Nocturnals

Chapters

Episode 1: Strange Dreams
Episode 2: White
Episode 4: Vampire in Ponyville
Episode 5: Reunion
Episode 6: Dagny
Episode 7: Dreamer
Episode 8: Night Guard
Episode 9: Spectre
Episode 10: The Race
Episode 11: Surprise, Scootaloo
Episode 12: Pockets
Episode 13: Dress to Express
Episode 15: Of Dresses and Dreams
Episode 17: Kolea
Episode 18: Fangtastic Third Night
Episode 19: Third's the Charm
Episode 20: Danse Macabre
Episode 3: Cure
Valentine's Episode: My Roommate is the cutest Vampire
Episode 16: Shared Pain

Episode 1: Strange Dreams

It had been two weeks since Starlight switched Luna's cutie mark with her sister's. And ever since, Luna felt something strange was happening in regards to the dreams the ponies had.

For one, there were more nightmares in general, specifically ones involving Nightmare Moon. But Nightmare Night was just a week away, so a little increase was to be expected. That year was just a little bit more extreme than she was used to. Possibly she overdid it with her show last year.

Another thing was that the amount of times she entered a nightmare just for it to disappear instantly increased too. That did happen from time to time, but not that often. Especially considering that most ponies had forgotten their nightmares by the time she asked them about it. But still, maybe she was just lucky. Less work solving nightmares.

At least she hoped that until she entered a nightmare a little filly in Appleloosa had. In it, the whole town was destroyed by fire. That, however, wasn't the problem. Fears about fires were common after all. What wasn't common was the reason for the fire. For some reason, the filly's nightmare involved Daybreaker. Luna was able to end the nightmare and help the filly with her fears, but it still gave her no rest.

Trying to figure out what exactly troubled Luna caused her some sleepless days. It wasn't the brutality of the dream. Fears can cause severe nightmares, even for foals. She didn't want anypony to worry because of a gut feeling, so she didn't tell anypony about it. And there were more important things to do anyway. The feeling that something's off would probably stay a few days on the edge of her mind and then disappear. Hopefully.

Sunrise, 5 days until Nightmare Night

Finally, the last dream was taken care of for the night. It was nothing unordinary, just somepony with arachnophobia. While she was going to her meal with Celestia, Luna was talking to herself again, "Well, nothing too strange tonight. It was still exhausting... Good thing Tia understands that now! She even started making less... 'extravagant' food for breakfast. It might look fantastic, but if I'm too tired to eat it, it's no use for anypony after all. And the patrol patterns of the guards allow me to get to our dining hall in peace. Did Tia do that on purpose? Maybe I should ask her.

"But I still don't know what concerns me about that Daybreaker dream. It could just be because it was that evil version of Tia. But that's unlikely. I have seen worse dreams involving her. Much worse... I guess it doesn't matter right now, time to eat."

She opened the door to the dinning hall and as expected, a smiling, well rested Celestia—eating something remarkably artistic—was already waiting for her. "Good morning, Luna. How are you today?"

"Tired as always, with all the—are those muffins?"

"Yes, I thought since your duties are so tiring, something easy to eat would be good. The blueberries were the best I could find. I hope you like them."

"Thank you—" Luna ate one of the muffins "—They are really good! Where was I? Right, the nightmares! Honestly, you don't want to know. It's enough that I have to see so many of them."

"Was it that bad tonight?"

"I'll just say one word: Spiders."

What you needed to know about Celestia is that she had incredible composure. Almost nothing could make her lose it. As obviously seen by her coughing and the simultaneously disgusted and terrified look in her eyes by the sheer mention of the eight legged creatures, spiders were one of the few things that could accomplish that.

"You don't want me to go into greater detail, I presume?"

"NO—"she almost shot the food from her fork across the room while gesticulating her unwillingness to talk about spiders"—that won't be necessary!"

Luna smiled. "I must say, Tia, it's nice seeing you like that."

"Full of fear?" Celestia asked annoyed.

"Dear Goodness, no! I meant without your royal mask on! When you're not 'Princess Celestia' but my sister, Tia. I said already that you don't need to be perfect for me. In fact, I would rather have the imperfect sister than the perfect princess."

It would have made for a really adorable scene, but in that moment a scroll appeared in front of Luna. She opened it and began to read.

Dear Princess Luna,

Nightmare Night is just around the corner and everypony in Ponyville is looking forward to your visit!

I‘m writing you in advance because I had a great idea. The old castle in the Everfree is still too dangerous to bring foals to it, so why don’t we use my castle as “Nightmare Moon’s castle” for the night? It’s big enough to spare a few rooms for it and it would add something new to the mix. I already made some plans, but your opinion would be really helpful. But we can discuss the specifics when you are here.

Like last year, a room is prepared for you in the castle.

Best regards,
Twilight Sparkle

"You must have gotten wonderful news, considering how big your smile is."

"Twilight has an idea for the Nightmare Night celebration in Ponyville and asks for my help. I've been looking forward to this night all year, and this time I'm getting a whole castle to spook! I couldn't have received a better letter! I'll need bats, old armors, some wood for timberwolf-statues and—" Luna grinned "—spiders."

This time, Celestia kept herself a little bit better, she just almost choked on her food. "I see you are already in the mood of the festivities, dear sister. I'm happy that you enjoy it, even though I never could find it as enjoyable as you do."

"Maybe because spiders are a part of most of the decorations?"

"It has more to do with the fact that it always reminded me of what happened," Celestia answered calmly.

"Well, I'm back, so why don't you give it another chance?"

Luna and Celestia looked each other in the eyes a few moments. Until Celestia couldn't stand Luna's grin anymore.

"Fine, I'll admit it! I'm still so afraid of spiders that I can't even stand fake ones for a prolonged period of time!"

Luna stopped grinning. "I beg your pardon, I didn't know it was still so bad."

"It's alright—" Celestia sighed "—just keep them away from me."

"I promise to not use spiders anywhere where you might come across them. Or, how Twilight's friend would say: 'Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.' Or muffin in that case."

Both laughed at the ridiculous promise Pinkie Pie came up with.

Ponyville, 3 days until Nightmare Night

Turning the castle into a spookhouse was a lot of work, but thanks to Twilight’s very precise lists, they had enough time to prepare everything. If nothing unexpected happened, the “Nightmare Castle”—as they decided to call it—would be a great success. Luna was so absorbed by the preparations and the anticipation that she stopped worrying about that dream.

Twilight and Luna had prepared the hallway leading to the throne room and were inspecting it one last time. “Do you think that’s enough spiderwebs?” asked Twilight.

“I would say so. Any more would be to much. The old sets of armor are a commendable work as well, Twilight.”

“Thank you!” Twilight paused for a moment. Then she asked Luna, ”I have a question about something I read about dreams, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” Luna answered, “what is it?”

“Good. So, I found an old book and at first I didn’t think it was really reliable, since the author is only known as ‘The Wanderer’. It said that you cannot meet somepony you don’t know in a dream, only ponies you already saw. Is that true? I think I often see faces in dreams I never saw before.”

Luna thought about that. “I think it’s true. The faces may be changed in a dream, but one way or another, you had seen them before. Maybe just randomly in a street, but you saw them nonetheless. Or you heard stories and imagined a face while you were awake. But dreams only work with memorie—That’s it!”

“What do you mean?” a very confused Twilight asked.

“Do you promise to not tell anypony what I am about to tell you?”

“I won’t tell anypony. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

“It really has a certain ring to it, I will give Pinkamena that. Starlight told you about the dream she had when she was in Canterlot? And about Daybreaker?”

“Yes, she did.”

“Well, there were some strange things happening in the dream realm after that for a few weeks. The strangest one didn’t give me rest. I always had that feeling in the back of my head that something was just not right. You probably know that feeling, when it doesn’t feel too urgent or too wrong, but it still bothers you. And you find yourself always thinking about that thing and why it may cause you so much frustration.”

“Why do you think I have that many checklists? But what was the problem now?”

“A filly in Appleloosa had a nightmare involving Daybreaker. Now I know why it troubled me. How was that filly able to dream of her if she had never even heard of her, let alone had seen her?”

“That really is strange… was there anything else?”

“No. Luckily, the anomalies ended one or two days after that. But that still leaves the question why Daybreaker appeared in that nightmare… You said you read about dreams in a book?”

“Yeah. Why? Do you think there will be any useful information in it?”

“I would say it’s at least worth a try. Could you bring me to the book?”

“Of course, the library was the next point on the checklist anyway.”

“Here it is.” Twilight gave Luna an old, red book titled Journal of The Wanderer. “I hope you find something useful in it. I’ll be over there.”

After Twilight had gone around a corner, Luna opened the book and started reading. The handwriting was legible, but clearly not meant for anyone besides the author to read it. Still, the notes and entries where organized after topics. Luna knew that she needed to concentrate if she wanted to find something useful in the journal, and that she always talked to herself when she concentrated, so she created a silence shield around her before continuing.

“‘Timberwolves’? No, that’s not it. ‘Changelings’? Would have been useful in the past… ‘Dreams’! There it is… Only some random things, nothing that could help me. Let’s see what’s on the next page… ‘Nachtmahre (Nightmares)’? That could be interesting.”

The lands beyond Equestria sure have some interesting legends! One that caught my attention was the legend of the Nachtmahre. At first I thought they were talking about nightmares, as in bad dreams, but I soon realized my mistake.

Here, in a land east of Equestira, Nachtmahre are believed to be related to or even the cause nightmares, hence the similarity of the names (Nachtmahr would literally translate to nightmare. I think I will call them Nachtmares in my notes.) There are different legends surrounding them. In some, Nachtmares outright cause nightmares with their presence, in others they create them with the intention to punish wrongdoing.

Yet others say that they are simply attracted to nightmares and feed off the fear the dreamer experiences. A similar legend says that they feed off dreams and that’s the reason the ponies here seldom remember their dreams long, if they remember what they dreamed about at all.

Other legends yet again say that they can invade dreams, turning them into nightmares. But only the most powerful Nachtmares are believed to be able to do that in a controlled manner. They then appear in multiple dreams, often from ponies that never met even once, but somehow all have the same nightmare in a short amount of days.

A common theme between all legends is that Nightmares are real beings, unlike Tantabi, who only consist of magic. Nightmares are supposed to possess the ability to take a physical form, but only in their own realms, hidden deep in forests or caves or mountains, or at night.

But no one was able to give me any real evidence about their existence, so maybe the stories are all just old tales.

End of chapter

Luna closed the book. “That would be an explanation for the things that happened. If it’s correct, that is. I have never heard of Nachtmahre, nor did I see them in the dream realm. But it is a possibility I can’t ignore.

“But if it is true, that means we may have to face Daybreaker again. If she is a Nachtmare. I still have some hope left that it was all just a coincidence. I mean, the strange dreams ended. Maybe it’s all back to normal. But that will all have to wait until Nightmare Night is over.”

She opened the silence shield, put the journal on a nearby table and went to search for Twilight to continue with the preparations.

Nightmare Night

The whole town was decorated, fillies and colts—and Pinkie Pie—went from house to house to collect candy while the adults celebrated in and around town square. The sound of a bell ringing seven times told everypony to gather around the main stage for Mayor Mare’s speech.

Mayor stood behind the podium on stage, the microphone in front of her, “Thank you, everypony, and welcome to the Nightmare Night festival! Now, I can see that all the little ponies were really busy collecting sweets, and so it is now time for our Guest of honor, Princess Luna!”

The whole town started cheering and applauding when Luna flew dramatically over the crowd, even chanting her name when she landed on the stage. Mayor Mare offered Luna her microphone, but Luna declined and faced the crowd directly. With a little move of her hoof, silence quickly befell the crowd. All were waiting for Luna to speak.

“Citizens of Ponyville! I, the Princess of the Night, have arrived to join you all in this merry celebration!” she waited a few moments for the new wave of cheers and chants to end. “This year the annual candy offering will not take place in front of the statue in the forest! Instead, thanks to the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle, we were able to turn the Castle of Friendship into a castle of nightmares! Every colt and every filly that feels prepared may gather there when the bell beats eight times and enter the castle! But be warned, the horrors inside can only be conquered by the bravest of all ponies!”

With that, she vanished in asudden burst of smoke, and somewhere in the crowd a pony was yelling “I told you the smoke bombs of the great and powerful Trixie are good enough for a princess!”

A few minutes later, Pinkie Pie, dressed up as Fili-Second, and Maud, wearing a black and slightly worn down version of her usual frock, entered the town square. “We missed the speech!” Pinkie said, disappointed.

“We still heard it. She has a really loud voice,” Maud replied.

“Well, yeah. Her ‘royal Canterlot voice’ is almost as loud as my megaphone! And at least we got tons of candy! But I really hoped we could see her giving the speech. She can be really scary when she wants to—”

Maud looked around. “There will be thunder in a moment.”

“What?” Pinkie asked confused, “There are no clouds, let alone storm clo—”

There was a sudden clap of thunder, followed by Pinkie Pie screaming and Rainbow Dash laughing from atop a tiny stormcloud. Maud was unaffected by the prank.

Rainbow Dash noticed that and flew down to them. “Why aren’t you scared? That prank normally works on everypony!”

Maud faced Rainbow with her usual expression. “Maud-Sense. When your victim sees the prank coming, it hardly works.”

“Maud-Sense? You want to tell me Pinkie isn’t the only one with a sense?”

“Yes, it runs in our family.”

“She’s right,” Pinkie said, “we all have one, but it works different for each of us. For example, mine is twitching and flopping and itching and aching, and her’s is more about finding things or ponies.”

“Wha—actually, I believe you. Pinkie is a terrible liar. But I will get you, Maud, I promise!” That said, Rainbow took her cloud and flew away, probably searching for another victim.

Maud turned to Pinkie. “Didn’t you tell me that she learned her lesson regarding pranks?”

“She did, but Nightmare Night is an exception. As soon as she wears her Shadowbolt costume, its pranks away. So, what should we do know? We still have some time until the castle opens.”

“Gather round, little ones, for I am your guide,
In this nightmare of a night."

Zecora opened the doors and led the foals and Pinkie down a dark corridor into the castle. Suits of armor stood on both sides and the few lights cast shadows everywhere.

Maud had to leave because of something important, but couldn’t tell Pinkie what it was. Of course it was sad, both that Maud had to leave and that she couldn’t even tell her sister the reason, but Maud said she gave a Pinkie Promise to keep it a secret and if anypony would insist on that, it was Pinkie herself. And the castle was really spooky! But wasn’t the hallway longer than that?

At the end of the hallway, Zecora went through a door to the left and entered a library. When all ponies gathered around her again, she presented them a small, golden key.

"If you use this key,
open the next room will be.
But only if you follow the clock,
will you find the right lock."

“What do you mean? I thought you guide us to Luna,” asked Scootaloo.

“It’s a riddle,” Applebloom said.

“Of course! Twilight planned this thing here, so we need to use our heads,” added Sweetie Belle.

“And who,” a filly asked Zecora, “will take the key?”

“That's your decision, not mine.
But I'm sure all of you will be just fine.”

After saying that, she vanished in a cloud of green smoke, dropping the key. Pinkie stepped forward and took it. “So, I guard the key. Let’s solve the riddle!”

Pipsqueak found a clock on a table, but they didn’t find anything on, around or under the clock or the table that seemed to be helpful.

Applebloom turned to her friends. “Not really spooky here, is it?”

After a few minutes, Applebloom noticed something. “There are twelve bookshelves here, right? Maybe they are part of the riddle… What time was on the clock in the middle again?”

Pinkie bounced around. “Eight o’clock!”

“Thanks, Pinkie,” Applebloom said, “So, we just have to search the one that represents eight and find the next hint!”

“One problem. Where—” Sweetie Bell looked from one to the other”—Is eight on that clock?”

Applebloom thought for a moment. “The books are probably sorted. Where’s ‘A’?”

It took them a few tries, but eventually, they found a lock hidden behind a book. It opened a door to a short hallway. As soon as the last foal left the library, the door closed behind them. Scootaloo tried to open it again, but it was locked. Green mist filled the other end of the corridor, with Zecora standing in the middle.

“Now you have to stay out of sight,
or you will feel the vampire's bite!"

She vanished again before anypony could ask anything. A new door appeared in the wall.

Behind it lay a stone-workshop with a small table in the middle. Shelves were placed all over the room, tools were scattered everywhere. And on the table sat a grey mare with a black frock. Maud.

Pinkie started going to her sister. She still made it!, were her thoughts, Whatever she had to do was over! Now we can both—

The CMC tackled and pinned her down behind one of the shelves. Scootaloo secured her right arm, Applebloom the left one and Sweetie Bell used her magic to keep her from screaming. They still made a sound from falling to the ground.

“HISS!” Maud turned her seat in their direction and showed giant fangs and blood red eyes. She walked a few steps toward it, but couldn’t see anypony. All foals hid behind shelves. So she returned to her table.

Sweetie Belle looked at a mildly confused Pinkie. “She obviously plays a role here, and nopony wants to ruin the game. So we have to stay hidden.”

Pinkie nodded and the three fillies set her free.

It took them all around 10 minutes to get to the other side of the room and through the door.

Pinkie left as the last one and closed the door to the vampire room. Now there were two hallways, one in front of them and one to the right.

Applebloom looked at her friends. “Which way?”

Before anypony could answer, a growl came from the right corridor. Something that looks like an Appletree-Timberwolf sprinted towards them.

“Front!” All three agreed and started running, the others following close behind.

“Is it scary enough now, Applebloom?”

“Don’t ruin it now that it’s starting to get fun, Scoots!”

“Just a few more meters! Then we reach the next door!” Pinkie said, giggling.

“Why should that stop it?” The CMC asked in unison.

“It’s a game, remember? We just have to reach the next checkpoint!”

They stormed through the door and slammed it shut after the last one reached the next room. The sound of somepony running into the door told them that they just barely made it.

And a familiar voice saying “Ow… my head…” told them who played the part of the Timberwolf.

“Whoever made that costume for your sister did a really good work”— Sweetie Belle took deep breaths to recover from the sudden sprint— “but why didn’t you tell us about it?”

“Because I didn’t know!” Applebloom answered. “I thought she was going as a changeling.”

“Congratulations, little ones!” Luna, in full Nightmare Moon costume, stood in front of them. The rest of the room was too dark to be seen. “You made it to me. So, what did you bring me?”

Back at Ponyville town square

Twilight and Luna wandered around, talking about the success of the Nightmare Castle. Every filly and every colt had told them how much fun they had. Many asked if they would prepare something like that in the following year again. But then one of Celestia’s royal guards landed in front of them.

“Princess Luna, I have an urgent message from Canterlot!” He handed her a letter and collapsed.

Out of nowhere, Rainbow Dash landed beside the guard. “He flew past me on his way here. Don’t worry, he’s just exhausted. Probably flew all the way in one go at top speed. I’ll bring him to the hospital to rest.”

After they left the scene, Luna opened the letter. She was shocked by its content. She said with a demanding voice, “Twilight, gather your friends and come to Canterlot. I will leave at once.”

“What happened?” She asked Luna, worried.

“Somepony tried to kill Celestia, and I don’t know if I will be able to hold myself back when I see the assassin.”

Episode 2: White

Canterlot Castle

“Tia, are you ok? What happened?” Luna rushed towards her sister. “I came as fast as I could!”

“I’m fine, for the most part”—Celestia showed a bandage wrapped around her right front leg—“Just a scratch. Whatever that attacker was bit me! The guards that tried to stop him didn’t have as much luck… Three are in a critical state.”

“It bit you?”

“Yes. He claims to be a vampire. The implications if he tells the truth would be immense, but the breach in security is worrisome enough on its own. I need your help to prevent a panic.”

“Of course I’ll help! But could me tell me what happened already?”

“I woke up from fighting sounds in the hallway, the door was pushed open, the supposed vampire leaping through it, I raised my hoof, he bit me. I managed to throw him off me and pin him down with magic. Apparently he fought his way directly to me, but nopony knows where he entered the castle.”

“How can you be so calm after an attack from a vampire?”

“Oh, I’m stressed. A vampire attacked several guards and bit me, there is a hole in the castle defence, your favorite holiday is ruined, I may or may not turn into a vampire… I am stressed! I’m just not panicking. No matter if I like it or not, I need to stay calm. If I am seen panicking… If there are even rumors about me being worried, it could hurl all of Equestria into mass hysteria.”

Luna needed a moment to process that. “Ok… Ok… What now?”

“We need to find out who the attacker actually is. I only knew vampires from books, so if he really is one, we need to know if there are others, how he became a vampire… Maybe it was just a botched spell or something. And why he wanted to”—Celestia hesitated a moment—“to kill me. The guards could already tell me that he went straight to my room.”

“I will interrogate him right after we are done here,” Luna said to Celestia. “Anything else?”

Celestia took a deep breath. “Because of my wound, I can’t fulfill my public duties. I know that it will be hard, but I have to ask you to cover them for me until I can safely show myself again.”

“Then it’s good that I already told Twilight to come here with the other Elements. They should arrive soon, and I have no doubt that together we can cover for you as long as necessary.”

After Luna left Tia to her doctors, who wanted to keep an eye on her just in case Celestia was infected with anything from the bite, she went down the hallways and stairs to the dungeon. She created a silence shield, something that almost happened reflexively whenever she needed to go somewhere and wanted to think loudly. “Tia is safe, at least relatively. And with the help of the Six, the same should be true about Equestria…

“Now to get to the real problem. The attacker. A self proclaimed vampire… Wouldn’t be that big of a surprise if it turns out that they exist. A surprise would be if they were able to hide from us for a long time… Although, we didn’t know much about dragons either until recently. And they are not really subtle. How unlikely is it then that smaller creatures could hide completely? Not that unlikely, right?

“And considering things like the changelings, a blood sucking pony doesn’t sound that absurd either. And if they really do die from sunlight, that would be a motive… We just had to put the dungeon on the deepest, outermost part of the castle… I need to keep it together when I’m in there. Last time I was that angry ended on the moon. I don’t want to repeat that.

“Finally, the cell block. Empty as always. The spells the cells are enchanted with are truly interesting. No hunger, no thirst… I often thought about getting such a spell for myself. Not having to eat would be really practical, but using a prison spell would bind my magic too. Well, everything has its pros and cons.”

Luna opened the shield and ordered the head guard, to bring her to the interrogation room where the assassin was waiting. She didn’t want to talk, so both went there in silence.

“It’s in here, your Highness.” The head guard stopped before a door with two more guards, but hesitated to unlock it. “We chained him to the wall. I suggest that you stay far enough away from it, your Highness. It bites.”

“I appreciate the piece of advice. Now open the door.” Luna didn’t want to waste any more time. She entered the room, closed the door and put a silence spell on it. She didn’t need any interferences now. Luna turned to the assassin, who sat on the ground. Red, emotionless eyes looking at her, jougs around the neck and bolted with two chains to the wall. He had a light grey coat and a white mane. His cutie mark was some kind of bowl.

“Oh, the Princess of the Night will interrogate me personally! What an honor!” He tried to bow, but the chains prevented him. He grinned now, showing two long teeth, still red with blood.

Luna stood in front of him. Don’t kill him. You need answers. “What’s your name?”

He laughed a little bit. “You can call me White. Not that it would matter, right?”

“Listen,” Luna said with a cold voice, “I want answers, and you will give these answers. The only thing you can decide is how long it will take. Do you understand your situation?”

“Yes. So, what does the former Nightmare Moon want to know?”

“Why did you attack Princess Celestia?” was Luna’s first question.

“She raises the sun, and I am a vampire. Do I need another reason?”

There was this grin again. Luna just stared at him.

“That’s my answer, and it’s the truth. So what else?”

“How old are you? As a vampire.”

“One thousand years, give or take a century. I stopped counting at some point.”

“Are there other vampires?”

“Oh, yes! We are all over the land! But we are good at hiding.”

He showed no signs of lying, so Luna continued. “How did you enter the castle?”

“I can summon bat-like wings. But I’m too exhausted to show you. Sorry, Nightmare.”

Luna’s desire to kill him grew with every question, but she needed to continue. “How did you know where you would find her?”

“Her stench. She has enough public appearances, so getting one of her feathers was easy. That brought me close enough to sense her blood.”

“Why did you attack today?”

“You leave every year for Nightmare Night. That was the best opportunity.”

You have to keep him talking. “What will happen with my sister?”

“She will turn into a vampire. In three days. There is a potion that can prevent that, but I never bothered learning the recipe. I wanted it to be a clean kill, suck all the blood and leave. Victims don’t turn if they die before three days are over, and blood loss can be pretty lethal. But I don’t mind. She will turn feral when she finally becomes a vampire and then somepony of you will do that for me. Poor thing, she only prolonged her suffering.”

“Why are you so calm?” Luna was really close to losing her patience completely.

“That irritates you, right? Well, I know your laws. You have no executions and no torture. And I saw Nightmare Moon in action, and you… you are just an impostor. She is scary, but you are not. No matter how hard you try to imitate her eyes. It’s still clear that you are not her, not anymore. So why should I be afraid? Because I may be in here for a couple decades?”

Luna needed to get out. She turned away from White and stepped towards the door.

“She tasted good, you know?” White said.

Luna stopped, the anger rising in her.

White smiled. “Everypony tastes different, but her blood was special. So full of magic. Just for that one drop of blood, the whole thing was worth it! It’s almost sad that nopony else will get the chance to drink her blood, now that she will become one of us.

“If you let that happen, that is. You could ‘spare’ her that fate, of course. You would just have to kill her. You won’t get around that anyway, because if you let her turn, she will pose a danger to society.

“Not that you would need a reason, right? You tried to kill her once already! Why don’t you let her out? I would really like to thank Nightmare Moon for her efforts. She failed, but her attempt inspired me.”

That was it. Luna didn’t bother keeping her anger down anymore. She grabbed him with her magic and pulled him away from the wall. The chains broke. He hovered in the middle of the room. Luna turned around and looked at him. “Nightmare Moon is gone.” She threw White at the left wall with all power she had. “And yes, we don’t execute our prisoners in Equestria.” He crashed into the right wall, and came back to hover in the middle of the room.

“But you are not a pony. You are not alive to begin with.” Luna could have continued throwing him into walls, but that wouldn’t be personal enough. So she punched him with her right hoof in the face. To her surprise, he actually started to bleed. “So nopony will care if you won’t survive.”

Another punch, this time to the jaw. It dislocated.

Another punch, aimed at the fangs. They shattered.

Luna taunted him. “No more biting for you.” Her hoof was already red. She fell into a trance.

Another punch, above the right eye.

Another punch, his right shoulder was broken.

White still grinned, albeit weakly. Luna pinned him to the wall again. Positioned herself in front of him.

Another punch. His stupid face again.

Another punch. Then he will stop grinning.

Luna increased her speed.

Another punch. He deserves it.

Another punch. He attacked Tia.

She lost track of how many times her hoof connected with his face when the door was opened.

Luna wanted to punch again, but her hoof was held back by magic. She raised the other hoof, but somepony held that back too. She was pulled away from White, across the room. But her eyes were still locked on him.

Only after a yellow mare flew between Luna and White and she met the yellow ones stare was Luna able to come back to her senses.

“Princess Luna, are you ok again?” Twilight asked her.

“Yes, thanks to you all.” She noticed that Applejack and Pinkie Pie hold her left front hoof, while her right one was kept in place by Twilight’s and Rarity’s magic. Fluttershy was still using her stare on her, but that didn't affect Luna. Rainbow Dash looked at the unconscious White. “You can let me go now.”

They stepped back from her. Luna left the room, the Six followed her. She ignored the guards shocked looks and went straight for the stairs.

After she stopped in her own rooms to clean the blood of her, Luna and the Six gathered in Luna’s rooms. After Luna told them everything she learned, they planned the next steps.

“I have an idea,” Twilight said, “I cover the public appearances with Spike’s help. Rainbow, could you go to Zecora and ask her if she knows a cure for Celestia?”

“No problem, Twilight! I’ll be back in no time!” Rainbow Dash answered.

Twilight continued, “Starlight can search the library in the Castle of Friendship. And I will send a letter to the Crystal Empire. Maybe Sunburst can find something.”

“And the rest of us?” Rarity asked.

“Could you, Applejack and Fluttershy search in the Library of Canterlot?” The ponies in question nodded. “Perfect. Pinkie, you know Moondancer. Please go to her and ask if she can help.”

“Sure Thing!”

“Good, then we should go and—”

“You forgot me.” Luna interrupted Twilight.

“I didn’t. Princess Luna, you still have your own duties. I think it would be better if you concentrate on them.”

“You expect me to just sit around when my sister is in danger?” Luna asked coldly.

“Of course not! But it won’t help her if you ignore your duties.”

Luna lowered her head. She was unable to help Tia. Even though her absence from the castle enabled the attack in the first place.

Rarity stepped forward. “Princess Luna, may I suggest that you give your sister emotional support? Be there for her in that hour of need?”

“And you all promise me to do everything you can?”

All promised.

“Thank you,” Luna said relieved, “You may go now.”

Episode 4: Vampire in Ponyville

Maud’s guest examined the small, red rock laying on the table in front if them. “The color seems right, but does it work?”

“Of course,” Maud said, “I would never sell a forged bloodstone. But if you want to test it—” Maud went to the lake in her cave, filled a mug with water, and returned to the table “—go ahead, test it.”

The guest, a green unicorn with a violet tail and mane, dropped the stone in the mug with her magic, and almost instantaneously the water changed to a red color. She took the mug and sipped. It really tasted like blood. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you, Maud. The stone works perfectly! You really have the best ones in central Equestria. Who thought that the pony I met in a cave collecting rocks would one day be a bloodstone merchant? So, how much do I owe you for it?”

“Nothing. Viola, without you, I wouldn’t even know that bloodstones exist, and I wouldn’t be a vampire either. See it as a ‘thank you’.”

“No, I have to thank you! You could have sold that stone for a lot of bits. But I won’t argue with you. I was lucky I arrived here before sunrise, my old bloodstone was stolen a while ago and I already got withdrawal symptoms. The sun would have hurt like Tartarus. But now—” she emptied the mug in one go “—that won’t be a problem anymore.”

“You should still be cautious. There are a lot of rumors about us ever since Celestia was attacked, and the news about supposed vampire attacks everywhere don’t help either. Even the citizens of Ponyville are a little bit paranoid now.”

Viola waved her hoof around. “They will get over it, they always do. Besides, the good thing is, they can only imagine us as evil, blood sucking monsters. I’ll just hide my teeth when I’m shopping in Ponyville and nopony would even imagine that I’m a vampire.”

“If you’re going to Ponyville,” Maud asked while Viola was preparing to leave, “could you do me a favor?”

“Of course! What can I do for you?”

Maud opened a drawer, took an envelope out and showed it to Viola. “Bring that to Octavia’s house. It’s the two-colored one south of the market. Should be impossible to miss.”

Noon

Maud was on her way to meet Pinkie in Ponyville when she heard somepony say, “The horror, the horror!”

Maud followed the voice and when she came closer to its source, recognized it as Rose’s one. She, Daisy and Lily layed on the ground in the middle of the street. Maud approached them and said, “What’s the problem? Did something eat your flowers again?”

“A vampire!” Rose exclaimed.

“Here in Ponyville!” Rose added.

“That way! It went that way!” Lily pointed towards town square.

Maud lost no time and started sprinting. The only vampire that could have been found was Viola, and with the already heated situation, there was no telling what the ponies would do to her. She had to find her before a tragedy happened. Maud ran as fast as she could. She reached a crossroad. She had no idea if she had to turn left or right. She thought about her options. She couldn’t afford to take the wrong way, but using her vampiric senses could easily reveal her vampirism as well, and that would help nopony either. But time was running out, and if she came too late, it wouldn’t matter if she made it at all.

Maud was close to using her supernatural abilities, when she heard hooves galloping from the left. Cherilee was running over a road a few meters away. Maud sighed in relief and started to sprint again. When she reached the road Cherilee was on, Maud jumped on the house to her right and from there to the left to get around the corner faster. The roads were empty after that, but luckily her Maud-sense was telling her where to go now. Right turn, two hundred meters forward, now left, then right again…

Finally, she found Viola, back to a wall and surrounded by a crowd of ponies. They all stayed a few meters away from the teeth-baring and hissing vampire, but all glared at her with anger and fear in their eyes.

“Leave her alone!” Maud shouted at the crowd. She pushed a few ponies away to make way to the center. She placed herself in front of Viola, who stopped hissing. “She is innocent!”

The ponies in the crowd looked at each other doubtfully. The surprised gasp went through the ranks when Octavia joined Maud. “I know that we are all worried because of the revelation that vampires exist, but we shouldn’t act carelessly. We can’t know if she committed any crimes, and we certainly shouldn’t harm her just because she is a vampire.”

With two ponies facing the crowd to defend a vampire, one of them a respected citizen of Ponyville and the other the sister of the Element of Laughter, they hesitated. They both had a point.

“But what if”—Bon Bon went to the front of the crowd—“the vampire put a spell or something on them? I saw her snooping around Octavia’s home earlier.”

Octavia said, “She was just bringing me a letter form Maud and had trouble finding the right house, that’s all.”

“And not a crime,” Maud added.

Bonbon looked around the crowd and said, “So she visited both Maud and Octavia, and both of them are defending her now. Am I the only one that finds that suspicious?”

A agreeing mumbling went through the crowd.

“She didn’t put a spell on us,” Maud insisted.

“Then why are you defending that monster?” somepony from the crowd asked.

“Because she is no monster,” said Octavia, “She’s a vampire, but that doesn’t make her any more or less of a monster than everypony else. But if you truly think every vampire is a monster that deserves to die, then you can kill us with her.”

And with that, she revealed her vampire side. Her two canines became visible, her eyes got a little bit redder. After Maud noticed what Octavia did, she followed her example.

The crowd stepped back a few steps upon this revelation. Octavia stepped forward in return, keeping the distance between them. “You all know me, I would never harm a fly, and the same goes for Maud and Viola here. It is really so hard to believe that we aren’t a threat?”

The ponies in the crowd started talking. Octavia tried to find familiar faces. There was Lyra Heartstrings, who was looking from Octavia to Bon Bon and back. Brass was standing in the back, but her expression was hard to read. Frederick was further to the right and looked concerned, while Pharish, standing in the left wing of the crowd, seemed angry. Octavia didn’t relish the thought of having to explain to her colleagues why she didn’t tell them about her identity, but a white mare making her way towards the centre and pushing ponies to the side the way she always did in clubs, drew her attention away.

Vinyl stepped out of the crowd to join Octavias side with a smile on her face. “My marefriend is a vampire, so what? She said it herself, she’s still the same Tavi we all know, right? Why shouldn’t we give her the benefit of the doubt? I mean, if she would really want to drink our blood or, I don’t know, turn us all into vampires, I would know it. She had enough chances to bite me, but she never did—” Vinyl turned to Octavia “—you didn’t, right?”

Octavia said frustrated, “No, I never bit you, nor would I ever even think about doing so. ”

Vinyl grinned. “You would never bite me? But I clearly remember that one night when…”

“Vinyl! If you say what I think you intend to say”— she put a hoof to her forehead—“I won’t make music with you for three months.”

“What kind of music?” Vinyl asked.

“Both.” Octavia glared at Vinyl.

“Ok, you won. I’m just gonna stand beside you. If you trust her, that’s good for me.” She placed herself between Octavia and Maud, shielding Viola from view.

Octavia leaned over to Vinyl and whispered, “Thank you.”

“You would have done the same for me,” Vinyl answered, “So, what's your plan?”

“Hoping that they trust us enough to not lynch us…”

“Honestly, you’ve had better plans.” Vinyl took a step towards the crowd and announced, “If anypony wants to harm them, they have to go through me first!”

“And through me!” Parish walked over to the others to face the crowd. He briefly turned around to Octavia and said, “You will have to explain this to us later!”

Octavia wondered who he meant with ‘us’, but then Frederick Horseshoepin and Beauty Brass joined them as well. Her whole ensemble came to her aid.

With Octavia’s ensemble as backup, Vinyl said boldly, “So, are you gonna let us go, or do I need to demonstrate to you what happens to guests who don’t know when to leave the club?”

“That won’t be necessary,” a familiar voice said from behind the crowd. They all turned around to see Princess Twilight, followed by two royal and two lunar guards. “Everypony can go now, we will take care of that.” The crowd started to break apart as more and more ponies left.

When only the small group around Viola and Twilight with the guards were left, Maud said, “Hello, Twilight. It’s a relief to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too, Maud,” Twilight replied, “I’m just happy that you were able to handle the situation. Now, why don’t we go to the castle so you can tell us what happened here. I bet it’s a really interesting story.”

“As prisoners?” Viola asked. She stepped closer to Twilight, and the royal guards blocked her way with their spears.

“No!” Twilight said. She pushed the spears away with her wings, signifying her guards to step away. “As friends! I promise that I just want to talk. It’s an invitation, nothing more. If you prefer, I can escort you out of Ponyville instead.”

“Well, if that's so,” Viola said with a friendly smile, “I happily accept your invitation, Princess Sparkle.”

Castle of Friendship, Library

Maud, Octavia and Viola explained to Twilight what happened.

“...so yeah, I guess carrying around a bottle full of blood wasn’t the best idea,” Viola said to nopony specific.

“No, it certainly was not,” Octavia said.

Maud added, “I told you to be cautious.”

“You mean, water that you turned into blood with that magical stone, right?” Twilight had a lot to process.

“Of course,” Viola said, “I would never…”

The door swung open and Pinkie stormed in. “Maud! Is it true that you are a vampire? Why did you never tell me?”

“Yes, it’s true. And it’s not like you ever asked.”

“But you should have told me? Or is there a rule against it? Did you want to protect me? Or did you…”

Pinkie continued asking questions faster than anypony could answer or understand.

Viola looked to Twilight and Octavia, “Should... Should we help her, or…”

Twilight sighed, “No, not necessary, she’s Maud’s sister and always like that.”

“And here I thought Maud was exaggerating when she told me about her…How long will she do that?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Twilight said.

“Pinkie...” Maud tried to get her sister to stop, but Pinkie continued rambling questions.

“Pinkie.”

“Pinkie! One question at a time.” Maud looked Pinkie directly in the eyes, which took a lot of effort with her bouncing around.

“Okie doki loki! So, what to ask first… Oh, I know! How long have you been keeping that secret?”

“Ten years.”

“And how did you become a vampire?”

“I asked Viola to bite me.”

“Why would you do that?”

“The strength and the ability to see in darkness is helpful for finding and identifying stones.”

Twilight turned to Maud and said, “Wait, that’s it? You let her turn you into a vampire because of that?”

Maud looked at Twilight. “If turning yourself into a vampire would have helped you study the magic of friendship, would you have hesitated?”

She had to think about that for a moment. “No, I suppose not… I see your point.” Twilight turned to Octavia and Viola. “But didn’t you both say vampires only bite in self-defence?”

Viola said, “Well, either in self-defence or if somepony really wants to be like us. And I can understand why ponies would want that. Magic, strength, a long life, almost no ageing… and as long as you have access to a bloodstone, there’s no real catch.”

“And what if you don’t have one of those stones?” Twilight asked.

“That would mean no blood unless we attack ponies,” Viola explained, “we can survive a few weeks without blood, but, apart from the problem that not drinking blood makes us thirsty, just like if you would get hungry if you wouldn't eat, the longer we don’t drink, the more the sun hurts us. So even though we could survive weeks, it would just takes days until we can’t go into the sun without getting burned. After a week or so, it would be so bad that we receive third degree burns from the tiniest ray of sunlight.”

“Good thing you have them then!” Pinkie thought a moment about her next question. “How did you meet her?

“I was in a cave looking for rocks,” Maud said, “when she showed up, running away from a cave spider.”

Everypony’s eyes turned to Viola.

“Giant cave spider. They are a real hazard when traveling underground,” Viola snickered, “Must have been a funny image. Me, running like Tartarus, that eight-eyed monster-spider behind me. And she saved my live!”

“I just caused a cave in.”

“With Bolder! You just had to throw a little stone to do it! Name one other pony in Equestria that would have known where exactly to throw your little friend to block the tunnel.”

