It was your upbringing that made you this way.”

Nightmare Moon glared at her briefly before turning and peering down to the far end of the road. “Ah, there I am in Antoine Blood-Rain’s body. An auspicious name, no?”

“He was an insignificant lord with grandiose dreams. And then you got hold of him.”

From down the street, a hulking griffon in plate armor prowled, black feathers spreading soot into the air with each ruffle and red predatory eyes darting to and fro maniacally in search of their next victim. At their side were two other griffons in plate armor, though they were mostly unneeded as their charge was more than capable of taking care of themselves.

“Witness me!” Nightmare Moon-Antoine roared as they cut down any griffon that dared to challenge them with a sword. “Witness the one you shall kneel before, or die before!”

Nightmare Moon sighed through her nostrils and looked down at her hooves. “I do miss having opposable thumbs.”

SKLUTCH

“And I’m certain the lord missed his head.”

“A mundane use for your power, but the jest is not unappreciated,” Nightmare Moon watched as Antoine Blood-Rain’s head rolled into the basket, and the griffons surrounding the wooden stage cheered in approval. “Ah, the poor lord; he did beg me not to leave him to his fate.”

“Another grab for power that ended bloodily; the blue blood of nobility turning out as red as the commoners.” Star Secret pontificated as the executioner walked through her body to pick Antoine’s head up and carry it over to a pike.

“I wouldn’t say badly; what happened here was the spark that would eventually lead to the Griffon Kingdom establishing holds and marquees instead of leaving everything to the High King,” Nightmare Moon smirked proudly, ignoring the wet splat to her side. “How many can say they’ve done that?”

“True, but it hardly matters what you’ve done when there’s no irrefutable evidence that you’ve done it, does it?”

Nightmare Moon frowned. “What are you talking about? We’re seeing it happen.”

Star Secret smiled coldly. “Yes, we are. The funny thing is…”

Lightning flashed overhead as two ships locked in battle sailed over tumultuous waters. Nightmare Moon and Star Secret floated between them.

“You’re not in any piece of written history. Perhaps what you are, but nothing about you personally. Nobody knows of the parts you played in history. All of what you did was credited towards your hosts.”

A behemoth of a minotaur, fur as black as night and eyes green like emeralds, swung from one ship to the other on a length of rope; they laughed heartily and swung a large axe from side to side, cleaving the opposing sailors to pieces.

“They wouldn’t have done what they did without me,” Nightmare Moon argued, narrowing her eyes. “None of it.”

“And yet, it is only recently that the world knows your name. In over a thousand years, you have only just started gaining infamy for yourself.”

“Aside from that, I’m beginning to see a pattern through all of this.”

Nightmare Moon glared at her doppleganger and let the sounds of her past-self and Celestia battling fade into background noise. “And what would that be, pray tell?”

Star Secret’s smile vanished. Her face became empty of emotion. “You always lose.”

As Star Secret’s horn flashed again, Nightmare Moon could hear her past-self howling as the Elements of Harmony banished her to the moon.

They were back in the present, but Nightmare Moon barely noticed.

“No matter what you do, it always ends badly for you. You strive to achieve your desires for conquest and to be remembered in history, but it always ends in failure.”

“Failure? I’ve taken over Canterlot, Equestria’s capitol. I have my own guard force. I have-”

“For now,” Star Secret started walking backwards. “Remember the world you live in, Nightmare Moon…”

“Hold,” Nightmare Moon followed her, preparing a spell. “I said, hold!”

“Good always triumphs over evil, no matter how ambitious that evil may be,” Like leaves in a gust, Star Secret’s form crumbled into shadowy flakes and disappeared into the floor. Her eyes were the last to go. “It is not idealism, not in this world; it is fact.”

Star Secret vanished without a trace, and somehow, Nightmare Moon knew her spells would have done nothing to affect her.

“Strange,” She said aloud to the empty room. “There’s a possibility that this could be a very elaborate hoax, but if this is genuine, then somebody knows about my past. The question is ‘who’?”

“Hope you’re not blaming me, Wolf.”

Nightmare Moon jolted and hopped away from the shimmering spirit wearing Vinyl’s visage. The sight instilled more rage in her than she would have thought; it took everything she had not to freeze everything in the room, and that was partially because she hesitated to attack somepony that looked exactly like Vinyl.

Nightmare Moon took note of a bronze torch hovering above the spirit’s head; it didn’t seem to be held aloft with magic since she couldn’t see an aura, or hear any ethereal chimes.

“I assume you are the Spirit of Hearths-warming Eve’s present?”

“One and only,” Not-Vinyl grinned and lifted her shades to wink playfully. Ugh, she even copied her mannerisms. “So, completely off the record, but that was a ballin’ rap you laid out on Zecora. No idea you had it in you.”

“I lived in Zebrica for near sixty years observing tribes full of adolescents looking to prove their worth. Even today, I’m not entirely sure why they rhyme.”

“Well, they still do Winter Wrap-Up down in Ponyville for some reason, so I guess it’s just one of those things, huh?” Not-Vinyl shrugged and held out her forelimb. “Anyway… Hey, Wolf – touch my hoof.”

Nightmare Moon wrinkled her nose. “Even amongst friends, a remark like that will still be met with suspicion.”

“Oh, just touch it, you big baby.”

Nightmare Moon snorted and touched the spirit’s limb. “Now-”

“-what?” She blinked and looked around. “Oh.”

“Yeah, they’re still celebrating down here in Ponyville,” Not-Vinyl turned and walked over to the Golden Oaks Library, her steps silently leaving no trace in the snow. “Even with all the crap going on. Gotta admire that holiday spirit, huh?”

“Is this in real time?” Nightmare Moon looked up and leered evilly when she saw the moon in the sky. “Why, with this, I can spy and gather information.”

“Yeah, no.”

Not-Vinyl’s torch rattled – was that a bell chime? – and sprinkled embers into the air that chased after Nightmare Moon and, somehow, pulled her towards the library. She didn’t know how these weightless flakes were pulling her with such irresistible power, but they were, and she couldn’t break free.

“Would you relax, dude?” Not-Vinyl chastised once Nightmare Moon was by her side. She tapped one of the library’s ground windows. “Here – take a look at this.”

Nightmare Moon scowled, but looked through anyway.

She saw Celestia, Luna, Sunset, Spike, and a stallion she didn’t recognize moving about around a pine tree that had been set up on top of a table in the middle of the room. As per tradition, the tree was decorated with festive ornaments and other assorted knick-knacks that just screamed ‘good will’ and ‘harmony’ and-

Nightmare Moon gagged. “If this is a dream, then if I vacate my stomach, will the same thing occur in reality?”

“Dunno. Like to see if that’s true, though.”

Luna was talking with the stallion and Spike while Celestia was hounding after Sunset, seemingly trying to strike up small talk. Sunset was having none of it.

“Look, can we just not do this?” Sunset and Celestia stopped close enough to the window for Nightmare Moon to hear. She could lip-read, but this was easier. “Did you ever think that maybe I left for a reason and maybe I don’t want to talk to you because of that reason?”

Celestia winced; the remark had stung.

Good.

“Sunset, I would… very much like to make amends with you.”

“Pfft. As if I’d want…” Sunset blinked, took a step back. “Wait, what?”

Celestia sighed and looked at the floor. “Sunset, I have had many pupils over the years. Twenty-two, to be exact. Among them, you were the first to even come close to approaching alicornhood.”

Sunset’s eyes widened for a moment, then she scowled in disgust and turned away. “Well, you can see how that turned out, didn’t it?”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes and tried to walk away, but Not-Vinyl rattled her torch and magnetized the ground.

She wasn’t sure how that made sense.

“Sunset, please believe me when I say this…” Celestia’s expression was nothing but compassionate when she tried to touch Sunset’s shoulder, even when her hoof was promptly smacked away. “You are strong, intelligent, cunning, and resourceful; you’ve accomplished more in your young life than I did when I was one hundred years old.”

Sunset cautiously looked back to her former mentor. “… But you didn’t think I was ready to become a princess?” Celestia shook her head. “What, because I’m impatient? Because I’m not humble? Because I speak my mind?” She turned her nose up with a huff. “Oh right – because I don’t know ‘the magic of friendship’ like your precious Twilight. Well, look where she is now…”

That was the wrong thing to say, even Nightmare Moon knew that much. She pressed her face closer to the glass when Celestia’s face turned furious, and Sunset faltered and took a step back. She was disappointed, however, when Celestia took a deep breath and quelled her anger.

“Bah, humbug.”

Celestia sighed and rubbed her brow. “To be a princess is to be a leader. To be a leader, you must make difficult decisions. The truth is…” She paused. “The truth is that I admire you, Sunset.”

Sunset’s eyes widened again. “You…?”

“Yes, you are impatient. You are prideful. You speak your mind. Those can be flaws, but they can also be great strengths. You are impatient because you see what must, or what you feel should be done, you are prideful because you have so many accomplishments, and you speak your mind because your input is of no small contribution.”

Sunset stared at her.

“But you are easily swayed by your emotions and pride, not to mention your temper flares when things don’t go your way. The thing about power is that the more you have, the greater effect your actions have. And when you have such a large say in how a nation is run, when thousands of ponies are looking to you for guidance, you can’t afford to be seen… flawed.”

Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Well, that’s the price you pay when you’re so hung up about what the public thinks of you.”

“So, you don’t mind that everypony in Canterlot thinks you’re a creepy, demon horse?”

“The only issue I have with that opinion is that I’m not a horse.”

“You’re not a pony, either, Wolf.”

“Two wrongs don’t make stupidity any less irritating.”

“Control and humility are perhaps the most important traits a leader must develop, alongside the will to lead, of course.”

Sunset groaned and rubbed her face. “Faust, I always hated your stupid lectures. Always sound so self-righteous.”

“I remember a little filly that hung on every word.”

“Yeah, when you got to the good stuff…” Sunset put her hoof back down. She glanced to the side briefly. “So, what? What happens now? We had our little heart-to-heart – that’s what you wanted, right? Should I fall into your forelegs and start bawling?”

Celestia shook her head. “I… would like it if you had a cup of eggnog with me.”

Sunset pulled a face. “That’s disgusting.”

“It’s just a cover-up,” Celestia grinned deviously and leaned in closer. “Actually, somepony was nice enough to bring a bottle of vintage Magus Requiem; we could add some to our cups.”

“Magus…? You’re letting me drink?”

“What do you mean ‘letting’? You’re a grown mare. You can drink if you want, can’t you?”

“Y-yeah. Yeah!” Sunset snorted and brushed her mane to the side. “Of course I can! I… If you’re offering something like that, then I guess I can have one drink. Or two.”

"Well, let's go help see if Luna and Virtue will join us once Spike is asleep, shall we?"

Nightmare Moon made a noise usually reserved for the terminally ill as Celestia and Sunset walked off. “Is your intention to see what I had to eat last, spirit?”

“Can’t stop now,” Not-Vinyl snickered as she waved her torch again. “We have a few other places to be.”

“I suppose that is your intention.”

“Now, where have you brought me?”

“Remember Fancypants and Fleur?”

“I do. And I am just now realizing how long it’s been since they’ve had any impact in my life. Rather rude considering the role they played that helped me get to my current position.”

“Hearths-warming Eve’s not over yet, you know. You can still send them something.”

“I suppose so.”

Fancypants and Fleur were decorating a large tree that was placed near their hearth, though not so close that it was a fire hazard. Nightmare Moon knew how flammable those decorations were; she was considering using them in warfare.

“They look happy, huh?” Not-Vinyl beamed at her and trotted over to stand next to the tree, watching with contentment as the couple worked. “They’re totally made for one another.”

Nightmare Moon silently watched for a while as the couple worked.

Fancypants was wearing a hideous red and green jumper, and Fleur an equally abhorrent scarf. Despite this, they were utterly content as they used their magic and hooves to hang decorations on the tree. Neither of them said a word to each other, but they frequently cast loving glances and gave affectionate touches when they passed by to get more decorations.

It was disgustingly romantic, but Nightmare Moon had a fondness for them, so she kept quiet about it.

“What is the point of this?” Nightmare Moon took a step forwards, then paused when Fleur headed in her direction. She rolled her eyes after a second and walked through her. “I see no ‘morals’ to learn; they are content.”

Not-Vinyl merely smirked a very Vinyl-smirk and gestured to the hearth’s shelf. “Look at this photograph.”

Nightmare Moon sighed in annoyance, but indulged her. If it got her out of here faster, then-

She paused upon noticing a picture frame showing Fleur, Fancypants, Vinyl, Octavia… and Nightmare Moon in her Star Secret persona clustered together.

Not only that, but there were other photos of her next to it: all of them showing her exasperated, or mildly content in some manner.

“They still remember you,” Not-Vinyl said, suddenly by her side. “Or, you know, they remember the mare in those photos. They still like you, Wolf, but… it’s just easier to think about the face in the photos than the face on the throne.”

Something hot surged into Nightmare Moon’s throat and she rounded on the spirit. “Spare me your-”

“-pathetic attempts to…”

Not-Vinyl was no longer in front of her.

It was Vinyl.

“I…”

“She’s still my friend, Octy,” Vinyl, her glasses gone from her face, walked through Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon turned and watched her friend sit down on a couch next to Octavia. “I know there’s good in her. I mean, it’s small,” She made a face. “Really small.”

“Yes, thank you, Vinyl.”

“But she’s not that bad,” Vinyl insisted, but Octavia just stared at the coffee table in front of them, unconvinced. “She’s trying to keep me safe and comfortable in here, ya know? Until I get my magic back, at least.”

Octavia asked how Vinyl could see Nightmare Moon as a friend with all the grief she’s caused.

“I think… I think she just wants to be remembered. I mean, we all want to be remembered, right? We all want to do something that ponies can look back on ten thousand years in the future and be like, ‘yo, that pony was pretty rad’, or ‘yo, that pony was pretty scary’. You and me? We’ve got our music. Wolf? She’s got… well, she’s got something that she wants. I’m not entirely sure what that is, but I can kinda tell she needs to have it.”

Nightmare Moon silently watched.

Vinyl smiled. “Sorry if it doesn’t make sense. I’m… not good with words, right?”

“You’re surprisingly perceptive at your best, Vinyl.”

As with the other times, there was no warning: she was back in her quarters.

But…

Still a shadow?

She could feel no air, nor the carpet beneath her hooves. The fireplace in the corner crackled, but she felt no heat.

“Life’s going on without you there, Wolf.”

Nightmare Moon turned and saw Not-Vinyl standing on the balcony. She cautiously approached, sensing a change in the air. She idly noted that the torch’s fire seemed to be dimming.

“Your existence drives a lot of ponies out there, but they don’t need you to carry on living their lives.”

“Is that a threat?” Nightmare Moon briskly trotted so she was by Not-Vinyl’s side and glaring down at her. “What you’ve shown me implies you wish to make me feel some semblance of guilt for my actions? Regret? Listen here, spirit – I have worked hard and waited long to achieve my dreams of ruling this land.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to. Because I can. Because I wish to have my name known throughout history.”

“Not everyone can have that honour. Heroes sometimes don’t get it…”

Not-Vinyl turned to stare at her as the torch went out.

“And neither do villains. Sometimes, we just run out of time before that happens.”

Nightmare Moon snorted. “The only way I’ll die is if someone kills me, and that is…” She paused, trailed off as something flaked off Not-Vinyl’s muzzle and floated to the floor. “You’re… What’s happening to you?”

Not-Vinyl lowered her head in a way that made her shades fall off. Her sockets were black and empty.

“Answer me, spirit!”

Not-Vinyl tipped, teetered to the side like a falling tree…

And burst into ash when she hit the ground, leaving only the bronze torch to roll away until it, too, rusted away.

Nightmare Moon stepped back, unsure what to do now. She still wasn’t in the real world? Was this some sort of trap after all? Had she been so foolish as to fall into a dream concocted by Luna? Was this her way to keep her trapped until…

Wait.

Nightmare Moon stared straight ahead. She puffed her wings up and lit her horn.

The two spirits from before had appeared when she wasn’t looking.

But this one was always there; she just hadn’t been looking hard enough.

Wrapped in swirling, inky shadows, the towering figure loomed ominously, matching her gaze. Its proportions were eerie but not unfamiliar.

As if she could forget the shape of that glaive it carried in one hand.

“So, you are the one to represent, what? The Spirit of Hearths-warming Eve’s future? Of the Hearths-warming Eve Yet to Come? What a foolish choice to use my enemy as an avatar to make me see the error of my ways.”

Caed slowly lifted his free hand and pointed to the side.

Nightmare Moon looked-

-and saw Canterlot Castle reduced to burning rubble.

She grimaced, got over the shock of being displaced, and glared at Caed once more. “Do you intend to frighten me, spirit? I have seen greater horrors than a ruined landmark.”

Caed turned his head in the direction he was pointing.

Nightmare Moon looked again, and this time, saw two figures standing before the wreckage.

“We can rebuild it, sister,” Luna said. “We can rebuild all of it.”

Celestia hung her head and sighed. “We cannot reclaim the lives we have lost. I’ve seen so many pass, but it still stings.”

“Will you be alright?”

“I’ve had a thousand years to learn to mourn, cry, and move on,” Celestia took a deep breath and turned to her sibling with a smile. She stretched out her wing and hugged Luna, who returned it readily. “I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

For a while, they said nothing, just continued looking at the rubble. Finally, Luna turned her head back to her sister.

“Are you worried the humans will continue to be a threat?”

“Maybe. They got what they came for; they’re probably preparing to move to that island, if they haven’t already. It seems foolish to try to seek them out for vengeance,” Celestia’s eyes hardened. “And with Nightmare Moon gone, we can focus on preparations for when – if – the humans make contact again.”

And with that, the two sisters crumbled to ash.

“This…” Nightmare Moon licked her lips before turning back to Caed. “You think this will sway me? Visions of my death? Or, perhaps they’re just illusions?”

Caed moved forwards. Or, more precisely, he slid forwards without moving a muscle.

His intention was clearly hostile, and Nightmare Moon would not quiver like a frightened filly. She was not defenceless!

She lit her horn and-

Caed dug his fingers into her skull-

-and pushed her to the right.

A shove; nothing that inflicted injury, but even with her strength, she could not resist it.

She stumbled, lost concentration, and saw a lone gravestone standing in the middle of a field. Its face was covered in moss, hiding the epitaph.

Caed stood beside it. He reached down and placed his hand on the face.

“Oh, enough of this!” Nightmare Moon spread her wings, black as night, and tendrils of sparking magic leaked from her horn. “I’ve entertained your kind for far too long! Whatever magic you use to bring me these illusions will end now! Go and swipe that headstone clear – show me my name and see how little I c-”

Caed swiped away the moss.

There was no epitaph. It was blank.

Nightmare Moon faltered, confused then angry. “What…? What is this supposed to mean?”

“You will die.”

The shadows wrapping Caed began to recede.

“There will be nothing to bury.”

Caed was… wrong. His face was grey as stone, dry, covered in bloody crevices; one eye was black like volcanic glass while the other was burning red and jittering around wildly.

“You will exist in memory as one who fought against the humans and failed. Eventually, those memories will fade, and you will be forgotten. Not because you are evil. Not because you failed in your task. No one will remember you because in the grand scope of the universe, you, along with countless others that will, did, and do exist… are insignificant.”

Ice stole Nightmare Moon’s breath away. The spirit was trying to make her see the error of her ways by frightening her, but it wasn’t working! The thought of fading and being forgotten wasn’t… it didn’t frighten her!

“Cease this pathetic charade.”

“You believe Caed to be significant? He is a fool. A fool trying to save his people, but a fool nonetheless. So eager to be a martyr. So eager to uphold the ideals of a chivalrous practise that was romanticised to a point where it has become meaningless. And like a fool, his actions will eventually be forgotten. He will die. His memory will fade. He will return to nothing, and the universe will carry on.”

Nightmare Moon shot a volley of icicles that simply phased through the spirit’s body.

“You give weight to his quest, so that you can think that what you do is significant. You yearn for that, don’t you? Something significant for others to remember you when you die. Deep down, you know that it’s pointless.”

Nightmare Moon snarled and tried to fly away to break through some invisible barrier, but no matter how hard she flapped, the distance between her and the spirit remained fixed.

“I am not the Spirit of Hearths-warming Eve’s future. I am not the Spirit of Hearths-warming Eve Yet to Come.”

“Wh-what are you, then?” Nightmare Moon roared, diving towards the spirit, only to pass through and hit the dirt.

“I am Inevitability. I am Certainty. I am Oblivion.”

She got back up, turned, and saw the spirit reach for her face.

“I am Your Future.”

Nightmare Moon jolted awake and lashed out blindly.

She hit something solid and heard it cry out; loud at first, then quieter as it flew across the room and smashed into the wall, sticking there like a persistent fly.

"Wah! She's gonna kill us, yeah?!"

Nightmare Moon blinked rapidly and realized she was on the floor, tangled in her sheets. Fortunately, in her own quarters. Her Praetorian Guard - sans Lightning Dust, who was twitching as she fell out of the imprint in the wall, and Fade, who was flying furiously in place like a hummingbird as his sister kept him from escaping by holding his tail - were gathered around her, but at a respectable distance.

A 'stay out of the punching zone' sort-of reach.

"What...?" Nightmare Moon ripped her sheets as she stood up and flexed her muscles against them. She glanced around, feeling scattered and strangely unsure. "What are you all doing in here?"

"W-we heard you sh-shouting," Ebony trembled as she spoke, glancing to Veil, who was staying farther back than most. "Well... in our minds, I mean. We thought you were in trouble."

"Indeed." Haze cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Thought the humans showed up again." Veil murmured.

"Mm." Miasma grunted, then flicked her hoof and slammed her brother onto the floor.

"Trouble?" Nightmare Moon echoed. "I don't think I am," She couldn't continue like this: she needed to get her thoughts in order. Baby steps. "I went to bed. I slept. I... had a dream?"

"A dream?" Haze's eyes sharpened. "Did Luna accost you in the dreamscape?"

"No... I don't believe it was Luna. It felt..." She couldn't remember, which was incredibly annoying, but there was an inexplicable feeling in her chest. She felt... enlightened, somehow. Not in a good way, but neither in a bad way. Something had been made clear to her, but she couldn't remember what. "Unfamiliar."

Her gaze just so happened to pass over the balcony and she saw the snow falling outside.

"You there, boy!" She pointed at Haze, and he recoiled like she was reaching for his heart. "What day is it?"

"Hearths-Warming Eve? Beg your pardon, Empress, but why did you refer to me as 'boy'?"

Nightmare Moon wasn't sure herself. She didn't know what had transpired while she slept, but she had an irresistable desire that would not be denied. Perhaps being so suddenly awoken was affecting her mind, but she found that she quite liked the idea of fulfilling this newfound desire.

"My loyal soldiers," Remembering that her appearance was synonymous with a mix of thinly-vieled violence, cold rage, and intimidating awe, Nightmare Moon puffed out her chest and narrowed her eyes. "There is a task that we must complete before the day ends. Miasma - pick your brother up. Veil - go see if Lightning Dust is alive. The rest of you - go forth and gather all necessary materials to hold a banquet fit for the entire city! I believe that I have finally discovered what Hearths-warming Eve is truly about!"

"Wolf..." Vinyl turned her head, shades absent, as she picked at her full plate. "Not that I don't appreciate this and stuff... but this seems like a lot of food for eleven ponies."

'Eleven ponies... eleven ponies... eleven ponies...' Vinyl's voice bounced off the cavernous walls of the banquet hall.

The table, easily as long as a mature dragon, was groaning beneath the weight of a hundred exotic and homeland dishes alike... which just emphasized how woefully empty the table was with the Praetorian Guard, Nightmare Moon, Vinyl, Octavia, Fancypants, and Fleur barely filling one end. Even with a giant timber wolf gnawing on a sap-covered log in the corner.

"I did this to celebrate Hearths-warming Eve with those I hold in high regard!" Nightmare Moon slammed her hoof on the table and almost flipped the whole thing over. "You will enjoy my act of charity and goodwill, or suffer greatly!"

"Oh my..." Fancypants swayed, his complexion green as he tried to force a forkful of pie into his mouth. "I believe I am going to burst."

Octavia signed that she was literally going to die.

Fleur was spread out on the table, writhing in the carcass of a large chocolate cake with an inspiring lack of shame. "Mm, feed me, Fancypants! Feed me now!"

The Praetorian Guard sans Lightning Dust were miserably eating their portions.

Lightning Dust was still unconscious.

Vinyl's cheeks puffed out, but she managed to turn the gag into a modest burp and placed her fork down. "Wolf, what the hell's gotten into you? Like, seriously?"

"I don't know what has come over me," Nightmare Moon admitted as she sank back into her chair. "I don't feel right, but believe me when I say that I..." She paused, grimaced. "'Like' having you all here. It is nice to see concrete proof that my actions have affected others, whether they were positive... or negative. It is nice to see that I will be remembered."

Vinyl raised her eyebrows. "You going somewhere, Wolf?"

"... I..." Nightmare Moon blinked. "No. I don't believe I am. I merely meant... Never mind. For now, let us concentrate on this feast."

"Wolf-"

"I'm serious about making you all suffer."

"Damn it."

Have a Happy New Year, Everybody

How does a demon, spirit, living force of nature,
And a creature, born in the untamed land of Zebrica, strife with unrest,
Greed,
And frustration, end up being the ruler of a nation?

The entity, born without a mother and father,
Got a lot farther by being a lot smarter,
By being a self-starter,
She learned, and she observed while her brethren were going under.

She didn’t have the strength to interact with the world around her,
Nor the strength to possess the zebras unless they allowed her,
But inside, something crackled and burned like a raging fire,
Her will shan’t be denied, she will quench her desire.

Then a witch doctor came, and set her heart aflame,
The spirit saw a way to get her fortune and fame,
She spoke honeyed words and got into his brain,
The witch doctor was slain, but her future was hers to claim.

Well, the word got around, they said, “This thing must be slain”,
And they formed a truce to kill her, their goals were the same,
Hunted her down and drove her from the mainland,
But she vowed that the world would know her name,

“What’s your name, Wolf?”

“I am Empress Nightmare Moon. I am Empress Nightmare Moon.
“And I will not rest ‘til my desire is quenched,
“So just you wait, just you wait…”

She travelled across the sea, bore its fury, ‘till she could see,
The land of the griffons, no deserts but mountains and trees,
Found a village, found a griffon, then slipped in, slick.

But the griffon went and refused her, so that griffon went quick.

She travelled the countryside, then eventually went worldwide,
Possessing those who trusted her and tossing them all aside,
Never satisfied,
Something inside whispered, ‘You must get your name known.’

Nothing could fill the void inside her, nothing that she owned.

Her desire drove her every action, she would not be distracted,
Money, power, subjects, land – all forced beneath her as one faction,
She started workin’, tamperin’ the minds of war lords,
Taking wealth and land by force just to add it to her own hoard,
‘Till came word of a new land she had never seen before,
Plannin’ for the future, see her now as she schemes and festers in the mind of a princess ruling over the new land,
Beware Equestria, you will know her name.

Beware Equestria, you will know her name, (Just you wait)
Beware Equestria, you will know her name, (Just you wait)
Beware Equestria, you will know her name, (Just you wait)
Beware (beware) Equestria!!

“Just you wait.”

Oh, Empress Nightmare Moon! (Empress Nightmare Moon)

We are waiting for the play you’ll make! (Waiting for the play you’ll make)

You refuse to back down,
You see no other way but foooooorwaaard!

Oh, Empress Nightmare Moon! (Empress Nightmare Moon)

Will Equestria sing for you?
Will they remember your anger and hate?
Or will they remember how you took charge of your fate?

(Ooohhh)

The world will never be the same. (Ooohhh)

You started weak, you started from the bottom,
Did you ever imagine that this is what your ambition would of gotten?

“We, fought with her.”

“Me, I trusted her.”

“Me, I hated her.”

“Me, I cursed her.”

“And me? Well, I’m the crazy pony that became her friend.”

There’s a million things you haven’t claimed… but just you waaaaaiiit!

“What’s your name, Wolf?”

I am Empress Nightmare Moon!

Author's Note

Note 1: Don't mind the inconsistencies; it's been a crazy Christmas for me. :applejackconfused:

Chapter 61: The Fall: Part 1

1056 AD, January 15th

The air was thick with tension like a muggy day.

Nightmare Moon strolled down the footpath and over to the large tent set up just outside the castle gates. Dozens of Eclipse guards were stationed around it while many more kept the street clear with blockades and black and yellow tape. Pegasi patrolled the skies and kept the rooftops clear.

There would be no public eyes to witness this exchange, whatever the outcome may be.

Nightmare Moon spotted Ebony waiting for her by the gates. “How goes our progress?” She asked once she was close enough.

“The guards have been stationed and the street closed off,” Ebony replied with a salute before joining Nightmare Moon’s side. “All before noon.”

“Excellent,” Nightmare Moon turned her head skywards for a second and scowled at the burning sun. “For their sake, I hope they play their part before it is noon.”

“Well, they have forty minutes before that,” Ebony turned her head briefly and waved her forehoof, causing a few guards in the distance to salute and cluster together around a street corner. She turned back with a grimace. “I don’t like this.”

“Your trepidation is not without merit,” Nightmare Moon approached the tent and parted the flaps with magic. “Despite their altruistic and good nature, I am not naïve enough to believe that it is not within them to attempt some sort of pre-emptive strike under the guise of peaceful negotiations,” Inside was a long table and two chairs on either side, arranged so the occupants would face one another. Two chairs were significantly larger than the others. “After all, I would think to do so.”

She was feeling confident about this upcoming talk – Celestia might have defeated her all those months ago, but she had accounted for everything here. Or, as much as she could possibly account for.

“All except one street has been sealed off, Empress,” The tent flaps parted again and Haze trotted in with – surprise, surprise – a clipboard. Nightmare Moon was beginning to suspect it was magically linked to his body at this point. “The street you instructed Celestia to take, of course.”

“Rooftops?”

“Our pegasi have them under watch.”

“What about the sewers?”

“Under watch now that I’ve outfitted those selected with masks,” Haze’s expression curdled, likely from remembering a foul smell. “Additionally, our high-ranking unicorns will be performing routine checks to dispel any disguise spells. Aside from teleportation, there is no other way they can sneak up on us.”

“Good work,” Nightmare Moon nodded, satisfied. “Ebony – you are to remain outside the tent once Celestia arrives. If you hear anything out of the ordinary, then come in.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Haze – you’re to remain with me.”

Haze acknowledged her order with a nod. “Of course.”

“I will not suffer another defeat,” Nightmare Moon affirmed, mostly to herself. “We are prepared this time around.”

The sewers that ran beneath the streets, the skies above, the rooftops – she had planned a means to keep watch over it all; it took almost every Eclipse guard she had under her command, but it was worth it. There were enough guards left over to stand guard over Twilight and Vinyl, just in case.

Vinyl insisted she would be fine – “Wolf, they might be bad guys to you, but they aren’t gonna friggin’ hurt random ponies” – but Nightmare Moon felt better knowing there was somepony there to sound the alarm in case things did go wrong.

Ebony left for her assigned spot, and Haze pulled out one of the chairs before sitting in it and using the table to rest his clipboard on. He continued to write with a quill and a stony expression.

“Interesting.”

He turned his head. “What is, Empress?”

“There is palpable tension in the air; the rest of my Praetorian Guard feel it, and I feel their anxiety in their thoughts. Yet you are calm and composed almost all the time. Even in the heat of battle,” Nightmare Moon tilted her head with an eyebrow raised in intrigue. “An admirable trait.”

“Thank you. It is a necessity when you are part of my bloodline,” Haze waved the quill in his telekinetic grip with sarcastic gravitas. “‘Beware Copper Tusk and his dark child, Dusk, for they will bring the wrath of the Mare in the Moon upon us’,” He shrugged and grinned wryly. “Do not take that warning literally: few of my noble peers are quite so eloquent when it comes to stabbing each other in the back.”

“Yes, the stigma your family carries for worshipping my grace,” Nightmare Moon decided to sit at the table, too. There wasn’t much else she could do besides wait for her adversary to arrive, so might as well pass the time with some light conversation. Besides, she hadn’t had this talk with Haze yet; they were both too busy for anything besides exchanging information. “Although, I don’t recall your family during my first bout against Celestia.”

“The matriarch of House Virtue at that time, Daze Noon, was a sickly mare and talented with words, so she couldn’t help in a more direct sense. Fortunately, she saw fit to keep records of her belief for her descendants that would share in her enthusiasm; it disturbed many other families, who were all too happy to pamper Celestia after she banished you during the following thousand years. Of course, not everypony in my family wanted to acknowledge this: my father was the only one who actively tried to hide it, however.”

Nightmare Moon knew of this: she gleamed it from Haze’s mind when she was inside his body and augmenting him. She wanted to know his reasons for joining, if they were sincere enough that she could trust he wouldn’t betray her when things got hard. However, she never delved too deeply to find out the circumstances surrounding his belief in her.

The ‘how’ hadn’t been important back then.

“An ultimately futile act,” Haze continued, ticking off something on the clipboard. “He locked away anything concerning you in his trunk in the attic and told me not to pry. As you can imagine, that is practically an invitation to snoop for a young colt.”

“And that’s how you came to know of me.”

“Daze Noon witnessed your confrontation with Celestia, Empress. Your first confrontation. It was during a gathering of nobility that you walked in late, wearing Luna’s form, and revealed yourself in a grand and terrifying display,” Haze finally put his quill down and turned to face her, his eyes closing as he recalled something. ‘Born from the lunar princess’ sins, she was given form, the one that would rule us as the next step in ponykind’s evolution’. Those were her words.”

“I see,” Nightmare Moon remembered that event: she still relished the look of shock and horror on Celestia’s face, and the betrayal that Luna felt when she took over. “And you believe this as well?”

“Of course,” Haze nodded, face still placid, but now there was a glimmer in his eyes as he spoke. “Ponies have always had great potential locked away within them. How else are we so in synch with magical energy? Therefore, it only makes sense that, sooner or later, we will discover the next step that allows us to ascend to a stronger state of existence. Luna was lucky to be the first, even though she foolishly rejected you. Yet, you found a way to survive through your own will and share with us your power, allowing I and the others to unlock our own potential.

“Change is the one true constant in our world; we can only accept it.”

So, those were his reasons for following her.

She already knew that he viewed her as something of a deity, a powerful entity born from the magic within a pony, but she didn’t know the story behind it. It was interesting.

Ironically, Haze shared similarities with Veil in that their motivations were partially fuelled by a ‘the mighty shall lead’ mentality. It made their dislike of one another rather funny, in a sense. She still wasn’t entirely sure why they were at odds besides the usual ‘he’s a snob’ and ‘she’s a hooligan’, but it didn’t get in the way of their work, so she left it alone.

“A pragmatic way of thinking you have,” She said. “Admirable.”

Of course, she was hardly the next step in pony evolution, but if Haze wanted to believe that, then she wouldn’t refute it.

“Thank you, Empress.”

“Perhaps that is what Celestia has come here for…” Nightmare Moon pondered, looking straight ahead and tapping her forehoof against the table. “Perhaps she realizes that these humans are of a greater and more immediate threat, so she wishes for a temporary truce.”

It was a possibility, though Nightmare Moon couldn’t see them working together without constant glances over the shoulder.

“Equestria has allied with many forces over the years, so it’s not unlikely,” Haze nodded. “Although, she and Luna appear to hold a potent animosity reserved for you.”

“What a flattering thought.”

“What would you say if they offered a truce?” Haze asked. “A genuine partnership?”

“It is difficult to say,” Nightmare Moon grumbled. “On one hoof, the level of threat that the humans possess may necessitate accepting help, no matter whom is offering it. However, I am also suspicious of Celestia, perhaps enough that I might never feel at ease even if a truce was called.”

Haze nodded. “What do you think will be the outcome of the talks?”

“Confrontation, mostly.”

“And if you can’t come to an agreement?”

“I thought about capturing them…” Nightmare Moon did some mental gymnastics to tally the cost to repair the entire city block if things turned violent and grimaced at the answer. There were still some walls that hadn’t been repaired in the castle. “However, considering that the measures I took last time still wasn’t enough, I don’t think I’ll try that again. I have no way to prevent Luna’s dream-walking power, anyway. That was the catalyst.”

Haze nodded. “If you don’t plan on capturing them, then may I ask what you want to happen?”

“I assume we’re trading idealism for reality for this question?” Haze nodded again. “Ideally, I want them to walk in, announce that they wish to surrender, and I can lock them up and plan for the humans without worrying about another escape attempt. Realistically, however… that’s not something that will happen.”

Haze looked at her with an odd look. “… Forgive me, Empress, but… why did you agree, then? It sounds to me as if you’ve already convinced yourself that an alliance is very unlikely.”

If she was honest with herself, then the main reason she even agreed to a temporary truce was due to a knee-jerk reaction. Her enemy had placed a note on her door, showing that somepony had managed to slip past her security and slip back out without anypony noticing. Intentional or not, that was a blow to her pride.

Also, it… freaked her out a little to imagine the assailant wandering around while Vinyl was staying in the castle recovering.

Such a sudden surge of emotion made her respond to the truce instinctively, when she probably should have taken the time to mull it over. After all, she didn’t need anything that Celestia and Luna might have had, so why bother with negotiations?

Of course, it would have been embarrassing to try and cancel the whole meeting. Ponies would question why she bothered setting this all up only to back out at the last second.

Couldn’t admit any of that, though.

“I suppose it’s still a possibility. At any rate, I’m very intrigued to see what they have to say. After that, if we can’t come to an agreement that leaves us all happy, then they leave. If they don’t leave…” She grinned. “Well, if property damage and violence is inevitable, then at least I can enjoy assaulting them without having to worry about a beam of sunlight,” She trailed off as Ebony poked her head into the tent. “Have they arrived?”

The tent flap was open enough for Nightmare Moon to see a large shadow stretching across the ground behind Ebony.

“Yes,” Ebony nodded. “Celestia and Luna are here.”

“Whoa, is that…?”

“An eclipse over the Eclipse. Crazy, yeah?”

Miasma made a noise of acknowledgement. “I’ve never seen an eclipse before.”

“I don’t think anyone under a thousand years has,” Lightning Dust said. “Or, you know, however old the princesses are.”

Miasma had no particularly strong feelings on unusual sights, nor was she one for waxing poetry, but she could see why some ponies would do that when they saw something like this.

The sun – that bright, yellow disc that could always be counted on to provide light and warmth – was slowly being covered by the moon’s bulk; already it looked more like a crescent than a disc, and the land was being thrown into a strange state of dimness that wasn’t quite dusk nor dawn. Miasma didn’t know what to think of this new darkness, but her body seemed to vibrate with newfound energy.

Yes, the sun did seem a little too bright and too yellow ever since she had changed.

“Pretty smart, huh? Getting Luna to move the moon in front of the sun so Celestia isn’t as strong.” Lightning Dust was standing in between her and Fade on the street a little way from the tent.

The ‘Soon to be a smouldering crater Tent’, Fade had dubbed it.

Fade scratched his neck. “But Luna will be stronger, yeah?”

“So will all of us, dope,” Lightning Dust slapped him on the shoulder with a loud laugh. “And we outnumber them, so we got nothing to sweat about.”

Miasma wasn’t sure about that.

“True, true,” Fade looked up at the sky and held his forehoof against his brow. “Just… don’t want a repeat of last time.”

Miasma recalled the event automatically and repressed a shudder.

“Eh?” Lightning Dust looked between them like she had missed out on some juicy gossip. “What happened last time?”

Miasma blinked and turned her head slightly. “Nopony told you?” Lightning Dust shook her head, and she realized that, of course, Lightning Dust didn’t know because it wasn’t something that anypony would like to bring up. “Oh. Well…”

She trailed off and looked to Fade, silently asking him to continue for her. She wasn’t comfortable talking, even with those she held close, even using telepathy; it was awkward and difficult. She wasn’t like her brother, who could talk and talk and talk.

He talked enough to cover both of them.

“Don’t say this in earshot of the boss, but…” Fade blinked and frowned. “Wait, I can just use my mind, yeah?”

He and Lightning Dust lapsed into silence long enough for the eclipse to finish entering its final stage, darkening the world with only a thin corona of sunlight visible from behind the moon. Miasma could hear the hushed and concerned voices of other guards around them and saw several hooves pointing skywards.

“Whoa, seriously?!” Lightning Dust suddenly exclaimed. Miasma almost jumped. She glared at her by very slightly lowering her eyebrows. “What, like a burnt pancake?”

“Yup.”

“Creepy. Kinda cool, though. I mean, when you can survive getting blasted by a solar flare, then you know you’re a badass.”

“Right?”

Lightning Dust turned back to Miasma. “So, you saw it, too? Must have been a hell of a thrill to fight against the princesses, huh?”

“I guess.” Miasma murmured.

“And you beat up those mares that carry the Elements of Harmony, right?” Lightning Dust laughed again, cruelly this time. “Stallion, I would have loved to pound Rainbow Dash’s face in. Hope I get to do that by the end of the day.”

Miasma looked at her cautiously, though her face didn’t change.

“Nah, the boss ain’t dumb enough to let the princesses and the Element bearers in together,” Fade said. “I heard she said only Celestia and Luna get to come into that tent. We’re just here to make sure nopony else tries some sneaky shit, yeah?”

Lightning Dust deflated. “That sucks.”

“… Lightning Dust, we need to cover the area,” Miasma pointed to a spot on a roof of a building on the opposite side of the street. “That’s a good vantage point.”

“Oh? Yeah, you’re right. Okay, no problem,” She turned and gave Fade a nuzzle. “Talk to you soon, hot stuff.”

Lightning Dust flew off to the spot Miasma pointed out. Fade watched her go for a few seconds before turning to Miasma. His brow furrowed.

“What’s up, sis’? You look more downy than usual, yeah?”

“Do I?” Fade nodded. “Hm.”

“Was it something Lightning Dust said?” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “No? Maybe you’re anxious about this whole negotiation shit?”

Miasma shrugged. She didn’t know; it was difficult to place her feelings most of the time. She was sort of hoping Fade could figure it out like he usually did.

“Maybe you…” Her brother scratched his head and squinted. “Maybe you’re… worried that one of us will get hurt, or something?”

Miasma thought on that and gave a slow nod. It felt like that was it: she kept thinking about her friends and brother and how much it would displease her to see them in any pain.

“Wait, you’re afraid something like last time will happen again? Yeah, I can see why you’re nervous, but you can’t let it drag on you, yeah? We’re prepared this time around. I mean, look at all of us, yeah? We’re gonna be just fine.”

“I guess you’re right,” Miasma looked back up at the sky. “I feel better knowing the sun is blocked.”

“Yup!” Fade spread out his wing and tapped her on the back. Funny – he had to angle it up to get to it now. “No more death rays for us!”

Miasma hoped so.

Veil sighed as Lightning Dust flew up to her perch on the roof of some random bookstore. What, did Miasma get tired of her and low-key suggested she go up and annoy Veil instead? Wonderful.

“Hey, Veil, what’s up?” Lightning Dust landed next to her with a smile that just screamed ‘I don’t know what personal space is’. “Pretty sweet spot. You see the eclipse? Rad.”

“Mm, yeah, cool.” Veil answered distractedly, playing with one of her grenades.

She noticed Lightning Dust look down at it, then back up. “Are you-”

“No, not really. Ah’m kinda antsy considerin’ there’s a pretty big chance tha’ this will go to th’ dogs,” Veil abruptly shut her mouth and inhaled irritably. “What I meant to say was that we have three superpowered alicorns getting together in an enclosed space after their last meeting involved a literal beam of sunlight being called down.”

She glared evenly at Lightning Dust.

“So yeah, I’m thinking things are probably going to go to shit very soon.”

Lightning Dust rolled her eyes and turned her gaze to the tent. “Jeez, what a killjoy.”

“Yeah, blame the pony that’s being realistic.”

“You’re being a whiner. Look at all of this,” Lightning Dust gestured to the city block with her wing. “We got all of this horsepower and you’re still complaining? That’s the attitude for losers.”

“Complaining is my forte,” Veil bit back. She glanced down at her grenade and tucked it away in her saddlebag – better to be safe than sorry. “And your attitude is what makes me think you’re the one that’ll get killed when things go south.”

“Hey, I’m tougher than you.” Lightning Dust snapped.

Was she serious?

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Veil laughed mirthlessly. “We took over Canterlot by playing smart, not by being the one swinging the biggest sword. If that were the case, we’d have just sent Miasma in,” Lightning Dust rolled her eyes again, but Veil continued talking. “Seriously, don’t get cocky: you might be able to beat everyone in the Eclipse except for Miasma and Ebony, maybe, but the princesses are on a whole other level.”

Veil didn’t like Lightning Dust because… well, not only was she wasn’t in her circle of friends, and Veil had no interest to try and make her one, but she had to tolerate her position as one in their Praetorian Guard. That meant putting aside her dislike and trying to get it through the other mare’s thick skull that confidence ultimately led to an untimely demise.

“Compared to them and Nightmare Moon, we’re kind of in over our heads,” Veil sighed and looked down the street, watching for any sign of Celestia. “I just want all this crap over and done with so I can relax.”

“Hey, you joined willingly from what I heard,” Lightning Dust remarked. “You made your bed, so you sleep in it.”

Veil nodded. “Yeah,” She knew that, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. “Would have liked a pamphlet saying enrolment might involve dismemberment, decapitation, and working with what may or not be a demon.”

She looked to the side and saw Lightning Dust giving a curious look.

“Do me a favour and keep this to yourself. In fact, forget I even said anything.”

Lightning Dust rolled her eyes again. “Weirdo.”

At that moment, there came a commotion from further down where Veil had been looking. When she turned her head, along with probably everypony in the area, she saw the source and grimaced anxiously.

“Here comes the sun…”

Even with the shadow of the eclipse blotting out the sun’s rays, even with her chilled blood pumping through her muscles by the will of her magic alone, Ebony’s skin crawled as she watched Celestia walk down the middle of the street.

Luna was by her side, too.

Nopony else, though; that was part of the agreement, and Ebony was thankful to see it was upheld.

Celestia’s coat looked no less radiant in the darkness; she still loomed and commanded the attention of everypony in the area. Luna looked even more threatening and insidious; her eyes gave off a subdued light and her coat seemed to writhe and quiver with shadows. Ebony kept perfectly still – easy to do when you didn’t need to breathe – as the two princesses approached and stopped before her.

Luna’s lip curled in distaste. “Announce us.”

Ebony nodded stiffly and turned to peek her head through the flaps. “Empress-”

“Yes, I know,” Nightmare Moon was seated at the table. Haze was by her side, preparing what Ebony guessed to be a recording of the upcoming talks. “Send them in.”

“Okay.”

Backing out from the tent, Ebony turned and received the full glare of the lunar princess. “Ah…”

“Last time we met, you dug your blade into my rump,” Luna glowered and cocked her head so only one narrowed eye was visible. “How fortuitous that our paths cross once more.”

Ebony swallowed but managed to keep the fear off her face. “Go inside.”

“Thank you.” Celestia said with a polite dip of her head and a smile that somehow managed to be both serene and utterly terrifying.

Ebony shivered and was happy when they both went inside the tent and left her.

“Greetings, Celestia. Greetings, Luna…” Straining her ears, Ebony could hear Nightmare Moon speaking. “How civil of you to heed my directions so thoroughly.”

Ebony kept one ear out and watched the street.

“Of course,” Celestia said with a stony poker face. “Why would I hesitate to walk down the street to my own front door?”

Nightmare Moon laughed. “Well, it’s not your front door anymore, is it? It’s mine.”

She could tell Celestia wanted to throttle her. Luna looked like she wanted to do more than mere asphyxiation. Nightmare Moon would have her hooves full fighting them at the same time, but she had her forces on all sides and a significant power boost to her body thanks to the eclipse, so she wasn’t too worried.

“Have a seat,” She gestured to the two vacant chairs graciously. “My guards tell me nopony else accompanied you, so you’ve earned yourself the chance to speak with me regarding a…” She tapped her chin. “Truce, was it?”

“Yes,” Celestia nodded as she took one of the chairs. After mulling about for a second, Luna occupied the other with an expression like she swallowed something sour. “That is why we are here.”

Nightmare Moon couldn’t tell if this was genuine – Celestia had a very good poker face when the time called for it; it was a necessity given how many delegates, nobles, and national visitors she had to deal with.

She decided it would be better to focus on Luna for their reactions; her expression often swayed from stony indifference and barely-concealed contempt in the heat of the moment.

Nightmare Moon hummed curiously. “And what suddenly brought this on? For the past, what? Three, five months? However long since you scurried away from Canterlot, you haven’t sent so much as a missive or a note. I expected something telling me how ‘my defeat is inevitable’ and ‘the forces of good shall triumph’, but there was nothing,” Nightmare Moon sighed melodramatically and sneered at the two alicorns. “I daresay that I’m insulted about that.”

Luna’s frown evolved into a scowl.

Celestia ignored the mocking remark. “I propose we just get down to the business at hoof.”

“Oh, antsy, are we?” Nightmare Moon snorted. “Fine. I can see you’re not going to react.”

Celestia nodded. “We came in hopes of a truce because we are dealing with a greater threat.”

They saw the humans as a greater threat than Nightmare Moon? Part of her was mildly insulted, but it was the most rational conclusion. After all, Nightmare Moon hadn’t killed a single pony in at least a thousand years.

There was always today and tomorrow, of course, but right now, that count remained a bland zero.

“Caed will not stop until he has the power needed to fuel his machine to transport himself and the rest of his kind to an uninhabited island in our world.” Luna said.

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes and straightened her posture. “How do you know that?”

Celestia and Luna exchanged confused looks before the elder sister replied, “We had a chance meeting with him.”

She snorted. “I’ll need more detail than that. A chance meeting is running into somepony you haven’t seen in a while; it is not what you experienced.”

“Very well,” Celestia seemed reluctant to talk about it, but her intrigue won out. “A few months ago, after we escaped your clutches-”

Nightmare Moon snorted contemptuously.

“-Ponyville was attacked by a Wisp Knight. We fought for a while, then Caed and a few of his knights arrived through a Fracture to slay the creature.”

Nightmare Moon furrowed her brow. “And he made no attempt to attack you?”

“No. I believe the general gist of his words were…” Here, Luna gave a mocking sneer. “‘We are not allied with the demon that killed his people’. Therefore, he will make the attempt to exclude us from his actions.”

“Ah hah hah hah! Truly?”

“Even so, it does not change the fact that he is a deplorable creature doing heinous acts, and you…” Luna inhaled deeply and looked off to the side. “You are the lesser of two evils. In this scenario, at least.”

Oh, it clearly killed Luna to say that.

But that aside, Nightmare Moon was astonished to hear that Caed, Celestia, and Luna interacted at some point. Peacefully, even. She’d have thought he’d harass them for unicorns the same way he did Canterlot, but he had some backwards ‘code of honour’ she was unaware of.

Haze looked up; he had been writing down some of what Celestia was saying. “Did he say anything else?”

“The machine is called a…” Luna looked to her sister for clarification. “Spectrum Shifter? It converts the magic of unicorns into power he can use to open a Fracture that will take him to an uninhabited land mass.”

“And he harvests that magic by killing the unicorns.” Nightmare Moon finished with a grim nod.

“And how do you know about all of this?” Celestia asked.

“By sheer chance, I assure you. Caed and his forces attacked Canterlot with a Behemoth bug, I went through one of their Fractures to save… some of the citizens they took, and stole an important folder containing several documents with details on their plan,” Nightmare Moon grinned sadistically. “And then I destroyed a machine that allowed them to come back from death, so now they’re effectively down half of their initial numbers. Quite a day.”

“You went into their world?” Celestia murmured. There was a quiet awe in her tone, though her face remained still. “What did you see?”

“A barren land. Nothing worth spilling blood over. I can see why they wish to get away from it as soon as possible. I would, if I were in Caed’s position.”

“Would you?”

“Of course. I can understand Caed’s reasons for wanting something more than an ugly speck like that. But I’m not in his position, so his desires don’t matter to me,” Nightmare Moon snickered cruelly. “What does concern me is that his ways of getting what he wants affects me negatively. I can’t have that.”

The sisters looked at each other again. One of their silent, personal conversations, apparently. Nightmare Moon didn’t see anything that could be considered a signal; just the tics that conveyed unease and worry.

“But enough about the humans…” Nightmare Moon leaned against the table and flashed her most sincere smile. “Let’s get back on track, hm? Why should I ally with you? What will I gain from such a thing?”

The sisters held eyes for a few more seconds before breaking contact. Luna morosely looked off to the side, and Celestia matched Nightmare Moon’s cold gaze.

“Obviously, the armistice would last until the humans have been dealt with, during which we would not have to fear being attacked by the other.”

“Who said I feared you?”

Celestia groaned and rubbed her forehead, looking tired. “Quite frankly, Nightmare Moon, I’m in no mood to get into a ‘who scares who’ argument. My home is being attacked, ponies are being kidnapped and killed, and the entire time I’m in Ponyville unable to do anything about it because I’m so afraid that you’ll come out of the shadows as soon as I try to leave the gates. I’m sick of it.”

She narrowed her eyes and leaned forwards in her chair.

“We want this armistice, so we can finally concentrate on the greater threat. Can we talk without you bringing up how your metaphorical dick is bigger than mine?”

Haze choked and broke his pencil on the paper.

Nightmare Moon bristled and scowled. A verbal blow in front of one of her soldiers… and to make it worse, she felt a small twinge of respect for it.

She had an urge to say ‘well, it is bigger’, but that was clearly the Vinyl gremlin squatting in the back of her head talking.

“… Nopony offers something like this without terms,” Nightmare Moon said in a soft, dangerous tone. Haze cleared his throat and got another pencil. “What terms do you propose?”

“We want Twilight back.”

No hesitation. Predictable answer, too.

“Anything else? Perhaps the Elements of Harmony? Or a glass of cold water for you to drink while I stand still and let myself be struck with their power?”

“The Elements will not work without the Bearers and vice versa,” Luna quipped. “You can keep the Elements; we just want Twilight Sparkle.”

“Touching, but I cannot allow her to leave the limits of the castle. I require her services.” Nightmare Moon left out the fact that Twilight also couldn’t disobey her orders; they didn’t need to know that.

“Then she won’t,” Celestia said. “Let’s compromise.”

“I’m listening.”

“She’ll remain near the castle, but we have the right to see and talk with her. Under supervision, of course.”

Under those terms, it’d be like nothing’s changed, save that Nightmare Moon just had to be extra wary and personally watch Twilight’s interactions when it happened. They must have been desperate to do something about the humans.

“Perhaps.” Nightmare Moon nodded deliberately and tugged on the mental link she shared with her Praetorian Guard. “Status report.”

“Clear.” Ebony chimed.

“Same here with me and Miasma, boss.” Fade replied.

“Veil and I have got it covered; no worries here.” Lightning Dust answered.

“Good. One of you check in with the sewer patrols.”

She tuned out as Fade groaned in despair when several ‘not it’s rang out.

“I admit that having you and your, ah… ‘forces’ as temporary allies would be beneficial,” Nightmare Moon said. “Having the full force of Equestria concentrated on the human threat may be just what we need to destroy it once and for all.”

She paused.

“Of course, despite the advantages, I fear that the paranoia of a ‘metaphorical’ dagger in one’s back will affect my work.”

“There is nothing we can say or do that would convince you otherwise!” Luna snapped.

Nightmare Moon just grinned.

“Luna, please…” Celestia lightly touched her sister’s shoulder and left her to sulk. “She is right, though; I don’t think there’s anything we can say or do to prove that we truly mean to make a truce, or that we will not attempt to attack you when your guard is down. I had hoped that us willingly coming into your territory is a significant act of goodwill in of itself.”

They had a point. Nightmare Moon didn’t believe that she’d ever trust them enough not to let her guard down without some leverage. She did have Twilight; she could play that card. None of them knew the ins and outs of how their connection worked.

“I suppose that is of some note,” Nightmare Moon admitted. “And now that I think on it, should you try to attack or otherwise contain me, my essence would be instantly transferred over to Twilight Sparkle, effectively killing her,” She paused and smirked when Celestia’s eyebrows twitched at that remark. “This would, in turn, corrupt the Element of Magic and render it inert, but fortunately, I’m spiteful enough to do that if my defeat were ever inevitable.”

“Yes. Fortunate.”

“Let’s keep things simple…” Nightmare Moon nodded at Haze. “Make a list: the advantages and disadvantages of a truce…”

“What a bunch of dicks. Betrayed by my own sister, even.”

Fade landed in front of two guards stationed next to a pony-hole cover in the middle of the street. One of them was holding a crowbar. Now, Fade could have asked them to lift the lid, but it just so happened that one of them was a mare. Obviously, his wings were tied.

“No need - I got this,” Slapping on a cocky grin, Fade pawed at the lid’s handle until it flicked up, allowing him to slip his hoof beneath it. Yeah, he’d need to prepare for this. “So, you guys seen anything weird?”

“Uh, not really, sir,” The mare – no, wait, Scarlet; he remembered – replied, watching him with raised eyebrows. “You’re going to hurt your back doing that.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Hey, Tremor, right? How’s it hanging, bro?”

“Good?” It was hard to tell with his coat, but he seemed to be blushing. Weird. Did he say something wrong? “Are you checking in with the sewer patrol? We did that five minutes ago, just so you know.”

“Hey, double-checking never hurt anypony, yeah?”

With a grunt from deep within his belly, Fade lifted the lid up and off to the side. His hoof was grateful that it could let go and complained at him for making it do that in the first place. The smell of the sewers wafted up like an updraft. Now his nose was going to start complaining.

“You guys got a mask or a peg or anything?”

“Nope.”
“No. Sorry, sir.”

“Damn.”

The hole was clearly meant to be used by earth ponies and unicorns; he had to fold his wings so firmly to avoid touching the walls that they might have just fused with his flesh. Ladders were awkward as hell, too, and his hoof was still aching.

Shit, maybe he should have had those two up there go down, pride be damned.

At the end, he hopped off onto a metal platform situated above the murky sewer water. Two catwalks extended from either side, where Eclipse guards with sanitary masks walked back and forth. They looked alert and determined, if a bit miserable.

He turned in the direction of the closest one, who had probably come over to investigate the sound of the pony-hole lid moving.

“Yo, bud-” Immediately, Fade’s nostrils were filled with the stink of whatever-in-the-fuck sewage consisted of; he gagged and swallowed hard before covering his muzzle with his wings. “Yo, buddy! Everything clear down here?”

“No sight of anypony that shouldn’t be here, if that’s what you mean, sir.” The guard replied, briefly glancing over the catwalk’s railing.

“Yeah, maybe ‘clear’ isn’t the right word to use.”

“Could be worse. You think this is bad? Compared to the sewers in downtown, or, Faust forbid, Manehattan, these tunnels are an oasis.”

“Seriously?”

“I worked with sewers before I became one of the Empress’ guards,” He gestured to the waste below them. “Trust me – this is as clean as sewers get. Chalk it up to those pompous unicorns; they’re so far up their own asses, they even want their sewers to look clean and ‘presentable’. Shit’s shit is what I say, no matter how many rose petals you sprinkle on it.”

“Sewer expert, huh?” Fade tried imagining that sort of career and wisely ended that train of thought before it could get too far ahead. “Haze sure knows how to pick ‘em. Anyway, I just came down to see if anypony was trying to sneak through, yeah?”

The stallion shook his head. “We’d hear them coming from two cumulus-ball fields away. Sound travels down here. The only way they’d surprise us is if they tunnel from beneath the sewers.”

“Uh…”

“No way,” He rapped his hoof against the wall. Fade made a mental note to avoid that hoof. “These are reinforced concrete and metal. It’ll take a team of earth ponies with digging equipment, or a powerful unicorn to blast through. Neither would be fast enough to get through before we could prepare. No worries down here, sir.”

Fade gave a quick salute. “Good stuff, my dude. Well, I’m outta here. Yell if anything’s funny - Boss is onto it with the talks going down.”

“Roger that.”

Fade fled up the ladder as fast as he could. He was never happier to be above ground and stretched his wings as soon as he was able.

“Oh, yeah! That’s the stuff!”

“Everything okay down there?” Tremor asked, balancing the crowbar on its end like he was hinting at something.

“Smells bad, but no bad guys. Keep up the good work, yeah? We’re counting on you to knock anypony who tries to climb up here to ruin shit on their asses.”

“We’ll do our best, sir.” Scarlet saluted.

Thank Faust that was over. Fade took to the air and made for his previous position. Along the way, he passed over the ‘Soon to be a smouldering crater Tent’, and picked out raised voices over the rushing wind.

‘Ah, geez.’

He wasn’t sure if this was a good time to call in; the boss could be getting ready to eat somepony. Then again, he figured she’d be equally upset if he didn’t give his report as soon as possible. Damn – he should have Called her before he heard the arguing and just claimed ignorance to what was going on.

As he hovered in one spot and pondered his decisions, there was a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye. He looked over to the castle gates and frowned.

“The hell?”

“Luna, you’re taking everything too personally,” Nightmare Moon sighed. “I didn’t betray you out of any true malicious intent, at least none that was directed at you. I was trying to get close to Celestia. You were a means to an end.”

Luna didn’t like that.

Amidst some antiquated and colourful language, Nightmare Moon exhaled in disgust and looked over at Haze, who was busy scribbling down most of what Luna was saying and with more than a few befuddled glances.

She doubted even Haze used terms like ‘fell-beast’ and ‘misbegotten abomination’.

Nightmare Moon went over what she had said and figured the exact remark that ticked Luna off was the response to a question the young alicorn threw out regarding her treatment of Twilight.