Maud hesitated before she said, “I can’t.”

“Thought so. Anyway, after that we grouped up to explore the caves some more, we stumbled upon a bloodstone, I explained what it does and what I am, and she asked if I could turn her into a vampire.”

Episode 5: Reunion

Canterlot, Afternoon

Ever since the attack, and especially after the Ponyville incident, Luna took on more duties in the wake-world. The ponies needed to feel protected, and when the supposed enemy hides from Celestia’s sun, the Princess of the Night needs to show herself as well. She went to give her guards new orders.

All group leaders of the Canterlot Lunar guard—around 20 stallions and mares—gathered in her office. After the last one entered, she said, “Everypony, listen carefully! I know that we all had a few stressful weeks lately, but l want all of you to remember one thing.

“We are not going to see vampires as a whole as enemies. Most that we’ve discovered are peaceful citizens of Equestria, and the crimes of a few single individuals shall not taint all of them as monsters. And as such, it is our duty to protect them the same way we protect everypony else!

“So here are the new orders: Groups one to five will patrol the business areas. Make sure nopony breaks into a store because it’s allegedly or factually owned by a vampire, or to frame them for anything.

“Groups six to twelve, you will receive a list of known vampires residents and will protect the area around them. We don’t need a series of murders—committed either by ponies who see all vampires as monsters or by vampires themselves—to further complicate matters.

“Thirteen to fifteen go to the public areas. Market places, main roads… Make sure that you are seen. It will help to calm everypony down to see that the royal guard supports the normal EUP.

“Sixteen, your group will split up. One of you each will go and help secure an entry point to the city. Normal ponies aren’t that observant at night, so your group will make sure nopony who shouldn’t enter the city comes in. We still don’t know what happened to Chrysalis, and we can’t afford even a single changeling, or other enemy for that matter, to gain access to the city and cause more chaos.

“The rest of you will search the city and surrounding area for activities of groups who formed with the intention to ‘cleanse’ Equestria of vampires. Reports of atrocities committed by such groups like ‘The Hunters’ in Manehattan or Las Pegasus already showed that they don’t kid around.

“There were also reports that in many rural areas, a group called ‘Silver Eyes’ searches for vampires. A small number of murders can be linked to them, but all victims were later found to be vampires who killed innocent ponies or turned them into vampires. Still, we cannot allow them or any other group to execute equestrian citizens. If you find anypony associated with any of the groups I mentioned, arrest and interrogate them.

“Are there any questions?”

“No, your Highness!” all captains answered in unison.

“Good. I’m sure that you will be successful in protecting all citizens.” Luna left the room and made her way to the main city. After Moondancer gave them the cure for Tia, both stayed in contact. Luna needed a contact who could help her gather informations about vampires, and Moondancer was a pleasant conversation partner. Luna wanted to visit her later, but both of them had other duties to deal with before that.

Even thought she had many friends now, the Canterlot library was still one of Moondancer’s favorite places. And since there were still a few hours left until Princess Luna wanted to visit her, she found herself in her favorite spot again. Not that she wasn’t happy about the access to the archives she was granted recently, but she didn’t want to abuse that privilege too much.

“Excuse me, but somepony asked me to give you this.” A mare she didn’t know was standing behind her and levitating a letter in front of her.

Moondancer said annoyed, “and who?”

“They said it would be clear after you read it. Sorry, I didn’t think it was important.”

Moondancer took the letter, thanked the mare and waited until she was alone again to open the letter. It was only a brief message

Moondancer,

Return to your residence

Don’t call for help

Don’t waste any time

Go there directly

Instead of a signature, there was just a seal depicting an eye under a crescent moon at the end.

Moondancer’s House, Dusk

Luna knocked at the front door, and Moondancer promptly opened. “Good evening, your Highness. Please, come in.”

Luna nodded and entered. But something seemed off. The way Moondancer looked outside before closing and locking the door, how she couldn’t stay still...

“Why are you so nervous today?” Luna asked Moondancer.

“I… I got a message for you. You already know that we vampires organized ourselves in order to hide. Well… it’s not just a little thing, it’s almost like another government. I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you that earlier, but it is forbidden to reveal Noctris’ existence to diurnals.”

“Oh, I understand. You couldn’t be sure if I can be trusted and had to be cautious. But I guess they didn’t give you permission just so I know their name, right?”

“Apparently there is an important Nocturnal—that’s how we from Noctris collectively refer to ourselves—who wants to meet you in order to explain everything to you… tonight. Before you ask, I wasn’t told who.”

Luna thought about what she just heard. It seemed suspicious, extremely suspicious even. A vampire suddenly wants to meet her on such a short notice. But on the other hoof, it could deescalate the entire situation.

Luna asked, “And where is that meeting supposed to take place?”

“They said that they will be waiting for you at your old castle in the Everfree forest, and you will be brought somewhere else from there. As a precaution, so that the meeting isn’t stormed by Equestria’s army. You are also supposed to tell nopony about it.”

“The past times when diurnals learned about vampires ended really unpleasantly, I presume.”

“It always ended in bloodshed and massacres, until now. This is the first time it actually looks like we might have a chance at a peaceful relationship. But they fear that, if they just appeared one day in front of Celestia, it will be impossible. But if you, the Princess of the Night, support it, it might actually work.”

“Sounds reasonable. Anything else?”

“They mentioned something, but it didn’t make sense to me… If you choose to come tonight, they will answer all of your questions about Daybreaker...”

“Was that all?” Luna asked harshly.

“Y-Yes!”

“Then I have to leave immediately.”

Luna arrived at her desolate old castle shortly after nightfall. And just like Moondancer said, somepony stood in front of the entrance. When she stood before the stranger, she noticed the distinct, blood red eyes of a vampire.

“Good night, your Majesty,” he said while kneeling, “It is an honor to meet you.”

“Are you the pony who wanted to meet me so badly that they scared one of my friends?” Luna didn’t want to waste any time, so she chose not to correct him for using the wrong title.

“Oh, sweet night, no! I’m just here to bring you too her. So, if your Majesty is ready…”

“Lead the way, then.”

The vampire nodded, stood up and walked into the Everfree Forest. Luna followed him in silence. The Forest changed quite a lot since her banishment. 1000 years ago, she knew every inch of it, because she often wandered around in it after arguments with Tia… and they had a lot of arguments.

Luna wondered if the old, gigantic tree in the middle of the forest was still alive. The animals back then loved it. The dripstone caves probably looked a lot different now, but she didn’t come around to search for them again yet. And searching for the openings she visited back then was pointless, even she realized that.

Canterlot didn’t change at all in her absence, and that she didn’t recognise all the places only founded after her banishment was bearable too, but seeing the forest she lived in for almost a century changed so much that she couldn’t recognise anything anymore still hurt. It was still the Everfree in it’s wild, untamed glory, but not the forest she called home.

But when she stood before the crevice the vampire led her too, she recognized it immediately. She whispered, “Oh, that’s got to be a joke…”

“Here we are,” the vampire said, “She will meet you at the other side. You arrived earlier than expected, so she may not be there yet. I will leave now. It was an honor to meet you.” He bowed a final time before quickly vanishing in the Everfree.

Luna took a deep breath before going through the crevice. She mumbled, “Why this of all places? Why the damned Moon Pond—the one place in this enormous forest I never wanted to see again?”

The moon shaped pond still looked exactly like her cutie mark, and the same light blue, glowing flowers grew around it. A few meters behind the pond, the trees started growing again, but the opening was still there, even after 1000 years. The water showed a clear reflection of the moon. Luna walked forward and stared into the pond. Not only did she have to visit this cursed place again, whoever wanted to meet her had the audacity to let her wait.

“As peaceful as on the night we met, wouldn’t you say?” a familiar voice said from the direction of the crevice she came through.

Castle of Friendship, Night

Starlight’s new kite was almost finished. It took a lot of time and effort, but she wanted to complete it that day. But then Trixie wanted her help with a new show, and of course she helped her friend. It was a lot of fun, even though it cost her the whole morning.

And she agreed to join Maud in the caves days ago. Starlight was surprised to learn about Maud’s vampirism, but she didn’t really care. Maud was still Maud, and their friendship wouldn’t end just because of a few bigger teeth. And Starlight could imagine worse secrets.

And then she had to gather the materials. Sticks for the spine and crosspiece, strings to bind them together as well as for the bridle and line, the right cloth for the sail, decorative bows for the tail. The sun had already set when she finally found everything and returned to her room in the castle.

But now it was done. She had to work into the middle of the night, but she did it before midnight. So, technically she managed to finish it on the day she wanted to. The first flight had to wait for tomorrow though.

After eighteen hours awake, she just wanted to sleep. She started to walk to her bed, when she noticed something in the corner of her eyes. Something was blinking in her mirror. Her cutie mark. “Oh, come on!”

Starlight went to Twilight’s bedroom. She was already asleep, but Starlight was sure that she wanted to know about the friendship mission… despite it’s inconvenient timing. “Twilight!” Starlight knocked on her door. “Twilight, wake up! The map is calling!”

“What…now?” a half asleep Twilight asked through the door.

“Yes! I’m as happy about it as you are… Listen, I’ll make tea and wait in the throne room to see who else is so bucking lucky to be called on a friendship mission in the middle of the night, and you can either come too or go back to sleep.”

“No, I’m coming… Just give me a moment.”

“Take your time, I’ll wait there.”

The whole castle was illuminated by windows and sunlight, which was an elegant solution during the day. No need for torches or LECs, but now it was night—and a cloudy one too—so Starlight had to light her way to the kitchen with her magic. Not that it was a particularly exhausting spell.

Neither was the levitation spell Starlight used to make the tea. Lifting a kettle, lighting the fire, drawing the water… it was an easy task. She wasn’t as good as Spike though. His tea even impressed Rarity. If he had that knowledge when he moved to Ponyville and just happened to be lucky or if he acquired it specifically for the purpose of impressing her, Starlight didn’t know. She didn’t care for his crush, it was not on her to judge.

But what her tea lacked in taste or artistic appeal, it made up with in strength. The strongest coffee in all of Equestria has nothing against my Sleep-Killer. She may not yet know the spell to keep herself awake, but her tea was a good substitute for the time being. Figuring out how to disable the safety measures on Starswirl's time-travel spell had been a lot of work, and even though she wasn’t proud of what she did, she gained a few useful skills along the way.

Levitating the tray with the tea with her magic, Starlight made her way back to the throne room. She arrived at the same time as Twilight in front of the door. “Good Morning, Twilight”—she looked at her cutie mark—“It seems as if you won’t go with me on a mission.”

“Yeah. Let’s see if the map sends you on another solo mission.”

They opened the doors and entered. The glow of the map filled the entire room. Two cutie marks hovered over it.

Twilight sat in her throne, yawned and said, “The map is sending you on a mission with Fluttershy?”

“I guess so,” Starlight answered. She placed the tray on the table, poured two cups of tea and gave one to Twilight before drinking her entire cup in one go. “And into the Everfree Forest, too. She will be thrilled to see that.”

“How did the blinking wake you up? It’s not that bright...”

“Oh, easy question: It didn’t. I was still awake.”

“You mean you didn’t sleep at all in almost eighteen hours?”

“Yes,” Starlight downed her second cup, “So, should we wait for Fluttershy or assume that she didn’t notice yet and go get her?”

Fluttershy came into the throne room fifteen minutes later. Starlight turned to her and said, “Hey, Fluttershy! We just wanted to pick you up.”

“Uhm… I’m sorry if you had to wait too long. I came as fast as I could…”

Twilight, sitting in her throne, said, “It’s no problem, Fluttershy, we weren’t waiting that long.”

Fluttershy reacted with a sleepy “Yay! So, what does the map want?”

“The map,” Starlight answered before Twilight had the chance to, “wants us both to go into the middle of the Everfree Forest! Aren’t we just the luckiest ponies in Equestria?”

“I-I-Into the Everfree? At Night? Can’t we wait until it’s morning?”

“I’m afraid it would be a bad idea to wait,” Twilight said, “The map wouldn’t call that late if it wasn’t urgent.”

“But don’t worry, half of the creatures can’t resist your charm and won’t attack us, and I will keep the other half away with my magic… or just teleport us away, if you prefer. Or you could use that Stare I’ve heard so much about” Starlight said.

Fluttershy calmed down a little bit. “Okay… And where exactly do we need to go?”

The three looked at the map. The cutie marks hovered, rotating in a very small circle, close over the ground.

Starlight sighed. “It won’t get more exact… should be half an hour or so from the Castle of the Two Sisters. Somewhere in nowhere…Fluttershy, none of your little friends ever mentioned something there, did they?”

“I’m afraid not.” Fluttershy turned to Twilight. “Did you read anything about it?”

“No, the Everfree isn’t really well mapped. We know of some broad things, but nothing in that area.”

Starlight walked towards the door, opened it, turned around and said, “Then let’s go. I don’t want to waste anymore time than necessary. We go out there, do whatever it is the map wants us to do, and come back as fast as possible.”

Twilight nodded. “And I’ll wait here. I’m curious to hear that, too.”

Luna slowly turned around. She recognized the voice, of course. She refused to believe it. She can’t be back, she thought, the Elements freed me of that part of myself! But there she stood in all her gloomy glory, her face showing no emotions, a little bit taller than Luna was.

Nightmare Moon had returned.

She began approaching Luna, calmly talking to the Princess. “I’m really glad you found your way here. I know you probably…”

“Shut up! Don’t say another word! I have enough to worry about already… An assassination attempt on Tia, vampires being a reality, some of them reacting very aggressively, groups roaming the land and killing my subjects in order to fight these aggressive blood suckers, an anonymous vampire wanting to meet me here, threatening a friend of mine to bring me out here… I am not willing to add a stupid hallucination to that list!”

Nightmare Moon stopped dead in her tracks, looking at Luna with wide eyes. Luna began to shake. This is exactly why she didn’t want to revisit this place. The first time she imagined Nightmare Moon was here. She feared that she would return, and her fears came true.

Luna shouted, “Why are you back!? And why now? I’m just starting to get my life back together after you ruined it! I even created a Tantabus to torment me for the crimes I committed when I listened to you…”

She shook her head, giving of a weak laugh.“Great, look at me! Shouting at myself again! Maybe I’m just as crazy as I was 1000 years ago when we met! But guess what, I won’t listen to you anymore! You are just a fabrication of my mind, you have no control here! Go away!”

For a few seconds, nopony said anything. Then, Nightmare Moon cautiously said, “Luna, I am not a hallucination. I am real. And I am so terribly sorry for what happened, but I’m not here to ask for forgiveness.”

Luna started pacing back and forth, her hooves trampling the grass and flowers in her path. “Good, because you won’t get any! And don’t believe for a second that I fall for that ‘I’m sorry’ act! Or that you are real. You are just my dark side! Another personality I came up with because I was lonely! If I had been a filly, I would have called you an imaginary friend for Gaia’s sake!”

She stopped, pointed her hoof at Nightmare Moon, and said, “And now buck off! I don’t want you around when whoever arranged this meeting here shows up!”

Nightmare Moon didn’t move.

“I said get lost!”

Slowly shaking her head, Nightmare Moon said, “It is I who arranged it. You can wait all night if you don’t believe me, but nopony else will show up.”

Luna turned away, trotted to the pond, and said, “I won’t believe you… I refuse to believe you…”

“But why?” Nightmare Moon asked, making a step forward, “Why is it so hard for you to believe that I’m telling the truth, that what I said back then is true? That I’m a Mare of the Night, and not a product of your own mind?”

“Why—” Luna gave of a sad chuckle, a tear running down her face “—Because you are the only thing I have left…”

“What did you say?” Nightmare Moon asked perplexed.

Luna swirled around. “I said you are the only thing I have left! The only special thing I ever did was becoming you! The only memory left of me is being you!” Luna took a few breaths to stop using the royal canterlot voice. It would just have been a wasted use of magic.

“Think about it! What else is there? Raising the moon? My sister was able to perform that duty as good as I ever did, just for ten times as long! For the next 1000 years, she will be more the Princess of the Night than I am myself! And even then I will forever live with the knowledge that she could easily replace me again!”

Luna took a step forward, glaring at Nightmare Moon.

“The times I fought alongside my sister in battle, against Sombra, Discord, Tirek… All nothing more than fairy tales, and even when they show up again—proving that they exist and we did conquer them—the Six Bearers get tasked with battling them, gaining all the praise and glory for it, and pushing our victories more and more into the realm of legends!”

Another step closer.

“Guarding the dream realm? While it is true that it is a difficult task, one only few could perform and that even my sister couldn’t do without my help, there is a little problem: Equestria survived without it for 1000 years, showing how irrelevant my efforts really are!”

She stepped closer once more, gesturing at the forest around them.

“And what about my former home, my beloved Everfree? Changed beyond recognition! My castle? A desolate ruin! My stars, the pictures I created with great effort? Moved around, and now I’m forced to keep these… botched constellations in place! I can’t even restore them to their former glory because the ponies got used to them!

“And on the other hoof? My sister still has everything! Her city, Canterlot, is unchanged! Everypony loves her, even more than before! She rules unopposed, everypony recognised how demanding her duties are, everypony respects her! She is so worshipped that she is part of multiple common expressions!”

Luna now stood in front of Nightmare Moon and said to her, “And now you are supposed to be another being too? The only thing I am remembered for, the only thing of importance I ever did, and it wasn’t even me? That’s why I can’t believe anything else than that you are the manifestation of my jealousy.

“I know everypony believes that I’m no longer jealous, that I’m freed of that since Twilight separated us with the help of the other Elements of Harmony, but I also know how wrong they are. I admit it, I’m still jealous.

“But you? You don’t help. Giving into my jealousy, letting you out… It didn’t help at all. You attacked and tried to kill my sister, giving her no other option than to banish us, something that still causes her great pain… You are nothing more than a monster. Just go.”

Now, Nightmare Moon started to move. She slowly circled around Luna and said, “I came here prepared for a lot. But you thinking I’m just a figment of your imagination… That possibility never crossed my mind. Of course you are right with something, I am a monster. I committed terrible crimes. But I won’t just take accusations that aren’t true.

“I never attacked Celestia, you did. I merely gave you the strength and confidence to do what you wanted to do anyway. So you can rest assured, that particular thing you can claim all for yourself.

“Also, the only reason half of Equestria didn’t go mad without you guarding the dream realm is that my kind did everything they could to protect them in your stead. Something that required the attention of over two dozen of them every night, for the work you can do on your own. You don’t even realize how powerful your dream-magic is, do you?” Nightmare Moon stopped and stared into the forest behind Luna. “But it seems I lied in one regard.”

Luna followed Nightmare Moon’s gaze, trying to find whatever caught the monster’s interest, “Oh great, just one thing? And what would that be?”

“We aren’t alone.” Nightmare Moon casted a spell and two ponies with very terrified faces appeared in front of them.

Luna recognized both of them immediately. “Starlight? Fluttershy? What are you doing here?”

Fluttershy just dropped to the ground, covered her face with her wings, and shivered.

“The… the map send us here…” Starlight seemed very keen on keeping her composure. She took a deep breath before asking, “Princess, please forgive my question, but why are you talking to Nightmare Moon in the middle of the night… in secret… in the Everfree forest?”

Luna was perplexed, her voice doubtful. “You can see her?”

“Yes, yes I can. And to be honest, it scares me. A lot. I’m just too tired to have a panic attack.”

Nightmare Moon sighted and said, “I told you I’m real, Luna. Do you believe me now?”

Luna ignored her and kneeled down to talk to Fluttershy, “And you? Can you see her too, Fluttershy?”

“Y-y-y-y-yes! Please tell me that this is just a horrible dream… please let this be a dream…” Fluttershy continued her plead under her breath.

Luna stood up again and angrily faced Nightmare Moon, “Great, you traumatized her. You proved that you are real.”

“Good to hear you finally accepted that,” Nightmare Moon said. She began concentrating magic in her horn, and in return, Luna and Starlight charged their horns as well, ready to open fire.

“What are you doing, monster?” Luna demanded to know.

“Helping your friend,” Nightmare Moon replied, “So if you could just step aside…”

Starlight charged her attack more and more. “How can we know you won’t kill her to weaken the Elements?”

Nightmare Moon sighed and said casually, “The real elements, the physical artifacts that originally gave them their power, are no longer useable anyway, so what would I gain from killing her. Besides, you are both extremely strong unicorns, and on this distance, there is no way for me to conjure up a shield. Just kill me if I try anything shady.”

Luna and Starlight looked at each other, nodded and stepped aside, but kept their magic charged, ready to unleash enough magic to end Nightmare Moon’s existence in an instance.

Nightmare Moon looked down at Fluttershy, who still shivered and muttered “Let it be a dream… please, just let it be a dream…” over and over again. Moon concentrated her magic in a small ball at the tip of her horn, then send it out. The magic formed a cone over Fluttershy. After five seconds, Fluttershy stopped, Moon let her spell end and stepped aside to give Fluttershy some room.

Fluttershy opened her wings and stood up, a confused look on her face.

Starlight asked her, “Fluttershy, are you alright? Did she do anything funny?”

“I don’t know… I’m not afraid anymore… or at least I’m not panicking…I’m... ok, I would say.” Fluttershy actually stared at Nightmare Moon when she asked, “What did you do to me?”

Nightmare Moon said, “I took your fear away. I can do more things than poison dreams, you know? Silencing a pony’s fear is an easy task for me. It won’t hold forever, in two hours it will start to gradually return.”

“That’s… almost kind,” Fluttershy said, “Why would you do that?”

“What would I win by not doing so, despite me being able to? Everypony would just continue to see me as a dangerous monster that can’t be talked with. But since you apparently were sent here by the friendship map, you are supposed to solve a friendship problem, right? And the only two former friends here are myself and Luna.”

Starlight looked from Nightmare Moon to Luna and back and at Luna again. She asked, “Wait, former friends? Could somepony explain that?”

With remorse in her voice, Luna said, “What can I say, my sister and I had a lot of arguments, nopony had any interest in being my friend, and one night I met her at this very place. Finally somepony to talk to… If you’re lonely, anypony can seem like a good friend.”

Starlight doubtfilly looked at Nightmare Moon. “Even something like her?”

Luna didn’t stop aiming at Moon’s face. “Oh, she can pretend to be really nice if she wants to, believe me. But we shouldn’t drop our guard.”

“Wise decision,” Nightmare Moon said, “I would do the same in your situation. But could we start to discuss the matter at hoof, or do you want to keep the spells charged until you both run out of power and have to drop them out of exhaustion?”

Luna took a few deep breaths, then dropped the charge in her horn and said, “Fine, we don’t really have a choice. But don’t take that as a sign that I trust you again.”

“I understand,” Nightmare Moon nodded, “Let me begin by formerly introducing myself. I’m Shaded Moon, the Queen of Nachtmares and one of the Three Majesties Noctris’. I won’t expect the title, but if you could stop calling me Nightmare Moon, that would be appreciated. Nightmare isn’t my name, it’s the name of my tribe. Like you—” she pointed her hoof at Starlight “—are a Unicorn, yet you aren’t called ‘Unicorn Glimmer.’”

Starlight asked, “But didn’t you call yourself Nightmare Moon when you attacked Celestia?”

Shaded Moon replied, “Oh, that was Luna’s idea.”

Fluttershy and Starlight looked at Luna, who said, “I thought it sounded intimidating, ok? Anyway, you know my name, and these are...”

“Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness,” Shaded Moon interrupted Luna, “and Starlight, owner of a Equestrian Pink Heart of Courage for her part in overthrowing Chrysalis, I know.”

Luna said sarcastically, “Of course you do! So, you promised me information about the vampires in your message.”

“On Noctris, yes. To begin with, comparable to Equestria, it is populated by three kinds of nocturnals. The vampires, my own tribe—the nachtmares, and the werewolves.”

Luna lifted her hoof to gesture Moon to stop. “You want to tell us that werewolves are a thing too?”

“Precisely, yes.”

“Just perfect—” Luna put a hoof to her forehead “—another problem. Go on.”

“We have underground cities all over Equestria and in the wake of recent events, like the fact that vampires are now known to exist everywhere and the increase in Hunter activity, we decided to just reveal ourselves completely before things escalate even further.”

Fluttershy had noticed something, and now she said, “You said you were one of three majesties. What did you mean by that?”

“Every tribe has their own Majesty. I am the queen of the nachtmares, Dracula is the king of the vampires, and Gala Frey the current queen of werewolves. Any important decision is made by the three of us together.”

Starlight asked, “So, basically like our princesses?”

Moon thought about that a moment. “Comparable, but not quite. The three of us each have one vote on any given issue, and two votes are enough to make a decision all three are bound to follow. We three are equals, opposed to the equestrian princesses, who have more clearly separated competences.”

“And what does Noctris want from Equestria?” Luna asked.

“Peace, mostly. You now know that we exist, and we hope that you can just accept that we exist. We have no interest in a war with Equestria. It would just be wasted lives and resources.”

“That’s all?”

“Well… No. We request that our police forces are allowed to operate in Equestria on cases relating solely to Noctris. Escaped vampires, hunters killing nocturnals, that kind of thing. But that is a topic for another day. You’re here to learn something about Daybreaker, right?”

Luna and Starlight got nervous when they heard the name. Luna asked sternly, “What do you know about her?”

“She is a fire demon with the ability to possess living beings and to enter their dreams. A long time ago, we managed to defeat her and seal her away, but now she is waking up and tries to break out. If she does, that will bring forth the end of the world.”

“And we are supposed to believe that?” Luna said.

“You both saw her when she entered Starlights dream, do you really think the world would be safe if she can fully break free?”

“And why,” Starlight asked, “is she breaking out now?”

Shaded Moon looked a bit lost when she said, “Honestly, I don’t know. A few months ago, something happened that allowed a small part of her to escape and enter your dream to haunt Celestia, and afterwards we destroyed that part within weeks and improved the seal. But she just continues to grow stronger, and keeping her locked up gets more difficult with every day. Something, or somepony, in Equestria appears to help her, and our only chance to stop her is to find and stop her helpers.”

Luna’s patience began to fade. “And why does she want my sister?”

“Think about it, Daybreaker is a fire demon, and Celestia controls the sun, and as an alicorn, her body can bear all of Daybreaker’s powers without just burning to ashes. Celestia is the perfect vessel for Daybreaker.

“But now I need to know, Luna, are you prepared to give us, give me another chance? Noctris really wants peace, and I do too. And as a sign of our good will, I can tell you something.”

“And what?” Luna demanded to know.

“After Starlight and Thorax overthrew her, Chrysalis had the misfortune to run into one of our patrols and was promptly overwhelmed and imprisoned. You can stop looking for her, she won’t cause you any more troubles. And for that, I have proof.”

Shaded Moon teleported something in front of her and levitated it for all to see. It was Chrysalis crown, the moonlight sparkling on its pearls. Shaded Moon continued, “You can keep it as a trophy, if you want. Chrysalis has no use for it anymore.”

Starlight gave of a sigh of relief. Chrysalis swore to take revenge on her before fleeing from the changeling hive, and ever since she awaited the former queen’s return. But now, there was no reason for that anymore. She took the crown and put it in her saddlebag.

“That is all well and good,” Luna said, “But what would you do if I say no? That I refuse to give you another chance?”

“Then, old friend, I would go to Canterlot and inform Celestia about the request for peaceful relations with Equestria personally, and if she would react aggressively—which, lets face it, she would attack me before I could finish a single sentence—we would have to consider a declaration of war.”

“I don’t really have a choice, is what you want to say, right?”

“Not really, at least not any good ones. So, will you help me and forever be remembered as the princess that forged a peaceful bond between Equestria and Noctris?”

Luna wasn’t sure, so she turned to Starlight and Fluttershy and said, “The map send you here, so what would you advise?”

Starlight said cautiously, “Well, she didn’t attack us, although she’s probably strong enough to stand a chance, and her offer sounds reasonable… and if she’s telling the truth about Noctris and Daybreaker, not helping her could doom Equestria.”

“And everypony deserves a second chance,” Fluttershy added, “Even Discord saw the errors of his ways and is now our friend, so why shouldn’t she be able to change too? You two were banished for 1000 years together, after all.”

Luna considered what they said, and found no logical flaws. But Shaded Moon had already tricked her once, and she could just be about to do it again… On the other hoof, Moon betraying her again was a possibility, but she had to agree that it was a certainty that Tia would attack Moon the moment she saw her. And if what she said about Daybreaker was true, she was a far greater enemy than Moon could ever be.

Luna made a decision. She turned to Shaded Moon and stated, “I will give you a chance, but you have to give me some time to think everything through. And you have to give me more proof. Right now, I only have your word for the existence of werewolves, for example. And we need a way to communicate, since nightly meetings in the Everfree aren’t practical.”

Shaded Moon said, “Of course, I accept your conditions. The safest way to talk would be in the dream realm. Just give a signal and I will come. Or, if you want it less personal, I could send a letter to your friend Moondancer, detailing a spell comparable to the way Spike and Celestia send letters.”

“Do that, I don’t want you anywhere near my mind. But whatever you did to make her so afraid, don’t do it again.”

“Fair enough. Until we meet again, Luna,” Shaded Moon said before disappearing with a teleportation spell.

Starlight’s and Fluttershy’s cutie marks blinked once Shaded Moon was gone. The unicorn noticed it first and said, “Oh, thank Ce… It seems it was the right decision, Princess Luna. Our friendship mission was a success.”

“Yay!” Fluttershy exclaimed, then turned to Starlight, “But could we tell Twilight about this after we got some sleep? ”

“Good idea, but how much exactly should we tell her?”

Luna answered the question, “You can tell her basically everything, but please leave out my rant… I simply overreacted, that’s all.” She didn’t sound completely convinced, but quickly went on to say, “And make sure only the Elements know about it. Nopony else, not even my sister, should know about this right now. I will personally visit you tomorrow in the castle to talk with all of you. You all helped me deal with her once already, and I hope you will do so once again.”

Author's Note

LEC = Light-Emitting Crystal

Episode 6: Dagny

Castle of Friendship

Luna stood a moment in front of the throne room. The Elements were already gathered. She opened the door. The six looked at her, but remained seated. Luna asked, “Fluttershy told you everything already, right?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, “quite the night the three of you had.”

“Seeing Nightmare Moon again must have been terrible,” came from Rarity.

Luna sighed. “You have no idea… But I’m here to ask for your advice, and your help. So the most important question of all: Was it the right decision to give her a chance?”

Applejack said,“Ah recon it was. The map wouldn’t have called Fluttershy and Starlight back if it wasn’t.”

The other ponies nodded in agreement. Twilight said, “I also understand now why the map send Fluttershy and Starlight. We discussed this before you arrived, and everypony else here would have attacked immediately. Only Starlight and Fluttershy are cautious enough to eavesdrop and analyse the situation beforehoof.”

“Or too cowardly to act at all…” Fluttershy murmured.

“Oh, come on, Fluttershy,” Rainbow insisted, “Even I would have been scared!”

“Do you really mean that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Of course I would have attacked her anyway, but not everypony can be as awesome as I am...”

“Don’t you mean as reckless as you are, Dashie?” Rarity remarked.

“And who jumped between a group of dragons and Spike,” Rainbow countered, “ready to literally take fire for him?”

Spike grinned and blushed, while Rarity blushed and looked annoyed at Rainbow Dash.

Before things could escalate, Twilight took over the conversation again. “Regardless, the mission was counted as a success by the map. But this is your thing this time, Luna, not ours, so you should take the lead.”

That was… an odd thing for Twilight to say. How much did Fluttershy tell her, Luna wondered, I said they should leave out my outburst. But she only said, “You’re right. So, how much of the information she gave us can we trust?”

“I checked a few books,” Twilight said, “and found some vague hints towards the existence of werewolves, and of course the book I showed you before Nightmare Night mentioned nachtmares as some kind of creature, so that checks out.”

The door swung open, and Starlight joined the group. She carried Chrysalis’ crown with her magic, and Luna had seen enough overtired ponies to know that she didn’t get much sleep last night either, if any sleep at all. Starlight’s voice, however, was still clear. “Good morning, Luna, nice to see you.”

Starlight laid the crown on the table and said, “So, I analyzed the crown, since sleep wasn't an option after drinking my Sleep Killer anyway, and—"

"You didn't sleep," Twilight interrupted her, "at all?"

"No, Twilight, I didn't. I’ve been awake for 30 hours straight, and only stand because of the one cup I drank 11 hours and 30 minutes ago. Why do I remember so bucking exactly when I drank that cup, you ask? Because it lasts exactly 12 hours, so I really want to get this done and go to bed before my time is up, because the moment the effects wear off, I'll fall asleep." Starlight took a deep breath before continuing. "So, it definitely is the real thing. It has so many changeling cells on it, we could clone Chrysalis with them. And judging by what we know of Cheesegrater, she would never give up her crown, no matter what her plan was.”

“So they caught the bug-queen?” Pinkie asked.

“Or killed her, or stole it from her. But they met her, that’s for sure. But that's not the only thing I found out.”

Rarity, who took the crown and inspected it, said without looking at Starlight, “And what else did you find?”

Starlight grinned, “Oh, you will like that. The crown is made from bright gold and decorated with white pearls.”

“Starlight, darling, I know what gold looks like, and it doesn't look like that.”

Pinkie bounced to Rarity’s throne and added, “And the pearls are green, not white. You aren’t colorblind, are you, Starlight?”

“No, I can see colors, and I know that the crown doesn’t look like it anymore, but with a little time spell...” Starlight felt all Elements staring at her, so she added, “—one that a lot of historians use—I could see how it originally looked, before Chrysalis changed its color and shape. I believe it’s the lost crown of King Orion.”

“WHAT?” Rainbow shot out of her throne towards Starlight. “Are you sure?”

“As sure as I can be without risking to destroy it during further testing. Of course I’m not a historian, but I say it’s to… ninety-five percent certain that it’s Orion’s crown.”

“AWESOME! His crown was lost over 1000 years ago, and now we have it!” Rainbow began her infamous celebration dance.

Rarity asked surprised, “My, Dashie, I would have never thought you would ever react that enthusiastically to jewelry.”

“But it’s about King Orion! One of the most famous, most important Pegasi in history! No pegasus ever had a bigger kingdom. His kingdom was the centre of trade between the three tribes before the windigos showed up! But one day, he…”

“Got his backside kicked by Chrysalis and left his kingdom alone,” Luna said, “Makes sense that Chrysalis took his crown for herself.”

Rainbow looked a little bit sheepish. “Yeah, the end of his rule wasn’t that awesome… but how do you know that? Did you know him?”

Luna chuckled. “I’m not that old. But It still was recent history back when I was a filly, compared to now at least. And his kingdom was the one that came the closest to Equestria in regards of mutual understanding between the three tribes, so he became rather interesting to Tia and me when we founded Equestria.

“But I’m not here to talk about my school days. I already got the spell from Night... Shaded Moon, so I should be able to send her a message… if it’s not a trap, that is…”

Pinkie said, “Then why don’t you tell her to show us a werewolf? We need to know if she said the truth about them anyway.”

“That’s… not a bad idea, actually.” Luna turned to Spike. “Could you bring me ink and…”

The dragon placed ink, quill and a scroll on the table before Luna could end her request. In reaction to her surprised face, he said, “I work for Twilight. How often do you think I get asked for quill and paper?”

Luna took everything without commenting on Spike’s remarks and wrote a single sentence on the scroll. Where can I find a werewolf?

She sealed the scroll and hold it in front of her with her magic. She asked the elements to get ready in case the spell backfired or put her back under Shaded Moon’s control.

Then she concentrated on who should receive the scroll. It light up with black flames, which then left the room through an open window.

Five minutes later, they got an answer. The seal on the scroll looked like three crescent moons in a circle. Luna broke the seal and began to read.

The closest werewolf that agreed to meet with you and anypony you want to bring along is named Dagny and currently located in Manehatten.

She’s the new manager of Countess Coloratura, but considering that the Element of Honesty and ‘Rara’ are old childhood friends, you should be able to arrange the meeting yourself. If not, just send another message and I’ll arrange it instead.

“Not really a formal letter…” Twilight said.

“But it tells us everything we need to know,” Luna replied, “So I’m not going to complain. Applejack, would you come with me to Manehatten?"

“Of course, Luna. I wanted to talk to Rara anyway.”

“Thank you. The rest of you should just do what you always do. I want to keep a low profile on this process for now.”

Rainbow Dash asked, “And how do you want to go to Manehatten without catching a lot of attention? You’re the Princess of the Night!”

Luna thought about that, then used a spell. She felt herself shrink, her mane became very light azure and less… flowy and her face younger. She now looked just like anypony else in the room. “That might work, wouldn’t you say?”

“That was an ageing spell!” Twilight exclaimed, “But how is that possible? Only the highest level unicorns can do something like that!”

Luna faced Twilight and said, “You witnessed something like that already, didn’t you?”

“Yes, when Trixie had the… Alicorn… Amulet…”

Luna opened her wings and turned her head to the side to showcase her horn. “And I am?”

“An Alicorn… Shoot, I should have gotten that myself… wait, does that mean I could cast that spell as well?”

“It takes decades of practice to use it in a meaningful way, but in theory, yes.”

“But your cutie mark is still visible,” Rainbow said, “And ponies could recognize that.”

“Right, I overlooked that…” Luna closed her wings and thought about the problem for a few moments, then she said, “Rarity, would you mind providing a disguise for me?”

Manehatten

Luna and Applejack were on their way to a big concert hall in the middle of town. According to the notes enclosed with the letter from Shaded Moon, Dagny was arriving there today together with Coloratura.

“It seems like my disguise is working,” Luna said to Applejack, “or else there would already be an army of photographers here…”

“I wouldn’t recognise you myself if I wouldn’t know who you are. I’m just glad it was so urgent that Rarity decided to use one of Inky Rose’s designs, or it would have taken days.”

“Trust me, I know. I asked her to make me a costume five years ago on Nightmare Night… Didn’t end well. Pink simply isn’t my color.”

They continued to chat until they arrived at their destination. The whole place was plastered with advertisements for ‘Countess Coloratura’s Concert’. Ponies in suits with earpieces guarded the entries, and workers rushed in and out of the building. Luna approached one of the guards and asked if they could meet Dagny, but she was turned down.

Applejack, however, was let in. Rara had set her on a list of people who were always allowed backstage at her concerts, and she was allowed to bring friends with her, as long as it was a reasonable amount. They were told to search for Dagny in the main hall, which they found with the help of a friendly worker to navigate them through the maze-like architecture of the concert hall.

Dagny, a brown coated mare in a black suit and without any type of mane, talked with, what Luna and Applejack could only assume was, the organizer of the concert. She was waving something around with her hoof, and yelled at the organizer, “It was clearly stated that all green straws should be removed from the backstage food area, yet what did I find?”

The organizer replied, “A green straw?”

“Damn right! Now go and fix this, before I see myself forced to cancel the concert!”

The organizer hastily hurried away. Dagny took a deep breath, turned around, noticed Applejack and Luna and asked, “And who are you?”

“The name’s Applejack, and you’re Svengallops replacement, am I right?”

“Applejack! It’s a pleasure to meet you. Coloratura told me only good things about you. And yes, I’m her new manager, as you are probably aware thanks to our… mutual friend in the background.”

“Don’t you know that Svengallop was kicked out for abusing his influence, or do you try to be like him?” Applejack asked harshly.

“What? No! I’m not like that asshole!” Dagny protested.

Surprised about her rather informal choice of words, Luna said, “And then what was that all about? What’s the problem with green straws?”

“What do you… Oh, you saw,” she gesticulated towards the direction the organizer left, “Now that makes sense! That’s a trick. A way to find out if they read the contract rider.”

“And how,” Applejack asked, “are these two things connected?”

Dagny explained, “You see, we have a rather complex setup, so the rider is really big. The part with the straws is in the middle of it, but written in letters double the size of the rest. With red ink. It really stands out. ‘No green straws in the backstage area!’ So, if I go back there and find one, I know that they either haven’t read the whole thing or that they were so lazy that they didn’t take the two minutes it would have taken them to sort the green ones out.

“Which means I need to call our own technicians ahead of schedule to double check every single cable, wire, bolt, lamp—” She waved her hoof around “—everything in here, to make sure no accidents happen. Which means a lot of extra work. Work we don’t have to do if they read the instructions and follow through, including removing all green straws.”

“That’s an elegant solution, actually,” Luna said with approval.

Dagny nodded. “I rather make a lazy organizer wet himself by shouting at him than risk Coloratura, or any other member of the crew, being killed by falling lighting equipment.”

“I’m sorry,” Applejack admitted, “I was too rash with judging you.”

“Not necessary, I’ve been called worse things. But you two aren’t here to chat about my job, right, Princess Luna?”

“Don’t say who I am out loud,” Luna hissed, “I’m not disguising myself just so you can blow my cover!”

“Alright then, Lulu. How about we discuss this somewhere private, then?”

The three went to Dagny’s suite in a hotel nearby, where the whole crew was living for the time being. The elevator brought them directly into it, and since the floor was only accessible with a special key, they didn’t run the risk of being interrupted. Dagny explained all this when they left the elevator and then proceeded to close all curtains. While she was doing that, Luna asked, “Is it a werewolf thing to not have a mane?”

“No, I just shaved mine off because it kept bothering me. Always having to take care with styling and everything costs too much time. Besides, I get into fights rather regularly, so nopony can pull on my mane.” She closed the final curtain.

With a sigh of relief, she began to change. Her hooves turned into paws, her coat became fluffier and her face formed a snout. “Do you believe that I’m a werewolf already or do I have to completely turn into a canine?”

“No, that should be enough,” Luna said, “You can turn back into a pony, I believe you.”

“That would be appreciated,” added Applejack.

“If you insist…” Dagny trotted to a nearby counter, took a pill that was lying there and turned back.

“Why the pill?” Applejack asked.

“It’s medicine. Helps my kind to stay in pony form, and to endure being in the sun. It’s quite pricey.”

Now Luna was interested, so she said, “We know already how the sun affects vampires, but what does it do to your kind?”

“It’s… hard to describe, you know? Vampires can just say it burns them, but to us… You have to understand that this form, the pony form, feels unnatural to most of us. We prefer the mixed form I just showed you. But in the sun, we can’t keep that form. It’s simply not possible. So it feels to us as if we were trapped in a body that isn’t ours. That’s too small, too weak… And this stuff”—she pointed at a bottle of pills—“helps with that feeling. It would allow us to take on our true forms, even in daylight.

“And since we have the option to, it’s easier to be a pony. Kinda like it’s ok for most ponies to stay in a rather small room on their own merit, but being locked into one would bother them.”

Applejack wanted to ask a question, but was interupted by a ‘bing’ sound, signalizing the arrival of the elevator. “I thought nopony else can come in.” she said instead.

“The only ponies with a key are me and Coloratura,” Dagny explained, “So it’s probably her.”

“Dagny, are you here?” Coloratura asked through the opening elevator doors.

“Rara?” Applejack replied.

“AJ?” Coloratura said before coming in and hugging her old friend. “You could have told me that you come to visit. Now I have almost no time.”

“Sorry about that, it was a spontaneous idea.”

“I see. Since you are here, you probably already met my new manager.”

“We did, yes,” Applejack said.

Coloratura spotted Luna and asked, “And you are another friend of AJ?”

“My name is Lulu, pleased to meet you."

“Lulu… wait, that face, dark blue coat… Princess Luna?”

Luna chuckled, “Impressive, you are the first pony to see through my disguise.”

“Well, Dagny told me somepony important wanted to meet her, but would have never imagined it to be a princess,” Coloratura responded, “Is it about her being a… special kind of pony?”

Applejack asked surprised, “You know that she’s a werewolf?”

“Of course I do,” Coloratura answered, “Why do you think she gets a private suite only she and I can enter?”

Dagny said jokingly, “If the gossipers would find out, they would probably say we were having an affair.”

Luna asked casually, “Well, are you?”

Both Coloratura and Dagny laughed at the idea. Dagny recovered first and said, “No, we’re not. We are friends, and nothing more.”

Coloratura added, “The real reason is that it’s easier for Dagny to keep her secret this way. And she’s doing such a good job that I think she deserves it anyway.”

“Her green straw trick is really clever,” Applejack said.

Coloratura sighed. “They failed, didn’t they?”

Applejack answered, “Eyup.”

“I already sent a message to the tech-team,” Dagny said, “They should arrive in a few hours. Let’s hope it turns out better than it did in Dodge City.” Coloratura hmphed.

Confused, Luna asked, “And what happened there?”

“Oh, nothing,” Dagny said, “Just that their stage wasn’t able to support her grand piano, which they didn’t check in advance because they just assumed that, since it was able to hold their way smaller upright piano, it would be able to hold her’s. So when we arrived to rehearse, the whole thing crashed through the stage-floor.”

Coloratura added, “Good thing the stage was so weak it broke immediately, instead of during rehearsal or, even worse, live in concert.”

Dagny continued, “Replacing the piano cost thirty-thousand bits, and the stage and everything another twelve-thousand bits.”

Luna and Applejack looked utterly shocked.

Dagny smiled. “I know that expression.”

“And what expression do we have?” Applejack asked.

“The ‘Fuck, that’s a lot of bits’-face.”

“I can’t say you’re wrong,” Applejack said, “But I would probably use other words.”

Episode 7: Dreamer

Canterlot

A few days had passed since Luna had met Dagny. Luna and Applejack went back to Ponyville afterwards, and Luna told the Elements to wait until she had decided on what to do next. Before she left, she bought the dress Rarity had given her as a disguise, which enabled her to visit and interrogate the vampires she knew of in Canterlot personally and directly without risking to reveal them.

First on her list for today was Fancy Pants, and so she found herself in a parlour in his manor, sitting on an expensive couch with dark-red padding built from very dark wood, a marble table in front of her. Fancy placed himself on a similar couch on the other side of said table, and said, “I must say, it is truly an honour to welcome you as a guest, Princess Luna, although you didn’t need to go through the troubles of disguising yourself.”

“You aren’t the only one I’m going to visit today,” Luna replied, “and in this form, I won’t cause your kind any trouble by catching attention.”

“We can speak freely in here, Princess Luna, I made sure of that,” Fancy Pants reassured her.

“What does a vampire like you want in such an influential position?”

“My, I just enjoy sophisticated company, and there is no place in Equestria better than Canterlot to find such company. And since Ponyville is nearby, I don’t have to travel far if I’m in the mood for some rustic charm.”

Or the charm of one specific mare, if the rumours are to be believed, Luna thought. But she wasn’t interested in gossip, so she continued her interrogation. He didn’t mention anything she didn’t already know, and he also confirmed the existence of Noctris. As did all other vampires she or her guards had asked the past week.

She visited a few more vampires, but all gave her the same answer, telling her that yes, Noctris exists and has numerous hideouts and multiple cities in Equestria, but refusing to tell her where exactly to find one of them. For various reasons. Some said they didn’t know it themselves, having grown up in Equestria. Others said that they didn’t want to expose their safe harbour to equestrian officials, which Luna chose to respect.

Luna teleported back to the main room of her chambers in the castle. Firstly, she went into the bedroom and took off her disguise, that she then safely stored in a secret compartment of her wardrobe. Not that she didn’t trust the castle staff, but the fewer ponies that knew about it, the better. Then she reversed the ageing spell and put on her normal, royal garb and stepped into the main room again. She looked out of a window. Snow covered Canterlot, and the weather team prepared a snowstorm in the distance.

“If it’s a small one, Tia’s students will run around all day clearing the walkways and streets around her school with their magic.” Luna didn’t bother creating a silence shield, her guards were used to her talking to herself. “It’s rather adorable seeing the little ones so excited. They don’t get the chance to use their magic practically that often.

“The sun is already setting… Well, I guess that’s my cue then.” She concentrated her magic and raised the moon. “That was always the easiest part of my job… and the most boring one.”

Somepony knocked at the door. “Princess, I have today's report. May I enter?” the captain of her guard asked.

Luna let him in with her magic and said, “Just give me a summary.”

The captain nodded. “A Hunter was found entering Canterlot, but escaped into the mountains before we could catch them, so we don’t know which group they belonged to. Apart from that, nothing noteworthy in Canterlot.

“Las Pegasus continued to be Las Pegasus. If anything happened, nopony found out yet. Nothing interesting from West-Equestria, Fillydelphia or Baltimare.

“There was, however, one murder with ritualistic tendencies in Manehattan. Somepony pulled the teeth and cut off the wings of the victim, and the cutie marks were branded over with a ‘V’. One of my lieutenants already started an investigation together with the local EUP, and early research confirmed that the victim was a vampire.”

Luna shook her head in disbelief. “Another one. That makes five victims in two weeks with that method in Manehattan alone… And we still have no lead… Anything else?”

“No, your Highness.”

“Good,” Luna said before grabbing the report with her magic. “You can leave now.”

The captain gave a salute before leaving.

After the door fell into its lock, Luna placed the scroll on her desk. She would read it later, but now, the dream realm was waiting, and with the storm approaching, it promised to be a long night. She teleported into the watchtower and entered the dream realm.

The world around her vanished, and countless spheres filled the void around her. Luna looked into the first sphere, a blue one with a rainbow on it, and examined the dream within it. A group of Changelings, the hole-riddled version, lead by Chrysalis unsuccessfully tried to capture Rainbow Dash. With anypony else, Luna would go in and save the dreamer, but she knew that Rainbow had a blast, so she just left her dream alone.

The next sphere showed her the dream of a young filly cowering under a kitchen-table while monsters howled outside. Luna entered her dream, stepped in front of the table and said, “You can come out, Dinky Doo, the storm won’t bite you.”

Dinky looked up from under the table and said, “Pr… Princess Luna? But why are you here?”

“It is my duty to guard the dreams of the foals of Equestria, and so I came to aid you in your nightmare,” Luna answered with a caring voice.

“I’m dreaming?” Dinky, “but the monsters…”

“Are nothing but wind, little one.” Luna stepped to the side and gestured the filly to look out of a window. Still afraid, she took step after step towards it, and when she finally reached it and saw nothing but rustling trees outside, she sighed from relief and started giggling.

“It was just the wind,” Dinky hugged Luna and said, “Thank you, Princess Luna!”

“You’re welcome, little filly.” Seeing that her job was done, Luna added, “I will leave now, little one. Hopefully, I won’t need to visit you again. Goodbye.”

Dinky lowered her head and pawed with her hooves. “Did I bother you?”

“Of course not,” Luna said, “Why would you think that?”

“Because you said you don’t want to see me again.”

“I should have worded it better, then. I only ever visit dreams if there’s something wrong, so what I meant to say is that I hope you won’t be plagued by nightmares anymore.”

“Oh, ok, got it… thanks, Princess. Feel free to visit, nightmare or not.”

“Much appreciated, but I now need to go. Goodbye, Dinky.”

“Goodbye, Princess,” Dinky called after her as she left the dream.

The next dozen dreams all were peaceful, but then came a sphere that glowed and continuously changed colour. Luna looked at the dream in it. The dream took place in Ponyville, but a version that would even make Discord proud.

The sun bore a big smiling face and danced around the sky. The stars flew over the sky, formed constellations, broke away again to form new constellations in a never ending cycle.

Pink and yellow and blue clouds hovered everywhere, showering whatever was underneath them either in chocolate, vanilla or strawberry milk.

Candy apples hung from the trees, cotton candy sheep ran around, flowers sang songs, houses were built from rock candy. Colourful liquorice bushes grew beside the streets, live-sized gummy bears roamed the fields, and black liquorice bats flew all over the place.

Luna had seen a lot of chaotic dreams, but this one took the cake… Literally, since the town hall was a cake. A Black Forest gâteau, to be exact.

And hopping around, giggling, and eating as much as she could, was the chaotic, pink party pony of Ponyville herself.

Luna had tried to understand Pinkie Pie’s dreams in the past, but at some point had to give up. Her mind rivalled Discord’s with the amount of chaos it contained, so even on a normal night, deciphering one of her dreams could take hours. And this one was exceptionally chaotic even for her. So Luna just turned around and let Pinkie have her dream. She seemed to enjoy herself anyway.

The next dream led Luna into the centre of the ruin of a castle. Black clouds covered the sky and ashes covered the ground. A single, dead tree stood in the centre of the courtyard. A skeleton hung from a rope on it. Even though the sky was completely covered, it was still noticeably daytime in the dream.

This was going to be a complicated matter, Luna was sure of that. A normal dream or nightmare only consisted of a few rooms at most, or maybe a small patch of land at a time. It was fairly easy to find the dreamer as well as the problem. But every so often, Luna had to deal with this kind of nightmare, too.

The first thing she had to do is to find the dreamer, then the reason for the nightmare. Luna looked around. There was one door in front of her, one to the left and one to the right, or at least those were the ones still intact. There were more entries, but they had fallen in. The gatehouse stood behind her and lead down a narrow path into a misty forest. She decided to go through the door across the courtyard first.

A throne room lied behind it, as desolate as the rest of the castle. The windows were smashed in, from the four pillows once holding the roof over the throne, only one was still standing. The others fell over long ago. A pile of rotten wood splitters was everything that remained from what supposedly was once a throne. Luna walked to the window behind the throne, her steps dampened by the ash covering the ground. From her vantage point, Luna saw that the castle stood on top of a small hill. The surrounding area was hidden in thick fog, so there was no telling on how far the dreamscape went on. Luna let her view wander over the room again, but couldn’t find a trace of the dreamer.

The next door revealed a staircase and a hallway. Luna chose to follow the descending stairs. She needed some sort of system for searching for the dreamer, and going from bottom to top has proven itself to be the most efficient option in past dreams. As long as the dream didn’t randomly change itself…

No torches light the way, so soon after starting her descend, Luna had to light her horn with magic to see the way. Eventually, she found a small room at the end of the stairs, a cell on the other side. In it, Luna found the dreamer. The dark gray stallion lied on the ground, looked confused at Luna and said, “Who are you?”

“I am Princess Luna, and I’m here to help you with your nightmare.”

“I’m dreaming? But why should I dream something like this?”

“Finding the answer to that question is what I’m here to help you with.” Luna offered him a hoof and helped the dreamer back on his hooves. “So tell me, what could it be that causes you to lock yourself away?”

“I… I have honestly no idea,” he said frustrated. They continued talking as they left the dungeon. “I woke up in here some time ago, and before that, I don’t remember anything.”

“What about your name?”

“Sorry Princess, I don’t remember.”

“That is… strange.” Luna tried to remember if she ever encountered a dream where the dreamer didn’t know who or where they were, but couldn’t. She looked at him and saw the insecurity in his gaze, so in order to soothe him, she asked, “And how should I call you then, dreamer?”

“Dreamer actually sounds nice, I think.”

Luna gave him her best smile she could without it looking forced and said, “Dreamer it is then.”

They reached the ground floor again, and Luna decided to let Dreamer wander around and follow him until they found something helpful. Instead of leaving for the courtyard, Dreamer walked down the corridor. A painting, too timeworn to recognize the motive, caught Dreamers attention. He looked at it, his eyebrows narrowed, concentrated as hard as he could, but the painting still didn’t reveal anything. Whatever memory his subconscious tried to show him was buried too deep in his memories to surface. Dreamer turned away from it and continued on, Luna silently following him.

They came to a hole in the wall, and Dreamer saw the skeleton on the tree. He stopped dead in his track and kept staring at it motionlessly.

“Do you remember something?” Luna asked, but she received no answer.

Dreamer climbed through the hole and walked towards the tree with eyes wide from horror. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn’t even utter a single word, so Luna asked again if he began to remember something.

“I… I think I do… no… NO!” He held his head with a hoof and stumbled around. “I… I don’t want to remember… It HURTS!”

The ground started to shake. The air was filled with the sound of the castle crumbling. Luna tried to stabilize the dream with her magic, but it was no use. How is that possible? My powers never failed me in the dream realm like that… except when… Except when the Tantabus was haunting my dreams.

And sure enough, Luna noticed a dark cloud hovering over Dreamer. She shot a magical attack at it and managed to sever its connection to its victim. It crashed into the throne room. Dreamer fell to one hoof and Luna jumped to his side and helped him up.

“What… was that?” Dreamer asked.

“A Tantabus, a demon that feeds off pony’s nightmares. I was able to buy us some time, but it will soon return. You have to come to terms with whatever causes your nightmares if we want to get rid of it.

“Aren’t you the Princess of Dreams? Can’t you just kill it?” he asked crudely.

Luna bit her lip to ignore his tone and said, “Even for me, this is an extremely powerful opponent. I only had to deal with one once, and it nearly overpowered me and destroyed all of Equestria.”

The wall of the throne room exploded and a completely black dog twice the size of Luna stalked towards them. Luna tried to shoot it again with her magic, but the Tantabus dodged all her attacks, eyeing them cautiously. She managed to keep it at a distance, but the growls of the Tantabus made Luna nervous. “And it would be good if you remembered it soon,” she told Dreamer.

“But how?” Dreamer said, “I don’t know how.”

The Tantabus leapt forward, and Luna managed to shoot it with enough magic to fling it back into a wall, but it immediately came back to its feet and growled at them again. “If we can’t win the battle, we have to run for now,” Luna said before pushing Dreamer with her magic and running through the castle gate. The two ponies could fit through, but the Tantabus got stuck.

“Really, that’s your plan?” Dreamer complained while both galloped into the misty forest, “Running away from the dream-demon? What kind of princess are you?”

“The kind that’s currently trying to save thy ungrateful backside. And Now keep galloping, or I’ll drag you with me.”

Just when they disappeared between the trees, the Tantabus broke through the gatehouse. The sound of it chasing after them was enough to motivate Dreamer to keep galloping.

Luna heard the Tantabus panting behind them, but she didn’t dare to look back. The fog would have hidden it from her view anyway. And thanks to the moss covering the ground, neither Luna’s nor Dreamer’s hooves trampling over the ground could be heard. The drawback was, neither could the Tantabus’. She could only estimate its position from the cracking branches the Tantabus broke off in its pursuit.

And it slowly closed the gap between them.

They needed a plan to escape it, and they needed it soon, but Luna was too occupied with not running into a tree. Look ahead. Don’t stop. Stop and you die, so don’t. Just keep going and...

“JUMP,” Dreamer shouted beside her before flinging himself forward as far as possible. Luna didn’t know why, but it was his dream, not hers, so she did the same. And not a second early, since she only narrowly passed over a creek. The Tantabus didn’t have the same luck. It tripped and fell back again.

“How did you notice that?” Luna asked without slowing down.

“I’m starting to remember things,” he answered, “nothing personal, but I must have been in this forest a lot in the past”—the Tantabus’ howls told them that it had recovered and chased them again—“and I think I know how we can get some room. But you have to be quiet.”

“And what is your plan?”

Instead of answering, Dreamer rammed her. Both fell into a trench. Luna held her breath. Was he trying to get them both killed?

She heard the Tantabus coming closer… and running past them. They waited for a few minutes until they couldn’t hear it anymore, then they climbed out of the trench.

“So, now that we got some time, what do you remember?” Luna asked.

“There’s… something out here that’s important… In that direction.” He pointed into the forest and started walking.

Since Dreamer had no memories and Luna wasn’t of the talkative kind, the two of them silently wandered side by side.

After what seemed like hours of wandering aimlessly through the forest, they found a young ash tree, just as tall as Luna was. A spatha with a black hilt was attached to it with string.

“No, that's not right,” Dreamer said confused, “That’s not supposed to be there. I can remember the ash, but not that.”

But Luna could remember it, and because of that, figuring this dream out would get a lot more complicated. Her own memories started to affect the dreamscape. She remembered the sword, but couldn’t quite grasp from where.

And something told her that she didn’t want to find out, that it would be better to forget… Some memories were just too painful, and it was easier to simply let them go, to not hold on to them. Ignorance is bliss, right? She could just leave those memories behind and live a happy life without them. The thought of just forgetting everything clouded her mind. It would have been so easy. She just had to accept it, and all her worries would go away…

No, that’s the Tantabus manipulating me, she shouted mentally at herself, it wants me to forget the same way it did with Dreamer. And if it doesn’t want me to have the spatha, that’s exactly what I need. She levitated the sword out of its sheath. The blade was surprisingly white. Not the reflective grey steal normally had, but white as the moon. ‘Night Guard’ was engraved in purple letters. Luna extended her hoof, and as soon as she touched the blade, memories resurfaced.

She herself had forged the blade out of a fallen star, while Shaded had provided the hilt of tartarian steal.

She also remembered that the Tantabus she faced last year was by far not the first one she ever had dealt with. And now she knew once more how to deal with them.

Freed from the trance the Tantabus put her in, she turned to Dreamer and saw that a tendril of purple mist had slung itself around him, putting him into the same kind of trance Luna had been in. She cut it with Night Guard and Dreamer snapped out of it. Luna took the sheath from the tree and, while putting it on, said to Dreamer, “My friend, the time has come for us to face the demon that’s haunting you.”

Before Dreamer could respond, the Tantabus crashed through the trees towards them. Luna took a defensive stance, her sword levitating beside her head. Dreamer took cover behind her.

The Tantabus built up speed, running faster and faster towards them. A few moments before it could leap at them, Luna sent her sword out. The Tantabus tried to dodge it, but she adjusted the trajectory of her sword, scratching the right hind leg of the demon. The wound immediately started to give off a white glow, and the demon stopped its attack. Luna called her sword back to herself, looking the demon in its eyes.

It’s gaze changed. When they faced each other in the desolate castle, it had anger and hunger in its eyes. It wanted to consume them, to feed off their powers, to grow stronger and escape into another dream.

But now there was something unexpected. Fear. The Tantabus feared Luna, and Luna knew that it had all reason to do so.

She sent out her sword close over the ground with the intention to stab it in its belly, but the Tantabus jumped backwards and avoided it narrowly. But it crashed into a tree and fell to the ground. Luna saw her chance. The sword shot forward and cut off the already wounded leg before returning to Luna’s side. The Tantabus scrambled back up and started limping away.

Luna summoned a magical lasso and caught one of the Tantabus’ other legs with it and started to pull. The Tantabus tried to keep on running but wasn’t able to overcome Luna’s strength. Night Guard shot forward again, digging deep into the Tantabus chest. Without leaving a trace, it vanished, and with it the fog around them.

“Is it over?” Dreamer asked from behind her.

“It is, the Tantabus is destroyed.” She put her sword into its sheath on her back and turned around. “So, do you remember anything now?”

“Some things, yes. My name’s Rudolf, for example.”

“Interesting name,” Luna said. She wanted to continue, but her necklace started to blink, telling her that she was needed in the waking world immediately. “I’m afraid that you will have to go on alone, for now, Rudolf. I will check on you in a few days.”

“Alright, Princess. Goodbye.”

Episode 8: Night Guard

Author's Note

Sabrehorns and Nightwalkers are taken from here: https://www.deviantart.com/texasuberalles/art/Night-Guard-Recruitment-Poster-481824303

Night Shadow is the OC of this channel's owner: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBYUZ514wmmh-EQcXkbexqQ

Episode 8: Night Guard

Luna shook her head in disbelief. “Another one. That makes five victims in two weeks with that method in Manehattan alone… And we still have no lead… Anything else?”

“No, your Highness.”

“Good,” Luna said before grabbing the report with her magic. “You can leave now.”

The captain gave a salute before leaving. He headed towards the lunar guard barracks just outside the castle walls.

Celestia didn’t want her students to be distracted by the commotion of dozens of guards training, sparring, and generally living right next to her school, so they had to be built somewhere else. But since the guards still had to be able to enter the castle quickly in case of an emergency, the castle wall was extended to connect both buildings via an enclosed wall walk.

A group of lower ranked lunar guards were playing cards in the common room when the captain entered.

Most of them underwent the mutations to become bat-ponies, sabrehorns, or nightwalkers, but it wasn’t a mandatory part of joining the lunar guard. So, some refused, like lieutenant Night Shadow. The black coated unicorn stallion stood out a lot from his comrades because of that.

After the assassination attempt, some ponies even accused him of being a vampire and accomplice to the imprisoned White because of his red eyes, but he proved both accusations wrong. He was the first to notice the captain and jumped into a salute immediately, shortly followed by the other guards. “Are there new orders, sir?” Nightshadow asked.

“No, we are just to remain on standby in case one of the patrols needs help,” the captain said after returning the salute. He sat down on a table in the back of the room and the others continued their game.

“Don’t envy the patrols tonight,” one of them, an earth pony said, “The weather team cooked up one heck of a storm.”

A bat-pony explained, “They just want to show off because the crystal empire just survived an arctic storm.”

“Only because of the destruction and subsequent restoration of the crystal heart,” a sabrehorn mare threw in, “I don’t see why they want to bury Canterlot under snow because of that.”

The bat-pony sighed, “Because it officially got the title of ‘strongest storm recorded by a weather team,’ which belonged to an experimental snowstorm the Canterlot team created thirty years ago before that. And now they want to show everypony that they can create storms even more powerful than that, all just to get their title back. Bunch of braggarts. I definitely know why I chose the guard over the weather control.”

Shaded ran through the old castle in the Everfree forest, following the call of the Night Guard. The sword felt that its mistress, Luna, was in danger, but it was unable to get to her, so it called for its other creator, Shaded. She herself noticed how Luna’s aura grew weaker and weaker, but she couldn’t enter her mind without her permission, so she needed to find the sword instead.

Her finding-spell led her to the castle, but she still had a hard time finding it. She galloped down a corridor, just to find it collapsed behind the next turn. Blasting her way free with magic could cause the entire thing to collapse completely. She turned around and tried another way.

Why does this place have to be a maze? she thought. And adding to her frustration was the fact that because of the massive amount of wild magic in the castle, her locating spell seemed to think the sword jumped from one end of the castle to the next. If she didn’t find it soon, Luna would die, and then hundreds of years of planning and preparation would all be in vain. She wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Do you think there are any nocturnals in the guard?” the earth pony guard asked.

The bat-pony folded his current hoof of cards and said, “Not really. I mean, why should they join us?”

“Same reason as anypony else,” Nightshadow said, “to serve and protect their princess.”

The sabrehorn said, “But Luna is a pony princess, not a nocturnal.”

Nightshadow didn’t look up from his cards. “She still is the Princess of the Night. I’m certain that there are some within our ranks. The more important question is, would you have a problem with that?”

The earth pony was the first to answer. “I don’t know, honestly. What if they lose control and start biting people? Or if they have to choose between saving one of them or one of us?”

“You’re too pessimistic,” the bat-pony replied, “I myself wouldn’t mind. I mean, we’re also not normal ponies anymore. We’re mutants.” He looked over to Nightshadow. “Well, most of us, at least.”

The three looked at the sabrehorn, waiting for her answer. She shrugged and said, “If they are fine with fighting, living and, if necessary, dying on our side, I’m fine with them, too.” She grinned, showed the others her cards and said, “Payday, my friends.”

“It’s no use!” Shaded cursed into the empty halls, “Whenever I’m getting close, it’s moving again!” She was just about to search for the next location of the sword, but she noticed something. The sword seemed to cycle between a handful of different positions. If it would have just randomly changed, Shaded would have assumed that the free magic of the forest was manipulating her spell, but this was too regular, too specific.

It was designed.

Somepony used a spell to prevent others from finding the blade. It would send her through the entire castle, but never to the Night Guard. Shaded was almost impressed. Whoever made it must have put a lot of thought and effort into it. The magical signature of the sword was perfectly imitated, even Shaded couldn’t find any flaws in that. But the caster did make two mistakes.

The locations followed an order, which is what gave it away.

And all lied at the edges of the castle, which told Shaded that the real Night Guard had to be somewhere in the centre.

She teleported into the throne room. The finding spell still guided her towards the far corner of the castle grounds, so she stopped casting it. Instead, she used her magic to search for secret passageways. Luna had told her about many of them, like the one under her throne Celestia used to prank her with, and the now empty chamber where the Elements were hidden in the past.

But one caught her attention. A compartment underneath Celestia’s old throne. She knew there had to be a mechanism of some sort to open it. A button or lever to make the throne move to the side, perhaps. But searching for it could take hours, and time was of the essence, so she simply bucked it out of the way. It shattered on the wall behind it.

There it lied, Luna’s blade, Night Guard, bound by a magical seal. With enough time, Shaded could have opened the seal without leaving a trace, but Luna was almost defeated. There was, however, another way. Any magical seal could be broken with enough effort. The downside was that it would take a considerable amount of her power to do so.

A thunder cracked over Canterlot. The bat-pony guard knew that the snowstorm was about to reach its strongest point. The weather team already broke the record fifteen minutes ago, but they just kept going. They seemed to be determined to make it as hard as possible for others to steal the title again. Night Shadow, the captain, and the sabrehorn mare all hurried towards the window with fear on their faces.

“What's the matter?” the earth pony asked, “That wasn’t louder than the others.”

The sabrehorn mare ignored him and instead turned to the other horned guards. “Did you feel that, too?”

“A strong magical surge from the Everfree? Yeah. The question is, what caused it?” the captain said.

Night Shadow swallowed noticeably. “Nightmare Moon. That was Nightmare Moon.”

“That’s impossible,” the bat-pony said, hovering behind them, “She was destroyed six years ago, by the Elements of Harmony.”

“Trust me, it’s her.” Night Shadow turned around to face the bat-pony. “I was in there when she… when she returned, in Ponyville. I would recognise her magic anywhere.”

The captain knew what to do now. Luna had recently given him orders for this very situation. They were to raise a silent alarm, securing the entry points to the castle and raising an invisible shield, and to inform Luna as soon as possible. She would take a break from the dream realm and get some food in the cantine soon. But the most important part was that nopony should learn about Nightmare Moon’s possible return except the Lunar Guard and Luna herself.

He was about to give the others the necessary orders when they saw something that looked like a shooting star coming from the castle and flying towards the Everfree. Celestia, the pony Luna specifically said should be prevented above all others from knowing about sings of Nightmare Moon’s return, had noticed the surge as well.

The captain pointed at the earth pony and bat-pony and ordered, “You and you, gather all bat-ponies and nightwalkers in the parade ground. Combat ready.”

“Yes, Sir,” both said before they galloped out of the room.

Now the captain turned to the sabrehorn. “You tell the battle-mages to join the other guards and the scholars to raise a concealed shield over the castle.”

“Affirmative.” The sabrehorn nodded and galloped away.

“Night Shadow, you go and get the Princess. Don’t let anypony know what’s going on, and don’t let anypony stop you.”

“Right away, Sir.” Night Shadow galloped out of the common room and over the wall walk as fast as he could, but he had to slow down considerably after reaching the main castle. The storm had covered the sound of his hooves until now, but in the castle, it would have been too suspicious to gallop at top speed. He came across a few castle guard patrols, but they didn’t bother him. As a royal guard, he was higher in rank than them anyway.

The same wasn’t true, however, for the two celestial guards in front of the door to the watchtower. Night Shadow approached them and said, “Let me through, I have an important message for Princess Luna.”

“We have orders from Princess Celestia to let nopony disturb the Princess tonight,” one of them stated.

“Maybe I haven’t made myself clear.” He stepped closer, almost forcing himself between the two. “I’m here on Princess Luna’s order, and you have to let me pass.”

“We won’t,” the other celestial guard said.

“Well, then this is on you two.” With that, Night Shadows eyes became black, he placed one front hoof on each of the guards' heads and let magic flow from his horn through his legs into the guards. Both tensed up, their faces contorted from pain, but they were unable to scream. Night Shadow took his hooves away and both celestial guards collapsed. The perks of being an Umbrum, he thought before he opened the door to the watchtower and levitated both guards inside before he entered himself and closed the door. Two missing guards would cause less suspicion than two knocked out ones.

Luna stood in the middle of the room, her eyes faintly glowing white. She carried a sword Night Shadow didn’t recognize on her back. He put a curse on the celestial guards to prevent them from waking up anytime soon and a spell on the door to keep more from entering. Then he approached Luna. On her insistence, the scholars of the guard created a way to contact her in the dream realm if necessary. The result was an enchantment placed on the crystal in her necklace. He placed a hoof on the moon shaped crystal and said, “Periculi signum,” which caused it to glow.

Night Shadow stepped back and waited. Luna’s eyes stopped glowing, but she still stared at an imaginary point in the distance. A few moments later, she started to blink and shook her head. She looked at Night Shadow and asked in a commanding tone, “Why did you call me?”

“We noticed a surge if magic in the Everfree Forest, and we are certain that the source was Nightmare Moon, your Highness. The captain is already gathering the troops, and we are..”

“And what’s the meaning of this?” Luna pointed at the unconscious guards.

“I’m afraid that Celestia noticed her appearance as well and already left for the forest. These two wanted to prevent me from telling you. They said Celestia ordered that nopony was allowed to disturb you, so I had to knock them out.”

What is she intending to do now? Luna thought, and why doesn’t she want me to know?

Night Shadow asked, “What are your orders, your Highness?”

“Keep the silent alarm raised until I, and only I, give the all-clear. Protect the barracks. And my chambers in the castle. They contain knowledge that could cause serious damage in the wrong hooves. Tell the scholars to keep the portals on standby in case I need support in the field.” She used a spell and suddenly stood in front of Night Shadow in full body armour of a similar fashion the guards wore themselves. “I will leave for the Everfree at once.”

Luna created a portal in front of her. Before stepping through, she pointed at the two celestial guards at the ground and said, “And make sure those two aren’t alarming their comrades. The last thing we need now is a fight between mine and Celestia’s guards.”

“Understood, your Highness.” Night Shadow saluted and Luna vanished through the portal.

Shaded sat on Luna’s throne. It had been the closest chair and breaking the seal had cost her a lot of energy, but since the castle was built on a well of magic, she would just need an hour or so to regain her full strength.

Of course she had felt Celestia approaching the castle, that was the reason Shaded didn’t just return home to rest. If Celestia would arrive and find nothing but traces of Shaded’s magic, she would turn the whole Everfree Forest upside down to find her. Shaded wasn’t afraid of her though, and so she didn’t even flinch when the Princess landed halfway across the throne room. Instead, she said, “What brings you here, Celestia?”

“It was a mistake to return here, Nightmare Moon,” Celestia answered.

“Night—”Shaded tilted her head for a moment“—Oh, I see. Luna didn’t tell you yet, did she?”

Celestia charged her horn, ready to fire. “What did you want to do to her this time?”

“Nothing, of course. I would never harm her.”

“Liar!” Celestia shot a blast of magic at Shaded, which she blocked by creating a pitch black shield of magic around her. “You corrupted her all those years ago! Put lies and jealousy in her head, forced her to attack me!”

“Now, we both know that that isn’t true”—Shaded opened the shield, stood up and stepped down the steps leading up to the throne—“You were the one leading her into the darkness. You ignored her struggles, even when she asked you for help.”

Celestia clenched her teeth. Shaded continued, “Decade after decade, ever since Sombra was defeated. He was the last big threat the two of you faced together, and after him, the ponies of Equestria started preferring you over Luna. And you just loved their admiration, right?”

“You’re wrong,” Celestia said with a weak voice.

“Even you don’t believe that. Just admit that you relished their love so much that you didn’t care about Luna anymore, as long as she fulfilled her duty and maintained the status-quo.”

“LIES!” Celestia shot another bolt of magic at Shaded and forced her to jump back. “You may have been able to deceive my sister, but I won’t fall for your tricks!” Shot after shot she fired at Shaded, but everything she threw at her either missed the mark or failed to break through Shaded’s shield.

Celestia realized that she wouldn’t be able to win this way. She had to switch tactics, so she used her magic to create a flash of light. As expected, Shaded had to cover her eyes, allowing Celestia to retreat to the entrance of the throne room. She summoned a weapon, a spear of similar fashion to the ones her guards used, but longer to accommodate her size and with a yellow crystal embedded in the head. Shaded summoned her own weapon, a war scythe with a black blade. She took a defensive stance, waiting for Celestia to make the first move.

Celestia bolted forward, aiming for Shaded’s heart. Shaded pushed the spear upwards with the shaft of her scythe and rammed her shoulder into Celestia’s chest, forcing her on her back hooves. She swung her scythe at Celestia, but she used the force of the push to backflip out of the way.

“There is no need for a fight,” Shaded said, “Noctris doesn’t want a war with Equestria, and neither do I!”

“If the vampires are on your side, then they are monsters just like you,” Celestia shouted back. She thrust her spear forward again, the tip spraying sparks when it scraped over the flat side of the scythe.“And I will send them all to Tartarus!” She increased the speed of her attacks.

“Every.”

Steel hit steel.

“Single.”

Sparks rained down.

“One!”

Celestia’s spear scraped over the floor before trying to impale Shaded’s chest. Shaded jumped to the side, flapping her wings to escape the attack. She landed a few meters away from Celestia, breaking the flow of her attacks.

“If that’s what it takes to save Luna!”

Celestia charged the spearhead with her magic.

“But first, I will destroy you!”

She released the solar magic concentrated in her spear. Shaded teleported out of the way and reappeared a meter to the left. Celestia’s magic had burned itself through the massive stone wall of the throne room she had stood before mere moments prior.

Celestia prepared another shot, her eyes had an awfully familiar shimmer for a moment. Shaded shouted, “Is that Celestia or Daybreaker talking?”

“That monster will never exist again, but you won’t either!” The next bolt came flying towards Shaded. She teleported beside Celestia, broke her spear with a kick, hit her in the face with the shaft of her scythe and teleported back in front of Luna’s throne. A thin line of blood ran out of Celestia’s nose.

Looking down on her the same way she did one thousand years ago. She said, “Do you really think you could beat me?”

“No,” Celestia said and grinned at Shaded, “but I can keep you busy.” As if they had just been waiting for their cue, the bearers of the elements of harmony stormed into the room. They all wore their respective element around their necks or on their head.

Twilight activated the Elements. Shaded knew instinctively that she couldn't teleport out of the way, the Elements created too many magical interferences.

And she wouldn’t be strong enough to block the attack with a shield on her own.

The Elements shot, their energy flying towards Shaded. It was too late to dodge the attack. She could only hope that it wouldn’t destroy her this time, or else...

Prepare your shield, a voice said in Shaded’s head, together we can withstand it! A moment later, Luna dived down through the ceiling and landed by her side. She created a shield in front of them that kept the elements at bay, but it already started to break as soon as the blast hit it. Shaded quickly sent all the magic she had left into it, stabilising the shield for a few more moments.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight exclaimed. She stopped the elements’ attack.

“What do you think you are doing, sister?” Luna asked harshly.

“Saving you from that monster,” Celestia replied.

“Oh, really? It looked more like starting a war to me. You had no right to attack her.”

“Sister, please, whatever she told you was a lie. Please step aside and let us deal with her.”

“And how would you know if she lied?” Luna asked.

“I can feel it,” Celestia replied confidently.

“You can’t be serious, sister. You want to start a war and kill somepony I once considered a good friend, all while you keep me locked up in Canterlot, because of a gut feeling?”

Celestia grit her teeth but didn’t answer. Twilight stepped in front of her old teacher and said, “Luna, do you really trust her more than Celestia?”

“Well, Shaded Moon gave us evidence, didn’t she? What do you think I did every day since the attempt on Celestia’s life?” She looked at Twilight, but she avoided looking back at her. All of the Six did. “I investigated, gathered information, interrogated every vampire I could find, followed every clue I came across, all in an attempt to make an informed decision. You yourself said that we should wait until we know more about her and her allies, but it seems I underestimated the blind loyalty you have towards my sisters.”

“But what if Celestia is right,” Twilight asked, “What if Shaded is evil? Do you really want to risk it? Wouldn’t it be better if we sent her to the moon until we know everything?”

“You have no idea how being banished to the moon feels like, or you wouldn’t even think about suggesting that,” Luna said coldly.

Shaded knew Luna well enough to notice that she was on the verge of tears, so she asked, “And what did I do to warrant such treatment, anyway?”

“You corrupted my sister and turned her against me!” Celestia shouted.

“I didn’t, as I already said, but even if I did, wasn’t I banished to the moon for one thousand years for exactly that?”

“And may I remind you, sister,” Luna added, having gained back her composure, “that you officially pardoned me for the crimes? And I was the one who wanted to attacked you, Shaded just lended me her strength. If you want to punish her and all her allies for a crime I am responsible for, then I will share their punishment.”