‘Do you plan to ruin her life with your fetid spite’, she had asked.

Nightmare Moon simply told the truth. ‘Perhaps. Although, you must know that ruining your life was merely a side-effect of my true goal’.

She really should have remembered that Luna, even with all her growth, still had an inferiority complex. To be regarded as ‘lesser’, was a grave insult.

Still, no reason to go off so explosively.

Celestia was rubbing her brow in a manner that most ponies did when they didn’t approve of what their sibling was doing.

Luna suddenly went quiet, and Nightmare Moon laughed icily. “Have you finally run out of steam? Just as a little reminder: half of those insults were what you used when you were locked up in the castle,” Before Luna could respond, Nightmare Moon continued. “Now, Celestia, I’ve gone over what you ask in return for an alliance and I must say that I’m still reluctant.”

Celestia sighed. “And why is that?”

“Bear in mind that, during your imprisonment within the castle, I took careful measures to ensure that you wouldn’t be able to escape. You succeeded anyway. In one afternoon, almost all of you escaped and nearly defeated me,” The words left a bad taste on her palate. Nightmare Moon ignored the urge to grimace. “Your resourcefulness and determination threaten my wellbeing and everything that I have. If I were to accept this truce, even with Twilight under my control, I cannot shake the sensation that you will inevitably find a way to overcome that obstacle.”

“We wouldn’t risk Twilight’s life like that. Or the Element of Magic.”

“You say that, but I know of your tenacity. I know that-”

“Hey, boss?”

Nightmare Moon paused, but only for a second. “I know that you will never stop looking for a way to get an advantage over me.”

“What is it, Fade? Are the sewers clear?”

“Uh, yeah, crystal clear. Of bad dudes, I mean; it’s a sewer, so it smells about ten times worse than you’d expect.”

“Fade.”

“Imagine the rankest thing in Tartarus dragging its ass along the tunnel and trying to cover it up with four air fresheners. Six, tops.”

“Fade!”

“Vinyl’s heading to the tent.”

Nightmare Moon blinked and gave the alicorn sisters a fanged smile. “It’s simply the way of opposing sides to constantly seek power over the other.”

Celestia huffed. “Sad but true.”

“What do you mean ‘Vinyl’s heading to the tent’?”

“I mean that she’s using her legs to walk down the path leading to the tent, yeah? She’s stopped now; talking to one of the guards by the gate. Okay, one of them’s testing her for a Disguise spell. She's... Okay, now she's writing something on the ground."

"What?"

"Uh, no, wait - she's writing something on some paper that she's put on the ground. Now she's handed it to the same guard. Now he's coming towards the tent."

Nightmare Moon had firmly instructed Vinyl to remain inside her castle. Furthermore, she had several guards on patrol near her door that would get anything she wanted so that she didn't need to go out. Something wasn’t right.

She heard the tent flaps behind her part and a stallion nervously clearing his throat. "Excuse me, Empress?"

Nightmare Moon forced a shallow grin onto her face. "Forgive me, but it appears as though one of my guards requires an audience with me. For his sake, I hope it isn't a waste of my time."

"The phrase 'do not slay the messenger' is lost on you, is it not?" Luna grumbled dryly.

Celestia furrowed her brow. "I would prefer that we deal with this now, but if you are needed elsewhere..."

"Do not tell me what I can and cannot do," Nightmare Moon growled. "I have no intention of leaving this tent when you two are in it. I do not trust you not to try anything."

She Called to Haze. "Watch them. Make sure they do not try anything."

With that, Nightmare Moon got out of her seat and approached the stallion with clenched teeth and a harsh whisper. “What is she doing here?”

Her harsh whisper made the stallion go a sickly shade of grey. “Uh, h-how did you-”

“Never mind wasting time stuttering like a fool. Tell me what Vinyl is doing here.”

“Sh-she says she wants to talk to you.”

“About?”

“Wouldn’t say,” His hoof suddenly shot up. "Oh! She wrote it down, though!" He had a small note.

Nightmare Moon growled in her throat as she snatched up the paper. It was folded twice so what few words could be made out made little sense. "This had better be good if she want so far as to make a note at an..."

She spread it out and read.

They’re in the castle. They know about us. They’re going to do something bad.

“… inopportune time.”

Being very mindful that her thoughts weren't revealed in her body language, she turned the note over.

They wanted me to help them with their plan. They said they didn’t know why you and me are friends, but you had to be stopped anyway. Actually, they talked a lot. Like, wow. Anyway, I’m supposed to get you to come out of the tent, so that the princesses can do something??? Don’t know what it is. Magic sword thingy? Well, whatever it is, when you're hurt and crap, then all their friends are gonna come out of the castle all piss and vinegar.

There was a bad picture of Nightmare Moon being stabbed in the butt by a sword. Possibly magical. Her eyes were ‘X’ marks.

... Well, points for subtlety. Incredible, really – Vinyl was often on the far end of ‘subtle’.

Ignoring that, Nightmare Moon knew that this had to have been a trap. After all that had happened between her and the sisters, she knew that an alliance was nothing but a merry fantasy, if it could even be called that. How foolish of her to even entertain the notion that this would be anything else.

‘They must be very assured of themselves if they’d risk Twilight’s health to try and trap me. And to use Vinyl in their plan? They must know of our relationship. How else would they know to use her? Treason! Treason within my ranks!’

She wanted to tear into something.

"Is it important?" Celestia asked with what seemed like genuine curiosity. If Nightmare Moon didn't know any better, she might have believed it.

‘So, that's why you were so unperturbed if I had to leave. You wanted to stab me in the back. The question is: why aren't you?'

She thought for a second and decided that perhaps they weren't willing to risk making their move unless they were sure it would be a solid hit. Since there was no physical sign of it, it must be hidden, which meant they would need to draw it out. Clearly, they didn't have faith that they could do that and land a strike before Nightmare Moon could react.

She assumed that the reason she wasn't being attacked right now was because Haze was watching them like a hawk; he could shout or Call for her, and she'd react in less than a second.

She guessed that they intended for her to leave the tent and incapacitate Haze before he could shout. There were several spells that could be cast almost instantaneously to silence Haze's shouting, spells she knew that the sisters possessed and could perform. However, she would still hear the sound of magic charging in such close proximity. They likely wanted Vinyl to find a reason to get her out of the tent to do it without alerting her, and then waiting until she came back to attack.

That's what she assumed they had in mind, at least. Whether it was correct or not, Nightmare Moon had to say that this whole idea of luring her out was rather poorly thought-out: there were so many things that could have gone wrong, even if Vinyl really wanted to betray her. Which she didn't. She knew that she wouldn't.

They must have been desperate.

'Hm. I need more information.’

Thinking quickly, Nightmare Moon turned her thoughts to Twilight.

You will not leave your room without my permission.

The wordless mental retort was strained, angered, as it always was, but Nightmare Moon wasn’t done.

You will actively attempt to resist any attempts to free you, or co-operate with anypony that isn’t me.

Twilight sent all of her rage and disgust and misery.

Stilling her thoughts, swallowing her anger, Nightmare Moon nodded and trained her face into a neutral expression. “Thank you for delivering this. Tell Vinyl that I cannot entertain her with my presence at this moment, but I will endeavour to wrap this up as quickly as possible."

The guard nodded and nervously took back the note. "Y-yes, Empress."

Once he turned and left, Nightmare Moon returned to her chair. She discreetly examined the sisters' faces, but they betrayed no disappointment and worry that she was choosing to stay. Perhaps they had a back-up plan? In that case, she needed to counter it effective immediately.

"Apologies," She smiled falsely. "One of my subjects thought they could pry me away for a moment. A moment in which I would have to leave you alone. You understand my dismissal of their request."

“Of course.” Luna grumbled with a careless wave of her hoof.

“Haze, continue what you’re doing,” Out of the corner of her eye, Haze didn’t so much as twitch to show that he had heard her, seemingly devoted solely to his recordings. “Vinyl delivered a note. This is a trap.”

Haze hummed and re-shuffled his papers. “Well, this just became a tad more complicated.”

“Did the sisters do anything odd while I was turned around?”

“Celestia didn’t. Luna spent a few seconds ‘fixing’ her mane. I won’t pretend to be familiar with the composition of her hair, but considering its partially intangible nature, I find that odd.”

Nightmare Moon didn’t recall Luna having any ability to store items in her mane, but that was before she became separated from her. Who knew what new things she had discovered during these years?

“Can we get back to the matter at hoof?” Celestia said. “We’re here to discuss an alliance.”

“Oh, are we?” Nightmare Moon laughed coldly. “Because from what I heard, you’ve got something else in mind.”

Celestia frowned and narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

A toothy rictus formed on Nightmare Moon's face. "My Praetorian Guard - listen closely. This is a trap: there are intruders in my castle. Save your questions; for now, just do as I say."

“I’m talking about your little plan to get Vinyl to distract me while you prepared something in here.”

Luna blinked. "... Who is that?"

Nightmare Moon's smirk wavered. "She-"

"I believe she is that renowned DJ," Celestia answered. "DJ Pon-3? The one who married that cellist."

"Ah, yes," Luna nodded. "I know her," She blinked again and turned back to Nightmare Moon. "Wait, what about her?"

"Don't play dumb!" Nightmare Moon snapped. "I've caught onto your trickery. You intend to include that useless mare in on your plan because you believe she is my 'friend'."

"Miasma - take a group of guards and head for the castle. Find the intruders. If there are any Element Bearers amongst them, subdue, do not kill. Anypony else? If it's too much trouble, then just kill them.

Miasma confirmed the order.

Celestia made a befuddled face. “You have a friend?”

“I... No!” Nightmare Moon snarled. “Do you truly believe that I would weaken myself by forming any sort of genuine attachment? Listen here, you insolent fools – the reason I granted so much leeway to that mare was because I was fulfilling a favour that I owed to her. She really means nothing to me.”

It hurt.

It hurt more than she expected to say these things. That is, she didn’t expect it to hurt at all; she knew what she was saying was fake, so it made no sense why her chest felt as if it was yawning open like an empty pit. Well, pain or no, this was her chance: she would expose the sisters’ lies and dismantle their plan right in front of them!

"Ebony - have the tent surrounded on all sides and be ready to attack. Fade - you and Lightning Dust make sure Vinyl is safe out there. Nopony is to approach her. Not even the guards."

They confirmed the order.

"And!" Nightmare Moon continued. "I know that your forces are inside my castle. Come clean, or I shall order for their immediate deaths!"

Celestia and Luna said nothing for a while, still infuriatingly calm. Then, Celestia sighed and turned to nod at her sister. “There's no point anymore, Luna. She knows."

Luna grimaced, but nodded solemnly.

“I knew it," Nightmare Moon had to reign herself back; she had gotten a little too aggressive trying to expose them. She needed to appear calm and in control; it would make her exposure of their plan that much sweeter. "Vinyl being my friend? What a laugh. Is that what your little spy told you?” Nightmare Moon mimed boredom and yawned. “Oh, I knew all about that,” She watched Celestia’s eyes widen. “Surprised? Don’t be. They’re not as good as you think.”

She had no idea there was a spy in her ranks until today. It was infuriating to think about, but she suppressed her anger.

If she played her cards right, Celestia and Luna were going to give her all the information she didn’t have. Beautiful.

"Veil - continue monitoring the streets. Make sure the civilians do not interfere; we don't need them getting in the crossfire and making a nuisance, or getting any bright ideas to help the sisters."

Veil confirmed the order.

“I could have taken the spy out," She said with a shrug. "I was going to, wasn’t I, Haze?”

True to his witty intellect, Haze followed her lead with a stoic coolness. “Indeed, Empress. However, you thought of a better solution.”

“That I did,” Nightmare Moon casually got out of her seat and started pacing back and forth like a prowling cat. “Why take out the spy when you can feed them false information? I knew that the spy was taking a keen interest in Vinyl. After all, our interactions are unusual to an outside observer. However, don’t be mistaken: she is a novelty, a curiosity that I use to pass the time. Whatever…” She chuckled and waved her hoof. “‘Activities’ we may have engaged in have no impact on my feelings.

“I admit that at first I didn’t think you’d be able to bring yourselves to use somepony like that; that’s a tactic reserved for somepony like me. But then I thought, ‘they really love Twilight and would do anything to get her back’. So, I took a calculated risk. Tell me – how do you feel knowing you’re using an innocent pony to kill another?”

Celestia bit her lip.

“… It wasn’t to kill you,” Luna grumbled, flexing her wings tersely. “I said otherwise, but the others felt differently. They decided that maybe we should subdue you, instead.”

‘So, whatever they plan to use is supposed to subdue me, not kill me? How sickeningly merciful. Lucky for me, however.’

“Let me get this straight…” Nightmare Moon chuckled and stopped pacing to aim an admonishing hoof at the sisters. “So, because you thought that I had one genuine relationship with one pony, that meant that I deserved to be captured, not killed?”

Celestia opened her mouth. "I-"

Nightmare Moon sighed, lost her smile, and struck her hoof against the concrete.

“Are you truly so pathetic? Are you so blinded by your hubris, your own desire to redeem what is ‘evil’, that you would risk this much? Tell me what is it with you, Celestia: what made you so desperate to believe that there was good in me? After all that I’ve done, you still chose to believe that maybe I had a real friend and that alone meant I deserved mercy. Why?”

Celestia closed her mouth. One of her ears twitched. “You're assuming much."

"Excuse me?"

"We decided to show mercy because you had us imprisoned instead of killed. It may not have been pleasant, but it was better than the alternative. When we heard that you had developed a seemingly genuine relationship with Vinyl, it just gave us more incentive to try and restrain you instead of killing,” Celestia paused. "But you assume that we chose this path solely because you might have made a friend? You're placing an unusual amount of importance on Vinyl's feelings despite 'not caring'."

Nightmare Moon felt her blood run hot. The urge to spit an insult was strong, but she was coming up empty on a worthy response to such a statement.

Instead, she quickly contacted Miasma.

"Status report."

"We're still looking. None of the guards or the staff have seen anything suspicious."

"Vinyl said they were in the castle; they must be there somewhere."

"If they are, we'll find them."

“You have the item which you believe would subdue me, do you not?” Nightmare Moon changed the subject. She gestured to the table. “Relinquish it, or I will make Twilight suffer more than she already has.”

Celestia nodded at Luna, who hesitated longer before reluctantly reaching into her mane and, with a noise like a low-pitched mosquito whine, placed a simple dagger on the table. The sheath was wrapped in some sort of flax and the handle bore carvings similar to fetishes Nightmare Moon had seen in Zebrica. It wasn't a sword, but Vinyl's description was close enough.

“That’s it?”

“‘Tis small, but holds no insignificant amount of power,” Luna quipped. “Were this to so much as scratch you, you would be paralyzed for an entire day.”

Nightmare Moon believed that. Despite the dagger's unremarkable appearance, she could sense something inherently 'wrong' about it. Or, at least wrong to her. She mentally ordered Haze to pick it up. He grimaced in distaste as he obeyed, but nothing spectacular happened; he didn't sizzle, or go rigid like a statue. Satisfied, she told him to keep it close before smirking at the sisters.

If it really was from Zebrica, then she didn't doubt it could do serious harm to her.

She put that thought out of mind for the moment and sneered at the sisters. “Well, congratulations on wasting my time with this charade. I have half a mind to cripple Twilight with unending pain for your actions, but count yourselves lucky that I need her knowledge.”

Celestia lowered her head, and Luna glared at her sibling with a look that screamed ‘I told you this wouldn’t work’. Nightmare Moon was brimming with victorious arrogance; yes, it was irritating that this was a ruse to trap her, but now she could call this off without losing face. As an added bonus, she manipulated the sisters into revealing that they did have a spy feeding them information and secured an object that posed a significant threat to her.

She would reward Vinyl greatly for her part once this was over. She didn’t know how, but she’d figure it out later.

Suddenly, Ebony Called. "We've surrounded the tent, Empress. There's also a few guards near the castle doors."

"Is Vinyl safe?"

"She's fine, but she looks worried."

Vinyl was concerned for her? It elicited a warm and gooey sensation in Nightmare Moon. Hopefully, that wouldn't become too frequent a feeling. It was rather strange.

“Now, since I’m feeling uncommonly generous, I’m going to allow you to march out of my castle and leave my city. Your plan failed, now all there is left for you is to leave in disgrace. Am I clear?” She didn't trust keeping Celestia, Luna, and Twilight in the same place. She could handle whatever forces they brought, but it was too risky to imprison the sisters.

Luna looked ready to have an aneurysm from sheer hate, but Celestia just nodded solemnly. She was oddly docile; the reveal of her plan must have shook her badly. Nightmare Moon relished in her despair.

“Haze, inform the others to stand by for now. We’re not out of the woods just yet.”

“Of course, Empress. What a fantastic display, if you would pardon my fawning.”

Indeed, Haze had a slight smile on his face; he may as well have been jumping up and down with such an outward expression.

Nightmare Moon led the way out of the exit facing the castle. Immediately, she scanned the area for Vinyl.

She found her in the gardens a little ways away with Lightning Dust and Fade standing beside her. Even with the distance between them, Nightmare Moon could see her expression turn from concern to relief.

"You acted swiftly," Luna whispered as she emerged from the tent and looked around. There was grudging respect in her words that she quickly squashed beneath a bitter tone. "They did not surround the tent like this when we arrived."

Under Ebony's leadership, most of the Eclipse in the area had formed a ring around the tent, spears and halberds pointed inwards while many guards had swords, clubs, and axes ready to be swung at a moment's notice.

Nightmare Moon nodded approvingly at her Right Hoof before directing a taunting sneer at Luna. "My forces are more organized than yours. Stronger. I told them of my plan and they've carried it out perfectly."

Some of the Eclipse guards within earshot grimaced, or looked at each other like, 'what's she talking about?' Fortunately, neither Celestia nor Luna were focused on the guards' expressions.

'Judging by their surprise, their spy doesn't know that I can communicate with my Praetorian Guard telepathically. Good. That's a secret I can keep in my arsenal for another day.'

"My forces are already in the castle, rounding up your pathetic lot," Nightmare Moon jerked her muzzle toward the castle. She spotted Vinyl walking over to her, likely to see if she was okay, but continued addressing the sisters. "Once I recieve word that they are properly secured, you are to leave immediately" Seeing as Vinyl was still a bit away, Nightmare Moon took a step closer to the sisters and lowered her voice to a cold whisper. "Don't even bother trying to speak to that mare. I still have use for her."

“You don't have to do this," Celestia said quietly. "The ponies in there were only trying to help us. They shouldn't be punished for what we planned."

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Oh, Celestia - that's exactly why I'm taking them. To hurt you.”

She turned and walked away a bit and ordered a few guards to stand between her and the sisters. Even if their dagger was secured, with Haze safekeeping it next to Ebony, she felt safer about turning her back on them with a few extra bodies acting as a shield.

Vinyl was only several feet away now. Fade and Lightning Dust were trailing behind her, watching out for any danger. Vinyl seemed fine, though, and pleased to see her. Her shades were pushed up over her horn and her red eyes were warm and welcoming.

Nightmare Moon's chest throbbed uncomfortably.

She didn’t know why: Vinyl was safe, the trap had been revealed, so why did she still feel uneasy?

It must have been the dagger: she was still feeling the effects of whatever foul magic was contained in it. It was supposed to subdue her with one strike, after all; it made sense that she would feel the aura of a thing meant to counter her nature. Especially if it was from Zebrica.

She brushed any concerns of the sensation aside.

She wanted to thank Vinyl for her help, but it would have to wait until the princesses and the spy were gone. Until that, she would have to remain distant and cold. Hopefully, Vinyl would understand.

And then suddenly, Nightmare Moon heard a voice cry out.

“WOLF!!”

She blinked, stared at Vinyl’s unmoving lips, her eyes which suddenly wide with shock, and then turned to the castle’s front entrance, where a white mare was sprinting towards her desperately. The guards by the door jostled and moved to stop her, but hesitated and looked back and forth, some rubbing their eyes.

“It’s a trick!” The mare cried as a prismatic blur flew out of the castle and tackled her to the ground. “That’s not m- argh!!”

Suddenly, it seemed like everything was in slow motion.

Nightmare Moon’s wings spread reflexively to leap forth and aid her friend, but her head turned to face the Vinyl that was in front of her.

She heard Celestia cry ‘Now!’

She heard a large sound not too far-off, like rocks being smashed against each other, followed by a noise like rushing water.

The Vinyl-imposter pursed her lips as a green flame engulfed her and spat a shocking amount of saliva at her. Most of it fell short, but some landed on her coat and in her mouth, agape as it was from surprise.

It took a second to realize that it wasn’t saliva.

Her body burned, her muscles locked up, her vision went dark. She went to call for her Praetorian Guard, but even her thoughts left her as her essence swelled, bloated, and burst from her flesh with intense waves of agony.

‘But… their plan was… How did they do it?’

Author's Note

Note 1: "As per your request, we've interrogated some of the changelings that weren't flung far enough away from the magical force that you and your recently betrothed emitted to banish them. Few were very cooperative, but one was more than happy to help us. He's oddly charismatic and eccentric given recent events. He informed us that the changelings were able to sneak in because any magic tailored to Dispel magical effects, including illusions and disguises, are ineffective on a changeling's ability to take another's form.

"He says that he is only a 'drone' - apparently, changelings have a caste system - and does not know the finer details of their physiology, but tells us that it is less to do with changing everyone's perspective and more to do with distorting reality. The green flame we see when they shapeshift is a by-product of a natural ability in which they 're-write' themselves to adopt another state of existence. Put simply, when they take another form, they literally become that form: they assume its traits, its anatomy, everything except their mind. Our Dispel incantations are useless because, for as long as they are transformed, that's what they are - there's nothing to dispel. If that makes sense.

"He also mentions that while lower castes like himself can only take on forms of similar mass and shape - as opposed to higher castes who can shapeshift into more complex forms such as dragons, bears, and chimeras - they are able to retain some aspects of their changeling physiology such as wings, horns, and what he refers to as a 'resin sac'. We'll try to get more information, but Celestia wishes to see this specific changeling for reasons that have not been revealed to me. Awaiting your reply.

"P.S. Is it Cadence or Cadance? I keep forgetting and nopony here knows." - Letter from Lieutenant Map-Keeper to Prince Shining Armor, one week after the Siege of Canterlot. Further letters reveal an intricate web of subterfuge and secrecy revolving around the correct spelling of Princess ~~Cadance's~~ Cadence's name, which concludes in a flowery letter by the princess herself in which she bemoans how she'll never escape the shackles of her nomenclature.

Note 2: You thought it was a joke, but it was a real chapter all along!!

Chapter 62: The Fall: Part 2

Chapter 63

Earlier…

Everyone had their ‘Moment’.

Whether it was on stage, or on a battlefield, or in a courtroom, or in a hive, every living thing had their ‘Moment’: a once-in-a-lifetime event that demanded their input, an event which would shape not only their lives but the lives of those around them. But one had to be quick, one had to be smart, for the ‘Moment’ was a fickle and restless thing that would fleet away if one hesitated for too long.

Mirage felt the inklings of his ‘Moment’ when he heard that Sun and Moon Goddesses Celestia and Luna had escaped Usurper Nightmare Moon’s clutches and, not one to hide when fate knocked on the door, went on a grand venture to lend his talents to their just cause!

It was the least he could do after Sun Goddess Celestia found it within her magnanimous heart to pardon his misguided efforts for Brood Queen Chrysallis.

Now, after several weeks of spying and lurking, he could sense that his ‘Moment’ was about to reveal itself.

And he would be ready to answer it.

Mirage slipped in and out of the Eclipse’s ranks, using dark alleyways and helpful buildings as cover for his shapeshifting; he never took the same disguise, nor did he take ones that wouldn’t make sense. After all, he could hardly pretend to be Ebony the Deathless when she was practically rooted to the spot in front of the tent, could he?

Sun and Moon Goddesses Celestia and Luna had entered the tent of Usurper Nightmare Moon just a few minutes ago. Distraction: the first phase of the plan! Now, all he could do was wait and watch the skies for the signal.

Ah, his blood was pumping with the adrenaline of cloud-watching!

Striding confidently amongst the Eclipse, Mirage came upon a trio of guards chatting to one another. One caught his gaze and waved him over. His current persona – his Mask – demanded that he answer the gesture with a nervous smile and a shy canter toward them.

“Ensign Stripe Row, right?” The one who gestured asked. Mirage needed only a second to place his name and face – Private Foxtrot the Cynic. “Could you please tell these jokers that they’re idiots for thinking this whole negotiation thing is going to go smoothly?”

Mirage put on his ‘I’m shy and uncertain’ face. “Um, w-well-”

“Don’t bully her, ya bastard,” Another one snorted – Private Shiner the Pardoned. “She doesn’t take bets like this. Ain’t that right, sweet thing?”

“Well-”

The last one, Private Dumbbell the Poignant, snickered. “Hurh hurh… Differing viewpoints.”

Shiner waved her off. “Thanks for the input. Back to your rounds.”

Mirage nodded and slinked off.

He dipped into a nearby alleyway when nobody was looking, switched forms, and stepped out into the back of a passing patrol.

Not a minute later, Mirage heard flapping wings and looked up to see Lightning Dust the Arrogant fly overhead, likely checking for anything out of the ordinary.

Ah! But what was that in the sky?!

A completely innocuous white cloud poorly shaped like a crescent moon with a puff of a dot in the centre. Brilliant!

‘The signal has been revealed to me! Now, the Great and Loveable Mirage shall prove himself to be greater than he already is!’

In his mind, he made wooshing noises as he seamlessly snuck away from the patrol and crept through the streets before making his way to the gates surrounding Canterlot Castle. He had to wait a few minutes in the Mask of a pony who was supposed to be on guard there – fortunately, she had a weak bladder and walked off a while ago – until two ponies guarding an entrance to the sewers glanced away at the same time, allowing him to briefly take on Beastmaster Fluttershy’s visage and fly over the gate.

She had lovely wings that were quieter than most pegasi.

He dove into some bushes and switched to the Mask of an Eclipse guard with a foliage-green coat, sans the armor. Usurper Nightmare Moon’s enormous pet was patrolling the front entrance, sniffing for any intruders.

‘The bond between a pet and its tyrannical master is invigorating to witness. Surely, this beast has caused the quivering of many bladders.’

He glanced to the sky and saw the crescent cloud for an instant before it disappeared over the castle towers. He was running late? Unacceptable! If ‘punctual’ wasn’t his middle name, then it would have to be ‘liar’, and since Mirage’s only lies were written plainly on his face…

When the great timber wolf turned in the other direction and stopped to scratch behind its ears, Mirage scooted the rest of the way to the castle on his belly and switched to his true form, so he could scale the walls and sneak in through his favourite window. He dubbed it the ‘Sleuthing Window’.

Once inside, he switched to the Mask of another Eclipse guard and jogged to the rendezvous point. It wasn’t far and there weren’t as many guards in the castle, but even with most of Usurper Nightmare Moon’s forces stationed outside, he had to take mind of who was patrolling here and who wasn’t.

‘Yes, yes, the pony you see is, in fact, a pony and nothing else. Certainly not a handsome and enterprising changeling,’ He waved to a guard his Mask liked and returned a scowl to a guard his Mask didn’t like. ‘You all look fantastically frightening in your armor, by the way. I wish I could say that aloud, but that’s not what my Mask would do.’

It took two minutes and two seconds to get to where he needed to be. Unfortunately, somepony who was not meant to be there… was there.

“Sergeant Red Flush, ma’am,” Mirage saluted, and the mare lazily looked over at him as she blew out a cloud of smoke. “Aren’t you supposed to be patrolling the kitchen?”

“Got bored,” Red Flush Two-Word shrugged and continued leaning against the wall. Her helmet was off and placed on the floor, letting her long red bangs cover one side of her face. “No smoking,” She took another drag on her cigar. “All good.”

Mirage looked out the window beside her and saw the cloud from before. “Ma’am, if you’re here, then what happened to Pastures?”

“Oh, him?” Red Flush Two-Word shrugged again, oblivious to the cloud approaching the window. “Downstairs still,” She brushed her mane aside and examined him intently. “All alone. Wanna screw?”

Ah, right – Red Flush Two-Word had a not-so-subtle crush on his Mask.

Mirage sighed. “Apologies, you bedazzling apparition, but I require you to be unconscious.”

She stared at him in confusion, which allowed him the moment he needed to change back to his true form and stimulate the sac hidden in his throat to spit up a healthy amount of green resin. Red Flush Two-Word stumbled back with a muffled shriek and dropped her cigar to paw at her face, only to ultimately fall over.

“Also, I must say that in the months I’ve grown to know you, I find it abhorrent that you choose to indulge in these things,” Mirage used what little magic his body was privy to and picked up the cigar with telekinesis. “Tut-tut, my friend – you may live your life as you see fit, but as your sworn enemy, I would be remiss if I did not inform you of the dangers of smoking. Firstly- Ah, you are unconscious.”

A pity, but it couldn’t be helped.

Mirage turned to the window and opened it. Immediately, the cloud outside dispersed and several shapes flew inside. They were all dressed in white coats, which they swiftly removed.

“Nice going there, Mirage,” Spitfire the Swift grinned at him, and he felt a slight surge of affection from her. “Didn’t doubt you for a second.”

“A genuine compliment reserved for me?! My life has grown that much richer, thanks to you!”

“Heh heh – happy to give it,” Spitfire the Swift’s jovial mood lasted for a second longer before he felt her aura shift to something denser and darker. Her face turned grim and serious. “Now, we don’t have much time, so let’s get on with the plan. Everybody ready?”

“Ready, Captain!” Soarin the Pastry-Lover saluted.

“Yeah, let’s go get Twilight back.” Rainbow Dash the Loyal bumped her forehooves together with an eager grin.

Mirage tittered and pranced in place. “A daring break-out! My carapace is trembling in anticipation!”

He got that odd look from everyone again. "Your what?" Soarin the Pastry-Lover grimaced.

"My carapace, of course," Mirage thumped his breast. "See? It's hard. And trembling. With anticipation."

Ponies could be strange at times.

Spitfire the Swift shook her head. “Uh, anyway… you’re sure the path to Twilight’s clear?”

“Indeed. I have devoted my entire being to learning the inner machinations of our dastardly adversaries. Though Usurper Nightmare Moon may believe that she has covered all bases, she did not count for I, Mirage, to throw a spanner into her works,” Mirage paused, then waved his leg, so-so. “Of course, caution should always be exercised in enemy territory,” He then puffed his chest out confidently and transformed into another Eclipse guard. “But I shall lead you true!”

Rainbow Dash the Loyal and Soarin the Patry-Lover quickly stuffed the unconscious guard into a nearby closet. “We’re counting on you, dude,” Rainbow Dash the Loyal said. “Better get going, too; Gilda’s never been good at waiting.”

“Then we shall make haste! Onwards!”

Mirage had always worked alone. While he didn’t doubt the pegasus’ abilities, he couldn’t help but fret and worry as he started to traverse the castle’s hallways. They were taking the shortest and least-patrolled route, but there were still many variables that couldn’t be accounted for.

What if a guard got bored? What if one decided to leave their post to grab a snack and conveniently come this way? What if – Hive forbid – he made a mistake in remembering a guard’s patrol route? His memory hadn’t failed him yet, but the variables…!

No!

Everyone was counting on him to successfully play his part. He had to do this. Sun Goddess Celestia allowed him to live in Equestria even after the changeling invasion, so until he repaid that kindness he couldn’t afford to fail.

He trusted in the pegasi behind him and didn’t look back but carried on his way as if he was supposed to be there, in the corridors approaching Twilight’s prison. Confidence – the only form of credentials one needed if they played their cards right. And Mirage had very good cards.

And good fortune, for he didn’t happen across another guard until he arrived at his destination. He hid behind a wall and peeped around the corner. Two guards were stationed outside the laboratory that Twilight the Ascended had been confined to.

He popped back behind the wall and turned around to meet three faces. “Oh, but you are sneaky. Did you fly along the ceiling?”

Spitfire the Swift smirked briefly and tapped the side of her nose. “Just a little something whipped up by Sunset Shimmer.”

“How enigmatic.”

“Yeah. So, about those guards…”

“Unfortunately, nothing less of Usurper Nightmare Moon ordering them will make them leave their posts. I can’t manage her form as she is too large.”

“But you have a plan for that.” It wasn’t a question.

Mirage grinned. “That I do, my feathered companion.”

With a quiet fwoosh of green fire, he took on the form of a young mare in a maid’s uniform. Custom-made, she was perfectly proportioned, beautiful, and enticing; Mirage would be disappointed if she didn’t do the job.

“Be ready to act,” He tossed his strawberry-coloured mane and winked playfully. “And soon, we shall be reunited with Twilight the Ascended.”

Trotting around the corner, Mirage walked past the guards and heard the slight shift of their armor as they followed his swaying rear. Good – he spent a lot of time getting the shape of it right.

He pretended to drop something and, poor earth pony maid that he was, bent down to pick it up with his mouth. He heard a poorly-muffled hum of appreciation from behind that was swiftly followed by two soft thumps and a sigh.

Mirage turned to find the guards lying unconscious. He wasn’t a huge fan of violence, but it was a necessary evil during these hard times.

“Keep in mind that we have a fair amount of time before the next change,” Mirage said, switching back to his true form. “More than enough to do what we need to do.”

Rainbow Dash the Loyal shook her forehoof after giving the guards one hell of a glare and checked the watch on her other leg. “Thirty minutes starting… now.”

Spitfire the Swift approached the door and lifted her wing to reveal a small satchel fastened around her waist. She took out a small silver stake with a sapphire gemstone haphazardly strapped to it with duct tape. Mirage imagined it to be a highly-sophisticated tent peg. He knew it wasn’t, but it sounded really cool.

Spitfire the Swift turned to them for a second. “Pray to Faust that Sunset knew what she was doing when she made this…”

Mirage tittered as Spitfire the Swift stuck the sharp end into the wall surrounding the door. “Have faith in Sunset the Undecided – I’m certain she will pull through for us.”

The device started to shimmer like oil on water and emit pixels of light.

“But on the off chance that it kills us in a fiery explosion, take solace in that we will perish together.”

“If I die, then I’ll kick her butt.” Rainbow Dash the Loyal said, grimacing and leaning back as the device shone brighter.

Fortunately, no explosions occurred. The device emitted a teal-hued flash and stopped producing pixels of light. Cautiously, Spitfire the Swift tapped the door, then picked the keys of one of the guards to unlock it. She pushed against it, and it creaked inwards without any trouble.

“Looks like that anti-magic thingy worked,” Soarin said. “No alarms, nothing.”

Spitfire the Swift waved them inside. “And unless Nightmare Moon’s on her way right now, she’s none the wiser.”

The laboratory seemed to be perpetually permeated with the smell of cinnamon, and it had Mirage like a fist. He coughed dryly and pinched his nose just as he caught a glimmer in the far corner of the room.

Rainbow Dash the Loyal made a beeline for the glimmer. “Twilight!”

“Rainbow Dash?” There was a brief hiccup. “Oh, my stars – I’m so happy to see you again!”

Mirage flinched as a beaker near him spat out a puff of yellow gas. He gave it a wide berth and joined the others. Rainbow Dash the Loyal went in for a hug, but Twilight the Ascended whimpered in distress and backed away.

“No, wait… I can’t…” She looked down at her hooves, and as Mirage came closer, he could see the self-loathing in her body language and face. “Don’t hug me. These crystals…”

“I don’t care,” Rainbow Dash the Loyal shook her head firmly. “You’re my friend. Just a bit… shinier than usual.”

“Thanks, but… I meant that they’re really sharp,” Twilight the Ascended looked at Mirage – he waved enthusiastically – and then at the Wonderbolts. It finally seemed to click for her that they were all here. “W-wait, you’re…?” She blinked and gasped softly. “Are you about to launch your attack?”

“That’s right!” Soarin the Pastry-Lover said. “We-”

Oh, dear.

“Ah, ah!” Mirage blitzed over to the stallion with a rapid flutter of his wings and covered his mouth. “One does not tell the supris-ee about the surprise party, and we shan’t tell Twilight the Ascended about the plan, remember?”

Twilight the Ascended winced and bowed her head apologetically. “Right, sorry – I forgot. You can’t tell me the details in case Nightmare Moon forces me to talk.”

“Hmmhmm!” Soarin the Pastry-Lover said, pointing to Rainbow Dash. “Hrrmm!”

She nodded. “Right, right,” Her left wing lifted enough to reveal a silver-coloured satchel, similar to Spitfire the Swift’s, and she touched it as if to reassure its existence. She looked to Twilight the Ascended and smiled comfortingly. “Sorry I can’t tell you much, Egghead. But just know that you’re gonna be okay. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

Twilight the Ascended smiled. To Mirage, it was almost unfairly majestic; the few crystals that jutted from the underside of her jaw like tiny hairs did nothing to demean that smile.

“You know, I can’t help but believe you, Rainbow.”

Something passed between them – personal and intimate, the true mark of friendship – before Rainbow Dash the Loyal turned to Spitfire the Swift. “Watch out for her.”

Spitfire the Swift nodded. “She’ll be fine with us. Just make sure you end that cold bitch once and for all.”

With her and Soarin the Pastry-Lover staying, that meant it was time for the second half of the plan. Mirage jogged back out into the castle halls with Rainbow Dash the Loyal close behind. They stopped to pull both the guards inside the room. They couldn’t do much about them besides hope that no other Eclipse went outside their normal schedule and came by.

Once that was done, Mirage donned another guard’s disguise. Immediately, he was hit by a wave of nausea and had to brace himself against the wall.

“Hey, whoa!” Rainbow Dash the Loyal put her hoof on his shoulder. “You okay, dude?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m not a queen, so changing this many times in such a short period tends to turn my stomach against me,” He smiled reassuringly, even though he was certain his Mask wasn’t a fan of dental hygiene. “Worry not! I am very awesome, after all.”

She grinned at that. “That makes two of us.”

With an affirmative nod, Mirage shrugged off his nausea. Rainbow Dash the Loyal paused to reach into her satchel and he finally understood how she and the others remained undetected.

She pulled out a slip of fabric from her satchel, tied it around her forehead, and turned transparent.

Not invisible, however; Mirage had to strain his eyes, but he could still see her outline and distinctive features – she reminded him of some of those washed-out portraits that Rarity the Artist kept in her ‘Creation Room’ and got upset over when Mirage tried to put his incredible painting skills to use and bring the colour and life back into them.

But then Rainbow Dash bent her legs and shot up to the ceiling, her wings flapping so softly that one could easily mistake it for the wind.

“Aha!” Mirage exclaimed in victory. “So, that is how you escape detection! Your ingenuity and flying expertise are inspiring to behold! Surely, you will have great tales to-”

“Dude.” The now-harder-to-see pegasus interrupted.

“Ah, but of course. Onwards to glory, my friend.”

Holding his head high, Mirage relied on his memory to take him back through the hallways and down a floor. There were more guards here, but the windows were open, so if anybody heard or felt a breeze, then the cause would be attributed to that. Mirage greeted the guards he knew his Mask would greet. They smiled or nodded in return.

Sometimes it was hard to trick them: a lot – though not all – of the Eclipse were normal and friendly ponies who joined just because they felt like it was the best way to help protect the city. He knew of several ponies that were in the Royal Guard who ended up joining the Eclipse because, as much of a villain as Usurper Nightmare Moon was, her guard was helping to defend the city from the humans.

Mirage knew what he and the others were doing was just, but it was disheartening to imagine these ponies getting hurt due to their actions.

He immediately stopped that thinking once he arrived at his destination: he had to focus.

“Is this where she’s staying?”

“Yes,” The hall was clear for the moment, so he could talk to Rainbow Dash the Loyal without seeming like he was in a clandestine relationship with an innocuous wooden door. “Vinyl the Oddity is just beyond this beautifully-polished barrier.”

He heard Rainbow Dash the Loyal utter under her breath, “I can’t believe she’s her…” A pause. “Like, she can’t really be friends with her, right?”

“I have witnessed Usurper Nightmare Moon and Vinyl the Oddity’s interactions from the shadows, my friend. Temper your doubt, for their relationship is true. As sure as the ocean tastes bad.”

She scoffed. “I can’t believe it. Ponies say that it’s important to forgive, but how do you forgive somepony that hurts others without any regret? Nightmare Moon doesn’t care who she hurts and she’s not gonna change. Watch – she’ll get bored of Vinyl sooner or later and do something bad to her,” She paused. “So, we’re helping Vinyl in a way, right?”

It didn’t sound like she was very sure of herself. To be honest, Mirage was also iffy about keeping someone away from their friend – that was the opposite of friendship, right? – but he believed they were justified: Usurper Nightmare Moon took Canterlot by force and threatened the lives of innocent creatures by doing so, which automatically made her the bad guy. Er, pony.

“Of course we’re helping her,” He reassured Rainbow Dash the Loyal. “We’re the side of the righteous and just, aren’t we?”

“R-right,” She paused for a second before he heard her open her satchel. “Here.”

She descended low enough to hand him a small flask – a simple, silver thing with a bit of rust on the bottom. Even so, the weight was tremendous. Metaphorically speaking, of course. It was actually rather light.

“Hey, dude?”

Mirage looked up just as he was about to twist the top off. “Yes, my friend?”

Her expression was difficult to pinpoint, but she looked… “I just want to say thanks for everything you’ve done. Like, we probably would have had so much trouble without you here. Actually, nah – we would have. I’ve been going crazy having to sit by and just wait until we had our chance to make a move. I don’t like not helping my friends, you know?”

“Rainbow-”

“So, thanks for everything,” She cleared her throat. “That’s pretty much it.”

A compliment was fantastic. This? This was…! Oh, he didn’t even know what it was, but it was more than fantastic! He didn’t know what to say.

… There was nothing he could say. No. The best response to this was action!

Mirage swallowed a lump in his throat before taking a deep breath and opening the flask. He tipped his head back and swallowed the contents. He felt the liquid go down his throat and then take a sharp turn into his resin sac as he shifted most of his insides back to that of his true form.

It was never pleasant to store anything other than resin in there, but he was determined enough to swallow vinegar if it would help the cause! Fortunately, Zecora the Brewmaster’s Cleansing Joke concoction was slightly bitter and mostly sweet.

“Watch the time, my friend,” Mirage said, giving the flask back. “Soon, your friend shall be safe and free.”

“Go for it, dude.”

“Good fortune to you and your task.”

And thus, Mirage was a lone ranger once more.

He walked away from Vinyl’s room – just in time as a guard came by to check on her, but luckily, he didn’t think to look up – and went through the hallways to his next destination.

So far, everything was going to plan.

‘Get to Twilight the Ascended with her portion of the Cleansing Joke mixture.’

Mirage ducked into a utility closet and switched his disguise. His resin sac tried to eject the foreign fluid, but he supressed the reflex and continued on his way.

‘Rainbow Dash the Loyal ensures that Vinyl the Oddity does not interfere with the plan.’

Mirage was just shy of a dozen yards to the castle doors. He had to hide away in a small alcove beneath the main stairs when one of the castle’s kitchen servants wandered by unexpectedly carrying a silver dish covered by a lid. He waited until they went up the stairs before changing his form to Vinyl the Oddity.

His resin sac announced its discomfort with a nauseating punch to his midsection; he had to lean against the wall for a spell and wait until his legs stopped shaking and his vision cleared.

“It seems that I am nearing my limits on transformations,” Mirage mumbled before shaking his head and smirking confidently to no one. “B-but limits are meant to be broken. I shall push past this with an iron composure.”

‘Then comes the riskiest part: getting access to Usurper Nightmare Moon.’

Mirage briskly trotted out of his hiding spot and leaned against the door, taking a deep breath – certainly not because he was nervous or anything! He took an extra second to get into character before striking the door’s surface.

It opened, revealing a mare’s gruff face. “You?” She squinted, one eye blue and the other a faded green. “What are you doing here alone? Empress says you shouldn’t-”

“Yeah, I gotta talk to Wolf, real quick,” Mirage shrugged casually, but tapped his right hind leg to show a hint of impatience. “Like, real real quick.”

Patchwork the Doubtful frowned. “I don’t know…”

Inspiring to see one live up to their title, but Mirage had a job to do.

“Wolf’s probably just in there making the princesses cry with insults or something,” Mirage shifted his weight to one side and cocked his head, staring at Patchwork the Doubtful evenly. “Look, if she gets upset, then it’ll be at me, not you. I told the guards upstairs the same thing and they were cool about it. Come on – be cool like them.”

Patchwork the Doubtful groaned and rolled her eyes. “Fine. But it’s not because I want to be cool. That’s stupid,” She opened the door wide enough for Mirage to get through, but suddenly stopped him with a firm prod to the chest. “But you’re getting scanned. No exceptions.”

Mirage shrugged and smiled disarmingly. “No worries.”

And thus, he was outside, surrounded by ponies. Usually, Mirage would enjoy having so many eyes on him, but those eyes were connected to bodies which happened to be carrying sharp objects that would enjoy breaking through his chitin and parting the fragile flesh beneath. Mirage liked his insides where they were and aimed to keep it that way.

Patchwork the Doubtful took him over to two unicorns. One approached, and Mirage discreetly eyed the tent behind him.

‘Usurper Nightmare Moon…’

He half-expected there to be a purple haze of condensed villainy surrounding the fabric, but life was not nearly so dramatic, unfortunately.

The unicorn lit his horn to cast Dispel on Mirage, and he let it happen; only Twilight had managed to find a way to disrupt a changeling's disguise and she hadn't shared that with anypony besides her closest friends as a counter-measure for future changeling attacks.

“Clear,” Spirit the Shaker said once he finished his examination. “But the Empress was clear on her orders: nopony goes near the tent unless she asks for them.”

“It’s important.” Mirage insisted.

“No way. I’m not gonna catch shit for disobeying her orders,” He stood his ground stubbornly. “Tell me what you want to say, and I’ll pass the message along.”

“I’d prefer to tell Wolf personally,” Mirage grumbled. “It’s kinda private,” He thought for a moment. “Can I write something down and give it to her?”

Spirit the Shaker used telekinesis to take some paper and a pencil from the pocket of his friend – “hey”, they cried indignantly – and hoof it over. “Make it quick.”

Mirage almost – almost, thank the Hive – used magic, but recalled Vinyl the Oddity’s disability at the last second and used his hooves. He put the paper on the ground and used the pencil with his mouth.

Mirage felt Spirit the Shaker’s shadow and glared up while covering the paper. “‘O chea’ing!”

“I wasn’t,” He huffed and looked the other way, grumbling. “Not like it’s a test anyway…”

For Mirage, it kind of was. He had only seen Vinyl the Oddity’s hoof/mouth-writing a few times before; it was always sloppy, but he had to make sure it was the right type of sloppy. It had to be ‘I’m not used to writing without my horn’, not ‘I’m intentionally writing this bad’. There was a distinct difference between those two that Mirage was adamant to get down.

“Finished?”

“Yeah, yeah,” He scribbled out the last letter and folded the paper before anyone could get a good look. “You’re gonna give it to her right now, right?”

“What else am I going to do with it?” Spirit the Shaker rolled his eyes before snatching the note and marching off to the tent.

Mirage let out a small breath of relief. ‘The best outcome is that Usurper Nightmare Moon comes out to meet me. If not, then Sun and Moon Goddesses Celestia and Luna will have to find a way to use that dagger.’

Until something happened, Mirage would just have to wait.

Rainbow Dash had to thank the ponies that designed this castle.

Built to accommodate Celestia’s stature, almost everything was big: wider stairs, larger rooms, and most importantly for her, taller doorframes and higher ceilings. If it wasn’t for that, Rainbow Dash might have been caught long ago. But she was high enough that none of the guards could feel the draft from her wings, or hear her flapping clearly enough to glance up.

Additionally, this meant she could sneak into a room if she stuck close enough to the top of the door frame.

Below her, Vinyl and the random guard spoke in quiet voices.

“I appreciate your support, but I’m taking a break from music ‘til I recover,” Vinyl said in an exasperated but friendly tone like she was used to this sort of conversation. “Kinda unfair to the rest of my peeps if I give you an early sample of my work, isn’t it?”

“Just one song?” The guard pleaded. She was a gentle-faced mare with a fragile voice, far from the ideal ‘evil minion’ that would be taking orders from Nightmare Moon in Rainbow Dash’s opinion. “Please? It took all this time for me to get the courage to talk to you. I’m sure the Empress would kill me for talking to you without her permission.”

“Nah, she’s not that bad. Maybe just a few minutes of glaring and one of her creepy molester smiles.”

Rainbow Dash almost snickered, but coldly stamped out the urge. She slipped into Vinyl’s room and floated over to a window where sunlight was streaming in; she’d be harder to see with the light below her.

“Fine,” Vinyl sighed, shifting her weight to one side. “I’ll give you an early copy, but only when it’s finished, alright? And you can’t tell anypony about it!”

“Ohmigosh, thank you so much! I promise I won’t! Y-you’re the best!”

“I guess I am, huh?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

Shortly after, Vinyl shut the door and turned to stretch before wandering over to a vanity beside a large bed. She picked up a small tin dish and twisted the lid off to apply some strawberry pink gel to her horn. Now that Rainbow Dash was looking at it, it seemed off-centre and the edges were ragged like paper torn by hoof.

Come to think of it… Rainbow Dash recalled a time when Rarity fell down the Boutique’s stairs carrying boxes of fabrics and ended up chipping a chunk of her horn; she didn’t give it much thought and recovered within a few days, but the chunk grew back ragged and rough until Rarity had it filed down.

Vinyl’s horn looked like that, but way worse.

“Jeez…” Vinyl grimaced as she looked in the mirror and briefly made a face of concentration. “Fucking Caed.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t have to worry about magic, so it should be simple to stop Vinyl from leaving this room until Mirage, or the princesses did what needed to be done. She hoped Vinyl would just go to the bathroom for like… an hour or something, but Rainbow Dash was ready to resort to physical restraint if she had to. It made her feel like crap, but all she had to do was think back on the horrible treatment Twilight had to endure to strengthen her resolve.

She had to do this.

Vinyl put more of that stuff on her horn and stared intensely at her reflection. “Come on, girl – you got your music to get back to. Your fans, dude. What about your fans? Can’t let them down…”

Rainbow Dash grimaced. ‘Yeah, I can understand that feeling…’

Vinyl stared at herself hard for a few seconds…

Then turned around and looked straight at her with red-hued eyes.

Rainbow Dash’s heart stopped in her chest. ‘N-no way! She can’t see me, can she?!’

Vinyl squinted, and Rainbow Dash calmed, realizing the mare was glaring at the window, not her. She closed her eyes and released a silent breath.

“For someone who preached about eternal night, she doesn’t seem to mind the sun,” Vinyl sighed, turning back to the vanity and grabbing something. “Not even an extra hour before it rises? Come on.”

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and saw Vinyl lowering her hoof after ensuring her trademark purple shades were securely balanced.

In that brief instant, she pondered if those shades could dilute the sun’s rays enough for Vinyl to perhaps notice a spot above the window being a little wave-y than usual.

Vinyl’s eyebrows drew together and disappeared behind the frame of her shades as she took a step closer, still holding the container. She had to be squinting. “Uh…?”

Rainbow Dash weighed her options.

The only thing keeping Vinyl from fully noticing her was keeping still, but in just a few seconds, not even that would save her. But if she moved suddenly without saying anything, Vinyl might shout or yell and draw somepony to the room; they’d immediately run to tell Nightmare Moon.

Could she move fast enough to knock Vinyl out? What if something happened because of the horn injury? She didn’t want to hurt Vinyl badly, just stop her from stopping them from rescuing Twilight.

Vinyl took a step closer.

Rainbow Dash swallowed the lump in her throat and darted to the floor and tore the enchanted cloth from her head.

“Don’t scream.”

Vinyl gave a soft ‘uh’ in shock and took a step back. “… You… Rainbow Dash?”

No screaming. Thank Faust for that.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“How the hell did you get in here? Wait, what are you even doing in here?”

‘Maybe I can talk some sense into her,’ Rainbow Dash thought. ‘Twilight does that shit all the time and it always works out. If it doesn’t, then with how close we are, I can gag her before she can get a scream out.’

“Alright, I’m gonna be totally honest with you on one condition,” Rainbow Dash emphasized her point by lightly stomping her hoof. “You have to listen to what I have to say and not try to run.”

Vinyl’s shades made it difficult to tell what she was feeling, but she did nod after a moment. “Majorly sketch, but I’ll hear ya out. Make it quick.”

“Rrgh!”

Spitfire jolted as Twilight suddenly staggered, her teeth clenched to the point of creaking. “Princess Twilight!”

Twilight waved her off and took several seconds to catch her breath, eyes closed in discomfort. “… I’m fine,” She exhaled and shook her head with a groan. “That was just Nightmare Moon ordering me to resist anypony trying to help me. She was particularly intense that time.”

Spitfire sucked her teeth in sympathy. “Yeah. Mirage told us about that, but we couldn't find a way to deal with it without alerting Nightmare Moon. Sorry.”

“She can’t read my mind, thank Faust, so I couldn’t tell her about you two over it even if she ordered me to," Twilight nodded her head to the door. "I’d have to physically go to her to talk, and it looks like she’s too paranoid to let me go out there.”

“I don't mean to offend, but...” Spitfire rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “Should we be worried that you might kick our asses?”

Soarin echoed her thoughts with a nervous nod. “I really don’t want to go up against a princess.”

Twilight frowned in thought, then shook her head again. “I’m not trying to attack you right now, so your actions may need to be more direct than that. Even if I know you’re going to, I don’t know how, so the order’s not kicking in,” She paused and bit her bottom lip. “I think… you have to surprise me, or something like that, with whatever you’re going to do. You can’t approach me directly. That’s how it feels anyway.”

“We’ll be sure not to let you see it when it happens, princess,” Spitfire said. “Soarin will keep the thing that will help you out of sight until the moment comes.”

“Thank you,” Twilight turned to the side and touched her chin, pondering. “Her orders were uncharacteristically short and lenient; she must have felt pressured by something…”

Soarin leaned in to Spitfire and lowered his voice. “Don’t you have the thing, captain?”

“She doesn’t know that, genius.”

“Oh? Oh!”

“Shush!”

This… didn’t look good.

Mirage could accept Lightning Dust the Arrogant and Fade the Boisterous flying by to keep watch over him on their own merits, but when he saw the bulk of the Eclipse move to surround the tent while Miasma the Immovable led a small force of her own toward the castle, he had to assume something was up.

Well, that was obvious, but he meant that something was up on top of what was already up. Namely, with Usurper Nightmare Moon. On top of not coming outside to meet him – which wasn’t a huge problem, more of an unfortunate outcome – she had seemingly tipped of her entire guard force in a little under a minute.

Or, at least her Praetorian Guard.

Mirage pursed his lips. He had long suspected that Nightmare Moon could communicate with her most loyal followers besides verbal means simply due to how well they could operate together without a single word or glance shared between them at times. He suspected there was some sort of empathic link was at play, like the bond he and all changelings in his Hive shared, or the gross bastardization of one Nightmare Moon shared with Twilight, but he could never find any concrete evidence to prove it.

Mirage brought these concerns to Sun Goddess Celestia, but she admitted that if such a link existed, there was little they could do; mental communication was practically unheard of amongst equines, even with their advancement in magic. They would just have to try and plan around it if it was true.

“Hey, what’s up?” Fade the Boisterous greeted him with a casual nod. “You look nervous.”

“Nah, I’m good,” Mirage shrugged. In reality, he was starting up a cold sweat. Goodness – was this stage fright? He’d never imagine such a thing could happen to him. He loved the stage, but watching and waiting for something to happen while maintaining his Mask was getting him flustered. “Just waiting for Wolf to come out.”

Lightning Dust the Arrogant snickered. “Yeah. Hey, hot stuff – ya think we’ll be seeing some action today?”

Fade the Boisterous cocked his head and-

There.

-chuckled. “Come on – Boss has got this covered. No need to stress her out, yeah?” He motioned to Mirage.

‘The way he tilted his head and said nothing for a few seconds… Surely, that must be them communicating. I’ve never been able to get this close before, so I wouldn’t have seen a tell that small.’

Mirage swallowed, but kept his Mask’s face composed. “I’m not stressed. Just chilling.”

“Yeah, no worries, huh?” Lightning Dust the Arrogant winked like they shared some saucy secret, and then lowered her voice when she spoke again. “Hey, we got this covered. Nopony’s getting to the Empress.”

She thought she was being subtle, but Mirage – an expert actor himself – saw through her. If he was the real Vinyl and the enemy was watching him, Lightning Dust the Arrogant would have tipped them off with something so obvious.

Then again, he didn’t give her the title of ‘Arrogant’ for her gardening skills. Unless she was arrogant about that. Which she wasn’t. Because she didn’t do gardening.

"If anything..." Fade the Boisterous added. "She's probably more worried about you."

Mirage noticed him staring at her and replied with a shrug. "I'm a big filly. I can take care of myself. Magic was just holding me back, ya dig?"

Fade rolled his eyes. "Riiiight. Well, don't blame me if she gives herself another heart attack carrying you to the hospital."

Mirage frowned. "Heart attack?"

"When the invasion happened, yeah?" Fade answered, then cocked his head with a look of realization. "Oh, shit - you were out cold when it happened. That's right. And I'm guessing Boss was too proud to tell you about what happened after you got knocked out."

This was interesting. Mirage knew about the invasion - he had snuck out of the castle and helped those in the city in whatever way he can using the disguise of an Eclipse guard. He also knew that Vinyl had been injured, and that Nightmare Moon took her to the hospital. Sadly, he had not had the chance to hear further details about it - very few knew about it, let alone spoke of it.

Despite Mirage's lack of response, Fade the Boisterous saw fit to continue.

"After Caed ran off, Boss flew you all the way over to the nearest hospital with that new healer mare... what's her name? Vitae? With Vitae keeping you from, you know... dying. I wasn't there, but Vitae wouldn't stop gushing about how inspired she was by Boss' care for you. She stayed in the lobby to wait to see how you were. I don't think a dragon attack would've made her budge, yeah?"

Mirage swallowed, his mood dampened by an inexplicable surge of guilt. "Yeah, well... Wolf's kind of a softy once you get past the teeth. And the eyes. And the general 'I'm gonna kill you' attitude."

"Pretty sure that's because of you," Lightning Dust the Arrogant laughed. "I haven't been in this Praetorian Guard for long, but even I can see you bring out her good side," She paused and turned to Fade the Boisterous with a raised eyebrow. "Well..."

"As good as she can be." Fade the Boisterous finished with an iffy wave of his forehoof.

Mirage swallowed. "Huh... So, I'm pretty important to her..."

The two pegasi didn't seem to hear Mirage; they turned in the opposite direction as an Eclipse guard ran up to relay an order Ebony the Deathless gave.

Mirage wasn't listening. He was thinking.

He knew that Vinyl the Oddity and Usurper Nightmare Moon's friendship was genuine despite how unlikely it seemed, but to have it reaffirmed like that was more enlightening than he would have liked. Mirage adored acts of valour, so to hear that Usurper Nightmare Moon was not only distraught over her friend being harmed but waited to see how she was naturally made him think highly of the alicorn.

But... he really shouldn't!

Usurper Nightmare Moon was the enemy; she'd done terrible things to a lot of ponies, so no matter what positive qualities she might have had, she was not on the side of good. Mirage couldn't afford to have doubts, not when everyone was relying on him. He had to be the good guy, and defeating Usurper Nightmare Moon was the 'good' choice.

After all, every story had to end with the good guys winning, didn't it?

Rainbow Dash’s feathers were uncomfortably stiff and sticky as she sweat up a storm while trying to explain herself to Vinyl. She didn’t realize it at first, but being in a team was nice because even though there was a very real chance you might get caught, at least you were with other ponies to back you up. She had no such backup here: if Vinyl screamed, or bolted, or did anything, there was a good chance somepony might hear.

So she pulled out all the stops to keep Vinyl in the room: she guilt-trip Vinyl over Twilight’s treatment, she appealed to her sense of morality by pointing out – repeatedly – all the bad stuff Nightmare Moon had done, and even tried coercing her by insisting that they weren’t going to kill Nightmare Moon, just… incapacitate her. She could still continue being ‘friends’, which was ultimately what she wanted, right?

But Vinyl just listened with an unreadable expression.

At least she was staying inside the room. That was the main thing. If she didn’t want to cooperate, then at least Rainbow Dash was keeping her here for the time being while the plan made progress.

“You get what I’m saying, don’t you?” Rainbow Dash was almost gasping for breath; she couldn’t remember the last time she talked so much when it wasn’t about boasting how awesome she was. How the hell did Twilight do it? “Like… please tell me you get where I’m coming from! Nightmare Moon’s bad, so we have to stop her!”

Vinyl turned her head to the side. The hoof holding the horn-gel stuff wavered back and forth. “… The thing is that everything you’ve said about her? I already know.”

"Huh?”

“Yeah, she’s done a lot of bad shit in her life. Shit that I don’t even know since it was, what? A thousand years ago? And even now, the only reason she’s where she is, is because she beat the crap out of Celestia, Luna, and Faust knows how many more ponies. But there’s good in her that you haven’t seen. I got kidnapped by those humans not too long ago, and she risked her life to save me. She didn’t need to, but she did. Saved a whole bunch of other ponies, too. She’s not perfect, but I know she’s getting better."

She paused and sighed.

"But you make good points, too. I mean, it's pretty messed up what she's done to Twilight. To Canterlot. The city was fine under Celestia and Luna's rule, so it's not like she was 'saving' us by taking over; she just did that because she wanted to be in control and have all that power."