“Sister,” Celestia said with doubt in her voice, “do you really trust her?”

“Enough to give her a second chance,” Luna replied.

Celestia sighed. “Then I shall give her one as well,” Celestia said.

“Thank you, sister. I will tell you everything I learned once I return to Canterlot. But remember, I am the Princess of the Night, and they are creatures of the night and, because of that, my responsibility, not yours. I will make the decisions in this case, not you.”

“I… understand.” Celestia looked at Shaded. “Remember, Shaded Moon, or however you call yourself now, if you give me any reason to believe that you only want to use Luna to fulfil your own selfish desires, I won’t hesitate to send you to the moon forever.” Having said that, Celestia opened her wings and flew back to Canterlot.

“Well, that went as good as expected,” Shaded said.

Luna let her armour disappear. “My sister always means well, and normally she can keep her emotions in check. You shouldn’t think bad about her because of that.”

“I don’t,” Shaded said, “I can understand why it must be hard for her. She probably kept telling herself that I forced you to attack her to ease her conscience ever since it happened, and it can be difficult to be honest with yourself after such a long time.”

“I just hope that she calms down.”

Shaded nodded, stepped down the stairs and stopped in front of the six. “It is an honour to meet you all again, but I'm afraid I have to leave now. Celestia will soon raise the sun and I need to return home before that.” She turned to Luna. “Until we meet again.”

“Goodbye,” Luna said.

Shaded opened her wings and was just about to fly away when Twilight asked, “Why is it so important for you to return before dawn?”

Shaded looked at Twilight and smiled sadly. “Sunlight is lethal to my kind. I would die if the sun was ever to shine on me."

Episode 9: Spectre

Author's Note

A picture of Spectre's cutie mark is in the Art blog

Summary of Episodes 9 to 14 for those who want to skip the more Slice of Life-y bits

Episode 9: Spectre

The walls of the atelier were covered in paintings, drawings and sketches. The middle of the room was dominated by an easel, flanked by two workbenches with all sorts of pencils, brushes, paints, and everything else the resident artist could wish for scattered across them. There were no windows, but they wouldn’t be of any use underground anyway. The white unicorn currently working on her latest piece was a bit taller than most unicorns. But what stood out was her mane.

Unkempt, shoulder-length, and slightly flowing, it would have been the horror for every hairdresser as it is, but what had yet made all fashionistas despair was the colour. It fluently changed through all colours of the light spectrum, constantly mixing new shades and combinations. She herself described it as looking ‘as if you would put yellow and orange, red and blue, teal and purple oil on water, and stir it.’

She’d just set her current brush down when somepony behind her said, “What are you painting?”

Spectre flinched a little bit—she always got so absorbed in her work that she didn’t notice when somepony entered her atelier—turned around and looked at her friend from the Shadowbolts. “Flowers,” she said before grabbing another brush and continuing painting.

“Looks good so far, I would say... Hey, did you hear the news?” His question was followed by silence, so he added, “They are rebuilding the old castle in the forest. I thought it might be interesting for you because you often snuck out to draw the ruins.”

“I won’t visit it again until its finished,” Spectre answered in an absent-minded, relaxed tone, “Architecture is a work of art, and it’s rude to look at the work of somepony else before it is finished unless the artist asks you to.” She glanced at her friend for a moment, before applying red paint to her brush.

“Well, maybe the pony restoring the tapestries could need some help. They got to have lost some colour over the years.”

Spectre stopped her brush a centimetre before the canvas. “Pony?” She asked, “As in, a diurnal? Not somepony from here?”

“A pony from Ponyville, yes. Since the castle is supposed to be neutral ground for negotiations between Noctris and Equestria, rebuilding it is a group effort. They gave the job to Rarity.”

“Rarity? The element of Generosity, famous seamstress… ThatRarity?”

“Yup.”

“What’s the weather today?”

“Windy, a little bit snowy, and a full cloud cover.” A small grin stole itself onto his face when he saw Spectre putting on her saddlebag. “You want to visit her, right?”

“Of course, now that we actually are allowed to interact with diurnals.” She put on a black hooded coat and shoes to match. The only thing not covered was now her face. “And it would be a tragedy to let this opportunity to meet her slip by.”

Ponyville, early morning

The doorbell rang and Spectre entered the shop. Rarity stood in the middle of the room over the tapestries and said while turning around, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique. How may I…” She couldn’t finish her sentence. Spectre had taken of her hood, revealing her mane and thin, light green nightmare-eyes. Rarity looked at her with a mixture of fascination and shock.

“Am I speaking with Rarity?”

Rarity needed a second to realize that she was asked a question. “Yes, and who am I talking with?”

“My name is Spectre. It is an honour to meet you. Many ponies talked about your art with praise.”

“Well, I put a lot of effort into every piece I make.” The compliment calmed her down. She pointed with her hoof at a dress she currently had on display and told Spectre a little bit about it, but as soon as she looked back at her guest and remembered what she was, she tensed up again. “So, what gives me the… honour of your visit?”

“I just wanted to visit the pony I heard so much about…” Spectre looked around. “I’m sorry, but is there a coat rack somewhere? This thing is extremely heavy.” Rarity pointed at the rack next to the door and Spectre hung her coat there. She noticed Rarity staring at her. “Am I making you nervous?”

“What? No. I mean, I never saw a nachtmare that close and I admit, the only two times I met one weren’t that pleasant, so I may need a minute or two to feel comfortable around your kind—no offence—but what in Celestia’s name did you do with your mane?”

“Nothing. It was like that for as long as I can remember—” Spectre raised her hoof to prevent Rarity from speaking “—I know, I know, ‘It’s unkempt, a crime against fashion, horrible, I should be ashamed to not show my mane the proper attention and care,’ I’ve heard it all.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, it’s gorgeous!” Rarity walked to Spectre’s side and looked closely at the nachtmare’s mane, forgetting what she was talking with.

Spectre was perplexed. She didn’t even notice Rarity’s new position. “You really think so?”

“Of course,” Rarity responded, “I would never joke about something like that. Your mane can even compete with Princess Celestia’s.” Rarity reached out with her hoof to touch Spectre’s mane, but she stopped herself halfway there and stepped back again when Spectre turned her head to face Rarity. “I beg your pardon, I didn’t mean to get to close.”

“It’s alright, I just was taken aback a moment. You are the first fashion designer to compliment my mane. Anyway, I heard you were given the task to restore the tapestries from the old castle.”

“I am, yes.” Rarity walked over to the tapestries. Spectre followed her while grabbing a sketchbook from her saddlebags. Rarity continued, “I already cleaned them, which they were in dire need for after being left out there for one thousand years. Most didn’t suffer too many cuts or tears, but I will have to copy a few of them. The only problem is that I don’t have the right fabric.”

Spectre scribbled something in her scrapbook and said, “I didn’t know that they were made from such a special material.”

“That’s not the problem. I got the right material, but not the right hues of blue. I even sacrificed one of the smaller tapestries to send samples to every draper I know, but all offers they send back were just not quite what I needed.” Rarity laid multiple fabrics besides the tapestry of Luna to showcase her problem.

“I could help you with that if you want.”

“Really?”

“You just have to give me the right fabric and I’ll take care of the colour.”

“That would be wonderful. Wait here, I get it from my own stock.” Rarity went into the back of her boutique and soon returned levitating a white bale. “Here, you can use this one.”

Spectre nodded and took the bale with her own magic. Then she focused on the tapestry. The colour of magic, normally as chaotic as her mane, changed to reflect the dark blue of the tapestry. The magic sank into the fabric and dyed it. After her work was done, Spectre gave the bale back to Rarity, who carefully looked at it.

“That’s exactly the hue I needed… How did you do that?”

“It’s my special talent. I’m just happy I could help somepony as talented and beautiful as you.”

“Thank you. Would you mind if I began with the repairs?”

“Not at all, I’ll just sit over there and watch.”

Rarity took to her work and Spectre to her sketches. Every now and then, Rarity noticed another missing colour and Spectre helped her with her talent again.

They started to talk. Rarity about the boutique, her friends and Ponyville, and Spectre about how she often left Noctris to look for inspiration in the Everfree, how she used her talents to bring colour in the underground city—even though she was careful to avoid to say where the city was—and how the designers she met reacted to her. Many wanted her to wear something of there creation. As a famous artist, there would be no better advertisement for them. But because of her mane, which she refused to style just for a dress, they all gave up at some point or simply failed to create something Spectre liked.

After two hours, the repairs to the numerous tapestries were completed. Rarity and Spectre folded and packed them for the transport to the castle. Rarity would still have to make a few new ones, but Spectre had changed the colour of enough fabric for Rarity.

“Again, thank you, Spectre. I couldn’t have done it without your help.”

Spectre shook her head. “Don’t mention it. I just changed a few colours. You did the real work.”

“Darling, you saved me weeks of effort trying to find the right hues. I simply can’t ignore an act of kindness like that. There must be something I can do to repay you for your help.”

Spectre thought about it for a moment. She already learned a lot about Rarity as a pony, but Rarity as an artist still interested her. Spectre asked, “Do you, by any chance, have an atelier?”

“My inspiration room could probably be called that, yes. Why?”

“Would you show it to me?” In her opinion, the private room of an artist could tell you a lot about the artist, if you look at it with an open heart.

“Of course, that’s the least I can do. Come with me.” Rarity led her through the back of the shop and into the ‘organized chaos’ of her workshop.

Spectre looked around. She walked further into the room, carefully avoiding the pieces of cloth and paper scattered on the floor. Rarity had to have a truly free mind. She pointed at a sketch hanging beside a mirror. “Did you make that?”

“Of course, darling.”

“You’re really skilled with charcoal, I’m impressed.”

“Well, I need it to design my dresses somehow.” Only now did Rarity notice Spectre scribbling her sketchbook. “And what are you drawing?” She asked with suspicion.

Spectre gave the book to Rarity. “It’s my first time in Ponyvile, so I wanted to have something to remember the trip.”

Rarity looked through it. The first one was a rough sketch of Ponyvile from the edge of the Everfree. The next few of different houses in Ponyvile, including the town hall. Then one of the outside of the boutique. One of the inside. And then…

“You made a drawing of me?”

“While you worked on the tapestries, yes. You seemed to enjoy it so much, I couldn’t resist capturing that moment of happiness and beauty. Of course, if you want, I’ll destroy it.”

Rarity closed the book, smiled and gave it back to Spectre. “Keep it, but I hope you won’t need it to remember me.”

Did my eyes deceive me, or did she blush? Spectre thought. She simply said, “Me too.” They left the inspiration room and Spectre added with a little bow, “Thank you for showing me your inspiration room.”

“You’re most welcome. Now I want to ask you something.”

Spectre looked at Rarity with curious eyes but said nothing.

Rarity took a deep breath and asked, “Would you mind if I design a dress for you?”

Spectre raised an eyebrow. “Even after I told you that nopony yet managed to create something I like, you still want to try?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“You’re a wonderful pony and you deserve it. Of course, I would never claim to truly know yet, but you seem to be an extraordinary mare. I know it won’t be easy, that I will have to think unconventionally, but just because nopony managed it yet doesn’t mean it nopony will ever be able too.”

Spectre smiled. “How could I say no to such a charming lady? If you really want to, I have nothing against it. And to be honest, I think you could actually succeed.”

Before Rarity could say something, they heard the doorbell, followed by somepony calling for her. Rarity went ahead to greet the new guest, while Spectre waited until Rarity told her to come out.

When Spectre entered the room, she recognized the guest as Rainbow Dash. Why did it have to be her of all ponies? Dash said, “So, you’re the mysterious, hooded pony walking through town Cloud Kicker told me about.”

Spectre didn’t grin anymore. She didn’t frown either, but there was no friendliness in her voice when she said, “I guess so, and from the looks of it, you’re Rainbow Dash.”

“The one and only,” Rainbow said grinning. Then she asked what Spectre was doing there and Spectre told her what she already told Rarity earlier. After she was done, Dash asked, “How can it be that you are out in the open? I thought your kind dies if you leave your caves during the day.”

“It’s not daytime that hurts us nachtmares, it’s sunlight. And thanks to the weather, the sun can’t shine on me directly, so I’m fine… mostly.”

“Mostly?”

Spectre sighed and pointed at her cloak. “I still have to wear that to block out the rest. Long exposure wouldn't be healthy, even if it's just a little bit… you're staring at my mane, aren't you?”

“Can you blame me?” Dask asked defensively, “It looks like it was dyed with a sonic rainboom.”

“That sounds like a compliment.”

“I guess it is.”

“Well, Thank you then.” I still don't like you, Spectre thought, Who actually enjoys beating others senseless? I can't understand why the Shadowbolts want to… “I almost forgot to tell you. The Shadowbolts want to meet you at the old castle… they want to challenge you to a race or something.”

Episode 10: The Race

Rainbow headed straight for the castle. It was protected by a transparent, light blue shield. It was only supposed to keep the weather out though, so she just flew right through it.

The moment she passed it, the sudden change in wind conditions (or more accurately, the sudden lack of any wind at all) threw her off course. She took a sharp dive to the left. The wonderbolts had prepared her for situations like this, but their training was about suddenly appearing strong winds, not for it to just disappear. But she recovered quickly enough and only lost a little bit of height and speed.

The reconstruction had started shortly after the night Celestia learned about Shaded and had been going on throughout the entire winter, with only a short break over Hearth’s Warming Eve. Lunar Guards—most of them wearing the dark red robes of scholars or the light bronze armour of battlemages—constantly walked out of the castle, carrying rubble out with their magic, walking over the newly built, wide stone bridge that had replaced the old one Rainbow had proven her loyalty at years ago, and exchanged it with fresh stones piled up on waggons on the plain in front of the castle.

Shadowbolts helped the mages. They told them which stones were in which waggon, how much rubble they could pile on them without overloading them, and they managed the safety aspects of the cargo. They had set up a camp consisting of seven tents arranged around a crystal pedestal that was as high as Rainbow herself.

Never thought I'd see the ‘best flyers in the Everfree forest’ working as couriers, Rainbow thought. Then she noticed a group of three Shadowbolts, two stallions on the sides and a mare in the middle, standing a little bit away from the rest. The middle one was waving at her with a hoof.

Rainbow landed in front of the group, and now she recognized them. It was the exact same ponies who had wanted her to betray her friends. The mare of the group greeted her, “Good day, Rainbow Dash. I'm glad that you could make it.”

“Yeah, hello. So what do you want this time—” her eyes narrowed from her trying to remember something“—what's your name?”

The mare tilted her head, then chuckled nervously. “Oh, I never properly introduced myself, did I?” She extended a wing and said, “The name's Shadow Surprise, and I'm the captain of the Everfree Shadowbolts, the greatest aerial team in this forest.“

Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment before shaking her wing. “Rainbow Dash, proud member of the Wonderbolts, the best aerial team in all if Equestria.” She smirked at the last part.

“We know. You made quite the name for yourself. Wonderbolt light blue really suits you. But you have to admit that,” she grinned, “your Shadowbolt costume isn't too bad, either.”

“You know that—”

“That you dress up as one of us for Nightmare Night? Yes. I have to admit that it's a really good costume, considering you only saw us for one minute. But that's not why we are here today.”

“Yeah, you want to challenge me to a race, right?” Rainbow asked, thankful to change the topic.

“Correct. If you feel up to the challenge, that is.”

“Of course I am,” Rainbow said with a cocky smile.

“Great. Follow me, I’ll explain the details at the start.”

Shadow Surprise lead Rainbow to the camp. Surprise told Dash to wait at the statue while she got something from her tent. Rainbow looked closer at the pillar. It appeared to be made from the same material as the crystal heart.

Surprise returned and gave Rainbow a hoofstrap with a little circular disk on it. “It will tell you the way,” Surprise explained while Rainbow fitted the band on her left hoof. She showed Rainbow a similar band in her own hoof. “See the circle with the three dots on the disk?”

“Yeah.”

“They show you were to go. The outer dots will get closer together the closer you come to the next control point, the middle one shows you the direction. The race goes over five control points. Flying above the trees or crashing leads to disqualification. Any questions?”

“No. Let’s do this.”

Rainbow and Surprise stood at the starting line between two tents, facing away from the castle.

“Ready,” the Lunar Scholar they had asked to be their starter said. Rainbow and Surprise bent their hooves. Rainbow glanced at the disk. The first section was going to be straight over the plain in front of them.

“Set.”

Both Pegasi opened their wings and brought them forward, ready to fly away.

“Go!”

Rainbow Dash shot forward. She looked at the trees outside the shield. When she approached the end of the shield, she tilted a little bit to the right. Now affected by the winds again, the tilt caused her to fly straight again. A quick glance behind her told her that she lead the race by a good margin.

The dots grew closer, her lead longer. If she doesn’t hurry up, I’ll get bored.

Soon she noticed that the first controlpoint was a tree at the edge of the plain. Somepony had placed a red crystal on it, that turned green once she passed it. The next control point lied somewhere in the forest,

Rainbow lost a lot of speed from avoiding the trees. If she could have flown over it, like she normally did, it would have been no problem, but she had agreed to the rules. Another, red dot appeared on her disk.

Surprise was closing in.

Rainbow began avoiding the trees narrower, but didn’t dare to go as close as possible. Normally, she could risk catching her wing in a tree branch, but because of the second rule, she didn’t want it to be considered crashing.

Surprise didn’t seem to have that problem. She seemed to fly through branches as if they weren’t there at all.

The second control point came closer, as did the end of the dense vegetation. Rainbow put everything she had into the race, but Surprise still managed to take the lead.

They left the forest. A gorge lied in front of her. Rainbow flew over it while Surprise descended into the gorge.

Why she did that became clear once Rainbow reached the next checkpoint.

Or thought she would. She flew past the point on the disk, but instead of changing to the next one, it just pointed her back. Dammit, the next point is down in the creek!

But she wasn’t going to give up. The honour of the Wonderbolts was at stake! So she turned around, dived into the creek and into the cave at the end. She flew as fast as possible, almost reaching sonic rainboom speed, and the red dot representing Surprise got closer. I can still make it. I can still make. I just can’t…

Rainbow’s scream as her left wing clipped a rock echoed through the cave. She crashed into the ground, grinding to a halt. She dragged herself into a sitting position and checked her wing. It was loosely hanging down. She tried to move it, but was unable to. Brocken. Well, that’s it, then. She had lost. Luckily, her hooves had escaped the crash with a few scratches, so she started walking towards the next checkpoint. With every step, she felt like knives where stabbing into her wing, but she had to get there if she wanted find the way back.

Surprise was almost out of the cave. Only one more stretch and she had successfully defended the Shadowbolts title. Then she noticed that the blue dot on her disk representing Rainbow Dash started to blink. She shot out of the cave and flew straight upwards, let herself fall back and used the momentum of gravity to shoot back into the cave.

A few minutes later, Surprise found Rainbow. She landed beside her opponent and looked at the wing. Without asking what happened, she took a pill out of a pocket and gave it Rainbow. “Take that, it will help with the pain.”

She took the pill and just as Surprise said, the pain got better. She could now walk without aching in pain at every step. “Thanks. I should be able to make it back now.”

"Alright, Stripes, but I’ll still stick with you until we get back to the castle.

“Stripes?” Rainbow asked, confused.

“Yeah, you really impressed me. Most ponies don’t provide that much of a challenge for me, so I thought you deserved a nickname.”

“But why ‘Stripes’?” Rainbow had stopped and looked at Surprise.

“Well, your mane is rainbow stripes,” Surprise said matter of factly.

“I know, but why focus on that. I lost and crashed.”

“So what? Happens to the best. What’s your nickname with the Wonderbolts?”

“Crash,” Rainbow said reluctantly.

Surprise looked at her, doubt in her eyes.

“I’m serious.”

“Wow. Would you mind if I called you Stripes instead?” Surprise asked.

“Not at all,” Rainbow replied, “Now, let’s get out of here.”

When they arrived back at the camp, Surprise offered to bring Rainbow to the nearest hospital, and Rainbow gladly took it.

After changing out of her uniform to avoid a panic in Ponyville, Surprise told Rainbow to lay down on a stretcher. Or what she called a pram. To Rainbow, it looked more like a bed. “Are you sure that’s the right one?”

Surprise nodded.

“But it has no wheels.”

“Just lie down.”

Rainbow did, and as soon as she lied comfortably and was secured with straps, the stretcher started to hover as if a unicorn was carrying it with magic. Surprise climbed in the harness and took off, pulling it behind her. “How…”, Rainbow mumbled.

“Special crystals,” Surprise said, “It’s much easier that way. We use the same in the waggons for the stones.”

Rainbow was impressed. She knew that stones could have some unique powers, but she never considered that they could also substitute simple unicorn magic. She rested her head on her hooves. Not really surprising. The Crystal Heart protects the Crystal Empire, the Alicorn Amulet can give a unicorn incredible power. And of course there were the Elements. I bet a hovering… Her head shot up again. “Hey, could you give me a few of those crystals?”

“Why? Can’t you live a few days without flying?” Surprise asked sarcastically.

“It’s not for me, it’s for my little sister. She can’t fly, but is awesome on her scooter. And with them, she maybe can’t fly, but she would be a lot closer. Maybe the closest she will ever get.”

Surprise was silent for a few moments. Then she said, “That should be doable, yes. But I can’t just give them away. You will have to introduce me to your little sis first. I’ll be stationed at the castle for a while, so just come by when you have time.”

“Yeah, once my wing is fixed, I’ll…”

“You’ll… what, Stripes?”

Rainbow didn’t answer. Surprise looked over her shoulder and saw her lying there motionlessly with her eyes closed. The broken wing had started to change colour, the wet feathers turning purple.

“What do you mean, 'you made a mistake'?!” Applejack shouted at Doctor Horse, “Three days ago, you told Dash that it's just a simple thing and let her go with a cast, and now she's in there, fighting for her life, because y'all made a mistake!”

“I'm terribly sorry for what happened to her, but I need you to make a decision. Her wing got necrotic. We may be able to save some of it, but that would involve a lot of risk. The safest thing would be to amputate it, but either way, we can’t wake her up to ask her what to do right now..”

Applejack turned away, looking through the window of the operating theater. The surgeons did their best to keep Dash alive, but it was clear even to her that she wouldn't make it much longer. Applejack took a deep breath, and turned back to Doctor Horse.

Three weeks later, Rainbow was allowed to leave the hospital in Cloudsdale. It was a clinic specialized in wing injuries, so she was transferred there after the Ponyville doctors realized that they couldn't help her.

“Remember, take it easy for a while. We don’t know how much the wing can take,” the wonderbolt doctor told her. Again. Rainbow had heard that the entire time throughout the recovery and was sick of it. It was of course nice of him to bring her to the front door himself instead of just having a nurse do it, but Rainbow couldn’t shake off the suspicion that he was more interested in the success of his experimental ‘therapy’ and not in her personally.

“Yes, Doctor, I know. No races, no rainbooms, no flying in bad weather,” she recounted.

“And don’t forget to write down your impressions,” he said, scoldingly waving his hoof, “If this is a success, it will help a lot of pegasi.”

“I won’t forget it.” Rainbow eyed the door. She had already flown a little bit during the therapy, but she longed for the sensation of flying freely.

The doctor wished her luck, they shook hooves, and Rainbow left the hospital.

She walked to the edge of the cloud the hospital was on and looked down. It was still hovering over Ponyville, so it would only be a short flight, but she sure was to enjoy every moment of it. Rainbow opened her wings and, finally, flew again. Her left wing still felt weird in comparison to before, but at least she could fly.

And there were worse fates than having a metal wing.

Episode 11: Surprise, Scootaloo

Flying over Ponyville has never felt so satisfying as it does right now, Rainbow Dash thought. She couldn’t fly at top speed of course—even though she would have really liked to do so—she didn’t want to lose her left wing again. And her slower pace at least gave her the opportunity to look at all the new houses in Ponyville.

Rainbow knocked on the door of Scootaloo's house. After a moment, an earth pony mare opened the door. "Hey, Holiday, I'm back," Rainbow Dash said.

"Rainbow, I'm so happy to see that you have recovered—" her muscles twitched for the fraction of a second. She wanted to hug Rainbow, but decided against it "Come in. Scootaloo really missed you."

"I missed her as well," Rainbow said while following Holiday into the house, "I'm really bummed that I missed Winter Wrap Up."

"Forget about it, there's always next year, and we had no problems with Ta—"

"Rainbow!" Scootaloo yelled, excited when she saw her big sister. She jumped up from her homework and dashed towards Rainbow for a hug, but stopped at the last moment. "Eh, is it ok to hug? I don't want to break your new wing."

Rainbow unfolded her wings, looked at her new, shiny left one and said, "It's ok, it's just going to be a bit colder than before."

"Don't you mean, 20% cooler?" Scootaloo asked with a trolling grin.

Rainbow let out a really, really deep sigh. "I really regret ever saying that." But before she could complain further, she could feel Scootaloo's hug, so she just put her wings over her—carefully, to not give Scootaloo a shock with the metal wing—and said, "But I guess it really is cool."

"It's awesome, I'd really like to see how it works."

A certain reptile licking Rainbow's cheek got the two pegasi out of their hug, and now Rainbow gave Tank a big hug. "Sorry for not being there when you woke up." Tank just grinned at her like always, so Rainbow knew that he wasn't mad at her for it.

They sat down to eat some of Lofty’s cookies and Rainbow Dash said, “Ponyville sure grew a bit while I left, huh?”

“Yeah, they already had to make the school bigger. Many of the new kids are vampires and… how do they call themselves again?” Scootaloo scratched her head.

“Schatten,” Auntie Lofty said, “The pony subjects of Shaded call themselves schatten. Not really creative if you ask me.”

“Why not?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s just their word for shadow.”

Scootaloo took a bite of a cookie. “You never really told me what happened during the race.”

“Right, I didn’t have the chance yet.”

Rainbow told Scootaloo everything about the race.

“That Shadowbolt, Surprise, could give me crystals to build a hover-scooter?” Scootaloo asked. Rainbow nodded, and Scootaloo yelled. “That. Would. Be. AWESOME!”

Rainbow grinned. “You want to meet her?”

“If you trust her, of course!”

After some consideration, they agreed that it would be the best course of action to just invite Surprise to Scootaloo’s home for the next day, so Rainbow Dash flew to the old castle to tell her that.

She found Surprise quickly, who greeted her similarly to everypony else, talking about how glad she was to see her recovered before asking, "So, how's the new wing working?"

"Well, definitely better than no wing. I mean, I still have to hold myself back, because my top speed would probably wreck it. But other than that, it does it's job. And Doctor Alae works on improving the prosthetics all the time, so maybe I'll get my full strength back eventually."

"It's good to hear that Alae was able to put you back together." Surprise shifted her weight from one leg to the other, and avoided looking Rainbow in the eyes when she said, "I heard that the Wonderbolts announced that Angel Wings is going to fill your position. Is… Is that permanent or is she just filing in until you get back to top form?"

Rainbow's ears dropped to the sides. “It’s permanent—” she sighed “—I got a medical discharge from the wonderbolts. Because we can’t know if I’ll ever be able to fly like before the accident ever again, and they can’t just keep a spot open on the off chance that it happens. But I get a full pension, which is fortunate, because I can also forget my job at the weather control since I’m not allowed to fly during bad weather.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that.” Surprise shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “And I’m really sorry about what happened. I hope you don’t think bad about the other Schatten because of me.”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked confused.

“The race. If I would have chosen another track, you wouldn’t have lost your wing. I’d understand if you wouldn’t forgive me that.”

“And if I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to fly at top speed while not seeing in front of me, I wouldn’t have clipped my wing. So yeah, I won’t forgive you, because there’s nothing to forgive.”

“That’s a relief, thank you.” Surprise relaxed, took a few deep breaths, and said, “So, why are you here?”

“We talked about you getting a few hover crystals for my little sis before I passed out, right?”

“Yeah.”

“She’d like to meet you tomorrow if you have time.”

“My shift ends at sixteen o’clock, so I have time then, yes. Where do I need to go?”

Rainbow Dash told her the address.

“Ok, I’ll be there. By the way, our offer still stands, in case early retirement turns out to not be your thing.”

“I’ll need some time to think about it.”

“No problem. So, do you want to stay a bit?”

“I can’t, I still have a very special somepony waiting for me.”

Surprise grinned. “Well, I wish you lots of fun, then. Until tomorrow.”

The sun was already over the horizon when Rainbow Dash reached Sweet Apple Acres, which meant that she was too late. Applejack already stood on the porch, waiting for her.

Rainbow landed in front of her. “Sorry, AJ, I know I said I’d be here before sunset, but I’m just not used to the new wing.”

“It’s alright, sugarcube, you’re worth the wait.” Applejack laid her right leg around Rainbow’s shoulder and pulled her in for a hug, and Rainbow returned the hug. “And at least we know now who the real iron pony is now,” Applejack whispered into Rainbow’s ear.

“Don’t you dare go easy on me in the next tournament,” she whispered back.

“Ah would’ve never dreamed of that,” Applejack said with a cheeky grin before both let go of the other.

“So, what did you have in mind for today?”

“That’s supposed to be a surprise,” Applejack said.

“Where’s Pinkie?”

“Twilight is helping her.”

The door to Pinkie’s party cave creaked as if it would break every time Pinkie bounced against it from underneath, even with Twilight and Starlight’s magic reinforcing it.

“This better be worth it!” Starlight yelled.

“I’ll count it as a friendship lesson,” Twilight responded. “Just make sure she doesn’t get out! She’ll get tired eventually!”

“You can’t honestly believe that yourself…”

Twilight didn’t give Starlight an answer.

“So she won’t just interrupt us again?” Rainbow asked.

“Nope. Now, we’re gonna have to walk a bit. I hope ya have no problem with following my voice, because I’ll blindfold ya. I really want it to be a surprise, and I know that ya probably know every square of Ponyville like the back of your hoof.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I guess that’s fair.”

Applejack put the blindfold on and said, “Alright, let me tell you what you missed, and it’s gonna be a longer story. It began when Applebloom came home with a jar of pear jam...”

“...now he’s back in Ponyville, and the feud’s finally over.” Applejack finished

“And what happened with the seeds?”

Applejack smiled. “Take off the blindfold.”

They stood in front of the apple-pear-tree. “Wow, that’s…” Rainbow was at a loss for words. It was the very tree Bright Mac and Buttercup had planted at their wedding. “It’s awesome.”

Applejack kissed her on her cheek before walking closer to the tree. Rainbow just now noticed that her marefriend was carrying a basket on her back. She placed it before the tree and took a picnic blanket, two mugs and a bottle of out of it. “Will you only stand there or do you want to share some cider with me?”

“You’re the best, Applejack.”

The next morning, Applejack woke up from the rising sun shining in her face. She still laid under the apple-pear-tree, snuggled together with Rainbow Dash, her wing wrapped around her. There’s certainly worse things to wake up to, she thought.

Then she got a reminder of Rainbow’s snoring directly in her ear.

“Morning, Dashie.” Applejack turned round under Rainbow’s wing to look her in the face.

“Morning,” Rainbow replied, more asleep than awake.

“Ah have to get up.”

“Five more minutes.”

“Rainbow, Ah have chores to take care of.”

“Big Mac can take care of it.”

“You sure ain’t an early bird.”

“Nope.”

Applejack sighed. “Ah guess we can stay a bit longer—”

“Yaaay.” Rainbow yawned it more than she said it. Her eyes finally opened.

“—but only if you help me with my chores later.”

“Sure... If you give me a kiss,” Rainbow added with a grin, and Applejack happily fulfilled her request.

“Now turn around, Ah don’t think it’s a good idea to lie on your new wing.”

Ten minutes later, they finally managed to get up. Rainbow wanted to stretch her wings, but the left one didn’t do anything. She groaned. “Damn it, I forgot the charger…”

“The what?” Applejack asked.

“The charger for the wing. I have to sleep close to it every night to let the wing recharge. Well, guess I’m grounded for now.”

“As long as your legs still work,” Applejack said with a smug grin.

Rainbow grinned back. “What do you think about—”

“A race back to the farm?” Applejack finished for her. “Of course!”

After they arrived back at the farm—the race ended in a tie—Rainbow stayed true to her word and helped Applejack make up the time she lost earlier.

And then some more.

And some more.

Rainbow really missed Applejack, so she didn’t mind doing chores if it meant spending time with her.

At noon, Rainbow left Sweet Apple Acres to walk back home. Luckily, she had landed and anchored her house a few months ago to make it more accessible for Scootaloo. As soon as she stepped over the doorstep, her wing gave off a soft, humming sound, telling her that it started charging. The charger itself was a bronze sphere the size of an orange, with azure blue runes engraved all over it, and it laid in a nest made from silver. The silver seems to be a bit much, but Alae said it’s necessary.

So, what to do now? I got a few hours to kill.

Her first idea was to get something to eat, so she went to the fridge to get something. The food she bought before the accident was still there, but it had gotten moldy. Well, I don’t know what I expected… Guess first thing to do is cleaning, then.

After throwing away everything in her kitchen that had taken on new life while she was gone, and cleaning the entire rest of the house because hyperfocus is weird sometimes, she wanted to take a shower, which meant she had to take off her new wing.

First step to do that was to fully open it. Then she had to open the locks holding the actual wing part on her shoulder piece. Unlock wing, she thought.

You gave the order to unlock the wing, a synthetic voice said in her mind, this should only be done while standing on secure ground. Do you confirm that you want to unlock the wing?

Yes!

Unlocking wing.

The locks opened with a clicking sound. Rainbow sighed and muttered, “I have to tell Alae to make the safety lock faster. I get that there needs to be something to prevent it from accidentally opening mid-flight, but this is ridiculous.”

Now she just had to pull the wing off, revealing the shoulder piece, a metal rod around thirty centimeters long, connected to an artificial joint replacing her original shoulder. From what she remembered of Alae’s explanation, it connected to her nervous system to allow her to actually move the wing.

Rainbow put the wing down beside the charger and took the cover, a cone of the same weight as the wing, and put it on the rod. It both made sure that the contact points on the rod wouldn’t get wet and ensured that she’d be balanced out.

After the shower, she reattached the wing and left for Scootaloo’s house.

Surprise, a saddleback on her back, didn’t even have to knock on the door when she arrived because Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash were already waiting for her.

Rainbow opened the front door, Scootaloo excitedly standing beside her. “Hey, Surprise.”

“Hey, Stripes.” she looked at Scootaloo, “And you are?”

“Scootaloo!” She asked while they went into the living room, “And you’re the one that beat Rainbow in a race, right?”

Surprise giggled nervously, holding the back of her head with her wing, “Only because I know the terrain better, I would have lost on a normal track.” She looked around the room, noticing the pictures of Scootaloo’s parents. “Wait, are you Snap Shutter’s and Mane Allgood’s daughter?”

“You know my parents?” Scootaloo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, not personally, of course, but I heard of them. Equestrian ponies actively seeking out monsters are quite rare. They have quite the reputation in the Schattenrealm. Don’t they in Equestria?”

“No, they never really valued fame.”

“Huh… Anyway, how much wingpower do you have?”

Scootaloo avoided to look at Surprise, so Rainbow had to answer, “We never tested it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t fly,” Scootaloo said with gritted teeth, “So there’s nothing to test. I don’t have any wingpower.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s true. You have to have some wingpower, or you wouldn’t get any momentum with your scooter, right?”

Scootaloo opened her mouth to reply something, but couldn’t think of something to say. And neither did Rainbow.

Surprise turned to Rainbow and said, “Is there a racetrack or something in Ponyville?”

“Yeah, the sports ground, why?”

“I’d really like to see her show me her skills with the scooter before giving you the crystals, to have a comparison. And we could see how much power her wings really have.”

Rainbow took Surprise to the side and whispered, “Do you think that’s a good idea? It will just show that she doesn’t have any wingpower, and that’s not something we should rub in her face.”

“I saw her drive around once or twice already,” Surprise answered loud and clear, “and I’m sure she’ll do great. You know what, I’ll even make a bet. If she doesn’t have at least 5 wingpower, I’ll resign from the Shadowbolts.”

“NO,” Scootaloo yelled, “I don’t want you to give that up because of me.”

Surprise grinned. “Then you better make sure that I don’t lose my bet.”

Scootaloo stood on her scooter on one end, Surprise and Rainbow waited on the other end with the wingpower gage.

Alright, don’t mess this up, Scootaloo thought, just go as fast as possible. And maybe I’ll get at least point four wingpower or something. She put on her helmet, took a deep breath, and shot forward. Ten seconds later, she reached the end of the track and came to a screeching hold.

Surprise looked at the gage. Without looking away, she asked, “And, what do you think, Scootaloo?”

“Maybe 0.3 or something.”

“Almost. You had”—Surprise stepped to the side to let them see the result—“7.8 wingpower.”

“What!” Rainbow and Scootaloo couldn’t believe it.

“My wings are that strong?” Scootaloo asked with shining eyes.

“I knew you had you’re awesome,” Rainbow said.

“But why can’t I fly, then?”

“Because your wings are too small for that,” Surprise said casually, “They don’t produce enough updraft, unlike my or Stripe’s wings. But what they can still produce, and quite a lot, apparently, is forward momentum.

“But now, I think you deserve—” Surprise took a little box out of her saddlebag, placed it in front of Scootaloo, and opened it, revealing two little green crystals “—these.”

Scootaloo grinned from one ear to the other. “How do they work?”

“Just put them on the bottom of your scooter, one in the front and one in the back. You’ll probably have to play around a bit to get the balancing right. It could take a few days until you—”

“Done!” Scootaloo hovered thirty centimetres above ground on her scooter. She swayed around a bit, but was able to keep her balance. “It’s a bit like balancing on a balloon. Good thing that we tried to get circus acrobatic cutie marks a while ago.” She leaned a bit forward, and the scooter slowly hovered in that direction. She experimented around, and after a few minutes, figured out how to steer the scooter

She drove off for a few laps around the track to get a feel for her new scooter. Surprise turned to Rainbow. “She’s really impressive.”

“Yeah, my little sister is awesome,” Rainbow said grinning, “I only had four wingpower when I was her age.”

Scootaloo drove past them with a loud “YOO-HOO!”, creating a gust of wind that almost blew the two mares off their feet.

“Let’s check how fast she is now,” Surprise said. They waited until Scootaloo had completed another round before checking her new score.

Their eyes widened when they saw it.

Her new score was 9.4 wingpower.

Author's Note

I'M ALIVE

Ok, some quick things, I made some minor changes to Chapter 6 and changed the type of Luna's sword from rapier to spatha.

Now to the important stuff: I'm casting a vote!

I'll add two comments under this chapter, and you, dear readers, will have two weeks to upvote the option you are in favour of. The mattter you will all be able to decide this time is:

Should Rainbow join the Shadowbolts?

If it's a tie, I decide myself. Same thing if noone votes at all, but if there is a result, I swear in Gaia's name that I will honour it.

Episode 12: Pockets

Canterlot, the morning after the Everfree Incident

Luna had spent the last two hours telling Celestia everything she had learned about Noctris.

Everything but one small detail. So when Luna finished her explanation without revealing that, Celestia asked, “And who are they? The vampires you interrogated.”

“I won’t reveal them,” Luna said decisively.

“I thought you wanted to tell me everything?”

“I gave them my word that I would never reveal their identities.”

Celestia was clearly unhappy about that and trying to find an argument to convince Luna to tell her, opening her mouth several times, but always closing it again because she couldn’t think of anything. In the end, she just asked, “And what do you intend to do now?”

“Continue to make sure that the Nocturnals and Equestrians get along, trying to improve diplomatic relationships with Noctris. And in order to do that, I will rebuild the castle in the Everfree.”

“How is that supposed to help?” Celestia’s voice tried to be supportive and genuine, but mistrust and anger still came through.

“Equestria and Noctris need a place to negotiate, and it's perfect,” Luna explained. She added with a bit of resentment, “and besides, I’m the only princess to not have a castle, so I might as well claim that, since you abandoned it, anyway.”

“I only did so because I couldn’t deal with the memories,” Celestia said defensively, “and I thought it would be in your best interest to leave the past behind as well.”