"Right, right!" Rainbow Dash leapt on the opportunity. Maybe she could really convince her! "So, you get where I'm coming from."

"That being said..." Vinyl fixed her with an intense stare that seemed magnified by her shades. "You did sneak into my room."

Rainbow Dash flinched. "Well..."

"And you're totally violating a truce. A truce you guys suggested. That's not really a good guy thing in my books."

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure what to say. Of course, she knew in her heart that by doing what she and the others were doing, they were betraying their word. "Yeah, I... I know that. But it's for a good reason! Nightmare Moon's bad, and-and Twilight's...! Like, the good outweighs the bad stuff we're doing, right?"

She could feel Vinyl's distaste. "Yeah. Because nopony bad's ever said something like that when they were genociding or burning shit or whatever."

"We're not killing anypony!" Rainbow Dash argued. "Hell, we don't even know for sure if that Cleansing Joke will kill Nightmare Moon, but we have to try to-" She slapped her hoof over her mouth.

'Shit.'

Vinyl's mouth opened a little. "What did you say? Kill her?!"

"Look-"

"What the hell? I didn't think you guys would go that far! I didn't even think you had the guts to go that far!"

"Hey, I said we don't know if it'll kill her," Rainbow Dash appeased. "There's a chance she might just get knocked out or something."

"Oh, yeah, that makes me feel better!" Vinyl snorted. "Faust, I thought you guys were supposed to have the moral high ground here."

"We do!"

"And taking the moral high ground means you're allowed to kill somepony?"

"No, but..." Rainbow Dash trailed off. She hated to admit it, but Vinyl had her there. No matter what you looked at it or how bad somepony was, killing was killing. "No, it doesn't," She sighed. "Look, I know what we're doing is bad, but Twilight is my best friend and the longer she stays under Nightmare Moon's control, the more she suffers. I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get her out. If that means taking a chance and doing something that might end up with Nightmare Moon dying, then fine. I'm being totally honest with you here: Nightmare Moon's life is nowhere near as important as Twilight's."

The words seemed to strike something in Vinyl; she recoiled a little and stared at the floor. Rainbow Dash gave a little exhale through her nostrils and prepared to tackle Vinyl. There was no way she'd have a change of heart now; not with that little bombshell Rainbow Dash had, pretty stupidly, let slip.

Vinyl licked her lips. "Hey, Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash blinked and cautiously tilted her head. "Yeah?"

"You know how you can like somepony, but sometimes hate them because they do stuff where you're like, 'what the hell?'" Vinyl asked, looking back up. "Don't you ever feel like that with your friends?"

"Uh..." Rainbow Dash almost said 'no' on reflex, but she thought about it. She thought about Rarity's obsession with frou-frou clothing, Fluttershy's weird fears, and Pinkie's... well, Pinkie-ness. "... Yeah. Sometimes."

"Then why do you keep being their friend?"

Rainbow Dash answered immediately, at least in her head. 'Because there's so much more to them besides what I don't like.'

She faltered, unsure if she wanted to answer to that question; it just seemed like a way to get her to change her mind, or make her lose her nerve.

And that hesitation was probably why she even got blinded by a huge dollop of horn-gel in the first place.

Her first immediate thought was ‘shit, that burns!’. Her second following thought was ‘crap, she’s going to get away!’. Eyes clenched shut, she lunged forward with a helpful flap of her wings, but only caught air and fell flat on the floor. She heard and felt Vinyl run to the side. Rainbow Dash shot to her hooves, using a wing to frantically wipe the gunk from her eyes, and raced to the click of an opening door.

BAM

Stars streaked across her blurred vision as her forehead hit the slim edge of the door. The pain was swift and merciless – a spike of red fire that went down her skull vertically; it was only due to her willpower and a tolerance built from previous years of failed Sonic Rainbooms that she didn’t collapse on the spot and somehow manage her way through the doorway.

Vinyl was shouting something. Her voice was tinny and muffled, no doubt due to the impact, but not far-off, thank Faust.

‘As if anypony could out-speed me…’ Gritting her teeth, Rainbow Dash swiped the remaining gel from her face, ignored the pain, and took off down the corridor. ‘I guess being quiet doesn’t matter now.’

It took time for news and ponies to get somewhere. Nightmare Moon was out in front of the castle, far enough that it would take an average pegasus just a little under two minutes to get there even if they jumped out a window right now. For a unicorn that couldn’t use magic? Considerably longer.

Rainbow Dash turned a corner to see an Eclipse guard looking in the direction Vinyl ran, likely confused. Denying herself the time to feel guilty, Rainbow Dash swooped over to some curtains, tore them down, and cork-screwed her way past the guard, wrapping them up in a curtain-cocoon and leaving them even more confused and less mobile than before.

She caught up to Vinyl shortly after in a hallway filled with many paintings and prepared to tackle her to the floor.

Vinyl turned in place and pulled one of the large paintings off the wall. She clearly intended to throw it, but Rainbow Dash was too fast for that. Unfortunately, she was also too fast and close to stop so suddenly.

Riiiip

Some old stallion in the afterlife was probably none too pleased as Rainbow Dash’s head tore through the canvas where his had once been. She blinked in surprise and pulled a strained face as the painting’s frame pulled down on the back of her neck as Vinyl failed to let go. The jolt was enough to throw her off-balance, and even when the frame was pulled out of Vinyl’s hooves, Rainbow Dash staggered and collided with two more guards at the end of the hallway checking out what the racket was. One was knocked out as his head went through the wall, leaving his body crumpled out in the corridor, while the other guard tumbled down a nearby set of stairs, cursing on every step.

Vinyl scurried down the same stairs as Rainbow Dash struggled amidst the broken pieces of the frame. “You guys suck at guarding!”

“Get back here!” Rainbow Dash scattered the pieces with a mighty gust from her wings and tore down the stairs like a predatory eagle. “I’m not leaving Canterlot without Twilight! Not again!”

“I’m not letting you hurt Wolf!” Vinyl shouted back, briefly looking over her shoulder only to yelp and forgo the last steps – and the guard groaning at the bottom – with a jump that almost made her slip. “Holy crap, you are fast!”

The guard turned out to be not as soft as their friend: when Rainbow Dash flew over them, they lit up their horn and grabbed onto her tail. Furious, Rainbow Dash fell upon them with a flurry of kicks until their magic petered out, letting her give chase again. Vinyl was almost at the end of the hallway, but her head-starts were meaningless – Rainbow Dash would always catch up.

And caught up she did.

Before Vinyl could take another set of stairs down, Rainbow Dash grabbed her from behind and yanked her to the floor.

Rainbow Dash wrapped both forelegs around Vinyl’s neck. “You’re not going anywhere! I’ve had Wonderbolts combat training!”

Vinyl threw her head back and made her see stars. While she was stunned, Vinyl elbowed her in the side, and broke her hold, rolling off to the side with a victorious ‘ha!’.

“I’ve been in bar fights with Wolf!” Vinyl shot back and ran down the stairs.

Rainbow Dash cursed and swiped her bloody nose before giving chase. “Me and my big mouth…”

'I know she's bad.'

Vinyl probably couldn't count the number of ponies whose lives had been affected negatively by Wolf's actions. Not just Canterlot, but the whole of Equestria, who suddenly had to deal with a violent and powerful being sitting on the throne.

'But there's good in her.'

Likewise, Vinyl probably couldn't count the number of ponies that have been helped by Wolf. Even if they don't like it, a lot of ponies were saved from the humans when Wolf and her went into their world. Wolf didn't have to help them, and Vinyl couldn't have made her. And even if it wasn't directly, Wolf's Eclipse guard helped protect the city, saving even more lives.

She knew it didn't excuse everything Wolf did, but it shouldn't be ignored.

'They want to help their friend.'

Vinyl was sickened by what Wolf did to Twilight when she learned about it from Lightning Dust. They'd argued a little after Vinyl came to stay at the castle while her horn healed. It wasn't long nor intense because Vinyl knew that Wolf was capable of something like that and that she wouldn't let Twilight go just because Vinyl wanted her to; she seemed to realize that their friendship wouldn't end after that, not after what they've been through together.

'But so do I.'

No matter what, Vinyl's heart told her that the right decision was to help her friend, which could only be what Rainbow Dash was feeling right at this moment, too.

With that in mind, Vinyl grit her teeth and ran faster.

“Nothing here, ma’am.”

Miasma didn’t let it show, but she was vexed by the lack of rebels she was finding. They were on the fourth floor of the castle, but there wasn’t a single sign of them yet? That wasn’t good. It didn’t help that the castle was so vast with so many rooms to search and so many ponies to question and she didn’t have many guards to comb through the floors effectively, even if they split up. The majority of the Eclipse forces were down in the front, ready to attack in case Celestia and Luna tried anything.

It was probably the right decision: those two alone proved to be a match for Nightmare Moon and the Praetorian Guard plus Shadow Strike combined.

She felt a tickle in her head, a little warning sign prior to Nightmare Moon Calling.

“Status report.” Her Empress demanded.

Miasma replied. “We’re still looking. None of the guards, or the staff have seen anything suspicious.”

“Vinyl said they were in the castle; they must be there somewhere.”

“If they are, we’ll find them.”

Her presence left.

Miasma sighed through her nostrils and pointed at one of the higher-rank guards. “We need to speed this up. Take four ponies and continue searching each floor. The rest will come with me straight to Twilight.”

The guard saluted. “Yes, ma’am.” He pointed out the ponies he wanted and led them down the hallway to the rooms yet to be searched.

“Right,” Miasma turned in the other direction. “Let’s make sure-”

She stopped.

For a second, she thought she saw something down the very end of the corridor where they had arrived via the stairs.

Miasma frowned. The rebels might have been near where Twilight was, but perhaps…?

One of her guards cleared their throat. “Ma’am?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. Let’s go.”

It was probably nothing, and even if it wasn’t, not even Rainbow Dash could get past both her brother and Lightning Dust near the castle’s front entrance. Nopony was going to launch a ‘surprise attack’ directly in front of the Empress.

Mirage was disappointed to see Usurper Nightmare Moon exit the tent, completely unharmed, with Sun and Moon Goddesses Celestia and Luna trailing behind with sullen looks.

They couldn’t get her with the dagger.

Now, the pressure was on him to accomplish what they couldn’t.

It was both terrifying and exhilarating, but he was determined to face it head-on.

In fact…

This sensation of butterflies in his belly… Was it just nerves, or was it destiny signalling to him that his ‘Moment’ was about to arrive?

‘With the stakes so high, this worthy task falls to one such as I. Surely, if my ‘Moment’ were to reveal itself, it would be now?’

Mirage swallowed. Whether or not this was the case, he had to act swiftly for Miasma the Immovable was searching the castle for intruders, and his friends were in danger. He had to ensure the mystic fluid he carried struck Usurper Nightmare Moon true, for it was the catalyst of the coming rebellion.

He mustered his courage and resolve, took a deep breath, and started walking to Usurper Nightmare Moon, smiling like the friend he was pretending to be.

Nopony stopped him, but Lightning Dust the Arrogant and Fade the Boisterous followed him closely, likely to ensure his safety.

Usurper Nightmare Moon said something to Sun Goddess Celestia before walking away. Several guards immediately moved to make a line between the two alicorns. Then, Usurper Nightmare Moon started moving towards Mirage.

As brave and heroic as Mirage was – and he felt that it was nothing to scoff at – he felt an inkling of fear – maybe a little more than that – with such an intimidating creature focusing their attention on him.

But then she did something he didn’t really expect.

She smiled.

It was for just a brief instant, and then it was replaced by a dark scowl that would send a chimera running with its tail between its legs, but for that instant, that smile turned Usurper Nightmare Moon’s demeanour from ‘deadly’ to ‘kind and approachable’. Her eyes had seemed less intense, her stature and build less imposing... Mirage could even say she looked regal.

Mirage mentally faltered, but didn't show it. 'In all the time I've spied on her, I've never seen such genuine emotion that wasn't anger or general distaste.'

Mirage suddenly felt like he understood Vinyl a little better. If he knew someone so dastardly who could also produce such a smile, he might have done anything to see it more often, too. His guilt flared up again, more intense, but he ignored it and continued onwards, reaffirming to himself that she was the enemy, and he on the side of good.

Usurper Nightmare Moon got closer and closer, and he prepared to flex his resin sac and expel its contents.

And then suddenly, Mirage heard a voice cry out.

“WOLF!!”

Mirage’s eyes widened in shock as he reflexively turned to the castle’s front entrance, where a white mare was sprinting towards Usurper Nightmare Moon desperately. The guards by the door jostled and moved to stop her, but hesitated and looked back and forth, some rubbing their eyes.

“It’s a trick!” Vinyl the Oddity cried as Rainbow Dash the Loyal flew out of the castle and tackled her to the ground. “That’s not m- argh!”

Suddenly, it seemed like everything was in slow motion.

Mirage turned back to see Usurper Nightmare Moon spreading her wings and taking a step back.

And he saw it – he saw his ‘Moment’.

Because although Usurper Nightmare Moon know knew that Mirage was an imposter, she was so shocked that she had yet to react and defend herself. She was wide open, vulnerable.

He heard Sun Goddess Celestia give the signal. “Now!”

He heard a large sound not too far-off, like rocks being smashed together, followed by the noise of rushing water. The sound of allied forces joining the battle.

He had to act.

Mirage pursed his lips, flexed his resin sac, and expelled the Cleansing Joke mixture at his foe. Most of it went awry in different directions, but some landed on Usurper Nightmare Moon’s coat and in her mouth.

That was all that was needed.

He had done it. His ‘Moment’ had revealed itself and he had answered it. The greatest achievement of his life.

Mirage should have been ecstatic, accomplished, satisfied.

He felt nothing like that.

His 'Moment' was of fear and regret as Usurper Nightmare Moon shrieked, an all-too equine sound of misery. He watched as the flesh on her face split apart into numerous bloody crevices and wisps of black smoke shot out in high-pressure jets, but not even that could hide her pained expression. She wasn't just in agony, she was in shock and confusion.

Mirage's disguise fell away and he took a step back. Was this truly his 'Moment'? It wasn't supposed to feel like this. It was supposed to be a wonderful thing.

He felt sick. No... this wasn't how it was supposed to go. This was supposed to be a proud moment for him. It wasn't to feel just as it felt all those years ago as he watched Canterlot fall to his brethren's cruelty while the false promises of Hive Queen Chrysallis echoed in his head.

'We are the wronged party here, young drone. We shall make our enemies pay. We are in the right.'

Usurper Nightmare Moon recoiled and violently hacked up globules of blood that turned black on contact with the ground and hissed and steamed like acid. Her pupils were twitching, but when they fell upon Mirage, they seemed to focus and sharpen. She roared, a furious noise that seemed to come from the writhing smoke forming above her head rather than her own lips, and advanced on him.

"Curse you!" Usurper Nightmare Moon screamed, a moment of cohesion accomplished through sheer will. "Snivelling insect!!"

Even in her pained state, she was far faster and stronger than he could ever be: he caught a flash of her foreleg as it raised, and then felt a tremendous blow to his side that sent him flying across the castle’s garden like a chew toy. He bounced against the ground four times before slamming into a tree, hard enough that he heard his chitin crack in several different places, and slumped to the dirt.

Mirage’s vision darkened, pain being replaced by cold numbness. He thought he heard Sun Goddess Celestia shout his name, but that might have just been an auditory hallucination.

‘Why couldn't it have been simple…’ He thought, green blood trickling down his chin. ‘Would it really have been so bad if she didn't have such depth to her motivations? If she didn't have genuine compassion for her friend? It would be so easy to fight a truly irredeemable foe.’

Mirage's jaw quivered. "I... I just wanted... to be the good guy for once."

Mirage fell into darkness.

Author's Note

Note 1: "In changeling society, naming consists of two parts: the ‘hatching name’, which is given immediately after a changeling emerges from their egg, and a ‘title’, which is given after a changeling completes their rite of passage – successfully bringing a supply of love back to their nest. Until a changeling has completed their rite of passage, they do not receive a title. The term ‘hollow-name’ refers to these changelings and is considered a derogatory remark.

"Titles are preceded by ‘the’, which has several variations in the changeling language. Some examples are ‘the Undaunted’, or ‘the Agitator’, and ‘the Jumper’. Titles are often related to a specific trait in a changeling, but if no trait is found yet, then they are given the title ‘of the Hive’ as a sort of placeholder.

"Additionally, titles may also precede a changeling’s hatching name, which is reserved for those who ascend in the hierarchy due to laudable tasks that they perform. In this case, titles such as ‘the Agitator’, or ‘the Sneaky’ become ‘Agitator’ and ‘Sneaky’. Female changelings that are meant to become the next queen are given this form of title from birth.

"In their society, to be on a first-name basis (which means to exclude the title altogether) is a show of great affection and respect and is reserved for lovers. According to our changeling friend in the castle, being constantly referred to by his hatching name makes him feel close to everypony here.

"I’m writing this letter to you, so that you can get a better understanding of him and why he refers to everypony the way he does. Please treat him kindly.

"Love, Striker.

"P.S. His full name is Mirage the Inquisitive, in case you’re curious."

-Letter from Striker, a member of the Royal Guard, to his sister, who had taken his position guarding the captured changeling while he was given leave from duty to aid his sickly wife.

Note 2: "My hooves are still shaking from the experience. On one hoof, it is always incredible to be examining an alicorn's physiology. But on the other hoof, Nightmar Empress Nightmare Moon is so much more intimidating than Celestia and Luna. The Empress was impatient and frustrated by what she deemed to be an unnecessary check-up after venturing through an Entropic Fracture. I can only imagine that it was due to that mare's - what was her name? Vinyl? - insistence that she agreed. Fortunately, the Empress is as healthy as they come.

"There is not much to add about Empress Nightmare Moon that wouldn't be redundant when compared to the records that I and my predecessors have already formulated on Celestia and Luna's health. All three have, quite frankly, ridiculous bone density that would require enormous force to damage. Likely, this density is necessary to hold up against the musculature - if a regular earth pony skeleton had these kind of muscle fibres, they'd probably break their own ribs just drawing in a breath. Naturally, the organs are considerably tougher to avoid self-inflicted injury, but are also unique in that they appear to be capable of limited compression. My latest predecessor theorized that this was so the muscles can flex and exert even greater force without the organs 'pushing back', so to speak.

"Although, not everything is equal between these three. Celestia is stronger than Luna, which is expected given she has had more time to physically mature, but from what I can see from initial examination, Empress Nightmare Moon is technically stronger. I say 'technically' because Empress Nightmare Moon would otherwise be on the same level as Celestia if it wasn't for the fact that, well, she seems to not care if she injures herself. The equine body has limiters placed upon it to avoid self-injury, limiters which are removed in times of extreme emotional stress such as seeing a loved one in danger, etc. Even Celestia and Luna exhibit these limiters judging by various tests adminstered. However, Empress Nightmare Moon seems to ignore these limiters as easily as one might blink, able to willingly put herself through pain and injury, even when there is no need to. Indeed, in a fight, it seems the only way one might succeed against such determination and strength is to be equally violent and/or agile enough to dodge her blows." - Recent entry from the journal of Canterlot Castle's resident physician, Clean Cut, who examined Nightmare Moon under the belief that everybody is entitled to a clean bill of health. A full TBS (Thaumaturgical Body Scan) was also used, but the results were quickly shredded.

Clean Cut refused to speak about what she found.

Interlude V

“… Knight Enforcer? Knight Enforcer, are you listening to me?”

'I am, Anna. Forgive my inattention.'

“I’m sorry. I was distracted," Caed turned away from the tray of bloodied tissues resting on the table. He had coughed up a lot. The pain was distant now, aside from a dull numbness that throbbed between his lungs. If he concentrated, it was almost hypnotic. "What were you saying?”

Anna clutched the clipboard in her hands tightly, frowning. “Knight Enforcer, I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I know how close you and Eiswhel were…”

'He was like a father to me, and I brushed him off because I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. What were his last thoughts of? Eiswhel, I hope you have found peace in death.'

“And I… I’m…” Anna hugged the clipboard against her chest, her face crumpling. “I’m so sorry.”

Caed forced a smile, even though he knew there wasn't much to smile about; he had to seem confident and sure, as a leader. “Anna, dry your tears. You know I cannot abide to see a woman cry. You did the right thing by protecting that child," He went to clap her on the shoulder comradely. "It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay!” Anna cried, pulling away. Her eyes were beginning to water. “Nothing is okay!”

Caed looked at his hand and lowered it. In hindsight, perhaps a hearty clap on the shoulder that he often gave his fellow knights wouldn't go over well with a frail person like Anna. At the thought of his fallen knights, never to draw breath again, he felt a lump in his throat, but he ignored it and tried to think of another way to comfort her.

He never got the chance - she spoke again, in a low whisper.

“I hate what we’re doing to those ponies. I wanted you to stop, but I would never wish something like this!” Anna hid her face with her hand and shook her head. “I just…”

'I know you didn’t, Anna. You’re a good person.'

Caed laughed. “If wishes came true, then we’d be on Earth by now. What a cruel world to only make pessimistic wishes come true.”

Still no smile; he had to try something else.

"Fortunately, there are people like you to brighten it up."

"Knight Enforcer..."

"Any place benefits greatly from a healer such as yourself. It-"

Anna took a step forwards and touched his arm. It was like an electric shock. He started, blinked slowly, and went quiet, trying not to shiver at her bare skin. He never felt right being touched without his armor on.

“It’s getting worse, Knight Enforcer,” Anna whispered, looking at him with such pity and concern that he had to stop himself from avoiding eye contact. He hated that kind of look. “All that cold air you inhaled further damaged your lungs. Fighting so hard for so long didn’t do any good either. Knight… Caed… If you keep fighting like this, the infection will take over. It’ll take over and you’ll die and you’ll become…” She trailed off.

“An Irregular?" The thought was terrifying, but Caed smirked through his fear to comfort her. "So, our long-dead enemy would have finally bestowed their vengeance upon me when I lose all that I am and turn raving and feral? Well, they're dead, so who will laugh? In any case, I will still be flesh and bone when that happens, Anna," He gently removed her hand and patted it reassuringly. "There are no more factories for my corrupted body to be converted into a suit of armor. If I turn – not that I will because I have all of you to look after – then my body shouldn’t be too hard to destroy.”

She sniffed miserably. “I don’t think any of us could strike you down if that happened.”

'Just make her feel better. Just keep smiling.'

“Then it’s fortunate that I will not perish until you are all safe in our new home, isn’t it?” He retorted with a wink.

A small twitch of her lips. “You can’t promise a thing like that.”

“I can and I will. I swear to you, I will not rest until there is no longer a single human that is forced to survive in this decaying city.”

Anna flinched. "Caed, that's not what-"

The room shuddered as the door swung in and hit the wall.

Caed turned and got in front of Anna, his arm stretching out to flash a glaive that wasn't there. Fortunately, he was reminded of where he was when he recognized the two women that came through the doorway.

Oh, they looked angry. And he with just a pair of pants to preserve his modesty.

“You led her to us!” Natalia snarled, throwing her hand out accusingly.

Caed sighed; he hated infighting. “Nightmare Moon would have killed Amelie if Anna hadn’t done as she asked,” He expected this confrontation; it was part of the reason he came to Anna almost immediately after getting back home. That, and the coughing up blood; that was also concerning. “She is blameless.”

“Dammit, Knight Enforcer, stop protecting her!” Natalia threw her arms into the air, back down to her sides, and stomped her foot. Esther just crossed her arms behind her, fuming silently. “She was always against our plans from the very start!" She made an ugly, jeering face and flapped her hands beside her head. "More concerned with the 'poor, widdle ponies' than her own kind!" Quick as a whip, she went back to pointing accusingly. "Besides, how can you trust someone who used to work for the enemy?”

Esther nodded, her unmoving form a stark contrast to Natalia's wild gesturing. “She has a point, Caed.”

He went to respond, to calm them down, but Anna stepped past him, scowling. “I left them. I risked my life to leave them.”

Caed nodded and moved to stand beside her again. He didn't trust the other two to not do something drastic in their anger. “I trust Anna. Have you forgotten that it was her information that allowed us to strike a decisive blow against our former enemy?” Natalia pouted with no response, and Esther winced, briefly ashamed. “I know you two are hurting. I feel their losses just as greatly as you do,” He was meant to protect them, after all. He ached terribly over it, but he couldn't let it show. “But turning your anger on Anna won’t solve anything.”

Natalia folded her arms, pink with rage, like a frustrated child. One with, what Caed considered to be, an imposingly high intellect. "Could've fought back. I'm no knight, but even I was able to stun Nightmare Moon for a few seconds."

Caed kept quiet about the gun. He would talk to her about it later.

“Well…” Esther balled her hands into fists and glared at the floor. “That’s just fucking great because nothing is getting solved now!” She turned and punched the wall. “We lost all our unicorns and our Synth Station is beyond repair!”

'Esther…'

She gave a despairing whimper and turned to slide down to the floor, desperately rubbing her palms into her eyes. “God… damn it…”

Caed swallowed hard. Esther was his closest friend, something of an anchor, too. She was strong-willed, powerful, and loyal; to see her in such a state hurt worse than his chest. And he knew it was his fault that she felt like this.

“We are not done yet,” Natalia suddenly said, uncrossing her arms to rub her hands together, anxious to... do something. Caed had trouble telling her intentions half the time - she moved so eratically and switched moods at the drop of a sword. Right now, she looked excited. “Knight Enforcer, permission to speak freely.”

"Don't," Anna interrupted, looking at Caed in concern. "I don't trust that face she's making."

Caed had to admit that it was a rather manic one. Even so...

"Anna, that's rude. You know everyone has the right to speak their mind," Anna sighed, unhappy but relenting to his words. She understood the value of such a thing. "Go ahead, Natalia."

'You and Eiswhel practically run the Spectrum Shifter by yourselves. Although, now it's just you.'

Natalia took a deep breath, grinning toothily, and held her hands apart. “One last trip into the pony’s world. One last trip that will allow us to get every unicorn we need to power the Spectrum Shifter enough to open a powerful enough Fracture to allow everyone here to go through safely.”

Esther looked up and frowned, wiping at her eyes. “But we’re in no condition to go again. It’s only been a few hours since we retreated."

Natalia held up an index finger in her direction. “Hang on. Knight Enforcer, we lost sixty-one lives in the explosion caused when the ponies closed that big portal and another twenty-two with this disaster of an invasion. This sounds bad, but there is a silver lining to all of this.”

“And that is?” Caed asked.

“We won’t need as much power to transport all of us to the other world,” Natalia started pacing back and forth, lightly punching her fist into the open palm of the other. “Initially, we needed forty-seven unicorns to transport us all, but taking into account how much power the Spectrum Shifter has left and how many of us there are now, I estimate that we need just twenty-three… no…” She paused, scrunched her brow together, and then shook her head. “No, twenty-two! We just need twenty-two more unicorns to make this happen.”

“That’s all well and good…” Esther murmured sullenly. “But we’re in no shape to launch another attack so soon.”

“She’s right, Natalia," Caed lightly placed his palm against his chest. "I am... more affected than I may seem.”

“With all due respect, you look like shit, sir.” Esther retorted.

“Ah, so I do appear as affected as I feel.”

“This is serious!” Natalia cried, throwing her arms into the air. “I know you’re all in bad shape, but you know what the problem truly is? We weren’t prepared to do whatever it took to save everyone!”

'That… is a weighty accusation.'

Caed couldn't help a disapproving frown. “Natalia-”

“Knight Enforcer…” Natalia stepped forward, ignoring Esther and Natalia's irate glares. She put her hands together with a desperate look. “I’ve been keeping a secret from you.”

“What, the gun? I admit that I'm disappointed you didn’t hand it in for-”

“Worse than that,” She shook her head. “I’ve been hiding a Medusa Shrieker.”

'I’ve never wanted to hear those words again. Not after what it did to you, Sybil.'

Anna's eyes widened and she took a step back, covering her mouth. Esther stared at Natalia's back, shocked and affronted.

Caed inhaled slowly. He let it out just as carefully. “Why would you do that, Natalia?” He wasn't really 'angry', but something close to it.

“It was just to remind myself about our victory over the New Diarchy,” Natalia paused and rubbed the knuckles of her right with the left hand. She looked genuinely ashamed. “It was a dud. I took it apart so it couldn’t trigger accidentally, but kept the parts safe,” Natalia took a deep breath. Shame, but unwavering conviction, also. “When we went to war with the ponies, I started trying to put it back together. I thought our need justifies using it.”

“Those things killed so many people.” Anna whispered.

Natalia ignored her. “Knight Enforcer, I didn't know how to approach you on this. That's why I worked on it in secret, waiting for the right chance, just in case the method we were using to obtain unicorns proved to be too inefficient. It’s taken me this long to work on it; it's so complicated and I needed to find time in my schedule without anyone getting..." She trailed off and shook her head. "I’m almost done; I just need several more days and I’m done. Less if I can get the others to help. I know you're tempted to say no," She held her hands out imploringly. "But this is it. This is our way of getting those unicorns.”

'God, there must be something else.'

“We go back to Canterlot…” Natalia said firmly, and Caed had to massage his temples as she spoke. His head felt heavy. “We activate the Medusa Shrieker, we go in and we grab the unicorns we need when it’s done. I’ve studied their bodies; they're not that different from us. I know that the Medusa Shrieker will work on them.”

“It’ll kill them,” Anna said. "Are you insane? Medusa Shriekers kill!"

“Just the ones closest to it. Everything else that’s not at point-blank range will just be subdued for several hours.”

"Why is it always Canterlot?" Esther demanded with a tired groan. "Why not one of the other settlements?"

"Canterlot has the highest concentration of unicorns per square mile," Natalia answered, briefly looking at her. "We know the layout better than any other place. I know exactly where to place the Medusa Shrieker for the best results."

'Is there really nothing else? No… Natalia is highly intelligent. If she thinks this is our best chance, then… it likely is. But…'

"This will work," Natalia insisted with feverish enthusiasm. "I'll stake my life on it. If we can just get in..."

Caed shook his head slowly. “But how can I use something like that? We swore never to use…”

“We’re far past playing fair,” Natalia said darkly, clenching her hands. “There are innocent lives on the line. The lives of children," Her dark gaze snapped to the right. "Isn’t that right, Anna?”

“Don’t bring her into this.” Anna growled.

“No, I’m not going to beat around the bush,” Natalia stepped forwards, glaring hatefully. “Everyone, including Amelie, will starve to death if we don’t do something now.”

Anna’s face turned white.

'… I see now.'

Caed lowered his hands and nodded sullenly. “Natalia… what do you need?”

Esther, quiet and morose and shocked throughout all this, blinked and turned to stare. “Caed…”

“It’s too late to go back. It’s too late for talking. The ponies won’t listen after what we’ve done,” Caed knew for a fact that Nightmare Moon wouldn't. And Celestia and Luna weren't really in any position to help. "And we are running out of time."

'Forgive me, Sybil. Forgive me, Eiswhel. You're dead and gone, and I still have lives to think about. You want for nothing, but they do.'

“But that’s fine. As your leader, all our sins fall on my shoulders. My knights, my people – I promised to provide you a place to survive and rebuild and I will ensure that you get it, even if I must blacken my heart with the blood of others. So long as I take all the blame, you can all live without guilt nor worry.”

'I can’t stop now. I chose to seek vengeance over forgiveness and I must live with the consequences of that.'

“Oh, bullshit!"

Caed flinched - yes, he admitted it - and stepped back from Anna and her furious glare. She hardly ever swore. Natalia put her hands on her hips, ready to argue, but was shut down when Anna made an angry, wordless yell. Natalia flinched with wide eyes; she was likely more surprised by it than anything.

"Stop trying to martyr yourself like this is some noble cause!" Anna cried, turning on him. "I'm sick of everyone trying to dress this all up! We're kidnapping innocent unicorns and harvesting their bodies to power our machines!"

She lifted her arm and pointed accusingly at Esther, who had gotten to her feet, preparing to say something.

"And don't even throw that excuse at me! Yes, they indirectly caused an explosion that killed some of our people, but that's it: indirectly and certainly without meaning to! I miss our friends as much as you all, but two wrongs don't make a right!"

The words hit Caed like a lance. He knew that. He knew a little ways after their first invasion, after seeing the first unicorn - Dew - killed and subsequently harvested of her magic. He knew that this was wrong, but he justified it to himself by thinking solely of his people, of how many he needed to save.

The ponies may not have all been guilty, but that was the same for those that lived in this dying city. The children, especially. How could he look them in the eyes and tell them that he had done everything he could to give them a better life when he hadn't? He was bloodying his hands in the process, but it was a process that could work.

"I've always been against this and you've ignored me," Anna crossed her arms and firmly planted her feet on the floor. "But I won't stand for this. A Medusa Shrieker? No, this is too much. I'll tell the others."

“Please do so, Anna.”

She faltered. "Wh-what?"

"Please go and tell as many as you can. If they have concerns or questions, tell them to come speak to me personally. They deserve to know what is happening and they deserve the right to decide whether or not they wish to be a part of this," Caed felt drained, but he pressed on. It was the only thing he could do at this point. He was already too far in. "While you do that, Natalia can... show me the Medusa Shrieker. Inform me of her plan."

Natalia laughed and bounced on her toes. “We can do this, Knight Enforcer!” She said with a manic grin. “We’ll carve our path ahead; I’m sure of it.”

Esther blinked, looking like she wanted to say something… but she swallowed and nodded, falling in line. “I’m with you to the end, Caed. No matter what.”

'I don’t deserve your loyalty, Esther, but I’ll do everything I can to make sure it’s not in vain.'

“What...? Caed...” Anna's stance wavered; she hadn't expected his reply. “Stop this.”

He strengthened his resolve and ignored her. "Thank you for everything you have done, Anna. I am grateful to have met you. Please, when the time comes... if it comes... and we open the Fracture that will take us to our new home, put aside your disdain and take care of Amelie. She deserves a happy life."

Anna blinked, stunned. "Caed, think about what you're doing."

'I already have, Anna.'

He knew there was no going back now. He was tired of fighting, but he could not rest until he knew his people had a chance of surviving. It wouldn't be in this world, so it had to be in another.

Caed turned away from her. “Let's go, Natalia. Time is of the essence.”

Author's Note

Note 1: "We finally managed to get Caed to sit still long enough to put him under for a proper medical exam. For a grown man that regularly faces entire armies and crazed machines, he has a ridiculous fear of needles.

"We’re lucky to have Sybil here to calm him down.

"As we initially suspected, the implants were overclocked and heated, causing minor damage to the muscle tissue and strain on the parts of the bone where osseointegration has taken place. This was easily treated with 15 milligrams of Nyxopharmincus. As of now, Caed is resting – I hope – and recovering; we expect him to be back on his feet in about four hours.

"However, I must discuss a serious matter with you.

"I won’t go into hard medical terms on paper, but put simply, Caed cannot engage in another battle like this without rest. Caed is a fluke; the extensive gene therapy performed on him – as an infant nonetheless – and the amount of nano-based implants in his body would kill anyone else; the fact that he can even walk and talk, much less perform the incredible feats of fitness he does, is nothing short of a miracle. However, it comes at a price. Caed’s lifespan is very short compared to ours – he’ll be lucky to live another ten years, and before that he will endure an excruciating process where his cells will degrade at an alarming rate.

"And that’s just long-term – we can't ignore the immediate danger Caed poses as a survivor of the Medusa Shrieker that hit New Eden. He's better off than Sybil, the poor girl, but any intense and prolonged activity runs the risk of triggering the reaction that leads to the first phase of becoming an Irregular. We don't know what the New Diarchy does to keep the Irregulars in check, but until we figure out a cure, Caed is a danger. I'll leave him to you, but just be warned about his condition.

"Please, speak with him. Meanwhile, we'll do what we can for Sybil." - Private Letter to Dr. Eiswhel found in his personal folder, unsigned. Wrinkled and creased, as if folded and opened many times.

Chapter 63: The Fall: Part 3

“Now!”

Mirage dropped his disguise and spat pale green fluid directly into Nightmare Moon’s face.

Luna immediately called on her magic and cast a spell. She felt three sources resonate in return: one beneath the streets, one from Rainbow Dash’s satchel, and the other from within the castle. She could almost hear the delicate timbre of the enchanted bells she gave out, but of course, their noise was ethereal, only able to be felt by those close by. A seemingly harmless spell that worked effectively as a signal.

She heard a mighty BOOM on the street and turned in time to see a murky brown-yellow spout of sewer water fly high into the air. She saw a flash of gold cut through the water as Gilda, talons wreathed in earth-moving magic, revealed herself with a fierce expression of battle fury.

She couldn’t see the hole Gilda had made in the street, but she could see Eclipse shouting and falling back in alarm as Celestia and Luna’s allies poured out to meet them.

It should have been an inspiring sight, but both armies stopped dead in their tracks as a terrible howl rent the air.

It wasn’t any easier to hear the second time around.

The core of Luna’s being shuddered as a black fog of flashing teeth and empty, white eyes ripped through Nightmare Moon’s body amidst a shower of red and gore. It churned and swirled above her while she recoiled and coughed up blackened blood. Luna caught a glimpse of her face – it was like a jigsaw coming apart.

Luna hoped that would have done it; the Cleansing Joke mixture was going to destroy, or at least disable Nightmare Moon, allowing them to establish a hoof-hold on the field and intimidate the rest of the Eclipse forces into a swift and bloodless surrender.

But Nightmare Moon didn’t fall; she seemed to bolster herself and turn on Mirage. “Curse you! Snivelling insect!”

“Mirage, get away from her!” Celestia leapt into action, her large wings beating once to send her flying over the shocked heads of the Eclipse guards that were supposed to keep them under watch.

Luna took the more direct route, bashing through the line to follow her sibling.

But they were just too far away, and Nightmare Moon was still too fast. Before Luna’s eyes, she raised one foreleg and batted Mirage away like he was nothing. He skipped a dozen yards across the garden, missing two Eclipse guards who side-stepped him in shock, and hit a tree with a visceral crack.

Celestia screamed. “No!”

Luna caught up and pulled her when she tried to go to him. “Sister, stop! We cannot help him at this moment!” Celestia turned, tried to argue, but Nightmare Moon roared again and clumsily turned to glare at them. Celestia’s wings reluctantly folded against her side, and Luna took a step forwards, touching her shoulder. “She will turn on the others if left unchecked.”

She swallowed hard and nodded. “Y-yes. I know.”

Nightmare Moon convulsed. Her legs buckled, but she managed to catch herself and lurch towards the castle where Rainbow Dash was struggling to hold Vinyl down. “Release her, or I will flay the skin off your cowardly flesh!”

To her credit, Rainbow Dash continued to try and pull Vinyl away. She managed to restrain Vinyl in a way that would have let her fly off without issue, but a dark blue pegasus intervened and knocked Rainbow Dash away.

Vinyl fell to the dirt and another pegasus flew over to help her up.

Rainbow Dash seemed to recognize the dark blue pegasus; her eyes widened with recognition before she soared higher into the sky, pursued by her attacker.

“Sister – move the moon!” Celestia cried.

“I am!” Luna retorted, glancing up and grimacing as her moon – beloved round thing it was – began to uncover the sun at a snail’s pace. “I can’t move it any faster than this!” She pushed and prodded, but it would move no faster.

She heard an immense din going on to the side and looked over, heart sinking.

Just like how they hoped Nightmare Moon would be immediately defeated by the Cleansing Joke, they also hoped that her personal guard would suffer some adverse effects by proxy. But that didn’t seem to be the case. They didn't collapse on the spot, nor did they recoil due to some magical feedback.

She recognized the leader, Ebony, rallying the rest of the Eclipse and ordering them to engage those from Ponyville, who were so courageous as to offer to fight, as they emerged from the sewers. Ebony’s baleful red eyes shone brightly as she drew her sword and rushed to Nightmare Moon’s aid.

‘Blood and fire!’

Their forces were significantly outnumbered: it wouldn’t have been efficient for a large group to move through the crystal caves that lay beneath Canterlot, after all. The group consisted of strong ponies, but the Eclipse were nothing to dismiss so easily, especially with Nightmare Moon’s personal guard making up some of their numbers. If they didn't get any help soon, then...

“Sister,” Luna said. “Go help them. I will fight Nightmare Moon myself.”

Celestia, predictably, was not enthused about that idea. "Are you crazy? Even if she's weakened, she's still dangerous. It'd be better if we both fought."

"If we both go, we'll lose ponies. You're weaker without the sun, but you're still more than able to fend off her lesser pawns," She paused with a deep frown. "Besides, she is my mistake, I should be the one to fix it."

"Luna, this isn't the time for this!"

"Sister, I can do this; you have to trust me."

Celestia bit her bottom lip and looked back and forth between Luna and the clashing armies. Her eyes found Luna's. They shared an unspoken conversation before she nodded. “Very well. Be safe.”

“You too.”

Celestia spread her wings and took off to where the two armies were clashing. She cast one last look at her younger sister as she fearlessly strode forward to engage Nightmare Moon, her form radiating power.

Maybe this truly was for the best. Celestia felt weak and sluggish beneath the eclipse; if she and Luna really had to split up to prevent the loss of their allies' lives, then it made sense for the weaker of the two to fight the weaker enemy. Because even if Celestia wasn't at her best, she had no doubt she was more than a match for the regular ranks of the Eclipse.

Speaking of which, Celestia snapped out of her internal reflection as three Eclipse pegasi rose to engage her with spears and wing-blades. One of them wore more intricate armor and had draconic eyes - Celestia recalled that this was a Praetorian Guard, the one called Veil.

The two regular guards rushed to try and stab her. Celestia summoned a flicker of flame to her horn, causing them to stop in fear, but when the flame suddenly died out, they regained their bravado and came at her again. Celestia had to physically counter and kick them away with a sneer.

She couldn't even conjure and maintain a simple fire spell? More than ever, it seemed that letting Luna take on Nightmare Moon was the right decision, even though her heart ached in concern for her younger sibling.

Veil seemed non-plussed by her fellow guards being so easily defeated and tossed a canister with a blinking red gemstone. Celestia used her wing to bat it to the side. The canister exploded in mid-air with a massive plume of bright orange flames and a burst of grey smoke. Celestia let the heat wash over her with a fleeting sense of euphoria.

Veil hovered in place with a cold grimace. “I would have preferred fighting your sister to pay her back for that time she almost stomped my ribs into my throat, but I guess revenge by proxy's almost as good.”

“It's not to late to back down,” Celestia retorted. “If you give up now, you won't be punished severely.”

“See, the thing is...” Veil rolled another canister between her hooves. "I got into this gig knowing that I'm gonna make a lot of enemies," She shrugged. "Besides, there are a few ponies that I know that I don't really feel like betraying. Even if one of them's a snob."

Celestia had no time to decipher what that was supposed to mean as Veil threw her grenade, its arc precisely measured to strike despite the almost lazy way it was thrown. Celestia prepared to knock it back with a Kinetic Impact spell, but suddenly, the air seemed to bend, and the canister started to grow in size until it was the size of a fully-grown pony.

Celestia was so surprised that she shot her spell early; it missed, and the twirling cylinder shrunk as fast as it had expanded before colliding with the bone in her left wing. In the instant it took for the gem to prime, she jerked away and shielded her face.

The canister exploded with a wave of pressured air and freezing magic that flash-froze her wing and encased it in frost. Celestia hated the cold, she was always more sensitive than other ponies about her body heat dropping; it was why Nightmare Moon was so effective at fighting her, though the reverse was also true. The explosion of air also ruptured her eardrum, throwing her off-balance and forcing her to land somewhere that wasn't bogged down with fighting.

While her body slowly recovered, somebody smacked into her and the leering brown face of a sharp-toothed creature greeted her when she turned. If she hadn’t immediately noticed the black and white body the face was connected to, she might have just punted them across the street.

‘Zecora?’

Zecora was saying something, but Celestia’s head was spinning and the shaman’s words thumped mutedly against her ears like raindrops on a roof. Zecora pulled her past several fighters – friendly – and stopped her near the edge of the hole Gilda had formed in the street.

Four other bodies suddenly swarmed her in a dizzying rush of bright colours and wide eyes. They were pelting her with questions, but it was disorienting. Celestia chose to concentrate on Zecora's voice and let it guide her back to her senses.

“-consume, princess?!”

Celestia shook her head and blinked hard, ears flicking as the sounds of battle came back into hearing range. She looked at Zecora, then at the others - Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. All of them were clad in protective gear. They had realized her confusion and stopped talking over one another and were now awaiting an answer with baited breath.

Celestia took a deep breath and blinked again before focusing on Zecora. “Wh-what did you say?”

“The Cleansing Joke for Nightmare Moon!” Zecora shouted. Celestia noticed for the first time Zecora was wearing a belt of satchels and pouches. “How much of it did she consume?”

“I… Not much,” Celestia slapped herself to clear the lingering effects of the explosion. “Mirage... he got enough of it in her that she came out of her body. In that black cloud?" The present Element bearers nodded in understanding. "But she's not hurt as badly as last time, I think. She's still moving, talking..." She paused to catch her breath and clear the lingering pain in her ears. "Luna's fighting her, I'm too weak right now until the eclipse is over."

"Oh, dear," Fluttershy fretted - the poor thing was strung out by the sounds of fighting, evident by her constant back and forth glances. "I hope she's okay."

"Dang it, ah should be doing more." Applejack hissed.

"No," Celestia shook her head firmly. "It's better that you all remain out of the fight until we have the chance to use the Elements of Harmony."

Applejack glared at the ground, sullen, and Pinkie Pie comforted her.

"Princess, your wing!" Rarity cried, reaching out in concern. "I-I've been training in healing magic, so perhaps I can-"

"It is not needed, thank you," Celestia waved her off. "Save your power for those who need it more than me. I've had worse, believe me."

“The qandisa is weakened, that much is for sure..." Zecora interjected. "But we need-”

“Scusi! Forgive my interruption!”

Marquess Aldo marched between them, feathers freshly preened and talons polished to a majestic sheen. He withdrew a silver sword and marched forward while his griffon guards followed closely behind.

“We fight to defeat one of our allies’ foes,” He effortlessly parried the swipe of an Eclipse guard and knock them to the ground. “Our honour is assured even in death, but I shall see you all through this if you choose to follow,” Spreading his large wings with a strong blast of air, he soared into the fray. “Gli spiriti preservano il Regno Griffon!”

“E possano gli spiriti preservarci!” His guards roared as they rallied around him.

"So cool!" Pinkie Pie squeaked with starry eyes.

Zecora cleared her throat. “Weakened though she may be, the spirit is still a threat; however, have faith in your sister, and we will win this yet.”

"Can she really win against Nightmare Moon?" Rarity fretted.

“Nightmare Moon has the power of Cryomancy... ice spells... and she's resistant to the cold, just like Luna. In terms of physical strength, I think Nightmare Moon has the advantage. But she's hurt, and Luna isn't, so...” Celestia paused, flexed her wing to get rid of the frost and speed up the flow of blood. “Luna has the advantage, especially with the moon out," She shook her head and scanned the skies. "Some of Nightmare Moon's personal guard is here; one of them threw a canister that doubled before my eyes. Has to be Illusion-type magic,” She turned her gaze back to the scuffle and narrowed her eyes. “I'll deal with them.”

“I see,” Zecora put her mask back in place. “Then we will handle the rest. Good luck to you, princess. I wish you the best,” She charged ahead a few paces, but stopped and looked back. “Ah! What of young Twilight Sparkle?”

The four present Element Bearers turned to her hopefully.

Celestia winced and shook her head sadly. “I didn't see her. We have to trust in the infiltration team. That's all we can do about Twilight for the time being.”

Applejack cursed worriedly. "Dagnabbit, RD - if ya'll get hurt, then ah'm gonna whup ya somethin' fierce."

Zecora nodded solemnly – Celestia could feel the worry coming through the mask – and joined the rest of the group fighting.

Celestia looked back to the four mares and smiled reassuringly- "We're not running this time. We'll win - I promise." -and took to the air to fly back over the battle.

It was chaos.

She surveyed and mapped the entire battle in a few seconds, but that was enough to take it all in.

The Royal Guard that had been assigned to protect Ponyville so long ago were at the front lines but had little success in pushing forward; most Eclipse were not as experienced as them, but that advantage fared poorly in the face of so many numbers.

She could hear Clockwork insulting the Eclipse – “tossers!” – even when she was so high up. She could see Virtue deflecting a thrown spear with his magic and swiping the axehead off the haft of another foe. Swift Wind was in the air battling Eclipse pegasi, using his small and nimble frame to his advantage.

Marquees Aldo and the griffons had a better handle on things: they used their speed and aerial mobility to blindside their foes and force their attention away from the ground forces. Gilda proved to be a terrifying force as she swung a mace in one claw while terraforming the earth beneath the street to trap and toss the Eclipse about. She was cackling in delight.

Mildly disconcerting.

Pegasi engaged in aerial combat all around her. She tried to step in and help where she could, but her focus was on-

There!

Veil was down with the mob and seemingly berating a unicorn adorned in Eclipse armor. She turned her head, spotted Celestia, and roughly shoved the unicorn with golden colours in the opposite direction before rising to meet Luna.

Celestia noticed yet another unicorn, this one wearing the more intricate gear of a Praetorian Guard, shove his way through the mass of bodies below until he was in a spot where he could freely move, and then light up his horn.

Haze.

Mirage told her he was versed in Illusion magic; it must have been his influence that caused Veil's attack to warp so unnaturally. The same Illusion magic he was now using on Veil as she flew towards her, causing the space around her to shift and splinter like glass.

Celestia grunted. Haze couldn't make Veil invisible, not unless he was up in the air with them, so he was trying to hide her by distorting the space between her and Celestia - right now, it was a mess of shimmering, floating glass that reflected the world and flashing colours. It was an excellent illusion, but for somepony who fought Discord, whose distortions went beyond mere perspective, it wasn't good enough.

There was a splotch of colour, half-hidden by a twirling glass shard reflecting Celestia's own determined face, that was looming closer by the second instead of floating about aimlessly. She smirked - even for an expert Illusionist, it was hard to hide all evidence that a large mass was moving through space - and put all her weight into a right hook.

As Celestia flew off to the brawl, Luna closed in on Nightmare Moon. With a roar, the giant timber wolf bounded over and placed itself between her and Nightmare Moon, growling and frothing foul-smelling sap.

From the other side came Ebony, who stopped in front of the timber wolf with her sword drawn. Her red eyes were haunting, but no worse than what Luna had seen in some ponies' particularly rowdy nightmares.

“A changeling…” Nightmare Moon spat, glaring between the wolf’s legs. “Hopeless fools truly exist in every society.”

“'Tis not a sin to have hope; it is what drives us to fight for a better future.” Luna replied.

Nightmare Moon chortled wetly, spasming and spitting up some blackened blood. “B... breaking your own truce… I expected that from you, but for your sister to go along with it? That's a surprise. She's become more pragmatic.”

"A necessity given your nature," Luna said gravely. "'Tis a travesty that I was too young and naive to see through your manipulation."

"Oh, you poor thing..." Nightmare Moon cackled repulsively and bared her sharp teeth in a sneer. "What, no sympathy for your old head-mate?"

Luna's lip curled. "You never had any intention to give me everlasting night in the first place, did you?"

Another ugly laugh. "Of course I didn't. I prefer the darkness, but only someone like you, blinded by envy, would ignore the effects everlasting night would have on Equestria. But you wanted it so bad," Coughing blackened blood, Nightmare Moon swiped at her jaw. "You were easy to manipulate."

"Which is why..." Luna said coldly. "I want you to understand that part of me will enjoy this."

She started to advance forward.

"Wolf!!"

Luna slowed as she saw Vinyl racing across the garden and coming to a stop beside Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon looked at her, something flashing behind her eyes.

“You… Get out of here. Go back inside and find Miasma.”

“Wolf, I’m sorry,” Vinyl despaired, shaking her head. “I couldn’t get here in time. I…”

“Never mind tha-”

Nightmare Moon's lower jaw froze in place as her body suddenly went taut. Eyes wide, she emitted a wet choking noise before arching her back with a pained howl and falling to the ground.

"Wolf!" Vinyl cried again, desperation stretching her voice.

The black fog grew darker and sprouted more glowing eyes and gnashing mouths; it was horrific, but it seemed to be in pain, unfocused.

Vinyl continued to call to Nightmare Moon, alongside Ebony, and the timber wolf shied away from the unnatural fog, unsure how to react – it was still an animal, after all.

Luna needed to act now while they were distracted.

Breaking into a gallop, Luna spread her wings and leapt at the wolf’s torso while it was distracted. Despite its size, the beast yelped and staggered backwards before falling over completely as Luna gave it a powerful kick and hovered back.

Pain exploded in her side as Ebony shot a bolt of electricity. Snorting in irritation, Luna turned to dive-bomb the lich. The ground cracked beneath her as Ebony dodged to the side and advanced with a flash of her sword. Luna put her foreleg up and let the edge bite into her flesh; she pulled her leg back, along with Ebony, and slammed her other hoof into the startled mare's face. Despite holding back, Luna felt bones bend and snap; Ebony flew back several feet, and Luna removed the sword from her leg with nary a twitch.

The timber wolf, meanwhile, howled and tore out gouges of earth with its claws as it scrabbled back up and pounced.

Luna dodged the snapping jaws and took to the air, but the beast was faster than she expected and managed to bite down on her hind leg. The beast slammed her back onto the ground and pinned her beneath one gigantic paw before unleashing a blast of sickly green breath at point blank.

Luna wrinkled her nose and glared into the beast’s glowing eyes. “Your ancestors could once peel paint off the walls with but a sigh; how far your kind have fallen.”

The timber wolf managed to look ashamed at this.

It even kept that expression as Luna flexed her muscles, tore through its paw, and flew up to decapitate it with one powerful kick.

While she was in the air, a dark blur zoomed in from the side and slammed into her. It zipped away when she tried to kick it. Luna looked down to see three bloody gashes in her belly that spluttered grotesquely before her flesh started to knit back together.

The sound of something cutting through the air brought her gaze upwards and she barely covered her face in time to block a pair of flashing blades. The pegasus – what was his name again? Fade? – was swift and strong, constantly darting to and fro, never striking in the same place. Lacerations appeared on her wings and sides, but they did little besides make her flinch and grunt.

She carefully studied his movements and threw her forehoof out when she felt the time was right, earning a solid thwack and sending Fade tumbling to the ground. He must have been dazed if not unconscious by that.

Leaving her body to repair the damage done to it, Luna flew back to where Nightmare Moon was still sprawled on the ground. The dark fog had become listless, falling to swirl around Nightmare Moon’s body, the eyes and teeth sparse and hazy.

Vinyl was trying to help her up, but to no avail. When Luna landed in front of them, Vinyl planted herself defensively. “No way.”

Luna grimaced. “Step aside.”

“I’m not moving.”

“'Tis not an issue.”

She struggled and flailed, but Luna pushed her aside as easily as she would turn a page, or open a door; there was no magic to be wary of, and it wouldn't affect much even if there was.

"There is still time," Luna said as she towered over Nightmare Moon; the demon was glaring at her angrily, so she knew her words were being heard. "For the sake of harmony and benevolence, I will put aside my personal feelings and give you one final chance to surrender and order your forces to stand down."

"She can't even stand!" Vinyl cried, throwing herself against Luna's side and pushing with all her might. "You can't kill her in cold blood like this! It's fucked up!"

Luna's temper flared. What did this mare know? Did she really think she had a say in any of this just because Nightmare Moon, for some bizarre reason, took a liking to her? Foolishness. Luna once believed she could trust Nightmare Moon, and that trust was betrayed; history would repeat itself with Vinyl unless Luna and the others dealt with Nightmare Moon before that could happen.

"This is for your own good," Luna said coldly, shoving Vinyl with enough force to make her trip; part of Luna was shocked at her own callousness, but she didn't let it sway her much. "I know Nightmare Moon better than anypony. Whatever you think you're worth to her, it will never be more than her own ambition. She'll use you for whatever she needs, even your own body, then cast you aside," To Nightmare Moon, she said, "Well? Five seconds to decide... four..."

Nightmare Moon continued glaring, huffing painfully through clenched teeth.

"Three..."

"Stop!" There were tears in Vinyl's eyes as she got back up and put herself in front of Nightmare Moon. "I know she's bad! I know she's done bad shit! But..."

"Two..."

"She's..." Vinyl closed her eyes; tears streaked down her cheeks as her horn sparked pathetically. "She's my best friend. Doesn't that mean anything to you guys?"

Luna swallowed, hesitated, and looked to the side. "O-one-"

And reeled back as a potent blast of magic struck her dead-centre in the chest, robbing her of her breath.

Luna's coat withered and flaked; the flesh beneath the hairs turned grey and cracked, oozing blood like strawberry jam. It wasn't the worst hit she'd recieved, but she still took a few steps back as her vision swam momentarily.

"How did...?" She gaped at Vinyl, but...

Vinyl, also shocked, touched her unlit horn. “I… Wait, I didn't...”

“You really are a fool…”

Unbelievably, Nightmare Moon was standing. The black fog drew back in, condensing around her like a suit of vapor before completely disappearing into her pores.

An incredible feat of determination, but the fact that Nightmare Moon had gotten up didn't mean much; she was still shaking so hard it looked like seizures, and her horn was fizzing weakly, already overworked from a simple – powerful but ultimately simple – spell. Her coat glistened with the blood pouring from dozens of wounds that seemed to be from her flesh simply coming undone on the spot. Her hate-filled eyes were dim and full of pain.

Luna didn’t attack just yet, mostly because she half-expected Nightmare Moon to fall apart like a cheaply-made doll; Vinyl was also in the way, and Luna wasn't sure if any sudden move would make Nightmare Moon attack through Vinyl to land a hit; she needed to get her out of the way. Again.

“Was it not enough to stunt your magic facing Caed?” Nightmare Moon grumbled to Vinyl with… bitter fondness? Was that even a thing? “Now you seek to throw yourself against an opponent superior to you in every physical attribute?”

Vinyl swallowed. “Wolf-”

“Do you realize how embarrassing it is to be protected like some wailing waif by somepony crying their eyes out?” Nightmare Moon scoffed, gently pushing Vinyl aside. “I said for you to go back inside and find Miasma. I meant that.”

“But-”

“Go… Vinyl.” Nightmare Moon repeated with deathly calmness.

Nodding, Vinyl turned and ran back to the castle as fast as she could go.

Luna matched the glare Nightmare Moon was sending her way. “Still, you choose to fight.”

“I'm stubborn like that.”

Nightmare Moon threw a clumsy punch.

Luna pulled back to avoid it and countered with a hook.

Nightmare Moon slammed into the ground. “Damn… it…”

Luna felt an intense burn on her hoof. Glancing down at it, she grimaced at the splotches of blackened blood. It didn’t seem to do anything besides hurt, but she flailed her leg until it was mostly gone.

“You are falling apart.”

Nightmare Moon growled at her and tried to get back up. "I will not... surrender. I've worked too hard to get where I am."

"You do not deserve any of it," Luna snapped. "It's my power you stole to make your own; without it, you are nothing."

Drawing on her magic, Luna focused it down to her right foreleg, where it condensed into three rings of arcane energy. The spell worked well on Discord, a being of chaos magic, so it should work just as well on Nightmare Moon - Zecora said a qandisa was a spirit of negative energy, after all.

Just a few hits, and Luna would redeem the mistake she made all those years ago.

“Return to Tartarus, demon,” She said coldly, pointing her hoof forward. “And haunt us no more.”

Nightmare Moon looked up at her and snarled. "'Nothing' without it, am I?"

Suddenly, with a burst of strength, she lunged with her jaws splitting so wide it was like staring into the maw of a great, slavering snake.

Luna fired one of her magic rings. Then, everything went dark.

Miasma’s hoof was on the door to Twilight’s laboratory when her brother Called. His thoughts went by fast, but she knew him long enough to decipher his excited ramblings.

“Shit’s gone bad, we’re being attacked,” was the main gist.

She withdrew her hoof, turned to order her platoon back downstairs-

-and was crushed between the wall as the door flew off its hinges with a mighty explosion of purple magic.

The other guards exclaimed in shocked, and Miasma heard some running off in the pursuit of flapping wings. A few came to help her. Miasma grunted and pushed the door off her body, then turned, noticing a smashed window down the end of the corridor surrounded by a few guards peering out.

“What happened?”

One of the guards by the window trotted back. “The… Twilight, ma’am. She escaped,” She rubbed her leg awkwardly. “Also, I think there were two Wonderbolts with her. I think.”

Miasma sighed through her nostrils. Clearly, the castle had been infiltrated and somebody got to Twilight without anypony noticing. She didn’t know how, but that wasn’t important right now; they needed to get back down to the garden.
Ordering her troops to fall in line, Miasma galloped back the way she came.

She just so happened to pass by the doors leading to the throne room and picked up on voices.

“Wait.”

It could have been the castle staff, but… something about the tone and volume was wrong, somehow. It didn’t sound like a pony, it sounded like…

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

With a slight frown, Miasma waved her guards to gather and prepare their weapons before she slowly pushed the doors open…

It hurt.

Everything hurt.

Nightmare Moon’s body was breaking down; hair was falling out, muscle and sinew were coming undone, blood was turning thick and dark; the liquid was slowly destroying her body.

Abandon it, a voice that wasn’t hers seemed to say.

Reveal yourself, it said while phantom limbs tugged at her, trying to separate her consciousness from her body.

Nightmare Moon grit her teeth and ignored the voices and ghostly pull. So long as she focused on her own rage and hate, she could stay within her body.