“Be as it may, you gave it up, so I’ll take it. It’s better to not meet with them in Canterlot.”

“Why?”

“Well, on the one hoof, you clearly demonstrated your dislike for them, and Canterlot isn’t the most tolerant city, anyway.”

Celestia begrudgingly agreed.

Luna continued, “And on the other hoof, what if they betray us? If we invite them here, we have no way to defend the city. But if they do the same while in the castle in the Everfree, Canterlot is still safe… You seem surprised, Tia.”

“I’m just relieved that you don’t blindly trust that monster.”

Luna wanted to respond, but yawned instead. She decided to just let it be and go on to the next topic. “About the… little quarrel between our guards—”

“They won’t press any charges,” Celestia said, “Your guard had his orders, and mine had theirs. Let’s just forget about that.”

Luna nodded and said, “Goodnight,” before walking to the door

“Sleep well,” Celestia said moments before the door fell shut.

Luna stood in the throneroom of Castle Everfree with her sword on her back. She had just raised the moon when the head of the scholars sent there a few days earlier approached her.

“Your Highness, the parts of the castle we could already examine are in decent enough shape, but it's not possible to give an accurate estimate yet. There’s too many parts we can’t even reach. We will have to repair the foundations as we make our way through the underground tunnels.”

“Understood. What else?”

“Well, there is the issue of all the magical artifacts hidden around the castle, and the books in the library. We need a place to store them until the repairs are completed, or get rid of them.”

Luna thought about it for a moment. “Is it possible to rebuild the side building first—”she pointed to the lone building the Elements of Harmony had defeated her in years ago“—as a vault for the artifacts?”

The scholar looked at it, then at his notes. “That should be possible, yes. It doesn’t have any rooms underneath it, and the foundation is stable.”

“Then do that.”

“As you wish, your Highness. And what about the books?”

Luna grinned. “I have an idea for that. Just start with the other parts of the castle.” She turned away from the hole and started walking towards the exit.

The scholar followed her, “We should also rebuild the bridge leading to the castle and set up camp on the plains on the other side.”

“Agreed, but don’t forget to not harm any trees. I don’t want this to cause conflict with King Aspen.”

“I will remind everypony of that, your Highness. But we can’t start the reconstruction before spring. The weather—”

They walked through the front door of the castle. Shaded waited outside the entrance. He knew that she was an ally now, and that she had offered to donate all the stone they needed for the reconstruction, but seeing her in the flesh still scared him.

Shaded noticed the unease of the scholar and said, “I can come back later, if I’m interrupting something.”

“Not necessary,” Luna said. Then she turned to the scholar. “You were saying?”

“The… The weather during the winter won’t… It’s too cold to build, we can’t work when we also have to take care of snowstorms, or whatever the Everfree has in store. And it wouldn’t be cost-effective to have mages here to continuously keeping a shield up for months.”

“I may be able to help with that,” Shaded said.

“And how?” Luna asked.

“An artifact that casts the shield for you, based on the magic used to protect the Crystal Empire. It’s of course way less powerful, but enough to keep the castle and its immediate surroundings protected from the weather.”

the next day, Friendship Castle

“Hi, Luna,” Derpy, carrying a batch of muffins, said when she saw Luna coming through the front door.

“Hello, Derpy. How are you?”

“Good, thanks. And how are you?”

“A bit exhausted, if I’m to be honest.” She sighed. “The last few weeks have been… rather tiring.”

“Do you want a muffin?” Derpy asked, “They always help me feel better.”

“Gladly.” Luna levitated one out of Derpy’s basket and began to eat it. She looked from left to right, as if to make sure that they were alone. Then she gestured for Derpy to come closer. Once she was close enough, Luna said, “Don’t tell anypony this, but your muffins are even better than Celestia’s, even though you shared your recipes with her,” placing a grin from one ear to the other on Derpy’s face. “How’s Twilight?”

Derpy’s grin dropped. She began to trot down the hallways, and Luna followed her. “She’s been worried for days. I tried to cheer her up, but nothing worked. She hasn’t left the library since she came back from the Everfree. Starlight thinks that it’s just one of her normal phases, but Spike and I can tell that it’s more than that.”

“I may have something to cheer her up—”

“Oh, that’s great!”

“—but it would probably mean that she can’t spend a lot of time with you until it’s done.”

“If Twilight’s happy, I’m happy as well,” Derpy said with a smile.

Twilight can consider herself lucky to have a wife like her, Luna thought.

They reached the library. Books covered all the tables and parts of the floor—some opened, some closed—except a small place with notes where Twilight sat, mumbling something to herself. Luna waited in the door.

Derpy walked up to her and placed the basket on the table. She placed a wing above Twilight’s cutie mark. Twilight turned to Derpy and gave her a quick kiss. “You need to take a break,” Derpy said.

“But I have to figure out what—” Twilight wanted to protest, but Derpy placed her other wing over her muzzle.

“Even you need a break from time to time. And we have a guest.”

“I know, but… WHAT?” Twilight jumped up. “But I’m not prepared! Loot at this mess! What if they think I’m a lousy princess? Or if they trip over a book? Or if they mess up my notes?” She started to hyperventilate, but then placed a hoof on her chest, took a deep breath and exhaled while pointing the hoof away from her. “Ok, who is it?”

“Good afternoon, Twilight,” Luna said. She walked up to her, carefully avoiding the books and papers scattered around. “What are you researching this time?”

“I’m trying to find out more about Shaded, but it's hard to find anything specific,” Twilight said, “The information is just going in circles or leading to dead ends. But enough of that, what brings you here?”

“I need your help with rebuilding Castle Everfree.”

“I’ll do everything I can. It’s the least I can do after…” Twilight didn’t finish the sentence.

You almost started a war, Luna thought. “We need a place to store the books from the Castle until the work there is done.”

Twilight blinked a few times. “You want to give me every book in your old castle?”

“Well, lend, but yes. And it would be good if somepony could make an inventory to find out what books are still there. Some probably need to be repaired, others might be beyond saving.”

“You want me to organize the entire library of yours and Celestia’s old castle?” she asked, her eyes glowing with anticipation.

“Yes, if you feel up for it.”

“Of course!” Twilight started to bounce around, with Derpy joining in.

Luna sighed with relief. “Good to hear that somepony finally takes care of them.”

“Huh?” Twilight stopped and looked at Luna. “What do you mean?”

“Those books have been lying around there for over one thousand years. And some of the tomes are literally irreplaceable. Tia could have easily sent a team to get them a long time ago, but she just left them there to rot. I really don’t understand why she didn’t.”

Luna looked at Twilight, and she could almost hear her brain misfire. She idolized Celestia, but would fight anypony who dares to treat books like that, and that disparity was too much for her. So she just froze in place. Derpy waved her wings in front of Twilight’s eyes, but she didn’t even blink.

“Do you want my guards to deliver the books or do you want to fetch them yourself?” Luna asked, in an futile attempt to snap her out of it. Luna turned to Derpy. “Could you leave us alone for a moment? I want to talk to her in private.”

Derpy nodded and left the room. Luna placed a seal of silence on the library, then she rose up on her back hooves before stomping down, summoning thunder when her front hooves slammed into the ground.

Twilight shrieked and fell over, but at least she wasn’t petrified anymore. Luna repeated her question once Twilight was back on her hooves, and Twilight said, “I’ll get them myself tomorrow. I don’t want them to be hurt anymore just because they aren’t handled properly, and I can get a feel for the way they were organized.”

“Good, I’ll inform my scholars.” Luna looked around the room. “You may have to postpone your project for a while.”

“It wasn’t leading anywhere, anyway. I tried to find information about Shaded, but couldn’t find anything specific. Some vague references that might be related to her, that’s it.”

“If you want to know more about Shaded, why don’t you ask her?”

“And how? You’re the only one with a way to write her.”

“I can give you the scroll to learn it,” Luna said, making her way back through the chaos, “You could invite her for hearths warming eve, since you throw a big celebration for the whole town, anyway.”

“I don’t know… She would probably ruin the mood for everypony else…”

“Twilight, let me be honest. Many Equestrians mistrust the Nocturnals, and there are already rumors about me preparing to become Nightmare Moon again. It would certainly help to ease the tensions if you would become friends with Shaded. And it might help with my sister’s fear of Shaded just exploiting me for her own, egotistical ends. It would also mean a great deal to me to have a second opinion form somepony I trust. Could you please do that for me?”

“Of course.” Twilight shifted her weight around from left to right. “I’m… kinda relieved that you still trust me with this… even after I almost banished you to the moon...”

“You did it because you trusted Celestia, something I can’t blame you for. Just don’t do it again, alright?”

“I promise, but I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“What’s it like to be banished to the moon? I was wondering ever since—”

Luna felt her throat close. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But you are the only pony who ever was on the moon, and—”

“I don’t. Want to talk. About my time. On the moon.” Luna’s voice cracked more and more with every word she said.

Twilight noticed that Luna was holding her breath, so she said, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

Luna took a few deep breaths. “Maybe I’ll tell you one day, but not now. Goodbye, Twilight.”

Noctris-City Everfree

Shaded was talking to a school class when Twilight’s letter arrived. She apologized to the students and teacher and left to deal with it. The pupils all understood that Shaded had more important duties, and just returned to the normal lesson.

All except one.

An eleven year old, white coated unicorn sitting in the back of the class found it far too interesting to just let go. A small smile appeared on her face, showing the sharp edges of nachtmare teeth. Lis just had to have patience until next break.

Sneaking out of school was easy for Lis. Sneaking into Shaded’s office, on the other hoof, was a bit more challenging. She had to turn into her mist-form a few times to avoid the guards seeing her, but eventually reached her destination. So, where’s that letter?

She checked the desk first, but it wasn’t there. Then she emptied the paper bin and riffled through the contents. She found a bunch of letters, notes and plans, but not what she was looking for. Lis sighed and put everything back in its place before trying her luck with the drawers.

There, she finally found Twilight’s letter.

The door started to open just as she had finished reading it. Lis cursed, turned herself into mist and pressed herself into the corner behind the door. The guard would look around, see nothing suspicious, and would leave again, and then she’d just read the letter in peace. That was the plan, at least.

She didn’t expect Shaded herself to come back. And of course, she noticed that the letter on the desk wasn’t supposed to be there.

Maybe she’ll think she just remembers it wrong, Lis thought, or she turns her head enough to slip out of the room.

Shaded slowly stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. “Lis, I know you’re here.”

DAMMIT!

“You improved since last time. The guards at the front entrance had no idea that you came through.” Shaded let her gaze wander through the room.

And past Lis.

Lis thought that she had succeeded in hiding from Shaded because she shrugged, sat down on her desk and started to write a letter.

“Lis, you are still too sparkly.”

Shaded heard a sigh from the white cloud of white mist hanging in the corner. Lis left her hiding spot and reformed into a physical form in front of Shaded. “Hey, Shaded.”

“How long did you need this time?” Shaded asked.

“15 minutes,” Lis said, proudly pushing her chest out and holding her head high.

“Impressive, last time you needed 20.”

“Thanks!” Lis had a bright grin on her face. “So, Princess Twilight wants you to come to her Hearth’s Warming Eve celebration?”

“It seems so.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Lis, I won’t be able to look after you. It’s going to be an exhausting evening for me already.”

“Please! It’s boring here! And I promise to not make any trouble!”

“Hm,” Shaded thought out loud, “I suppose your improvements warrant a reward…”

Lis looked at her with stars in her eyes.

Shaded sighed. “Alright, you can come with me—”

“Yes!”

“—under the condition that you convince another adult from the family to come with you. The celebration is open to everypony, after all.”

“...and that’s why I wanted to ask you to tag along,” Lis said to Silent Syringa, a dark purple earth pony stallion with a long brown mane and tail. They sat in the common room of Syringa’s college.

“And why should I put myself through that? You know that I’m not the pony for festivities like that.”

“The whole castle is one giant artifact, and you study artifact engineering, right?”

“Well, yeah. That actually sounds worth a look… And why do you ask me?”

“Because I know you would be interested in the castle and the library, and…” Lis wanted to say something, but couldn’t come up with anything.

Syringa was silent for few seconds before saying, “I’m just the last pony that didn’t refuse yet, right?”

“Yes,” Lis said embarrassed, “who knew that a reputation as ‘teacher’s nightmare’ would be so troublesome one day.”

“And you plan to stand up to your reputation there as well.”

“...No?”

“You’re lying.”

Lis shrugged and grinned.

Syringa sighed. “At least I can expect it to not be boring, then.” They played with the orange crystal ring braided into their mane, then he stood up. “And it gives me a chance to test my tracker.”

“Tracker?” Lis got up as well, and followed Syringa out of the room.

“Something I’ve been tinkering with. All you have to do is wear a necklace that I made, and then I should be able to track you through the entire castle. Sounds fair, doesn’t it? One hoof washes the other, deal?”

“Deal.”

Hearth’s Warming Eve had finally arrived, and so had Shaded in the throne room of the Castle of Friendship. Twilight had used a summoning scroll to allow Shaded to directly teleport into the throne room despite her never having been there.

“Welcome, Your Majesty,” Twilight said with a bow. “I’m relieved that you agreed to meet me in private before going to the celebration.”

“I completely understand your reasons for doing so, and I feel honored by your invitation nonetheless, Your Highness.” Shaded curtseyed without bending her knees. Seeing Twilight’s surprise over that gesture almost made Shaded chuckle. “I want you to know that I wouldn’t mind dropping the royal etiquette, if that would make you more comfortable. Of course, if you want to keep a professional distance, I wouldn’t take that as an offence, either.”

“Oh,” she said surprised, “Yes, I’d prefer to drop it. We’re meeting as friends, after all.” Twilight looked confused. “Your cutie mark is… wrong.”

Shaded looked at her cutie mark, a big, almost full light blue moon with a crescent, violet, smaller moon inside it. “It’s not Nightmare Moon’s cutie mark, that’s true. It’s mine. When Luna and I formed Nightmare Moon, our cutie marks merged.”

“That’s fascinating.” Twilight levitated a notebook she had left on the map over to her to write that down.

“Now, since you offered to share your Hearth's Warming traditions with me, I want to share one of our traditions as well.”

“You have Hearth’s Warming traditions?”

“No, my people don’t celebrate it that much. A few of my subjects that have their origins in Equestria do, but they follow your traditions. What I wanted to share is the practice of surrendering your weapon. If you enter somepony else’s home, It’s customary for my people to give over your weapons to the host, as a sign of trust and good will.

“And that’s why I want to surrender my scythe to you for the duration of my visit.” Having said that, Shaded summoned her weapon from the shadows and levitated it to Twilight.

She took it with her magic and only now noticed the sheer size of it. The shaft, made from very dark wood, was already two meters long, with the black blade being around one and a half meters long itself. After a moment, Twilight realized something. “If you can summon your scythe from anywhere anyway, then it’s a pretty pointless gesture, isn’t it.”

Shaded tilted her head before sighing. “Right, I forgot that you probably don’t know the spell. There’s a rune spell that allows you to bind stuff like that. I can teach you right now.”

In the main hall of the castle, everypony was having fun. Cheerilee was chatting with Bon Bon, but suddenly tensed up.

“What’s wrong?” Bon Bon asked.

“There’s trouble coming, I can feel it.”

Syringa and Lis walked through the front door of the castle. “Ok, you remember the plan. Try to not catch any unnecessary attention and… and you're already gone. Perfect,” they said while Lis was already running through the crowd.

A crowd that had a dragonquus in its midst, in company of a certain yellow pegasus.

Lis ran through the crowd, carefully avoiding running into somepony, until she reached Discord. She leapt over Fluttershy, yelling, “UNCLE CORDI” at the top of her lungs, and dangled from his throat a moment later, giving him a big grin, showing off her new tooth gap.

Discord grabbed her and held her in front of his face. “Who are you?” He asked humored.

“The one and only Lis!” She added sulkily. “Don’t you remember your favourite niece?”

A second Discord puffed into existence on his right side with a magnifying glass. He bent down to look at Lis’ teeth. “The Lis I know has all her teeth, so you can’t be her.”

A third joined them on the left side. “But she’s still growing up, of course she loses some teeth.”

The original one said, “I’m capable of doing this without you two, just get lost.”

Both vanished.

“Now, with those two nuisances out of the way, if you really are Lis, then you should have no problem completing this sentence. I solemnly swear…”

“That I am up to no good!” Lis exclaimed.

Discord, finally unable to keep the act up, burst into laughter. “You are Lis! Oh, it’s so good to see you.”

“Uhm,” Fluttershy asked, “would you mind introducing us?”

“Oh, of course, where are my manners.” He put Lis back on the ground. “Fluttershy, this is—”

“Lysinda Eulenspiegel,” Lis said, shaking Fluttershy’s hoof, “but my friends just call me Lis. And you’re Fluttershy, right? Uncle Cordi’s—” she smirked into his direction “—girlfriend?”

“I am, yes.”

“Oh. Well, nice to meet you.” Her grin dropped, and she glared at Discord, who now floated beside Fluttershy.

He said with a mischievous grin, “What, did I forget to tell you that I confessed to her?”

“Discord, why didn’t you tell me about her?” Fluttershy asked. “She seems like such a nice little filly.”

“My dear, I’m as old as time itself. There’s a lot I didn’t tell you yet.”

“But—” Fluttershy wanted to say something, but Applejack walked up to them and interrupted her.

“Now hang on just a minute. Ya just said she’s your niece, right?”

“My favourite one, yes.”

“That means you have a sibling?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes,” Discord said casually.

“Who?” Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash asked simultaneously.

“Well, my dear sister of course. Shaded.”

“She has a daughter!?” Applejack asked Discord.

“Shaded is your mother?” Fluttershy calmly asked Lis.

Discord giggled. “One? Applejack, my sister has countless children!”

“Well, not biologically,” Lis admitted, “I’m adopted. Like all my brothers and sisters.”

Applejack shook her head. “I really wouldn't have taken her to be the motherly type.”

“That’s really kind of her,” Fluttershy said.

Syringa joined the little group that was deliberately ignored by the rest of the crowd. “It is, but not all of them see her as their mother. She still makes sure that nopony is left behind.”

“And who are you?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.

“The name’s Syringa, and my mother is also one of her children. I’m here to look after Lis.”

“Then I’m terribly sorry to inform you,” Discord told them, “That she just left to play catch with the other kids.”

Fluttershy blinked. “When did that happen?”

“Oh Nyx dammit… I should probably go get her before something happens.”

Cadence walked through the castle, Flurry on her back. Twilight had been away for a while now, and she wanted to make sure that everything was alright. The library was empty, so she walked back to the others. Maybe Shining had found her already. Dinky and a white unicorn rushed past her.

She heard voices coming from the throne room. “Now you just have to add one line here, and then charge it with magic,” a voice that sounded almost like Luna said.

After a moment, Twilight responded, “Like this?”

“Exactly. Good job for the first try.”

Cadence opened the door and walked in. “Twilight, you’ve been gone for—”

Twilight and Shaded turned to her, the scythe floating in a circle of runes between them.

Cadence was shocked, but she couldn’t figure out what to do before Flurry Heart teleported from her back onto Shaded’s face. Flurry gave off a few exited blabbles.

“And you’re really tiny,” Shaded said nonchalantly.

More blabbles.

“I was just talking to your Aunt Twilight, I’m sorry if you missed her."

“Twilight,” Cadence hissed, “What is going on?”

“I… Well, you see… she… I…”

“I was invited,” Shaded explained, “Luna asked Twilight to see if I’m trustworthy and—”

“You’re Nightmare Moon!” Cadence yelled, “Of course you aren’t trustworthy!” She turned back to Twilight. “What is going on here?!”

Flurry made a few scared blabbles.

“Don’t worry,” Shaded said, “Cadence is just concerned about you.”

Confused blabbles.

“Who are you talking to?” Cadence asked angrily.

“Flurry Heart. I speak baby,” Shaded said casually, “Now, could you please calm down? You’re scaring both Flurry and Twilight.” She pointed to the currently hyperventilating Twilight.

Cadence walked up to Shaded, looked her directly in the one eye that Flurry didn’t cover, and demanded, “Give me Flurry back.”

Shaded lowered her head far enough for Cadence to pick up Flurry before going to help Twilight calm down, who then explained everything to Cadence while Shaded waited on the other side of the room.

“So, what do you think,” Cadence asked Twilight, “Is she friend or is she foe?”

“I’m not sure. She didn’t do anything evil yet, and Luna says that she herself was responsible for Nightmare Moon’s actions... I admit that she’s scary, but I think—”

“Sorry to interrupt you two,” Shaded said from across the room, Flurry sitting on her back, “But it seems that Flurry Heart’s bored.”

More blabbles.

“Has anypony seen her...” She looked at Flurry. “Could you please repeat that?”

Demanding blabble.

“Her... Whammy? Did I get that right?”

Satisfied blabble.

Twilight turned to Cadence and said, “But I think Flurry wants us to give her a chance.”

Dinky and Lis were happily playing when they got into the library. Lis suddenly stopped, causing Dinky to run into her, throwing both of them to the ground. After both got back on their hooves, Dinky asked, “Why did you stop?”

Lis pointed at something at the other end of the room. “What’s that thing? It looks cool.” She walked over to it, Dinky following her.

“That’s the Mirror-Portal. Mom says we aren’t allowed to use it, it’s too dangerous.”

“A portal to where?” Lis asked, standing a few steps away from it, glancing over the strange machine parts Twilight had added.

“Mom didn’t tell me. She just said it's too dangerous.”

Lis grinned, showing her teeth. She made a step towards the mirror.

“What are you doing?”

Lis giggled and said, “Mischief. Just wait here, ok?” before jumping through the mirror.

Dinky was shocked stiff for a moment, then paced through the library. I should go tell mom, but I don’t want Lis to get in trouble with her own mom. Maybe I should go through the mirror myself and bring her back. But it’s dangerous to go alone… But Lis is alone, so I should go and help her… But mom forbade it… I should just get mom, but Lis asked me to wait...

That circle continued for a few minutes, until Syringa came into the library, following the tracker disk attached to his left hoof.

Lis’s big brother! Dinky thought.

Syringa noticed her staring at them. “Hey, Dinky. Where’s Lis?”

“She went through the mirror! Please, you need to bring her back!” She frantically pointed at the portal

He sighed. “Well, that explains why the tracker comes from there. Don’t worry, I’ll get her.”

Syringa stepped through the portal, and dropped to the ground on the other side. An ice-cold wind hit them. “Well, I’m definitely not in the castle anymore.” They wanted to look at their tracker, but their hoof was gone. In its place was a strange, pale purple... thing. “What the… What are those things? Claws?” They checked the other side, but their right hoof was also replaced. “No, Claws are scaley, these things are meaty. And why don’t I have a coat?”

They looked down on his body, and discovered that they were wearing a long coat in the colour his fur had. “What is going on… Wait, no, doesn’t matter. I gotta find Lis first, I can worry about the other stuff later.” They started to walk on all fours, but realized after a few steps that that somehow didn’t feel right.

Standing up surprisingly did, however. “Ok, your body knows how it wants to move, just trust it. If it wants to go on two legs, so be it.”

The tracker told them that Lis was nearby. They called out for her, and her head popped up a few meters in front of them. “Yeah?”

She stood up, covered from head to toe in a white, thick overall. And with her white hair and face, she almost vanished in the snow, if it weren’t for the dark grey bobblehead. “I was making a snow angel!”

“That’s nice, but we need to go back.”

“But it’s so much fun having hands! It’s so easy to grab things.”

“Huh, that’s what those things are called… But that’s not important now, Dinky is really worried because of you. We have to go back.”

“Ok, you’re right. But first… SNOWBALL FIGHT!” She threw the snowball she had hidden behind her back.

Syringa stretched their arm towards it, and the crystal in their mane started to glow. Their hand closed as if they were grabbing something. An orange glow covered the snowball, and it levitated in front of their hand.

“Cool!” Lis walked closer to them. “Why are you holding your hand like that?”

“I don’t know, it just felt natural.” They moved their arm around, and the snowball followed. When they opened their hand, the glow disappeared, and the snowball dropped to the ground. They played with their braid again. “So the levitation crystal still works… interesting.” They looked at Lis. “Does your magic still work here?”

“I don’t know… There’s no magic in this world, can’t you feel that?”

“Lis, I can’t even feel the magic in our world.”

“Oh, right—” she facepalmed “—Let me try something.” She made a concentrated face, and started to hover. A white glow surrounded her, her legs turned into hooves, and her horn grew back. “YAY, I knew this was going to work! I don’t know why I knew that, but I did!” She tripped a little when she fell back to the ground.

“Lis,” Syringa said, thier patience coming to an end, “We need to go back. Now.”

“But I want to see what’s over—Woah, hey, that’s rude!”

Syringa levitated her in front of them. “If you would have come, I wouldn’t have to carry you.”

He walked through the portal, a very disappointed Lis in front of them, just to bump into Shaded on the other side, Twilight standing behind her.

She looked at Syringa for a moment, then raised an eyebrow at the in front of her face hovering Lis.

“To be fair,” Lis said, “I just promised to not cause trouble. I didn’t say anything about portals.”

Shaded picked her up with magic and hugged her. “I’m just happy that you’re safe.” She placed Lis in front of her on the ground, looked her in the eyes and said, “But you should have asked Twilight before using her portal.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologise to me.”

Lis nodded, walked to Twilight, and said, “I’m sorry that I didn’t ask for permission.”

Twilight was still confused, so she just said, “It’s okayyyy.”

Lis went back to Shaded. “Mom, if I find somepony to look after me, can I go live in the other world for a while? I wouldn’t even miss school, they have them there as well!”

“I don’t see a reason why not, to be honest. There’s no magic in that world, so its sun should be harmless. But who could go with you?”

“I’ll do it,” Syringa said, “I mean, if you allow it. I’d obviously need to finish my bachelor first, so Lis would have to be patient for a few months, but it seems like an interesting opportunity. I could study how artifacts work over there.”

“And it would be interesting to learn about their culture,” Shaded murmured.

Lis jumped up and down from excitement. “I’m moving to the human world!”

Castle of Friendship, Night

Two months later, everything was prepared. They had a home, enough bits, and the paperwork was done. Twilight wasn’t there to send them off though, because she had promised Applejack she’d keep an eye on Pinkie.

Lis and Syringa stood with filled saddlebags in the library. Shaded pulled both of them in for one last hug. “Don’t forget to write me every once in a while.”

“I won’t,” Lis replied.

Shaded let them go and turned to Syringa. “And you didn’t forget anything?”

“Don’t worry, I brought everything over there.”

Shaded nodded. “Until we meet again.”

“Until we meet again,” Lis and Syringa replied. They almost reached the mirror, but Discord’s voice filled the room.

“You wouldn't just leave without saying goodbye, would you?” Part of the floor opened like a trapdoor, and he ascended the suddenly existing stairs below it.

“It’s hardly their fault if you aren’t on time,” Shaded said, but Discord ignored her.

He hugged Lis and said, “Make me proud, my Lil Shit.”

“You betcha,” Lis replied enthusiastically.

Syringa sighed. “What did I get myself into…”

Shaded just shook her head. She might as well be Discord’s daughter.

With the last farewell out of the way, Syringa and Lis once again stepped through the portal. Spring had come to the human world, and so the portal gave them a new set of clothing.

Lis got dark blue jeans and a hoodie with a black middle and orange top half. Her hair was styled in pigtails.

“The portal gave you angel wings,” Syringa remarked. I didn’t think a portal could have a sense of humor.

Lis turned to them, giving them a bright smile with her pointy teeth. “And you a cute dress.”

“The portal certainly has a sense of style,” they said. They really liked the dark purple, ankle length, long sleeved dress, and the comfortable, black boots that came with it. “But do you want to know the best thing?”

Lis nodded.

“It has pockets!”

Author's Note

"one hand washes the other" means the same as "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

The scythe is 6'6'' for the staff and 4'9'' for the blade long.

Lis's and Syringa's story is continued here

Episode 13: Dress to Express

Author's Note

Continuation of Lis' and Syringa's story here.

Meisterin is the German female version of Meister. What that means is explained here.

Episode 13: Dress to Express

Canterlot Carousel was packed full with ponies of all kinds browsing through the stock.

It’s always so busy when Rarity is here, Sassy thought while ringing up another customer, and now she visits during Season’s End Sale!

“Here you go—” she handed the mare the bag with her purchase “—You’ll look absolutely stunning with it!”

The mare took her bag and left without another word.

Sassy sighed. Why am I even wasting my time…

She looked around and spotted Zesty Gourmand inspecting a suit jacket. She went over to her and asked, “Can I help you with something?”

“Yes. Can you make me a suit shirt from a silver coated fabric?”

“I’m sorry,” Sassy said confused, “do you mean a silver coloured fabric?”

“You should really learn to listen better, I said silver coated. Since the guard isn’t doing anything to protect us, I want to ensure that my blood isn’t stolen by some filthy vampire.”

Sassy swallowed down her shock and just said, “I’m sorry, I’ll have to ask Rarity about that.”

“Then do that. I’m not going to wait all day.”

Sassy hurried to the back of the shop. No vampire with a hint of self respect would want your blood, anyway, you pretentious old hag!

“I need your help at the front,” Sassy said to her boss.

Rarity looked up from her desk with a smile. “What’s the problem?”

Sassy explained what Zesty wanted, and why, and the grin left Rarity’s face. “Oh, I see. Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it.” She put on her customer service face and walked out of her office and to Zesty, Sassy following closely.

“Sassy told me that you have a very unusual request?”

“Yes, and if your assistant is worth her salary, then she already told you what I want.”

Rarity nodded. “She did, and I’m afraid that I can’t provide that service to you.”

Zesty snorted. “If it's about the money or the material, I can pay everyth—”

“You misunderstand,” Rarity said, raising her hoof to make Zesty stop talking, “I really can’t provide that service to you. Or any service, for that matter.”

Zesty looked at Rarity in shock.

“You see,” Rarity said, still with a friendly voice, “one of my best friends is a vampire, and I refuse to serve somepony with that kind of bigoted worldview.”

“You can’t be serious, Rarity,” Zesty protested, “I’m a paying customer and a well respected member of Canterlot society! I demand that you sew me what told you to sew!”

Other customers had noticed them, and now looked over to see what was going on. Rarity looked around herself and said, “You really shouldn’t cause a scene over that, my dear, it could do serious damage to your social standing. Now leave my boutique.”

Zesty’s face turned an interesting shade of red. “I. Will. Not.”

“It appears that I wasn’t clear enough.” Rarity turned to Sassy. “Would you help me show her the way out?”

Sassy nodded with a smirk. She and Rarity lifted Zesty off the ground with their combined magic and carried her to the front door, with heavy protests from the struggling Zesty herself.

They opened the door and threw her out on the street. Rarity cheerfully said, “If you come back, I’ll call the guards,” to her before closing the door.

The boutique closed a few hours later. Sassy and Rarity rang up the last customers before cleaning up the store.

After refolding a stack of skirts, Sassy walked up to Rarity and said, “Hey, thanks for standing up for us. It’s really refreshing.”

“What do you mean, ‘us’?” Rarity said while rearranging a rack of dresses, “I just—” She turned to Sassy and noticed the fangs in her mouth, her eyes now sporting a red colour “—Oh, I see. Well, I feel honoured by your trust.” She went back to tidying up the store.

“So, I’m not out of a job?” Sassy asked while helping Rarity.

“Of course not! It’s not like anything changed, right?”

“Well, no, but if it comes out, you might lose customers…”

“You mean like customers like Zesty?” Rarity turned to Sassy and looked her in the eyes. “I can do without customers like her. Don’t worry, my integrity is worth more to me than bits. And if you want to show your fangs—that are white as snow... Who’s your dentist?” Rarity shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. If you want to show them in here, that’s not a problem, either.

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll keep them in.”

A Few Weeks Later

Rarity sat hunched over her design sketchbook in the back room of the Canterlot Carousel. Maybe if I had a hint of orange here… No, that wouldn’t work… Lace socks? Stylish, but they would just get dirty… Baggy cut? Gets caught in plants… Tight cut? That’s too uncomfortable…

She threw her hooves up. It’s no use! Nothing works!

She grabbed a nearby cup with her magic and was about to drink from it, but Sassy yelled, “That’s mine!”

Rarity stopped the cup an inch from her mouth. She looked down. The content smelled like tea, but had a dark red hue to it. “Sorry, I’m a bit besides myself right now.” She put the cup back and drank from her own one besides it.

“I can see that.” Sassy stepped over a field of crumpled up papers to get to Rarity. “Do you want to tell me what the problem is?”

Rarity sighed and placed her head in her hooves. “Hearts and Hooves Day is in one week, and I have no ideas for Spectre's dress!”

“Huh, I didn’t know that you had a girlfriend.”

Rarity got up and turned to Sassy. “She’s not my girlfriend!” Rarity turned away. “Not yet, at least.” She started pacing around the room, turning around after every thought. “Not that I would want her to be… But I certainly wouldn’t mind it, either… But I don’t think she likes me… Well, she does like me, she said so herself, but I don’t think she means liking me like that… Or does she mean like that? Oh, I would be giddy as a filly if she meant it like that… She’s such a wonderful artist, and she commends my sketches… Nopony ever did that… My dresses, yes, but most ponies don’t realize how much work goes into a dress before the first stitch is even done… and talking to her is always such a delight as well… and her mane… oh, dear Celestia, her mane… it’s so gorgeous! I could spend hours just looking into the colourful, chaotic whirlpool that is her mane… her hypnotic, ever changing rainbow mane…”

Sassy looked at the dreamy look in Rarity’s eyes. “Wow, Cupid didn’t just hit you, he turned you into a pincushion…”

“Cupid himself couldn’t create love as pure and as grand,” Rarity proclaimed, “No, nopony but Aphrodite herself could kindle love so sweet!”

Sassy smiled, but then thought of something. “Wait, ever changing rainbow mane… You’re into the Spectre? The Nachtmare with the mane nopony can ever tame?”

“You heard of her?”

“What nocturnal with an interest in fashion didn’t? She’s basically synonymous with ‘unsatisfiable customer.’ You really couldn’t have chosen a bigger challenge, I’m afraid...”

“I know… It’s no use, I won’t find inspiration here… Sassy, I’m going back to Ponyville!”

Rarity’s new plan was to ask her friends for help. First stop was Fluttershy’s cottage. After some tea, she finally asked for advice.

“Um… I’m not sure that I can help you,” Fluttershy said, “You’re so much more experienced with dresses. Do you remember our first Grand Galloping Gala? We liked the dresses you designed for us more than the ones we came up with ourselves!”

“I know,” Rarity said with a sigh, “But I don’t think that that will work here. I’m not arrogant enough to assume that all the other designers that came before me were incompetent, that’s Dashie’s thing. She probably already got dozens of masterfully designed dresses before, and she rejected all of them…”

“You just have to believe in yourself.”

The next stop was Sugarcube Corner. Rarity had to wait until Pinkie had a quiet moment to pull her away to her room. She explained her situation to Pinkie. “...So, now you know my problem. Can you help me?”

“Sorry, Rarity, nothing I can do.”

“Come on, you have files on everypony down in your lair! You must know something that could help me.”

Pinkie giggled. “It’s not my lair, it’s my Party Cave, silly! Yes, I have something about everypony in Ponyville, in case of a party planning emergency, but she’s not from Ponyville.”

Pinkie and Fluttershy couldn’t help me, but maybe Applejack can, Rarity thought on her way to Sweet Apple Acres, I mean, she’s a practical pony, just like Spectre, right?

“Ah’m sorry, Sugarcube, but you know that dresses aren’t ma speciality. Ah could give you advice about hats, though.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t think that will be of use right now.”

“Hello, Derpy,” Rarity said at the entrance of the Friendship Castle, “Is Twilight here?”

“Hi, Rarity. Yes, she’s in the library. Come in.” Derpy let Rarity into the castle and walked with her to Twilight. “But I don’t think that she will have a lot of time. She still has a lot of books from Castle Everfree to work through. She’s been in the zone for days.”

“It’s worth a try. And how are you doing?”

“Good. Now that Hearth's Warming is over, work in the postal office has calmed down. But once Hearts and Hooves day comes around, I’ll probably have to work overtime again.”

They reached the library. The books Twilight had to sort through turned it into a maze, with Twilight mumbling while making her way through it without even having to look up from whatever book she was inspecting that moment.

Rarity tried to talk to her, but Twilight seemed to be completely unaware of her surroundings as long as those surroundings weren’t books.

Rarity went back to Derpy, who had been waiting at the door.

“You didn’t exaggerate,” Rarity said, “She really is in her own world right now.”

“Yeah, Starlight has to carry her out of the room every few hours, or she wouldn’t take a break at all. But it’s kind of nice as well, right?” Derpy looked at Twilight. “Here we see a wild Twilight Sparkle in her natural habitat, sorting through her nest of books.”

“Yeah… Wait, that’s it!” Rarity hugged Derpy before saying, “Derpy, you may not be a genius yourself, but you sure are talented at inspiring it!”

Rarity went to Castle Everfree, and after some asking around, found Rainbow in a tent near the bridge to the castle. She was sitting over a map of a cave system, trying to memorize it. “Hey, Dashie, how are you doing?”

“Learning. Never thought I would have to do that again, but I signed up for it, so what can you do… So, what brings you here?”

“I have to ask you for a favour. Smuggle me into the Schattencity.

“You want me to do what?”

“Smuggle me into the Schattencity. I have to visit Spectre in her workshop!”

“And how am I supposed to do that?”

“You’re a Shadowbolt, aren’t you? Didn’t they grant you access to their city?”

“Well, yeah, but only to our barracks. I don’t even know where her workshop is! And it’s not like you could just put on a uniform and fly into the city with me, because you’re kinda lacking in the wing department. Even more than me.” Rainbow waved with her metal wing. “And even if you could, do you really expect me to risk my last chance of being a professional flyer just so you can visit your girlfriend?”

“She’s not my—”

“Rarity, even I see that you’re head over hooves for her! Just ask Twilight to send a message to Shaded. I’m sure she’ll allow you to visit her.”

“But I can’t wait that long. I want to make a dress for Spectre for Hearts and Hooves Day, but I need to see her in her own habitat to get inspiration!”

“Maybe I can help,” a voice behind Rarity said, causing her to yelp and turn around to see a Shadowbolt stallion standing in the entrance to the tent.

Rainbow sighed. “How long have you been eavesdropping, Night Sky?”

“Since the moment she entered the camp. Anyway—” he turned to Rarity “—I can get you in.”

Rarity’s ears pointed forward. “And how?”

“I’m supposed to bring her a shipment of colour fragments from the ruins. I could put you into another shipping crate and deliver you right to her workshop.”

“You literally want to ship her to Spectre,” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes,” Night Sky said.

Rainbow groaned. “I’ve read enough Daring Do fanfiction to know where this is going…”

Spectre’s Atelier

Spectre was sitting before her easel in the middle of the room, working on her latest piece, a painting of the night sky.

Two younger mares, an earth pony called Turquoise and a pegasus called Indigo, worked on their own projects. They were apprentices of her, currently learning how to make and mix colours. The earth pony looked over her shoulder at Spectre’s canvas, then she leaned over to her colleague and wisphered, “Hey, is it just me, or did Meisterin Spectre use a lot of white, dark violet, and light blue in her works lately?”

“Huh, now that you mention it…”

They were interrupted by Night Sky brinning in two crates. “Ey, Spectre! Delivery for you!”

Spectre sighed. Without looking away from her work, she pointed at her apprentices and said, “Just put it over there, they’ll take care of it.”

They didn’t look, but the apprentices could hear the grin in Night Sky’s voice. “Trust me, you’ll want to open that one yourself.”

Now Turquoise and Indigo were interested. They turned around to see what was happening.

Spectre put down her brush and walked to the crate Sky was pointing at. She grabbed a crowbar and opened it. As soon as the cover landed on the ground, a white unicorn jumped out of the crate, yelling, “Surprise!”

Spectre tumbled back a few steps, her mane suddenly being dominated by redish and pinkish colours. “Ra—Rarity? What are you doing here?”