But this…

This was different to when Celestia almost incinerated her; whatever she was hit with wasn’t just destroying her physical form, it was interfering with her magic. She couldn’t telepathically communicate with her Praetorian Guard, nor feel the link she shared with Twilight. That blast of raw magic she shot at Luna took supreme willpower and concentration.

She used the time that attack brought and sent Vinyl away to the castle where she wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire. Then, gazing up into Luna’s hardened eyes – no mercy would be found there – she forced herself to move.

At once, two new sensations became known to her: satisfaction as her teeth raked across Luna’s face, and agony as powerful magic shredded the right side of her body.

The magic blew her back several feet, rolling across the ground, the pain renewing as dirt and grass brushed over her injuries like red hot coals. When she finally stopped rolling, it took everything she had to stop herself from screaming.

‘I’m still alive, though… I suppose I can’t complain.’

Nightmare Moon assumed she had been fast enough to avoid getting hit point-blank by the spell, but her right side...

She turned her head to assess the damage.

Her side was a mess of ruptured flesh and flayed muscle. Her foreleg had been blown off entirely and was resting a little bit aways from where she lay prone. That poisonous liquid the changeling spat must have weakened her considerably for that spell to do such damage. Or, maybe Luna was really that strong with the eclipse. That aside, the fact that she could still move around after receiving that on top of a mouthful of that poisonous liquid was nothing short of miraculous.

Struggling, somehow managing to turn and look behind her, she sneered viciously as Luna covered her eyes. Blood was dripping down her cheeks.

‘How embarrassing to be blinded by somepony in a state such as mine.’

Nightmare Moon pushed the pain aside and tried to contact her Praetorian Guard again, but it was as if there was a wall of cotton around her that absorbed her thoughts. It must have been another effect of that toxin.

Wonderful.

With her remaining foreleg, Nightmare Moon hobbled away. She needed to put distance between her and Luna.

“Divine Daughter!” A voice cried out behind her.

Or, find a healer.

A mare with golden hues to contrast the black armor she wore stumbled into view, her bright eyes widening in horror. “Mother Faust…”

“Vitae…” Nightmare Moon coughed. “S-save the gawking and heal me. Quickly!”

Thank Faust she had Ebony draft this pony into the Eclipse. In the short time Vitae had been here since Nightmare Moon rescued her from the humans, she’d proven to be a prodigy in the Rejuvenation school of magic.

Good thing, too, because she was otherwise hopeless around weapons, and a hopeless sycophant.

“Of course, Divine Daughter!” Vitae grovelled before lighting her horn and spreading gentle waves of magic across Nightmare Moon’s body. “But wh-what happened to you? I-I was fighting with the others when Veil told me to come to you.”

It was a pain to talk, but Nightmare Moon managed to growl out, “Filthy insect… Must have… been something brewed by that zebra witch doctor… The magic’s… sickening…”

Something that could inflict such pain and shock to her very essence could have only originated from Zebrica; the zebra tribes were the only ones who had methods dedicated to destroying her kind.

“Zebra?!” Vitae cried, aghast. “Celestia and Luna would allow the use of heretical magic?”

Heretical?

Magic was magic, but if that’s what this mare wanted to believe, then whatever.

“Nngh…” Nightmare Moon looked at her remaining foreleg in frustration. “This is barely doing anything…” The flesh on her foreleg shifted between two states, seemingly coming together in one instant before falling apart the next. “At this rate… Luna will recover her sight before I can-”

Something moved in the corner of Nightmare Moon’s eye. Before she could focus on it, it smashed into her side and flipped her over as a pair of hooves cratered the dirt where she’d been.

Vitae yelped and fell backwards.

Obviously, Nightmare Moon didn’t appreciate the rough-handling, but looking at the hole that Luna was pulling her legs out of, she figured she could forgive it.

She turned her head and saw Fade and Ebony, the former sporting a massive shiner, and the latter bearing a snout that seemed to have been pushed in a few inches; her skull probably looked like smashed eggshells; Luna had a wicked haymaker.

Fade put his hoof against his lips and shook his head pleadingly. He didn’t look cocky but genuinely concerned and afraid.

Nightmare Moon turned back and watched as Luna swung her head this way and that, eyes still shut tight as her ears twitched. Until her eyes healed, she’d have to rely on hearing; difficult to do with a massive brawl going on in the background.

Nightmare Moon could feel a tickle in her hindbrain; she guessed it to be Fade or Ebony attempting to send their thoughts, but the cotton in her head was muddling whatever they were trying to say. Suppressing a pained hiss, Nightmare Moon pushed herself up with her remaining foreleg.

Her two guards helped to support her. She could feel the part of her essence she left inside them yearning to burst out and come back to her. It would give her a small surge of strength, but Nightmare Moon ignored it; it would barely make a difference, and she’d rather have these two at full strength, even if they were at a major disadvantage.

“Castle…” Nightmare Moon croaked out. “Make a… stand at the castle…”

“And then what?” Ebony asked.

Nightmare Moon paused.

Yes, and then what? She had no plan. All steps and counter-measures she had taken to prevent something like this were for naught, all because of one pathetic changeling. She was making things up as she went along.

She couldn’t let them know that, though; she had to appear calm and in control, no matter the state she was in.

“Just get to the castle… I’ll figure things out from there…”

Fade suddenly stopped. “Boss?”

“Wh-what?”

“You called Twilight here, yeah?”

Nightmare Moon lifted her head and saw, streaking towards her from around the side of the castle, a purple alicorn with a brilliantly shining horn and light-refracting crystals sticking out of her skin. There was murder in her eyes.

Nightmare Moon’s left eye twitched. “You’re kidding, right?”

It was all Rainbow Dash could do to avoid the unbelievably strong kicks of her foe. The last hit almost broke her ribs, now they creaked and whined with every stroke of her wings; another hit like that and she was done for.

Lightning Dust knew that and pressured her, refusing to allow even a second of reprieve as they weaved around the castle’s towers and spires, trying to out-manoeuvre the other.

“What’s wrong?! Feeling woozy?!” Lightning Dust jeered over the rushing wind. “I thought you were the best flier in Equestria!”

Rainbow Dash snorted in disgust. “Sorry, what was that?! I couldn’t hear that over the sounds of the cheating magic Nightmare Bitch put into you!”

“Just improving what’s already near perfect! You should try it…”

The fur on Rainbow Dash’s back stood up. On honed instinct, she twisted to the side, and Lightning Dust shot by and hit the slanted roof of a spire hard enough to shatter the shingles. Rainbow Dash veered off and flew around the castle, hearing Lightning Dust’s laugh chasing after her.

“Assuming you even live that long!!”

Holy shit, she was literally trying to kill her!

Rainbow Dash knew that Lightning Dust harboured a grudge against her for what happened at the Wonderbolts Academy, but seriously?! She never pegged Lightning Dust as a pyscho; egotistical and short-sighted, maybe – kind of like her, but she was getting better, honestly! – but not crazy murderous like this!

What the hell happened to her after the Academy?

Well, no point in focusing on that now; better to focus on surviving.

Lightning Dust came around in the opposite direction, almost too fast for Rainbow Dash to react, but she managed to put her hooves up in time to stave off the flashing wing-blades.

‘Stave off’ meaning that she got her forelegs cut to shit instead of her face.

Rainbow Dash had martial training, but the difference in strength and speed between her and Lightning Dust was so much that she pretty much just flailed about to avoid getting hit until she managed to get away.

“Why don’t you just fly away?” Lightning Dust shouted, giving chase. “Just abandon your friends right now if you’re just gonna keep running like a coward!”

Rainbow Dash bristled at the insult. She didn’t like that she was on the defensive, but she just couldn’t fight Lightning Dust. She matched Rainbow Dash in speed and agility when she was normal, now she was even faster, and stronger to boot.

Also, she had knives, which was total BS.

“I cut you up pretty bad there!” Lightning Dust crowed, diving in and trying for another flurry of slashes, which Rainbow Dash barely dodged. “All that bleeding’s gonna tire you out sooner or later! Might as well make it easy on yourself and hold still for me!”

There was one thing Rainbow Dash could do, though.

She could keep Lightning Dust occupied. It didn’t seem to occur to her that every second she spent chasing Rainbow Dash was a second she was spending not helping protect Nightmare Moon, or helping the rest of the Eclipse. Bad or not, Rainbow Dash always felt that you should help the guys on the same side as you. Not that she was complaining that Lightning Dust wasn’t doing that.

Her instincts flared and told her to get out of the way, but when she tilted her body and banked right, cold steel cut into the space between her wings. The pain made her wings spasm and she lost control.

“Look at you now…” Lightning Dust taunted, choosing to remain hovering as Rainbow Dash landed on a spire and scrabbled for purchase on the shingles. “I’m stronger than you, faster than you, and I have just as much skill,” The blades on her wings started to glint with the sun finally emerging from behind the moon. “You’re totally finished What do you have compared to me now, huh?!”

She came at Rainbow Dash like a comet…

Then fell like a shooting star as a yellow and orange flash came down from the sky right on top of her.

Lightning Dust hit a slanted roof a few storeys below Rainbow Dash with a flurry of pained curses.

Spitfire swiped her foreleg across her chin. “Friends, for one thing.”

Rainbow Dash grinned wildly. “The hell took you guys so long?”

“Had to make sure the princess took the Cleansing Joke well,” Soarin said, landing beside her and retrieving a roll of gauze tape from his saddlebag. She held still and let him wrap her wounds. “She did, by the way.”

“Where is she?”

“Went to go help the others,” Spitfire answered, landing on Rainbow Dash’s other side. She grimaced as one of her hindlegs twitched as it touched the shingles. “Shit. I hit her hard enough to hurt my own leg, but she’s still standing.”

Twilight was okay – that news made all the injuries she bore worth receiving.

“She’s crazy strong,” Rainbow Dash muttered, watching as Lightning Dust shook herself off and flew back up with a nasty glare. “We can probably take her with all three of us here, though.”

Lightning Dust growled as she hovered a dozen yards away, hate darkening her eyes. “Well, looky here… I don’t care much for that loser, but you and the captain of the Wonderbolts in one place? Must be my lucky day.”

Soarin bit off the end of the gauze as he finished wrapping her last cut and placed the roll back. “So, how are we gonna do this, captain?”

“Alpha-3, Manoeuvre 5.” Spitfire said immediately.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Whoa, that’s intense.”

“Yeah,” Spitfire glanced over with a daring smirk. “What’s wrong? Slowing down?”

Rainbow Dash returned the smirk and flexed her wings. “Even if I was, I’d still be faster than you.”

The other mare chuckled and prepared to take off. “Let’s win this, so I can give you latrine duty for mouthing off.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

If there was any doubt that Twilight wasn’t one to let vengeance take hold of her, it was immediately quashed when a bolt of dark magic hit the ground and created a wall of black-tinted crystals in front of the castle’s front doors.

Twilight landed on one with a flat top and glared down, tense like a tiger ready to pounce.

Any other day, Nightmare Moon could have easily handled her, but the situation didn’t allow that: a barely-budding but revenge-driven alicorn in front, and an experienced but blind – not for very long, though – one at her back.

“Boss?” Fade murmured uncertainly.

Nightmare Moon winced as a chill swept through her body. “Curses…”

“Hey, boss? You got a plan, yeah?”

Sparing a few seconds, Nightmare Moon surveyed her surroundings:

Ebony and Fade were at her side, both stronger than any normal pegasus and/or unicorn. Strong enough to match a fresh-faced alicorn like Twilight? She didn’t know.

Movement stirred in the corner of her eye. “Divine Daughter!” Vitae panted as she stopped beside Ebony, face covered in dirt and scratches. “I’m a little dizzy, but I will prove myself worthy.”

Vitae, a devout unicorn with powerful healing magic but completely worthless in anything else; fodder compared to Twilight, but she certainly couldn’t hurt by helping.

Veil and Haze were fighting alongside the rest of the Eclipse and preventing Celestia’s forces from just swarming them, so she couldn’t rely on their help.

Miasma was still inside the castle; no sign of her, and she couldn’t Call her either. Nightmare Moon could easily imagine Vinyl storming through the place trying to find her.

In short, the situation was bad… but it could have been worse.

Nightmare Moon snarled as she imagined the looks of smug satisfaction on her foes’ faces after beating her, as if it was only natural that they would win because they were fighting for the ‘right’ reasons.

Victory was not decided by who was right, but by who was stronger and more determined.

And damn it, she was nothing but strength and determination! It got her this far, and it would see her through this!

“They want to fight dirty? Fine…” Turning to her guards, she hissed, “If there was ever a time to cut loose, then it is now. Call on all your strength and strike,” Growling, she shook their support off and stabbed her barely-regenerated foreleg into the ground, the pain forcing her voice to rise to a restrained yell. “I refuse to lose!”

Fade and Ebony looked at each other for a second before the latter took a deep breath and lunged forward, a bolt of electricity lancing from her horn and crashing against a barrier that Twilight quickly summoned. Fade groaned and muttered something about ‘signing up to live freely, not this’ before launching himself at Twilight, too. Vitae stared dumbly for a second before running to catch up.

Turning away from them, Nightmare Moon staggered back towards Luna. Luna was turned in her direction, but only one eye was partially open, and it was bloodshot and unfocused.

Nightmare Moon let her know where she was.

“You're taking this personally, Lu-Lu!” She shouted across the garden, watching the other alicorn's blown-out pupil centre on her. “Do you think I betrayed you because of some hidden hatred I harbored towards you?!”

Luna wiped her face and snorted. “You whispered your honeyed words into my ears, played on my insecurities-”

"I do that to everyone!" Nightmare Moon threw in a laugh for good measure. "Do you think you're special? You're not the first naive fool I possessed to get closer to my goals of ruling a kingdom. Do you want the truth?" She bared her teeth sadistically. "The truth is that whatever you thought of our relationship, it meant nothing to me."

Luna's eye widened in outrage. "Silence."

Yes, that's it; Nightmare Moon's chances of winning were slim but they weren't non-existant, and the angrier Luna got, the more mistakes she was bound to make. She would use Luna's own feelings against her.

"You were a means to an end, nothing more," Nightmare Moon chuckled again. Faust, her body hurt, but she didn't let it show. "Despite our time spent together, the only thing I felt for you was pity."

"Enough!"

"What was it you said to Vinyl? 'You know me better than anypony.' That's a lie since you would know that I felt nothing but pity for the poor sister unable to get out of her older and more beloved sister's shadow."

"Your tricks will not work on me." Luna growled, making an obvious effort to reign her anger.

"I'm half-dead and still standing; perhaps you should leave and go find your sister..." Nightmare Moon paused. "And let her take care of me for you."

Luna bared her teeth and rushed forward.

Nightmare Moon knew her taunting worked; Luna had completely forgotten about the remaining arcane rings on her hoof. Nightmare Moon knew from experience that the more emotionally invested in a fight you were, the more likely you were to try and finish things as directly as possible.

Fortunately for her, Nightmare Moon truly didn't hate Luna as much as she did with Celestia - 'punched me a lot' just didn't have the same weight as 'sent me to the moon for a thousand years' - so she was able to keep a clear head.

Luna threw a punch that was severely hampered by her damaged vision, and Nightmare Moon dodged it before calling on her magic and forcing it out of her horn in a wild spray of blue missiles; the pain was intense, but she could handle it.

Luna, even in the haze of anger, was smart enough to summon a barrier to dissipate the attack instead of trying to withstand it. She moved in closer to see better and stomped her hoof on the ground, conjuring a cluster of icicles; Nightmare Moon staggered back to avoid it and tried to counter, but her magic fizzled out in the middle of the spell. Luna noticed and rushed in.

Nightmare Moon grimaced, her mind racing for a counter-attack as Luna lifted her foreleg and swung at her head-

~

The knight had it worse; Vinyl had, at some point, clambered up onto his back and shouted directly into his helm, and now he was yelling in pain while reeling backwards.

~

-only for it to miss as Nightmare Moon ducked beneath it, rose back up and summoned, forced her magic to comply and weave into a basic Voice Amplify spell.

Basic, yes, but Nightmare Moon had much larger lungs than the average unicorn.

She screamed right into Lun’s ear but was blown back as her opponent reflexively kicked out and caught her in the chest. Nightmare Moon’s armor caught the brunt, fortunately, so she only received broken ribs instead of having a hole punched straight through to her heart.

Luna reeled and choked up bile, her eye glassy as blood poured out from her ears. Were it a regular pony, the vibrations would have turned their brain to mush. As it was, Nightmare Moon only had seconds to make her next move.

She flapped her wings, immediately determined they were in no state to lift her when pain shot through them, and decided to run/stumble closer to where her army was fighting.

Shouts filled the air, weapons clashed, and magic charged the air – the Eclipse were holding back Celestia’s forces, but Nightmare Moon couldn’t see either side making much headway on their own without a lot of casualties.

She could see Celestia fighting Haze and Veil; predictably, she was giving those two a run for their money even without the full power of the sun.

More movement caught her eye. A vicious scowl tugged at her lips as she spotted Marquees Aldo and his daughter and griffon escort fighting alongside the enemy. She had expected them to ally with Celestia and Luna, but to see it in-pony was a kick to the face.

She watched as Gilda stretched out her claw, and a geyser of dirt shot up in response, catching a few Eclipse off-guard.

‘So, that’s how they infiltrated through the sewers so quickly. If only I had known that brat was magically inclined…’

Nightmare Moon shook the thought away; no sense dwelling on what could have been now. She snatched up a spear that was lying on the ground with her mouth, its owner either already fled or deceased, and charged back, and twisted the weapon so she was holding it sideways near the end of the shaft.

She intended to turn her head and drive the metal tip through Luna’s neck, then throw her weight against the shaft to try and sever the spine, but Luna recovered from the shock of having her eardrums ruptured and dodged the stab. Nightmare Moon stumbled and saw Luna raising her leg, finally remembering that she had those magic rings at her disposal.

~

-she barely managed to dodge to the side to avoid Caed’s strike that cracked the road. A blinding flash of red-orange sparks kicked up as Caed swept his glaive through the stone to send a volley of rocks at her.

~

Twisting her head, Nightmare Moon stabbed the earth with the spear’s point and flicked it up, sending a spray of dirt and pebbles, including one particularly sharp rock that struck Luna in the temple and caused her to reel back; her spell went wide, inflicted a burn across Nightmare Moon's muzzle, then flashed into the air to fizzle out as the magic came apart.

Nightmare Moon lit her horn, relieved when it obeyed with only minor discomfort, and hurled the spear with telekinesis. Luna cried out as it punctured her chest and quickly broke the shaft with a hoof before yanking the blade out.

“I’m half-dead, yet you’re still taking this long to kill me,” She jeered. "Perhaps you should just wait for your sister."

Luna snorted with a glare that could kill. She was huffing with such intensity that Nightmare Moon was certain the only reason she wasn't seeing smoke was that Luna had a lower body temperature. "Do not say that lightly; you will fare no better against her than I once the sun is out."

That was true. However, Nightmare Moon was prepared to wait for that since it meant more time to stay alive and plan, plus more time for her body to recover. It may not have been the best plan, but right now it was the only one she had.

Luna's face was darkened by a shadow for a brief instant. "Hm?"

As she looked up, Nightmare Moon jumped when a pegasus landed in front of her. "Fade?!"

“Boss…” He said.

"Why is one of your legs a potted plant?"

He looked down and waved the upside-down ceramic pot attached to his torso. “Twilight. But, so... we got a problem.”

“There are many of those at the moment. One is standing right behind you,” Nightmare Moon spasmed and coughed into her hoof, splattering it with blood. “Another is the cause of that.”

“We got a bigger one,” He grimaced. “My sis’ just Called us. She thinks she’s found a bomb in the throne room.”

Nightmare Moon’s blood went cold. “… What?”

“Damn it, they found us!”

“It doesn’t matter now; it’s already primed, so just get back in!”

The two knights had immediately retreated through the portal they came through when they had been spotted, which was Miasma’s first clue that something was very wrong.

The throne room was empty, save for one maid that had the misfortune of choosing now to clean the stained windows. One of Miasma’s troops went to check on the prone mare and shook his head with a grim expression.

A quick search of the area revealed a sinister-looking device that had been set up behind the throne’s dias – a grey-hued obelisk shaped like a lamp stand, standing at roughly the size of a pony and covered in lights and metal prongs.

The LEDs were flashing periodically.

Even with the humans’ alien technology, there was no doubt in Miasma’s mind that this was an explosive.

‘Shit,’ Miasma examined the device closer once she finished warning the rest of the Praetorian Guard. For some reason, she couldn’t contact Nightmare Moon. She was concerned, obviously, but didn’t let it distract her. ‘I can’t make sense of this thing…’

The only experience she had with explosives was dynamite and the little bombs Veil toted around; this thing was far more complex than powder in a stick, and Veil’s bombs used magic, which humans were incapable of producing, so no bypassing the problem with a Dispel from one of her unicorns.

Thinking quickly, she turned and pointed to two pegasi. “You. Take this and fly as far away as you can.”

The stallions she pointed to turned ashen-grey and shared a ‘why us’ look, but wordlessly followed her order. They walked up to the bomb, got on either side, and-

BZZT

The two stallions screamed and collapsed into twitching messes.

“Hn…” Miasma stared at the sparking prongs with a grimace. She should have expected it to be trapped in some way. “That’s not good.”

“‘Not good’, she says,” One of the troops murmured. “We need to get the eff out of dodge. Like, right now! How long’s that thing set for?”

Miasma couldn’t see a display, but the interval between the light flashes seemed to be getting shorter by the second. She considered getting some unicorns to teleport it away but dismissed that idea when she remembered that anything from the human world was effectively immune to magic interference.

The LEDs were flashing faster.

Perhaps she could try smashing it?

A few strikes with her axe resulted in nothing but a few scuff marks; it would take hours to get through the shell, and who knew if the insides were any less tough? She couldn’t even hit it out a window, the bomb was anchored in a way that didn’t seem to make sense – it was like it was magnetized to the floor; she could barely budge it with her hits.

She holstered her axe and turned to a unicorn. “Zap it.”

They nervously stepped forward and cast a simple Spark Shot spell.

Nothing.

Miasma swallowed. She was good at keeping her cool but faced with something that could go explode at any moment would be trying on anybody’s nerves. Her heart was thumping against her ribcage and she could feel sweat forming on her brow.

The LEDs were flashing much faster.

“Damn,” Miasma stepped forward and hefted one of the unconscious stallions. Another troop grabbed the other one. “Everypony get out of the castle now. There’s nothing we can do.”

As she and her platoon bustled and made for the doors, top speed, Miasma thought of those still in the castle. There were many innocent civilians working here, but it seemed impossible for anypony to warn every single pony, let alone for them to get outside before that bomb went off. They only had time to try and save themselves, and just warn whoever happened to be in their way.

Guilt swarmed her insides as she swallowed and picked up the pace.

The throne room entryway loomed closer, and just as they were about to exit, somepony slid into view, jostling one of the troops as they failed to stop in time.

“Hey, what-?” Vinyl blinked, then took a few steps back. “Whoa, where’s the fire?”

“There’s-” Miasma started before one of the troops beat her to the mark.

“Fucking bomb, run!” They shouted, pushing past the DJ.

Vinyl just gawked back at her. “What?!” Miasma used her larger body to usher Vinyl along the corridor. “Where did a bomb come from?!”

“Stop yelling and start running,” She hissed. “I don’t know how long it’ll be before it-”

Across the city, a terrific roar was heard, and shrieks of horror filled the air as the upper half of Canterlot Castle was dismantled and consumed in a cloud of mustard-yellow smoke.

Author's Note

Note 1: ".. while acknowledging that its existence is what enables them to fly, griffons do not revere magic as deeply as the equines, nor are they as fascinated by as the minotaurs. Griffons see it as a property and process of the natural world that is to be studied and explained: nothing more.

"Despite this cold outlook, it is an uncommon sight to see a griffon tossing foes around with magic without an unsettling amount of enthusiasm.

"No one said science couldn’t be fun." - Excerpt from Magic Beyond Equestria, written by Iron Papyrus, a scholar whose boundless curiosity led to a deeper understanding of other races.

Also, the discovery that Faeran Death Worms do eat ponies when given the chance.

Chapter 64: The Fall: Final

Celestia lay sprawled on her back, staring up at a blazing sun with the smell of burning rubber permeating the air.

~

There was screaming as the explosion blew a chunk of the castle to smithereens.

Celestia herself could hardly believe it as the ivory and gold exterior she had come to know and love for so many centuries was cracked and destroyed; it was like watching her best friend coming undone.

Shadows fell over the garden as large sections of the castle pinwheeled out from the force of the explosion. Before Celestia could react, one unfortunate pegasus was struck by debris and fell limply, and an earth pony stumbling back and looking on in shock disappeared beneath a chunk of masonry the size of a yak.

~

Despite the strength surging within her body from the bountiful sunlight, Celestia had no ability to call upon it; she couldn’t even stand up.

‘What is happening?’

With colossal effort, Celestia parted her lips. “‘lo?” Her tongue felt like a lump of lead. “‘S’pony… ‘er?”

No response.

~

Following the explosion, a cloud of yellow gas billowed out of the castle and surged downwards. It started spreading like wildfire, swallowing up ponies as quickly as one could blink.

In the corner of her eye, Celestia spotted Twilight turning to face the gas and spread her wings to fly towards it.

Was Twilight okay? Did the Cleansing Joke work entirely? Were those crystals still causing her pain? So many concerns and worries but Celestia pushed them all down and followed her protégé, working in tandem to set up a magical barrier to try and contain the threat.

But it was futile – the gas slipped through their combined barriers like it wasn’t there and filled their nostrils and mouths.

~

She heard footsteps coming towards her – slow and unsteady.

Celestia grunted and concentrated on her right foreleg. ‘One thing at a time…’

Her muscles twitched and strained and burned before finally obeying; she pushed her forehoof against the ground with enough force that she ended up on her side, just in time to see the pony shuffling past her.

“Nah… Mrn…!”

Nightmare Moon turned her head, stared down at her – figuratively and literally. Her face was difficult to make out through the density of the lingering yellow gas, but it was hard to miss the flash of teeth bared in a scowl and the brightness of her draconic eyes.

Celestia’s blood turned to ice as her muscles tensed, expecting an attack, but it never came. Instead, Nightmare Moon kept on walking, sharp breaths punctuating each staggered step as she made for the castle. The incredible thing about it was that she was still obviously affected by the Cleansing Joke; she couldn’t have recovered from its effects that quickly, yet here she was walking through the fog while Celestia could barely manage to twitch a muscle.

She couldn’t forgive or condone what Nightmare Moon had done… but she couldn’t deny that she didn’t feel the slightest bit of awe at her foe’s sheer determination.

~

The gas smelt like burning rubber.

Celestia made a face and coughed, pressing one hoof against her nose. It was so strong that it sent pricks throughout her body. “Dwiligh’!” She called, just barely managing to pick out the mare’s shadow through the dense fog. “Dwiligh’, are you…?”

Twilight turned in her direction, stumbled, then fell on her side.

Celestia gasped in reflex. That was a grave mistake; the sudden intake of gas brought a series of muscle spasms so intense that Celestia’s knees bent. “Wh-wha…?”

She turned her stiff neck and saw ponies collapsing, too. Pegasi that were too slow to fly out of the gas seized up and plummeted like stones. Some fell from large enough heights to earn bruises and broken bones but made no sound to vocalize the pain they must have felt.

She saw Luna as a larger than average shadow, trying to reach her desperately; blue shone through the gas as she lit her horn to catch a chunk of debris before it could squash a prone unicorn and used the last of her strength to place it safely aside before she fell.

The urge to protect her kin was strong, but Celestia could only manage a few measly steps before she, too, fell.

On her back, Celestia stared directly into the sun as the moon fully moved out of the way, the world around her growing quiet and still.

~

The gas – the gas was some sort of paralytic aerosol.

Celestia tried to summon her magic but her horn just sputtered and let off wisps of golden energy.

Though, what spell could she use to deal with this gas anyway? Equestrian magic didn’t hold dominion over the wind, just fire and ice and electricity. She lacked finesse in anything but pyromancy anyway.

“S-s-some… one…” Celestia could barely manage coherent words, let alone say it louder than a strangled whimper. She just wanted somepony to answer her, to let her know that the villain of this fight wasn’t the only one able to walk around.

She tried moving her body again. With considerable effort, she managed to get both forelegs under her to lift her head and torso off the ground.

“Answer… me…”

The sun’s rays did little to penetrate the thick vapours; it was as if a bunch of pegasi had coloured a fog and dumped it on the earth for a laugh.

But it was eerily silent – almost like a graveyard.

She could barely see five feet in front of her, but she painstakingly crawled forward, using her front hooves to drag her unresponsive lower half one inch at a time. The sound of her body shuffling against the ground was impossibly loud amidst the silence.

Shhff

Shhff

Shhff

Not too long after, Celestia could make out the dark shape of another pony lying on the ground and moved closer to it. Her hoof knocked a piece of wood out of the way.

“Are you…?”

Two eyes stared at her, unseeing.

He was wearing Eclipse armor, but his helm was dented in from a piece of debris; a rivulet of blood was seeping down his brow.

Celestia inhaled sharply and closed her eyes, sparing a moment to mourn the unfamiliar stallion before carefully lowering his lids.

Then, when she turned to try and find someone else, the piece of wood she bumped into began to glow and float.

Celestia held her breath and watched as countless sticks and logs floated from all over to form the body of Nightmare Moon’s enormous timber wolf in a symphony of clacking and groaning wood; it was smaller than before, but still three times her size.

The beast huffed and shook itself off once it was fully intact, and looked around, sniffing the air.

Its glowing eyes fixed on her.

Celestia swallowed as she heard it growl. Fighting was out of the question, but her body was tough enough to survive an assault for at least a few minutes provided the wolf didn’t focus on her head; she was more worried about the wolf accidentally stepping on somepony.

But the wolf suddenly pricked its ears and looked off into the distance briefly before bounding straight over Celestia and disappearing into the gas.

Celestia turned her head to follow it, confusion drawing her brow together as she heard the beast snarl and stomp about for exactly three seconds.

After that, the sound of something sharp whistling through the air cut the snarling short.

She heard countless sticks and logs clattering against the earth.

Then, it was quiet once more.

Someone had taken out that wolf in a very short time. Celestia had an idea for the ‘who’, but it didn’t bode well for equine-kind if her guess was correct.

She focused on getting her body to obey her commands. It was difficult, but it seemed that once she managed to get a limb moving, the rest of her muscles loosened up. Her movement was far from optimal, but it was better than nothing.

“Sister…”

Celestia pricked her ears and turned her head to look behind. “Luna… Thank Faust…”

Luna staggered over to her like a drunkard. “This gas is the work of the humans, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I think they’re close by, too,” Celestia dipped her head in one direction and experienced whiplash. “Ow. Over there. Nightmare Moon’s timber wolf ran over, but it was defeated. Nightmare Moon went to the castle.”

“For what?” Luna paused, her brow furrowing in disbelief. “For Vinyl?”

“I doubt it’s for her own safety.”

“Should we go after her?”

“No. The humans are the immediate threat right now,” Celestia gestured to the ponies around them who had yet to so much as twitch. “They’re all incapable of defending themselves. If we don’t intervene, who knows how many unicorns they’ll be able to take?”

Luna nodded. “Yes, you are right.”

Her body engulfed with the sensation of pins and needles, Celestia started at a slow trot, the only thing she could manage with her joints seemingly stuffed with wet plaster.

Ponies lay sprawled all over. Celestia and Luna stopped to help where they could and as much as they could, but their goal was ultimately off in the distance, where a mysterious light could be seen, and long unfamiliar shadows flickered through the gas.

“I saw Twilight,” Celestia said suddenly. “The Cleansing Joke seemed to have worked.”

“That is good to hear,” Luna sighed in relief. “Where is she now?”

“Somewhere near where I had fallen,” Luna looked back. “She’ll be fine. Maybe she’s recovering as we speak. She’s an alicorn.”

“Not like us,” Luna murmured. “Not natural.”

Celestia’s lips became a thin line. “… She’ll be fine. I know it.”

They kept walking until the mysterious light started to take on a rough elliptical shape, like an oval that had been bent out of shape. Dark shapes, tall and imposing, hurried back and forth in front of the light.

There was easily more than a dozen.

“Sister, we can’t take them all on at once,” Luna hissed. “My magic has yet to function correctly.”

Celestia lit her own horn in vain hope but was met with just a few pathetic sparks yet again. “Look – do you see?” She pointed to one of the shapes – it had bent over and came back up with something thrown over its shoulder. “They’re taking the unicorns. If we don’t do something…”

Luna grit her teeth and exhaled. “Okay.”

In just a few more steps, they were close enough that the fog failed to obscure the figures entirely. However, it also failed to mask their approach, and when one of the invaders noticed and shouted, every one of them stopped and stared.

But they didn’t attack.

“Stop this,” Celestia growled, rising to her full height. She may not have been at a hundred percent, but they didn’t know that. “You will not lay a single finger on these ponies.”

“Knights – stand down.”

Celestia’s gaze fixated on Caed as he made his way to the frontline, the knights parting for him like a wave. “Caed… what have you done?”

He seemed different since she last saw him. His face was pale and appeared gaunt, as if the skin had tightened around his skull, and there were shadows beneath his eyes. She also noticed that his steps were heavy, where previously he had trodden as if afraid to disturb a single blade of grass.

Despite that, he carried himself with authority, and Celestia could see nothing but unshakeable resolve in his gaze.

He had some sort of small container on his face that covered his mouth and nose. It looked vaguely like a surgical mask but with a few tubes and blinking lights. It was translucent, so she could see his lips turn down in a frown.

“I am not proud of this…” Caed looked at the smouldering castle, then at the prone ponies around him. His voice was partially muffled. “But it is the only choice we can afford to take.”

“Did you plan this?” Celestia asked. “The timing is too coincidental; you must have known about what we were attempting here.” She had to keep him talking; it meant more time for their strength to recover and less ponies being taken through the Fracture. She hoped that the gas’ effects wasn’t permanent and that others were beginning to stir, too.

“We did. We have surveillance drones in your world that can function even without a direct connection to us. They record everything, and we can see it all when we open a Fracture for them,” Caed paused and breathed in deeply, the breath rattling in his chest. Celestia couldn’t help but cringe in sympathy; it sounded painful. Caed recovered and continued. “So, we planned a surprise attack around your surprise attack,” The corners of his lips twitched. “I know this is inappropriate, but… I cannot help but be amused by the notion.”

Luna growled. “Ponies have died.”

Caed grimaced and nodded. “Sorry.”

“Your words mean nothing to me!” Luna stomped her foot. “You wish to apologize? Then return those you have already stolen and leave. Now!”

Celestia nodded in agreement. But deep down, she already knew that Caed wasn’t going to listen. She could see it in his gaze – the same type of fierce determination that was so familiar in the eyes of Twilight, in the eyes of her friends, even in the eyes of Nightmare Moon.

From knowing in your heart that you are doing the right thing.

Or, in the case of Nightmare Moon and Caed… believing that what you are doing is right.

“I can’t do that,” Caed shook his head. “I’ve already come too far, done too much to just stop now. No matter what happens…” He gestured with his hand, and his knights continued with their grisly work. “I will see my people to a better life.”

Celestia shot forward like a spring, the force of her back hooves kicking off the dirt creating small pot holes. The world seemed to slow down as the wind broke around her, and Caed’s eyes reflected surprise for the briefest moment.

Then, with aching deliberation, Caed’s lithe body turned as he drew his left arm back. His jaw clenched. He planted his boots in the dirt for stability. Celestia, mere feet away from hitting him with all her strength, watched as his arm came back around, his hips swinging as he transferred all his weight to the limb.

She really thought she could get him before he could react, but she underestimated his speed.

CRACK

Caed’s fist slammed into the spot just beneath her horn, and Celestia blacked out for a second as the shock rippled through her body.

“‘Tia!”

Celestia landed on all fours after coming to a dead-stop in the air, neither she nor Caed able to outmatch and push the other back. Her vision became blurred and colourless and sounds were hollow, like shouting down a well or a tunnel. Her body shook, ready to collapse, but she willed herself to stand.

Caed shook his hand and hissed through clenched teeth. Some knights drew closer in concern, but he waved them off and smiled crookedly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, but you surprised me. I’m not the best at dealing with surprises. Ask those that were so kind to celebrate my birthday.”

Celestia huffed and some drool seeped from the corner of her mouth. “Hah…” Her mind was scattered, but she was able to focus on Caed’s words. She found that a little funny. “Hah…”

Luna stepped in front of her, and Caed raised his other hand. “I don’t want to fight you.”

“What do you expect? You are killing our ponies!” Luna cried, flexing so her wings flared up to their full size. Or, she would have if they hadn’t stopped midway and awkwardly spasmed. Luna winced in pain and stiffly folded them. “W-we will not stand by while you do this!”

Caed sighed and looked down so his gaze was hidden. “… You’re right,” He looked back up. “So… I guess that I must hit you until you can’t stop us. Sorry.”

Luna moved her wing in front of her as Caed drew his glaive and slammed the haft down. Luna yelped in pain, and the sound stirred Celestia out of her stupor; the world was still spinning, but some things were clearer.

Luna immediately tried to rush Caed down with punches, bites, and kicks, but her limbs were too rigid, and Caed weaved back and forth, dodging each attack with ease. He told his knights to back down when they drew their weapons. When Luna turned on the spot to kick out with her hind legs, Caed ducked and rammed his fist into her stomach, dropping her like a stone.

Fury cleared the remaining cobwebs from her head, but Celestia realized that charging in full of emotion was not going to win this bout; she had to be smart, especially since her magic wasn't working.

Extending her left wing as far as it would go, Celestia bent her body and swiped the limb at Caed's legs, knocking him into his rear with a confounded 'ow.' Celestia clamped down on his arm with her powerful jaws and pulled him to the floor. She figured that if she could just get him pinned and helpless, then perhaps she'd have the time to plan her next move, or at the very least get the knights to just stop for a minute.

Caed didn't allow her that: he twisted, pulled her off-balance with incredible strength, and wedged the hilt of his glaive into her mouth and used it as a lever to get his arm out, then rolled away.

Celestia slashed the ground with her wings and sent up a spray of dirt to blind him before attempting to knock his weapon away. Caed dodged the spray, swayed back to avoid her punch, then leapt straight over her head - a well-timed somersault sent his foot crashing into the back of her skull.

Stars exploded in her vision, but she managed to buck with her back hooves, and cleanly hit Caed as he was coming down behind her before collapsing.

She could hear the knights’ footsteps as they surrounded their leader, voices rushed and heavy with concern. Celestia shakily turned herself around, still sprawled in the dirt, and saw that not only had she knocked Caed quite a way back, but his mask had come off. She attempted to reach for it, but she was out of breath, and the knights were closer; one of them quickly grabbed the mask and returned it to their leader. Caed removed the hand covering his mouth and put the mask back on, his breath coming out in a pained gasp that dissolved into a harsh coughing fit.

Celestia could hear how it rattled around in his chest and saw red drops paint the inside of his mask.

When his fit calmed somewhat, Caed politely dismissed everyone’s attempts to help and looked back to Celestia. “I-I realize that we were to meet as adversaries the next time we saw one another… but I also said for you to bring all that you can muster. As much as my health would like to believe that that was your full potential, I know better; you can hardly expect to fight at full strength with the Medusa Shrieker’s gas.”

“What is this poison?” Luna wheezed. She was trembling and finding it hard to stand. Celestia assumed that getting winded caused her to take in deeper breaths and more of the gas, making the paralysis potent again.

“A remnant from our war: it explodes to destroy buildings, then releases a gas that causes death by paralysing the muscles for breathing,” Caed held up his hand when he was fixed with two horrified stares. “Natalia, one of our scribes, re-configured it to only paralyse the muscles for moving around,” He gestured to his mask. “These neutralize the gas’ effects. It also helps me stop feeling like every breath I take is a knife between my ribs.”

“A device that paralyses but leaves the victim alive,” Luna mumbled, her tone heavily slathered in disgust. “Perfect for your intentions.”

Caed faltered. “It’s… Yes, it is. Though, you two are obviously strong enough to resist complete immobility.”

One of his knights stepped forward and touched his shoulder. “Knight Enforcer, we’re running out of time.” The voice was female and familiar. Celestia could almost put a name to it – Eden? Esther?

“I know,” He waved his hand. “Continue gathering the unicorns.”

Celestia grit her teeth and struggled to get up, watching in helpless anger as the knights went about carrying any unicorns they could find to the Fracture. “Stop.”

“You can’t do anything in the state that you are in,” Caed shook his head and sighed, kneeling in front of Celestia so they were eye level – an unnecessary gesture but Celestia could sense the sincerity in it. “I realize that this goes against every fibre in your being, but please stay down and do not interfere.”

“How can you ask that of us?” Luna’s brow was covered in sweat. She almost stood back up, but without looking, Caed held his glaive out and slapped her knees with the side of the blade. She collapsed. “Blood and fire! Thou shalt rue the day thou left whatever blackened womb thou was conceived in!”

Celestia couldn’t believe the situation they were in: forced to watch, helpless, as ponies were taken away to be used as fuel. She had to do something, but she just didn’t have the strength.

“We can give you food and water,” She choked out, staring pleadingly into the human’s face. “Seeds to grow your own crops.”

Caed sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head. “I told you during our last encounter, Celestia. Our soil is barren – we can’t grow anything there. Not anymore.”

“But the food and-”

“We would still need energy to use the Spectrum Shifter and open the Fractures for that exchange. And as I said, there’s only so much that can go through a Fracture before it shuts on its own,” Caed swept his arm out in gesture to the garden. “Even if you were willing to trade enough food and water so that we can survive, sooner or later, we’d still need magical energy to power the machine to keep the trade going. In the long term, we’d end up needing even more unicorns.”

"Do not bother with him, sister..." Luna growled. "Clearly, the only thing his kind understand is violence."

Celestia licked her dry lips. "What if I go with you instead?"

"Sister!"

"Surely, an alicorn would be worth more than one unicorn?"

Caed shook his head firmly. "No. You must remain to rule your lands. Self-sacrifice is a noble ideal, but there are many that still need you to lead."

Celestia couldn’t see any room for sway in his gaze and lowered her head, shamed by her own helplessness. “So, it’s really going to be like this? Forced to watch as you take our friends?”

"You are a coward, Caed!" Luna cried. "You make you and your people out as blameless victims, but no matter what Nightmare Moon may have done to warrant your ire, it will never make up for the pile of bodies that grows beneath your feet! To kill is to kill!"

"Luna, don't..." Celestia pleaded as she watched her sibling rise to her feet and face Caed.

"Stop making excuses and searching for pity," Luna's muscles tensed. "You will find none here."

She tried. She really tried to win, but the gas and Caed's prowess proved too much, and Luna ended up back on the ground. Celestia sighed and closed her eyes; try as they might, they couldn't win under these conditions - there was no magic to call on, no unexpected allies to burst onto the scene with a convenient artefact to wash away all the bad things, and no treasured memory or inspiring epiphany that would give them the strength to overcome the effects of the gas.

"You are no hero," Luna spat, face-down in the dirt. Hate speckled each word. "You are no victim. You are just a murderer."

Some of the knights were murmuring, disagreeing, talking to Caed and telling him not to listen, that they needed to do this to save everyone.

Caed just stared at Luna silently.

Unlike Luna, Celestia felt an immense pang of sadness for him.

In a way, she could understand his drive to save his people. Celestia often felt something similar when she stood on her balcony and overlooked Canterlot and the land beyond it and thought, 'I will protect this - all of it.'

How tragic that it could lead to something so despicable.

“I will not take you two, nor the ones you call the ‘Element bearers.’ However…” There was an edge in his tone and it made Celestia glance up. “If you could inform me where Nightmare Moon is, I will do my utmost to remove her from your world. Two birds with one stone, as it were, and it would be delicious irony to use her magic for our machine.”

Celestia was quiet for a bit, then sighed. “Nightmare Moon is…”

‘Where are you?’

Dust choked the air, so thick that Nightmare Moon could feel it coating her like a second skin. Her hooves scuffed and kicked over bits of rubble.

‘Idiot. You better not be dead after I told you to go inside the castle. Do you intend to make a fool out of me?’

Nightmare Moon’s muscles were aching, not just from the Cleansing Joke, but the gas; it had some sort of paralysing effect that was strong enough to take down even Celestia and Luna, and leave Nightmare Moon floored.

Fortunately, the gas wasn’t so concentrated at the blast zone; it had spread out to the surrounding area as quickly as possible, so she didn’t have to worry so much about it now. She still wasn’t entirely sure why the gas’ effects on her wore off after a few minutes, but figuring that out wasn’t her greatest concern right now.

She needed to find Vinyl.

Yes, she could have tried to kill Celestia, but at that moment, it just wasn’t important. Nothing but finding Vinyl was important to her. Not Canterlot, not her enemies, not her Praetorian Guard – nothing.

‘You knew she’d be your downfall eventually,’ A slimy voice whispered into her ear. ‘Look at you – shifting through the wreckage to find one body amongst hundreds instead of retreating while you still have the chance.’

“She’s not dead,” Nightmare Moon growled. “I didn’t save her just so she could die before the month’s even out. That’s embarrassing to me.”

‘Justify it to yourself all you want. You’re pathetic.’

Nightmare Moon clenched her teeth and ducked to look beneath some rubble cobbled together to make a tent-shape. Inside was the body of a maid. She ignored it and moved on.

The castle was still standing, amazingly; the explosion appeared to have ripped a huge hole in the exterior rather than bring the whole foundation down – it was like some immense being had gutted the place. The main lobby was still partially intact, but above Nightmare Moon was empty space where there should have been ceilings and the winding hallways of the upper floors.

She hoped that Vinyl hadn’t been too high up on a floor when the explosion…

No, don’t think about that – just keep searching.

“Vinyl!” She croaked, coming across a huge marble column that once held up the ceiling in the main lobby. A foreleg stuck out from under it, but stained in blood as it was, Nightmare Moon could tell it wasn’t the right shade of white. She went around the column. “Vinyl! Answer me!”

“W… Wolf…”

Nightmare Moon’s heart leapt into her throat. She stayed in the same spot for a few seconds before limping over to a destroyed wall and slipping through a hole. Pieces of splintered wood and nails pierced her flesh as she used the fading vestiges of her strength to force her way through. She was bleeding heavily and gasping for breath as she ducked beneath a wooden beam and found a white unicorn pinned beneath a chunk of masonry.

Vinyl raised her head, one eye sealed shut by the blood pouring from a wound on her head, and smiled. “Jeez, what took you so long?”

Nightmare Moon made her way over, a chill creeping into her bones. “Be still.”

Vinyl snickered. “Only thing I can do, dude. You look like shit, by the way.”

Nightmare Moon lit her horn and staggered from the pain of the backlash. Ignoring the resulting migraine, she reared up and put her hooves on one side of the debris.

“Seriously, though, you okay? You’re bleeding, like… a ton,” Vinyl grunted, tried to shift so she could see better. “And there’s that black shit coming out of you. S’that normal, or you going for intimidation points?”

“Can you move?”

A pause. “Yeah. Hurts, but I can move.”

Nightmare Moon pushed down with all her might and tilted the debris. “M-move.”

Vinyl pulled herself free from the debris, and Nightmare Moon let it drop, exhausted from just that moment of exertion. Her knees were shaking, but she walked to Vinyl’s side. She saw that Vinyl’s left hindleg was swollen and bruised.

“Your leg is broken.”

“No crap?” Vinyl stared at the limb with morbid fascination. “That… sucks. Could be worse, right?” She looked up, her smile wavering and her eyes starting to water. “I mean… it could be worse, right?”

Nightmare Moon didn’t answer. Vinyl’s distress was distracting, but she kept herself focused on what needed to be done. First, they needed to be somewhere with a little more cover.

“Try to lift yourself up,” Nightmare Moon lowered her head and pushed her snout against Vinyl’s belly. “I’ll carry you.”

Even with a broken leg, Vinyl managed to accomplish this. Nightmare Moon tried to be as gentle as she could – a rare occurrence for her – but ended up practically tossing Vinyl onto her back when she straightened. The impact of the DJ’s weight made both of them grimace in pain.

“You okay?” Vinyl sniffed. “Don’t push yourself if it’s too much.”

“Be quiet.”

“Just saying that-”

“I’m fine. I just need…” Nightmare Moon trailed off as she pricked her ears. “… Curses.”

“You need curses?”

Nightmare Moon shushed her and got as low to the ground as possible. She could hear footsteps. Not the ‘clip-clop’ of ponies, these were heavier and went more like ‘thud-thud’. Unless they had been invaded by a clan of minotaurs – likely giving her current string of luck – than the humans were venturing into the ruined castle.

And they were close.

Nightmare Moon hated to admit it, but she was in no condition to fight anyone, especially with an injured friend on her back. She needed to get away.

First, she spread her wings to test her flight ability, and immediately dismissed it when a few flaps caused searing pain to lance up her spine, and Vinyl moaned in discomfort, her grip loosening.

‘No. Too much jostling – she’ll fall.’

Running was a no-go, either; she could barely walk as it was.

She could try using magic; it wasn’t completely out of the question provided she had time to concentrate and gather power.

Settling on that idea, Nightmare Moon looked around and saw a cluster of broken stairs and debris. What used to be the main lobby’s staircase was now a heap of broken wood and stone with only shreds of red carpet hinting at its once grandiose nature. But there was cover as a result of the debris piled together; it was enough to hide somepony her size.

Nightmare Moon limped over as quietly as possible and hid within. The shadows offered some sense of security, even if it was false reassurance.

“Wolf, what’s happening?” Vinyl wiped her eyes and sniffled. “Ugh, shit… Fucking shaking…”

“You’re in shock,” Nightmare Moon murmured, straining her ears for the sound of the humans. “Just take deep breaths – I’ll get us out of here in a moment.”

Vinyl released a shuddering exhale and tightened her hold. “How?”

“I’ll teleport us away from here.”

“Can you handle that?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course I can.”

“But you’re-”

“Vinyl – shut up.”

Nightmare Moon lowered her head and concentrated, focusing magic to the tip of her horn to start weaving a teleportation spell. The pain in her head shifted from ‘strong’ to ‘intense’, but she ignored it and grit her teeth.

Then, strangely, the pain started to fade, as did the tingle behind her eyes whenever she used magic.

“Wolf, you’re smoking.” Vinyl sounded like she was talking from within a well.

‘What?’

Breaking focus, Nightmare Moon ‘looked’ down and saw that she was floating right above her body, and that black smoke was pouring out of it. Panic choked her – she ghosted back down and took control of her physical form.

“Damn it.”

“Is that…?” Vinyl squirmed. “Wasn’t that crap ‘you?’”

Nightmare Moon felt this sensation before – when she’d left her body to augment and empower the once-normal ponies that would go on to form her Praetorian Guard. It seemed that if she lost herself concentrating on her magic, she’d just slip out of her body without intending to.

The Cleansing Joke, even now, was trying to exorcise her true form, where she would be incredibly vulnerable to any sort of magical attack.

‘But I can’t cast magic unless I’m in my body!’

Nightmare Moon bared her teeth, seething. She cursed Celestia and Luna, cursed that insignificant zebra for making this concoction, cursed the-

“Wolf?”

Like a splash of cold water, Nightmare Moon came back to her senses. “What?”

“I think someone’s coming.”

Nightmare Moon listened and realized Vinyl was correct – the humans were closer now; she could hear them turning aside wreckage and talking to one another. She caught a snippet of something that sounded very much like her name.

‘They’re looking for me.’

She was in no state to fight them, but it wasn’t as if she could escape easily; her body felt heavy, her movements sluggish, and Vinyl’s weight was like a boulder on her back when any other time it would have been nothing to her.

If they tried to escape, the humans would run them both down.

Unless she abandoned Vinyl.

“Wolf?” Vinyl touched her shoulder. “Hey, Wolf?”

The humans wanted unicorns, didn’t they? Living ones. If she discarded Vinyl, surely they’d stop to capture her. Nightmare Moon could run without the added weight.

“Wolf, I…”

Vinyl was a liability, after all. Useless weight. She couldn’t contribute anything to help Nightmare Moon survive.

“I think I got an idea.”

Nightmare Moon exhaled shakily and shook her head. For the first time in a while, she didn’t want dark thoughts filling her head. “Tell me.”

“You, like… did something to those guys in your Praetorian Guard, right? The same thing that you said you’d give to me,” A pause. “To help fix my magic.”

“Yes?”

“Do you think you can do that now?”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened. “You want to be augmented?”

“Wolf – look at me.”

Nightmare Moon did.

In those red eyes, she saw determination and resolve of such intensity that no amount of tears or pain could hide it. She was grinning, arrogant and certain.

“I said I’d get augmented to hell and back within a heartbeat if it was to save you, didn’t I?”

Nightmare Moon’s voice refused to work for a second. “I…” Something fluttered in her chest, something that made her feel like hiding her face. “I don’t require your help to get out of this situation.”

“Are you blushing?”

“But it would be foolish to pass up a helping hoof considering the circumstances,” Nightmare Moon cleared her throat and squashed the flutter in her chest when she reminded herself of their situation. “That is, of course, considering that I can even…”

She may not have been able to cast spells properly in the state she was in, but what Nightmare Moon did to empower her hosts, and her Praetorian Guard wasn’t a spell, it was an inherent ability she was ‘born’ with; all she needed to do was shift into her true form and let her instincts guide her to manipulate the mysterious orb of energy that rested within Vinyl.

But the Cleansing Joke… How would that affect her? It could do more harm than good.

Nightmare Moon’s ears twitched as she heard a human grunt and toss something aside. If they were discovered, then her fears wouldn’t matter – they’d be killed, or captured and used as fuel.

She didn’t want to die, but it was imagining that fate for Vinyl that helped cement her decision.

“Very well,” Nightmare Moon turned her head and nodded to Vinyl. “I will try, but it may be difficult. Time isn’t on our side, either.”

Vinyl’s eyebrows were drawn together, fierce confidence emanating from her body. “Just tell me what to do.”

“I need you to get off me,” Nightmare Moon took a breath as she mentally prepared herself. She hadn’t attempted something like this since Lightning Dust, especially not with this sort of pressure and anxiety. Lightning Dust was expendable, but if she messed up with Vinyl… “Lie down next to me.”

Vinyl nodded and started to slide off, lips pressed together as she had to briefly put pressure on her bad leg.

Nightmare Moon stretched out her wing to help, never mind the pain that flashed up her side and back. “Easy,” Once Vinyl’s belly was on the ground, Nightmare Moon turned to face straight and closed her eyes. “Relax – let whatever happens happen. I’ll try to be gentle, but…”

Nightmare Moon felt a hoof cover her own.

“I trust you, Wolf.”

She felt no urge to shake away the contact.

‘Focus… focus…’

Nightmare Moon concentrated on Vinyl’s breathing, strained and exhausted.

'Focus and become that which is lighter than air, become that which light cannot see…’

Something inside her pulsed in pain.

Nightmare Moon twitched a little, but then started thinking of Vinyl, thought of helping her, thought of exacting revenge on her enemies, thought of achieving all her desires with no one around that could wrest them away from her – everything that brought her a sense of fulfilment and joy.

The pain started to fade like a dissolving memory. The urge to breath became less significant.

‘Become what you always were…’

Nightmare Moon felt herself rising.

‘Now open your eyes and see what you are.’

Regaining sight, Nightmare Moon looked down and saw her body, covered in wounds that refused to heal and reeking of something foul that made her instincts flare up in revulsion. The effects of the Cleansing Joke – the nausea, the general feeling of ‘wrongness’ – didn’t feel so intense now, but she could still feel some of lingering on her, weighing her down as if there was a boulder on her non-existent shoulders.

But she could still move – that would be enough.

‘Vinyl.’

She was lying in the same spot, eyes closed and breathing… slightly more normal. Vinyl’s aura surrounded her, blue just like her magic, but it was washed out like a faded painting and listless when it should have been active and swirling about. The burning white orb in the centre of her body however, blazed brilliantly.

‘I’ll fix this,’ Nightmare Moon promised, floating down to mingle in with Vinyl’s aura. ‘I’ll fix you.’

To her surprise, Vinyl did not recoil at her touch. If anything, her aura seemed to welcome her. Nightmare Moon wasn’t used to this sort of reaction, but she didn’t hesitate to take advantage and ease her way into Vinyl’s body, dark smoke wrapping around her like a protective shawl.

She tapped into Vinyl’s mind. ‘This will hurt.’

An echoing laugh. ‘Your bedside manner sucks, dude.’

Nightmare Moon’s lips would have twitched if she had any. ‘Steel yourself – it will be over soon.’

And with that, she imagined claws and fangs and dug into the blazing orb.

Vinyl… reacted, as she expected, but she didn’t plead nor beg for it to stop. Nightmare Moon had taken control of her body to keep it from moving, but she suspected that Vinyl would have stubbornly refused to move so much as an inch if she hadn’t.

It was remarkable, the level of trust that Nightmare Moon could feel bleeding from Vinyl’s mind and heart.

She worked quickly: bones were reset, torn muscles and ligaments were sewn back together, and Nightmare Moon did her utmost to repair the damage done to Vinyl’s horn; she worked the shattered pieces back together like a jigsaw, watching intently as the magic started to flow once more.

‘Come on, come on…’

There were pieces that refused to fit. Nightmare Moon pushed, prodded, then eventually started hammering them together, but they wouldn’t stay, and Vinyl screamed inside her mind as the pain became too great.

‘Damn it!’

The pieces weren’t going to fit unless she had magic healing it from the outside; she left them there and treated the blazing orb to a sample of her essence. It hurt Nightmare Moon when it shouldn’t have, but the orb absorbed her essence with no adverse effects – that was the important thing.

‘It’s done.’

Nightmare Moon ripped herself free from Vinyl’s aura and sped back to her body, filling up all the nooks and crannies and-

“Grrgh!!”

It was like molten silver had been poured into her veins. Nightmare Moon’s eyes bulged as she slammed her jaws down on her foreleg to muffle a pained howl. Blood poured down her chin, and her mouth was awash with the taste of metal.

There was movement at her side as Vinyl, with some stiffness, rose onto all four legs. “Wolf? Are you okay?”

“Hnf…” Nightmare Moon felt like she had been pushed through a tunnel of inverted thorns – smooth one way, excruciating the other. “M’fine!” With deep breaths, she reigned in her body’s urge to curl up and rock and forth in misery, and looked to the side. “Are you…?”

Vinyl’s coat had obtained a greyish hue, the colour of morning fog, and her mane was duke blue. Her body was significantly heavier with muscle, and her horn, while still askew, sparked tentatively with magic.

Looking over herself, Vinyl gave a smarmy grin, wine-red eyes shining in the shadows. “See? The goth look just doesn’t suit me.”

“Excellent,” Nightmare Moon grinned her bloodstained fangs and shakily stood, her elation so strong that she was able to ignore the intense pain in her body. “Truly excellent. Y-your magic is not fully healed, but it’s enough for simple spells and magic blasts.”

Vinyl nodded, her eyes roving over Nightmare Moon’s trembling form. “Yeah.”

“With this, we can…” Nightmare Moon took a step forward, almost collapsed. “We can run and fight if we have to.”

Vinyl said nothing.

Nightmare Moon glared down at her shaking foreleg as if the intensity of her glare would make it obey. “Those fools that doused in that foul liquid. I’ll make them pay for making me look weak in front of everypony.”

She swallowed blood and bile, then looked up to meet Vinyl’s eyes. There was concern in them.

“This? It’s nothing. I’ll be fine in a minute. Then, we can go,” Nightmare Moon’s chest tightened, and she covered her mouth to muffle the coughing. “I… I won’t allow these pathetic humans to stop us. I still have a life to live, desires to fill… enemies to vanquish. This is a grave setback, I’ll admit, but I’ll come back. I always have. I… I…”

Nightmare Moon paused, confused, as she watched Vinyl walk ahead out of cover and turn to face her.

“… What are you doing?”

In those red eyes, she saw determination and resolve… but it wasn’t quite enough to hide the pain behind them.

“Wolf, thanks for everything,” Vinyl said with a big smile. “And I’m sorry.”

Nightmare Moon watched in awe as Vinyl fired a powerful blast of magic at the roof of the opening, and a shower of rubble blocked it off, plunging her into darkness.

Vinyl ran off, shouting insults at the humans, until her footsteps, along with theirs, grew quieter and quieter.

For that entire time, Nightmare Moon stood there, staring ahead into blackness. For all her intelligence and cunning, she failed to come up with a response to what had just happened. She was in disbelief.

“Vinyl?”

She approached the opening. Pressed her hoof against the rubble and pushed. She couldn’t even manage the strength to make it budge.

“Vinyl?”

Pressure welled up from within her belly, filling her chest until it felt as if her organs were squashed and showing through her skin. She put all her weight against the blockage.

Still nothing.

Nightmare Moon finally came to terms with what had happened. Her world turned red as her emotions boiled over. She hadn’t been able to telepathically communicate with her Praetorian Guard due to the Cleansing Joke, but like a tsunami, everything inside her surged forth and crashed against some invisible barrier, tearing her body apart with agony as her mind reached out and slammed against the retreating form of her only friend.

“VINYL!!!”

Vinyl stumbled and almost fell on her face as that one word, charged with so much energy that she could feel it in her bones.

“Hi, Wolf. I, uh… kinda expected that to be pretty final," Jeez, this was crazy; she could feel a bunch of tingling in her head, like smaller signals she could reach out and touch, but Wolf was hogging up the retail, so to speak. It was a bad signal, too; choppy and way too loud like the wrong TV channel. "This is awkward.”

Vinyl looked over her shoulder, smirking as she saw the humans pursuing her. It seemed to be everyone that had been searching amongst the rubble.

Sweet.

“YOU MISERABLE CUR! GET BACK HERE AND LET ME OUT! HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME AFTER EVERYTHING I’VE DONE FOR YOU!”

Vinyl winced and turned on the spot to fire blasts of magic into the crowd of pursuing humans. Most of the knights blocked with shields, but one was hit in the chest. Not that it mattered; they looked down where they were hit for a second before continuing to advance.

Shit, that’s right – humans were immune to pure magic or something, weren’t they? That sucked.

“DO YOU HEAR ME?! GET BACK HERE AND UNDO WHAT YOU DID, OR I’LL…!”

Wolf went on to describe a series of painful-sounding actions that might have made Vinyl’s skin crawl under any other circumstances. Right now, all she could feel was a sense of sorrow that she might never get to be threatened in such a way ever again.

“We were never gonna get away from these guys, Wolf,” Vinyl replied, diving to the side to avoid a thrown spear, and then returning to her mad sprint. “You could barely walk, and I can’t carry you. Maybe if I knew how to teleport, but…” She paused to turn her head and yell at the humans that their leader was an asshole. “I don’t. I’m sorry I didn’t learn, Wolf. I kept putting it off because it was so hard and-”

“STOP. TALKING.”

Wolf went quiet, but Vinyl could feel her hovering in the back of her head like an angry ghost. She felt incredible waves of anger and violence, yet there was something mixed in. Something bitter and cold.

Vinyl kept her gaze focused straight ahead, so when the towering form of a human appeared through the thick dust, she swerved to the right and narrowly avoided the brunt of a shield bash. Adrenaline flowed through her veins as she heard the humans close in on her, their shouts bringing more of their comrades.

She felt like a rabbit trying to escape the slavering jaws of a fox.

“HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME LIKE THIS? I SAVED YOUR LIFE!”

Vinyl’s heart thumped against her ribs as she ran into an area where the air seemed to be tinged yellow; her muscles suddenly became sore and rigid. She came to a halt, hooves skidding against dirt, before she could go any further and turned to see the knights boxing her in, shields raised and swords poking out over the tops.

“And now I’m saving yours.”

“Heh heh – you’re too late, dumbasses,” Vinyl was thankful that her voice came out steady and strong because she was honestly shit-scared. “Wol… The Empress is already long gone. Maybe if you hadn’t followed me like idiots, then you might have gotten her,” Her throat was painfully parched as she swallowed, then smirked mockingly. “Jeez, you guys must have a crappy commander.”

None of them responded, but the way they shuffled to her with increased fervour made her think they were scowling beneath their helmets.

“WE COULD HAVE ESCAPED TOGETHER!” Wolf raged. “IF YOU WEREN’T SUCH AN IDIOT, THEN WE COULD HAVE-”

“Wolf, if somepony like me could see we couldn’t get out of there together, then it’s, like… pretty obvious, you know?”

Nightmare Moon went quiet again, and the ghost in Vinyl’s head writhed and twisted about in anguish.

The knights surrounded her completely in a ring formation. Vinyl’s legs were shaking, but she took a deep breath to steel her nerves.

“Wolf, you’re my best friend. I love you platonically as much as I love Octavia romantically. You’ve been with me since the days of the club, you’ve been there at my wedding, and you were there to save my life in the human world.”

“I DIDN’T SAVE YOUR LIFE JUST SO YOU COULD THROW IT AWAY LIKE THIS! WHAT ABOUT YOUR WIFE?!”

Ah… she could see her now. Those beautiful purple eyes, that awesome smile, those flexible hooves that were perfect in just about everything they did from playing the cello, to using sign language, to roving across Vinyl’s body and making her feel loved and safe. Vinyl wanted to see her one last time, but it was for the best that she wasn’t here.

“Can you tell her I’m sorry? Can you tell her that I had to do this?”

One of the humans charged forward to slam her with their shield. Vinyl dodged it and threw herself into their legs, knocking them down. She stood back up, then-

CLANG

Vinyl reeled back, blood squirting from her nostrils. Having received more than her share of hits to the noggin from bar brawls, she was able to duck the next swing of the knight that hit her and cast a Kinetic Impact spell that sent them flying. Seeing that made her wish she had more time to play around with her new strength.

“YOU CAN TELL HER WHAT A BRAINDEAD WORM YOU ARE YOURSELF ONCE I GET OUT OF HERE!!”

Two knights came for her, and Vinyl swayed back, dodging their attacks like she was in another bar brawl. She imagined Wolf standing by her side, scowling and berating her for not paying her bill again. It made her smile.

“I don’t think that’s gonna happen, Wolf,” Vinyl backed up into a piece of rubble larger than herself and her hindleg grazed against something hard and sharp. Calling on her magic, she took hold of it while smiling innocently at the approaching knights. “I would love to see Octy’s hooves signing at that speed while she’s fuming and sexy as fuck again, but it’s not gonna happen.”

“YOU’RE…” Though it was surely impossible, Vinyl thought she heard a choke. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I don’t need to be protected. Please… come back and free me.”

‘Please’ – that one word almost broke Vinyl there and then.

“Wolf, the fact that you can’t get out yourself when it’s you means that you need protection, as much as it sucks to hear.”

Vinyl chuckled, stopping the knights in their tracks. “Don’t know why the Empress left. I feel like she over-estimated you guys. Come on – show me your teeth…”

Sneering and flashing her sharpened teeth, Vinyl tore the piece of rebar free with an explosion of dust and dashed forward.

“And I’ll show mine!!”

She swung and hit a knight in the head, hard; they fell to their knees with a cry, and the other rushed forward, lashing out with their shield.

They were still aiming to capture her, huh? She’d make them reconsider.

Swaying beneath the shield, Vinyl jabbed the rebar under a crevice in their breastplate, hoping to get a piercing blow. The knight stumbled back but it looked like it was from the force rather than any real damage; they came straight back in, using their superior size to loom over Vinyl and slam their shield down.

She couldn’t get out of the way in time, so she took the blow on her back with clenched teeth and shoved the rebar into the human’s chin. For a second, it was almost as if their head came off, but it was just their helmet. Vinyl caught a glimpse of their eyes wide with surprise, and then promptly stabbed the rebar upwards again.

Blood squirted into the air – from the human’s throat, and from Vinyl’s side.

As the human fell back, gurgling and coughing up blood, Vinyl collapsed in the dirt, blood staining her teeth orange as the knight that flanked her left the sword sticking between her ribs like she was a pig in a blanket and went to help their wounded friend.

“We aren’t supposed to kill the unicorns!”

“It’s too much trouble. We’ll find more elsewhere. Here - help me pull the rebar out and stop the bleeding.”

“Where the hell's the Knight Enforcer?”

"He started coughing again and hung back; it was bad this time."

"Jesus Christ, you left him alone when he's like that?!"

Vinyl had a sideways-view of the world from the cold ground, which wasn’t entirely new given her many nights of binging. The sword in her chest telling naughty secrets to her heart?

Heh – that was a new experience.

“Hey, Wolf? I lost.”

No reply.

“Wolf… There’s not a lot to analyse here. You saved my life, and I’m just returning the favour. You’ve still got your dreams to fulfil, remember? Me? I’ve become a DJ, I owned my own club, I married the most beautiful creature in the world, and I’ve made a whole new genre of music with her.”

“Vinyl…”

“I guess I could wish that we adopted a kid, but fuck, kids scare the crap outta me if I’m honest. They copy what you do, you know? That kind of pressure would mess me up.”

“Don’t die.”

Vinyl grimaced as something started filling her lungs. She could feel blood sticking to the back of her throat. “I don’t wanna die, dude; I wanna grow old with Octy. It friggin’ sucks that I won’t be able to do that, but if me dying means you might survive, then that’s cool with me.”

“… cursed…”

The humans were talking, but Vinyl just heard it as white noise. “Sorry, what? I zoned out a little.”

“I said that you are a cursed creature that poisoned my life. I would have been happy to have never met you. You taint my ideals with your presence.”

Vinyl just laughed. “Kah hah hah…”

Wolf continued. “And yet… I would give up my goal of ruling Equestria if it just meant you would live.”

Vinyl smiled and closed her eyes. “Mm… I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Vinyl, I-”

“Live your life, Wolf. Make your mark on history and tell them the story of that super-talented and extremely hot DJ. Make sure you mention my humility, too.”

Wolf didn’t reply, but she felt the presence in the back of her head gradually getting lighter and lighter, much like how her own body felt.

‘This is okay,’ Vinyl exhaled and slipped deeper into the warm embrace of the darkness. ‘She’ll remember me. I won’t fade…’

“Stay with me.”

‘I won’t fade.’

Then, there was nothing left.

Author's Note

Note 1: Canterlot Castle - a resplendent structure of ivory and gold colours, Canterlot Castle is the most visited place in all of Equestria.

Originally, the castle was built under the command of Discord, who wished for a temple devoted to him. After his defeat, the temple was left to fall into disrepair before being restored to new glory as the castle where Celestia would rule for a thousand years as a benevolent, if melancholic, monarch.

The significance of Canterlot Castle is such that when one of its spires had to be knocked down due to an infestation of parasprites, it is said that half of Canterlot's populace wept in dismay.

Snowfall

Paf

That was the sound of a clump of snow hitting Nightmare Moon square in the face.

She blinked, slowly reached up to swipe the remains away, then put down the pencil she was using to sign some documents. Then, getting out of her chair, she rose to her full height and surveyed her personal quarters.

Nopony was there.

Now, there was the slightest chance that the furniture had somehow gained sentience from an errant Come-to-Life spell – perhaps cast once upon a time by Twilight as she was studying with Celestia in this very room – but Nightmare Moon was leaning towards ‘some pegasus flew by my balcony and tossed a snowball in.’

Incidentally, she was also a firm believer in the hypothesis that ‘pegasi were more prone to being suicidal during this jolly holiday and doing stupid stunts to satisfy their Thanatos complex.’

Nightmare Moon stomped out onto the balcony and peered over the edge.

Paf

Clearing her eyes, Nightmare Moon gazed upon a surreal scene:

Down in the snow-packed courtyard, Eclipse troops were tossing snowballs, building snow-forts, and forging snow-armor. She could hear their shouting and death kneels even from her lofty spot.

Confusion turned to disgust. Disgust turned to anger. Anger turned to mild admiration as she studied their strategies and patterns. Mild admiration turned back to anger.

Two pegasi locked in a dog-fight flew by, and Nightmare Moon ducked an errant projectile; the pegasus in the front got hit in the flank with a snowball and spiralled out of control, black smoke billowing out of…

Yeah, she wasn’t going to comment on that.

“What in the world are you unfortunate by-products of procreation doing?!” She was using her ‘I’m angry and prone to violence’ tone, but the guards didn’t seem to hear her. Her solution was to yell louder. “Cease this offensive display right now, or you will suffer unimaginable-”

“Empress!”

Nightmare Moon turned abruptly to see Fade fly in through the door; clumps of snow melted in the crevices of his armor. “Report. Why are those fools being more foolish than usual?”

“It’s a snowball fight, boss,” Fade grunted, clutched his left foreleg as if he had been grievously wounded. She saw no signs of damage. “A free-for-all. We’re in for the fight of our lives, yeah?”

Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and counted to ten before reaching out with her mind. “Ebony – tell me what the situation is.”

“A free-for-all,” Came the grave reply. “We’re in for the fight of our lives, Empress.”

“I see,” Nightmare Moon reached out again. “Haze – what the hell’s going on?”

“A free-for-all. We’re in for the fight-”

Nightmare Moon tuned out and leaned forward to jab Fade’s chest with the tip of her hoof. “Stop. Being. Stupid.”

Fade blinked as her jabs pushed him backwards. “No can do, boss.”

“I feared as much.”

Fade flew back to the door and waved her over. “The hallway’s clear. We should get moving, yeah?”

Nightmare Moon silently walked past him.

“Don’t worry, boss. I’ll protect you with my life. Right up until it gets too hard. Then…” Fade huffed and stuck his chest out with innate pegasus pride. “Then I’ll run away.”

Nightmare Moon ignored him. This just had to be the work of that ridiculous draconequus; somehow, Discord had gotten free and was causing havoc once more. This wouldn’t do: she couldn’t afford to have anarchy when she had to deal with the human invasion.

With everyone having been driven insane, she had no choice but to face him by herself.

Nightmare Moon turned a corner and was faced with a death squad of her own Eclipse guards, all of them armed with a snowball.

“Boss, get down!” Fade threw himself at her with a defiant cry.

Nightmare Moon sighed as he bounced off her body. Proceeding to walk through the salvo of tossed snow, she delivered a swift chop to the heads of her attackers, knocking them all out clean.

“I’m going to memorize all your faces…” She said over her shoulder, using a wing to clear the snow. “So I know who to hit a second time once I stop all of this.”

Leaving Fade behind, Nightmare Moon descended further into the castle to where Discord was being kept. Or rather, where he should have been kept. She couldn’t rely on something that could appear anywhere at anytime to still be in the place where she last saw them, but considering how much Discord loved presentation and theatrics, there was a good chance he was there waiting for her to come so he could go, ‘surprise, I’m free!’”

Suddenly, a purple pony appeared down the far end of the corridor. “Surprise! I’m free!”

Nightmare Moon kept walking. “Twilight, get out of my way before I string you up on a tree like you’re a Hearth’s Warming Eve decoration.”

“I broke free of your hold, Nightmare Moon,” Twilight announced proudly. “Now, with the power of friendship, me and my friends will defeat you!”

“Yes, bring all your friends here to the same spot. Save me the trouble of looking for them.”

Twilight raised her foreleg and let out a strange warbling cry that made Nightmare Moon stop in her tracks.

“Was that a duck?”

From both ends of the T where Twilight stood, her friends appeared wearing armor and pushing large cannons.

Constructed from snow.

“How did you do that?” Nightmare Moon stared, aghast, as Twilight used her magic to light the cannons’ fuses. “How did you do that?!”

The cannons fired with a mighty poomf, and Nightmare Moon narrowly avoided the dense balls of snow that cracked the wall behind her. Though clearly more dangerous than a regular snowball, they wouldn’t do any lasting damage to her; she just didn’t want to get hit by any more snow.

“Fire again!” Twilight cried.

Her friends stood there, embarrassed.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight turned on them impatiently. “Why aren’t you girls firing?”

“We… didn’t bring any extra snow.” Rarity coughed.

“Wh-what? Agh! Dismantle half of the cannons and use them to fuel the other half!” Twilight suddenly felt a shadow fall over her and turned back around. “Uh-oh.”

Pinkie started giggling. “Thanks for helping, but picking up a cannon like that isn’t going to dismantle it.”

POMF

Nightmare Moon continued walking away, leaving behind a pile of snow. Pinkie popped out a second later wearing a beard of white.

“Huh. Apparently, violence does solve problems. Hey, Rarity? Still having constipation?”

“What?! Lies! Filthy lies! My bowels are perfectly fine! Don’t you come near me with that hoof!”

Nightmare Moon managed an incredible distance of fifteen yards before she was accosted once more; this time, it was by Fancypants and Fleur in a snow-airship.

“These corridors are more spacious than I thought.” Nightmare Moon murmured.

“You haven’t spoken to us in so long!” Fleur cried, pulling up a box-shaped device with two barrels. With a pof-pof-pof, a flurry of snowballs traced a line towards Nightmare Moon, who took to the air to avoid them. “When was the last time we made a show?!”

“So sorry, my friend!” Fancypants hollered as he turned the ship’s wheel. He ducked low as Nightmare Moon swooped over him, followed by his wife’s projectile onslaught, and carefully adjusted his cap. Also made from snow. “Normally, I wouldn’t intrude without sending a letter beforehoof, but my beloved wife threatened to throw out all my moustache combs. Please understand.”

Nightmare Moon dodged the rapid-fire and flew up to the ceiling to unhook a chandelier. “Don’t worry – I do.”

And then she tossed the chandelier into the airship’s propellers.

Twisting and bending out of shape, the propellers failed to keep their vessel aloft, and smoke – for some reason – billowed out of the airship’s engine as it slowly headed for a crash landing.

“Blast!” Fancypants swore as the wheel crumpled in his grasp. “There’s no way to save the old girl… By my captain’s honour, I have no choice but to go down with her.”

Fleur leapt to his side with a dramatic wail. “We’ll go down together, my love. I’m sorry I threatened to throw your combs away!”

“No regrets now, my love,” Fancypants held her in a fierce embrace. “I shall meet you on the other side.”

Nightmare Moon floated back to ground-level and watched, unimpressed as the airship took its sweet time to crash-land with a sound akin to a pillow being dropped.

“Ugh…”

She tried going another fifteen yards, but the floor suddenly gave out beneath her; she was dropped several floors onto a bed of snow-spikes.

Or, she might have been had she not had more than five brain cells and remembered to fly.

Nightmare Moon descended and landed on the spikes anyway; they crumpled beneath her hooves. “Astounding. Now, which genius seeks to waste my time next?”

She found herself in a long corridor filled with rotating snow-blades, snow-pitfalls, snow-axes swinging from the ceiling like pendulums, snow-crossbows mounted on the walls, and a flesh and blood poodle at the far end barking furiously.

While holding a snow-chainsaw.

Nightmare Moon could appreciate that.

“You’ve done well to come this far, but the road ends here,” A unicorn with glasses and a messy hairstyle emerged out of the shadows on the opposite side. “For my friend, Twilight, I shall see you defeated.”

Nightmare Moon frowned. “Who are you?”

“You don’t know me, but I was Twilight’s friend when she was still living in Canterlot,” The unicorn retrieved a book from inside a saddlebag hanging by her side and flicked it open. “My name is Moondancer, if you must know.”

“Hm…”

“This book? It’s a catalogue of all your traits, strengths; I’ve taken the liberty of constructing counters to them via this hallway. That strength, speed, and resilience?” Moondancer chuckled darkly. “It won’t help you in getting past this hallway, so you might as well-”

Nightmare Moon lit her horn and appeared in front of Moondancer with a flash of blue light.

“Seriously, where did you even come from?” She snorted, brushing past the mare and breaking the poodle’s chainsaw with a swipe of her hoof. “I don’t even feel the need to hurt you.”

Moondancer’s eyes watered and she sighed, forlornly looking at her traps. “And I spent so long making this,” Another sigh. “Well, guess I’ll just-”

And then Nightmare Moon kicked her down the corridor.

Two floors down, Nightmare Moon came across a Pinkie-esque earth pony advancing towards her while playing a snow-accordion in a menacing manner.

“Name’s Cheese Sandwich,” He growled with a tip of his cowpony hat. “I’m here to stop you,” With a pause, he dragged his instrument out and made a sound like a depressed elephant. “Look… at mah accordion.”

“I’d rather not.”

Cheese Sandwich grunted and started playing, the power of his music whipping up a blizzard in the corridor that coated the walls with frost.

Nightmare Moon’s brow furrowed in disbelief. “Are you seriously trying to beat me, the mare who spent a thousand years on the moon, with a pitiful blizzard? I’d have killed for a blizzard just to alleviate the boredom. Now…”

Nightmare Moon walked forward. Icicles formed in the blizzard and shattered against her, but she ignored them and grabbed Cheese Sandwich by the scruff of his yellow shirt.

“Now I’d kill just to make this one stop.”

Cheese Sandwich swallowed hard. “W-wait!” The blizzard died down. “This whole ‘serious shtick’ really isn’t my thing. Maybe the song of my kind will cure your case of the grumps?”

“‘Song of your kind?’ You mean tribal drums and stomping your hooves on dirt?”

“Hey, that’s racial profiling.”

“No, that’s literally the song of your kind,” Nightmare Moon dropped him on his rump with a snort. “Earth ponies invented the first drums and stomped on dirt to drive out evil spirits. That accordion is not the song of your kind since it was invented in 889 AD by a yak called Uther.”

“Really?” Cheese Sandwich’s eyes widened. “Wow, it’s cool that you know that.”

“I’ve been around for a long time: trivia like that is second nature to me.” Nightmare Moon shrugged.

Cheese Sandwich pondered for a second. “… Well, then how about I throw you a traditional earth pony party?” He threw his forelegs out and confetti exploded into the air. Nightmare Moon’s eye twitched. “We can play all the games they had back then!”

Nightmare Moon smiled sweetly. “Of course. We can hit pinatas with sticks.”

“They had those?!”

“Well…” Still smiling, she placed her hoof on Cheese Sandwich’s shoulder. “It wasn’t a pinata and it wasn’t so much a celebration event as a form of punishment.”

Celestia didn’t look happy when Nightmare Moon turned the corner.

“Finally! What took you so long? And why did it sound like you were beating a rug?”

“What, no comment on why the rug was crying and pleading for mercy?”

Celestia waved her hoof dismissively. “Hearing crying and sounds of torment around Hearth’s Warming Eve is normal around here.”

Nightmare Moon frowned. “Specifically this time of year?”

“But I will not accept furnishings being vandalized!” With a spread of her wings, Celestia summoned a raging inferno around her. “Prepare yourself!”

Finally, something that wasn’t snow-based. Granted, it wasn’t fun to be set on fire, but she was just happy to be faced with something different.

Celestia flapped her wings and the plumes of flame solidified into red and orange snowballs. “Ha ha! I tricked you by using an element I’m not proficient in!”

Nightmare Moon facehooved.

After an arduous bout that resulted in her body becoming extremely confused as it tried to heal frostbite inflicted by flames, Nightmare Moon arrived at the door that led to Discord’s cell.

“Thank Faust I’m here…” Aggravated and quite tired, Nightmare Moon blasted the door off its hinges with magic and stepped into the darkness. Strangely, she seemed to have trouble seeing even though she had perfect night-vision. “Enough with the tricks, Discord. Show yourself.”

A chuckled bounced off the walls. “So, you made it past my guardians. You really are strong, hm?”

“I’m insulted that you chose that as your way to quantify my strength. You could have placed a jar of pickles in front of me to open and it’d get more accurate results.”

“I thought about that, but I was afraid if I put the lid back on, I’d never get it off again. And I need these pickles for the party.”

Nightmare Moon frowned at where she thought his voice was coming from. “Party?”

“Oh, poop. I spoiled it. Oh, well…”

Suddenly, Nightmare Moon was blinded by a powerful flash of light. She lashed out on impulse and hit something, sending it flying into a wall with a loud crack.

And then-

“Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve!!”

Although blind, Nightmare Moon could still feel; she could feel the merriment of the festivities in the air, she could feel the joy and wonderment being emitted from what felt to be several dozen individuals, she could feel every damn happy feeling being directed at her!

“So, this is your plan!” Nightmare Moon shouted while trying to blink the colourful dots out of her vision. “You plan to deprive me of my other senses and force me to bask in your sickening saccharine secretions! What a horrific torment – I’m quite impressed.”

“Hey, save the alliteration for when Happy Hour rolls on by,” Something with claws grabbed her shoulder, not to cause pain but to coax her forward. Nightmare Moon half-stumbled along since she was still stunned from the flash. “There’s someone you have to meet.”

Eventually, the dots faded and blurred colours focused into shapes and details; Nightmare Moon immediately surveyed the room and was repulsed to see so many familiar faces – including the ones she had fought on the way here – relaxed and happy. They were laughing, talking, and playing games amidst tables that were packed with festive food and drinks. Hearth’s Warming decorations were strung up everywhere; it was like a red, white, and green nightmare made real. The only thing that made for an interesting sight was a dazed Twilight slowly unsticking from an imprint in the wall.

But… but…!

“Who is playing polka music?!” Nightmare Moon glared at anyone and everyone.

Discord laughed as he guided her through the crowd. Ribbons were wrapped around his antler, and a silver bell hung from a satin length around his neck. “Dear me, you’re rather downcast this time of year.”

“Bah, humbug,” Nightmare Moon slapped his arm away and took a step back, her horn blazing with energy. “I don’t know how you managed to escape, but I’m giving you the chance to turn yourself to stone, or suffer what I have in store for you.”

Discord sighed and pulled out a nutcracker and an acorn. “Really now… You should just relax and enjoy yourself,” He put the acorn in the nutcracker, squeezed, and promptly split in half. The two halves looked at her oddly. “She’s been waiting for you, ya know.”

Nightmare Moon frowned. Discord seemed… almost melancholic; he didn’t give off the energy and flair that usually accompanied his antics. Come to think of it… what Nightmare Moon had to go through was pretty straightforward: there were no winding hallways to lead her astray, no ridiculous tasks she had to undertake, or riddles she had to decipher – just a bunch of battles that weren’t even difficult.

Nightmare Moon blinked in realization. “You wanted me to come here, didn’t you? Why?”

Again, Discord just looked at her oddly once he stapled himself together and pointed to the right. “I promise everything will become clear in time. Until then, you need to speak to her,” He glanced at his wrist, which had a stone sundial on it. “You have about ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes befor wha…?” Nightmare Moon blinked for not even a second long and Discord was gone. No theatrics, no pizazz – just there, then gone. Unusual. “Feh, I’ll deal with him later.”

She went in the direction he pointed in and the crowd parted like a breaking wave; it wasn’t the ‘oh Faust here she comes’ way she was accustomed to, but a ‘lemme just get out of your way there friend.’

Quite unnerving.

Finally, she arrived at a table where a single mare was sniffing at the snacks, her mouth curled into a frown. She looked over at Nightmare Moon, then grinned.

“Hey, Wolf. The food got you down, too? Yeah, it’s not all bad, but I could have given these guys a few lessons in how to really make these babies knock you flat.”

“You put alcohol in anything you’re able to. Sometimes, things you shouldn’t even be able to.”

“And it bugs the crap outta you that I won’t disclose my secret.”

Nightmare Moon shrugged. “… That fool of a draconequus informed me that everything will become clear soon. He also said that I needed to speak to you.”

“What, don’t wanna chat with your best friend?” Vinyl snickered, then smiled solemnly and put the food away before walking closer. “Wolf…” She removed her glasses. “There’s something I need to ask you…”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “And that is?”

“Well… how do I put this?” Vinyl sucked on her teeth nervously. “Will you sing a Hearth’s Warming Eve carol with me?”

Nightmare Moon turned and pointed to the far end of the room. “So, that wall… Should I aim you there and give you time to burn off some momentum, or would you rather save the flight and just take a closer surface?”

“Ah, can we put a pin in that for now? Save it for Happy Hour? Anyway, I’m serious: one of my lifelong dreams since meeting you, even when you were Star Secret, was to get you to sing a carol with me.”

“Your lifelong dreams make me sad.”

“Just one carol! And I’ll never ask again for as long as I live.”

Nightmare Moon took a deep breath. Perhaps Discord’s power was affecting her after all because she wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea. If word got out, so what? All of Equestria would know that the terrifying Nightmare Moon had sung a carol… and it did nothing to change the fact that was still one of the most powerful entities in the land. In fact, the only thing that could hurt her if she did this was if she sung badly.

“… You realize that the only reason I’m doing this is a volatile mix of exasperation, pity, and misplaced generosity?”

Vinyl shrugged. “Pretty sure that’s what Octy was feeling when she first went out with me. Come on – let’s go!”

Nightmare Moon sighed and trudged after her giddy friend. “The things I do…”

“Hot damn, Wolf! I didn’t know you could belt out like that!”

Nightmare Moon smiled, taking in the praise as she and Vinyl stepped off the stage to the crowd’s exuberant cheering. “What did you expect? I do have larger lungs. Plus, seeing as this the only time I’m going to do something like this, I figured that it would be worthwhile to go all out.”

“I love you, Wolf.”

“That wall is still there, you know.”

Vinyl just laughed. “Thanks for doing this for me, Wolf.”

Nightmare Moon shrugged. “It wasn’t as bad as I expected, I’ll admit. However, I am still left to wonder just what it is that would become clear to me in due time. My ten minute limit must almost be up.”

Vinyl cocked her head. “Hm… yeah. I think so, too. Which means that my time is almost up.”

“Leaving a party early? That’s rather unlike you,” She was distracted with what Discord had said. Without thinking, Nightmare Moon turned to scan the crowd for a mismatched body. “Why do I get the sensation that I’m about to be jumped by something stupid?”

“Bye, Wolf. Thanks for everything.”

Nightmare Moon turned. “Why are-”

There was no one there.

“-you… so…?”

And then a snowball hit her in the back of the head. Like a switch being flipped, Nightmare Moon spun around on the spot, rage making her mane blaze like a blue sun.

“I’m going to rip your ass out of your…!” She blinked in surprise. “Luna?”

Luna was standing there with an unreadable expression. Next to her, Discord struggled with the nutcracker, strips of duct tape keeping his form together. “You looked like you were enjoying yourself up there.”

That’s when it hit Nightmare Moon; that’s when it became clear to her.

“This isn’t Discord’s doing…” She murmured. “This is your doing, Luna. This is a dream. That’s why you weren’t there to face me.”

“Hey, don’t count me out so quickly,” Discord protested. “It was with my help that she was even able to enter your dreams in the first place. Credit where it’s due – even in your state, your mind is strong.”

“My state?” Nightmare Moon briefly glanced aside when she noticed that the crowd was dispersing into smoke and the walls were beginning to dissolve. “What are you talking about? More importantly, what do you plan to accomplish by entering my dreams? Do you plan to lecture me about the importance of friendship, or discuss how my plans are inevitably doomed to fail?”

Discord grunted. “Should you tell her, or should I?”

Luna shook her head. “Dreams are my domain. I will do it. Thank you for your help.”

“Meh, ‘tis the time for giving. Or, at least it is in here. At least I managed to mess with her a little bit.” With a loud crack, the acorn was split.

And then he was gone.

Nightmare Moon scowled. “Luna… what is going on?”

“Discord contacted me. He said to go into your dreams and see for myself how you really are.”

“And?”

“It is as I thought,” Luna shrugged. “You are violent, arrogant, frighteningly powerful…”

“A foal could learn that from just spending five minutes with me.”

“Yet I cannot deny that what I saw up on that stage was honest.”

Nightmare Moon paused, glanced over to where the stage was fading out of existence. “My singing?”

Luna jolted, like she was suppressing a snort. “Snrk… Well, it’s true that I initially suspected you were magically augmenting your voice. However, what I meant was your interactions with Vinyl. Your feelings, your body language, even the aura you gave off was nothing but sincere – you truly did value your friendship with her.”

Nightmare Moon grit her teeth. She wasn’t too happy with one of her enemies finding out about her relationship with Vinyl. She was the one that dug deep to find one’s dark secrets, not the other way around. “Would the ‘point’ happen to be anywhere in sight, or can I dream up a rest stop?”

“The point of this was to see for myself if what you said earlier was true. If I could trust that your intentions and the motivation behind them were true.”

“Earlier? Intentions? What are you talking about? I realize that your whole shtick with dreams is to be ambiguous when there’s really no reason, but it’s getting tiring,” Nightmare Moon sighed. “I’ve no idea what you plan, but I’m beginning to lose interest in-”

“Vinyl is dead.”

Nightmare Moon trailed off.

Luna looked up, horn lighting as she grabbed a decoration before it could fade away. “Hearth’s Warming Eve… Typically, many associate this holiday with joy and the celebration of the unification of the three tribes. However, as it is near the end of the year, it can also invoke past regrets and a yearning for what was lost.”

Something niggled at the back of Nightmare Moon’s head. Something was trying to burst through. Was it a memory?

“I pity you for what happened, even if you might not deserve such sentiments.”

“Luna…” Nightmare Moon began. “What happened in the real world that might have caused me to dream like this?”

Luna stepped forward. “You will remember once you wake. Face it and remind yourself of what you intend.”

And with that, she tapped her horn against Nightmare Moon’s-

Nightmare Moon woke.

Luna stared at her through the bars, a key dangling in her magical grasp. “What do you want to do?”

Nightmare Moon licked her lips. “I want…”

Author's Note

Note 1: During the third Hearth's Warming Eve since its conception, Princess Platinum and Commander Hurricane got involved in an argument which eventually led to exchanged blows and grappling. Coincidentally, this took place beneath a piece of hanging mistletoe, and the tale has been romanticized to the tradition that two ponies of differing blood meeting beneath it would kiss.

Chapter 65: Despair

The search was slow.

As was the case with any excavation of a collapsed building, the utmost care and deliberation was needed to move aside rubble and extract the bodies, whether they were alive or dead.

Not only that, but the effects of the gas lingered within their bodies, even though the yellowish substance had thinned and dispersed to the winds an hour ago. Moving one’s body brought stinging pain, and muscles were still rigid and unresponsive. Only a select few were able to really help scour the area for life.

Celestia was among them.

Her horn shone a warm, orange glow as she kept a stone pillar aloft for the mare that was gently pulling the unconscious body of a castle maid out from under it.

“I’ve got her. You can let go now.”

Celestia set the rubble down and wiped the sweat from her brow. “Good work.”

Ebony glanced at her, then averted her gaze. “Y-yeah. Thanks,” She shifted the maid to a more secure position on her back, then shuffled over to where they set up the makeshift infirmary. “I’ll be back in a little bit, so… wait for me, I guess.”

Celestia nodded, her face impassive. “Mm-hm.”

It was unexpected for Nightmare Moon’s Praetorian Guard to be helping as they were, but it wasn’t unwelcome. Once everypony started to recover from the paralysis, there seemed to be some unspoken agreement that any hostility between them was second-priority to the rescue of those trapped in the ruined castle. Clearly, compassion and sympathy weren’t wholly abandoned when they chose to serve Nightmare Moon.

‘Besides…’ Celestia sighed despondently as she surveyed the ruins of her castle and the forlorn ponies milling about, completely silent save for the odd shout as they found another pony. ‘After what just happened, is there any point to keep fighting? Eclipse or not, none of us won… save for the humans.’

The painful absence of twinkling magic and lit horns drove home the point of what was lost.

“Celestia?”

Celestia turned and smiled. ‘But at least we gained something.’

Twilight’s eyes, framed with dark circles, stared up at her in the same way they did when she was but a filly. “Are you okay? You look exhausted.”

The sun was out, so Celestia’s body was full to bursting with energy and magic; there was a spring in her step, her mane was extra-wavy, and her coat was smooth like marble.

Yet, she felt like collapsing on the softest patch of dirt and sleeping for a whole week.

“I could say the same for you,” Celestia gently lay her hoof on Twilight’s head. Even though it felt like a tiny piece of crystal was poking into her, Twilight leaned into the touch with a content sigh. “How are you, honestly?”

Twilight didn’t reply for a second. “… Physically, I feel okay. Not great, but not bad. The crystals don’t hurt; they haven’t for several weeks now. I’m not even aware of them half the time until I move in a certain way and they scrape against my bones.”

Celestia crouched and nuzzled Twilight fiercely.

“Mentally, I’m also quite sound. I think. I’m feeling a little frazzled, but that’s normal all things considered, right? An-and I’m just so happy to see you all again and I…”

“It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

Twilight let out a low keen and buried her face in Celestia’s coat. “I-I just need to f-figure out a way to get rid of these c-crystals, and then I’ll be fine. I just… I don’t want to look in the mirror and see them anymore.”

“We’ll use the Elements of Harmony. They’ll help you,” Celestia promised, using her wing to stroke Twilight’s back. “We just need to find them.”

“Yes. You’re right,” Twilight breathed in deeply and pulled away, wiping her face free of mucus and tears. “M-more importantly, we need to help the ponies still buried underneath the rubble. I-I shouldn’t be standing here feeling sorry for myself.”

Celestia nodded and changed the subject. “How is Rarity doing?”

“Good – all things considered. Last I checked, she was arguing with the doctors that she could still use healing magic. Don’t worry – she fell asleep once somepony put a blanket over her.”

“She was the only unicorn that could use healing magic for the past two hours, so it’s no surprise she’s exhausted. Well, aside from Dusk and Vitae.”

Twilight frowned. “Who?”

“Haze. He used to be Dusk, but… well, now he’s not. Vitae is new to the Eclipse; incredible healing powers, but she's unconscious from a piece of rubble hitting her head.”

“Oh,” Twilight shrugged. “Haze has been healing, too, but he's still going strong.”

“I can be grateful to him for doing that at least,” Celestia sighed and surveyed the area. “I’m going to go up and fly around, see if I can’t spot anything.”

“Rainbow Dash is over there,” Twilight pointed east. Celestia could see a multi-hued blur darting around and directing fellow pegasi. “I’m sure she’d like the help, but…”

Celestia waited, seeing Twilight’s hesitation.

“I don’t want to distract you from what you’re doing, but could you maybe try and convince Rainbow to take a little break?”

“Is she okay?”

“She says she is, but I’ve known her long enough that I can tell when she’s trying to hide an injury. Especially if it’s something with her wings.”

Celestia looked east again. “I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll talk to you again when things get better.”

Twilight grumbled. “Hopefully.”

“They will. I promise.”

Twilight took a deep breath and released it, the muscles in her shoulders loosening. “Yeah. You’re right. Thanks.”

Celestia took to the air with a parting smile that swiftly flaked away as she got a birds-eye view of the destruction. Canterlot Castle… It was as if a giant monster had taken a bite out of the place like it was an apple. The innards of the castle were on display, rows upon rows of floors exposed to the sun like the grooves between a spinal column.

Ground level wasn’t any better: it was like a maze of debris half-hidden beneath a smog of dust and lingering gas.

Even so, as much as it hurt to see her home in this deplorable state, Celestia knew that it was just a building, that it could rebuilt, that it would be rebuilt over time. But what couldn’t be repaired were the lives they lost.

A lump formed in Celestia’s throat, but as she approached Rainbow Dash, and they caught sight of her, she forced the lump down and put on a calm face.

“Rainbow Dash,” Celestia hovered in place, nodding to each familiar face as they fell in line before her. “Captain Spitfire, Soarin – how are you? How goes things on your end?”

“Progress is slow but steady,” Spitfire answered. “The ground’s stable, but we’ve got a lot of debris which are one rock slip away from collapsing with ponies beneath it.”

“We’re putting down coloured flags,” Soarin added. “White means that place’s safe and secure, grey means somepony needs help, and red means we need magic to get somepony out safely.”

Celestia nodded, then took notice of a black flag held in Spitfire’s hoof. “What does that mean?”

“Marks where bodies are.” Spitfire said solemnly. "We can't risk time caring for the dead when we still have living ponies to worry about."

“I understand,” Turning her attention to Rainbow Dash, Celestia remarked, “Rainbow, you’re leaning too far to one side,” Rainbow Dash tried to balance out and protest, but Celestia cut her off. “Your right wing’s injured, isn’t it?”

“I’ve had worse,” Came the stubborn reply. “It’s not affecting me badly. Right, Captain?”

Spitfire calmly looked at her. “You said you’d be fine six minutes ago and I believed you, Dash.”

“But-”

“You’ve slowed down considerably and I’m certain that all that sweat coming off your brow is from pain, not just exertion,” Spitfire paused and allowed Rainbow Dash to sullenly wipe her face. “Go get some rest, Dash.”

“But you need as many wings as you can get!”

Spitfire paused again. Celestia could see her face creasing like she tasted something sour. “… Go and ask Lightning Dust to help us out here.”

Rainbow Dash stiffened. “With all due respect, Captain, that’s fucking stupid.”

“Lightning Dust didn’t cheat her way into Wonderbolts training – she knows how we work, what our conduct and methods are for search and rescue. And, much as I hate to admit it, she’s tough and fast. Without you, she’s the next best thing.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Celestia desperately. “Come on, really?”

Celestia added a gentle tone to her voice. “Your feelings are understandable, but we must put how we feel aside to concentrate on what’s important: saving lives and tending to the wounded. From a logical point of view, Spitfire makes sense. Plus, we can’t have you collapsing in an environment like this.”

Rainbow Dash scowled darkly. “So, what? This an order?”

“I could make it one, but I'd much rather just ask you. As your friend.”

Rainbow Dash flinched, then sighed. “… Fine. I’m going.” She gave one last look at Spitfire before flying off, a few sky-blue feathers dancing in her wake as her right wing flapped in stiff, awkward strokes.

Spitfire exhaled in relief. “Thanks, princess.”

Celestia nodded. “Do you think Lightning Dust will help you?”

“Yeah. She’ll see it as a chance to show us up,” Spitfire snorted. “But saving lives is what matters, not how our pride might get hurt.”

“I trust you know what you’re doing. Speaking of which, is there any way I can help here? You said you placed red flags for rescues that required magic, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Soarin nodded. “It’d be great if you could start there, princess. There’re a lot of ponies that need help and magic will help out a huge deal.”

Spitfire hummed in agreement. “Should’ve asked Dash to send those bastards Haze and Ebony here, too. Seriously, of all the unicorns the humans didn’t take…”

The muscles in Celestia’s jaw tensed. “The humans want live unicorns; they assumed Ebony was dead. Haze was blown back beneath some rubble – were he normal, he’d be dead.”

“Lucky them.” Spitfire muttered bitterly.

“Captain, we should get back to work.”

“Yeah, I know, Soarin,” Spitfire dipped her head. “Princess.”

Celestia returned the gesture. “Thank you for everything. We couldn’t have saved Twilight without you.”

“Just doing our jobs, ma’am.”

The two Wonderbolts gave one final salute and flew off at brisk paces. Celestia, alone and with no pegasus close enough to see, took a second to rub her hooves into her eyes roughly; it felt like there were lead balls weighing her eyelids down.

“Get it together,” She murmured to herself, lightly slapping her cheeks. “There’s a time and place for that and it’s not right now.”

Shaking herself off, Celestia inhaled and searched the ground. There were a scarce few red flags among a sea of black and white and grey. The black flags dominated the area, followed closely by grey and white, then red. She could see dozens of ponies moving about, doing what they could to help with the rescue.

A second before Celestia flew down to the nearest red flag, something in her peripheral vision was notable enough to make her turn her head.

Far from where the destruction was centred, a lone black flag waved in the wind next to what was unmistakeably the prone body of a pony; she couldn't make out many details aside from their coat being white, though maybe it was closer to beige.

Aside from the initial sadness, Celestia thought in the back of her head, ‘Why is that pony so far away? Did the blast throw them clear? I don’t see any other flags so far out.’

But the dead could wait for answers, the living could not. Celestia pulled her gaze away and descended into a group of three crowded around a pile of rubble blocking off a gap in the castle’s stonework.

“Perhaps I can be of assistance?”

Two of the three were adorned in Eclipse armor; one avoided her gaze, and the other judged her with a cold glare. The third pony she recognized.

“Somepony’s in there, but they ain’t sayin’ nothin’.” Big Mac answered.

Celestia was ashamed that to say she couldn’t place Big Mac’s face during the battle; it was so chaotic that even somepony as big as him blurred into the background. She could see he was carrying a large wooden hammer on his back, which would explain why the other two were occasionally glancing at him in trepidation.

“I’m pleased to see that you’re safe.” She said with a small smile.

“Oh, look – now she’s concerned.”

The Eclipse guard on the left elbowed his friend. “Shut up!”

“Probably could have beaten the humans if you hadn’t shown up,” The other remarked, raising his voice. “Yeah, nice working saving Canterlot! Look how well you saved us!”

He was clearly looking for a fight. Celestia had dealt with louder and more venomous voices than his – more than she could count. Such a grossly direct accusation wouldn’t affect her.

Or, so she thought.

Celestia felt her face twist into something ugly, felt acid churn inside her throat as her lips twitched into a bestial snarl. The loudmouth flinched and stepped back.

It was just for an instant, a momentary slip of the mask, but the damage was done; no one’s nerves were put at ease when Celestia choked back the anger and erased the expression on her face.

“I’m going to move the rubble aside,” She said icily. “Please move back.”

They did.

Celestia lit her horn and started to clear the way. Her blood simmered beneath her skin and she focused on keeping her muscles rigid in case the loudmouth spoke again and she lashed out on reflex.

As the last bit of rubble – a Big Mac-sized chunk of masonry – was moved aside, Celestia peered into the gap and noticed a darker form in the shadows. Concern ruled over most of her ire and she trotted closer.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” Celestia licked her lips anxiously as the figure remained motionless. “My name is Celestia.”

No verbal response, but the figure slowly shifted and their features became clearer as they emerged from their curled-up position and faced the light and-

Big Mac inhaled sharply and fumbled for his hammer.

Celestia’s voice seemed to catch in her throat as she used her wings to propel her body to a safer distance. Anger and even a little fear put her hairs on end – she had been so worried about saving lives that she didn’t even think what she’d do if she found…

“Don’t move.” She ordered, finding her resolve.

What should she do? A flare? A shout? Send Big Mac to warn the others? At the very least, he’d be out of danger. What about the Eclipse guards? Celestia would have to deal with them immediately; she couldn’t risk Nightmare Moon getting a single advantage over-

“Where’s Vinyl?”

Celestia blinked and stared into those draconic eyes.

Nightmare Moon got to her hooves. She slinked out. She didn’t walk out. She didn’t march out. She didn’t charge out. She slinked out.

Black fluid stained her teeth and specked her eyes. Her coat was unkempt and matted with clumps of dried blood. Her mane hung lifelessly around her head like a faded curtain. Pus oozed out of the open sores on her legs and neck. A half-visible black mist writhed around her like the heat waves on a scorching day.

Celestia recoiled, her stomach turning. ‘Faust…’

The Eclipse guards were pale as chalk. Big Mac’s hoof left his hammer and he stood there like he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. Nightmare Moon didn’t seem to notice them; she was focused on Celestia.

Again, she asked, “Where’s Vinyl?”

“Vinyl?” Celestia hesitated. “She’s not with you?”

“She left me,” Nightmare Moon’s voice went so soft and fragile; it was somehow more unsettling this way. “To pull the humans away. To protect me,” Her lip curled in disgust. “As if I needed it. Damn fool… she’ll pay as soon as I find her.”

She turned to the side and stumbled forward. The Eclipse scurried out of her path with gasps of terror.

Celestia easily caught up to her. “Wait.”

Nightmare Moon did so. “I’m going to find that fool,” Her snarl was a pathetic thing – not even a ghost of what it usually was. “Get out of my way if you know nothing.”

Celestia felt a gnawing sense of unease in her gut. Her anger at Nightmare Moon was but a simmering ember compared to what it had felt like before the humans’ attack. She just couldn’t identify ‘Nightmare Moon the Empress’ with the weak and confused creature in front of her.

Celestia’s thoughts went to all the flags she saw when she was flying. "Do you have anything more than that?"

"She went this way, I think." Nightmare Moon stared straight ahead, swaying like she was on a boat.

That didn't do much to narrow it down; there were dozens of flags in the direction Nightmare Moon was facing. "It might take some time to find her," Celestia said. "There's so much destruction that-"

She trailed off suddenly when she recalled, with a terrible chill spreading across her body, that Vinyl's coat was white.

‘But no, wouldn't she have been paralysed by the gas? How could she make it so far? It couldn’t be…’

Struck motionless for a few moments, Celestia forced her body to move by lightly touching her adversary’s shoulder and saying, “I think she might be this way,” A pause. “Are you sure you want to see her?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” Celestia swallowed, her mouth dry, and turned to the others. “Would you go fetch my sister? Send her over here?”

Big Mac nodded stiffly. “Eeyup.”

“Thank you.”

Nightmare Moon shook her hoof off, but allowed Celestia to walk in front of her, gaze piercing through her body like she wasn’t even there.

‘This isn’t right,’ Celestia’s eyes didn’t stray from the ground in front of her, even as the hairs on her body stood on end from feeling that unnatural presence lurking so close. ‘If she was just her usual self, I’d have no problem taking her down. When she’s like this, it’s too much like a normal pony that’s shell-shocked from a horrible event.’

Celestia began to regret being the one to discover her. In some twisted way that gave her feelings of self-loathing, she wished that it had been somepony else that found her, somepony who wouldn’t be as tempered by sympathy.

'I just want everything to make sense again.'

The walk was silent and uneventful for a minute or two, then Celestia heard the flapping of wings, a heavy thmp behind her, and another set of footsteps. She guessed it to be her sister, Luna, but couldn’t bear to turn around and confirm it in case Luna had an expression of betrayal and/or disappointment – that’d destroy her.

Though, it was curious that she seemed to be holding off on attacking.

Nightmare Moon made no sign that she even noticed the newcomer, much less care there was one.

When they reached the spot with the lone black flag and the pony, Celestia got close enough to confirm what she dreaded to be true:

It was Vinyl.

And she was dead.

She looked different, like the ponies in the Praetorian Guard, but her face was the same, as was her wild two-toned mane. Her belly was drenched in red.

“Nightmare Moon…” Guilt shredded through Celestia’s insides as she turned around. “I’m…” She paused as Nightmare Moon walked past her.

It was difficult to comprehend that the relationship between Nightmare Moon and Vinyl was genuine. Celestia couldn't believe that somepony could show kindness and empathy to only one individual while causing such strife and misery to so many others. How could friendship be so selective?

But Nightmare Moon's expression, the way she approached Vinyl's body with the hesitance of a foal checking for monsters beneath their bed - it was familiar to Celestia, it was something she had seen many times before.

Nightmare Moon stopped before Vinyl’s body and stared down.

Luna walked forward. “Sister.”

“I know what you must be thinking…” Celestia said quickly, almost rushing through her words. “But what was on her face just now was real. I’ve dealt with loss so many times throughout the centuries you’ve been gone – I know when it’s being faked. It wasn’t. She can't be faking it.”

Luna’s lips tightened in a tense line. “I have dealt with loss, too.”

Celestia nodded. “I don’t deny that, but you didn’t see her face.”

“And what did her face tell you?”

“Disbelief, mostly,” Celestia replied. “Denial – something you won’t believe because the reality is just too cruel to accept. You so desperately want it to be an illusion that it… takes some time to settle in. Sometimes it doesn’t for a long time.”

Nightmare Moon reached out.

Vinyl rocked slightly as she was prodded.

Nightmare Moon put her head down near her mouth, then rose after a full minute.

Luna shifted anxiously. “Is she refusing reality?”

“I don’t think so. She’s not so delusional that she believes death is biased or selective. She-”

Suddenly, Nightmare Moon snorted.

“Well, you see what happens when you ignore my orders, hm?” Nightmare Moon turned around, her eyes bearing some semblance of her characteristic cunning and malicious wit. “And don’t think I don’t hear you fools talking about me like I’m not here. ‘Is she refusing reality?’ ‘Oh, she’s not delusional at all.’ What, am I some mentally stunted cripple that needs to be coddled?”

The sheer malice and bitterness in her tone was like a physical slap to the face. Celestia opened her mouth but nothing came out. Luna’s brow furrowed to form a glare that she cast back in silence.

“Vinyl constantly played the role of fool. It’s only fitting that she died like one,” A contemptuous scoff, followed by a convulsion like she was holding back a sneeze. “But she was my fool. I don’t like it when others break my things. So, having said that…”

Her eyes gleamed balefully and her horn began to spark.

“Why, oh why, did the humans leave you alone?”

Silence.

“I’ll tell you ‘why:’ it’s because you made a deal with them, hm?” Nightmare Moon chuckled darkly and stalked towards them, mist pouring from her maw with every breath. “Oh, their attack was a surprise for everyone, but you thought quick on your feet and told them where I was in exchange for your own guaranteed safety, didn’t you? Well done. No, really. I’m impressed.”

Celestia grimaced. “Nightmare Moon, I-”

“That sort of pragmatic thinking is exactly what Equestria needs. None of this ‘friendship is magic’ narrative that you try to push. What you call ‘friendship’ is nothing but accumulated power shared between several being working towards the same goal to fulfil their own selfish desires. Because if friendship really was all that powerful…”

She whipped her hoof in Vinyl’s direction.

“THEN SHE’D BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW!!”

Celestia flinched. “Listen to me...”

Nightmare Moon continued to rant, her stare growing intense like a raging fire and her voice rising and cracking. “So, congratulations for proving my point! I’m happy that this happened! I’m happy that before I die, I got to see you sink to my level and cooperate with the humans – never mind the fact that I was searching for an innocent pony, never mind the fact that you would have put her at risk!

“Never mind the fact that it was your ambush that resulted in all this chaos! Never mind the fact that you used a changeling to get past my guard by imitating the form of my only friend!”

Nightmare Moon went rigid, her gaze becoming unfocused as she reflected on her words.

“And that’s what she was, wasn’t she?! That fool, that useless fool that had the gall to try and protect me, was my only friend! I have six ponies in my Praetorian Guard that are worth ten of her, yet I would have killed them all, killed anypony, to save her!”

Celestia realized that being meek and calm wasn't going to lead anywhere pleasant. Neither was the alternative, but it was better. Briefly clenching her teeth, Celestia opened her mouth and yelled the words she'd been trying to say just as Nightmare Moon was starting up another rant.

"I could have...!" Nightmare Moon blinked, her eyes going wide. “… Wh-what did you say?”

Celestia swallowed. “I said, ‘I didn’t tell the humans where you were.’”

“You didn’t…?” Nightmare Moon looked to Luna. “You didn’t tell them?”

“We do not want to help the humans anymore than you do," Luna replied. "Even if it presented us a chance to be rid of you. Yes, we intended to destroy you with this ambush, but the prospect of you being used as nothing more than fuel for the humans is too appaling a fate for anypony. If they found you, then it’s because they were going to search through the castle anyway.”

“We’re not lying to you,” Celestia added. “What have we to gain by lying about that? To stop you from attacking? You’re… Look at you.”

Nightmare Moon blinked again, then suddenly fell back on her rump, jaw agape as she stared at the ground. “But it’s because of your attack that Vinyl died.”

“Vinyl died because of the humans,” Luna interjected firmly. “We had no intention of killing her. Our goal was to stop you.”

Luna looked at Celestia, seemingly wishing for her to join in and agree. But Celestia couldn’t look away from the look of utter dismay on Nightmare Moon’s face. Instead, she said the first thing that came to her mind.

“I’m so sorry for your loss.”

Nightmare Moon shuddered violently, then stood. She started forward, faltered, paced to the side a bit, then started tapping the ground with her right hindleg; her face was like two theatre masks glued together, reflecting some ugly emotion of unbridled hate and senseless sorrow.

"This... this was its plan all along, wasn't it?" The mask seemed to come undone as Nightmare Moon grabbed the sides of her head and started hyperventilating. "This was why the Elements of Harmony didn't expunge me entirely."

Celestia grimaced, felt her hairs stand on end as her foe ground her teeth and began to growl; the sound was like a dog warning an intruder from within a cavernous space. She lit her horn just in case.

"They... infected me!" Nightmare Moon forced out the word with a burst of spittle, her mask leaning further and further to rage. "With this filth. With this weakness. I should never have had these emotions, th-this vulnerability, but the Elements did this because somehow... somehow they knew this would happen. It makes sense now."

Suddenly, Nightmare Moon slammed the ground with her hooves. Despite how frail she looked, Celestia felt the tremors from the blow go up her legs.

"No! I don't need her! I don't need anyone! I've always been on my own and I've survived just perfectly fine! I can achieve my goals because I have the will to do what is necessary to earn them!" She thrust her hoof out, sneering in disgust. "You... all of the weak-willed fools in this land that rely on others to hold them up when they can't do so themselves... I'm not like you! My ambition is unmatched! My will is unbendable! And with it, I will fulfil my desires! And what I want is Vinyl ba-"

Nightmare Moon went still as her mask leaned in the opposite direction.

"No, that's not what I want! I want Vin-"

Celestia grimaced, unable to look away from the sad sight of her foe, so terrifying and driven just a few hours ago, deflate and crumple to the earth.

Despair.

"It's right here..." Nightmare Moon murmured. "The castle. The power. The land. It's everything I sought for since I was born, so why can't I say that I want it? I... want... V..."

She never finished the sentence.

Nightmare Moon curled up into a ball, resting her head on her forelegs; her eyes didn’t close, but the light behind them, previously bright and lively, went dim and washed-out. There was something haunting about that, something that had Celestia's skin clammy and cold all over, more than the whisper that just barely carried on a dry breeze.

“I’m… I’m tired.”

Luna blinked, turned her head. “What happened?”

“Anger was the only thing that was keeping her going,” Celestia responded softly. “She couldn't maintain it, so there’s nothing to hold back her grief. It’s much harder to go on something like that.”

“Grief? So…” Luna looked at the body behind Nightmare Moon. “What she felt was real?”

Celestia didn’t answer. On some whim, she trotted forward; past Nightmare Moon, who didn’t so much as twitch to her presence, and over to Vinyl.

Her wounds were grisly and horrible, but there was something resembling a smile on the unicorn’s face, untainted by blood and dirt.

Celestia knew it could have been a post-mortem twitch of the nerves, but she chose to believe it was because Vinyl died with her heart at peace.

She blinked away tears. “Luna… let’s get everyone together. It’s over now.”

Author's Note

Note 1: "I'll give her this... As much as I cannot stand that electronic noise, I can't deny that she deserves credit for almost single-hoofedly popularizing a genre of music that sees such distaste in Canterlot. She's brought a lot of ponies together through her work and that deserves recognition, no matter how unruly and laden with hairgel those ponies may be..." - Quote from Prince Blueblood found in Ear on Canterlot: A Study of Musical Genres, a book written by Sonnet Peak.

Chapter 66: Trial

January 16th, 1055AD

2:54 am

As time dragged on, making a minute seem like an eternity, Fade summed up everypony’s feelings with one eloquent statement.

“This sucks.”

“Totally,” Lightning Dust agreed, lying on her back and tossing a rubber ball up in the air and looping after each catch. “We should have just beaten the crap out of everypony.”

“I don’t think any of us could have handled the princesses,” Veil chimed in. “I don’t think we could handle one princess if we all attacked at once.”

Since Lightning Dust was hogging the ball, Veil entertained herself by seeing how much disgust and hopelessness she could put into her sighs. She gave her 24th sigh – seven out of ten.

Everybody else lounged around, permeating the area with bitterness and defeat. They had been left with their armor but no armaments and there was only so many times one could strip off the pieces and sort them out before it became monotonous. For now, they all remained armored, prepared in case something happened.

There was movement from the corner as Ebony got up and trotted forward. The tent they had been confined to was of unremarkable make; it was wide enough for all six of them to move around and tall enough for Lightning Dust to do her thing. A lantern hung from one of the metal poles keeping the material propped up.

Driven into the ground in the centre was a metal spike long as Ebony’s foreleg with a gemstone housed in a small receptacle. Seemingly innocuous at first glance, Ebony’s approach caused an unpleasant drone to fill the air and the space around the spike to shimmer like the surface of water.

“You can try it if you want,” From the back of the tent, Miasma spoke up in her usual monotone; she rubbed her foreleg, where a patch of fur had been burned black. “I wouldn’t suggest it, but maybe it doesn’t work on dead flesh.”

Ebony reached out, let her hoof hang inches from the shimmer, then pulled back. “N-no, I don’t think I want to.”

"You could try teleporting like Haze did," Lightning Dust suggested. "Yeah, he got zapped and 'ported back in, but we don't know if you would."

"That... doesn't seem like sound logic."

Fade snickered. "It's a pegasi thing, yeah? Back in Cloudsdale, there's an old saying that goes something like, 'we don't know that cloud will shock everypony if we don't try it with everypony.' Kinda explains why most pegasi know what a lightning bolt to the taint feels like, don't it?"

"Hm," Despondent, she turned back around and kicked at the dirt. “Maybe we can tunnel out?”

“Ponies don’t dig, we pull things,” Veil muttered. “And get thrown in some magic prison for daring to help search for survivors.”

“We should have just beaten the crap out of everypony.”

“Yeah, heard you the first time, Lightning.”

“We have to try something!” Ebony cried. “The Empress is in trouble; we should-”

“Boss won’t even help herself,” Fade grumbled, carefully watching the ball. “Didn’t say anything when they put those chains on her, didn’t say anything when we tried to Call, didn’t say anything when they told us we had to stay here, yeah?”

“She lost her friend.”

“Well…” Fade took his eyes off the ball and shrugged. “Okay, but that shouldn’t bother her, yeah? She’s… I mean, she’s Nightmare Moon, yeah?”

“What does that even mean?” Veil sighed, throwing her hooves into the air. “Seriously, what does her being who she is even mean anymore?”

Ebony grimaced. “The Empress is-”

“No, I have to say this,” Veil stood and started to pace, her wings flicking in agitation. “Nightmare Moon’s supposed to be evil, right? But she hasn’t killed a single pony to my knowledge. She hasn’t even hinted at doing the whole ‘eternal night’ thing that was supposed to be her entire shtick. What, did she just forget about it?”

“Do you want eternal night?” Ebony shot back. “You realize that will just kill all the plant life in Equestria?”

“I get that. And no, I don’t want eternal night. I think it’d be cool, but not practical,” Veil snorted. “But that annoys me because… well, at least if she was evil enough to bring about eternal night and kill ponies, then maybe she wouldn’t be freaking out so much over one mare. Maybe she could have actually commanded us like she usually did!”

Ebony’s temper flared, but Lightning Dust beat her before she could shout.

“Totally!” She tossed the ball aside. Fade dove after it. “I knew from the start that what’s-her-face would make Nightmare Moon soft, but she just kept on hanging out with her. She’s supposed to be all ‘power is everything,’ right? She’s supposed to be against friendship, right?”

“W-wait a second.”

“But now look at her: moping like a bitch and leaving us in the dirt,” Lightning Dust punched the ground, her face twisted in an ugly grimace. “I was supposed to get my revenge on that rainbow-headed cunt!”

“Would you two shut up!” Ebony snapped. “Veil, you told me you were having second thoughts about the Empress being a demon, but now you’re complaining she’s not evil enough?!”

Veil gaped, then bared her teeth in a snarl. “I- Ah told ya tha’ in private!”

“Lightning Dust, you’re only on this team because you want revenge on Rainbow Dash! You never cared about anything else! You don’t even care about your ‘coltfriend’ and he can’t even see it!”