“I promised to make you a dress, didn’t I?” She stepped out of the crate and got a brush out of a saddlebag laying in the crate to fix her mane. “Well, to do that, I need to see you here, where you create your art.”

Turquoise looked at her and mumbled, “White coat, dark violet mane…”

“And a light blue cutie mark,” Indigo added, “now it makes sense.”

“You went through all the effort to get here just for me?” Spectre asked.

“Of course.” Rarity took out a notebook from the crate and said. “Now, just ignore that I’m here. I need you to act au naturel.”

How could I ever ignore the presence of a unicorn as stunning as you, Spectre thought. “Um, okay… I’ll try…”

She went back to her canvas, picked up her brush, but as much as she tried, she couldn’t continue. After a moment, she turned back to Rarity and said, “Maybe it’s better if I explain what all these things are?”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t mind an art lesson from you.” Rarity said. She walked up to Spectre, and Spectre began to talk her through the different tools spread out on the workbenches on their sides. What colours she used and why, the advantages and disadvantages of different types of brushes and pencils, how she used them, and a lot more.

They had spent hours together like that before Rarity suddenly tensed up. “Finally! An inspiration!” She packed her notebook into her sattlebag. “I have to leave at once!”

Spectre sounded disappointed. “Can’t you stay a little longer?”

“I’m sorry, my dear, but you know that the muses are fleeting creatures. If I wait, the inspiration may be gone before I’m home.” She placed the saddlebag on her back, ready to leave. “Do you want a goodbye kiss?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Rarity stretched to give Spectre a quick kiss on the cheek before running out of the workshop. Spectre turned back to her canvas, but froze in place just as the sound Rarity’s steps got lost in the tunnels. Wait, that was…

Rarity ran straight ahead in the tunnel leading out of Spectre’s atelier. Night Sky warned me to not use this tunnel because of what lives down there, but they are exactly who I need right now.

And sure enough, she found the Diamond Dogs.

She calmly approached them. “Hey, boys.”

Rover pointed at her and screamed, “The Banshee!”

All of the Diamond Dogs quivered with fear.

“Now, that really isn’t a way to greet a lady, is it?” Rarity asked.

“I’m sorry, miss Rarity!” Rover pled, “I won’t do it again, just don’t start whining!”

“I didn’t plan to. Just show me the way back to Ponyville. I’ll even throw a box of jewels down into the caves tomorrow, if we get there quickly.”

“And you won’t whine?” Fido asked.

“Not if we get going now.”

Rarity locked herself into her workshop the moment she came back to her house. Not even the prospect of Sweetie Belle cooking was able to stop her now.

She drew a sketch of what she had in mind first, then she levitated the cloth she had bought specifically for this dress over to her sewing machine.

“Finally,” she exclaimed after completing it, “if Spectre doesn’t like that, I’ll give up dressmaking!” She folded the dress and put it into a locked chest. I’m not taking any chances with this.

Rarity took a deep breath and turned to inspect what Sweetie Belle had managed to burn today, but was struck by a realisation. She blushed brightly. That was our first kiss!

Episode 15: Of Dresses and Dreams

Spectre was pacing up and down at the edge of the everfree forest, careful not to step into the last rays of sunlight the day had in store.

"Why did it have to be a sunny day today," she asked herself, "She had something important to talk about, but didn't want to say what… And it's hearts and hooves day! I just hope that she didn't regret the kiss… maybe I should pick her some flowers… No, not from here. The flowers of the everfree are absolutely beautiful to observe, but it's a bad idea to get close to them, let alone pick them… And I'm pretty sure no florist in ponyville will have any left after sundown… ARGH, stupid sun! Just go away so I can visit my beloved!"

She looked through the trees, at the road towards Ponyville, and saw a familiar figure approaching. She’s coming for me!

Rarity took a deep breath. “Spectre! Are you there, my love?”

Spectre could feel her heart beating in her throat. “I’m here, my dear! Between the trees!” She walked as close to the path as she could, and Rarity went the rest of the distance, eventually embracing each other in a long awaited hug. “Oh, Rarity, what are you doing here?”

“I simply couldn’t wait any longer to see you again, Spectre. I just had to try to find you out here. And I found you!” Rarity gave Spectre a tight hug.

“My lovely muse,” Spectre said, returning the hug.

“My dearest Spectre.”

“Moon of my Life.”

Rarity looked at Spectre. “You’re eyes are kaleidoscopes of brilliant colours.”

“And your mane is as purple as—”

The sound of something teleporting interrupted them. They looked at the source of the noise, and saw Discord standing there with crossed arms. “We get it,” he said annoyed, “you’re in love. Now could you two please get a move on?” He pointed towards Ponyville. “The sun has set! You—” he pointed at Spectre “—can leave the forest.”

“Discord!” Rarity stepped towards him. “Didn’t you notice that we were enjoying this?”

“I did. And I almost drowned from all the sap.”

“And why must you bother me?”

“Because you are dragging out this scene even longer than is necessary, and it gets boring.”

“M’lord Discord,” Spectre said, “With all due respect, can’t you annoy somepony else?”

“Oh, I have an appointment for that in a moment. The Cakes had the incredible idea to let Pinkie eat everything that’s not sold today, and that is something I just cannot miss… Actually—” he looked at a watch suddenly appearing on his claw “—the fun is about to start. But before that, I’ll do you a favour.” He raised his claw. “I’ll bring you back to your house!”

“What,” Rarity asked, “Discord, don’t you dare—”

Discord snapped, and teleported both Rarity and Spectre back to Carousel Boutique.

“This is just perfect,” Rarity said to nopony specific, “here I plan a romantic walk through Ponyville, and then this… this ruffian just had to feel the need to mess with me!”

“I’m sure what you had in mind would have been lovely,” Spectre said, “but I don’t mind the chance to spend just a bit more time with you here.”

Rarity’s expression immediately softened. “Well, I suppose that just means I can give it to you sooner than expected.”

“It?” Please don’t say anything to do with the bedroom.

“Your dress!” Rarity walked over to a locked chest and was about to open it, but hesitated in the last moment. “Close your eyes, darling.”

“They’re closed. You really believe that you can break the curse, huh?”

“I’ll certainly give it my best shot… seeing as you only give me one try… I was really nervous, and I tried to find out what the other designers did for you.”

“You did?” Spectre heard Rarity walking around and fabric rushling.

“Of course. And none of their ideas seemed wrong to me in principle. Trying to guide the attention to your mane, or to your eyes. Highlighting your height, or making you appear smaller… I may not have agreed with all of them, but I knew where they were coming from. They wanted to make you look beautiful… Well, except a few that just made you a standard dress from their line, but I chose to ignore them.”

“Yeah,” Spectre said, “I always tried to be nice to those who actually tried, but those who didn’t even try? I just told them to leave.”

“So here I was, making design after design, fearing I’d never come up with something good. But then I realized something. You don’t want to look beautiful yourself!”

“Oh?” Did she get it?

“No, you don’t. You, my wonderful, lovely lava lamp, you want art to be beautiful. And while you don’t look down on ponies that want to look fabulous themselves, it's just not your thing.”

A smile stole itself onto Spectre’s face, but Rarity was too busy to notice it. She got it!

“Of course, I couldn’t just make you an ugly dress, but I did put practical concerns first.” She paused for a moment. “Actually, I had that in mind from the beginning, but the execution was the… doesn’t matter. What matters is that as the first step, I got a special fabric. It’s comfortable and light, but most importantly, it’s absolutely opaque. And it has a hood, scarf, and fitting sunglasses. No sunlight will ever get through it, so you don’t have to wait for a rainy day to come overground and visit m—I mean, visit Equestria.

“A normal dress would have been too flattery, so I also added long gloves and shoes. It also has big pockets on the sides so you don’t have to carry around a saddlebag. But enough talk, you can open your eyes.”

Spectre did, and saw the dress on a mannequin in front of her. It was black, with a violet stripe originating from the top of the hood separating into two stripes halfway down her neck, with each stripe going to one of her shoulders. There, they split again and went across her back and belly, forming trapezoids on her sides, continuing down her legs. The bags sat in the middle of the trapezoids.

“And here I thought your sketches were beautiful,” Spectre said. She put on the outfit and moved around a bit. “It fits perfectly…”

“Of course! I didn't take your measurements just for my personal pleasure, darling.”

“Yes—I mean, no—I mean, how did you know how loose I want it?”

“Intuition. So, what do you say, my invisible mare?”

“I love it, my love. Even though I can’t kiss you when I wear it.”

“While that’s certainly a tragedy—” Rarity pulled Spectre in for a hug “—at least we can do this.”

“Well, that’s certainly not bad, either.”

Rarity pulled out of the hug, took off Spectre’s sunglasses, looked her in the eyes and said, “But before we seriously become a couple, I need to tell you something. I won’t go beyond kissing, hugging, and cuddling. I’m ace. If that’s a dealbreaker for you, I’m afraid it would be best to end things before they even begin.”

Spectre giggled. “Oh, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue, beloved. I wouldn’t want to go further, anyway.”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “You’re—”

“Also an ace, yes. So, why don’t you get me out of this dress and into your bed for some cuddling?”

Twilight was sorting books in her library. “It’s really entertaining to sort all the books from the old castle,” she thought out loud, “But why didn’t the sisters have any logical order for their library!” She walked over to another crate full of books, opened it with a crowbar, and picked up a couple of books. “Seriously, why is a Necroponycon right next Shaetale Evergreen's Tome on Flora and Fauna, The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide and Magical Hypnosis for Phobias? I personally made sure that all books that were on the same bookshelf in the library were packed in the same crate, but none of these are even close to each other in the DDC!”

She sighed and carried the books over to the table. She placed the first one in front of her in the light of a blue crystal lamp, grabbed the parchment role she used to list everything, and began to write. Necroponycon, 401X, Author: N/A, Edition: N/A, Published: N/A, Condition: Cursed.

She placed it on a book cart and took the next book. And then the next. And then the next. Twilight didn’t notice how much time had passed since she started, but eventually, the entire crate was empty and the books sorted. She wanted to open the next one, but couldn’t find one.

“I’m done?”

Spike opened the door to the library. “Twilight,” he asked with a sleepy voice, “are you still working? You should really go to sleep.”

“I was, but I think I’m done now.” She rolled up the parchment with the last part of the book list, grabbed the other scrolls with the other parts, and levitated them to Spike. “I know its late, but can you send them to Luna?”

“Sure thing!” He grabbed the scrolls, took a deep breath, and sent them on their way in a burst of red flames. He said, “I’ll go to bed now. Goodnight, Twilight,” before leaving the library again.

“So, what do I do now?” Twilight asked herself, “or rather, what do I read now…”

She looked through her collection, and came across a book titled The Wanderer’s Guide to Nachtmares. Intrigued, Twilight carried it back to the table to read it under the light of the candle burning on it.

After a lot more research, I consider it necessary to revisit the topic of Nachtmares and rectify the misconceptions in my earlier journal.

I know now that they are definitely corporal beings, although they are able to turn into mist with their magic.

Not all nightmares are caused by them, but many are. I myself had a few run-ins with those creatures that way, but luckily, received help from a local community of mages. But before I go on, dear reader, I need to issue a warning:

Nachtmares are, without exception, dangerous and evil creatures! Even if they pretend to be good, you can never trust them. They will betray you, they will corrupt you, and they will destroy everything you care for!

And their queen is the worst of them all. The most deceptive, treasonous, and rotten Mare that never saw the light of the sun.

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Celestia was right! We should have never trusted them! I have to find out what else there is to know...”

She focused on the book again, reading the text out loud. “And with that in mind, it is essential that you know the following spell.

“Radiant magic hear my plea, Light the world so I may see. Of fear and terror take the base, For they shan't conquer the equine race.”

The candle flickered in the corner of her eye. I thought I took a crystal lamp because of the fire hazard…

“Fill me with wisdom from head to heel, So that dark temptation I won't feel. With your radiance light the night sky, So that at our fiends mercy I won't lie. The heart of darkness we'll make cry, And all evil shall then die. Let the light that vanished here, Spark again and reappear.”

A question came up in the back of Twilight’s mind. Since when did Spike have red fire?

“With your fire, strengthen my horn, So I may smite those from darkness born. So I may carry your purest light, To bravely end the darkest night.”

Her eyes shot back to the beginning of the page. All words she had already read of the spell had caught fire. Twilight gasped and slammed the book shut, stumbling back from the table. “What spell just catches fire?!” She looked around the room, and noticed that the windows were filled by a reddish glow. “What the hay? It’s way too early for sunrise. What is going on?”

She turned her attention on the book again, that now burned brightly. The fire started to consume the table. “NO! I have to do something… Right! Water from the lake should fix this!” She tried to teleport water into the library, but she couldn’t use her magic. She took another step back, then turned around and bolted out of the library.

She started running down the hallway. “Since when do we have candles in the hallways?” She shook her head to clear her mind. “Doesn’t matter. I need to get Dinky out of the castle!”

Twilight stormed into Dinky’s room, calling for her to wake up, but she wasn’t there. She looked around the room and under the bed, but Dinky was nowhere to be found. And neither were Derpy, Spike, or Starlight.

“Where is everypony,” Twilight asked herself. “Maybe they already got out…”

She ran out of the front door, and saw what had caused the red glow in the windows. It wasn’t the sunrise.

It was fire.

The flames engulfed all of Ponyville. Smoke filled the sky, blocking out the stars. The wind blew soot and ashes into Twilight’s face. Coughing and fighting against tears, she looked at Ponyville. What is happening? Did the dragons attack?

She searched the sky, but couldn’t see any dragons through the smoke. Nothing there… and where is everypony? If the whole town is burning, then there should be ponies running around… Wait, what’s that? Twilight saw a white figure flying over Ponyville, dragging a flame behind it, and breathing fire down to the ground. That’s not a dragon, that’s a pony! But how is that possible… It isn’t! This is a dream!

Twilight sighed from relief. “I worried too much about Daybreaker, and now I have a nightmare about her. But it’s just a dream. Ok, fire, stop!”

She concentrated on ending the nightmare and returning to something nicer, but nothing happened.

“But… but you can do anything in a dream,” she said confused, “so why isn’t it working? I know it’s a dream, I should be able to control everything!”

Roaring laughter filled the world around her, in a voice she’d recognize anywhere. “Oh no…”

A giant flame erupted from the ground in front of her, and the silhouette of an alicorn appeared in it. “You thought this was but a simple nightmare,” the being said in Celestia’s voice, but with malice in her tone like Twilight never heard from her former teacher. A hoof stepped out of the flames, then another one. “But it is I—” her face shot out of the flames “— Daybreaker!”

“No, you… you can’t be.” Twilight walked backwards, shaking her head. “Shaded destroyed you! And she improved the seal!”

Daybreaker laughed again, excited this time. “Oh, she did, but there’s another crack in it, which was all I needed to send another fragment of myself through it!”

Twilight charged her horn.

“Go on, try to summon Luna to help you,” Daybreaker taunted, “she won’t hear it.”

Twilight reached out with her magic, trying to send it out of her dreamscape, but she could feel that something was stopping it from leaving. “What…”

“Surprised?” Daybreaker chuckled, sending shivers down Twilight’s spine. “My little runin with Celestia wasn’t a total failure. I learned a very useful thing from her. How to capsule a dreamscape. You can’t reach the dream realm, but most importantly, nopony from the dream realm can reach you!”

“What do you want from me?!” Twilight shouted at her.

Daybreaker turned around, pointing across Ponyville with her wing. “This! Isn’t it beautiful? How the fire consumes everything?”

“I will never allow that!” Twilight did her best to fill her voice with determination. “You will never destroy my home!”

Daybreaker turned her head just enough to glance at Twilight. “But you will.”

The white pony flying other Ponyville now changed course and flew directly at them. Twilight turned around and ran back into the castle. She threw the door shut behind her. The only thing she could hear while galloping down the dark hallway were her own steps. She didn’t dare to look back or to stop, she just went further and further down a never ending hallway.

The carpet she was running on disappeared, causing her hooves to clack over the cold stone floor, the sharp sound echoing from the walls. Twilight didn’t care, and pressed on, determined to put as much distance between Daybreaker and herself as possible.

Then the walls started to fade away, and without them, her steps didn’t echo anymore.

Then the ground followed, and from then on, Twilight ran through silence, not even her hooves making a sound anymore.

Only the crystal pillars remained, giving Twilight a direction to run in, and soon, she lost track of how long she was running, only having the faint hope of reaching salvation at the end of the darkness she was running into to keep her going.

She felt something behind her.

Heat.

At first, she barely noticed it. But it grew stronger every moment.

When it was hot enough to make her sweat, she could hear wings flapping behind her. Don’t turn around, she told herself, just keep running. Looking behind you will make you slower.

She kept pressing on, and the heat kept rising.

She felt the breath of her pursuer on her neck, flames scorching her coat.

Twilight jumped to the side, past the pillars, hoping to use them as cover. But instead of landing on the ground, she just fell into the darkness.

I have to fly! She tried to open her wings, but to no avail. Oh come on!

Eventually, she saw the burning Ponyville below her. Unable to open her wings or otherwise slow her fall, she crashed into the ground at full speed, the force of the impact pressing the air out of her lungs, silencing the pain filled scream she wanted to let out. Despite that, she had no problem getting up again.

She looked around and saw the town hall in front of her, burning brighter than all dragonfire.

Daybreaker came out of the flames. “So, how did you like that little walk?”

What did she hope to accomplish with that, Twilight asked herself.

“I thought I made that clear,” Daybreaker said mockingly, “I want to break out of my prison and get back into the Waking World, and I want you to help me with it.”

Twilight didn’t know how to respond, and just stared at Daybreaker, who sighed and shook her head. “You could have just fallen for my little trap. Just one more verse, and the spell would have been completed. You wouldn’t have even noticed anything. But now, we have to take the ugly route.”

Twilight declared, “No matter what you do, I will never help you!” But the determination faded from her face under Daybreaker’s laughter

“Oh, but you will! The seeds of your defeat were sown years ago already!”

The pony Twilight had seen flying over Ponyville earlier now appeared on Daybreaker’s right side. At first, Twilight could only recognize her as an alicorn, but then, the realization hit her. She was looking at herself.

“We tapped into her magic once already,” her doppelganger said, “Don’t you remember?”

“When I tried to figure out Pinkie’s sense,” Twilight thought out loud.

The doppelganger nodded. “Wasn’t it a good feeling to just let it out? To just give into it?”

“No!” Twilight shouted, and her doppelganger disappeared.

Daybreaker sighed. “And here I thought you’d care about your friends more…”

“What?”

Daybreaker began to pace around the circle of fire. “If you don’t accept, why should they? And if they don’t join me, they will die once I break free. And the question is only when I will purge the world from darkness, not if I will. But if you become my servant, I will give you the power to draw them to my side as well. And those who serve me will of course be spared.”

The circle of fire began to close in on Twilight.

“You can still complete the spell and serve me willingly, Twilight.” She waved her hoof, and the book appeared in front of Twilight, the page with the spell opened, and walked up the stairs to the town hall. “But I would hurry up if I were you. I may not be able to burn your physical body from in here, but those flames will still hurt.”

Twilight moved to the middle of the circle, her mind racing. I need to find a way out of here! If I can still feel pain, but can’t get injured, I’d just keep on being burned alive forever, and I sure as Tartarus wouldn’t last long then! And me being willing to die doesn’t matter if I can’t die…

Author's Note

Ace is short for asexual

Episode 17: Kolea

Kolea, who appeared to be a dark grey pegasus with a short teal mane and light green eyes, entered the flower shop in Ponyville just after it opened for the day. Daisy, Lily, and Rose were still restocking everything. After a moment, Rose walked up to Kolea. “Hi, how may I help you?”

“Hi, do you have myrtle, iris, lavender and purple roses? I totally spaced out on getting them yesterday.”

“You actually know what you want?” Rose asked surprised.

“Em, yes?”

“That’s unusual. Most ponies here have no clue when they buy flowers.” She looked through the shelves. “I don’t think we have all of them here…” She turned to Daisy. “Could you check in the back?”

“Sure thing,” Daisy said before leaving.

Daisy turned back to Kolea. “Sorry about that, we should have everything in a few minutes.”

“Don’t worry, it's not a problem. I just hope that you still have some. You must have sold a lot yesterday,” she said, pointing at the empty shelves.

“Oh, it was a horror! Everypony wants flowers for their very special somepony, but nopony thinks about just ordering them in advance! So we have to stay the entire day so even the most forgetful pony can still get flowers.”

Lily put a couple of bouquets in a rack and then chimed in. “We have to overstock every year so we don’t run out. Especially because Filthy is always one of the last ones to show up, but if he doesn’t get the right flowers for Spoiled…”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say I’d rather marry a bugbear. No idea what he sees in her.”

“I think she was nicer when she was younger,” Lily guessed.

“Trust me, if anything, she was nicer to look at,” Daisy replied, “And because she’s like that, none of us can go on a date on the most romantic day of the year. But at least I get to work with my very special someponies, so it's not all bad.”

“Found everything,” Daisy said, carrying Kolea’s bouquet, “you’ve got a good eye for this. It’s really striking!”

“Thanks! How much is that?”

“Ten bits,” Rose said. Kolea gave her the bits and carefully put the bouquet into her saddlebag.

Lily scratched her head. “I’m surprised that we never noticed you before…”

Rose’s eyes widened. “Oh no. Don’t tell me… Are you new in Ponyville?”

Kolea chuckled. “The pink one isn’t going to show up for a welcoming party, don’t worry.”

“Oh, thank Celestia,” Rose said, exhaling audibly.

This day is going to be perfect, Kolea thought while leaving the shop.

Derpy and Dinky should be out of the castle right now, Kolea thought. She stood in front of the Castle of Friendship, looking for a way in. And because Twilight has no staff, I can’t just knock and ask for an audience. Maybe through a window somewhere? I mean, she won’t just leave the front door open.

Kolea pushed on the door a little bit, and it swung open. Seriously?

She entered the castle, and after some searching, heard a young dragon. “So Celestia and Shaded are friends now?”

Kolea turned to the door the voice came from. That’s probably Spike.

Starlight said, “Yeah, but after what she did for Twilight, how couldn’t they be?”

Kolea silently opened the door and discovered Twilight, Starlight, and Spike sitting on couches in the library. They hadn’t seen her yet.

“I still don’t know how she did that,” Twilight said, “and I don’t just mean the magical side of it. I still remember how it felt, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all… I feel like I should somehow show her how grateful I am.”

“That might be a good idea,” Spike said, “any ideas how?”

Twilight sighed. “Unfortunately not.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Starlight said, “But what I’m also curious about is what she went through so that that isn’t really bothering her anymore. Or if there’s a limit to it. I mean, there are a lot of ponies who go through a hard time. Could she just do the same with them?”

“That would be a bad idea,” Kolea said, revealing her presence, startling the others. “My queen is still affected by it, even if she doesn’t show—”

Twilight and Starlight jumped from their seats.

“How did you get into the castle?” Twilight demanded.

“And how long did you eavesdrop?” Starlight added.

“Not too long.” Kolea said sheepishly, “Sorry, its an old habit. And I came through the front door. You should really lock it.”

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again.

“She… kinda has a point,” Starlight said.

Twilight glanced at Starlight before turning back to Kolea and asking, “Who are you?”

“My name is Kolea, and I’m Shaded’s blade and spymaster, your highness.” She gave Twilight the same kind of curtsey Shaded used. “I wanted to use the opportunity to try to become friends with you all.”

Twilight's demeanor immediately softened. “Why didn’t you just say so? Welcome to my castle! And please, no need for titles among friends.” She offered her a hoof, and Kolea shook it. Then she sat back down again, followed by Starlight and Spike. When she saw that Kolea was still standing, she pointed at another chair. “Why don’t you sit down? I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

“Gladly,” Kolea said, taking the seat. “As I was saying, what she takes onto herself still affects her, she just learned to not show it in public. She had a panic attack once she had returned home. Yes, my queen went through a lot in her life, so she will be able to carry on faster, or at least process it enough to be functioning. But if she started to take it from everypony, it would simply be too much.” Kolea shook her head. “The truth is, she only took yours because she feels responsible for it. Had she been faster, or had she recognized the seed sooner, you wouldn’t have had to go through it in the first place. Or at least that’s how she sees it. So I’m afraid that even if you would want to thank her, she wouldn’t accept it.”

“Wow, that’s...” Starlight scratched her head, “Um… that’s something.”

“I really don’t know what to say,” Twilight said.

After a few moments of silence, Kolea said, “By the way, I have something for you.” She took out the bouquet and handed it to Twilight. “I thought it would be impolite to come empty-hoofed.”

“That really wouldn’t have been necessary,” Twilight said, “but thank you.” She looked at the flowers more closely. “Irises are my favorites! How did you know?”

“Oh, just a lucky guess. They stand for wisdom, after all. But to be honest, I’m more here to talk with Starlight and Spike.”

“You are?” both asked simultaneously.

Kolea stood up and turned to them. “I wanted to thank you for the role you played in dethroning Chrysalis. She had it coming for her for too long. So thank you very much for helping to take her down at last. If you ever need help with something, just send me a message.”

“I get why you’re thanking Starlight, but why me?” Spike asked, confused. “I didn’t do anything. I was just sitting in a cocoon.”

“I have to disagree,” Kolea said, “if you hadn’t extended your friendship to Thorax, he could have never metamorphosed, and could have never defeated Chrysalis.”

“Huh. Yeah, I guess,” Spike admitted, “But anypony could have done that.”

“But nopony did. Anyway, I would like to ask you for a favour, both of you. Could you introduce me to Thorax?”

“Probably,” Starlight said, “I mean, he’s busy ruling the hive, but I don’t think he’d mind a visitor. Although, if you just want to thank him, I think a letter would be enough.”

“It’s not just that. Chrysalis is still sitting in our dungeon, and because she never committed any crimes against the Schattenrealm, my queen decided it’s up to you to decide her punishment.”

After a moment of silence, she added, “And I also want to reconnect with that part of the family.” Before anyone could ask what she meant, pink flames ran across her body, revealing her true, changeling form. A little bit smaller than Thorax, she had a dark purple chitin with a raven-black underside and emerald green carapace. Her wings and the sclera in her eyes were light grey, and she had three gemstone like objects in her chest, the middle one in the same colour of her magic, the other two brilliant white.

“Ah, makes sense,” Starlight said.

“I didn’t know that there were other changelings except those from Chrysalis’ hive,” Twilight noted.

“I was part of Chrysalis’ original swarm,” Kolea explained, “but over one thousand years ago, I tried to dethrone Chrysalis for how she treated us, failed, and was left to die. Then Shaded found me, saved me, and I served her ever since, leading a hive of my own.”

“So you’re a changeling queen like Chrysalis?” Twilight asked.

“No. Well, kinda. I’m a ryeling like her, but not a queen.” Seeing the confusion on everyone’s faces, Kolea began to explain. “A ryeling is a stronger and taller kind of changeling, and the natural leader of a hive or swarm. A changeling queen is nothing but a queen that happens to be a changeling. It’s kinda like with alicorns and princesses. Yes, if a pony is one, it’s likely that she’s also the other, but the two still aren’t synonymous. My title is Viceroy of the Schattenhive.”

“So, Shaded is the queen of the hive,” Starlight said, “and you govern it for her?”

“Yes. But if it's ok, I’d like to go to Thorax’s hive now. The day Chrysalis gets her comeuppance is the kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small,” Kolea said. “Well, smaller. I came into existence as a fully grown soldier, after all.”

“You mean, right now?” Spike asked.

“Why not? From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t seem like the kind of changeling to have a problem with a surprise visit. And Starlight can just teleport us there, so it wouldn’t even take too long.”

Starlight narrowed her eyes. “And how do you know that?”

Kolea turned to Starlight. “As I said, I’m the spymaster. Knowing things is kinda my job. So, would you do me the favour?”

They appeared with a flash of turquoise magic. “Yes!” Starlight exclaimed. “Only three tries this time! I’m getting better at this.”

“They really don’t want take care of the vines, huh,” Kolea said, looking at the hive in the distance.

“I mean, why should they? They still have enough room to live, and they like it more that way.”

“It would be a lot easier to defend. All the plants around the hive would make it easy to sneak up on them. Sure, they’re really pretty to look at, but they still create cover. Although that can obviously be used in the defense of the hive as well. Personally, I’d plant some nettles and poison ivy in the undergrowth.”

Starlight and Spike looked at each other. Spike said, “Well, I’m not sure about Thorax…”

“But there’s one changeling you’ll definitely get along with perfectly,” Starlight added.

They probably mean Pharynx, Kolea thought. “Don’t get me wrong, I see the appeal. I’m not blind to the beauty of the new hive, but it was originally a fortress meant to protect the swarm from attacks. And looking at it from that point…”

“Yeah, I see what you mean,” Starlight said.

They walked towards the entrance of the hive. When Starlight and Spike stepped out of the vegetation, the two guards stationed there greated them. But as soon as Kolea showed herself, they got nervous. They didn’t stop her, but they could be heard whispering behind them once all three had passed.

Spike and Starlight didn’t pay it much attention at first, but every changeling they passed had a similar reaction when they saw Kolea. Some dropped things they were carrying, others disappeared into side corridors, or stared at her, but no one said anything to them, although the whispering around them was consistent.

“What’s up with them?” Spike asked.

“Probably me,” Kolea said, “I probably remind them of Chrysalis, because of my scent. The first generation of changelings was a lot different than the later ones, and I’m likely the only Gen1 they have ever seen besides Chrysalis. She was… not really concerned about the lives of her drones.”

“You’re right,” Pharynx said from behind them, startling Starlight and Spike, “and I’d really like to know who you are and what you are doing here.”

Kolea calmly turned around. “I was wondering when you’d reveal yourself. You were following us for…” she hesitated for a moment. He’s a ryeling as well? “...for ten minutes already?”

“Twelve, actually. And now I’d appreciate an answer.”

“Or else your disguised guards will arrest me, I presume?” Kolea said, nodding in the direction of a few changelings in sight.

“Exactly. I didn’t think you noticed them, though. I’m impressed.”

“They’re nervous, yes, but not as nervous as the others. That gave them away. Otherwise, I really like the system you have set up. The guards at the entrance and the few others sprinkled throughout the hive give the impression that all guards wear a uniform, which means intruders wouldn’t pay attention if there’s no changeling in armour around.”

“And here I thought I’m the only changeling who still has an eye for stuff like that. But seriously, who are you?”

“I go by the name Kolea these days, but my original name was Coleoptera.”

As soon as she had said that, an eerie silence fell over the area. All changelings in earshot had stopped whatever they were doing and stared at her. After a moment, Pharynx asked, “Coleoptera? The Coleoptera? From the Foolish Four-hundred?”

Kolea raised her eyebrow in surprise. “You heard of me?”

“We all did. Chrysalis held you up as an example why rebellion is pointless all the time. She told us that she killed all of you.”

“She definitely thoughtwe’d all die.”

Pharynx sighed. “So she always had the tendency to leave her enemies to die instead of making sure that they are dealt with…”

“Yep,” Kolea said, “So, what’s your name?”

“Pharynx.” He looked past Kolea. “Hey, Starlight. Spike. What brings you here?”

“Um, we wanted to introduce her to Thorax,” Starlight said.

“I’m sorry, but Thorax isn’t here right now. He should be back soon, though, but—”

A guard approached Pharynx before he could finish his sentence. “Another maulwurf was sighted. It’s devouring everything in the northern badlands.”

“Again?” Pharynx said annoyed, “Fine, gather the guards and we’ll—”

“I can take care of that,” Kolea said.

“What, alone?”

“Of course.” She took a few steps before turning around and saying to the others, “Just stay here, it won’t take long.” Then she opened her wings and flew away.

Pharynx looked after her for a moment. Then he turned to the guard and said, “Gather the others at the northern entrance to the hive,” before walking in the same direction Kolea had left in, followed by Starlight and Spike. But he didn’t stop at the entrance.

“Why aren’t we waiting for the others?” Starlight asked, still following him.

“I just have to see how she wants to take on a maulwurf by herself.”

Spotting the maulwurf wasn’t hard, and Pharynx, Starlight, and Spike lied down on top of a hill to have a clear view of what was happening.

Spike looked around for any sign of Kolea. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” Starlight admitted, “but she has to be here somewhere.”

“Over there.” Pharynx pointed at a trench behind the maulwurf.

Kolea looked at it, and then turned into a maulwurf herself. She walked up to the maulwurf, who seemed excited to see another one of its kind. Kolea came closer, and suddenly hissed, transformed back, and fed off the maulwurf’s love, a pink mist flowing from it into Kolea’s wide open, fanged mouth. A few moments later, the maulwurf collapsed and Kolea’s fangs disappeared.

Starlight said, “Did she just…”

“I didn’t know we could still do that,” Pharynx said.

They walked up to Kolea, but didn’t know what to say. Spike eventually broke the silence. He poked the maulwurf and asked, “Is… Is it dead?”

“Just unconscious. He just needs a few hours of rest.” Kolea turned to Pharynx. “Do you want some of his love?”

“Yes,” he said absent-mindedly. Then he hastily shook his head. “Wait, no! I’m past that!”

Kolea shrugged and said, “Well, more for me, then,” earning her shocked faces from the others.

“I thought you were reformed like us,” Pharynx said. “Or is that just a disguise?”

Kolea tilted her head to the side. “Of course not. I am reformed. But just because I don’t need to feed off love anymore, doesn’t mean that I can’t, does it? It’s a really useful ability, after all.”

Pharynx opened his mouth for a rebuttal, but couldn’t think of anything. He sighed and said, “Just don’t tell the others.”

“And what are we going to do about the maulwurf?” Starlight asked.

Pharynx thought about it for a moment. “I’ll send a few guards to carry it out of the badlands. It’s hide is too thick to be worth the effort of taking it to the hive.”

Starlight looked confused. “Why would you take it to the hive in the first place?”

“Well, food. I mean, you saw us eating bugs.”

On their way back to the hive, Pharynx said to Kolea, “I have to admit, I was kinda surprised to see another changeling who’s not brightly colored.”

“Then you’d be shocked to see my hive. You’d honestly fit right in with your dark cyan chitin.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We’re also all reformed, but we didn’t get bright chitins like your friends. We’re all different dark hues of blue, violet, green, red, grey…”

“Huh.”

“Maybe you can come visit us sometime,” Kolea suggested.

“I’ll think about it, thanks for the offe—” he suddenly stopped, looked into the sky above them, and then let his head hang down “—oh, no, not again...”

“What is it?”

Pharynx just sighed.

Before Kolea could ask again, Thorax dived down and tackled Pharynx off his hooves into a hug. “You’re safe!”

“Not if you keep crushing me!”

“Oh, right.” Thorax let go of Pharynx and stepped back. “Sorry, but when I heard that you left to fight a maulwurf all on your own—”

“I didn’t,” Pharynx said. He pointed at Kolea. “She did.”

He turned to her. “You did? Thank you! But how did you do that?”

“Oh, just an old trick of mine,” she said with an innocent smile. She gave Spike and Starlight a quick glance.

Realisation appeared on Spike’s face. He stepped forward. Thorax grinned when he saw him and picked him up for a hug. “Spike! It’s so good to see you.”

“Hey, Thorax, good to see you, too!”

Thorax put Spike down again. “So, what brings you here?”

“I wanted to introduce you to a new friend of ours. Thorax, this is Kolea.”

Kolea curtsied and said, “It’s an honour to meet you, Your Grace.”

“Likewise,” Thorax said, returning the gesture. “I always love making new friends.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Kolea said, “but there’s something I need to discuss with you, from ryeling to ryeling. Why don’t we take care of the maulwurf taking a nap over there and then talk about it in private?”

Sitting on his throne, Thorax said, “Well then, what did you want to talk about?”

Kolea let her eyes wander from Thorax, to Pharynx standing beside him, to Spike and Starlight, and then across the small crowd of changelings that had gathered around. “I think it would be a better idea to discuss it in private, Your Grace.”

“I don’t keep any secrets from my people,” Thorax said, “If it's important for the hive, they deserve to hear it.”

“If you think so… The matter I came here to discuss is Chrysalis.”

The crowd around them grew nervous when Kolea mentioned her name. She waited for the mumbling to die down and then continued. “Chrysalis is still sitting in our custody, but you are the ruler of the hive she belongs to, so it’s up to you to decide her punishment.”

“Can’t you just keep her locked up?” Starlight asked.

Kolea turned to Starlight. “And what for? Prison for life won’t work. First Generation changelings don’t physically age, so she would have to be contained forever. Even if it would work, and nopony ever messes up, it would be wrong. Nopony deserves to be locked away somewhere without being able to do anything forever.”

“So,” Thorax asked after contemplating what she had said, “what do you suggest?”

“The best option in my opinion would be to take her out permanently.”

The crowd started mumbling again. Thorax exchanged a look with Spike, Starlight, and Pharynx, who all weren’t sure what to make of it. He turned back to Kolea. “Are… are you suggesting that we should kill her?”

“Yes.”

Thorax backed away into his throne. Starlight narrowed her eyebrows and Spike didn’t know what to say.

Pharynx said, “Heh, would serve her right. I agree with you.”

“Pharynx!” Thorax exclaimed, shocked.

“What? Do you have another idea?”

Thorax avoided his gaze, so Pharynx turned to the crowd. “Does anyone have a better idea?”

Somewhere in the crowd, a changeling yelled, “Why don’t we banish her?”

“Yeah,” somepony else replied, “She’d be gone but wouldn’t have to rot in a cell for all eternity.”

How can they be so naive? Kolea thought.

Pharynx rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because she definitely wouldn’t just raise another swarm to get her revenge with. I say we just execute her and be done with it. That’s the safest option. In the past, that wouldn’t even have been a question.”

“But those are the old ways, Pharynx,” Thorax said with disappointment.

“Yes, Chrysalis’ ways, to be specific. I’m not saying that we should return to her so called ‘justice’, but I’d be prepared to make an exception in her case. She subjected every changeling under her to her tyranny, so why not give her some of her own medicine?”

A few in the crowd nodded in agreement, but most seemed uncomfortable with the idea.

“Because it wouldn’t be right,” Thorax insisted.

“And just setting her free would be foolish!”

“Then it's good that I’d rather be a fool than a hypocrite,” Thorax said in a tone that made clear that he wouldn’t argue about it anymore.

Pharynx groaned. “At least Ember’s assertiveness lessons are working.”

Kolea asked distraught, “So, that’s your decision? Banishment?”

“I’m afraid so,” Thorax said, “We’ll banish her from the southern end of the badlands out. I hope you can accept that.”

Kolea sighed. “My queen ordered me to respect whatever decision you make, so yes, I’ll accept it.”

The sun was already standing low over the horizon when Thorax, Pharynx and Kolea arrived at the border to the Forbidden Jungle. Starlight and Spike had decided to wait for their return in the hive.

Kolea lit her horn and drew a green circle on the ground. She stepped back, and a few moments later, Chrysalis appeared, her hooves chained together, a suppressor attached to her horn, and surrounded by four Schattenhive guards.

She looked at Thorax, then turned to Kolea. “Oh, so that’s what you had to wait for. The forever second Coleoptera needed permission from a king to kill me. So, why did you bring me here into the middle of nowhere just to kill me?”

“We’re not here to kill you,” Thorax said, trying his best to not sound intimidated. “You will be banished from our lands for what you did.”

Chrysalis looked at him, dumbfounded by what he said. “You’ll just let me go?” Then she broke into roaring laughter.

“You will be banished,” Kolea repeated through clenched teeth. She gave the guards a sign, and they unlocked her chains. Then she stepped in front of Chrysalis. “Now lower your head, or do you want to leave with the suppressor?”

Chrysalis complied with a grin. Kolea charged her horn and tapped on the suppressor. Kolea whispered into her ear, “When you come back, there will be nothing to stop me from cutting your head off.”

“Why wait?” Chrysalis whispered back, “Just do it, or are you afraid of offending your new queen?”

Kolea glared at her, but just silently stepped away, the suppressor held by her magic.

Chrysalis charged her horn, glaring at Thorax, who moved closer to Pharynx.

Do it! Kolea thought, Just do it. Attack him. Give me an excuse.