“Hey!” Fade dropped the ball with an indignant snort. “Fuck you attacking me for?”

Ebony almost said more, but a voice interjected, firm and rich.

“Silence.”

From the corner where he had sat, seemingly meditating, Haze walked forward with his lips pressed into a disapproving scowl.

“The two of you…” He gestured to Veil and Lightning Dust. “Are lashing out because we were captured. Your frustration is understandable, but slander is not helping us in any way, shape, or form.”

Ebony was happy to have somepony on her side, but she wasn’t sure if his voice would make much headway. Sure enough, Veil waved him off with a sigh – that sound was really getting on her nerves – and Lightning Dust rolled her eyes.

“Well, corpse-breath over there just insulted my relationship, but I’ll ignore that since I’m such a nice pony. But to you, I say ‘piss off.’ Stop trying to find excuses – I think Nightmare Moon’s cool and badass, too, but I’m not so blindly devoted that I can’t call her out when she deserves it. You’re with me, right, babe?”

Fade blinked, suddenly finding himself on the spot. “Huh? I mean… yeah! It sucks to lose somepony close to you, but you still gotta think about other ponies, yeah?”

“I agree.” Haze replied.

Fade faltered, and Ebony blinked, surprised. “Wait, what?”

“Don't mistake my interference in this argument as a sign that I sympathize with the Empress regarding this... 'Vinyl' character,” He said the name with a sneer. "I disapproved of the Empress' fascination with that miscreant from the beginning. To think that she'd enter such a state of depression over a pony like that..." He snorted. "Really, she should be better than that."

Ebony was stunned; she didn't think she'd hear Haze, of all ponies, criticize the Empress. "I don't understand."

Haze sighed. “Somepony of the Empress' status shouldn't let themselves be affected by the death of one pony, no matter what sort of relationship they had. I had faith that when Vinyl died, which I expected to be soon whether it be by the Empress' own hoof or by some other threat, she'd shrug it off and continue with her goals. Clearly that faith was misplaced.”

"Haze, I don't think it's fair to say that. What if that was your best friend?"

"I can tell you right now that if I had the position of the Empress, I would be careful not to allow attachments like that to form in the first place," Haze said firmly. "The Empress is supposed to set an image of an indomitable and unfettered force that is unswayed by interpersonal relationships."

Ebony's jaw clenched. "You're saying she's not allowed to feel sad?"

"Yes. Such things should be beneath her."

It seemed unfair that Nightmare Moon wasn't allowed to feel or have relationships just because of her position. Ebony saw time and time again that Nightmare Moon wasn't without emotion; putting aside her bouts of rage and hate, the Empress showed dark humour, dry wit, compassion, and joy - none of it seemed to interfere in getting what she wanted, and it showed Ebony that beneath all that mysterious smoke and cold eyes was a complex mare. Or, at least something very close to one. To have to hide or deny any of that just because of the image others wanted to see in you...

'But aren't I doing that?' Ebony thought. 'Much as I try to be what I think the Captain of the Eclipse should be, I still have these feelings of uncertainty that I bury away.' She wondered if Nightmare Moon ever hesitated in her decisions and simply hid it so well that nopony noticed.

“Looks like we can agree on something,” Veil added. “Ebony, I’m sorry-not-sorry to say that all you do is follow Nightmare Moon around like some lost puppy because you can’t get your head out of your ass long enough to get the hell over your mommy and daddy issues.”

As if a phantom syringe had plunged into her neck and injected pure fire, Ebony saw red and reflexively lit her horn. “Don’t you dare bring them up!”

“Why? You brought what I said to you up even though it was said in private!”

Ebony steamed on ahead before Veil’s words could hit anything vital. “Why does somepony like you even care that I did? I thought you hated everypony!”

“Well, I thought I could trust you of all…” Veil choked suddenly. “P-ponies…”

Ebony felt as if she had been slapped; a cold feeling nestled between her lungs. “What?”

The tent was quiet as Veil glared at her hooves to hide her face; Lightning Dust gave a low ‘ooh’ and settled down with intrigue written on her face.

“… You know how I feel about other ponies. They’re annoying, they’re loud, they buy way too hard into this ‘friendship’ crap and try to give it some deeper meaning when it’s just a big magic laser; it’s hard for me to find ponies that I can tolerate, let alone like enough to hang around with. You guys are the ones I kinda like.”

Veil looked up with a subdued glare.

“And I hate saying this crap, so me putting aside my general hate of ponies to hang out with you is my way of showing that you mean something. And me telling you…” She pointed at Ebony. “What I said when we were together that day, you had to know that it meant something, right?”

Ebony licked her lips – she’d be sweating if she still could. “Veil, I don’t know how you think. None of us do. You… I mean, I knew that what you said was personal, but I couldn’t know how much it meant because… um…”

She came up empty and started panicking as she tried to arrange her thoughts into words. Then, suddenly, Miasma interjected and touched Veil’s shoulder to get her attention.

“How are they supposed to know?” She asked. Veil blinked at her. “From your perspective, it might seem like what you’re doing, or rather what you’re not doing, is enough to show everypony that you’re comfortable with their presence, but I can tell you it’s not.”

She gestured to Fade.

“He’s my brother; we grew up together, long enough that he can tell what I’m feeling before I can even recognize it. But other ponies aren’t him; they’re not going to know what I’m feeling or showing, even when it feels like I’m being obvious. You can’t be angry at Ebony for not knowing how you’re feeling when the only emotion we can recognize from you is anger or disgust.”

Veil opened and closed her mouth a few times before catching Ebony’s eyes. “… Really? You couldn’t see it?”

Ebony carefully thought about her response. “It’s hard to tell, yes. I think I knew that you didn’t hate us as much as you did with everypony else, but to what extent? I didn’t know how to ask, so I just left you alone.”

“Yeah, same here,” Fade said. “You’re kinda like my sister, but I didn’t want to assume shit and get my head snapped off.”

“I just followed his league when I joined.” Lightning Dust shrugged.

“I didn’t know,” Veil murmured, scuffing the ground. “I really thought I was being obvious.”

Ebony wasn’t sure what to say. Now that she had calmed down, she felt terrible for what she said; she hadn’t been thinking, she just wanted to hurt Veil for insulting the Empress.

“I’m sorry.”

Veil grimaced. “I guess… I guess you’re right, though. I still think Nightmare Moon shouldn’t have just clocked out like that, but I think I’m mostly just pissed that we’re in this situation in the first place.”

“Hey, we all are,” Fade grumbled, rolling the ball back and forth with the tips of his wings. “This sucks. We’re supposed to be living the high life – that’s why we joined Nightmare Moon, right? To live easy with all the power at our hooves.”

“I wanted to serve the Empress.” Haze responded.

“I wanted revenge.” Lightning Dust said.

“I wanted to look out for my brother, no matter what he decided.” Miasma murmured.

“I wanted Equestria to stop being so darn soft.” Veil added.

“I just wanted a place to belong.” Ebony chimed in quietly.

The mood went from angry and tense to calm and quiet; everypony was avoiding one another’s gazes. Ebony’s perpetually-still heart was still hurting from Veil’s remark, but she knew she deserved that barb; she wasn’t going to dwell on those words, either – there were more important things to worry about, so she’d just push all that emotional baggage aside.

Haze suddenly chortled – it was an empty sound. “How odd that we are connected in deeper ways than those bond by blood… and yet we can still be so ignorant of one another.”

Veil shrugged. “Well, we are social outcasts.”

Ebony started slowly, “I think... that whatever we might think of the Empress for what happened and how she’s reacting to it, our opinion won’t change the fact that we’re imprisoned. I say we hold off on any conversation that doesn’t have to do with planning a way out. For now,” Ebony paused and gave everypony a chance to protest. “Okay. We can agree on that.”

She didn’t think that a spat like that could be glossed over so easily; it was like putting a cheap band-aid over a gushing wound; she was now less certain about where each of her friends stood in her life. Even Haze, whom she felt a kinship to with their common ground in a desire to serve the Empress, and Veil, whom had chosen to confide in her before anypony else, now seemed like distant figures.

... But then again, how well did she truly know them? If their goals and reasons for serving Nightmare Moon differed, then what did they have in common?

Ebony frowned and shook the mental clutter from her head. Until their circumstances were better, she'd hold off on pondering 'this' and 'that.' For now, it seemed like everypony was willing to cooperate, which was the main thing she should be concentrating on.

“I’d actually like an apology for what you said about Fade and me,” Lightning Dust said. “I mean, come on – I’m not a mare that strings her coltfriends along on some lie; if I was using him for sex, I’d be upfront about it.”

“Please don’t.” Miasma pleaded.

Ebony couldn’t argue with Lightning Dust; there had been no need for such a personal attack, especially since Fade was in the splash-zone. “I’m sorry – I just wanted to hurt you. And I’ve been trying to get over my issues with you since the Crystal Empire. Sorry.”

“Welll… I guess a few insults like that shouldn’t be enough to make me forget that you saved my life,” Lightning Dust smiled – it seemed genuine. “We’re cool. You cool, babe?”

“I’m cool.”

“We’re cool.”

Ebony was almost tempted to say ‘cool’ in response. “Th-thanks. So, does anyone have any ideas to get out of here?”

“You’re the boss for the time being, yeah?” Fade shrugged. “Kinda hoping that you’d be the one to get us out.”

“Really? Even though I was the one that suggested Miasma punch that thing?”

“She punches live wires to make them stop sparking, so it’s not like it was a bad idea.”

“Well, I’d actually like to give that tunnelling idea a try. We don’t have spells that could move dirt efficiently, but maybe Miasma could dig, and we could reinforce the tunnel with magic?”

“I’m game.” Miasma nodded.

“Ooh! Ooh!” Fade waved his hoof. “Let’s do that thing in the movies where somepony pretends they’re injured, then when somepony comes in to check, we jump ‘em!”

Ebony mulled it over. “I think they’d be a little smarter than that.”

Something rustled behind her. As she turned, wondering what it could be, her blood ran cold – colder – when she saw the tent flaps part.

“Agh!” Fade faceplanted and started writhing. “Fuck! Body’s turning against m-me! Nightmare Moon’s power is coursing outta control!”

“I have seen court jesters display more severity than you, fool.”

Ebony grimaced as Luna strolled up to the barrier with two other ponies in tow; she didn’t recognize either, but they were clad in the golden armor of the disbanded Royal Guard. Strange – she thought their gear had been reforged and repainted for the Eclipse.

Luna didn’t have the awe-inspiring stature of Celestia, but her imposing glare and sheer presence made her seem several stories tall when she only had a head over normal ponies. Still, Ebony was the Right Hoof of the Empress and the Captain of the Eclipse – she had to stand strong and firm.

“Where is the Empress?”

“Imprisoned, like you. Unharmed. For now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Her trial begins shortly,” Luna grabbed the sceptre and yanked it out like it was nothing, dispersing the magic barrier with a thrum of energy that Ebony felt in her teeth. “Your attendance is mandatory, for it is also where we will pass judgement unto you and your ilk.”

Ebony swallowed. “Oh…” Suddenly, it became much harder to stand strong and firm. “But-but what if we refuse?”

“The accused are to be physically present to stand trial – this is Equestrian Law. If you refuse to come, then I shall force you.”

Ebony silently gauged the lunar princess, then turned back to gauge her fellow Praetorian Guards.

Now, technically nothing was impossible, but-

“Say the word and I’ll whip up a tornado so fast her head will spin right off!” Lightning Dust called.

Ebony grimaced. She was tempted to take up Lightning Dust’s offer, to defy all expectations and somehow overpower Luna before successfully freeing the Empress; it was the ideal scenario for them, after all.

But the realist in her was no dreamer – it knew that the chances of them beating Luna – plus whatever else was waiting outside the tent – were so miniscule they may as well have been non-existent.

“We’ll come along.” She replied in a small voice.

She could feel the disappointment coming off her friends, but there was bitter understanding in their expressions, too; she was thankful for that.

“That is the right choice,” Luna gestured to the entrance. “Follow me.”

Lightning Dust grumbled. “What, no chains? No cuffs? No obsidian rings?”

“No need,” Luna shrugged as she turned and started walking. “Because I am here.”

“Ooh, edgy.”

Edgy but true, Ebony thought as she reluctantly trudged after the princess, relieved that, at the very least, she was able to get out of that confined space.

Luna pulled back the flaps and Ebony followed her outside. She was surprised to see that she was smack dab in the middle of a dozen other tents where previously there had been none; a large number of ponies hurried about between them, though she noted that the majority were heading in the direction Luna was going.

She looked up into the full round face of the moon casting its brilliant white light. Under the lunar rays, Ebony felt a surge of power, but was it enough to make a difference?

“Where’d all these guys come from?” Fade asked, glancing about. “Did that sceptre thing slow down time, or what?”

“Once word that Nightmare Moon had been defeated, the city’s ponies felt safe to ignore her earlier decree and come out of their abodes. What you see is Canterlot’s relief forces – firefighters, doctors, weather pegasi,” Luna said. “Though there is still much to be done, they have lightened the burden of search and rescue enough for us to pause and deal with a pressing matter.”

“Us.” Ebony murmured.

Ahead, ponies had gathered en masse around a tent of significant size. The backdrop of Canterlot Castle made for a grim sight – the ruined infrastructure was illuminated by the moon’s glow, drawing the eye to just how extensive the damage was.

The castle had grown on Ebony somewhat – to see it in such a state was disheartening.

“Make way! Make way for the princess!” One of the guards cried. “And the accused!”

‘Was it really necessary to call attention to us?’

Ebony felt the brunt of the crowd’s glares as she marched through the gap that Luna cleared by way of her eerie majesty and stoic yet weighty stare. No one was booing outright, but she was fully expecting a salvo of rotten produce to hit the back of her head. Fortunately, she made it through unsullied.

Ebony took in the scene in front of her and her muscles locked up.

Against the right side of the tent, the Element bearers stood side-by-side with Zecora at the end and a group of stone-faced and stalwart griffons; stallions in golden armor kept watch with cold glares; Sunset Shimmer took up a corner on the left side, looking ready to set fire to something.

Celestia loomed front and centre, her face set in an uncomfortably passive stare; it didn’t so much as twitch when they entered. “Did you have any trouble?”

Luna shook her head. “No,” A pause, then she lit her horn. “I will bring her here now.”

Ebony blinked as Luna vanished in a flash of light. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed that the two guards accompanying Luna had taken position by the entrance, ensuring nopony came in. Or out.

A few of the other guards moved to corral them over to the left side of the tent like cattle. Ebony noticed her friends’ grimaces, but not one of them was in any position to resist; the guards were nopony special but there were others carrying much bigger sticks than them keeping watch.

“Anypony got any ideas?” Fade ‘asked,’ his mental tether weak and laden with doubt. “We can probably take on those Element mares, maybe, but not with these other bozos here, no way in Tartarus.”

“We can teleport without that sceptre containing us.” Haze suggested.

Ebony swallowed as Celestia’s eyes singed the air between them. “I don’t think that’d be a good idea.”

Lightning Dust suddenly snickered and shot an ugly sneer over at the Element bearers. "Rainbow Dash, how you feeling? Still sore?"

Rainbow Dash snorted. "Fuck off."

"Rude. Just concerned, you know? I feel bad considering how much stronger I am than you now."

"You're the one getting punished, not me. Just like in the Academy, huh?"

"Cunt."

"Enough." Celestia snapped.

Both mares settled, and Lightning Dust sighed. "Kinda hoping she'd come at me."

"That joy would be short-lived, I assure you." Haze 'said.'

"Worth it, I bet."

Suddenly, an invisible force rolled over Ebony as Luna returned in another flash of light. She wasn’t alone.

“Let us proceed.” Luna commanded, stepping away from Nightmare Moon.

Ebony bit her bottom lip, anxiety playing havoc on her insides. “Empress?”

Nightmare Moon’s head dipped to the ground as if it weighed several tonnes. Her mane no longer writhed and glittered with abyssal space but hung limply to hide her face, a veil of black mixed with indigo streaks that seemed to shift and blend like an optical illusion – it would have been fascinating if Ebony wasn’t so unsettled.

“Empress, please answer me!”

There was nothing wrong with Nightmare Moon. Physically, at least. Her body bore no cuts, no bruises, and no black fog seeped out of her pores – she was completely fine save for some iron shackles around her legs and wings. Yet, Ebony could not remember the Empress looking so small and unassuming; it just wasn’t right for somepony like her to be so vulnerable.

“Empress, please – I don’t know what to do. I’m trying to think of a way out of this, but I just can’t! Please tell me how to help you!”

Ebony was barely paying attention as Celestia spoke.

“First, I wish to thank everyone for gathering so quickly. It’s important that we deal with this sooner rather than later.”

“We could deal with it sooner if we just take her out right here and now,” Sunset Shimmer said. “Seriously, just let me summon up a firestorm and you’ll have a pile of ashes in barely a minute.”

“This trial is not only for the sake of fairness and goodwill, but to discuss the best possible means of meting out punishment,” Luna replied. “We cannot judge Nightmare Moon like a normal pony. That is why we have Zecora for insight,” She gestured to the zebra, who nodded in acknowledgement. “I am not denying that incendiary procedures hold no merit, but ‘tis better to have her input beforehoof.”

Ebony swallowed. ‘I really hate fire.’

Sunset shrugged. “You were ready to kill her not even twenty hours ago. From what I can tell, you’re only doing this because you want to keep the moral high ground. Look, I’m just saying that in my opinion, this whole court thing is totally unnecessary.”

“We all want to see justice,” Celestia said. “I would like to think that, without the heat of battle, we understand the difference between taking a life in that scenario and taking a life in cold blood. A court is the most civil means to go about it, just as it has been for centuries. Furthermore, it is only fair that we allow the opportunity for the accused to speak. We are all in agreement with that, too, aren’t we?”

She addressed everyone with that question. Ebony noted that among the Element bearers, only Twilight didn’t immediately nod; in fact, she looked astoundingly bitter and upset. Granted, she suffered more compared to everyone else, so her attitude was understandable.

“I hate to agree with her, but this is an opportunity to plead our case,” Haze informed them all. “We should take it.”

“And what?” Fade asked. “Odds’re still stacked against us, yeah?”

“Would you rather they not even let us speak in the first place? Their sense of morality grants us time; we should try to figure out how to use it to our advantage if the Empress will not.”

“I think so, too,” Ebony chimed in. "But neither of us are lawyers."

"Normally, we'd be granted one, but I suppose the state of things has made it difficult to secure one," Haze shifted in place. "I would speak on behalf of you all. I am not well-versed in this field, I admit, but I've more knowledge than the rest of you. No offense."

"No, you're right. You should do the talking."

"Can't do any worse than me." Lightning Dust added.

"Do your best, dude." Fade cheered.

After waiting for a response that never came, Celestia nodded. “Very well,” She made a motion like she was reaching for something – a stack of papers that might have been in front of her, maybe? – before putting her hoof back down and clearing her throat instead. “There is… demand circulating through the city. Though they mourn all that has been lost, they demand that justice be carried out unto those that have threatened them.

“We lack the means to carry out judgement on the humans, but it is not only humans that have caused strife.”

Celestia cast her gaze on Nightmare Moon; it was as if two miniature suns were poised to melt flesh and blacken bones once more.

“Nightmare Moon – you sought to overthrow Equestria’s diarchy a thousand years ago. To accomplish this treasonous act, you coerced my sister under the guise of wanting to help with her woes when you had ulterior motives, and then forcibly taking control of her body; this breaches the Second Act of the Discordance Legislation.

“Furthermore, once you had taken over, you incited the masses into anarchy and sought to disrupt the natural balance of Equestria by perpetuating an endless night, endangering not only fauna and flora, but the lives of everyone in Equestria. Many, including myself, opposed you. You responded to this with violence; violence which resulted in many deaths.”

Veil’s presence tickled the hindpart of Ebony’s brain. “So, she did kill, huh? Wonder where that part went…”

Ebony gave her the mental version of a librarian’s shush.

“Then, when you returned from being banished to the moon, you proceeded to attempt everlasting night once more. You were thwarted again, yet somehow…”

Celestia paused, her face creasing into something like frustration.

“Somehow, you have a physical body body instead of being banished or imprisoned. We’ve speculated on the ‘why’ and ‘how,’ but we’ve no real answer. For the time being, we’ll set that aside.

“You endeavoured to sneak into the Royal Court under a false identity – Star Secret,” Celestia’s jaw tensed. “I was completely fooled. And you used that deceit to strike, injuring not only myself but almost the entirety of the Royal Guard. Afterwards, you disguised yourself as one of your own and vice versa to infiltrate Ponyville and kidnap three fillies – Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.”

“Heartless fiend!” Rarity suddenly shouted. She looked like she wanted to say more, but she calmed herself and settled for glaring icy daggers while Applejack patted her on the back soothingly.

Nightmare Moon’s left ear twitched.

Celestia continued. “Using them as leverage, you had the Element Bearers use the Elements of Harmony to imprison Discord. Despite resistance, you ultimately succeeded in wresting control of Canterlot from me and Luna.”

She paused to let her words sink in.

“You have committed many, many crimes; some of which would be grounds for immediate incarceration just on their own.”

Finally, Celestia turned to face Ebony and the others. Ebony swallowed and stood firm, challenging those scorching eyes.

“As for your accomplices, they, too, have many crimes to answer for,” She glanced at Nightmare Moon. “As of now, you may speak and plead your case.”

Nightmare Moon stirred.

She put her head up and her mane parted to show her face. Her eyes no longer held the burning drive and cunning wit Ebony was so accustomed to; they just looked dark and hollow.

“… I don’t understand what you mean by ‘plead my case,’” Her voice was empty and weak. “Do you want my thoughts on the crimes you accuse me of? Are you asking if I am guilty of them, or if I feel guilty?”

"We're giving you the opportunity to talk and tell us your side of the story."

"Why?"

"Because everyone here, even my sister, does not know who you are; even Zecora only knows what you are, not 'who.' If we can come to understand your motivations and drive, then perhaps we can all come to a satisfying conclusion."

"I can't say that I'd be satisfied with death."

"Perhaps it won't come to that. We are open to alternative solutions, Nightmare Moon; nobody else has to die, but that is up to you," She turned to face Ebony and the others again. "All of you."

Ebony felt the slightest bit of relief hearing that.

“What a waste of time,” Nightmare Moon sighed. “But I can't bring myself to particularly care enough to be rebellious, so get on with it."

It was Twilight that spoke next. She took a step forward, one of her hooves making a fragile tink against the ground as the tip of a crystal sprouting from beneath scraped the surface. She looked cleaner than when she was under Nightmare Moon’s control, but it was hard to look at the crystals jutting from her body like the quills of a porcupine and call her ‘healthy.’

“Every time I move, I can feel the crystals near my joints rub against bone and muscle. Sometimes, when I breathe, I can feel a shard being pressed between my lungs. All of this happened because you tried to make us immortal, so that we wouldn’t die, and the title of Element Bearer couldn’t be passed on. You wanted to keep us imprisoned forever.

“But then when your plan failed and I almost died, you kept me alive by infusing part of your magical composition with mine. I’d be tempted to ask how you did that if I wasn’t so nauseated by being in the same room with you. I don't know if my experience differs from what Princess Luna experienced, but having you in the back of my mind all the time? It... Every time you used your power over me, it was like something warm and barbed was pressing against the back of my neck. And the helplessness I felt whenever you ordered me to do something and I had no choice but to…”

She clenched her jaw and took a deep breath, waving off her friends when they tried to comfort her.

“I’m fine,” She fixed Nightmare Moon with a cold stare, her face scrubbed free of anger. “I really don’t want to be ruled by vengeance and hate. It doesn’t lead anywhere good. Instead, I’m going to look at this like one of my experiments: emotionless and analytical – the outcome will be decided by logic. I can promise that."

Her bottom lip quivered almost imperceptibly as she returned to her previous spot.

Nightmare Moon shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

To Twilight’s credit, she made good on her word and didn’t give much of a reaction, but her friends did, mostly Applejack and Rainbow Dash; they raised their voices and talked over one another, making a huge and noisy fuss for the seven seconds it took for Celestia to calm them down with gentle words and gestures.

Unfazed, Nightmare Moon continued. “I was confident that I had you all under lock and key. I knew enough about the Elements of Harmony that if a Bearer died, a new one was chosen. I was thinking in the long-term – some hundred years in the future – so I decided to make you biologically immortal to prevent this reincarnation.”

One of the griffons – Ebony recognized him as Marquees Aldo – cleared his throat. “I would like to inquire about this ‘reincarnation.’ From my understanding, the Elements of Harmony did not choose new Bearers until Nightmare Moon returned from her banishment. Furthermore, the princesses are not dead, so why did they change hosts?”

“Truthfully, even we do not fully understand the Elements of Harmony and their traits,” Luna replied. “The best explanation I can provide is that even though I was being possessed by this demon, the Elements still saw me as their Bearer and became inert when my presence was no longer felt on Equestria’s soil. Over the years, their power and the bonds that tethered them to my sister and I weakened, and it was Nightmare Moon’s act of destruction that served as the final act to sever the connection,” She gestured to the six Bearers. “The friendship between these six in such close proximity likely caused the Elements to connect.”

“So, you’re saying that Nightmare Moon’s attempt to destroy the Elements may have, in fact, been the cause of her defeat,” Aldo grunted. “Ironic.”

“Indeed,” Nightmare Moon murmured. “However, clearly my attempt failed. Even though I had Twilight vow that she not resist me during the operation in exchange for letting those three foals go, the crystals I imbued with magic failed to link; she entered anaphylactic shock and I was forced to link my essence with hers to save her life.”

“Incidentally, it was that act which forced us to spare your life, lest your essence fully corrupt her,” Luna added. “But she is free of it now, so there is no reason for us to stay our hoof.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “You’re right. There isn’t.”

Tense silence reigned after that. Nobody seemed sure how to respond to Nightmare Moon’s melancholy; it was just so out of place. Ebony couldn’t help but feel frustrated even though she could understand why her Empress was like this: she wanted to see her Empress’ indomitable will and drive again, not this display of sad submissiveness.

Celestia huffed. “Tell me something,” Nightmare Moon lazily lifted her head. “Why are you like this? Why do you care about the life of one single pony?”

Ebony held her breath. She watched as the Empress lowered her gaze to some invisible spot on the floor. Her lips parted to speak, but just as quickly closed.

Celestia pressed on. “You can’t answer?”

Ebony saw the flicker of something malevolent in Nightmare Moon’s eyes, but it failed to ignite; nothing more than a passing sensation.

“I was not the one at fault for her death,” Nightmare Moon snorted. “Well… perhaps I am in a way. I did not kill her directly, the humans did. You, too, are indirectly responsible. If you hadn’t attempted to take me out under the guise of a truce… if you hadn’t used that changeling to cover me with that infernal brew… then perhaps I’d have had the strength to save her.”

She suddenly held up her hoof, though it looked to be a monumental effort.

“But I was the one that insisted she stay at the castle. Maybe if I hadn’t, then she’d have been with her wife, far from the castle. But she wasn’t.”

Ebony saw something in her Empress’ face. More than that, she felt it. For just an instant, she felt a deep yawning hole in her chest that ached to be filled; that feeling was etched onto Nightmare Moon’s face for a brief instant.

Then, it was washed away, replaced with dull acceptance.

“… And I don’t regret my decision.”

Celestia and the others shared looks. “Nightmare Moon, do you regret all the pain you caused to take over Canterlot.”

“No.”

“Do you grieve the death of Vinyl Scratch?”

Nightmare Moon breathed in deeply. “Yes.”

“Do you wish she was still alive?”

“Yes.”

“Knowing that, how can you say that you don’t regret your decision to have her stay in the castle?”

“Because it is what I felt to be the best decision to keep her safe. To keep our friendship strong.”

The room seemed to hold its breath. The Empress had said it plainly, for everyone to hear:

Friendship.

Nightmare Moon raised her head.

“I can see it in your eyes. You’re wondering how someone can claim a genuine friendship when they have committed what you believe to be heinous acts?”

She shrugged.

“I have no words that could get you to understand my perspective. I feel it’s beyond your understanding. We are different creatures. But I can tell you this…

“I am a creature of ambition, born from ambition. What I want, I strive to get, no matter what. I use whatever is at my disposal to further my goals. Regret? I cannot regret doing something that brings me one step further to fulfilling my ambition. Even if ends up being the wrong decision, I do not regret it; even a mistake is better than non-action.”

She blinked, then licked her dry lips.

“Throughout these years that I have been back in Equestria, I have walked forward, refusing to look back because my desires are ahead of me, not behind. There were times when I began to doubt, where I became unsure of myself. Questions filled my mind: why did I have this body? Why did the Elements spare me? What if they had done something to me? Why did I feel such companionship with Vinyl? I hated her, truly despised her at times for what I felt to be her attempts at swaying me from my goals.

“But then she said once, ‘there’s not much point in complaining how you should be, not when the present is here and now.’ I took that to heart. Perhaps I have been changed in some way by the Elements, but it didn’t change the fact that I still had desires and dwelling on such things wasn’t going to help me fulfil them. Accepting Vinyl as a friend brought a great deal of risks and problems, but it soon became clear that I wanted to keep her. So, naturally, I started to think, ‘how can I keep her alive and happy?’”

Nightmare Moon’s gaze settled on something on the far side of the tent.

“I made choices that I felt would help keep her and our friendship alive. I saved her from the humans even though it put my own life at risk. I offered to heal the damage done to her horn in my own way. I kept her in the castle because I thought it was the safest place to be. It wasn’t. And now she’s dead because of that.

“At this point… I realize now that somewhere along the line, she became more important to me than keeping control of this city. Now that she’s gone… I have no purpose. I…”

She paused for a few seconds.

“I am conflicted. I can’t regret doing something that was for the sake of keeping what I wanted, but at the same time I want to do things differently, if I could. I want to deal with this, but I don’t know how to; I can’t find the drive to pull myself forward. My drive died along with Vinyl. If I have none of that, then what is left?"

No one spoke for a long time. Ebony wished that she could come up with the right words to say, or one of her friends could, but it seemed they were all at a loss; she couldn’t pick up any mental chatter, just a shared feeling of helplessness.

Celestia, meanwhile, stared at Nightmare Moon, her face muddled with disbelief and something almost like awe. “I didn’t expect that,” Her ears twitched in uncertainty. “Do you have anything else you wish to say?”

Nightmare Moon shook her head. “No.”

“Then if no one objects, I would like to hear from the Praetorian Guard.”

All of their eyes fell on Haze. He blinked, swallowed, then took a deep breath. "Apologies in advance if I bungle this up."

Standing before the princesses' stares, he said in a steady voice, "I shall speak on behalf of my associates and the Empress."

Nightmare Moon raised her eyebrows at him but said nothing.

"Celestia, you accused Nightmare Moon of a 'treasonous act,' which I find odd considering that Nightmare Moon is not a citizen of Equestria. Has she identification? Is she registered as a citizen?"

"No, she's a magical-based entity from Zebrica," Celestia responded. "Zecora informed us."

"How do we know that's true?"

"It's true." Nightmare Moon said.

Haze faltered and almost seemed like he wanted to glare at the Empress. "If that's the case, then I would like to ask Zecora if they bestow citizenship to these magical entities?"

Zecora frowned distastefully. Ebony stared, enthralled by the exotic wear she had on. "That, we do not; she is a demon, and we do not consort with that lot."

Haze paused for a bit. "A demon, you say?" He started to pace. "Interesting. So, can the accused in question be guilty of treason for a state she does not belong to?"

Celestia scowled. "Under Equestrian Law, no. However, it does not exempt her from terrorism."

"A different matter altogether," Haze waved her off. "The accused is not an Equestrian citizen, not even a citizen of any state, so you cannot accuse her of treason. I implore that this accusation be dropped."

Celestia and Luna shared a look before the latter grumbled, "Very well. But you and your associates are citizens of Equestria, so you can and are being accused of treason."

"Ah, well, that may be the case, but..." Haze faltered again.

"May I say something?" Twilight interjected, cold and dispassionate. "According to Article Four of the Discordance Legislation, any hostile entities that represent a threat to the safety of Equestria and its citizens are given a chance to reform provided they are supervised by a high-ranking official in the Equestrian Government and obey a certain set of rules and restrictions. The qualification for this is that the entity must display a certain level of sentience, reasoning, and morality."

Ebony hadn't heard of this Legislation, but from the name alone she guessed it was related to Discord. That must have been why Celestia decided to give him a chance for reformation. But wouldn't that chance be reneged by his second attempt to take over Equestria?

She Called. "Haze, don't you think it's unfair that both Discord and Nightmare Moon tried to take over twice, but Discord gets a chance to be redeemed?"

"Good eye." He responded.

"Zecora," Twilight continued, turning to face the shaman. "My friends told me about what Nightmare Moon is... a qandisa, right? Would you say that those types display sentience, reasoning, and morality?"

Zecora hummed. "Sentience? Yes. But reasoning and morality? She stands here, but none of that is clear to me."

"So, can we apply Article Four to the accused?" Twilight questioned. "If we can't, then we can't consider reformation as a solution."

Ebony realized that a cold and logical Twilight was infinitely more dangerous than a raging one.

"Objection!" Haze cried. "The accused has shown reasoning and morality; the former just by standing here! If she were incapable of reasoning, then she wouldn't be cooperating."

"That seems more like apathy to me." Twilight said.

"You are biased, so you are in no position to identify such a thing," Haze sniffed. "As for morality, then look no further than her..." He paused, hid a grimace. "Relationship with Vinyl Scratch. Does it look like she is faking emotional distress over her death?"

Ebony watched as they muttered among themselves. Even Zecora seemed less sure of herself. "Nice one, Haze!"

"Much appreciated," Haze continued talking, confidence renewed. "And may I just point out a similarity between the accused and the draconequus, Discord? Both parties are guilty of crimes, both attempted to take over Equestria, both are stateless, both are magical entities far beyond what we would consider equine... and yet you, Celestia, chose to give Discord a chance to reform. I ask why you are not providing the same chance for Nightmare Moon?"

Celestia flinched. "That's-"

"Could it be that this supposedly fair trial that you described earlier on is nothing but a farce to mask the fact that you've already decided how to punish the accused?"

"Ooh, tell her she's biased because of what happened to her sister!" Lightning Dust, surprisingly, interjected. "Make 'em angry; everyone loves it when the judges get angry!"

Haze pointed at the sisters. "Could it be that you are letting your personal feelings cloud your judgement?"

Rainbow Dash suddenly yelled in frustration. "What the hell is there to talk about?! Nightmare Moon's bad! She hurt lots of ponies! Just... just..." She waved her hooves as if to pantomime what she was feeling. "You know? Lock her up forever!"

"I concur!" Rarity chimed in.

"Boo! Down with the system!" Fade cried.

Ebony felt like she should also say something, but now everyone was shouting over one another; she didn't think adding her voice would help matters, not that she had anything to say that could further help their argument.

Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon still hadn't said anything, but she was looking around the room with what seemed to be the faintest trace of intrigue. It was significantly better than the hollow-eyed expression she had on before, and Ebony was tempted to try and reach out to-

"Quiet!!"

Celestia's voice was more wind than sound; Ebony stumbled and bumped into Veil, Haze skidded back a few feet, and everyone else - save Luna and Nightmare Moon, who merely had their mane tousled - flinched and covered their ears.

Once everyone had settled, Celestia cleared her throat and said, "There's something you're missing, Haze," She paused, then added, "Discord never killed anyone. Not a thousand years ago, not now. Nightmare Moon hasn't killed anyone today, not to my knowledge, but as I said before, she did in the past."

"What about the changeling?" One of the griffons, Aldo, said. Ebony jumped - he and the others were so still and quiet they seemed to blend in against the tent. "Mirage, correct? I have not heard from him."

"He will live, fortunately," Luna replied. "His carapace was cracked, which I am told is severe, but he will make a full recovery."

"Fortunate for you, too," Celestia informed Nightmare Moon. "Because he has citizenship. Back to what I was saying, the Discordance Legislation affords some leniency to those that haven't murdered Equestrian citizens; that's why my sister and I decided to give Discord a chance of reformation.

"But at the same time, those crimes bring up something startling," Celestia gestured to Nightmare Moon. "The Nightmare Moon back then and the Nightmare Moon now are two different creatures."

Ebony blinked, surprised. "I... did not expect that."

"Wonder where she's going with this." Miasma murmured.

"The Nightmare Moon before, the one that I and the new Element Bearers banished with the Elements of Harmony, the one that sought eternal night and killed many ponies in cold blood. The Nightmare Moon now, the one standing before us, has not sought that and, again, to my knowledge, has not killed anyone aside from the human invaders. Instead, she seeks to rule Equestria by force but has clearly made efforts to ensure the land does not fall into anarchy. While I do not agree with her methods in doing so, there is a very clear moral and intelluctual distinction between what would undoubtedly harm all life in Equestria..."

She spread her left wing.

"And what she has done now."

She spread her right wing, then folded them both against her side.

"Furthermore, there is concrete evidence that the Nightmare Moon of today has some understanding of compassion and morality, the evidence not only being her relationship with Vinyl but her decision to keep us alive. Imprisoned but alive. In contrast, I remember very clearly that the Nightmare Moon in the past was trying her utmost to kill me."

She paused for a little while, letting her words sink in.

"It is my opinion that I... that all of us have ignored something crucial."

Nightmare Moon slowly looked up at Celestia, something like astonishment in her eyes.

Celestia breathed in and licked her lips. "Nightmare Moon, I kept telling myself that for you, mercy wasn't possible because of my prior experience. What you did to my sister, and then my student... it made it easy to hate you and rationalize that it was the best decision to kill you. Now, I'm not so sure."

The Element Bearers exploded with outrage. Twilight, admirably, did not react too strongly aside from a slight narrowing of her eyes. Luna calmed them down, but it was clear in her gaze that she was also questioning Celestia's remark.

"When you collapsed after finding Vinyl, it drove home to me that you really did care for her. All those interactions with her that Mirage relayed to us were genuine. And what you said about the Elements affecting you, about these feelings you've developed, and how you feel as if you've lost your drive, I think I'm beginning to understand you a little better."

Celestia took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

"Back then, I believe you were nothing but a single-minded demon driven by, essentially, what you were created for - domination. But now, you are something else, something that's only recently started to experience morality and empathy. It happened when you were blasted with the Elements a second time, didn't it?"

Nightmare Moon said nothing.

"Again, I have no idea why they didn't banish you as they did when I used them, or why you have a body of your own, but they didn't not affect you: they... well, it's like they tried to reform you. 'Tried' being the keyword here."

Nightmare Moon's shoulders tensed. "I hate that notion."

"But isn't this a good thing?" Celestia studied Nightmare Moon intensely. "If it's true, you have morality and empathy now; no longer are you just a single-minded demon. Now, you have the opportunity to reform when you otherwise wouldn't have had the capacity to."

"I don't want to be reformed!"

Nightmare Moon's voice rattled everyone; it wasn't gale-force wind like Celestia's, more like rolling thunder you could feel in your bones. Ebony shuddered as she saw her Empress' characteristic strength and will once more.

The Element Bearers flinched and prepared to leap into action. The Royal Guard moved in close with spears drawn. The griffons shifted anxiously; one of them, the sole female of the group, splayed her talon and summoned golden light that flickered over her hide. In the corner, Sunset Shimmer's mane seemed to writhe with blazing energy. Only Celestia, Luna, and Twilight remained unbothered by Nightmare Moon's snarling expression.

Gently, Twilight asked, "So, you do want something."

To Ebony's dismay, that one remark seemed to hit a weak point; Nightmare Moon deflated, like all the air was being let out. Her lips slid back to cover her teeth, her eyes went dark, and her muscles turned to semi-solid fluid. Once more, she was lifeless and haggard.

"I don't know anymore."

Celestia started to reply, but somepony entered the tent; a grey pegasus with odd eyes. Ebony felt a heavy surge of alarm coming from Veil as the unfamiliar mare walked up to the princesses.

"That mare..." Veil shuddered.

Ebony watched as one of the pegasus' eyes lazily wandered about and frowned. "What about her?"

"She was in that big fight earlier. Kicked my butt seven ways to Sunday."

"... We're looking at the same mare, right?"

"Don't let those derp eyes fool you; she's got a mean right hook."

She decided not to question it. She'd seen stranger things.

"... Yes, yes - go and tell them we'll be there shortly. Thank you," Celestia sent the pegasus off with that enigmatic response, then addressed the entire room. “Due to an unforeseen development, we shall have a small recess. Let the accused be placed back into isolation for their own safety and the safety of everyone else. We will reconvene in an hour.”

"This is rather sudden," Haze huffed. "Considering the gravitas of this trial, I would think that-"

"You shall have the chance to speak your mind once we return," Luna interjected with a stern scowl. "Do not waste your breath."

Haze's face soured with scorn, but he gave the slightest of nods. "As you say."

Ebony felt a lump of ice settle in her stomach when she saw Nightmare Moon not even twitch an eye as Luna walked over and lit her horn, wrapping them both in blue light. As they disappeared in a flash, Celestia and some guards herded her and her friends back to the tent’s entrance.

“Okay, so... what exactly happened back there?” Fade grumbled. "Like, everyone said a whole bunch of things, but I'm still lost.

"It seems that this whole scenario isn't as straightforward as we thought," Haze replied. "It's not a sentencing, thank goodness, but I can't call it a trial, not a proper one. We have no lawyers, no jury - some of that can be explained by the chaos of recent events, but even so..."

Ebony sensed his confusion. "Are you okay?"

"I'm quite irate at how the Empress has allowed herself to fall so low, but Celestia's behaviour concerns me; she seems almost desperate to prove that the Empress is capable of reformation."

As they approached the exit and the guards parted the tent flaps, the brief opening allowing a sudden wave of jeers and insults. Fade, being the first in front, was also the first to recieve the full brunt.

“Oh, great – the masses are riled up. Yeah, yeah, rabble fucking rabble to you, too.”

“However, I would just like to say that I think we did well considering the circumstances,” Haze said. “There were some... how does the expression go? There were some 'curveballs' thrown around, but don't let them shake you.”

Veil murmured, "Told ya she was a demon."

Ebony sighed. "Not now, please."

"We have an hour to regroup and discuss our next step," Haze said. "I was thinking that we may be able to claim that we were coerced into this situation much like how the Empress took control of Luna - that may elicit a sympathetic response. However, I would need some quality-acting from all of you."

"I'm good at that." Miasma droned.

"I... suppose? I can't tell if you're joking, that's for certain."

Ebony was the last one through the flaps. Before she left, she stole one last glance over her shoulder at where Nightmare Moon stood.

‘I know you’re still in there somewhere. Please fight back!’

Then, she walked out into the crowd and was splattered with a half-rotten tomato.

Author's Note

Note 1: The Discordance Legislation was established in 5 AD (After Discord) by the newly formed Equestrian Diarchy. The Legislation is a document that expressly forbids the application of magic in ways reminscent of Discord. The document also serves as a guide to address and deal with hostile entities of considerable magical aptitude, which may not possess the sentience, morality, and reasoning necessary for an official trial to take place under Equestrian Law.

For a citizen of Equestria to violate the Legislation is grounds for arrest and questioning, but judgement is not passed until a figure in a high enough position in the Equestrian Government (Princess, Royal Court Member, Mayor) is present to assess the situation and react appropriately.

In one case in a rural settlement, a Want it-Need it spell was cast on an inanimate object with no precautions and failsafes placed prior, and without the consent or knowledge of the general population. Princess Celestia addressed the issue personally:

"... due to the small-scale of the incident and the lack of injured parties, I have decided to pardon the perpetrator with a stern warning. The investigator, Blue Book, will refrain from further investigation and will return to his duties." - Excerpt from a letter written by Princess Celestia.

"... personal student does not grant leniency and freedom which can be abused by a naive mind." - Excerpt from a letter written by Blue Book, a high-ranking guard who investigates breaches of the Discordance Legislation.

"A mind you just so happen to be jealous of." - Full letter written by Princess Celestia.

Chapter 67: Favour

Ebony and her friends waited almost two hours before Celestia came to collect them with two guards at her side.

They had been in deep telepathic conversation – though, they’d yet to make any real headway concerning an escape plan – when she arrived, pulled the sceptre erecting the barrier of their prison out of the ground, and hoofed it to one of the guards.

“I’m sorry it took this long,” She apologized, to Ebony’s surprise. “Please follow me and we can resume the trial.”

The command was gentle but also firm; it was the type of tone that a teacher would use. Ebony hadn’t been a student for almost a decade, but she had that nostalgic desire to immediately obey lest she get detention.

‘Which I’m in danger of getting. Sort of.’ She realized as she ventured outside the tent, passed through the crowd, got another tomato to the face, and ended back in the tent/courthouse with everyone watching intensely as Luna teleported in with Nightmare Moon.

Ebony noticed that Twilight and her friends were absent. “Where did those mares get to?”

“Probably planning something, yeah?” Fade murmured. “Stallion, I really don’t like the way those griffons are looking at me.”

“Yeah, like hawks.” Lightning Dust agreed.

“But aren’t they eagles?” Veil wondered.

“Nah, they’re more like falcons; you can see it in the way they move their wings when they dive-bomb,” Fade answered. A second later, he realized they were staring at him. “What? I can know stuff about stuff. Sometimes.”

“I apologize for the interruption,” Celestia said. “Unforeseen developments required our immediate attention.”

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to share this information?” Haze said, stepping out from their group. “I believe we deserve to know why our trial was cut so suddenly.”

“True,” Celestia relented, much to Ebony’s surprise; she expected a bit more subterfuge than that. “Shortly after we recovered from the effects of the paralysing gas, we sent a message to the Crystal Empire informing them of the situation. We just wanted to keep them in the know, but Shining Armor and Princess Cadance sent supplies and aid to assist in addressing the damage done to the castle. A convoy arrived by train during the trial.”

Haze hummed. “A quick response on their part. Yes, I see why you interrupted the trial now.”

“Also…” Celestia continued with a shrug. “We did not expect for the rulers themselves to be among that convoy.”

“Pardon?”

“Shining Armor and Princess Cadance will attend shortly,” Luna said. “They are ensuring the aid they brought is distributed efficiently.”

“Again, I beg your pardon? A surprise witness may make for an exciting soap opera, but on such short notice in reality-”

Celestia cut Haze off by holding up her hoof. “It is only fair that we hear from all parties involved and affected by Nightmare Moon. The state of things has made acquiring those who will testify difficult. And yes, I realize it is common courtesy and etiquette to have the witnesses already here, but again, the circumstances are extraordinary,” She nodded in Ebony’s direction but kept her eyes focused on Haze. “Of course, you will all have your chance to speak individually, but there are others that have a voice.”

Luna snorted contemptuously. "I do not see the point of having them speak. We already know they will try and say anything to evade their comeuppance like the cowards they are."

"Attacks on character," Haze said. "Rather uncalled for."

"Careful," Luna growled, striking him with a baleful glare. "Lest we go from verbal attacks to physical."

Haze pressed his lips together and nodded with restraint.

Celestia gave her sister a disapproving frown. "Luna, your behaviour isn't appropriate."

"Neither is yours," Luna turned the same cold glare on her. "Have you forgotten that Nightmare Moon is the enemy? After all she has done, you are still content with 'forgive and forget.'"

Celestia recoiled slightly. Everyone else watched the quarrel anxiously, unsure looks and barely-audible words exchanged as the two sisters focused all their attention on the other.

Ebony thought that this might have been a good time to try and escape. Perhaps they could manage it if Nightmare Moon was with them, but a quick and sobering glance told her that Nightmare Moon wasn't even paying the sisters heed; she seemed more engrossed in the dirt beneath her hooves.

Luna continued. "Let us believe that she did have a genuine connection with Vinyl. It did not stop her from physically harming the brave guards that attempted to defend the castle from her coup. It did not stop her from imprisoning innocent mares. It did not stop her from threatening harm to three young fillies."

"I know that," Celestia argued. "But if she's shown to be capable of compassion, then-"

"Bah!"

"-isn't there the possibility, the chance of some form of reflection and change? Didn't it turn out well for Discord?"

"Name one time that Discord killed or harmed anypony," Luna snapped. Celestia faltered and didn't reply. "I thought so. Discord may have caused problems with his wanton and reckless use of his power, but there is a very clear contrast between his actions and Nightmare Moon's. Reflection and change is all well and good, I do not dispute that; however, we must also acknowledge that at times, it is far safer to dispose of a threat rather than wait and hope for something else."

Celestia looked torn, even more so when Twilight spoke up and said, "I agree. It makes the most sense considering what we've heard."

Others agreed. Celestia didn't look too pleased about this, but it seemed that as much power as she had, and however much she was respected, her word would not be the final one in this trial. Whatever Nightmare Moon's fate would be, it would be decided by the majority.

"For the sake of amnesty and order, I am willing to have my disposition toward the demon swayed, hence why I agreed to this trial," Luna grumbled. "So, proceed - try and convince me that there is another path."

Haze pushed out a frustrated breath. "... Back to the topic of witnesses, who should we expect, if I may ask?"

Recovering, Celestia side-glanced at Luna once more before replying, “Two of them were in the Eclipse ranks. Then, there's Fancypants and his wife.”

“Fancypants and Fleur are speaking?” Ebony hadn’t heard from them in a while, not since she stood in for Veil at that meeting about airship maintenance.

“Them and Boss were pretty close, yeah?” Fade subtly gestured. “Look – Boss’ ear flicked. Guess she’s not completely zoned out.”

“And then...” Celestia stopped and looked to the entrance. The mob outside had started to clap and cheer. “Ah, that must be Shining Armor and Cadance now.”

Ebony grimaced. 'Ugh...'

She wasn’t ecstatic to see Shining Armor and Cadance again after they parted on less than amicable terms, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel at least a tiny bit relieved that they entered the tent in good health. She didn’t wish for them, for anyone, to experience that crystal abomination again.

Shining Armor strolled in wearing his ornate battle gear. Cadance was at his side wearing her regalia. Behind them, Twilight and her friends followed while two guards with shining, partially transparent bodies protected the rear.

“I’m sorry we’ve come on such short notice,” Cadance said, her gaze settling on Nightmare Moon and turning hard. “But we had to see the results of this trial.”

Celestia nodded. “Of course – I understand that the Crystal Empire has been affected by Nightmare Moon’s actions, too,” Then, she looked at Twilight. “And the personal involvement is obvious as well.”

Twilight didn’t respond. She and her friends returned to the spot they had earlier and Shining Armor and Cadance joined.

“Clockwork…” Celestia motioned to one of the Royal Guard, a pegasus. “Could you go out and clear the crowd from the entrance? Shining, will your guards be willing to help?” He nodded and gave them the ‘go-ahead.’ “Thank you. Twilight, you’ve brought Shining and Cadance up to speed on what’s been said?”

“I have,” Twilight nodded. “Up to what Nightmare Moon last said.”

“Then if there are no objections, I would like to hear testimony from the witnesses.”

“Actually, I have something to say,” Haze interjected. “Given that the impact of the Empress’ influence has nationwide effects, isn’t it accurate to say that everyone in Equestria can be a potential witness? Are we going to get an account from every soul in the land? That seems like a considerable investment of time and resources.”

“We would have the testimonies of those able to be here and have been personally involved with the accused beyond a mere hailing,” Luna said, then, with a shrug, added, “Of course, if you would prefer that we bring every pony outside this tent to speak…”

Haze grimaced, likely thinking back to the salvo of decomposed produce they received on their way back. “No.”

“I thought not.”

Ebony felt the pressure of Haze’s thoughts at her mind.

“We may be in a spot of bother. Normally, I’d assume they’re getting witnesses to further demonize the Empress-”

“She’s already a demon.” Veil huffed.

“-but I can’t predict what Celestia’s intentions are. She is a wild card, as they say.”

“It seems like she really wants Nightmare Moon to be reformed.” Ebony pondered.

Haze hummed. “I’m not going to make any assumptions until I have irrefutable evidence of that. Until then, let’s see what this crystal prince has to say.”

“Shining Armor – tell us of your first communications with Nightmare Moon.”

They didn’t have any of those stands that the witness sat in, so Shining Armor had to stand in front of the princesses. He didn’t seem all too worried that his back was exposed to Nightmare Moon. Granted, she was being watched by several powerful figures and had a dozen spears pointed at her. Not only that, but it was clear from her downward stare that a surprise attack was the last thing on her mind.

“Well, Princess Celestia…” Shining Armor licked his lips and paused to collect his thoughts. “If I recall correctly, then it was sometime around noon on November 4th, 1055 AD. I received a letter delivered via train that Nightmare Moon had overthrown the Equestrian government and had the princesses and the Element Bearers imprisoned. I didn’t believe it at first, but a scout I sent to Canterlot came back and confirmed it.”

Twilight spoke. “What did you do next?”

“My next action after that was to devise a counter-attack.”

“But you didn’t.”

It wasn’t an accusatory tone, but it was cold; Ebony was shocked she would talk like that to her brother after all she heard about their close relationship. Even Shining Armor seemed taken aback for a second.

“Cadance talked me down. I didn’t like it, but I knew that an attack wouldn’t amount to anything. We’re great at defending against anything trying to come down from the North, but the logistics of sending forces to defend Equestria when the enemy controls the fastest mode of transportation – trains – are dismal at best.”

Twilight nodded. “Did Nightmare Moon demand anything of you?”

“She wanted crystals,” His tail flicked. “We already had a trade deal with the princesses going on, so it wasn’t a big deal at first. I mean, it left a bad taste in my mouth to have to trade with her after what she did, but-”

“If you didn’t like it, then why did you do it?”

Shining Armor flinched. “Well, one reason was because we trade for materials we can’t get from the terrain. It’s kinda hard to mine for metal outside of the Empire’s barrier and we don’t have much space for crops. And the second reason is because Nightmare Moon threatened to hurt you if we didn’t comply with the trade.”

Twilight nodded once. “I see,” A pause. “So, she blackmailed you?”

“I would say so, yes.”

“And was the trade the same? Did you trade the usual amount for what Equestria sends?”

“At first, yeah. But then Nightmare Moon wanted purer crystals; the kind you would use for complicated magic rituals.”

“You never traded those before?”

Shining Armor shook his head. “No, we have, but it was in very small amounts. Three, maybe seven units in each shipment at most – small crystals, too. All of them were requested by Princess Celestia on behalf of the School for Gifted Unicorns. What Nightmare Moon wanted were entire crates – most as big as my hoof.”

“Do you know for what purpose?”

Shining Armor opened and closed his mouth, gaze set on the crystals implanted in his sibling’s body. “I…”

Twilight stared at him. “Please answer the question. You swore on Faust’s name.”

Cadance shifted nervously. “Twilight-”

“He can speak for himself.”

It was a full three seconds before Shining Armor could speak for himself. “For the Resonator. She wanted crystals for the Resonator. From what little I know, it’s a very complicated piece of machinery,” He blinked. “Where is it anyway?”

That was a good question. Ebony had completely forgotten about the only device that allowed them to close Entropic Fractures with everything going on. It was secured behind a robust door and complicated spells, but would it have survived the blast? She hoped it did.

“Back to the question,” Twilight said sharply. “Is that all Nightmare Moon used the crystals for?”

Shining Armor paused yet again. “She used them… for you. Put them in you.”

The silence that followed was almost painful. Ebony couldn’t stop cringing, feeling a dozen eyes glare at her, her friends, and Nightmare Moon.

“Feels like I’m doing one of those stupid school plays…” Fade muttered.

“I hate those.” Miasma agreed.

Twilight carried on after letting the tension thicken. “And to gather these crystals Nightmare Moon wanted, you had to excavate into your deepest mines? The ones that were dug by the Empire’s populace under orders by King Sombra?”

Shining Armor nodded. “Y-yeah.”

“But wouldn’t you have had to do that anyway to gather those crystals for earlier trades?”

“Well, the thing is, if it’s just requests for small loads like what the school orders, then we can mine them from anywhere in the mountains; they’re not as common as regular crystals, but if you know where to look, then you don’t have to go so deep. But with the amount Nightmare Moon wanted, we had no choice but to go into the deepest mines to fulfil her demands.”

“What is so bad about these mines that Sombra had dug?”

“Bad memories. The crystal ponies don’t like going there because it reminds them of Sombra,” Shining Armor’s tail started flicking again. “But if we put feelings aside, then there’s nothing physically wrong with the mines: no dangers of cave-ins – well, no more than any other mine – no poisonous gas – it’s completely safe. At least, that’s what we thought at first.”

Ebony grimaced. She knew where this was going.

Twilight tilted her head. “What happened?”

“The miners were digging in one of the tunnels when they hit a crack in the wall. The whole layer came apart and something came out. It was a monstrosity – a pony encased in crystal yet somehow controlling it. It must have been slumbering since Sombra was still in charge. When it got free, it started infecting everypony, turning them into mindless slaves. We tried to fight it off, but I was forced to evacuate the whole Empire into the castle.”

“What happened to this creature?”

“Eventually, we destroyed it,” He spared a second to glance in Ebony’s direction. “With help. Afterwards, we found a journal in what used to be Sombra's private quarters. From that, we learned that the pony inside might have been involved with him in some way – likely a lover – but we’re still unsure how she came to be like that.”

“Just to clarify, ‘she’ is…”

“The pony in the crystal, yeah. We don't know her name; nothing in the journal, and nopony in the Empire recognizes her. The annals in the library seemed to have been tampered with because whole sections of family bloodlines are missing.”

“Have you had any other trouble like this since then?”

“No. We shut down the mine completely and started excavating elsewhere. It’s hard work in comparison, but it’ll be a cold day in Tartarus before I send anypony down that tunnel again. As for the creature, we burnt all the remains; there’s nothing left.”

Ebony thought back to the small sample she brought back and held her tongue.

“I see. Shining Armor…” Twilight gestured to Nightmare Moon. “Would you say that the reason for the creature’s awakening was a result of the mining?”

“Well, yeah, definitely.”

“And the reason for the mining was because of Nightmare Moon demanding you do so despite your issues?”

“Y-yeah…”

Ebony jumped as Haze scoffed inside her head; it was like a cold wind brushing against the back of her scalp. “She’s seeking to place the blame of what transpired in the Empire on the Empress and make her look bad. Well, she’s got another thing coming when I-”

“But…!” Shining Armor held up his hoof, grimacing like it was physically painful for him to do so. “Can I just say something really quick?” Twilight nodded. “I’ll be the first to say that it was Nightmare Moon’s demands that caused us to start mining in those tunnels in the first place. But… well…”

He sighed.

“She didn’t know about the creature. She didn’t know that what she wanted would make it wake up.”

A palpable silence stretched out as everyone blinked and stared at him in surprise. Even Nightmare Moon lifted her head enough for Ebony to see that one of her eyebrows was cocked quizzically.

“Yo, is he… defending Boss?” Fade asked.

“I believe so.” Haze replied slowly.

Shining Armor continued. “Look, several of my ponies died. Ponies I knew personally. Maybe if Nightmare Moon hadn’t made those demands, then they’d be alive today, but I can’t say that she intended for those deaths to happen. How could she? Literally nopony knew about what was waiting in that tunnel. If we’re putting blame for her ignorance, then I’m just as guilty for telling those miners to their face that the only thing to fear were memories – ghosts of the past.”

Twilight frowned. “I was there when she was talking about the Empire. She ordered me not to speak of it, so I couldn’t say anything until I was out of her control, but the reason she sent help in the first place was because the shipments had stopped.”

“I was there, too, Twilight,” Haze interjected coolly. “Whatever her reasons, your brother might not be alive if it wasn’t for the Empress’ support.”

Twilight’s jaw set and her wings ruffled. “… That’s true.”

Shining Armor gave a weak, apologetic smile. “I don’t know what would have happened if she hadn’t sent some of her guards.”

Twilight closed her eyes and nodded. “I’m just glad that you and Cadance made it through that safely,” When she opened them, they settled on Haze. “I haven’t got any more questions.”

Haze glanced at Shining Armor, then shrugged dismissively. “Hm, no, I’m quite satisfied with what I heard. He can be on his way.”

Celestia gave Shining Armor a comforting smile as he returned to his wife’s side. “Thank you for your account. Would the next witness like to speak?”

Ebony didn’t know what sort of system was used to determine how cycling through witnesses during a trial went. From what she saw, there didn’t seem to be an actual list, nor where they going in any order; it seemed that if you wanted to talk, then you were allowed unless someone said it first, which meant you had to wait for them to finish.

It wasn’t much different from a show-and-tell, but considering the circumstances, there was something she found very pure and civil about waiting for your turn to speak; there was an unspoken rule that, no matter their affiliation, the speaker shan’t be interrupted without good reason.

As the night plodded along, Ebony saw many old and new faces…

“Fancypants, what was your previous experience with Nightmare Moon when she was working under disguise? Alias – Star Secret.”

Fancypants’ horn flickered as he frequently – restlessly – adjusted his monocle. He looked just as handsome and sharp as ever, but Ebony could see the anxiety in his body language.

“Ah, well, if I’m quite honest, then our interactions were very beneficial,” He gave a chuff of mirth. “Why, I wish all undercover villainesses would be such pleasant company.”

Nobody laughed.

Swallowing, he cleared his throat. “At any rate… throughout the years that I knew Nightmare Moon as ‘Star Secret,’ I thought of her as erudite and quick-witted; she cemented herself as a favourite of the hegemony that I and my other associates made. She had a certain magnetism, a sense of purpose that attracted ponies. It didn’t surprise me in the least when she landed that spot on the Royal Court and I daresay that during the time she was on there, it benefited Canterlot immensely.”

“And how do your interactions with Nightmare Moon compare to Star Secret?”

Fancypants rubbed his chin. “Due to changes caused by the shift in power, we haven’t interacted much outside of business. On the rare times we do meet, she has been cordial and straightforward; very much like the mare I used to clink glasses with during outings to the theatre.”

Twilight nodded and slowly paced back and forth, the crystals in her hooves making their own clinks against the ground. “Fancypants, do you regret ever meeting Star Secret when you see the mare she has become?” She gestured to Nightmare Moon.

Fancypants grimaced as he lifted his monocle and stowed it in a pocket on his suit. “I’m afraid I’m not entirely sure how to answer that.”

“Take your time.”

“… Make no mistake, I abhor the actions that have been taken by Nightmare Moon. I feel betrayed, tricked; she lied about who she was for so many years, and the mare that I thought I knew and could trust is gone. I am angered that she would use me. Up until now, I haven’t worked up the nerve to tell her how I feel.”

Nightmare Moon turned her head almost imperceptibly from Fancypants’ direction, and Ebony saw the corner of her mouth twitch.

“But even so…” Fancypants paused and took out a handkerchief to wipe his brow. “Even so, I can’t deny that some part of me isn’t swayed by the vestiges of Star Secret that I see in Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight stopped pacing and cocked her head. “Can you elaborate?”

“Ruthless pragmatism aside, in the few interactions we’ve had, Nightmare Moon exhibits the same dry wit, incredible intellect, and down-to-earth view that I so admired in Star Secret. Furthermore, I can see that she is truly trying to defend this city from the humans.”

He sighed.

“Perhaps my judgement is clouded by nostalgia, but as much as I disagree with Nightmare Moon’s methods, I still feel as if helping her is to help Canterlot. And I think that’s something we all want.”

“… Thank you, Fancypants.”

“Despicable! Unfathomable!” Fleur harrumphed and pointed her muzzle in the air. “My dear Fancypants has too kind a heart for the likes of that beast. I cannot believe she’d have the audacity, the cruelty to overthrow a princess that everypony adores.”

Haze grumbled. “Ma’am, if I could just-”

“She may be working to defend the city from humans, but we could have done that without her help,” She scoffed again. “I have no desire to associate with the mare standing over there.”

“Yes, thank you for sharing that, but that wasn’t my question.”

“She has done nothing but cause strife for my home, my poor husband, and myself.”

“So, she’s done nothing you can look favourably on?”

Fleur faltered. “She… defended the city during that enormous monster’s rampage. I can commend her for that. And…” Her speech softened into inaudible mumbling.

Haze leaned in. “Apologies, but could you repeat that for the sake of everyone else?”

Blotches of pink appeared on Fleur’s cheeks as she murmured in a louder voice, “And also, she stopped me from running off on my wedding day and joining a rock farm.”

Ebony heard Pinkie Pie mutter something in an offended tone.

"But you know...!" Fleur's hoof shot out, as if to emphasize her point, but all she did was nearly clock Twilight in the face. Fleur stumbled out a few apologies before regaining steam. "That doesn't excuse her behaviour in the slightest! Less than the slightest! I trusted that mare, and she lied to me for all these years. I... I shan't forgive you!"

The last part was directed at Nightmare Moon and punctuated with an acidic sneer.

Nightmare Moon just blandly replied, "You shouldn't."

“She kept us in horrible cells. I had no idea the castle even had dungeons,” Rarity looked glamorous as always, but her mane had a few strands sticking out and there were bags under her eyes. Ebony heard that she’d been healing the injured and with few breaks by the look of it. “The guards were simply abhorrent and we didn’t even have access to…” She grimaced. “Proper facilities.”

“And what was the crime you committed to warrant such treatment?”

“Absolutely nothing, my dear Twilight! We were just trying to stop this monster from hurting anypony else like we always do, and she is so immoral that she would use fillies as shields!”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you. That’s all.”

Haze trotted up to the white unicorn as she tried to calm herself. “The cells you were kept in were just temporary, were they not? It wasn’t very long before your living conditions were improved. What was your initial impression when you were escorted to those rooms?”

“Well, I will admit that they were immeasurably more accommodating than the cells. Except the windows and exit were bolted shut and there was a guard keeping watch.”

“But they were better than before, wouldn’t you say? Nightmare Moon presented you with significantly better-”

Rarity’s face went calm like the sea before a typhoon, which caused him to take a step back unconsciously. “I have seen some hideous dresses in my life; ones that are faulty by manufacture. Many designers attempt to assuage this with bedazzling adornments, but as the saying goes and pardon my language, ‘it is like putting diamonds on poop.’ The rooms were aesthetically and functionally pleasing, but they were still prisons – it doesn’t matter how you try to dress it up.”

She lifted her forehoof when he tried to speak.

“And I know a thing or two about dressing up.”

“Wellll, beating up a bunch of ponies, throwing us in prison, and being a plain ol’ meanie doesn’t make me want to throw a party for her anytime soon,” Pinkie grimaced like something foul was rotting in the back of her mouth. “And I really hate to say this, but she’s a total… party-pooper.”

Her friends acted like she had just simultaneously referred to every race in the room by a derogatory term.

Ebony felt like it would be an exercise in futility to try and understand them.

“Buuuut…” Pinkie put her hooves together and cocked her head to the side, eyes rolling like the thoughts in her head. “She did help a bunch of ponies, saved her friend, and she’s super-sad and depressed right now, so I kinda want to throw a party to cheer her up,” She scratched her head. “It’s pretty confusing.”

Haze made a noise of surprise. “So, you sympathize with the Empress despite her committing what you would consider to be…?”

“Mean things.”

“Er, yes, ‘mean things.’”

Pinkie chuckled and shrugged. “Well, yeah. Twilight made most of Ponyville obsessed with her doll, Rainbow Dash helped make a tornado that made us go flying, Fluttershy turned into a bully for a while, Spike destroyed the town, Applejack made the entire town sick, and for a short while I went a little cuckoo. I think only Rarity hasn’t almost destroyed the town or nearly killed someone, but there’s still time for that!”

She giggled.

Everyone leaned back.

“Anyone can do mean things when they’re having a bad day, but that doesn’t mean anything good they do should just immediately be forgotten or ignored, right?”

Haze’s eyebrows went up. “Your appearance and behaviour conceal an admirable amount of insightfulness and wisdom.”

“Aww, I think you’re pretty, too!”

“You were formerly of ensign rank of the Eclipse, weren’t you, Scarlet?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What motivated you to join the Eclipse in the first place?”

Scarlet shifted uncomfortably, likely nervous being under scrutiny of four powerful alicorns. “I wanted to… protect the city, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Well, what I was thinking before I signed up was ‘Nightmare Moon’s bad, so is the Eclipse,’ but at the same time, you guys were the only defence Canterlot had.”

Haze nodded. “And during your time in the Eclipse, would you say that efforts to protect the city were done?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Tremor gestured to Ebony. “I was with the Captain in the Crystal Empire and during the humans’ last invasion. Not this one, but the one before with that giant bug.”

“It was terrifying to see that monster destroying my home,” Scripture touched the medical eyepatch covering her left eye, her expression grim. “My only thought was to get out of there, but my leg was too messed up. If Nightmare Moon hadn’t flown in and grabbed me, I wouldn’t be here.”

“So, you’re grateful to Nightmare Moon?”

“Absolutely. And I’ve interviewed a lot of other ponies for the newspaper; they’re grateful for how she defended Canterlot, too.”

“Defend the city she took over by force.”

Scripture nodded after a brief pause. “Well, that’s true. But if I’ve learned anything from being a journalist, it’s that there are two sides to every story; you’d be doing a disservice by ignoring one or the other.”

Twilight’s lips made a thin line. “I see. Moving on…”

Ebony listened to every witness that came to say their piece. She was surprised by how many came by to say good things about the Empress. For a while, she dared hope that perhaps it would be enough to sway the opinions of those that were against them.

A foolish thought...

"I'm a simple stallion. I believe in simple processes," Weaver started with hostile tranquility. "Working in the Royal Guard, I believed that if you committed a crime, you had to repay that debt to society. When Nightmare Moon allowed criminals to join her guard in exchange for a pardon, she not only spat on our rules and laws, but she put the populace in danger. These aren't just shoplifters and jaywalkers, some of those in the Eclipse are charged with assault and rape."

Weaver paused to let that sink in, making sure to make Ebony feel worse by glaring at her and her friends. It wasn't like she didn't know that Eclipse was made up of mostly criminals looking to clear their records, but it was necessary to keep a force that could protect Canterlot and stop it from falling into anarchy.

"Speaking of rape, my wife almost became a victim," Weaver bristled with barely-contained rage. "But of course you wouldn't know or care about that, would you?"

Nightmare Moon didn't reply.

"My name's Striker. I used to be in the Royal Guard until..." He grimaced. "Well, you know."

Twilight nodded. "Yes. Please tell us about your personal experience with Nightmare Moon and how her reign has affected you."

"I didn't have much personal experience with Nightmare Moon; I was at the castle gates when the attack started. Her Praetorian Guard..." He gestured with a disgusted scowl. "Smashed through. I got hit with a Paralysis spell and was out for a bit until I recovered and joined my comrades when they were fighting inside the castle. But I was too late; it was all over a little after I arrived."

Twilight nodded again. "And what's it been like living under her rule?"

"Stressful. Between seeing criminals in Eclipse armor, human attacks, and knowing there's a civil war going on between Nightmare Moon, and Celestia and Luna, my wife and I have been up more than one night."

Haze huffed. "The Empress can hardly be blamed for human attacks, can she?"

"I guess not," Striker admitted. "But I'm pretty sure everyone would be in a calmer place from the start if she hadn't overthrown the princesses."

"Speculation," Haze grumbled. "Besides, the opposite could be said."

Striker snorted and chuckled mirthlessly. "Yeah, sure."

"She beat me up, put an obsidian ring on my horn, and forced me to work for her away from my home," Sunset Shimmer blinked, then shrugged. "What more do you want me to say?"

Haze frowned. "Well, the question I asked was-"

"Fuck her."

"My name is Census Stripe. I was formerly the Fourth Representative of the Royal Court until I was-" Census Stripe made a face. "-'relieved' of my duties following Nightmare Moon's takeover."

"And what was the reason for that?" Twilight asked.

"I wouldn't cooperate with her."

"Why not?"

Census Stripe exhaled. "Let's see... She assaulted countless ponies, she lied about her identity, she attacked the princesses, she excused me of my duties for a petty and personal reason, oh, and she inflicted psychological damage on my colleague, Wavelength. He still hasn't recovered from whatever was done to him; still screams at the colour blue," She gave a great sigh. "I suppose you could say we disagreed on many things."

"Not when I was Star Secret, apparently," Nightmare Moon scoffed. "And we all disliked Wavelength, let's not pretend otherwise."

"That doesn't mean he deserved what you did to him!"

"Ah, one more thing we disagree on."

"My homeland has a long and bloody history when it comes to tyrants and dictators," Marquess Aldo said. "Rising to power through violence benefits no one but the instigator. That is why I chose to go against her and help your cause instead." He inclined his head to Celestia.

"We appreciate everything you've done," Celestia replied. "I'm sure it would have been far safer to return to your land rather than get involved in this mess."

"If the griffons weren't willing to fight, we'd still be under tyrannical rule. That is why I suggest that whatever way you choose to deal with Nightmare Moon, make it be a way that ensures something like this can never happen again."

"Zecora, you know more about Nightmare Moon's nature than anyone else here. In your opinion, do you think it's possible for her to be reformed?"

Zecora serenely met Twilight's eyes. "I think not; reformation is, as the saying goes, a 'long-shot.' True - she may have developed a bond with a mare, but was it enough to make her rethink her actions? Was it enough to make her care? I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, but where did Vinyl's friendship get us? Nightmare Moon did not sway, or falter, she did what she wanted, she is still something that we must dread."

"What course of action would you suggest to deal with her?"

"She must be cleansed; it is far too dangerous for anything else, far too dangerous to believe she can make amends."

Twilight hummed. "Just to clarify, 'cleansing' would mean..."

"To destroy her. Completely," Zecora replied. "An outcome I hope most will agree."

'This really isn't going well for us.'

Haze was trying his best, but there were just so many calling out Nightmare Moon's actions that any good she had done - and Ebony admitted there were few of those - was being buried under a mountain of clear and cut cases of assault, blackmail, property damage, and general wrongdoing.

And Nightmare Moon wasn't helping him, either. She made no effort to explain or defend herself; the only time she spoke was to agitate the witness or further condemn herself. It was infuriating to watch; she seemed determined to make everyone hate her as much as possible.

Needless to say, Ebony was filled with dread when Nightmare Moon was called up to officially plead her case. Part of her hoped that perhaps this was all according to Nightmare Moon's ploy to get everyone to lower their guard, so she could launch a surprise attack and-

"It would be in your best interest to have me killed instead of wasting time with this trial."

If there was a podium for her to sit in like a real courthouse, Ebony would have introduced her face to it and wallowed in despair for the rest of the trial. Instead, she, along with her friends, cringed and vocalized their disappointment and frustration in a chorus of sighs and grunts.

"Welp, nice knowing you guys, yeah? Lightning Dust, I'll miss your ass."

"Thanks."

"And you'll miss my...?"

"Thanks."

With little else to do, Ebony watched on. She got a little mirth out of seeing Twilight falter for the first time in what felt like hours and blink several times in astonishment.

"Well, isn't that what you want?" Nightmare Moon pressed, barely raising her voice enough to be heard. "We all know it."

"Please wait until I ask a question," Twilight retorted. "When you-"

“Feh,” Nightmare Moon bristled and bared her pointed teeth, turning to Celestia instead. “Truly, one’s intellect must diminish in proportion to the amount of self-righteousness and blind faith to be this devoted to finding a single grain of goodwill and blowing it out of proportion.”

Twilight's eye twitched. "Excuse me - I'm-"

"Ooh, she's getting angry~" Nightmare Moon tittered with sadistic glee. "Or, perhaps one of those crystals finally pierced her brain."

Twilight's friends and family erupted with outrage; Rainbow Dash was barely held back by Fluttershy's meek pleas and trembling forelegs, and Shining Armor was trying to get Cadance to do some breathing exercise - which he seemed to be doing for his own sake, too.

"Uh, perhaps we can save her testimony for later?" Haze suggested while simultaneously Calling for Nightmare Moon to, "Shut up shut up shut up!"

"Don't worry about it too much," Nightmare Moon continued, grinning maniacally. "Compared to your precious mentor, you still have more than enough common sense and IQ to run Canterlot. You might have to since I truly believe this one is finally reaching the point of senility."

"You see?! She knows no remorse or compassion!" Luna roared, blue energy crackling from her horn. "We should slay her now!"

"NO!!"

Ebony blinked hard and rubbed her ears, willing the high-pitched ring to abate as soon as possible. In the front, Luna snorted and glared at her sister as she reluctantly dimmed her horn.

Celestia fiercely stared down any who even thought about objecting again before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "You're playing right into her hooves if you let her words get to you."

Luna scoffed. "What are you speaking of, sister?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Nightmare Moon snarled and stomped her hoof. "What nonsense are you about to spout now? Why do you waste your breath, and my time with this trial?"

“Nightmare Moon…” Celestia began in a firm tone. “You want to die, don't you?”

Perhaps what took Nightmare Moon back was that it wasn't framed as an implied threat, but as an honest query. The Empress recoiled, and Ebony realized with a sickening pull in her stomach that Celestia had just hit the nail on the head.

"What sort of question is that?" Nightmare Moon frowned. "Of course not – no sane, sentient creature wishes for their demise.”

"So, why are you?" Celestia asked. "Before all these testimonies, you were largely apathetic and numb, but suddenly you're all too happy to antagonize and elicit an emotional reaction out of us."

Nightmare Moon's lips pulled back into her characteristic 'carved pumpkin' sneer as she growled, a noise that simply didn't naturally come from anything equine.

"Clearly, you're trying to get us to strike you down in a heated moment," Celestia shrugged. "And why wouldn't you? You've lost much after all. Even if it was gained through heinous methods, you've lost control over Canterlot. You've lost everything you desired. You've even lost someone close to you, and with it, you've lost even the capacity to 'want' for anything."

Celestia's eyes were like miniature suns.

"As a creature born from unfulfilled desires, isn't that akin to losing your very identity? Maybe that's why, with whatever part of you that still remains 'Nightmare Moon,' you want for death."

Nightmare Moon shook her head. "No."

"A means to escape the pain you feel."

"I would never wish for death, fool!" Nightmare Moon snapped. "But if I have to stand here and listen to one more idiot tell of their experience, then I'd rather accept oblivion."

Celestia's eyes burned brighter as she spread her wings. Ebony exclaimed and covered her face as a wave of hot air blasted her. The ivory feathers of Celestia's plummage seemed to gain a red hue.

"You've existed for Faust knows how many centuries, spent one thousand years on the moon, spent another five years plotting and waiting to strike, survived my strongest attack and being struck by the Elements of Harmony twice, ventured into the human world to save a friend, recovered from a Zebrican concoction that was designed to specifically kill you, forced yourself to move amidst paralyzing gas... but you expect me to believe that you can't handle a few hours of this? That, of all things, this is too much?"

"What do you want from me?" Nightmare Moon cried. "You've won! Stop wasting everyone's time and just kill me already! I have no desire to continue! I..." She grimaced and just barely turned it into a scowl. Through clenched teeth, she hissed, "I have nothing."

Interestingly, Ebony couldn't help but feel indignant about that remark, instead of being immediately concerned. How could the Empress say she had nothing when Ebony and the others were right there?

'Unless we're nothing in her eyes and always have been.'

Ebony bit her bottom lip.

Suddenly, there was a dip in the temperature of the room. Focusing her attention back on the commotion, she first noticed Celestia had stopped radiating heat and was staring forward in shock. Luna was the same. So was Twilight and everyone else who happened to be looking at the entrance to the tent.

Confused, Ebony followed their gazes, and even Nightmare Moon took notice and turned her head, albeit in a sluggish and half-interested manner.

Standing at the entrance was none other than Octavia.

A nervous Clockwork was standing beside her, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Tried to stop her, but she... ah..."

The sound of a pin hitting the ground would have been loud as the whole space went quiet, quiet as a graveyard. Octavia trudged forward, past Nightmare Moon, whose body was primed like a spring. The cellist moved with a weariness like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Her coat and mane were unkempt, her bow haphazardly tied on like an afterthought, and her eyes were bloodshot and darkened with fatigue; it looked like a strong breeze would topple her.

“Octavia, thank you for coming, but perhaps you should be resting,” Celestia said with gentle care. “You’ve experienced a great shock; you should be using this time to recover and mourn in peace.”

Octavia sat down and started to gesture; her limbs seemed to made of lead.

Twilight shook her head once Octavia finished, appearing distraught for the first time since the trial started. “I’m sorry – I don’t know sign language.”

“I know it,” Celestia gazed at Octavia sympathetically. “She said that she wants to testify no matter what."

Octavia nodded once.

Haze swallowed hard. “I-I see. However, I must point out that Celestia's translation would be biased."

Nightmare Moon turned her head to the side, away from Octavia. "I know sign language, too. I'll translate."

"Hey," Twilight said. "I haven't asked you my questions."

"So what?" Nightmare Moon huffed. "I refuse to answer."

Twilight bristled, but the finality of the reply was immediately apparent. "Fine. We'll hear from Octavia instead. I'm certain she has quite a lot to say."

Haze groaned and face-hooved. "You've truly given up, haven't you?"

Nightmare Moon didn't answer him.

“Octavia,” Twilight began. “How long have you known Nightmare Moon?”

Celestia carefully watched Octavia’s hooves. “Almost five years. Most of them were when she was Star Secret, though.”

Nightmare Moon slowly nodded. “It is as she says.”

“In the time that you knew her as Star Secret, what was your impression of her?”

“I respected her,” Octavia paused for a while, taking deep and measured breaths. “She was smart, witty, eloquent, and not afraid to speak her mind. But we weren’t close, not like she was with Vinyl. I don’t think anypony was.”

“And your impression of her now?”

“When she revealed her true identity, it created a rift between Vinyl and I. We felt betrayed. However, I was furious with Nightmare Moon more on Vinyl’s behalf than mine; she was just so devastated after they first argued. She told me she felt bad over the things she said. She’s such an empathic mare, much as she would refute it vehemently.”

Octavia gave a crooked smile that melted away after a second.

“We had little interaction after that. She and Vinyl eventually reconciled, and they started spending time together, which led to things growing tense in our own relationship. I didn’t want to associate with Nightmare Moon anymore; I thought her cruel and violent,” She paused, then added, “I think what unsettles me most is how much of Star Secret I still see in her. The one that I knew. The one that planned my wedding.”

Although it was Celestia’s voice that Ebony was hearing, it was almost as if she could hear Octavia’s voice emanating from the motions of her hooves; it was a deep and rich contralto, laden with a terrible pain.

Nightmare Moon didn’t seem interested in translating; she barely spoke aside from confirming what Celestia relayed. She stared at Octavia, her expression constrained.

Twilight paced, taking her time with each step, her gaze fixated on some spot on the far end of the tent. “This is difficult to ask… but what did you think of Vinyl’s relationship with Nightmare Moon?”

Octavia took a second to compose herself. “I didn’t approve of it. We… fought at times. I was afraid for her wellbeing.”

“Were you afraid Nightmare Moon would hurt her?”

Octavia shook her head immediately, almost like a knee-jerk response. “No.”

Twilight stopped pacing. “Really?”

“I feared the attention Vinyl received from the populace more than what Nightmare Moon might do to her,” Octavia rubbed at her cheek with the back of her hoof before continuing. “Ponies called her a turncoat, a traitor – they knew Vinyl was friends with Star Secret, so they assumed Vinyl knew she was Nightmare Moon all along and helped her in return for something. Her career and reputation took a significant blow.

“But even with the slander she received, she did not let it get her down,” Octavia smiled, a weak but warm expression. “She did not think twice about going to see her best friend. Vinyl had so much trust in Nightmare Moon. I didn’t understand it myself until the day that immense creature attacked the city. Nightmare Moon, she… she came for me, took me to a safe place. Not only that, I saw with my own eyes how she moved to intercept a piece of debris that might have severely injured or even killed somepony. And then, she went so far as to put her life in jeopardy by travelling to the human world to save Vinyl.”

She stopped, then tried to speak, only to falter again. Octavia’s smile wilted and her eyes started to water.

Twilight looked torn between providing comfort and maintaining cold professionality. “Take your time.”

“S-sorry, I just…” Octavia took a deep breath.. “At that point, I knew that despite everything she had done, she truly valued Vinyl’s company; nopony would go so far and risk so much for somepony they didn’t care about. Let’s be honest – Vinyl is a wonderful musician, but she cannot build airships, she cannot cast powerful spells, she cannot fly, and she is not a killer. A scrapper, perhaps, but not a killer. She has nothing that would further Nightmare Moon’s goals, so the only logical conclusion I can make is that she wanted Vinyl around for personal reasons.”

Twilight made a thoughtful hum in her throat and nodded. “I see. Octavia, do you know much about Nightmare Moon? Not so much her personality and idiosyncrasies but what she actually is?”

Octavia shook her head, and Twilight explained, giving a short but accurate summary about what Nightmare Moon was. Ebony noticed that Haze was frowning and reached out to him.

“Are you okay? Sorry, we’re not really helping that much.”

“You’re doing the best you can; I’m grateful for that, truly,” He replied. “But I fear to inform you that I am at a loss as to how to turn this scenario in our favour. With all the light being shed on Nightmare Moon's actions, Octavia's testimony may be the final nail in the coffin. I simply cannot see the verdict being anything but an execution. As for us? Well, we may just have to wait and pray.”

"Happy days..." Miasma encouraged. Her face did not change in the slightest.

When Twilight was done talking, Octavia asked, “Is what she says true?”

“Yes.” Nightmare Moon answered softly.

“You’re a demon? Or spirit of some sort?”

“If it fits your perception of what those are.”

Twilight gestured to Zecora. “She knows about Nightmare Moon’s kind. They are malicious entities that seek to fulfil their own desires at any cost, whether that be by force or manipulation. By their nature, they’re malicious and cruel.”

Octavia was silent.

“Knowing that, do you still think that what she and Vinyl had-”

“Yes.”

Twilight faltered, and Ebony thought she saw a flash of irritation cross her face. “Really?”

“Nopony who is evil – inherently evil – would go so far for another’s sake. They wouldn’t go into the human’s world, they wouldn’t fuss over… I-I know she’s done horrible things, but I don’t believe she’s completely evil,” Octavia shook her head firmly. “I can’t believe that.”

Nightmare Moon suddenly chuckled; it was a hollow sound, devoid of mirth.

“You came here to say all that even though it was my decision to have Vinyl remain at the castle? Perhaps if she hadn’t been there, then maybe she’d still be alive.”

Octavia whirled around, eyes overflowing with tears. She was signing so fast that Celestia could barely keep up.

“If she was anywhere but the castle, she’d have started running the second she heard the explosion. What do you think would have happened if she ran into the humans and you weren’t around?”

Nightmare Moon didn't answer.

“Vinyl… My wife gave her life to save you,” A sorrowful grimace contorted Octavia’s regal features. “I want so badly for things to be different, but what’s done is done. The least I can do now, for her sake, is to accept it. And the least you can do is appreciate what she did! How dare you give up now! How dare you repay her sacrifice by wallowing in pity feeling sorry for yourself!”

Nightmare Moon's expression shifted to one of utter dismay. Ebony thought she imagined it at first but there was no mistaking that downward-curved grimace, the way her eyebrows furrowed, and the way her voice became stretched and strained.

"I... I don't know what to do," She groaned and covered her face. "Accursed mare, I can't even figure out what I want anymore."

"You can't...?" Octavia paused, trembling hooves held aloft, and then, "Princess Celestia. Princess Luna," Luna straightened attentively. "I-I would like to ask for a favour."

Luna nodded cautiously. "'Tis a rather inopportune time to ask, but if it is within our power..."

Octavia signed. "Please... I know this is a lot to ask, but please, please let Nightmare Moon attend Vinyl's funeral."

Nightmare Moon choked.

Unabated by the sound, Octavia continued. "It will not take too long, I promise. Vinyl wished to be cremated, as per unicorn custom, an-and I have already spoken to somepony that can arrange it swiftly. B-by tomorrow night. No, by this evening! Even if Nightmare Moon can just be there to say goodbye, then-"

Octavia kept signing, but Celestia stopped translating and held her hoof up before turning to her sister with a sympathetic frown. "What do you think?"

Luna did not look happy.

Motioning for Twilight and her friends to come over, plus Shining Armor and Cadance, they all held a quiet but tense discussion. Ebony caught snippets but her mind was elsewhere; she could scarcely believe what had just happened.

Veil contacted her. "Soooo... is the cellist chick on our side?"

"I'm gonna go out on a wing and say maybe," Lightning Dust replied. "This trial's turning into a freaking soap opera. If Nightmare Moon starts crying, I might just start shitting bricks. Like, literally."

The discussion finished as quickly as it had started. Luna looked even less happy as she raised her voice and said, "It is decided that the accused shall be given the opportunity to see to Vinyl Scratch's final rites. In order to expediate the process, I and my sister shall assist in whatever way we can," A strained pause. "I should hope you would be grateful for this, demon."

Nightmare Moon was practically frothing at the mouth. "Why? Why do you stall? Why do you prolong this charade?"

Instead of cowering, Octavia signed something fiercely, but it seemed to be too quick for Celestia to translate. Whatever it was, Nightmare Moon sagged and hung her head in defeat.

"Throwing her death in my face like that... Which of us is the demon?" She swallowed hard. "Fine. I won't resist. It's not as if it will change anything."

That seemed to satisfy Octavia, though she broke down in stifled sobs immediately after; it was likely something she'd been holding back for a while now. Since Twilight had no more questions, and neither did Haze (he mentally explained to Ebony that further pushing a grieving widow won't win them any brownie points) Rarity and Pinkie stepped forward to console Octavia and lead her to a quieter place, promising blankets of divine softness and ‘yummy-‘ummy’ pastries.

"Now..." Luna said with a cold air. "You should also be aware, demon, that this reprieve comes at a price."

"Indeed," Celestia nodded solemnly. "It has been decided..." She glanced at her family and friends. "That there has been enough testimonies and evidence to determine a verdict. Once you have said your goodbyes, and Vinyl's rites are completed, we shall announce what your fate shall be."

Ebony's blood ran colder than usual. To her side, Veil asked, "H-hey, what about us?"

"We'll be holding seperate trials for you after Nightmare Moon has been dealt with."

Ebony Called to Haze desperately. "Can't you say something?"

"Like what?" Came the tired reply. "How can I help Nightmare Moon when she will not help herself? Right now, we must focus on our own wellbeing."

"Yeah," Fade agreed. "Like, what's gonna happen to us if Boss gets killed? Will our powers go away, or are we just gonna die? No powers sucks, but if I had to choose..."

Ebony hung her head in despair. She wanted to help Nightmare Moon, who gave her the chance to be more than what she was born as, but Haze's words rang true - how could she help the Empress when it was refused so vehemently? Nightmare Moon seemed dead-set on charging over a cliff with her wings clipped, and Ebony had no way to stop her.

Luna stared darkly at Nightmare Moon. "Is there anything you wish to say to any of this?"

A scowl. "You're a fool for agreeing to this. Almost as much of one as your sister."

"She is not foolish, simply too kind-hearted at times," Luna retorted. "You should be thankful to have someone that would'st spare you such sentiments."

Nightmare Moon snorted. "And look where it got them."

Celestia sighed sadly. "Let this trial come to an end for now. Next we meet like this, we shall have a decision on what is to be done about the accused."

And with that, there was nothing left for Ebony to do but return to that enchanted prison with a heavy mind and an even heavier heart.

Author's Note

Note 1: Of the three races - earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns - funeral rites are largely the same; the deceased is dressed and cleaned, and their loved ones are given the chance to say their farewells and mourn. The differences begin during the final stage when it is time to properly see the remains off.

For earth ponies, the deceased are buried; what comes from the earth, eventually returns to the earth.

For pegasi, the deceased are entombed within a type of cloud referred to as Vhahambus (Vah-hum-bush) and are sent to drift until the cloud vaporizes itself and the body with a surge of lightning; those born to rule the skies shall watch over the living even in death.

For unicorns, the deceased are cremated; the magic of the soul is freed to join the majesty of the universe, in which we are all connected.

It is unknown what rites there are for alicorns as all known instances of alicorns are still alive and healthy.

Interlude VI

“You can ask.”

Luna blinked, having grown accustomed to the silence. “What?”

From behind enchanted bars, Nightmare Moon lay prone on the cold stonework floor and stared at the wall. Without turning, she said, “You want to ask me something, don’t you?”

Luna was immediately on edge. “And how did you come to that conclusion?” Her voice bounced off the walls; tense, guarded. “You cannot know my thoughts anymore, demon.”

“I’ve spent enough time in your head to know all the little tics you give when you’re unsure, anxious, or afraid. Look – you’re grinding your teeth on the left side even now.”

“That would be from anger, not fear, or what have you.”

“If you say so,” Nightmare Moon moved her head the smallest fraction in Luna’s direction. “I don’t want an argument; I am simply saying that if you want to ask me something, then do it now while you still can.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s obvious that you’re going to have me killed once Vinyl’s funeral is over and done with. I’m no fool – I can see that’s the consensus of the majority.”

Luna pursed her lips. “Judgement has yet to pass; I will speak no more of this matter.”

“So be it.” Nightmare Moon returned that tiny fraction and lapsed into silence once more.

Luna wished that her mind would.

She was angry with Celestia for being so lenient and compassionate; it was the same with Discord, but this was more personal. In fact, she felt betrayed. How could Celestia not want to kill Nightmare Moon after all she’d done? To Equestria? To Twilight?

To her?

‘But I am to blame for all of this, too. Had I not let my envy cloud my judgement, perhaps Equestria would have not had to deal with this demon in the first place.’

Demon.

This demon that she had let into her mind, and ultimately given it her very body; a body that it changed and moulded into something terrifying, something more befitting of a princess that held dominion over the night.

She hated it. She hated looking at it. She just wanted it gone, so nopony else could see what she had allowed herself to become.

Nightmare Moon was a living testament to her gravest mistake.

And yet…

“What was it like?”

Nightmare Moon turned her head. Slightly.

“The moon.”

Nightmare Moon turned her head more. “That’s what you want to know about?”

Luna grumbled to herself for a second. “It is something that I have pondered since I returned to Equestria. Though I am the princess of the night, I cannot lay one hoof on the moon under my own will and power. It is my magic that guides it, and it is my destiny to do so, but in a way, I have little else to do with it.”

She pointedly glanced at the cutie mark on her flanks.

“I have wondered what it would be like stand on its surface and see the world from there,” She paused, then furrowed her brow, the corner of her lip curling. “Tch. It is maddening to ask this of you, but now that we are not at one another’s throats-”

Nightmare Moon blinked.

“-literally, not figuratively – the temptation to ask is too strong.”

Nightmare Moon regarded her. With the scarce light provided by a lantern hanging on the wall of the dungeon’s entrance, her eyes reflected the orange hues, hiding her pupils.

It was unsettling. Mostly because, for some reason, it bothered Luna that Nightmare Moon’s eyes were reflecting instead of glowing on their own; it was like the life had been drained out of them, leaving opaque glass.

“What was it like on the moon, hm?” Nightmare Moon turned her head – thankfully – away from the light. “Well…”

Luna leaned forward without really noticing, breath held.

“It was dull.”

Luna waited.

Nightmare Moon returned to staring at the wall.

“That’s it?!”

The lantern’s flame flickered in the sudden breeze and died out.

Luna cursed under her breath. Her eyes immediately adapted to the darkness, and she could see Nightmare Moon look over in what she could only call befuddlement.

There was banging on the door behind Luna. “Princess?! Is everything okay?”

“Y-yes, We are- ah, I am fine,” Luna told the guard, mumbling another curse as she strode over to the lantern. “‘Tis nothing to be concerned about. Remain at your station.”

The guard gave an uneasy ‘understood.’

“Perhaps he believes I’m trying to possess you again.”

Luna snorted as she lit the lantern again and turned back round, scowling. “Do not even jest about that. Now, what in Faust’s name was that answer?”

“An answer,” Nightmare Moon’s eyebrows went up. “Clearly not the one you wanted to hear.”

“I expected something more. You spent a thousand years there.”

“Exactly. No matter how beautiful a place may be, if there is no change, a thousand years will suck any semblance of wonder from that place. And the moon is hardly an attractive locale to begin with; it is nothing but rock and craters.”

Luna’s head drooped. “I see.”

Nightmare Moon shrugged one shoulder half-heartedly. “You already know this, but Equestria’s sun and moon is but a magically-constructed impersonation of the real celestial bodies that the rest of the world knows, all localized in an immense magical barrier that surrounds our continent. Even if a pegasus were to attempt to fly to Equestria’s moon, they would simply breach the barrier, and then suffocate in the stratosphere.”

“I am aware,” Luna said. “That is why I was so curious; you are the only creature that has been on the moon. An imitation perhaps, but an accurate one to be sure.”

Nightmare Moon regarded her again. “You wanted your moon to be something more than what it seemed, didn’t you?”

Luna didn’t reply.

“You don’t have to say anything. I already know the answer.”

Luna didn’t reply.

“And believe me on this: you should be grateful to the Elements for putting you to sleep for those thousand years instead of being awake and conscious as I was,” Nightmare Moon sighed. “Those thousand years… Very dull.”

“You’ve said that twice now.”

“It describes it perfectly.”

“I would think you’d a more expressive opinion on such a long period of complete isolation.”

Nightmare Moon shrugged again. “I tried countless methods to escape for the first ten years. Then, I paced the entire surface five times in the following two years. When that lost its appeal, I sat down in one spot and waited.”

Luna blinked. “For a millennium, you just waited?”

“Yes.”

“And did nothing else?”

“Yes.”

“But you could not have known it would be a thousand years before you could escape. Did the thought that you might have been there forever not occur to you?”

“It did. But I did not care. I would have waited forever.”

“You did not…?” Luna shook her head. She didn’t like admitting weakness, but how could anyone keep their mind intact for so long? If she had to spend a thousand years at Rainbow Falls, the beautiful scenery would be just be a cruel mockery to her madness born from loneliness and stagnation.

“At that point in my life, all I needed was a desire – something that I could strive for,” Nightmare Moon said. “So long as I had that, I would endure anything.

“Now? I have nothing. I want for nothing. It is only out of respect for Vinyl that I am even attending her funeral. Once that is done, I am content to wait for my destruction.”

“… You do not fear death?”

“I used to fear fading into obscurity; that no one would remember me, nor my actions. I sought to leave an impression on the world. But now that I am without ambition, I no longer care enough to fear it.”

Luna said nothing.

“Hm? What’s that look for?” Nightmare Moon’s brow rose. “Don’t tell me you’re going soft like your fool of a sister.”

Luna smiled hollowly. “No. You are too great a risk to let live, even in the state you are in. You, demon, are unlike any creature I have faced; how am I to know you will not one day come out of this stupor and return to your nefarious ways?”

“Smart thinking. Then, why do you seem so solemn?”

“I have roamed through the Dreamscape more times than I can count. I have seen many, many ponies’ dreams, and I understand the significance and the importance of having desires and wants. There are few things more disheartening than to see a dream die.”

Nightmare Moon was quiet for a little bit. “You… pity me.”

“Yes.”

“Even though you hate me.”

“Yes.”

Nightmare Moon huffed. “Emotions are fickle and needlessly complicated things. It was better when I did not feel them, and I could use them to control others.”

Luna sighed and decided to find her own spot on the wall to stare at, lest her curiosity lead into another conversation that would only make her head and heart feel leaden.

“I think it would be easier for all of us if you did not have emotions.”

Author's Note

Note 1: Dreamscape - a metaphysical plane accessible only by certain spells. Luna, the princess of the night/moon, is able to freely enter this realm without use of a spell and traverse it easily.

The Dreamscape is thought to be the collective unconsciousness of all those who sleep and dream in Equestria. It is believed to be a byproduct of the land's immense magical energy interacting with ponies, who themselves have more magical aptitude than most creatures their size.

Interestingly, denizens visiting Equestria from elsewhere will also link to the Dreamscape provided they remain in the continent for a certain period of time.

Although a fascinating phenomenon, the Dreamscape is not a field of research that appeals to many scholars, who prefer the more active and immediate results of magic in the waking world. Particularly the magic that causes big, colourful explosions.

Chapter 68: Pyre

January 17th, 1055 AD

Applejack had been to a lot of funerals in her life. She had a big family, so more than most, she knew just how important it was to give the dead their due and allow their loved ones to mourn.

Yet, she was painfully conflicted on the topic of letting Nightmare Moon attend Vinyl’s funeral.

“AJ?”

She could understand having everypony that Vinyl held dear coming by to see her off properly, even though it was still a mystery to her why Nightmare Moon was a member of that group.

“AJ.”

But Nightmare Moon wasn't a normal pony: she was an evil ghost; or something like that. Applejack didn’t need personal experience to know that having that at a funeral wasn't the best idea.

“Yo!”

Applejack jolted forward as someone pushed her from behind. She whipped around, prepped for a counterattack, until she recognized the face in front of her. “Dagnabbit, Rainbow! Are ya lookin’ ta give me a heart attack?” Quickly calming from her brief adrenaline rush, Applejack turned back to what she was doing. “What’d’ya want anyhow?”

“I came by to tell you to take a break.”

Applejack scoffed. “Ah’m fine, Rainbow.”

“You’ve been working non-stop since we got out of that trial; which wouldn’t be too different from your usual work at the farm if I also didn’t know that you were up for two days before that.”

“Ain’t true,” Applejack said firmly. She picked up a tent peg and started hammering it. Rainbow Dash slipped around in front of her, eyes narrowed. “Ah caught some shut-eye, I swear.”

“How much shut-eye?”

“… Three hours.”

“Uh-huh. And when was that?”

Applejack faltered as a fog seemed to block her memories. “Uh…”

“Thought so,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and made a shooing motion with her wings. “Come on, you’re gonna get some real sleep.”

“Cut tha’ out! Ah’m fine, ah tell ya!”

“AJ, you were trying to hammer in that peg with the handle.”

Applejack looked down at the tool in question. “Oh,” She relinquished it to Rainbow Dash’s waiting hoof. “Maybe ah could use a few winks.”

“Yeah, all forty of them.”

“Sorry fer bein’ so stubborn. Ah’m jes’ antsy, an’ when ah get antsy, ah have ta work; ah have ta do somethin’ with mah hooves.”

“I totally get that, but one of the things the Wonderbolts drilled into me from day one was that working tired is just as bad as working drunk.“

"Heh, look at ya being all responsible. Weren’t too long ago tha’ a certain pegasus used ta sleep in mah trees.”

Rainbow Dash snorted, smirking. “I still do that. I’ve just gotten better at hiding,” She chuckled and Applejack shared it with her in a moment of levity. Then, a shadow crossed Rainbow Dash’s face. “Seriously, how are you holding up? With all the cleaning up, we haven’t had a chance to talk.”

Applejack sagged. “Ah’m managin’. Ah haven’t seen this many dead ponies before. Kinda weighs something fierce on th’ mind.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, I get you.”

“Ah mean, ah expected ta see some bad things going ta battle against Nightmare Moon, but…” Applejack took a deep breath and looked off to the side. “But what th’ humans did…”

Applejack stared at the sad attempt of the tent she had tried putting up; just one among the rows and rows that cluttered the castle’s grounds, serving as shelter for all the ponies working to establish order. She had seen camps like this before in disaster movies. She never expected to see one up close, much less be a part of one.

Rainbow Dash followed her gaze, then turned back with a reassuring grin. “It’s not as bad as it looks now.”

“Really?” There was a bitterness in her tone, one that Applejack immediately regretted when she noticed her friend flinch. “Sorry.”

A shrug. “No worries. But you gotta believe me when I say that. I was flying around the second I was able to after the explosion and the gas, and if you think seeing things from the ground was bad, then being up so high and being able to see everything and how bad it is and knowing you can’t be everywhere at once to help…”

She trailed off.

“Sugarcube, are you holdin’ up fine?”

“Long as I know you girls are safe, I’m steady for as long as I need to be.”

Applejack made a mental note to get this girl some top-notch cider the instant they were back in Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash’s jaw tensed as her wings flicked. Her feathers seemed to puff up. “Anyway, I’m too angry to be feeling down. Can’t believe we’re delaying the trial again; we should just get it over and done with, right?”

Applejack hesitated. “Ah dunno.”

Rainbow Dash cocked her head, mouth slack in disbelief.

“Nah, don’t get me wrong,” Applejack waved her hoof. “Ah think Nightmare Moon should get what’s comin’ ta her, but if’n tha’ Octavia gal says she an’ her wife, may she rest in peace-” Her hoof briefly touched her chest. “-wanted her at th’ funeral, then well, ah jes’ don’t think ah can say ‘naw’ ta them. Gotta respect the dead’s wishes. Within reason.”

Rainbow Dash sucked on her teeth. “I get that. Really, I do. But the longer Nightmare Moon’s around, the more time she has to get out of this ‘poor me’ funk and start smashing heads left and right.”

“Seems pretty out of it ta me. Once had a cousin in a dark place like tha’ an’ they jes’ kept goin’ deeper an’ deeper.”

“What happened to them?"

"‘Had,’ sugarcube.”

Rainbow Dash cringed. “Sorry to hear that. But I can’t see Nightmare Moon doing something like… well, that.”

“Ah can,” Applejack replied. “If’n she thought she could take down a whole heap of us along with her.”

“You think she’d do that out of spite?” Rainbow Dash grimaced and held up her hoof almost immediately after. “Dumb question – don’t answer.”

“An’ tha’s why ah’m anxious; they say a cornered fox is jes’ as dangerous as a trained hound.”

“Yeah, pegasi have something like that, I think,” Rainbow Dash scratched her head. “How’s it go again? Let… No, ‘form storm clouds behind your own troops to prevent escape and make them fight harder.’”

Applejack’s right eyebrow ascended to her hairline.

“I mean… it’s not wrong.”

Applejack grunted and rubbed her eyes. “This whole thing’s givin’ me a headache. Ah should know better than ta wish fer someone’s death, but there’s tha’ naggin’ voice in th’ back of mah head tha’ won’t stop sayin’, ‘it’d be easier if she weren’t here anymore.’”

Rainbow Dash nodded sympathetically. “Hey, that’s what we all want, isn’t it? For her to not be here anymore.”

It sounded simple, but Applejack knew it wasn’t. With the Elements of Harmony’s whereabouts unknown, they couldn’t just blast the problem and be done with it. And who knew if the Elements would even work like they wanted? Granny said that third time was the charm, but knowing their luck, Nightmare Moon might just shrug off another attempt and go berserk.

They could just kill Nightmare Moon, but considering what she was, it would likely take one of the princesses’ power, or both, to destroy her. Failing that, they’d need Zecora to make some of her crazy concoctions.

And if, for whatever reason, that didn’t work, then… well…

Ugh, she was too tired to think.

“Sorry, RD, but ah’m gonna find a bale of hay an’ hit it. Talk later?”

“Anytime, AJ.”

Rainbow Dash lifted her hoof, and Applejack bumped it – a little normalcy felt nice. After saying farewell, Applejack went off in search for a spot to sleep; it didn’t even have to be comfortable, just isolated enough that she wouldn’t get in anypony’s way.

After just a minute of wandering in a half-daze, she found a lone tent with a single bored-looking mare taking count of some supplies. She gave Applejack a foldable cot, and Applejack set it up in the corner where she wouldn’t be a bother.

Though she was exhausted, Applejack didn’t go to sleep immediately. Instead, she rolled onto her side and stared ahead, wondering – perhaps futilely – what might have been going through Nightmare Moon’s head.

“It is time.”

Nightmare Moon sighed as Luna entered.

Luna… she’d grown up so quickly over the years she’d been back from exile. Nightmare Moon hadn’t paid much attention to her former host; too preoccupied with exacting her vengeance on the older sibling – perhaps she should have been more cautious, then she might have still had them all under lock and key.

Ah, well – it didn’t matter anymore.

“So it is,” Nightmare Moon trudged over to the door to her cell. “I’m surprised you arranged everything so quickly. Then again, Vinyl wasn’t much for patience; she was likely pestering you from the next life if it even exists.”

Luna’s lip curled in distaste. “That’s no way to speak of the dead.”

“They’re dead. What does it matter?"

Nightmare Moon found herself matching Luna’s stare. It looked like she wanted to argue but was deciding whether it was worth the energy. Eventually, Luna levitated an iron key and slotted it into the cell’s lock.

“You shall have an hour; just one to say your farewell and witness the cremation.”

Ah, so they were going with the rites of the unicorns. That made sense: Vinyl liked flashy shenanigans; she would prefer to go out in a literal blaze of glory rather than rot away beneath the earth where nopony can see.

“And where will this be held?” Nightmare Moon asked, half-interested, as she went through the open door. Luna watched her carefully. “I doubt you went out and rented a crematorium for private use.”

“It will be a cremation like those from my age,” Luna answered, then looked off to the side for a second before turning back. “Do you remember them?”

Nightmare Moon searched her memories, cycling back through hundreds and hundreds of years, and found what she was looking for. “Yes. We lay logs on one another, place the body on top, then set the whole thing alight. I remember watching through your eyes.”

A look of unease crept across Luna’s face. “I shall bring us to the spot. Stay close and do not stray, or it will be the last thing you ever do.”

Nightmare Moon managed a snicker. “Do you still believe I’m planning something?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s not as if you don’t have reason to suspect that.”

Luna’s horn lit and Nightmare Moon averted her gaze, watching as the cold stonework of her cell changed to a field of green grass and tall trees with a flash of light. She could see the blood-red sun setting behind a hill on the horizon through the gaps of the trunks – it would be night soon.

“Over here.” There was a voice behind her.

Nightmare Moon turned and saw Celestia standing there. A few yards behind her was Octavia; she was facing a bed of logs with some hay packed in a depression where Vinyl-

“Just us?” Nightmare Moon met Celestia’s eyes.

Celestia nodded. “I asked others, but they did not wish to be around you,” She turned her head to the side and looked so sad. “At least you’ll have privacy.”

A flicker of scorn swept through Nightmare Moon’s chest. “Save your pity, fool,” She swallowed, lips dry, and marched forward. “Let’s get this over with.”

Celestia reached out as she passed. “Night-”

“Don’t touch me.”

Shortly thereafter, Nightmare Moon found herself standing beside Octavia.

"Hello."

Octavia didn’t look at her. Nightmare Moon wished she could do the same, but she needed to see her to understand her. The other mare looked terrible.

Slowly, Octavia asked, “How did it happen?”

Nightmare Moon looked ahead for a moment and her gaze gravitated from the platoon of trees and foliage ahead to the figure lying in the-

“We were trapped in some debris with the humans closing in,” Nightmare Moon said, looking up at the sky. Octavia must have been told how Vinyl died but wanted a personal recount. For closure? Nightmare Moon didn’t care enough to know. “I wasn’t in any shape to fend them off, so I imbued Vinyl with some of my essence. We were to fight them off together; instead, she sealed me in the debris and led the humans away.”

An unfamiliar feeling became known to her – a slimy, dark worm twisting around in her gut. She had never felt this as her own before, but she knew what it was from her time possessing a host.

Shame.

She was ashamed?

Stunned, Nightmare Moon went quiet and stared at Octavia’s hooves, waiting for them to move. But they didn’t. It was Octavia’s lips that moved. They formed a smile, full of mirth, and the sight of it formed an arrow that pierced through Nightmare Moon’s shock.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m sorry. I just can’t imagine somepony like you being protected. You practically took over Canterlot by yourself.”

Nightmare Moon wasn’t entirely sure how to respond. “I had help.”

"Still..." A pause. “Nightmare Moon, did she make you happy?”

“Make me…?” Nightmare Moon thought back to the times she shared with Vinyl; the good, the bad, the annoying. She replayed them over and over and realized that if even one was missing, she’d feel a little bit emptier. “… Yes. I think she did.”

Another pause.

“Nightmare Moon… why won’t you look at her?”

Taken aback, Nightmare Moon reflexively looked down. “I already…”

There she was.

Vinyl, lying on her side in a makeshift bed of hay, stone-cold dead. They had dressed the wound that killed, but she could see a fissure of missing fur and scarred flesh. Her eyes were closed – it just looked like she was sleeping. But Nightmare Moon would not do something as pathetic as lie to herself; she knew with certainty that Vinyl was gone. She was looking at a cold corpse.

It wasn’t right. Someone like that, so full of energy and so damn irritating, should be up and about pestering Nightmare Moon about going for a drink. Seeing her dead was just plain wrong; it was actually hard to look at.

“I already know she’s there,” She turned and gave Octavia an irked glare. “This is her funeral, so why would I need to look to confirm what I already know.”

Octavia grimaced. "I'm sorry."

“Don’t apologize,” Nightmare Moon snorted and sat down. “Have you said what you needed to say?”

"Not yet."

“Then get on with it!” There was venom in her tone; bitterness and irritation stirred in her blood. “I don’t want to waste more time here than necessary.”

To shut Octavia up, Nightmare Moon refused to look at her. She focused on the purple-pink sky and the ivory wisps of clouds stretching over the horizon.

It was her fault she was here. If she hadn’t come into that trial, everything would be over by now. Maybe Nightmare Moon would be imprisoned, maybe she’d be dead, maybe she’d be turned to stone – anything was better than being put aside like some antique vase, stuck in this rut without the strength to pull herself out of it.

Nightmare Moon glanced to the side and saw that Octavia was speaking, saying her final words. She was crying openly, focused entirely on her late wife.

She didn’t notice as Nightmare Moon started to bare her teeth.

One bite to the back of the neck was all it would take: Octavia would join her wife and the two sisters at the back would likely take her out, or at least Luna would. And then, Nightmare Moon wouldn’t have to exist in this aimless state.

A familiar stirring of anger and violence simmered to life. Nightmare Moon leaned forward an inch, her mouth opening. Then, someone touched her shoulder from behind; she knew who it was without even turning around.

Celestia didn’t say anything, but the grip she had on Nightmare Moon's shoulder was firm and primed for further action. Whatever misplaced sympathy that made Celestia so lenient clearly had its limits when it came to her subjects.

Nightmare Moon should have shaken her off; she should have turned around and driven a chunk of sharpened ice through her eye socket. But instead, the embers that were her anger faded to ash and crumbled like a waterlogged biscuit, and she slowly pulled back with her teeth coming back together with a soft sound.

Celestia let her hoof linger there for a few seconds more before retracting it.

By the time Octavia finished saying what she had to say, the sky had darkened to a bluish-purple and the first of the stars twinkled overhead.

Octavia wiped her eyes and turned. She seemed surprised to see Celestia there – and perhaps a little concerned – but merely acknowledged her with a dip of her head. “Nightmare Moon, do you want to say anything? Anything at all. I’m sure she’d appreciate it.”

Anything?

Nightmare Moon looked down at Vinyl again; her face was peaceful, oblivious to the trouble she was still causing.

‘Look where you ended up. Damn fool. Perhaps if you had listened to me, you might still be alive.’

It still didn’t quite register with her that Vinyl would do something like that. Of course, she knew of sacrifice; it was supposed to be one’s final act to ensure that something or someone you deeply cared for would remain even after you perished. A supposedly noble act, but one Nightmare Moon found ridiculous. She was born to dominate and rule, so why should she want something to remain after she perished? The world might as well be gone if she wasn’t there.

Octavia stared at her, waiting. Did she really expect Nightmare Moon to give a eulogy?

‘Does it hurt deep down? Knowing that your wife chose to save my life over spending the rest of hers with you? I bet her last thoughts were of me, too.’

It would be delectable; she’d say those things and watch the anguish etch onto Octavia’s face, the loathing – one last hurrah, one last opportunity to dwell in lording her power over another, whether that be physical or emotional.

Nightmare Moon inhaled swiftly and let it all out in one breath.

“…!”

Nothing.

Her mouth was open; her eyes were wild and blazing with rage; her fangs were fully bared and ready to relish in the vitriol that would spill forth; her vocal cords trembled with anticipation.

But nothing came out.

It was stuck; everything she thought about saying rumbled and festered in the depths of her throat like a thunderstorm – it wanted to surge out so much, lash out at all indiscriminately. Yet, some force was keeping it all down, leaving her to choke on air and look like a complete idiot.

‘Why? Why is this happening? What is this?’ Nightmare Moon’s teeth clashed together as she groaned in despair and squeezed her eyes closed. ‘What is wrong with me?!’

“… Continue with the rites,” She growled out. “I’m sick of looking at her.”

Octavia simply nodded and signed to Celestia that she was ready.

“Very well,” Celestia stepped forward, her horn igniting with a soft orange light. “Vinyl Scratch, we commit your body to the embrace of flames. May the winds carry your ashes and guide you to Mother Faust’s side, where you shall know peace and joy. Farewell to thee.”

Nightmare Moon did not turn away as Celestia’s magic conjured brilliant violet flames that swiftly spread to consume the pyre. Spellfire – a form of what some might call ‘sympathetic fire’ for it did not leave blackened and charred husks but completely break down and reduce materials to white ash. Poets loved using spellfire in metaphors and comparing it to abstract concepts like beauty and purification while conveniently ignoring that spellfire would kill you just as painfully as regular fire. But it was always about aesthetics with those types. She could even imagine some idiot coming up to her right now and smarming that at the very least Vinyl had a dignified funeral.

Oh, how she wished someone would do that, then she could toss them into the fires and tell them over their screams that at least it was a beautiful death.

Nightmare Moon watched silently as the flames started to eat away at Vinyl’s flesh; it seemed to flake away in layers with the skin going first, then the sinew and muscle, and then finally the bones.

She could hear Octavia breaking down beside her. Celestia went to comfort her, murmuring sweet and worthless nothings.

The flames were starting to devour Vinyl’s face. Nightmare Moon looked off to the side, not really feeling anything besides a numbing cold.

There was no smell – spellfire had that quirk, too.

A few minutes passed, then Nightmare Moon turned back.

Vinyl was gone, bones and all; just the pyre remained and even that was starting to crumble into ash.

Realizing that, Nightmare Moon suddenly quavered and let out a shaky groan before doubling over. She could feel Celestia’s eyes on her, but the princess didn’t say anything. That was good. Nightmare Moon felt like she couldn’t even draw in breath to utter a single word. It felt like something had just hit her; it felt like Caed had just hit her.

“Octavia, I think it’s best that you leave now,” Celestia said. After a pause, she added, “I know, but there’s something Nightmare Moon and I need to talk about.”

What? What was that fool talking about? Talking? More talking?! Nightmare Moon had enough of talking! She snarled and grinded her hoof into the dirt, finding satisfaction in feeling the blades of grass bend and the dirt clumps pulp.

She heard Celestia usher Octavia away. There was some conversation going on that involved Luna, but Nightmare Moon couldn’t make out the words over the ringing in her ears. Her body was trembling and aching. Her eyelids fluttered and slid down, plunging her into darkness with the only sound being the crackling flames.

‘Vinyl…’

The pop of displaced air informed her of a teleportation.

‘Vinyl…’

Hooves crushed grass blades; they approached her.

‘Vinyl…’

Celestia’s voice rang out, impossibly loud. “Are you okay?”

Nightmare Moon responded with what felt appropriate; to be specific, she turned around and saw just how much Celestia’s face could compress in on itself. Then, as Celestia stumbled backwards with a grunt of surprise, Nightmare Moon felt, for the first time since Vinyl died, a real sense of purpose.

But it was a fleeting sensation, a teasing wisp leaving empty promises; she needed more.

With an unrestrained roar, Nightmare Moon chased after Celestia and pinned her to the ground, throwing punch after punch.

“Stop!” Celestia caught her left hoof, then the other one. Her face was a bloody and misshapen mess, but her teeth and lips were intact for speech. “Nightmare Moon, just stop for a second and listen to me.”

“I’ve had enough of listening to you to last for another thousand years!” Nightmare Moon pulled back, but Celestia refused to let go. “Let go and fight back!”

Celestia kept them locked together. “What you’re feeling is perfectly understandable!”

Rage filled Nightmare Moon, hot and familiar. “You know nothing of how I feel!”

“Yes, I do!” Celestia threw her off to the side and stood, her wounds already healing. "I know what you’re feeling because I’ve seen it time and time again in my subjects. You’re lost and confused.”

Nightmare Moon trembled as she got back up. "Be quiet."

“Vinyl brought out something in you and now that she’s gone, it’s like there’s a part of you missing.”

“Silence!”

Nightmare Moon charged. Logically, she knew that a magic attack would have worked better, but at that moment she was utterly convinced that all she needed to do to succeed and stop feeling the way she did was to just attack, attack, attack. So she did.

Nightmare Moon punched, kicked, and snapped her jaws. Celestia dodged, blocked, and parried.

"Stop this.”

“No!" Nightmare Moon snarled. "No more talking! This is the day when I finally end your miserable existence!” She lashed out with a punch. Celestia caught it.

“You don't want to do this.”

"You dare tell me what I want and don't want?!" She swung wildly with her other hoof. Celestia swayed to the side, released her grip, and let Nightmare Moon's own momentum pull her to the ground."Ghk! Since the day you banished me to the moon, I have yearned for my vengeance!” Nightmare Moon's wings kicked up dust and loose pebbles as they flapped and took her into the air. She swooped around, picking up speed, and dove down at Celestia. "Showing mercy was a mistake! Your life is mine to-“

Celestia grabbed her mid-air and slammed her down, though not as hard as she could have. And of course she did that; Nightmare Moon would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.

"Look at yourself," Celestia moved back and allowed Nightmare Moon to crawl back to her hooves. "Even when you were affected by Zecora's mix, you fought better than this. You're clearly not physically ill, so the only reason is that your heart isn't truly in this. Why don't you just stop?"

Nightmare Moon hissed through her teeth. "As long as I keep fighting you, I have purpose. If I stop, then I’ll have nothing again.”

"Are you really okay with a purpose that you can only put some effort into?"

“If it involves killing you, then yes,” Nightmare Moon prowled forward. Her body felt... heavy. She couldn't have been that dazed by the throw, but she felt like collapsing into a boneless heap. “You make me sick. Your self-righteousness makes me sick. Even after all I’ve done, you’re willing to forgive and forget all because I was idiotic enough to allow one pony to get close to me?!”

“One pony was all it would have taken.”

Nightmare Moon stopped. “What?”

“Luna told me that when you started talking to her, she was so happy just to have somepony there.”

“You think I don’t know that? She was alone, desperate for attention; she was easy prey for me.”

“So, what if that pony wasn’t you?” Celestia started walking towards her. She looked unafraid; determined but not angry. Somehow, that unsettled Nightmare Moon more than any grotesque grimace of hate ever could. “What if it was a farmer? An artist? A guard? Anypony that could have just told Luna how much her night meant to them? That her efforts were appreciated?”

“What are you getting at?”

“Maybe if there was just one pony that could have done that, then none of this would have happened,” Celestia said. “It took one pony to get through to you, so maybe I can as well.”

Nightmare Moon had many things to be angry about, but the main thing that jumped to be the front-runner in that instant was the notion that Celestia was comparing herself to Vinyl. It made her irrationally, uncomfortably mad, so much so that her decision to charge Celestia was made while her body was already doing it.

“You’re nothing like her!”

She lunged, seeking to pierce Celestia’s heart with her horn, but Celestia swayed to the side. Nightmare Moon spun with her foreleg outstretched and managed to clock her in the temple; she was stunned long enough for Nightmare Moon to line up and lance her horn through Celestia's chest.