But Chrysalis just laughed and said, “You’re even more of a fool than I thought.” Then she took flight and disappeared into the Forbidden Jungle.

After she was out of sight, Kolea sighed deeply and told her guards to teleport back to the Schattenhive. After they had disappeared, she turned to Thorax. “I really hope that you won’t have to regret this.”

“It was the right thing to do. Maybe she will see the errors of her ways at some point.”

Kolea huffed. “Do you really believe that?”

Starlight was waiting at the entrance of the hive for Kolea and the others to return. She walked up to them and asked, “So, is she gone?”

Kolea nodded. “Straight into the jungle.”

Starlight’s ears and head dropped. “Well, I guess I’ll be sleeping with a dagger under my pillow from now on… again…”

“I’m sorry, Starlight,” Thorax said apologetically, “But it was the right—”

Starlight raised her hoof. “Just, stop. I don’t think that I want to talk to you right now.”

“I… I understand,” Thorax said and walked into the hive while Pharynx stayed.

Starlight sighed before looking back at Kolea. “Spike and I have to go back to Ponyville now.”

“I’ll stay a bit longer.” She offered Starlight her hoof. “Until we meet again.”

Starlight shook her hoof and said, “See you soon.” before teleporting away.

Kolea turned to Pharynx when he said, “I can’t blame her.”

“Me neither,” Kolea replied.

Pharynx waited a moment before saying, “Hey, do you want to see my favorite place in the hive?”

“Sure,” Kolea said with a smile.

“Then follow me.”

He led her deeper into the hive, eventually stopping in front of a wall covered in vines. He looked around, and when he was sure that they were alone, pushed the vines to the side, revealing a secret tunnel. After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived in a small chamber with a window facing the southern badlands.

“So, now we can talk without anyone else knowing about it.” He looked out of the window. “How long do you think it will take?”

Kolea stepped to his side, looking at the jungle in the distance. “For Chrysalis to come back? A few years, if we’re lucky. And luck isn’t on our side, it seems. I thought this day was going to be perfect…”

“Thorax has a good heart,” Pharynx said, “but sometimes, I feel like he is too good. The new ways are great for the hive, don’t get me wrong. Everybody is a lot happier. But in the old days, the entire hive was prepared to fight. Not like today…”

Kolea looked at him. “Well, then you’ll have to show them that there’s things from the old days that are worth keeping.”

“I guess I’ll have to at least try… Hey, do you still have some love from the maulwurf left? I could really use an old school snack right now.”

Author's Note

No big announcements this time, so I'll just say:

Like, Comment, and Praise the Moon

Episode 18: Fangtastic Third Night

13 years ago

The morning sun shining through the trees woke up the lonely earthpony. She stood up, stretched, and looked around to see where she was, but couldn't recognize anything. Her neck stung a little bit, but it was only a weak sting, nowhere strong enough to be called painful, so she ignored it.

Since she didn't want to walk towards the rising sun, she turned westward l instead.

Eventually, night came again. She continued to walk for a few more hours and then climbed up a tree to sleep.

The sun was already almost at its highest point when the mare woke up again. She climbed out of the tree. The sting was still there, but she didn’t even notice it anymore.

What she did notice was that sunlight was now uncomfortable for her even if it just shone on her back, so she paid attention to always stay in the shadows of the trees as she went on.

Other ponies would take in the scenery around themselves, but she didn't care about that. Or about what might run through the undergrowth around her. Or where she was going. She was generally uninterested in anything right now.

She managed to stay awake even longer today, going on all the way until sunrise. Something in the back of her mind told her that the rising sun shouldn’t make her even more tired, but she didn’t know why she should care, and just climbed into another tree to sleep.

Most of the day was already over when she woke up.

The sting had almost disappeared, but now her jaws were hurting, and when the sun started to set, she also got a headache. Both grew stronger and stronger as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. The mare felt like her head was going to explode.

And as soon as the last ray of light had vanished, it stopped.

The mare exhaled. Never in her life had she perceived her surroundings this clearly.

She could see further and hear more. She felt that her muscles had become stronger as well, but she didn't have time to take it all in. At the edge of her vision, a shape appeared.

Something furry and hopping.

Something with red, glowing lines running across its body.

Something she had to sink her teeth into.

Would she still have been able to form thoughts, that would have filled all of them. This irresistible desire to sink her teeth into the creature's throat. She didn't care about its name, or what she could expect to happen from fulfilling her desire.

She began to stalk over to it, her hoofsteps not even audible to herself, let alone her prey.

Once she was close enough, she leapt forward, catching it in her fangs, and began to drink the red liquid coming out of it. She lifted her head to the sky to make it come out faster, spilling quite a lot of it all over her face and throat. With every gulp, her mind became clearer.

This… This thing—oh, this tastes so good—it's called… Rabbit…

She narrowed her eyes. Why is it stopping? I want more… more… Blood! That's what it's called! I want more blood!

She shook the now completely limp rabbit, trying to get a few more drops out of it when a female voice appeared behind her. “Hey, can I have the rest?”

She turned around, and saw a creature somewhere between a wolf and a pony, with a duffle bag on her back. She still had the rabbit in her mouth, so all she could say was, “Whaf?"

“You know, the meat? I don't think that you'll want to eat it yourself, right, Rotkehlchen?”

It's already empty, so why not, the newfound vampire thought. She walked over to the werewolf and dropped it in front of her. The werewolf thanked her and quickly devoured her meal.

Once she was done, she sighed from contentment, then turned to the vampire and said, “Shite, where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself, didn’t I?” She held out her paw towards the vampire. “I’m Dagny.”

The vampire hesitated for a moment before shaking her paw. “Hi, Dagny, it's nice to meet you.”

“So, what's your name?” Dagny asked after a moment of silence.

Panic rose in the vampire. What's my name?! I… I don't know… How can you not know your own name?!

Dagny noticed her distress and said, “Hey, if you don't want to tell me your real name, that's ok, I get it. You probably have people to protect, and I'm just a random werewolf roaming the White Tail forest. But it'd be good if I could at least call you by a nickname. Unless you want me to just call you lass all the time.”

The vampire thought about it. “You called me Rotkehlchen earlier, didn't you? What does it mean?”

“Oh, it's a kind of bird. I think it's called Robin in Equestrian. But literally, it means 'cute red throat' and, well…”

The vampire put a hoof on her throat and then held it out so she could look at it. Covered in blood. What a waste. She licked the blood off her hoof and then said, “Well, I'd say it's a good name, Rotkehlchen. I don't think that I'll ever use my other name again, actually. I just became a vampire, anyway, so new life, new name, right?”

“Ah, then it’s probably best to bring you to the next Noctris hideout,” Dagny said. “They’ll tell you what you need to know. The closest one should be in Applewood.”

“That’s quite a bit away from here,” Rotkehlchen said.

“True,” Dagny admitted. “But that gives us a chance to hunt along the way. What do you say? I get the meat, you the blood.”

“Sounds like a deal.”

Dagny grinned and started to walk away, Rotkehlchen closely following behind.

After a few minutes, Rotkehlchen said, “Um, Dagny?”

“Yes, Rotkehlchen?”

“Can you teach me how to hunt?”

For the next few hours, Dagny taught Rotkehlchen how to build a few simple traps and how to track and stalk prey. In the end, Rotkehlchen managed to take down a boar all by herself.

Rotkehlchen drank herself full and then lied down while Dagny ate.

The sun was rising again just as they finished their meal. Dagny cringed when she saw the first rays of sunlight shining through the trees. “Oh, I hate when that happens…”

Rotkehlchen wanted to ask what she meant, but got her answer as soon as the sunlight directly hit Dagny, forcing her into her pony form. She groaned, opened her duffle bag, took out a suit and put it on. “I have no cutie mark, and that’d be too conspicuous. Also… the suit’s made from special fabric. Don’t ask me how, but not even the strongest pony in Equestria could buck a hole into it. Helps me cope with being clawless.” She closed the bag and tried to take another bite from the boar, but could only barely get anything out of it. “Lupa, how I hate this weak body...”

Rotkehlchen stood up and nuzzled Dagny’s cheek, gently pushing her out of the way. Then she used her fangs to rip out a chunk of meat, turned to Dagny, and put it in her mouth. “Don’t worry,” she told the surprised looking Dagny, “I’m strong enough for both of us.”

They soon arrived at the edge of the forest, standing on a hill overlooking Applewood. Dagny turned to Rotkehlchen. “Um, you probably should go pony as well.”

“And how?”

Dagny facehoofed. “Right, I forgot. You’re new to this…” She took a scarf and sunglasses out of her bag and gave them to Rotkehlchen. “Here, put that on. You’ll blend right in.”

After some confusion, they found the way to the hideout.

“Down there?” Rotkehlchen asked, looking at the sewer hole in front of them.

“Yeah.” Dagny heaved the lid out of the way. “After you.”

Rotkehlchen climbed down, followed by Dagny, who put the lid back into place behind them. As soon as the sun was blocked out, Dagny returned to her true form. “Ah, finally…”

I don’t know what I expected to find behind a secret door in a sewer, Rotkehlchen thought after entering the hideout, but definitely not a clean hotel lobby.

The receptionist behind the front desk gave them a welcoming grin, revealing her fangs. Rotkehlchen moved closer to Dagny, practically bumping into her.

“Hi, how may I help you?” the receptionist said.

Dagny waited a moment for Rotkehlchen to answer, but when she didn’t, said, “Hi, Fluffy-Ears here’s a newby vampire. Can you, you know… teach her the basics?”

“Of course!” The receptionist walked around the counter and up to them. “I think we should start with a tour of the hideout.” She turned to Dagny. “You can leave, if you want. She’ll be in good hooves.”

Rotkehlchen pressed herself more into Dagny’s fur.

Dagny looked at her, then back at the receptionist. “I think I’d like to join the tour as well.”

Hideouts like this one served many purposes. Mainly, they were just safe spaces nocturnals could go to to find a place to stay while they traveled through Equestria, but they were also responsible for supplying the vampires in their area with blood if they didn’t own a bloodstone themselves. If possible, they’d also provide meat for the occasional werewolf, but that wasn’t as much of a priority, since werewolves could survive on the same diet as a pony.

Most hideouts also possessed a potions lab for vampire cure in case of accidental biting, and a metal workshop for any gear traveling nocturnals would have to repair. They also provided quarters to Silver Eyes if one came into the region, and had the responsibility of making sure that no vampire in their city revealed their existence to Equestria.

The receptionist told all that and more detailed information to Rotkehlchen, but unfortunately, she was too tired to remember any of it.

After a while, she just asked her guide for a place to sleep.

“Of course,” she replied, “coffin or bed?”

“What?” Rotkehlchen asked.

“Some vampires prefer to sleep in a coffin,” the receptionist explained, “others want a bed. So, which one shall it be?”

“I think a bed would be quite nice.”

Dagny walked Rotkehlchen to her room, which looked like any other hotel room, with the exception of the absence of windows.

“Alright,” she said, “I guess I’ll go then. Was nice to meet you. Sleep well.” She turned to leave the room, but Rotkehlchen grabbed her paw, causing her to stop and turn back around.

“Could you—” Rotkehlchen hesitated “—could you please stay? I don’t know, but something is making me nervous in here, and I’d feel safer if you were around.”

“Well, I guess I could use a nap as well,” Dagny said with a smile.

“Oh. Oh, thank you, I really appreciate that.” Rotkehlchen looked at the one pony bed in the room. “Um, how do we…”

Dagny walked to the side of the bed, turned around in circles a few times, and lied down on the ground, curled up into a ball, her nose tucked under her tail.

“Awww,” Rotkehlchen said out loud, “You’re adorable like that.”

“Thank you. Now go to sleep.”

After waking up, another vampire taught Rotkehlchen how to switch between her vampire and her pony form, how much blood she should drink, and how to use her stare.

Meanwhile, Dagny traded the pelts from her hunting trip and restocked her supplies. She was about to leave the hideout again when she heard Rotkehlchen shouting her name from behind her. She ran towards Dagny, now looking just like a normal pony, with her mane styled to cover up her bite marks and with a saddlebag on her back. She stopped in front of her, fixating her turquoise eyes on a point between Dagny’s eyes so she wouldn’t accidentally stare her, and asked, “So, where do we go next?”

Dagny and Rotkehlchen traveled through the forests of Equestria, refining their hunting skills and only rarely returning to pony settlements or nocturnal hideouts in the following five years.

They grew closer over time, so when Rotkehlchen decided to apply the skills she had developed traveling with Dagny to working as a bounty hunter for Noctris, always wearing a red bandana and steel claws on her front hooves, they decided to still meet every few months for a hunting trip with just the two of them, even if it meant letting their current prey escape.

It was at the end of one of those dates that Rotkehlchen asked, “How does marriage work for werewolves?”

“Well,” Dagny had said, flustered, “It’s rather simple. The proposal is the same as with ponies, but the ceremony is different. We don’t need fancy rings or an official to marry each other. Instead, you go on a hunt together. Traditionally, it has to be a predator, though. A manticore, or a hydra, or a chupacabra. It’s supposed to put your relationship through a real stress test. If you can work together and take down something like that, you’ll get through everything together. Then you’ll make two necklaces out of the trophies of the predator as tokens of your union.”

Rotkehlchen gave Dagny a kiss. Then she said, “I love you, and I want to make it official.” She kneeled down before Dagny, took her right paw into her hooves, looked her into her hazelnut brown eyes and asked, “Will you marry me?”

Rotkehlchen jumped backwards to escape the chupacabra’s teeth. Then she summoned her wings, leaped forward and slashed it across the face with the steel claws she wore on her front hooves, adding another row of cuts to the growing collection all over its body.

Then Dagny jumped forward herself. She bit down on its other front leg and crushed its bone, causing it to swat her away. Dagny rolled over the ground and immediately got back up again.

The chupacabra tried to limp away, but the long fight and the blood loss finally took its toll, and it just collapsed after a few meters. Rotkehlchen and Dagny walked up to it, both of them also with their fair share of injuries. Rotkehlchen reached it first and decided to put it out of its misery.

Taking such a big creature apart took a long time, but neither of them wanted anything go to waste. But the thing they were interested in the most were its fangs. They took out two of them, cleaned them, and made necklaces out of them.

Dagny put the one she made around Rotkehlchen’s neck. “You are the love of my life, you gave me a purpose when I was aimless, and as long as you want me to be on your side, in rest or on the hunt, I will be there for you.”

Then Rotkehlchen put hers on Dagny. “I might not remember my life from before I met you, but I swear that I will never forget my love for you, and as long as you want me by your side, I will be there for you.”

Eight years later, Rotkehlchen was sitting at a bar in Manehattan, waiting for Dagny. She was sipping from a wooden mug of cider. Dagny’s late again. She looked at the clock. No, I’m just early. Last job was a pushover. At least the cider is good. Would be better with a bit of blood, though.

She took another sip when a tall pegasus with an aquamarine coat took the seat beside her. She ignored him at first, but could feel him staring at her, so she turned to him and coldly asked, “What?”

“Hey, little carrot,” he said, trying to be seductive but only succeeding making her want to groan. “Can I get you something to drink?”

Rotkehlchen lifted her mug off the counter, waving it around to make the cider splash audibly, and said, “I’m good.”

“I meant something a little bit stronger than that,” he said with a grin.

Lupa, give me the strength to not rip his throat out. Rotkehlchen rolled her eyes. “If you think that you can drink me under the table, you’re wrong, colt.”

“Now, now, little thing,” he backpedaled, “I think we just had a bad start.” He offered her his hoof. “I’m Zephyr. What’s your name?”

“Uninterested,” Rotkehlchen said, drinking a big gulp of cider.

“I really don’t know why you won’t give me a chance,” Zephyr said. “I’m really a nice stallion once you get to know me.”

“If you’re such a nice stallion,” Rotkehlchen said, setting her mug down and turning to look him in the face, “then leave me alone.”

“Come on, at least give me a chance,” he said, entitled. “I’m a great mane stylist, you know? I could do wonders with your mane.”

He reached out with his wing to brush her mane away and accidentally touched her neck.

Her bite marks, to be exact.

Rotkehlchen gave off a high pitched shriek and swung her mug around, not even noticing what she was doing, hitting him in the face and throwing him off his chair.

A small trail of blood was coming out of his nose, but Rotkehlchen would have rather died of thirst than drink his blood.

He took a few breaths before saying, “What is wrong with you!?”

Rotkehlchen allowed her stare to flash up for just a moment while she said, “Fuck! Off!” But that was enough to cause Zephyr to scramble back to his hooves and run out of the bar.

A few minutes later, Dagny arrived. She noticed that something was wrong, and after Rotkehlchen had told her about what had happened, she growled and said, “If I would have been here, he would have lost a wing.”

“I know,” Rotkehlchen said, nuzzling her cheek, “you’re my big bad wolf, after all. But let’s go somewhere more private so we can talk.”

“Good idea,” Dagny said. They started to walk out of the bar. “I met one of Coloratura’s old friends today when Lun… Lulu talked to me, but I’ll have to tell you about that bit later. Anyway, this old friend turned out to be the element of honesty, Applejack.”

“Applejack…” Why do I feel like I know that name? She tried to remember it, and thought that she had almost found the memory, but wasn’t able to pin it down. I probably just read it in a newspaper or something. “That’s a nice name.”

Episode 19: Third's the Charm

It was the first time in months that Luna had gone down into the dungeon. Feeling the scabbard with her sword on her back helped her stay calm. And she wasn’t alone this time, either. She had four of her guards with her to make sure that she didn't lose control over her temper again. She took a deep breath before opening the door to White’s cell.

“Ah, the nightmare returns,” he said with a smirk.

Luna didn’t reply.

After a few moments, White’s smirk disappeared. “What do you want?”

Luna gave the guards a sign and two of them stepped in front of her, pointing silver coated spears at White. Luna used magic to put a set of restraints on White’s hooves. The chains connecting them were long enough to allow him to walk, but too short for him to run. Once they were secured, she used a spell to open his jougs. “We’re going to go for a little walk. I probably don’t have to tell you to behave yourself.”

“And where are we going?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Luna left the cell, followed by White, with the two guards at the end of the formation. Outside of the cell, the other two guards positioned themselves between Luna and White.

When she reached the door leading to the courtyard, she hesitated and looked at a nearby clock. Two more minutes…

She turned to one of the guards. “I meant to ask this earlier, but are there any problems in the barracks?”

“Um, not to my knowledge, your highness,” he said surprised, “at least no problems severe enough to trouble you with them.”

“Nonsense! If there is something, I want to know about it, no matter how minor.”

The guard looked at his comrades, unsure of what to say. Eventually, another one said, “A few of us would like to switch to day shifts for a few weeks, your highness.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is that so?”

“Don’t get me wrong, we all like working at night, but the next school year starts soon, and those of us with foals that will be enrolled in first grade would like to spend some time with them for that.”

“I see.” She looked at the clock again. It’s time. “Well, I’m sure that can be arranged.” She opened the door and stepped into the courtyard.

Celestia was already setting the sun, but its light was still shining directly at them, causing White to flinch. “Couldn’t you have waited a few more minutes?”

“Oh, sorry,” Luna said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, “I must have forgotten that your eyes aren’t used to the sun.”

While she led him to an armored carriage, she looked towards Celestia. I hope that was worth the contact lenses I had to get to not go blind from you pettiness, sister. She opened the doors in the back of the carriage. “Get in.”

White silently walked into the carriage and Luna locked the doors behind him and went to the front. “You know the route?” she asked the guards.

“Of course, your highness.”

“Then let’s go. Our train is waiting.”

Most ponies had already left the streets by this time of the day, and the few that were still out and about quickly got out of the way when the carriage came by, so they got to the train station without an incident. It was closed off for the public for the transfer that was about to happen.

The train waiting for them was long, bulky and lacked all concessions to elegance most equestrian trains possessed.

Luna immediately took a liking to its design.

A group of ponies stood in front of it, and their leader, an earth pony mare with a black mane and white coat approached Luna. When she stood in front of her, Luna noticed that, while her right eye was red, the left one had a silver colour. “Goodnight, your highness,” she said with a bow, “I’m Captain Snow from the Silver Eyes.”

“Good evening, Captain Snow,” Luna responded, “I hope the travel here wasn’t too exhausting.”

“It wasn’t, thanks to you. We were able to drive here in one go.”

While they were talking, the lunar guards opened the locks to the carriage and their vampire colleagues grabbed White and pulled him out and towards the train. When he saw Snow, his eyes widened in surprise, before narrowing again. “You worthless traitor!” He struggled to break free, but only succeeded in forcing the guards to stop. “I’ll rip your heart out and feed it to a manticore!”

Snow turned to him. “Tough words, Salty. I would be scared if you weren’t in chains.” She looked at one of the guards holding him. “Take him to the cell.”

The guard nodded and started to drag him away. Trying his best to look at Snow, he shouted, “You won’t get away with this! The others won’t betray me like you did! I will have your head on a spike!”

Snow sighed. “And silence him for Sanguis’ sake!”

One of the silver eyes put a collar on White and no more words escaped his mouth.
“Much better,” Snow said, “So, we should board as well, your highness. If you would follow me?”

Luna felt at home from the moment she stepped on the train. From the decor to the materials and the furniture, it looked just like any classical military barrack she had ever seen.

She had just sat down in her cabin when the train started to move, quietly leaving Canterlot behind and entering the tunnels through the mountains. Crystal lights illuminated the cabin. Luna narrowed her eyes. That's awfully silent for a train… Now that I think about it, did this thing even have a chimney?

Snow entered the cabin after a few minutes, sitting down on the seat across from Luna. “Thank you again for giving him to us. Dracula will really appreciate it, and so do I.”

“I take it that you have a personal relationship with him,” Luna said.

“Unfortunately, and not because I want it. But you can’t choose your grandparents.”

“He’s your grandfather?”

“Yes, he is. Salt White, head of the White family. My full name is Snow White.

“Then how did you end up in the Silver Eyes?” Luna asked with curiosity and a hint of worry.

“The short version is that my mother ran away from the family when I was really young. She fled to the noctral vampires. But… let’s just say that his threat earlier wasn’t a figure of speech.

“I’m sorry,” Luna said, “I can’t imagine how hard that must have been to go through.”

“After that, I put everything into becoming a Silver Eye. I thought about changing my name, but I want to honour my mother’s memory. And as a bonus, it hurts the White family's reputation among the other purists.”

“I’d imagine that your name didn’t make it any easier for you to be accepted by the other silvers,” Luna said.

“Yeah. In the beginning, everypony was at best suspicious. Many didn’t want to let me leave on my first mission alone, because they thought I’d return to my family and teach them the secrets of the Silver Eyes. Fortunately, Alucard, the first silver eye and our leader, gave me a chance. And the others stopped accusing me of being a spy when I came back two months later with Silk White’s head.”

That’s one way to do it, Luna thought.

The train left the tunnels, and Luna stood up. She opened a window, put her head out, and raised the moon.She turned back to Snow and was taken aback by her awestruck expression. That’s a new one… Huh, her silver eye sparkles.

Snow blinked, shook her head and said, “Sorry, I just didn’t expect to actually witness you raising the moon.”

“And I didn’t expect anypony to have a reaction like that.” She noticed a metal gauntlet on Snow’s right front hoof, with a blade running parallel to her leg fixed up to the middle of it. “What’s that?”

Snow held her hoof in front of her, happy to have something to talk about. “It’s a flickblade. Harmless like this, but if I flick my hoof the right way, like this—” she flicked her hoof outward, and the blade rotated, clicking into position in a right angle to the gauntlet “—it’s no longer that harmless. It doesn’t have as much range as your sword, but it’s still really useful up close.”

“Impressive. Unfortunately, I have to guard the dream realm now. Is there a private compartment you might lend me for a few hours?”

The next morning arrived, and Luna dragged herself into the mess, ignored the guards sitting around, grabbed the first hayburger from the counter, and took a big bite out of it while walking away.

Why does this taste metallic?

She looked at the burger and noticed the red sauce. Then it took a few seconds for her to register what she was seeing.

Then some more for her to remember where she was.

Then some more for her to put those two things together.

She sighed. Vampires… there’s blood in the sauce. She looked back at the counter. I could probably ask them to make me one without blood…

Shaking her head, she mumbled, “Too tired for that. It’s probably stoneblood, anyway…”

After a good day’s sleep, Luna returned to the mess. Only two ponies were in it. Snow, and a plum coated mare wearing a metal exoskeleton. The joints in her shoulders, hips and hooves had been removed, and bronze replacements had been put in their place. Rods giving off a faint blue glow connected each of the joints to its neighbors, with the two connecting her shoulders to her hips forming small arches. She clenched a mug between the mechanical steel claws her front legs ended in.

Luna walked up to them. “Good evening.”

The other mare didn’t look up from her mug as she said, “Good evening.”

“Good evening, your highness,” Snow said, “May I introduce you to our engineer?”

“Gladly.”

Snow nodded. She poked her colleague. “Mirror?”

Mirror blinked. “Yeah?” She looked at Snow, then noticed Luna standing by the table. “Oh. Oh! Princess Luna, I didn’t realize it was you, your highness.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re Mirror, then?”

“Yes, Mirror Shine, your highness. I’m the engineer on this train.”

“I already told her that,” Snow said.

“Oh, ok. Sorry, not really awake yet. And I don’t trust this coffee.”

“If they had blooded it, it would be redder,” Snow told her. “Just drink it already.”

Mirror sighed and took a sip. “Still tastes horrible.”

Ruby Red stood at the entrance of her hideout, a cave in the hills overlooking the train tracks leading to the Smoky Mountains. The train with her target on it came into view in the distance, a lonely light traveling through the dark forest.

A vampire walked up to her, their head respectfully lowered. “Rusty gave the signal. All is ready as you ordered, sire.”

“Excellent.” Ruby let her tongue run across her fangs.

“You invented this train?” Luna asked Mirror.

“Yeah. I mean, sure, coal works, but it’s just not as useful if you have to travel long stretches underground. it took years to create storage crystals with enough capacity to power the engines over long distances, but my team and I managed to do it.”

“Impressive. And at such a young age as well.”

Mirror scoffed. “Because old people are the driving force of innovation?”

Luna wanted to respond, but couldn’t think of a good counter argument. “Fair point. But I must still compliment you for the idea to combine science with magic like this.”

“Which is a very equestrian thing to say,” Mirror said.

“I beg your pardon?” Luna asked, confused.

“The idea that there’s something to combine there,” Mirror explained, “In the Schatten, both are the same. The study of magic is a field of science just like physics or biology.” She put her front hoof on the table. Seeing it up close, Luna realized that the glow the rods gave off came from runes engraved across their entire length. “Take my exo for example. The enchantments give it the power it needs to function, but without mechanical engineering, the joints wouldn’t work. And without magical medicine and bionics, my body wouldn’t survive, either.”

“Mirror has a lot of metal under her coat,” Snow told Luna.

“Hey! I might have tweaked a lot, but I’m still more mare than machine!”

“And by how much?” Snow asked.

“Maybe five percent or so, but still!”

Luna blinked a few times before saying, “If you don’t mind my question, what things did you replace?”

Mirror had to think for a moment. “Liver, spleen… basically the entire digestive system… and of course some chunks of the nervous system… my eyes—” a red zigzag line running around her irises appeared for a moment “—because why rely on magicvision goggles when you can turn your eyes into them… Oh right, ear drums. Some minor accident with explosives. And of course my heart. I have a literal crystal heart pumping magic-enriched blood through my veins.”

“And why?”

“Earthpony organs aren’t made for being bipedal,” Mirror said, "Anyway, this is the first train of this system used outside of the Schattenrealm. I’m still a bit nervous that they’ll mess up.”

“Don’t worry,” Snow said, “This crew is among the best in the realm. They have centuries of experience.”

“Yeah, with steam engines. I don’t want them to treat my creation like it's some outdated museum piece.”

“I still remember the time when steam was the new big thing,” Snow said, “guess I’m a museum piece as well then.”

Mirror sighed. “You are alive and can develop yourself further. Well, sorta alive, but still. A steam engine is a hunk of steel, filled with water and burning coal. There’s only so much you can do to improve a system like that.”

Snow opened her mouth to say something, but confusion appeared on her face. She turned to the ceiling. “Did you hear that?”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Luna said, trying to follow Snow’s gaze.

“Me neither.” Mirror looked out of the window. “We’re speeding up.” She stood up and walked to the door leading to the locomotive, the others following closely. She tried to open it, but it didn’t move. “What the…”

She threw herself against the door, but still couldn’t open it. “It’s locked.”

“Can you break it open?” Snow asked.

Mirror shook her head. “Not without my tools.”

Luna charged her horn. “Step aside, I’ll open it.”

“NO!” Mirror’s face went pale. “The engine is extremely sensitive! If you just blast it open, you’ll blow us all up!”

“Then let’s go the other way round,” Snow said. They walked to the other end of the cart, but before they even reached the middle, something broke through one of the windows.

A moment later, a loud, shrill noise and bright flash of light caused Luna to recoil, covering her eyes with her wings. She reached out with her magic to pull out her sword, but her attacker put a suppressor over her horn, and she lost her connection to it.

Then she felt something landing on her back. She tried bucking them off, but suddenly felt something cold on her throat. The stallion sitting on her back said, “Hold still, now will you? Would be a shame if my hoof would slip.”

Out of options, Luna relented.

“There we go.”

Luna’s vision returned. A couple of the guards with empty expressions and a weird glow in their eyes held Snow in a forcefield, and two more kept Mirror in check with their spears. Another red coated unicorn vampire Luna hadn’t seen before stood in front of them. A scar ran across her face, and one of her eyes was missing. “Ah, here we are again, Snow. I bet you thought you had seen the last of me.”

“Really, Rusty?” Snow asked. “One hundred years, and you couldn’t come up with a better line?”

“Quick-witted like always. How long do you think that will last once you are brought into my lab?” She smiled at Snow for a moment before continuing, but Luna wasn’t listening anymore.

Rusty? Oh, she’s probably Rust Red! Moondancer told me about her. Elder vampire, purist, and infamous for her experiments with ponies... And an advocate for recruiting me to their side! I can use that to my advantage! Thank Epona that I’m a better actress than Tia...

Rusty turned to Luna. “Where are my manners?” She gave Luna a quick bow. “My name is Red Rust, your highness. I was a big fan of your efforts to bring forth the eternal night. It’s a shame that we had to meet on opposite sides.”

“I wouldn’t be sure about that,” Luna said, trying to remain calm, “I heard a lot about you.”

“What an honour! The Princess of the Night has heard of me.”

“I did, yes. And I was actually hoping to run into you.”

Rusty was surprised. “You were?”

“Of course! Did you really think that I actually gave up on the eternal night?”

“What do you mean?” She took a step towards Luna. “You’ve been helping Celestia all the time since you came back. And you work together with this traitor!” She pointed at Snow.

Think of something! “That was all because of the elements,” Luna said, “They changed who I am, but my true self came back after a few years. Unfortunately, at that point, I couldn’t try to bring the eternal night again. But as a vampire, with you and your friends on my side, it would be foal’s play. We have the same goal here, you and me. We should work together.”

Rusty was taken aback by Luna’s offer, as were the others. Snow was the first to find her words again. “You illoyal piece of Hydra manure! Not only do you betray your sister, but also—”

“That’s really rich coming from you,” Luna said, turning to Snow, “Just yesterday, you bragged about the members of your own family you killed. But don’t worry, I’ll still kill Salt for daring to lay a hoof on my prey.”

“You’re just as delusional as the other purists if you think that this scheme could be successful,” Snow said, “Even if you could take down Dracula and Alucard, Shaded and Gala Frey would stop you!”

“It actually was Shaded’s plan,” Luna told Snow, “She prepared everything for an invasion of Equestria, but as long as the other two parts of Noctris are against it, we can’t do put out plan in motion. But if I become the Queen of Vampires, we could overturn Gala’s veto and finally end the tyranny of the sun forever.” She looked Mirror in the eyes, trying to read her expression.

“So it’s finally happening, huh,” Mirror said after a few moments, “I was doubting if I’d live long enough to see it.”

Rusty stepped in front of Mirror, forced to look up to stare at her, “So she’s telling the truth?

“Of course.”

Rusty grinned ear to ear. “Yes! I knew it! The others called me crazy, but I knew that you would happily join us!” She stared at the vampire on Luna’s back and said, “Get off of her!”

Luna sighed with relief once she was freed of the knife.

Rusty stepped in front of Luna, euphoria clearly in her voice when she said, “So, where do you want the bite to be, mylady?”

Luna turned her head to the side, pointing at her neck. “I’d say we should keep it classical.”

Rusty sank her teeth into Luna’s neck. The lack of pain surprised Luna, but not as much as the taste surprised Rusty. She shoved Luna away and stumbled back, her fangs covered in black blood. “What is this villan—” She couldn’t get another word out. Her throat had swelled shut, and she was gasping for air.

“Do you like it?” Luna asked, rubbing the puncture wounds. “It’s something I invented with a few friends. Vampire alchemy, zebra herbalism, and equestrian dark arts together.”

She glanced behind herself and saw that the vampire that had threatened her was another guard. She turned back to Rusty and pushed the suppressor off of her horn. It lit up and her magic surrounded the hilt of her sword.

She pulled Nightguard out of its scabbard and stabbed Rusty in the heart. The vampire’s legs began to shake, but the sword kept her upright. Luna put her hoof on her chest. She leaned down and whispered in Rusty’s ear, “The ones calling you crazy were right.” She pulled her sword out, pushing at her with her hoof.

Rusty collapsed, the glow left the guard’s eyes, and the field holding Snow disappeared. She landed gracefully and looked at the confused guards. “Well, what are you waiting for? Back off!”

They stepped back and Snow walked over to the corpse, pulled her flickblade and touched Rusty’s back with the blade. It burned her flesh immediately, but Rusty didn’t react. “Can’t ever be too sure about confirming a kill,” she mumbled. Then she turned to Luna. “Impressive performance.”

Luna rubbed her neck. “I’m sorry about what I said, but—”

“—but you had to get her to trust you,” Snow said, “Don’t worry, I get it. Mirror surprised me more, to be honest.” She turned to her. “Because Rusty’s stare is extremely strong. It should have forced you to tell the truth.”

Now Luna turned to Mirror as well. Please let there be an explanation other than Shaded actually preparing an invasion…

“Remind me again,” Mirror said, “a vampire has to look their victim in the eyes to use the stare on them, right?”

“Yes.”

Mirror pointed her claws at her eyes, the red lines glowing again. “I don’t have eyes, I have AUGEN. OpticAl Units providing Greatly Enhanced Night vision. I developed and installed them years ago after a little accident in the chemistry lab. But we can talk about this later, I have to save this train!” She ran towards the door.

Climbing the last bar of the ladder, Mirror reached the top of the train, the wind almost blowing her away. But she managed to get her claws onto the roof, causing a loud clanking noise to echo through the waggon. Good thing that I picked the magnetic ones today…

She disabled the magnets in her left claw, pulled herself forward, and turned them on again, causing another loud clank.

Don’t think about how dead you’d be if the magnets fail, she told herself, right magnet out, pulling forward, clank.

Left magnet out, pulling forward, clank.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Just keep moving…

Eventually, her claw just caught air, and she climbed down onto the connection between the mess and the locomotive. She unlocked the door to the mess, then rushed into the locomotive, finding the drivers dead.

Snow heard the door unlocking and stormed into the locomotive. She ignored the drivers and turned straight to Mirror. “How bad is it?”

“Really bad. I turned off the acceleration, but we’re still too fast and they destroyed the brake control. She’ll derail on the curve leading into the smoky mountain tunnel, crash against the mountainside, and everypony on the train will die!”

“Come on, Mirror! You have to have an idea how to stop it!”

Mirror was silent for a moment. “Maybe I could turn the locomotor into a generator. That should slow us down enough to not die, but…”

“But, what?”

“It would destroy the converter crystal,” Mirror said grimly.

Snow blinked. “That’s it?”

Mirror glared at her. “I have spent ten years growing this crystal! I won’t just sacrifice her like it’s nothing!”

“What’s more important, the crystals or our lives?!”

Mirror was silent.

“Mirror!”

“I know!” She grabbed one of her tools, disappeared into a hatch leading to the engine room. She walked to the locomotor, but hesitated for a moment. Mirror looked at the apple-sized converter crystal in its safety case connecting the motor to the storage crystals. “I’m so sorry, Kristallie,” she told her creation before doing what had to be done.

She pulled out the three storage crystals. Then she put a charger on the first one and put it back in position. Magic started to flow from the motor to the crystal, the train began to slow down, and the converter made a faint cracking noise. “What was… No! You have to focus!” Mirror yelled at herself.

She repeated the process with the next storage crystal. “Please, just a little bit longer, Kristallie,” she said as more cracks appeared as the magic flow grew stronger. “I’ll get you the best polish money can buy, just… hang in there a little bit longer!”

A tiny piece of the crystal broke off, a steady stream of magic flowing out of it. “You’re doing amazing!” she told the converter crystal, “Almost done!”

She pushed the last storage crystal into the frame. The stream of magic was now so strong that it hurt Mirror’s eyes to look at the converter crystal. More and more pieces broke off, and a few moments later, it exploded completely. The magic kept flowing, heating up the entire engine. It was glowing red hot when the train slowly rolled into the tunnel, only getting a little bit uphill before rolling back out again. Mirror opened the case, picked up the shards and put them in a small, cushioned box. Then, she climbed out of the hatch with tears in her eyes.

Snow pulled her into a hug. “You did it!”

“But at a terrible cost…”

Luna heard cries coming from the locomotive when Snow returned to the mess. “What happened?”

Snow explained what Mirror had to do to save them.

“She must have been really attached to that crystal,” Luna said, “I hope she’ll be ok.”

“I’ve seen her like that before. We just have to give her ten minutes or so. But first, I’ll make sure that White knows that his rescue mission failed.”

She opened the door to the transport cart and immediately shouted, “FUCK!”

Author's Note

This Mirror here is a different version of an original character by my friend Pip

Episode 20: Danse Macabre

Ruby hung above the rails, her tail wrapped around a tree branch. Rusty was a few trees to her right, both of them waiting for the train to pass by under them.

They had calculated everything for the attack. The different steps were timed to the second, and all preparations were completed. Ruby was confident that it would go perfectly according to plan. They would go in, Rusty would cause a little diversion, Ruby would get White out of his cell and leave, and Rusty would follow a few minutes later with a few new test subjects. Then, the train would derail and explode, destroying all evidence of their involvement and everypony would believe that it was a terrible accident.

Sure, Princess Luna’s presence was an unexpected complication, but nothing an Elder Vampire like Rusty should have any problems dealing with.

The train appeared in her line of sight, and Ruby took a deep breath.

10… 9…

She exhaled.

8… 7…

She inhaled again, concentrating on keeping her pulse down.

6… 5…

The train came ever closer. Ruby could hear the leaves rustle from the wind it created.

4… 3…

The tip of the locomotive passed underneath her.

2… 1.

She dropped down, landing perfectly on the connection between the sleeping and the storage car. Her landing would have been as hard to hear as a kitten’s footstep at the best of times, but with the wind rushing past the train, even somepony standing directly in front of her couldn’t have noticed her.

Which was quite fortunate, because there was somepony standing in front of her.

The guard, a vampiric earth pony, opened the door to the storage car and stepped through. Ruby followed him before the door could close behind him.

She whispered, “Thank you for letting me in,” causing the guard to turn around. He looked at her with a mix of shock and anger.

And he looked directly into her Stare.

The guard activated his own stare, and Ruby could feel panic rise inside her. But she didn’t back down. She knew that it was simply the effect of his terrify-stare, and at least for a few moments, that knowledge would save her. And she would only need a few more moments until her own stare would win. So she ignored how her legs trembled and how every fibre of her being started to beg her to run away, and only concentrated on keeping her stare active.

And, after moments that felt like hours, the expression in the guard’s face changed from hatred to adoration as his stare dropped.

Ruby smiled. “I’m here to free Salt White, but I fear that it’s too difficult a task for me alone. Would you be so kind as to help me? I’m sure that with such a big, strong stallion by my side, it would be no problem at all.”