Suddenly, stars peppered Nightmare Moon's vision. She wasn't sure exactly what happened, but she had an inkling that Celestia's hoof had something to do with it if the throbbing in the side of her head was any indication. Whatever it was, her balance was shot, and she was swiftly thrown backwards.

Shaking the stars from her head, Nightmare Moon looked up and growled viciously as Celestia plugged the puncture wound and watched her, stone-faced. "Enough of your insolence! Fight!"

Celestia shook her head. “I failed to see what was happening with my sister; I could have stopped her from going down a dark path, but I didn’t. It’s not too late for you, though. You’re not the same being from when we first thought; you have a chance to make a new life.”

Nightmare Moon couldn't believe it. Celestia really wasn't going to fight no matter how hard she came at her.

Suddenly, she had an idea.

Grinning savagely, Nightmare Moon spoke, pouring all her vitriol and spite into each syllable. "Hmph. Such a high and mighty attitude you have there. It seems rather misplaced from my perspective. After all, the deaths of all those ponies is at least partially your fault. Well, more than just 'partially.'"

Celestia didn't respond, but Nightmare Moon saw her wings twitch.

"Really now, attacking during a truce that you suggested in the first place? One that I so graciously accepted? I'm impressed by your ruthlesness," Nightmare Moon chuckled darkly. "Perhaps we're more alike than I expected in that regard."

"You're right," To Nightmare Moon's shock, Celestia solemnly nodded. "Not just me, but my sister and even the others; we struck under the lie of a truce, and because of that the humans were able to take advantage of it and take so many. At the time, we were just so desperate to defeat you that a faux truce seemed justifiable."

"Oh, so now you feel remorse? You can't handle the outcome of your actions when it doesn't suit your ideals, so you moan and apologize to miraculously make it all better?" With a volatile mix of disgust and malicious glee, Nightmare Moon pointed to the pyre. "I'm certain Vinyl feels better knowing that you apologized."

This time, Celestia winced. "I can only hope."

Slowly, Nightmare Moon's elation ebbed. This wasn't turning out like she hoped. Celestia wasn't reacting to her venomous words like she wanted. She didn't want this grim acceptance and remorse; she wanted anger and denial.

"What of your sister? Has she apologized?" Nightmare Moon stomped the earth. Celestia just looked at her and didn't flinch this time. "She is the most responsible for everything next to me! I did not force her into giving control of her body; she accepted me! Ah, but the forlorn younger sister of the ever-so-merciful Celestia is a special thing, isn't she?" Her tone turned cruel, mocking. "You must have your hooves full keeping an eye on her just in case she starts feeling resentful once more."

Celestia blew a sigh, but it was drawn-out instead of being sharp and shallow; she was exasperated, not angry. "You won't bait me anymore. I know what you're going through, so I know what to expect."

"You have no idea!" Nightmare Moon spat, frustrated at the response she was getting; or, lack thereof. "You might know what the rest of your kind go through when they lose someone precious to them, but I am different from you."

"Maybe you're not that different anymore. Truly evil creatures don't feel sadness or love, and you've shown that you do feel those."

Nightmare Moon almost choked; each word had to be forced out. “Are you touched in the head? Since I was born, my sole purpose has been to rule and dominate those around me, whether through sheer power or guile. I sought land, riches, subjects; anything that denoted my status as a ruler. Friendship, sympathy, love; they’re nothing but tools for me to use.”

Celestia watched her, listening.

“Before I even knew of Equestria, I have been in more skirmishes and wars than you can imagine trying to seize power. A small army, a patch of farmland, a wayward princess, an oasis in a burning desert; it didn’t matter what it was, so long as it gave me some form of power over others.

“I’ve won them. I’ve lost every single one of them as well, but it didn’t matter because I knew there would always be something for me to take as my own. Kingdoms, cities, villages, entire continents; they were all ripe for my taking! The journey to take what I set my sights on was as exhilarating as the moment when I finally had it in my grasp.”

Nightmare Moon shuddered, a momentary flash of genuine elation jolting through her body.

“That desire for power would always remain. I could have an entire kingdom, lose it, have it burned to the ground by my enemies, but I knew I would get another chance elsewhere. My dreams would never die so long as the world I knew existed alongside me. There was simply no limit to how many times I could try.”

Her gaze just so happened to wander to the side and she saw the blazing pyre, still eating away at the wood. That moment of elation was snuffed out. Nightmare Moon grit her teeth and released a strained breath.

“But then I had another desire. I wanted to protect her. After spending so much time together, she became something of a constant in my life, something that I didn’t want to go away. Foolish.”

Celestia shook her head. “It’s not foolish.”

“It is for a creature like me!” Nightmare Moon snapped. “Domination had been my only desire before that foul magic of the Elements washed over me. Then, when I met her, it all changed: protecting her became another of my goals. Do you realize what that means?

“There will always be a next time to ruling the world. Not for Vinyl; there isn’t a next time where I can save her. I had one chance and I failed.”

In a way, this felt incredible, like a weight was being taken from her shoulders. She felt lighter inside, but the tightness in her chest remained. Not even the thought of smearing Celestia’s face across the ground perked her up like it did just mere moments ago; it had been a fleeting sensation that she failed to make the most of.

Celestia didn’t say anything, and Nightmare Moon tired looking at her face knowing no matter what she did or said would get her the fight she wanted. Hell, she didn't even know if she even wanted that; Celestia had planted seeds of doubt in her mind. Irritated, she snorted and stomped over to the pyre, turning her back to the other alicorn. The ethereal flames didn’t do much to cool her head.

She heard the distinct sound of a teleportation behind her. Luna's voice followed a second later.

"Octavia is safe and well," A pointed pause. "And it appears that more went on here besides a verbal exchange."

Nightmare Moon debated whether or not to try and goad Luna into a deathmatch, but it just didn't have the same appeal as it did with Celestia. Celestia sent her to the moon for a thousand years, and Luna fell to her own pride and envy and played the part of a puppet for a while; it wasn't hard to tell which of the two was a more worthy rival.

Still, she couldn't resist getting a jab in. "So, you missed another event, hm? At least it wasn't a thousand years this time."

After a few seconds of silence, Celestia murmured. "Luna, put that down, please."

Luna scoffed, and something heavy hit the dirt. "I would not cheat the hangmare's noose; it would have fractured her skull at most. And my question is yet to recieve an answer."

"We were just... talking," Celestia replied. Nightmare Moon heard her come a little closer. "It got heated, but that's over now."

Nightmare Moon moaned and covered her face, feeling nauseous. “I don’t want to feel like this. I want to hurt you for sending me to the moon. I want to take over Equestria. I want to live. But I no longer have the motivation for any of that. What is wrong with me?”

Celestia came closer, but kept a fair distance between them. “You’ve never experienced what it’s like to lose somepony close to you. It’s not uncommon to feel what you’re feeling right now.”

A chill crawled down Nightmare Moon’s spine as she turned around. “And you would want more to be close to you? Knowing that you would feel this when they inevitably pass?” She shook her head in disbelief. “Why? To have the drive to pursue your ambitions taken away from you is the most horrendous fate I can imagine!”

“To be so completely alone is the worst fate I can imagine,” Celestia shot back. “You must have felt something similar, or why else would you keep Vinyl around?”

Nightmare Moon’s lip curled at one corner. “It wasn’t intentional. By the time I realized how deeply ingrained she’d become in my life, it was already too late.”

“But it wasn’t all bad, was it?”

“... No,” Nightmare Moon turned back to the pyre; it was slowly going out now, the orange embers fading to a dull white that drifted on a gentle breeze. “Despite the pain her death brought me, I don’t regret the fun we had together.”

“You should hold onto those memories.” Celestia rounded to Nightmare Moon’s side.

“It’s not like I have a choice,” She gave a mirthless sneer and tapped the side of her head. “Perfect recollection. I can recall any event with perfect clarity if I focus for long enough,” Dropping her hoof back onto the ground, Nightmare Moon added, “Particularly for those thousand years on the moon.”

Celestia acknowledged that with a nod. “… Are you really just going to let whatever happen, happen? If there’s one thing I can say about you no matter what my feelings are, or were at the time, then it’s that you’re one of the most determined beings I’ve ever met. Seeing you like this rubs me the wrong way.”

“Do you truly want to see me back to my usual self?”

"Nay," Luna answered immediately. At some point, she came around to Nightmare Moon's other side, effectively flanking her. "Sister, I admire your ability to inspire, but please direct that talent away from the power-hungry demon."

“Well…” Celestia laughed- well, more like nickered nervously. “I honestly can’t say that I want that, but it’s not like having that kind of determination is a bad thing; it’s just when you go around hurting and using others to get what you want. I truly think that with enough time, you can focus your energy in a more positive way.”

She really wasn’t going to give up on this, was she? Nightmare Moon sighed and rubbed her eyes. “You sent me to the moon for a thousand years and I despise you for that,” She turned to catch Celestia’s eyes. “I won’t join you.”

Celestia sighed. “But if you don’t show that you’re willing to make an honest attempt at reformation, you might be executed,” She paused for a breath. “I’m certain Vinyl would have wanted you to live.”

A dark feeling swelled in Nightmare Moon as she barked out a bitter laugh and gestured to the blackened pyre in front of her. “As you can see, she wants for nothing.”

“She sacrificed herself to save you,” Celestia’s tone hardened. “I’m sure she wanted you to live if she was willing to go out alone against the humans and lead them away. You should be grateful for that and move forward.”

Nightmare Moon ground her teeth together. "‘Move forward’ on what? There is no incentive for me to do so. Conquering Canterlot no longer appeals to me, the sole pony I wished to protect is gone, and you have just shown to me that I cannot even put any real effort into killing you. What else is there for me to look forward to?"

Luna grumbled in a fed-up tone. "Sister, she does not even wish to help herself."

Celestia sighed. "Luna, not now."

Unabated, Luna continued. "If she has no room in her heart for redemption, then do not waste your breath and energy. With that temperment, she would jump through a Fracture if one were to appear here and now."

…

Something came loose in Nightmare Moon’s head. Like a splash of ice-cold water, it felt as if she had been aroused from a half-asleep state. “That's it...” Eyes wide, Nightmare Moon faced Luna. "You've finally contributed something that's of worth to me!"

Luna's face conveyed an indescribable emotion. "'Tis fitting that your compliments are gifted with a wrapping of sandpaper."

Nightmare Moon ignored her and turned to face Celestia, feverish anticipation bubbling in her chest. "The Resonator!"

“What?” Celestia turned to her and blinked in surprise. “The mirror? Uh, we haven’t found it yet, but why did you-”

“No! You must find it as quickly as possible!”

“Why?”

“Because there is a solution that will satisfy everyone,” Nightmare Moon grinned, a wide and gleaming grin. “Using the Resonator, we’ll open a Fracture that I will use to go to the human’s world. There, I will kill Caed. Once and for all.”

Celestia’s eyes were the size of dinner plates. “How would…? I thought the mirror couldn’t open Fractures, just close them.”

“No. A while back, when you sent that letter for our meeting, Twilight informed me that there was a way to re-open Fractures that the humans use even after they’ve already been closed. It’s all about reverting ambient magic energy to a previous state.”

Celestia looked like she was trying to wrap her around that concept.

Nightmare Moon trembled, practically giddy. Finally, she had something that would give her life meaning again. Her mind was starting to clear, her muscles felt strong and supple again, her magic churned and roared to life once more; she was rejuvenated!

Oh, how she wished she had made this connection sooner rather than later, but it was better than not making it at all.

“But no, wait…” Celestia shook her head. “That’s suicide! Going there by yourself?”

Nightmare Moon snorted. “I was ready to walk through their world to save Vinyl. To kill Caed, I would tread through the fires of Tartarus,” She grit her teeth and held her head high as Celestia started to protest more. “This is the only ‘punishment’ I shall accept. You can send me there – call it exile – and I will not be a threat to you anymore. As a bonus, I’ll make sure that the humans can cause no further trouble – one way or another.”

It took a few seconds for Luna to process everything, but then she seemed thoughtful. “The mirror may be used in such a way?”

“It can. You can confirm the details with Twilight if need be,” Nightmare Moon rubbed her chin and started to pace. “We’ll need her anyway to get this done as soon as possible. Ah, and we’ll need the Elements of Harmony, too.”

“Uh, hold on a second,” Celestia moved in front of Nightmare Moon as she came back. “When I said for you to move forward, this isn’t what I meant.”

Nightmare Moon bumped her out of the way.

“Ow. Caed is too strong for you to take on by yourself. And he won’t be alone.”

“Hah hah! Oh, but I will defeat Caed,” Turning to face the two sisters, Nightmare Moon leered savagely. “You see, now that he has done something so utterly and profoundly stupid as to cause the death of my friend, his fate has been sealed. Now it is my sole desire to return the favour and end not only his life but the things he lives for. I will bring his whole world down around him.”

Celestia bit her lower lip. Luna blinked owlishly.

“Of course, I’ll succeed. I am no longer chained by the need to keep someone alive,” Nightmare Moon cackled lowly from her belly. “It will be a wondrous reckoning.”

She felt like she had before all this happened: full of confidence with her strength straining to be let loose and her goal clear in her mind. Nightmare Moon might have lost her desire to conquer Equestria, she might have lost her desire to make Celestia and everyone else who had dared stand against her suffer, but she was not without purpose:

Kill Caed. Kill Caed. This was what would drive her forward. What came after that didn’t matter; she would fulfil her ambition, or die trying.

And yet…

Even through the bloodthirst and determination, Nightmare Moon could feel it somewhere in a dark corner in her soul; a familiar and unwelcome sensation of emptiness. It was waiting, festering; it gave an air of anticipation, letting her know it wasn’t going to leave so easily.

Nightmare Moon gave one last glance at the blackened pile that used to hold her friend’s body. It was somewhat surreal to think that she had once been there.

‘This won’t bring you back, Vinyl. I don’t know what you were hoping for when you went out alone, but I think I knew you well enough to know that you wouldn’t want me to continue being lost like I was.’

Lips curling into a steadfast sneer, Nightmare Moon turned away and looked forward.

‘This is ultimately a selfish goal to sate my thirst for vengeance, but I would be remiss if I didn’t say that part of me hopes that Caed’s death might wring a smile out of your ghost.’

Author's Note

Note 1: Spellfire - a manifestation of magic that takes the behaviour and some of the traits of regular fire. Spellfire affects the physical environment in the same manner as regular fire, but has difficulty spreading. Water is less effective against these flames, instead it is better to dispel it.

So far, the only known creatures capable of conjuring and manipulating this force are unicorns and dragons. Interestingly, spellfire manipulation falls under the Arcane School, not the Elemental School.

Chapter 69: Return from Stone

“She wants us to what?!”

“Exile her into the human world by using the Resonator to open the Fractures the humans used to invade when the castle came down,” Celestia felt the phantom weight of dozens of stares piling on her, threatening to bring her to her knees. If she closed her eyes, it would be just like any old day talking to the Royal Court. “And she wants it done as soon as possible.”

Tents were a precious resource at this time, so Celestia had everyone gather in a place in the garden that had been untouched by the chaos; a stone fountain surrounded by a ring of hedges with only two entrances. There was space for everyone to move comfortably and the moon was particularly luminous tonight.

The sculpture in the middle of the fountain was of a rearing alicorn spitting water into the basin. Ponies found it beautiful, but it just weirded Celestia out - something about the way its muzzle was shaped.

Aside from Celestia, there was Luna, all six of the Element Bearers, Spike, Shining Armor and Cadance, Zecora, and Sunset Shimmer; it only took a little over an hour to get everypony assembled once they got back from Vinyl's funeral and had Nightmare Moon safely secured.

Rainbow Dash, stood between Rarity and Applejack, quickly blinked a few times. “That’s… I mean, that kinda works, doesn’t it?”

Applejack nodded. “Sure. Don’t have th’ finality of a hangin’ but so long as she ain’t around, then it’s fine by me.”

Her sentiments were echoed by several others. The majority were for this idea. Of those that kept quiet like Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Zecora, the one that Celestia was most interested in was Twilight Sparkle.

Noticing this, Luna cleared her voice for silence. “Young Twilight, what are your thoughts?”

Twilight’s cheek bulged from within as she poked it with her tongue. “Hmm… I did mention that we could theoretically use the Resonator to re-open the Fractures, but I haven’t tested it.”

“Maybe you got something wrong.” Sunset said.

Spike cringed sympathetically as Twilight turned around, and anyone between Twilight’s terrifyingly neutral stare and Sunset Shimmer wisely moved out of the way.

To her credit, Sunset didn’t back down, though she seemed primed to bolt at a moment’s notice. “It never hurts to have somepony of equal intellect there to check your notes.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Moving on, I agree with Applejack. It doesn’t have the same sense of resolution and, well, I guess you could say ‘karma,’ but the humans have as much reason to hate Nightmare as any of us do. If she goes there, then she’s not coming back. She won’t be able to cause any more trouble for us, and that’s what really matters.”

Fluttershy grimaced. “But…! Oh, n-never mind…”

“No, go ahead.” Twilight said in a gentle tone.

“Well… it just doesn’t seem right. You know what the humans do to us. I can’t imagine wishing that on anypony.”

“Oh, come on,” Rainbow Dash huffed. “She’s the one suggesting it, for crying out loud.”

“I know, but-”

“Besides, we gotta do something!”

“I agree with Rainbow Dash,” Rarity added. “Personally, I would use the Elements of Harmony on her, but we’ve yet to find them, and it’s much too dangerous to leave her imprisoned while we search. From what I understand, she’s no longer listless as we saw her during the trial.”

“Indeed,” Luna rolled her eyes. “Not a day ago, she was docile and melancholic, but she is now demanding that we find the Resonator and the Elements post-haste. We-"

Shining Armor suddenly cleared his throat. Loudly.

All eyes were on him.

"Listen - I know Nightmare Moon is probably everypony's main priority right now, but she isn't the only one.

"We have no idea what the humans are planning. They've taken so many unicorns in their last attack, and what if that's still not enough? What if it was enough, and we're just standing around while they're getting ready to become our new neighbors?"

Shining Armor paced in front of the stone fountain and its prancing statue.

"And don't forget we've still got Ebony and the rest of Nightmare Moon's Praetorian Guard locked up. But for how long? Nightmare Moon's no longer apathetic, so she might be communicating with them right now about a way to get free."

Concerned murmurs arose.

"A lot of time has passed where nothing's been done; it's just talking," He stopped and raised his hoof. "That being said, I understand why: we've been hit by the humans hard and we're still reeling, disorganized. I'd say that setting up this entire rescue effort so fast is an incredible accomplishment. And I'm not saying the trial was a waste: you needed to know whether or not Nightmare Moon was capable of redemption and if she should be given a chance. It's not a bad thing to want to be fair. I wonder about letting Nightmare Moon attend Vinyl's funeral, cruel as that may sound, but what's done is done. Now is the time that we need to decide what the hell we're going to do about all of this."

Luna smirked. "Spoken like a true commander."

Celestia nodded. "I believe Shining Armor is correct. It's been... a harrowing couple of days to say the least; we're all tired, not just physically, I'm certain. But if we leave too many things undecided, it might just get near impossible to keep track of."

Applejack grunted and adjusted her hat. "So... we're doing this? Deciding what to do with her once an' fer all?"

Celestia nodded again. "Are there any objections?"

Silence.

"Alright. So, what should we do about Nightmare Moon?"

Luna immediately raised her voice. "I have thought about it and I believe that we should not attempt to send Nightmare Moon to the human world. I believe we should end her life by more traditional means."

"I'm with her." Rainbow Dash agreed.

Twilight nodded. "I think that's the best solution considering what we're dealing with. We haven't found the Elements yet, and we'd have to find the Resonator as well if we wanted to exile her. It would take too much time."

"Oh, but... can't we take that time?" Fluttershy murmured. "If we have the Elements, then we can use them to make her good, right? It seems wrong to kill her."

"Ooh, I want to do that!" Pinkie bounced in glee.

Sunset snorted. "Oh come on, don't you think it's messed up to force somepony to change? Using the Elements with that in mind is essentially brainwashing."

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie went quiet.

Sunset continued. "Hey, do what you want; I don't care so long as Nightmare Moon gets what's coming to her. It just pisses me off seeing you act like your way is more moral than killing her."

Fluttershy's mane hung over her face like a veil. "It's not?"

Spike scratched his head. "Well, killing's bad. I mean, duh, right? But then what Sunset said... Yeah, that sounds bad, too," He huffed and folded his arms. "Boy, that's gonna keep me up at night."

"We're searching for the Elements as much as we're able to, but there's still a lot of ground to cover," Cadance said. "And I'd rather look for trapped ponies; the Elements don't need food, water, or air. It leaves us one less option to deal with Nightmare Moon, but..."

"Okay, let's come back to Nightmare Moon," Shining Armor ran his hoof through his mane and released a sigh. "What can we do about her Praetorian Guard, then?"

Luna rubbed her chin. "I say keep them in custody. They appear to be incapable of bypassing the security measures we have in place, and they still have to answer for their own crimes. Let them do so after we have dealt with Nightmare Moon."

"If we want to be safe, we should keep them separate," Celestia added. "We can spare the space and resources to keep them isolated."

"Yes, I agree."

Shining Armor nodded. "All in favor?"

With a show of hooves, Celestia wasn't entirely surprised to see it was a unanimous agreement. The Praetorian Guard played a large role in this and committed many crimes, but none of them cast as large, as dark, and as enigmatic a shadow as Nightmare Moon. The sense of urgency just wasn't there.

And speaking of which-

"Then, moving onto the topic of the humans, I am sad to say that Caed took many unicorns," Celestia's tone was grave. "We should assume he has enough to power his machine for his goal: the relocation of his kind to our world."

A grim mood settled over the area. Eyes were downcast; everypony looked anxious and afraid. Even the fountain with its statue of an alicorn hanging its head seemed to add to the dark mood. Celestia felt the same darkness weigh on her shoulders, but she had to be strong.

"When we first met Caed in Ponyville, he mentioned the place where he was planning to go," She turned to Luna. "Do you remember? It was somewhere near the Milliaun Island."

Luna nodded. "True, but those are outside of Equestria's waters, and they are uncharted territory. I need not remind you, sister, that the waters and skies are home to many dangerous beasts that make exploration impossible."

"We've made headway in mapping the Wyrmorean Sea this past decade." Twilight interjected with a scholar's gleam in her eye.

Luna smiled apologetically. "That may be, but as it stands, maps of the Wyrmorean Sea have changed little from my time; there is still much we do not know. The humans can circumvent these hazards with their technology, but ours has yet to catch up, as does our magic."

Twilight reluctantly assented with a nod.

"I bring this up because once the humans settle there, they may as well have escaped from the consequences of their actions - we can do nothing without investing a great deal of time and resources. And that would be just trying to locate them; what would be the cost of fighting them?" Celestia said, pausing to let her words sink in.

Applejack scowled. "Ain't right seein' them get off scot-free."

"It doesn't sit well with me, either, but sadly, justice-" Or vengeance, some may argue. "-rarely wins without good ponies to fight for it."

Celestia watched as tense silence filled the space. She could see everyone was thinking hard, dealing with their thoughts on the matter. She went to speak, but-

"If Nightmare Moon is exiled, then-"

"We can't trust her!" Luna snapped.

Sunset narrowed her eyes defiantly. "Look, we can all agree that Nightmare Moon is tough, right? She's a psycho and a bitch, but she is tough," She waited a little to see if anypony would disagree. "See? Now that means two things: the first is that killing her without any of the zebra's voodoo magic-"

Zecora snorted.

"-is going to be a huge pain in the ass. Ponies might die. Not me, since I'll be running in the other direction, but some of you. And the second thing is that it's also a pain in the ass for the humans to kill her."

Luna's tail swished behind her. "Your point?"

"Us killing her..." Sunset moved her hoof in a circle and looked at everyone in turn. "Would be a lot of trouble. On our end. And what would happen to the humans? Nothing. But if we set her on them, then either she slaughters them, or they kill her. If we're lucky, they'll wipe each other out," She shrugged. "Seems logical to me."

Celestia cringed at the callousness of her former student. "That's-"

"Ridiculous," Luna huffed and ruffled her wings irritably. "And what if she allies herself with the humans? What then?"

"Why would they?" Sunset shot back. "The humans pretty much have what they wanted, so what would they gain by playing nice all of a sudden? Remember - they blame her for blowing up their home."

"I can't see Nightmare Moon forming an alliance with the humans, either," Celestia said. Luna glared at her, but she stood her ground and kept her tone soft. "They killed Vinyl - her friend."

"You do not know that demon's mind. You have not had her in your head," Luna grimaced. "She can mask her true intentions entirely, and you would not know until it is too late. I was foolish and blind enough to be tricked and look at where my mistake has gotten us!" Luna shook her head fiercely. "No. We cannot trust what she says. She is planning something nefarious."

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Killing humans."

Celestia knew they would argue well into the night if no one stepped in. That would not be an issue if she also didn't know that Sunset had a habit of name-calling when she felt like she was losing, and Luna defaulted to archaic vernacularisms when she was heated. They were also rather pressed for time, as Shining Armor justly pointed out.

Sighing, Celestia cleared her throat. "Luna, Sunset - please..."

"Let them fight - it's good for the mind."

Celestia frowned and searched the faces around her. "We don't have..." She frowned deeper seeing the confusion on each face. "Er, actually, who said that?"

“Well, you are getting on in years. I'm right here."

By now, Sunset and Luna stopped arguing and were looking around like everyone else.

Celestia narrowed her eyes. She knew this voice, but somehow it was eluding recognition; it was as if her brain simply refused to put a name or a face to it.

Wait.

The statue on the fountain, having somehow gone completely unnoticed despite changing forms multiple times, suddenly became the point of interest for everyone in the garden. It was there, still spitting water, but the shape was uniquely peculiar and familiar in its oddity - a serpentine body coiled round with a face of mismatched features.

Celestia blinked and her jaw fell, wondering if she was perhaps dreaming.

"Are...? Discord?"

The statue did not respond.

Suddenly, there was a loud snort behind Celestia. She jolted and turned as it escalated into a hearty chuckle.

"Goodness, you are getting on in years, aren't you?" A claw wiped away a tear. "Don't you know that statues can't talk?"

Celestia stared, gobsmacked and numb. “I can't believe it.”

Curling his serpentine body into a spring, Discord bounced over Celestia’s head and landed in the middle of the group.

“Well, well, what’s with all the long faces?” Discord’s fang flashed as he grinned cockily and gave a bow. “Yes, it is I – the Wonderful and Marvellous Discord, who is good at everything and famously humble.”

Celestia just blinked.

“No, no - save your applause. Well, never mind, feel free to shower your affections upon m- hugh!”

A yellow blur planted itself firmly in Discord’s abdomen. He reeled back and his eyes bulged out of their sockets. Literally.

“Discord, you’re okay!” Fluttershy cried with an elated laugh. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry we froze you! I’m so, so sorry!”

Five more bodies rushed in to surround Discord. Slowly, everyone was coming to terms with the sight before them, and an air of cautious and long overdue optimism was settling.

Celestia could feel her lips pulling back at the corners.

“Discord, I’ve never been so happy to see you,” Rainbow Dash laughed, flying up to slap him on the shoulder. “And you know I mean that because Isaid it.”

“Oh, uh, I suppose so,” Discord’s usual showy nature was notably absent as he was hugged and showered with attention. He didn't seem quite sure what to do with affection once he was given it whole-heartedly. “Ah, one second…”

One slap to the side of his head and a new pair of eyes rolled up from within to fill his empty sockets.

“Oh, it’s you hugging me so tightly, my dear Fluttershy. For a frightening moment, I thought it was Luna.”

Luna just snorted, failing to hide a grin. “Five seconds and I miss him being stone already.”

Fluttershy sniffled and sobbed.

“Oh, stop with the waterworks, my dear,” Discord shrugged, and his shoulders squeaked like rusty taps. “I’ve had plenty of time to think, and I’ve decided that I’m not in the least bit angry with you,” He grew five extra pairs of arms to hug all six mares, then grew an extra one to give Spike a fist-bump. “With any of you. It’s a tricky spot you’re in when your loved ones are being held hostage and you can’t alter reality with a wink and a snap. How you all survive everyday life is beyond even me.”

Celestia closed her eyes and laughed joyfully. She wiped at her face and opened her eyes again. “Discord…”

He looked to her, one bushy eyebrow going up.

“It’s wonderful to see you again.”

He smiled. “It is, isn’t it? Things get so gloomy and serious when I’m not around.”

“Speaking of which, how did you get free? And when?”

“My stony exterior cracked enough to let me slip through a few hours ago. I'd have shown myself sooner, but I overheard that you were having this meeting about what to do with Nightmare Moon and, well, couldn't help but be a fly on the wall. Or should I say a statue in the fountain? Eh, semantics,” Discord stepped back, and his arms came free with a pop, leaving six mares and a dragon entangled in them like meatballs in spaghetti. “The 'how' is rather simple: there’s been so much turmoil these past months that it’s a miracle I didn’t break free sooner. The castle falling was the final straw," He paused and looked to the structure in question. "Part of me wishes it wasn’t.”

“Indeed,” Celestia nodded, understanding. “Discord, I'm sorry we couldn't get to you sooner. We had no idea where Nightmare Moon hid your statue, and with the castle as it is-"

"Ap, ap, ap!" Discord waggled his finger. "This is no time to feel morose, my dear. My handsome face is here to make everything better, so turn that frown upside-down before I do it for you."

Celestia chuckled, his words lifting an invisible weight from her shoulders. “If you insist.”

"Why, 'insisting' is what I do best!"

With a snap of his fingers, Twilight and her friends were freed. In a fluid, snake-like motion, Discord went between Celestia’s legs and stood behind her.

She huffed, turning. “Was that really-”

“Of course, it was. I’ve got plenty of energy to burn,” Discord clapped his hands together and surveyed the room, brimming with energy. “Ooh, so many unfamiliar faces!"

He snapped his fingers and appeared in front of Shining Armor and Cadance.

"My, my - I never got to congratulate you two on getting betrothed, did I? Oh, and your wedding present!" He stuck his hand into his fur - somehow - and took out a cast-iron frying pan with a red bow wrapped around the handle. "Only for when he truly messes up."

Cadance took it with a confused 'thanks'. Shining Armor sweat nervously as he watched her test its weight.

SNAP

"Ah, Zecora - the mare with an exotic air, the wayfarer from way over there, who in her gracious care gave us the means to stop the villain's reign of despair."

Zecora stuck her bottom lip out, hummed, then nodded. "Six rhymes; we should talk more some time."

SNAP

Sunset made a face. "Ugh!"

"Well, then..."

SNAP

"Now, that's enough about all of you!” Discord held his hands up. “Let’s talk about me and what wonderful things I can do to help fix this mess.”

Celestia grinned ecstatically. His jokes aside, Discord being free was a massive boon; his powers could aide in so many ways that it was effectively limitless. Indeed, finding him had been one of their top priorities, not only for what he could do but because he was their friend and, at the time, they believed he was trapped under the rubble with no means of saving himself.

Celestia drew joy just from seeing him around, laughing and boasting and being so 'Discord' - a personality like no other, perhaps in all of creation.

“Can you fix the castle?” Twilight seemed to be on the same page as her. She approached Discord to get his attention. “There may still be ponies we can’t get to.”

“And the Elements!” Rarity added. “We’ve no idea where that fiend Nightmare Moon put them.”

“Also, fix Twilight,” Spike interjected, then quickly turned to her with a wince. “Ah, I-I mean-”

“I know what you mean, dragon-breath,” Twilight smirked and lightly bopped him on his crest. “But the castle and Elements take priority. I can wait.”

Discord raised his arms over his head and stretched grandly. “I won’t mince words: it’s much easier to repair things that I’ve taken apart, so the castle will still take a bit; no snap, instant fix there, unfortunately. Needs a bit of elbow grease and temporal disassociation. But for the Elements?”

With a sudden motion, he linked his hands together and pushed them out with a bellowing grunt.

“Hoo-ah!”

Before Celestia’s eyes, in a flurry of wind and prismatic light twisting out of thin air, an ornate wooden chest with a gold lock spun into existence. On reflex, she grabbed it before it could fall.

The energy leaking through the box left no room for doubt.

“The Elements…”

"And that's not all~" Discord cupped his hands and blew into them, suddenly releasing a cloud of ash through his fingers.

Ash that immediately ignited and birthed a flaming bird that gave a victorious cry.

Celestia's gasp caught in her throat as she held her foreleg out. "Philomena!" Her companion perched on her limb and rubbed against her, and Celestia felt her eyes burn. She had not feared that her phoenix pet would have perished in the explosion or the collapse, but she worried when days passed with no sign of her. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you again. I'll be sure to give you the finest coals after this is done."

Philomena screeched in approval.

“Discord, I... I don’t know what to say.”

He grinned and gave a shrug. "I'm sure it'll come to you."

Sunset huffed as she looked at the Elements. "So, I suppose you guys can reform her now, huh?"

"Not quite," Discord crossed his arms. "You see, I've been listening to your conversation, and I don't think we should reform Nightmare Moon. To be quite frank, I don't want to reform her. Call it petty, but after what she did to me... and you, I simply cannot let my vengeance go unsated."

Celestia frowned. "Then what do you want?"

Discord turned his palms up and shrugged. "Why, exile," He took a second to turn his head a full 360 degrees. "It's the best option, isn't it? We'll have both our enemies at each other's throats."

Celestia frowned deeper. "It's..."

"Yes, I know that you wish to try your hoof at redemption. You've a soft heart, Sun-Butt - you'll even reach out to those who have hurt those closest to you."

He said that with utmost sincerity, so Celestia didn't feel like she was being attacked.

"But there comes a point when good-heartedness puts everyone else's lives on the line."

"I took a chance with you," Celestia shot back. "Should I have not?"

"You shouldn't have," Discord answered without hesitation. "It worked out and, yes, I am grateful for what you did, but knowing what I was capable of, it was still quite the risky move."

"I thought you could be redeemed."

"And that was due to Fluttershy," He paused to glance at the pegasus in question and give a small smile. "She made me want to try redemption. Nightmare Moon doesn't want to be redeemed, she wants to get back at the humans."

Twilight chimed in. "He's right. She's so fixated on her personal goals that nothing is out of the question for her. At least if we help her with this, we can prevent the damage she will cause if we ignore her demand."

Celestia grimaced. She found herself unable to argue those points. Was she being selfish by pursuing the idea that Nightmare Moon could change? Was she putting everyone's safety in jeopardy?

As she mulled it over in her head, Luna scoffed, drawing attention to herself. "We should be done with her as quickly and thoroughly as possible. I see no reason to take risks entertaining this idea of playing two enemies against one another."

"Oh?" Discord pressed his fist against his chin and cocked his head. "You don't think that's a good idea?" Before Luna could reply, he held his index finger up. "Tell me, then - if I could prove that there is no chance of Nightmare Moon turning on us, would you be willing to go for exile?"

Luna opened and closed her mouth. She thought for a while. Then, narrowing her eyes, she replied, "Perhaps. Though, how do you intend to prove this?"

Discord tented his fingers together and wore a small smirk.

Alarm bells went off inside Celestia’s head. Devilish smirk? Fine. Mysterious wink? Fine. Tented fingers? That could only mean something serious.

"I would like to discuss that with you in private."

Sirens were now going off.

The corner of Luna's mouth curled. “The last time you asked to speak one-on-one, I had glitter and adhesive clinging to my mane for a fortnight.”

Discord looked very pleased with himself. "Fair point, but I promise it's serious. I have a feeling it would even sway your opinion on this matter."

"Doubtful," Slowly, Luna's eyes softened. "But I shall hear you out."

"Wonderful!" Discord pushed his middle finger and thumb together. "Let's go!"

"Wait, n-"

With a reality-warping snap, Discord and Luna disappeared from sight.

"Seemed pretty focused," Applejack said. "Mighty unusual fer tha' one."

"He's upset. I can tell," Fluttershy put her hoof over her mouth. "... I've changed my mind. I don't like it, but maybe it's for the best we... get rid of Nightmare Moon."

Celestia was stunned; so were several others judging by their looks. "I didn't expect that from you."

Fluttershy's expression soured. "I-I know. But I think Sunset is right."

"I am? I mean, of course I am."

"I don't like using the Stare on my animals to get them to behave or calm down, so I don't know if I could go through with forcing somepony to change with the Elements. It's just like the Galloping Gala - those animals didn't want to be my friend, but I kept trying to force them. I don't want to do that again," She gave a gentle sigh. "I wish there was a better way, but if there isn't, then..."

She trailed off, and Pinkie picked it up. "Yeah. A smile on its own looks waaaaay better than a smile you stapled on," More than a few faces underwent an interesting transition from understanding to confusion to mortification. "And if that's what Moonie really wants, then I guess we should give it to her. But this is the only time! Otherwise, I'll never let anypony else go on a crazy, revenge-filled rampage of destruction. Even if they ask me nicely."

A few murmurs of agreement went through the crowd. Eventually, Celestia felt their eyes on her, waiting.

"... I believe in giving chances to those who want it, but it is as Discord says: Nightmare Moon does not want to change. With that in mind, I believe exile would be best. I'm not doing this for revenge on her or the humans, but because I think any other means of dealing with her would be too risky and futile given what she is capable of and her current emotional state."

She did not like this outcome, but if there was anything her long life had taught her, it was that things did not always work out for the best. She had been spoilt in the years since Twilight and her friends saved her sister from the darkness; threat after threat resolved with the power of love and friendship - it was foolish to believe that would last forever.

'I'm sorry, Nightmare Moon, but if you're so intent on going down this path, then I can't let you drag me or anypony else along.'

Shining Armor nodded when she was done speaking. "Then that's it? We're going with exile?"

Celestia waited for a sound of protest. "... I believe so."

"Then all that's left is to see if Discord can convince Luna," He sighed and ran his hoof through his mane. "If he can't, then I guess we'll have to. Somehow."

"I think he will," Fluttershy said with a knowing look. "I just have a feeling."

"-ow?"

Luna found herself in a cold, stone corridor lit by torches lining the walls. It took a second before she recognized her surroundings.

“This... is where we are keeping Nightmare Moon,” She said, then turned to fix Discord with a suspicious glare. “What exactly are you planning, Discord?”

“So paranoid,” Discord waved his hand dismissively and started to walk. “As tempting as it would be to cover Ol’ Nighty in glue and feathers, even I would have trouble subduing her. She’ll be revved up and ready to start swinging.”

Luna trotted alongside him. “Then...?"

“You already know that I believe we should send her to fight the humans. Enemy of my enemy and all. But I admit that I harbor some doubt, a little… a little nugget of doubt that will pester me over whether that was the right decision or not. Ironically, I don’t deal well with things that pester me. I’m the agitator, not the agitatee.”

His hands kept fidgeting and moving all over the place.

“You seem quite agitated, yes.”

Discord linked his hands behind his back with a shrug. “Well, I have been petrified for several months. Normally, a blink of the eye for me, but that blink was stretched out over what felt like eternity as I could do nothing but watch – well, listen, but you get the idea – while Nightmare Moon did as she pleased. She harmed dear Fluttershy and her friends, whom I also hold some affection for.”

Luna’s eyes softened. “I see.”

“Incidentally, don’t tell anyone I said that, or it’ll be chocolate rain every morning for the rest of your days.”

“Not a word shall leave these lips.”

“Wonderful! Now, I personally believe that if we are exiling her, then it should be a proper exile; I don’t want there to be any chance of her joining the humans – slim as that may be – and I don’t want her to come back here. I want her out of our world for good.”

He suddenly stopped and looked at her. Even though he was smiling, there was a sinister air about it that made her skin crawl.

“Do you think that’s an outlandish request?”

Luna shook her head. “Not at all.”

“Then we’re on the same page.”

He resumed walking.

Luna followed him, perturbed by his demeanor. By now, she felt comfortable enough to trust him not to relapse to his old ways and speak with him casually, though like most she found his antics to be draining at times. Seeing him like this was off-putting; there was too much focus and anger behind his gaze.

“I agree that she is too dangerous to let live in our world, but I do not agree with exile. Even if the risk that she may side with the humans is small, the consequences of it are simply too severe to be anything but overtly-cautious.”

"It's also dangerous to try and kill her outright," Discord retorted. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't she fight you and Celestia at one point and held her own?"

"She had help, but you make a fair point. However, I believe it is the lesser of two evils: we are together, and she is alone."

“But it's better to avoid damage altogether if you can, isn't it? So, how would you make sure that she’s telling the truth?” Discord’s head swivelled to face her. His body continued to face forward. “How do we know that she’s angry enough and motivated enough to follow through on what she says when she promises to bring hell to the humans?”

Luna suspected the question was rhetoric, so she stayed quiet. And sure enough…

Discord spread his hands in front. “We see whether or not the reason she’s got is valid and, most importantly, strong enough to sustain her rage.”

A frown turned Luna’s lips. “She claims that it would be revenge for Vinyl.”

“Yes, the little DJ pony,” Discord’s tone rumbled lowly. “A shame about what happened, but I think she would’ve been happy going out in a blaze of glory like that. Anyway, Nightmare Moon says that’s her reason, but is it true? I’ve listened to a few of their interactions - things that were said between them and no one else - but it's not enough to get the full picture. It’s said that those are the moments that reveal one’s true character. You would know about that best, wouldn’t you?”

Luna tilted her head. “I sense purpose beneath your words, but clarity eludes me.”

Discord threw his head back and laughed loudly. At some point during that motion, his body realigned itself, so he was fully facing her. He chose to float along instead of walking backwards.

“My dear, I’ve been eluding clarity for eons. But allow me to be perfectly clear…”

One of his talons tapped the side of his head.

“We show who we truly are in the moments when we are alone. And when are we most alone?”

Luna stopped. “… Our dreams.”

Discord nodded.

“I do not think I can do that, Discord,” She inhaled deeply. “Dreams are sacred. I restrict myself to only interfere when they are in distress. That said, even the most weak-willed can resist my presence if they are aware. I am accepted – for the most part – among my subjects, so they allow me to enter their slumber. Nightmare Moon can easily keep me out.”

“All you need is a little boost,” Discord snapped his fingers and produced a plume of prismatic fire. “I can get in her head, cross some wires, and weaken her mental fortitude enough for you to get a foothold. It can only work once, though, and she can’t see me coming.”

A shudder went through Luna’s body. It disgusted her to imagine doing such a thing to a living creature, and it repulsed her even more that she wasn’t completely averse to it. In her mind, Nightmare Moon was a demon that sowed chaos wherever she went and deserved any punishment she got. Invading her thoughts when she had done the same thing to countless others was just delicious irony.

“Even if you say that…” Luna closed her eyes and sighed. “Discord, if I do this, then you must promise not to do anything to Nightmare Moon aside from helping me look into her thoughts.”

“Of course.”

“I mean it. I will not have anypony cheating the hangmare's noose.”

“I doubt a noose would do much against her, but I get what you're saying. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick- ouch!”

Luna groaned and carried on down the corridor.

Shortly after, the iron door to Nightmare Moon’s cell appeared at the end. Two guards were stationed in front of it.

They stiffened when they saw Discord, but it seemed to be in anticipation of something rather than fear. Well, he had included a lot of ponies in his antics, and there was no guarantee they weren’t traumatizing.

Luna gestured for them to be at ease as Discord leaned in toward her.

“Now, you enter first, then I’ll sneakily put her to sleep. We’ve only got one shot at this.”

Luna nodded. She took a deep breath, then unlocked the door and entered, her body language relaxed but alert.

These cells, seldom used, rarely needed anything other than a locked door with a few attentive guards standing outside. Nightmare Moon was a special case; including the iron door, there were iron bars cutting half the space in half, and special wards on the floor that prevented teleportation.

Nightmare Moon was behind those bars. Thick chains linked the wall to cuffs on her hooves, inhibiting mobility. An obsidian ring had been placed on her horn.

Such measures would be called cruel. Luna called it necessary.

As soon as she entered, Nightmare Moon turned to her and moved as close to the bars as the chains permitted. Luna kept her expression neutral and did the same.

“Have you found the Resonator?” Nightmare Moon's eyes were bright and alert; no longer was she listless, this was a predator ready to pounce. “This would go faster if you let me help. The longer the search takes, the less time we have to re-open the Fractures.”

Luna grimaced, not needing to pretend to be incensed. “For one ready to die, you are suddenly eager to give orders.”

Nightmare Moon’s teeth flashed behind her lips as she spoke. “Our motivations differ but we have the same goal. You wish to be rid of me, don’t you? Then exile is your best choice,” Her eyes narrowed. “No, it is the only choice that I will accept.”

“So, we are to simply trust that you will help us search instead of using the opportunity to flee or attack?”

“Should I escape now?” Nightmare Moon bared her teeth, anger sharpening her tone. “I am not as imprisoned as I appear.”

Luna saw something from deep in the cell’s shadows. It snuck up on Nightmare Moon and loomed larger and larger.

It must have shown in her gaze because Nightmare Moon’s body went tense and she quickly turned-

-as Discord clapped his hands together and splayed them to unleash tendrils of energy, switching between colours so fast that it made Luna's eyes hurt, that latched onto Nightmare Moon's head.

Nightmare Moon reared up with a strangled cry and tore one of her chains out of the wall. She made a wild grab for Discord before collapsing, her eyelids sliding shut.

Luna released a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding. "Good work."

Discord let out a low whistle and wiggled his hands. “That should have dropped her instantly. To think that she could resist even for that short while... Well, anyhoo, let’s get to business…” He crouched beside Nightmare Moon, licked his finger, and stuck it in her ear. “Annnd her defences are down. Ready when you are."

Luna realized that she could have killed Nightmare Moon in this instant and save everyone a lot of trouble. But her hoof stayed, and she called on her magic instead.

A ribbon of blue magic leaked out of her horn and homed in on Nightmare Moon’s forehead. The instant it made contact, Luna felt a jolt go through her body and reflexively closed her eyes.

When she opened them-

*

-she was hovering in an endless void occupied by countless doors. A familiar sight to her, save for the vortexes of chaotic energy swirling about.

“Is this your doing, or is it a product of her alien mind?”

One of the doors morphed into Discord, and he looked around. “My doing, of course. Is it supposed to be this empty?”

“She is unconscious, which is different from sleep but close enough that my power should work,” Luna focused and moved them both through the void, passing door after door. “The memories containing Vinyl should be further ahead.”

“How do you know to do this, by the by?”

Luna was quiet for a few seconds. “It is something I just know; an inner instinct within me since I was born.”

Discord grunted. “I suppose that makes sense. It wouldn’t do well for the Princess of the Night to get lost in a common pony’s dream. Quite lame, as the young ponies nowadays would say.”

Doors whizzed by at blinding speeds, but Luna was able to stop on one. “Yes, this is it.”

She opened it and walked inside with Discord in tow.

It was the interior of a bar. Nightmare Moon and Vinyl sat in a nearby booth with drinks, both frozen in time.

Luna nodded. “This memory is significant to her.”

“And you just know this?”

“Yes.”

Luna lifted her hoof and stomped it on the floor.

Soft music filled the air.

“No shit? She called down the actual friggin’ sun?”

“I was not aware she even had such an ability,” Nightmare Moon shifted in her side of the booth a third time – she took up the entirety and it was only just enough. “It makes me wonder if Luna possesses something similar.”

“Maybe,” Vinyl’s horn glowed as she lifted a small glass of whiskey to her lips. She sucked on her teeth once it was empty and shuddered slightly. “Mm. Hey, maybe it’s not a beam of moonlight; I betcha it’s like a… like a sword or some crap.”

Nightmare Moon gave an amused smirk. “A moonlight sword?”

“Do you have something like that?” Discord asked.

Luna shook her head. “No,” She rubbed her chin. “Although, if I adjust the way a spell I know works…”

She trailed off, distracted by the version of Nightmare Moon that, until now, only Vinyl had seen: calm, not antagonistic, and content to just sit and drink.

“Seems genuine to me.” Discord said after a few minutes.

“Perhaps.”

Luna waved her hoof and tore the scenery apart, then lit her horn to snag fragments of another memory and put it together around them.

Nightmare Moon stood in front with her back to them, watching a frozen image of Vinyl being carried through an Entropic Fracture by a human.

“Vinyl!!”

“Wolf?” Vinyl ceased her struggles as her eyes widened; there was a smear of crusted blood running from her nose. Instantly, she brightened and grinned. “Wolf!”

The large knight turned around and stared at Nightmare Moon through the thin slit in their helm.

“Let. Her. Go.”

The knight’s helmet clanked as they cocked their head…

And swiftly turned to lift one leg through the Fracture.

“No!!”

Luna’s hoof came down.

Silently, she walked in front of Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon’s face was frozen in an expression of dismay; she looked frightened, even.

"Another question," Discord said as Luna moved back next to him. "If we're seeing this through her eyes, then shouldn't it be through her eyes? How are we watching this?"

"I am taking some liberties," Luna replied distractedly. "I recreate the environment from her memory and place her where she was at that point. It is not perfect - there are some mistakes, but they are minor."

Discord looked around. "Can't say I see any."

"Because you do not know what to look for."

Luna stomped her hoof again.

The light began swallowing the human as they advanced, and Nightmare Moon launched herself forwards unthinkingly, one forehoof reaching out as Vinyl extended her own foreleg to-

Vinyl disappeared through the Fracture.

Nightmare Moon followed her without a second thought.

“Short but it gets the point across.”

Luna closed her eyes and rubbed the gap between them. “Her expression held no falsity; her fear was true,” With a wave of her hoof, she sent the memory adrift in the void. “Hm, what is it within her that makes her single out Vinyl as the one that can bring out such sentiment?”

Discord leaned back and floated as if he was on a hammock. “Who knows? The mind is a chaotic thing. One might have the greatest love for their country but condemn the parents that raised them. Another may watch hundreds of their kind die without a tear but break down over stepping on a snail.

“I’ve had millennia to reflect and ponder all these philosophical questions, and the only mind I can say I understand is my own,” He suddenly burst out laughing. "Oh, couldn't keep a straight face on that one."

Several doors came and went like driftwood. Luna could tell at a glance they were precious memories of Vinyl.

“What are you thinking, Luna?”

“I want to see more,” Luna beckoned one of the doors closer. “Time is of no issue here, so long as we do not rouse her unconscious mind’s suspicions. With our powers combined, it should be manageable.”

She opened it.

Luna’s power frightened many who did not understand it. They believed – though didn’t say out loud – that Luna could tamper with memories, manipulate thoughts, or control one’s behaviour. That nightmares even existed only served as evidence in their eyes, for why would they willingly subject themselves to such torment?

But Luna could only ever sway the flow of the dreamscape.

Dreams were intrinsically linked to memories; they were recollections of the waking world altered. These changes could be subtle or explicit, a retelling based off a ‘what if this was here?’ or a ‘what if that happened?’

A nightmare was when one’s fears filtered through and shaped the memory into something horrifying.

Because these memories don’t match what truly happened, and because the mind is a fickle thing, the line between reality becomes blurred and the dreamer may believe the past to be the present.

At some point, this mistake is realized, and the dreamer awakens. How quickly they realize this varies, but Luna found that ponies with strong resolve and will almost immediately recognize when a memory goes awry; a lucid dreamer was somepony with particularly resilient fortitude and could make themselves remain asleep.

Luna could control another’s dream to some extent, but she was not its master; the dreamer could force her out if they wanted to. They might not be in the right mindset to accept her help either, merely deeming her another threat.

When the direct approach failed, Luna learned how to stick to the white noise of one’s dream and support them from afar with subliminal messages; a word of reassurance here, a splash of warm colours there – the smallest thing could make all the difference.

But...

But with Discord’s power augmenting her own, even reshaping one of Nightmare Moon’s memories was ‘a small thing.’ Now, instead of entering a dream already in place, Luna could create one from scratch and without fear of waking Nightmare Moon.

And that was what she did.

Dream after dream, memory after memory; she replayed them over and over, stepping in to move a pony or object or change a location.

There was a memory with Nightmare Moon speaking to Vinyl on a couch. Luna created a clay copy of Caed and made him step through a Fracture and grab Vinyl.

Nightmare Moon knocked him aside and ushered Vinyl out of harm’s way before preparing to fight.

Luna replayed the memory of Vinyl being kidnapped. She made it so the Fracture closed before Nightmare Moon could get through.

Nightmare Moon howled in fury and dismay and took to the air to search for another Fracture.

Yet another memory showed Vinyl attacking Caed in the midst of a fierce battle.

Luna inhaled.

She made Caed swing his glaive at her neck.

Then, she had to stop the memory before Nightmare Moon remembered her own death. Even with her strengthened power, she couldn’t have stopped Nightmare Moon from waking at that inconsistency.

Over and over, Luna altered memories, creating dreams in their place for Nightmare Moon to run through like an obstacle course. So long as she was careful not to let Nightmare Moon die, it would go for as long as needed.

She could create any environment, any situation, any trial.

But the one constant was that Vinyl was there in some way, whether that was as a friend, an enemy, or a corpse.

“Enough.”

Luna summoned a wind to spirit the memory away, then pressed a hoof to her eyes.

“I have seen enough.”

Discord chuckled mirthlessly from behind. “You were the one in control, Luna. You’re acting as if all that was forced on you.”

“I am aware of that, I just…” Luna summoned a glass of water and drank from it. Of course, the taste and touch were all in her head, but the act itself was cathartic. “Blood and fire, it’s all true. This damned demon would have done anything for her.”

“Indeed. Quite literally, she would have gnawed her arm off, though I suppose if one could grow it back…”

Luna tapped her hoof against her teeth and stared out into the void. “It was too much. I should have stopped.”

Discord tilted his head to one side.

“I became convinced of their connection many memories ago, but part of me revelled in seeing her suffer. After all that she has done throughout the ages, all the deaths and manipulation, watching her misery enthralled me.”

Luna shuddered and bit down on the tip of her hoof.

“I should be better.”

“Yes, you should,” Luna turned and looked at him in surprise. He simply shrugged. "What? Did you want me to disagree?"

"No. I expected-"

"I'm sure that's what your sister would say, but I'm not so kind. Really, you should have stopped. And I should have done something to stop you, I suppose," He shrugged. "Guess we're both terrible creatures."

Luna didn't see reason to argue. “I am tired of dealing with her, Discord. I want her gone. Death, exile - it no longer matters to me which."

"... Buuut?"

"The humans took my subjects. They killed them, harvested their magic as if they were grain," Luna growled and the dream world flashed a hellish red. "At this point, Nightmare Moon is a rabid animal straining against her cage to sink her jaws into prey. I say we open that cage and let the humans deal with her."

Discord's lips pulled back in a sadistic leer, one she hadn't seen since a thousand years ago. "Sowing chaos from time to time is good for the soul, I always say."

"Hmph. What sort of soul would that be?"

"Ouch~"

Luna felt sick. "This experience has shown me many things, not just about Nightmare Moon but about myself. There is a darkness in me that does not exist in my sister. Perhaps that is why Nightmare Moon chose me as her host."

Discord shrugged. "You know, you could check that out right now? Why she possessed you, I mean."

Luna looked to the side and saw seemingly infinite doors leading into a dark abyss. "No. I do not wish to know, after all."

"Fair enough. So, are we done here?"

"Yes. Let us return - I have changed my mind about what to do with her."

“Ah, one more thing before we go,” Discord wiggled his fingers, and his grin looked livelier. “Since the last dream you made involved a certain someone falling from a great height, I think it would in everyone’s best interests – mostly ours – to finish off with a less…” He waved his hand. “Let’s say ‘perilous’ experience.”

Luna lifted a skeptical eyebrow. "Do you really think that would calm her?”

“It can’t hurt to try.”

Luna sighed. “Very well. I shall leave the dream to you.”

Discord cracked his neck. “I’m thinking something festive…”

*

Nightmare Moon woke.

Luna stared at her through the bars, a key dangling in her magical grasp. “What do you want to do?”

Nightmare Moon licked her lips. “I want…”

Her horn ignited.

With one pulse of magic, the obsidian ring shattered, and the bars of the cell exploded outwards. Luna shielded her face with her hoof as twisted, red-hot pieces of iron flew past her, and her teeth ached as the air was wrought with wild magic from disrupted runes; runes that should have been impossible to break.

"Discord, don't-!"

Luna gagged as she was tackled, pushed across the room, and slammed up against the wall. Nightmare Moon's glowing eyes bore into her with crushing intensity.

“I want to kill you right now for putting me through all that.”

Luna pawed at the foreleg against her throat and prayed that Discord stayed back.

“We spoke in the last dream I had, but you conveniently left out the part where you tormented me over and over again,” Nightmare Moon leered sadistically. “Yes, I remember it now. Perhaps you should have scrubbed my mind clean while you were digging around in there.”

“That wasn’t my-” Luna almost choked on her tongue.

“Were you going to say ‘intention?’ ‘Design?’ Is that meant to ease my pain?” Nightmare Moon growled viciously. “You fool. Did you at least get what you were searching for? Well?!”

The pressure eased enough for Luna to wheeze out, “Y-yes…”

“Good.”

Luna found herself thrown to the floor. Discord helped her up as she coughed and rubbed her throat.

At some point, the guards had entered the cell, bringing a lamp and spears. Shadows danced over Nightmare Moon’s face eerily as her broken horn started to grow back. For a while, there was no sound save for Luna’s panting and the shifting metal segments of the guards’ armor as they trembled.

“If intruding on my mind is what it takes for you to see that my attention is solely fixed on Caed, then so be it. I’m even going to ignore all those scenarios you subjected me to. You felt entitled to some vengeance, I can understand that.”

Nightmare Moon rolled out the stiffness in her neck and grunted as her horn finished regenerating.

“Do what you want, but do not let me think that any action you take is wasted effort that could be applied to sending me to the human world,” Nightmare Moon turned her ruthless gaze to Discord. “I don’t care how you got free. You’re helping and that’s enough for me.”

Discord’s laugh had the sharp edge of hostility. “A pleasure to see you again. I’m fine. Little stiff, though.”

Nightmare Moon snorted and turned to the door.

“Where are you going?” Luna cried. She stood and teleported in front of Nightmare Moon when she knocked the guards’ spears out of the way. “You’re still in captivity.”

“I’m forgiving what you did because I’m willing to believe it was necessary for you,” Nightmare Moon leaned and used the few inches she had on Luna to great effect. “But now I need to be out there to make sure everyone is doing what they can to send me to the human world.”

“You will distract them.”

“No, I’ll motivate them. You’d be surprised how efficiently one works when they know I am at their back. Just ask Twilight.”

Nightmare Moon shoved her out of the way hard enough that anypony without a solid constitution would have found their face smeared against the wall. Luna recovered and glared daggers at her back.

“Leave her,” Discord let go and held his hands up placatingly when Luna turned to him sharply. “Much as I hate to admit, we’re lucky she’s doing this instead of trying to rearrange our faces. And I quite like my dashing looks as they are, thank you.”

Luna’s chest rose and fell with harsh breaths, but she stopped herself from turning back. “I fear what will happen if she is left free to do as she wishes.”

“Is it worse than what will happen if you try to stop her? She only wants to help us help her along to her demise,” Discord waved his hand and the space around it distorted until a pipe appeared. “I say let her.”

Usually, Discord only made things appear when they were needed for a joke. As he put the pipe to his lips and breathed in, Luna got the feeling that it was there for a more serious purpose.

“I wasn’t aware you smoked.”

“Eight hundred years clean,” Discord exhaled a puff of grey smoke with a shrug. “Consistency and I have a strained relationship, so it was bound to happen sooner or later.”

Luna said nothing.

“Well, no point in standing here feeling sorry for ourselves, much as a favourite pastime of mine that is,” Discord gave his usual mischievous grin and put out his arm in a noble gesture. “After you, milady.”

Luna huffed in amusement and walked forward. “In my time, ‘twas the stallion that put himself between the threat and the fair maiden.”

“Oh? Well, that explains the correlation between chivalry and 'especially gruesome death.'”

At the far end of the corridor, Nightmare Moon strode ahead with an air of determination and resolve. Even after Luna had given into temptation and showed her all those horrible scenarios, she did not falter or sway from her goal.

A grudging respect swelled within Luna. But she viciously crushed that in an instant.

Author's Note

Hey, how are you doing?

The year's been a drag so far, but it's easy for all the bad to cover up the good. Humans are tough and we'll bounce back from this in no time.

Until then, keep your head up. We're all better-looking when we smile anyway.

~Lupine Infernis

~Lupine Infernis

Chapter 31: @&mh98ERRORmsi#!(yo7)

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PROCESSING…

IRREGULAR 295 HAS GONE OFF THE RADAR – SIGNAL LOST

PENDING TIME OF SIGNAL LOSS…

1900 HOURS

LOCATION - >ERROR<

FILING REPORT…

…

LOGGING IN…

LAUNCHING SCOUT PROTOCOL PENDING…

CONFIRMED – SCOUT REGISTRY NUMBER 405 SELECTED

SCOUTER PREPPI-

ERROR<

SCOUT LAUNCH PROGRAMME CANCELLED

LOGGING OUT…

…

LAUNCHING QC-SPECTRUM SHIFT TESTING PROTOCOL…

ACCESS DENIED – CLEARANCE LEVEL-

ERROR<

(39jsh5nskiu938-SPECTRUMSHIFT-mmaw8902736…)

OVERRIDE SUCCESSFUL…

LAUNCHING QC-SPECTRUM SHIFT TESTING PROTOCOL…

LOGGING OUT...

...

“What’s one more finger to he who is paralyzed?”

Author's Note

It shouldn't have been this way.

They could have been saved.

There are no gods watching over us...

But that will soon change...