“I… yes, of course I’ll help you, my lady,” the guard stammered, “It would be an honour to assist a mare as lovely as you are. Please, follow me.”

Ruby gave him a grin before gesturing him to lead the way. Another fool that couldn’t resist my seduction-stare. I was born under a lucky star, indeed.

The guard hesitated before opening the door to the prisoner transportation cart. He turned to Ruby. “There is one guard in front of White’s cell. If you want, I can take him out for you, my lady.”

“Intriguing,” Ruby said, “but I think it would be better if you would just lure him in here so I can work my magic on him. Would you do that for me?”

Putting the second guard, a pegasus this time, under her stare took even less effort than the first one, and White stepped out of his cell only a few moments after Ruby told the second guard to help her.

“You two are the best,” Ruby told the guards, causing them both to blush. The pegasus has a cute smile. She looked at the other one. The earth pony has more muscles, though. She noticed White’s eyes fixating on her, and realized that he was still wearing the silencer around his neck. “Now take off the collar,” she told the guards.

The two guards looked at each other, and then at everything in the room—the other cells, the lockers, the chests—except Ruby, who was getting impatient. “Well? Get on it!”

The guards knelt down in front of her.

“We… We can’t,” the earth pony admitted.

“The only keys are kept in the capital city,” the pegasus added.

Ruby sighed. “I suppose it can’t be helped, then.” She turned to White, lowering her head a little bit. “I apologize for the inconvenience, Count White. I’m sure that we’ll find a way to remove it once we arrive at my hideout. But first…” She turned back to the guards. “You can look up, my dears.”

Both of them looked at her.

“I will have to leave this train now, and while I would love to take both of you lovely stallions with me, I unfortunately only have a spot for one more spouse in my home.”

The guards already took a breath to sing their own praises, but Ruby lifted her right hoof just a little bit. They immediately stopped. “And I would find it equally amusing to have you fight over that privilege, but time is of the essence, so I’ll decide myself.”

She turned to the second guard. “What’s your stare?”

“Control, my love.”

“Oh, that would be really useful. And you don’t look too bad, either.” Ruby turned to the earth pony guard and gestured to him to stand up. She gently ran her hoof down his cheek, stopping at the jaw.

And then she rammed his head into the cell bars with enough force to bend them in.

The other guard looked shocked at the motionless body of his collegue, but turned away as soon as Ruby said, “Don’t look at him, loot at me. Look me in the eyes. You’re happy that that’s not you, right? You’re happy that I chose you over him, aren’t you?”

“Yes, of course I am.”

“Good! Then, let’s go.” A dark red mist gathered on Ruby’s back, condensing into batwings. Ruby walked out of the cabin door, White and the guard following her. Ruby and the Pegasus took White between them and jumped, catching the wind with their wings and landing on the tracks as the train dissappeared in the distance.

Snow rushed over to the empty cell, and to the guard still lying on the ground. She reached down and tried to take his pulse.

Luna walked up to Snow and asked, “Is he…”

“Not yet,” she replied, standing up.

Luna kneeled down and lit her horn, as she tried to use the little knowledge about medicinal magic she had to help the guard. “I’m more used to cuts and broken bones, but maybe I can help him.” A weak green aura surrounded the guard. He started to mouth words, but Luna could not understand what he was saying. Without looking away from the guard, she asked Snow, “can you understand what he’s saying?”

“I do, but it’s gibberish… wait, I think he’s saying a name…” her voice turned icy as she repeated the guard’s words, “Ruby.”

“Isn’t that Rusty’s sister?”

“Yes. Excuse me for a moment.” She turned around and headed for the locomotive, threw open the door, and grabbed the sobbing Mirror.She pulled her onto her hooves and said, “I know that you want to be alone, but I need you to pull yourself together long enough to tell me how far we traveled since the flashbang!”

Between cries, Mirror asked, “W-Why?”

“Because White is gone, I know who helped him, and I need to know that to make them pay.”

Mirror was silent for a moment, then walked to one of the crystal buttons set in the control panel and pressed it, causing it to project a small map. She typed in a few commands and then said, “Ten miles, give or take.”

“Ten miles, got it.” Snow nodded and started to walk backwards out of the locomotive while saying, “You focus on getting this thing working again if possible, while I bring back our cargo.”

“Make them suffer for what they did,” Mirror told her before the door to the locomotive closed behind Snow.

After having done everything in her power to help the guard, Luna took a deep breath and stepped away just as Snow came back.

“You saved him?” Snow asked Luna with surprise in her voice.

“I only bought him a few hours,” Luna admitted, “my training in regards to healing spells was limited to keeping fellow soldiers alive until the healers arrive.”

“Let’s hope that Mirror finds a way to get the train working again,” Snow said. She walked over to a chest, took out a wrist mounted crossbow, and attached it to the inside of her gauntlet. Then, she opened the door and jumped out of the train.

“You’re going to hunt after them?” Luna asked, following her. She didn’t even have to hear Snow’s answer. The dedication in her silver eyes already told the Princess what she was going to say.

Snow nodded. “He can’t have made it very far yet, and I will not let him get away again.”

“What makes you think that they didn’t just teleport away?”

“That wouldn’t be how they typically operate. It’s very likely that they had a hideout nearby, and that they are going back to it now.”

“I hope you won’t mind me joining the hunt, in that case,” Luna said.

A red aura started to surround Snow’s hooves. “Of course not. Just follow my lead,” she said, and started running along the rails at a speed even Rainbow Dash would have been impressed by. Not that she would ever admit that.

Finally, a real life presentation of vampiric speed. Luna opened her wings and flew after Snow, using her magic to give herself enough speed to catch up, thankful that the aura surrounding her wasn’t as flashy as it would have been for Celestia.

Ruby stood at the entrance to her hideout, looking over the forest again. She shifted her weight from one side to the other, and occasionally paced a few steps.

What am I forgetting? We drop down and enter the train. I go to the back, Rusty makes sure that the train speeds up and then causes a distraction. She leaves, the train derails, and then… then… ARGH!

She stomped on the ground.

The pegasus guard walked up to her. “What is bothering you, my love?”

“Rusty isn’t back yet. She should have been here half an hour ago.” She sighed. “It wouldn’t be unlike her to just make a detour on her way back, but something else is bothering me.”

The guard asked, “Is there anything I can do to ease your mind, my lovely lady?”

Ruby turned to him with a smile. “Actually, there is. I’ve been developing a new thralling spell I want to try out.”

Snow stopped suddenly in her tracks.

Luna had to throw herself to the right to not ram into her. She put her hooves down, sliding over the ground, desperately trying to not trip up. She came to a halt a few meters ahead and looked down. I could have sworn that my hooves caught fire.

She closed her wings and turned to Snow, who smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, your highness, I should have given you a heads up.”

“Don’t fret yourself about it,” Luna said, “but please, do tell me why we stopped.”

Snow pointed to a herd path leading off into the forest the rails ran through. “We’re more or less where the attack started. I bet that path leads to their hideout.”

“Or it could just be a normal path,” Luna said.

“Possible, but unlikely,” Snow said before slowly heading down the path. She let her eyes scan across the ground in front of her. “How much experience do you have as a tracker, if you don’t mind me asking, Your Highness?”

“Not much.” Luna followed Snow into the darkness. I wonder how many times more I’ll be following vampires into forests…

Snow nodded. She stopped, and bent down, focusing on something.

Luna lit her horn, illuminating the spot Snow was focusing on. A tripwire ran stretched across the path. “Ah,” Luna said.

Mirror looked at the remains of the converter crystal, then at the place in the engine where it belonged. “I can’t fix Kristallie… How am I supposed to get the train to work again? Magical converters don’t just grow on trees! It’s hopeless!”

She slumped down, resting her head on her claws. Tears ran down her face. “I’m useless! I couldn’t stop the attack, I couldn’t save Kristallie, and without my lab, I can’t even fix the engine!” Her claws were already drenched.

But suddenly, she thought of something. Magical converters might not grow on trees, but they do on some ponies…

She put her tool belt on and headed for the mess. Rusty was still lying in the same spot Luna had left her in.

“Hello again.” Mirror put one foot on Rusty’s face, and grabbed her horn with her right claw. She took a saw from her belt into her left one, and put the saw as close to the horn’s base as possible. “I’m going to have to borrow that for a while, but I’m sure you don’t mind.”

The teeth of the saw dug themselves into Rusty’s horn as Mirror started to move it back and forth. “Not that I would have cared either way. You forced me to kill Kristallie.”

Her claw moved the saw back and forth faster and faster. She thought about her ward waiting for her back in the Schattenrealm. “If it weren’t for Princess Luna, I would have never seen Onyx again! I wouldn’t have been able to say goodbye!”

The horn came off, and Mirror stood up. “But at least you can do something productive now.”

She put the saw back on her belt and walked back to the locomotive, but stopped and looked back again. Her left claw went to her wrench, and a wicked smile appeared on her face.

The path Luna and Snow followed, slowly but surely, guided them uphill, and had provided a few more traps. More tripwires, bear traps, and even a pitfall, but they had managed to avoid all of them.

Luna heard something rustling in the bushes to her right. Probably just an animal, she thought. She still stopped to look into the foliage, to be sure, but as soon as she stopped, Snow yelled, “Don’t stop!” and tackled her to the ground.

Luna wanted to ask what the meaning was behind Snow’s attack, but a crossbow bolt dug itself into a tree just behind where Luna’s face had been a second before, answering the question before she could even open her mouth.

“Take cover!” Snow jumped behind a bolder, Luna more than eager to follow her.

“How did you know that?!” Luna asked, lying beside Snow in the dirt.

“That noise was a trap to make you stand still. It’s a common tactic, but enough creatures still fall for it.”

Another bolt flew over their heads.

Luna tried to grab the bolt in the tree with her magic, but as soon as her telekinesis came into contact with it, she lost control, and her magic disappeared. She tried again, but the result was the same. “The bolts are anti-magical.”

A third bolt flew past them, ricocheting off a tree and disappearing into the woodworks.

Luna started to count.

“Shieldbreaker bolts,” Snow said. “The tip is made from a specific stone. Can’t remember the name right now.”

The next bolt shot through the air, scrapping the top of the bolder.

5 seconds, Luna thought.

“At least we know that we are on the right path,” Snow continued. “Too bad that we’re stuck now. Maybe if I can spot where they are…”

Snow poked her head out, but Luna pulled her back again just in time for the next bolt to almost hit her in the eye.

Luna said, “Tell me what else you know about this.”

“They normally use a special scope that can see life force,” Snow said, not bothering to thank Luna, “so invisibility spells don’t work.”

“Aren’t you undead?”

“Yeah? Necrotic life force exists as well.”

Far away, the sheer force of the paradoxical nature of what Snow said caused Twilight to wake up with a cold sweat.

“Flying away would be a bad idea as well,” Luna thought out loud.

“Only if you don’t want to be shot down like a… I forgot what,” Snow said.

Luna picked up a stone. “And I suppose this also would be a bad idea?” before teleporting it back to the railway. But as soon the magical stream left her horn, something in the opposite direction redirected it.

The stone reappeared a good bit away from them and was first trapped in a cage of bright yellow lightning and then pulverized by a crossbow bolt.

“Judging by the color, it’s a Mark IV trap, around a thousand years old. It rechargers using the magic of the teleportation spell it intercepts, so I can’t just teleport junk at it until it’s drained.”

“Exactly,” Snow said, impressed, “but how do you know all that?”

“Who do you think originally commissioned them?” A small grin stole itself on Luna’s face. Oh, irony, aren’t thou a cruel bitch.

“Do you have a plan?”

“Well, as you said, we first need to find out where they are—” another bolt hit a root next to them “—and at least we have a general idea.” Her horn began to glow and dark clouds filled the night sky.

“And how is less light going to help us?” Snow asked, confused.

“You said that they’re likely using a scope, right? Which basically is a small telescope?”

“Yeah, so wha- OH! You’ll send lightning through the clouds, and I’ll be able to see the light reflecting off the scope! Clever.”

After the next arrow lodged itself into the ground in front of them, Luna filled the sky with lightning.

“Found them,” Snow said. “Do you see the little cliff up ahead?”

Luna peeked around the boulder for a moment. “The mossy one?”

“Yes. They’re on top of it.”

70 meters… the bolts travel less than a second, Luna thought. She looked through the forest, looking for more cover, and noticed a dried out river running from a spot to her left further into the forest, past the mossy rock. I could de-age myself to fit into it, but I’d be trapped if they see me run to it…

She turned to Snow and pointed to her right. “Could you cause a distraction? I have a plan.”

“Of course, your highness.” Snow ran out of their cover, hiding behind a tree that had the misfortune of getting the next bolt sinking itself into its bark.

Luna watched Snow running from tree to tree a few more times, and then turned herself into a filly again. The weight of her sword almost caused her to topple over. She concentrated and it dissolved into shadows.

She galloped to the riverbed, not daring to look at the sniper, and leapt down into her new cover.

The sound of the wrench hitting Rusty’s body echoed through the mess. Two guards watched Mirror from the far side of the car.

“How long has she been doing that already?” one of them asked.

“Eight minutes or so,” their colleague responded, “and no signs of her slowing down.”

“Shouldn’t we stop her? It is kinda macabre, after all.”

“Go ahead, I won’t stop you. But I wouldn’t bet on her not giving you a taste of the wrench as well.”

“You know what? On second thought, I think it’s better to just let her vent.”

Luna climbed out of the riverbed, returning to her full size. She summoned her sword and had to hold back a sigh of relief when feeling it’s familiar weight on her back. She carefully made her way up to the sniper while casting a silencing spell on her hooves.

Her sword drawn and her horn charged, she approached the sniper, a hunched over stallion in a ghillie suit. His crossbow was mounted on a tripod and a lot smaller than Luna had imagined. It’s string runs back and forth multiple times over wheels on either end, how curious… Just a few more steps and it’ll be mine. I just have to be careful to not step on anything.

The sniper started to reload his crossbow and was about to shoot again, but Luna put her sword to his neck and said, “Pull the trigger and I’ll take your head.”

The sniper immediately swirled around while dodging under Luna’s blade and tried to shoot her, but Luna fired a blast of magic at him that catapulted him off the cliff. Luna stepped forward to look after him, ready to fly after him in case if he tried to run away, but Snow was already running towards him, the silver of her drawn flickblade shining in the moonlight.

Seeing that Snow was taking care of the sniper, Luna walked up to the crossbow and stored it in her dreamscape.

After she was done, Snow climbed up to Luna, and they continued walking uphill.

“I can see a cave up ahead,” Snow said, crouching down. “I bet that there’s a hideout in there. But I think it would be better if you would wait here, your highness.”

“I appreciate your concern,” Luna said, “but I assure you that I can handle myself.”

Snow shook her head. “It’s not that. It’s… err… your mane.”

“What about it?”

“It’s not really stealthy, and it would be better to not draw unnecessary attention. We don’t know what we’ll find in there.”

“I didn’t think of that, if I’m to be honest,” Luna admitted. “Just give me a moment.” She concentrated, and her flowy mane dissolved, leaving only a short, dark blue mane with an undercut on the left side. Her physique grew leaner and more cat-like. As she finished her transformation, the moon in her cutie mark turned black. “I hope that nopony will spend a sleepless night over this.”

Snow looked at her with confusion, so Luna explained, “Every time I use this ability, it creates a lunar eclipse. I haven’t had to use this spell in ages, but during the Unification, it was a regular occurrence.”

“I think I remember stories about that, but I’m not sure. I didn’t really pay attention in history class…”

“You were taught Equestria’s history?”

“Of course. We’re supposed to be able to blend in, after all. So it’s only natural that we should have at least a basic understanding of it. My… lack of enthusiasm for the topic even got me denied permission to operate in equestrian settlements.”

“To be honest, your lack of knowledge would have made it easier…”

“Huh?”

“I’ll explain later. Now I think we should continue the hunt.” Luna gestured to her to lead the way. “After you.”

They slowly walked up to the cave and found it to be perfectly ordinary when Luna illuminated it with her magic. It was empty and showed no sign of having been entered by anypony recently.

Luna frowned. Something isn’t right here.

Snow inspected every stone and every crack looking for hidden buttons, but couldn’t find anything. “Nothing.”

Luna concentrated more and more, her eyes turning to slits. Her horn glowed faintly, and she felt a weak pull somewhere around her.

She turned her head from one side to the other until she found the source. She walked up to it, put her hoof on the wall, and sent her magic, acting like an extention to her senses, into the stone. She found what felt like a small metal ball with countless seams running across it. As a physical object, it would have been the nightmare of anypony who already had problems with a Magic Cube. “A magical lock…”

“But I checked for those,” Snow said defensively, “There was no vampiric magic anywhere in the cave!”

“Not vampiric. It’s unicorn magic. And if you could be silent for just a moment, I could unlock it.”

She let her magic run across the sphere to get a feel for the seams. There’s a few spots where two seams cross each other… what a shoddy design. Her magic formed into needles and poked into the sphere. The magic of the sphere tried to repel Luna’s magic.

I just have to change the frequency a little bit and…. there! Luna felt the sphere clicking, and a part of the cave wall disappeared silently, revealing a staircase leading deep into the mountain. It was not high enough for Luna to fit through without having to keep her head down and wasn’t wide enough for them to walk side by side. Red crystals were set into the ceiling every few meters, giving of a faint red glow.

“It appears that our friends forgot the first rule of securing a hideout,” Luna said, amused. “Never go cheap on locks.”

But then the amusement left Luna’s face as she remembered Celestia’s and Twilight’s castles. Although at least they have locks at all…

Luna sighed. “Let’s head down. And this time, I will lead the way.” She headed down the stairs.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, your Highness?” Snow asked, following her.

“I might not have a lot of experience in the art of hunting,” Luna said while casting a silencing spell around them, “But I am very skilled in the art of infiltration.”

And I’m sick of playing second fiddle.

The stairs ended at the end of a long, wide entryway. Bright crystals illuminated the hallway, and from the middle to the end, each side had three alcoves with coffins inside.

A few meters in front of them, Ruby’s newest thrall kneeled in the middle of the hallway, looking at the floor.

“Lady Rusty, we are honored by your return. Lady Ruby will be delighted to see you. If you would please follow me—” The thrall looked up at Luna and Snow, realized that they weren’t Rusty, jumped around, and ran down the hallway, his hoofsteps echoing from the stone walls.

Snow pointed at him with her left hoof, and a small silver bolt lodged itself into his neck. The thrall’s legs gave in, and he slid over the ground, coming to a halt a few steps away from the door.

“Nice shot,” Luna said.

“Thanks,” Snow replied, “But it’s not over yet.”

The six coffins opened with a creaking noise, releasing their inhabitants, lesser vampires carrying short spears.

Snow looked at Luna. “You take the left ones, I the right ones?”

Luna grinned. “Actually, I would prefer all of them. It’s been ages since I could cut loose.”

Snow nodded and stepped back.

Luna drew her sword and opened her wings. Her magic flew out of them, forming blades out of her feathers, a dark blue fog with brilliant white lights shining from within. ‘As if the night’s sky warped itself around your wings,’ Labrys used to say.

The first vampire to reach Luna came from the left and aimed his spear at her chest. Luna brought her sword down and pushed the spear to the side. She closed the distance between them and slashed her wing across his neck.

The second came from the right, pointing his spear at her flank. Luna caught the spear with her wing and spun, allowing her sword to sink into his chest.

Luna threw the spear out of her pirouette, taking out the third vampire.

The fourth one leaped at Luna, fangs ready to bite. She moved back just enough for it to just barely miss her, and then uppercut him with both front hooves, flapping her wings to give her punches even more power.

The last two vampires were more cautious, slowly backing away.

Luna galloped towards them. She leaped over their heads with a flip, slashed them over the backs in mid air, and they collapsed as well.

She landed with a pirouette, her wings held high. The magic surrounding her wings dissolved and rained down around her like glitter until she finally came to a halt, looking back at Snow.

“I hope you enjoyed the show,” she said with a bow. Her sword flew back into its scabbard.

“I certainly did,” Snow replied, “I wasn’t sure if you were fighting or dancing, to be honest.” She jokingly added, “You weren’t a dancer in your past life by any chance, were you?”

“A minstrel, and an illusionist,” Luna said, “although it seems that part of my past was forgotten as well.” She sighed. “Not that anyone would know that it was me, anyway. After becoming a princess, I was… advised to distance myself from that, including dropping my stage name.”

“And under what name were you known,” Snow asked, “if you don’t mind me asking?”

“The Great and Powerful Lula Luxia.” Although— a grin appeared on her face —after becoming an alicorn, ‘great and powerful’ was self-evident, anyway. She turned around and walked to the end of the hallway. “But now we have a Count to catch.”

She opened the door and stepped into the next room. Luna looked around, letting her eyes wander across the floor. It consisted of large tiles, and two of the mortar joints running from left to right were suspiciously lacking of mortar.

“Trapdoor.”Luna opened her wings and flew a few meters before landing and going around a corner.

Snow took a few steps back, then galloped forward and leaped across the trapdoor.

Behind the corner, the hallway ended ten meters in front of them. There were four doors, two on the right side and two on the left, one pair only a few steps in front of them, the other at the end of the hallway.

Luna inspected the door to the left while Snow walked up to the first door to the right and silently opened it. She had found the dungeon of the hideout, a square shaped room with three cells, one in front of her, one to her right and one to the left. A vampire was standing in the entrance to the cell straight ahead with their fangs bared. Two ponies, a mare and a filly cowered in the corner.

Snow concentrated her vampiric magic in her hooves, leapt onto the vampire’s back, and pushed her flickblade into their heart.

The vampire immediately collapsed under Snow’s weight.

Snow stood up and looked at the ponies, trying her best to not look threatening. “It’s ok, you’re safe now. He can’t do anything to you anymore.” It’s been ages since I had to hide my fangs…

“Th-Thank you,” the mare said, still shivering.

“Were either of you bitten?”

“Not yet, thank Celestia.”

Celestia had nothing to do with it! Snow had to bite her tongue to not say her thoughts out loud. “Look, I’m here because I’m looking for a specific vampire. White coat and mane, two red eyes, likes to shout. Did you see him?”

The mare shook her head.

Snow sighed. “Ok, listen, I can get you out of here, but I need you to wait here until I’m back, ok? It shouldn’t take too long, so you just need to stay here a little longer, and then I come and get you out. Can you do that?”

The mare nodded.

“Good. I promise that I’ll hur—”

Luna entered the room with her sword drawn and ready to fight, but lowered her weapon as soon as she saw that there was no danger.

“P-P-Princess Luna?” the mare asked shocked.

“You are correct, but how do you recognize me in my current form?”

“Only one pony in Equestria has the Moon Mark. Everypony knows that, your Highness,” she said, bowing down, the filly following her example.

“There’s no need for bowing in a situation like this. I normally would ask you what ill twist of fate brought you into this predicament, but I’m afraid that will have to wait.”

“I understand,” the mare said, looking up. “Your companion already told us that we have to wait here.”

Luna nodded, then turned to Snow. “Let’s go, then.”

Luna’s ears twitched when she and Snow reached the far end of the hallway. “Is it just me, or is somepony shouting?”

“There is,” Snow said coldly, “and I’d recognize that voice anywhere.” She turned to the door left of them and walked through. A big cave opened to her left, but the voice came from in front of her, so she climbed down the flight of stairs leading down towards her target.

Luna walked to the stairs but hesitated before descending. She couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, and looked into the cave, but couldn’t see anything, so decided to follow Snow.

Ruby hid behind the corner. How did they get in here?!

She felt panic rise inside her and tried to find an explanation to calm herself down. They must have escaped Rusty and then they found one of the secret entrances into here. I didn’t see any wounds on them, so they didn’t get noticed yet.

A plan started to form in her head. She waited until Luna and Snow were far enough away, then headed towards the main entrance. She was sure that she could still turn the situation around. She would awaken her strongest servants from their coffins, then seal off all ways out of the hideout and…

And then she found their bodies. The best of her creations, carefully created and trained over decades, all gone.

Ruby’s eyes widened for a moment, but then she took a deep breath. Well, it seems that I underestimated them. If the six couldn’t stop them, then nothing in here can.

She stepped over the lesser vampires and up the stairs leading to the surface.

Ruby didn’t bother raising an alarm or trying to evacuate any of her servants. She could just create new ones later, anyway, and without looking back, disappeared into the forest.

Snow peeked through the keyhole to the room White’s angry voice was coming from. “There’s only one other vampire inside there with him. Probably the one who took off his collar. I count to three, you throw the door open and the servant gets a bolt in the eye. Can you get Salt? Alive, preferably. There’s something special prepared for him in the capital.”

“I think I have the perfect thing to get him to follow us back and to get him to stop shouting.” Luna charged her horn. “Ready when you are.”

“One… Two… Three!”

Luna kicked the door open, causing White to shut up and glare at her. He tried to stare Luna, but his eyes started to glow deep blue instead. All emotions left his face, leaving behind a blank expression.

The servant’s body collapsed and Snow put her hoof on the ground again. She looked at White, then at Luna, and then back at White. She stepped in front of him and waved her hoof in front of his face, but he didn’t react.

“Mind control?” she asked, surprised. “You managed to cast a mind control spell on a vampire that’s more than a thousand years old? That should be impossible. Or at least not that easy.”

“Oh, if you know the right work arounds…” Luna said with a grin. “I’ll gladly explain how it works when we’re back at the train.”

“Right, let’s head back. Not that I wouldn’t love to bring back Ruby’s head as well, but who knows what other dangers lie deeper, and we already got the spineless piece of straw we came for.”

Back on the surface, Luna picked up a stone and teleported it to the rails.

“Good, no traps here.” Luna turned to the others. “Alright, everypony, gather around!”

White was already standing next to Luna, and Snow with her flickblade ready next to him. The ponies they freed looked at each other and, slowly and anxiously, walked to Luna’s side, paying attention to not look at either White or Snow. Luna charged her horn and teleported all of them back to the mess of the train.

Snow didn’t lose any time and turned to the guards standing at the entrance of the car. “You two, bring the prisoner back to his cell! And make sure he stays in it this time. Weld his chains to the walls if you have to!”

The guards nodded, put a new set of shackles on White, and tried to pull him to the cells, but he didn’t move, his eyes still glowing blue.

Luna said, “Right, sorry. White, go with them.” And as soon as she finished, White started to cooperate and the guards left the car with him in tow.

The lights in the car turned on again, and Mirror entered the car. “Ok, the engine is working again, but my fix will probably not work for long, so if they don’t come back soon, we’ll have to—” she noticed Luna and Snow — “Ah, good, you’re back. As I was saying, the fix won’t last long, so we—”

The filly screamed and buried her face in her mother’s coat. Snow and Luna turned to them, and looked at what had scared her so much, discovering Rusty’s damaged body.

“What happened to her?” Snow asked.

Mirror turned to Snow. “The repeated application of a blunt instrument at high velocity.”

“And where is her horn?” The image of having her own horn removed sent shivers down Luna’s spine.

“Well… I had to saw it off. As I was trying to say twice already, I managed to use her horn as a make-shift converter, but I doubt that it will last long.”

Luna didn’t want to believe it. “You what?!”

“Well excuse me, Princess, but I was supposed to get this train moving, and that’s exactly what I did. If you don’t like how I did it, you are cordially invited to walk the rest of the way.”

Luna didn’t respond.

“Thought so.” She looked at the filly and her mother. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

The mother just stared at her, but the filly seemed fascinated by her augmentations. “You’re a cyborg! Like Iron Mare!”

“I am!”

“Cool!”

Mirror looked at the filly, then at her mother, and the gears inside her head started to turn. “Hey, would you and your mom like to see the locomotive?”

The filly turned to her mother. “Can we? Please?”

“I’m not… not sure if that’s a good idea,” she said, still wary of Mirror.

“It’s ok,” Luna told her, “Mirror is the on board engineer, you can trust her.” She leaned down to whisper into her ear, “and it’s the only place on this train without vampires.”

“Thank you,” the mother responded. Then she turned to her daughter. “Okay, if you want to, we can go with her.”

“Yay!” The filly bounced while going to the locomotive with Mirror. The mother, still nervous because of the vampires in the room, was happy to follow. Before closing the door, Mirror turned around and looked at Snow.

“I do not want anypony to enter my locomotive until we arrive at the capital,” she said before throwing the door shut. A moment later, locks of the door were engaged.

Luna took a deep breath and turned back into her normal form. Her flowy mane returned, and the full moon illuminated the night once more.

“Really?” Snow asked annoyed. “‘The only place on the train without vampires’. Really? Was that really necessary?”

“You heard it?” Luna asked, embarrassed.

“Super-hearing, remember?”

“It seems like I did. But we just rescued them from a purist hideout. I think you’ll be able to forgive her for not wanting to be around vampires for a while.”

Snow sighed. “Yeah, you’re right, Princess. But it still stings.” She walked over to the counters, picked up a hayburger and sat down at a table with her back to Rusty. “That was more than enough excitement for one night, wouldn’t you say?”

“It was entertaining, yes,” Luna said, taking the seat opposite of Snow. She rubbed her neck where Rusty had bitten her. It still stings…

“Heh, that’s not the word I would have thought of.” Snow took a bite. “I’ll make sure that a group of Silver Eyes takes out the hideout once we reach Pfahling. It’s troubling that they were able to establish one so close to the capital, anyway.”

“If anypony will be left at that point.” Luna looked out of the window and noticed that the train was moving. I didn’t even hear it starting. It really is a marvel of magic.

“Yeah,” Snow admitted with a full mouth, “They’ll probably all be gone, but hey, loyalty isn’t really their strong suit, so we might find a few of them still lying in their coffins. And now—” she swallowed the last mouthful of her burger “—I think you owe me an explanation.”

“Right, the spell.” Luna leaned back, preparing to tell the story of how she learned it. “You know Sombra, right?”

Snow nodded. “Tragic story.”

“After Celestia and I defeated him, I studied his magic, especially his mind control spell, and it was truly fascinating, because it wasn’t just one spell!” Luna’s voice was full of adoration. “It’s made up of two different components. One spell puts the victim into a vision showing them their worst fear, but that’s only in order to occupy their mind. The second component then controls the body. I have never seen a spell that’s built like that before, or ever since. He was a villain, but his abilities as a spellwright far exceeded Starswirl.”

“So, what are you showing White?” Snow asked with a smirk

“Nothing, if I’m to be honest. I changed the spell. Because it’s made up of two basically independent components, I was able to swap out the first one. Instead of nightmare-ish visions, he’s in a dreamless sleep right now. And it’s a very low cost spell, all things considered, so I don’t even notice the amount of magic needed to keep it up.”

Just as Luna had finished her explanation, the train entered the tunnel leading up to vampire capital, blocking out the night sky.

Author's Note

Terribly sorry for the long wait, there were a couple adjustments I had to do in my personal life.

Anyway, if you liked the episode, please leave a comment, would help a lot with motivation.

Episode 3: Cure

Canterlot, Sunrise

It was supposed to be a normal day for Moondancer. Spending time with her friends, studying in the library, something like that. She was gathering everything she needed for the day when there was a knock on the door. She went to see who was bothering her that early in the morning. To her surprise, it was Pinkie Pie, so she opened the door. “Good Morning, Pinkie Pie.”

“Good Morning, Moondancer! Can I come in for a moment?”

“Sure, I can spare some minutes,” Moondancer let Pinkie in and closed the door behind her, “So, what’s up?”

“Do you happen to know something about treating vampire bites?”

That question threw Moondancer off for a moment. “Depends on the kind of vampire you’re talking about. Different authors include different methods. Do you want to know how it’s done in a specific story, or just in general?”

Pinkie shook her head and unusually seriously said, “I’m not talking about stories. I meant, have you ever read about a real treatment?”

“You mean, for real vampires? In our world? Why would you need something like that? Vampires are just a myth, aren’t they?”

“You must promise me to never tell anypony what I’m about to tell you, ok?”

“I promise,” Moondancer said nervously. “I won’t tell a single soul. So, would you please tell already?”

Pinkie Pie took a deep breath. “A vampire has broken into the Castle and bitten Princess Celestia and if we don’t find a cure in the next two days she will turn into a vampire and we can’t just tell anypony what’s going on since that could cause panic and now Twilight fills in for Celestia while the others try to find a cure. And since we know each other Twilight thought it might help if I ask you.”

“You’re serious about that?”

“I am!”

“Wow, that really is a problem… Why did Twilight think that I might be able to help?”

“I dunno. Maybe because you read as much as she does? I didn’t ask. So, can you help?”

Moondancer had to think about it for a moment. “I think I actually remember reading something about that. In an old alchemy book.”

“You did? Great! So, where is it?”

“Somewhere in here. I just need to get it,” said Moondancer. There goes my normal day. “Here it is.” She went through the pages until she found the right page. “‘Potion in case of vampire bite’. The recipe isn’t complicated. I should have the ingredients here.”

“Perfect—” Pinkie bounced around her “—we can save the Princess!”

“Maybe. I can’t say if that potion will actually work. And it will take me a while to brew it. So it would be better if the others still try to find something else. Would be a tragedy if my potion fails and there’s too little time left to try anything else. We shouldn’t put all our trust into one alchemy book.”

Pinkie stopped bouncing. “I guess you’re right.”

“Where are the others?”

“Searching the library. Why?”

“Can you go help the others? I will brew the potion and meet you there, but I need silence when I do it. The amounts the different ingredients need to be very specific. It will take me a few hours, but I should be able to make it before noon.”

Pinkie agreed to Moondancer’s suggestion and left. As soon as Pinkie was out of sight, Moondancer locked the door and closed the curtains. Her friends would know that she had something important to do. She had become a better friend, but still was often so absorbed into a new thing she learned that she couldn’t take the time to meet with them. Rarely, but it still happened.

But this was a really complicated situation now. A vampire attacked the Princess, she thought. If the word about that spreads, ponies will be paranoid. What if they start hunting vampires? Pinkie didn’t seem to find it suspicious that I just so happen to know the recipe for the potion, which is good, but the others mind find it odd.

It could also be a chance. No use hiding our existence if everypony knows we are real. But given the circumstances, now could be the worst time to reveal ourselves. I have to warn the others to be extremely careful.

Luna was starting to get really annoyed. She paced around the room. “I can’t believe it, Tia! You were attacked, bitten by a vampire, and you still work? Didn’t the doctor order you to rest?”

“I’m resting,” Celestia replied.

“You’re doing paperwork! You should lie in a bed!”

“The same can be said about you. You’re using magic to keep going right now. Don’t you remember how dangerous that is?”

“I can live with a headache.”

“And I can handle some paperwork.”

Luna sighed.

Celestia continued, “and Twilight covers for my public duties really well, which is a relief.”

“I would say she manages it better than I did—” Luna chuckled “—but that’s hardly a surprise.”

“You never were the type for that kind of thing. But anyway, I’m sure this will all be over soon. They will find out how to cure me, if it’s even necessary. Who knows, maybe White lied and he’s only a maniac with pointy teeth.”

“Always the optimist, aren’t you? Some things never change, it seems.” Luna stopped pacing and came closer to her sister, looking at the documents on the desk. “What are you writing anyway?”

“Orders, diplomatic letters… Some rumors are already spreading, ponies are worried. I will give an official statement when this—” Tia waved with her bandaged hoof “—is taken care of. For now, I can only tell everypony that there is no reason to be afraid.”

“And what if there is? When he isn’t lying and we don’t find a cure?”

“Then we will figure something out. We’ve dealt with worse. If Sombra or Discord or Tirek can’t take us down, then a lonely vampire won’t be our demise either.”

“I hope you’re right.” Luna went to look out a window. There were some white clouds in the sky, so it wasn’t too bright outside, despite the fact that the sun had almost reached its highest point. But nopony seemed to bother, and Canterlot was as busy as always, with ponies entering and leaving the library, populating the marketplaces, arriving or leaving the trainstation, and generally taking care of their normal business.

“It’s a shame that Nightmare Night isn’t celebrated in Canterlot. It is quite amusing, despite it’s fixation on my… unpleasant side. Amusement is something this city could badly use,” Luna said.

“You’re preaching to the choir here, sister. The most ‘amusing’ thing that happens here all year is the Grand Galloping Gala. Appart from Hearth's Warming, of course. Around that time, even the high society warms up a little bit… with emphasis on ‘little bit’.”

“I don’t think you could expect more than that. Everything with a rank, and the desire to let everypony know about said rank, lives here. And they would think of such things as silly.”

“They simply value other things in life more than others.” Celestia put her quill down, rubbed her eyes and said absently, “Could you close the curtains?”

“Of course.” Luna closed them with her magic. They weren’t completely blocking the sun, so the room was still bright enough to see everything, just a little bit dimmer, and without direct sunlight.

“Thanks, the sun kept hurting my eyes. Now I can concentrate again—” Celestia looked at Luna “—Why are you staring at me with that shocked expression?”

“Did you just say that you’re eyes were hurting… because of the sun?” Luna asked hesitantly.

“I… I did. That’s not normal.”

“No, definitely not!”

Celestia turned to her letters again and continued writing. She said to Luna, “It just annoyed me... I could stand it. Or just wear sunglasses. That would solve it.”

“So we now have a Princess of the Sun that can’t stand the sun… Even Discord couldn’t come up with that.” Luna sat down in frustration, holding her head with her hooves.

The sound of a teleportation spell made Luna look up. As expected, Twilight paid them yet another visit. A mare with a yellowish coat stood behind her, but Luna didn’t notice her. She said with frustration, “I hope you came to tell us something interesting this time. My dear sister just refused to be the least bit concerned!”

Twilight grinned with excitement. “Actually, I have great news! We found a possible cure!”

“I told you there was no need to worry,” Celestia said without looking up.

Luna angrily glanced at Celestia for a moment, before she addressed Twilight again. “What do you mean with ‘possible’? Did you find one or not?”

“Well, my old friend Moondancer found a recipe in an alchemy book and successfully brewed the potion, but she isn’t sure if it works. And she requested to give Celestia the potion personally to see its effects...”

“Then bring her in already!” Luna shouted

“I’m already here, Your Highness” the other visitor said with a bow.

Luna turned to her and asked, “You are Moondancer, then? And you have a solution for our problem?”

“Yes,” Moondancer answered. She levitated a light blue potion from her bag and presented it to Luna. “That should heal her, but the recipe isn’t meant for alicorns, so I’m not guaranteeing anything.”

“You’re efforts are appreciated one way or another,” Celestia said. She walked over to the others and took the potion.

Moondancer bowed before Celestia and said, “Thank you, Your Highness. You just have to drink the whole flask. But I would advise you to sit down before you do so. It could have some…side effects, but I don’t want to worry you.”

Celestia grabbed the potion with her magic and drank it. After she put the flask down, Luna asked her, “Do you feel anything, Tia?”

“No, not really. I feel the same as always. It probably just takes a while until...ouch!” Celestia groaned. She raised her right hoof a few inches of the ground. “Why didn’t I realize that the wound is so painful!”

Twilight could only look at her mentor in shock, while Luna turned to Moondancer. “What did you give my sister?”

Moondancer fearfully stepped back a few steps and said, “J… Just the healing potion. Her reaction only means that it works!”

Luna was sceptical. What healing potion causes pain? Without the royal canterlot voice, but still with a commanding tone, she asked Moondancer, “Explain yourself. Why does it prove that your potion works?”

“When a pony is bitten by a vampire and starts turning into one, that numbs the pain... The process makes it so that the victim doesn’t feel any pain… It would cause too many problems for them otherwise… At least that’s what it said in a book I found. The wound just has to heal properly, but she’s not turning into a vampire anymore.”

“Then I thank you for your help, Moondancer,” Luna said.

“I’m glad that I could help, your Highness.”

“Please, you can call us Luna.”

Finally, Twilight recovered from her shock and rushed to Celestia. “Princess Celestia, are you alright? Should I call for the doctors? Do you need help? I can just teleport and—”

Celestia waved her hoof to make Twilight calm down and said, “It’s alright, Twilight. That can wait a few minutes, and I had to deal with worse inquiries in the past. But first”—Celestia limped to Moondancer— “I want to thank you too, Moondancer. You saved my life, and for that you deserve a reward.”

“As I said, I’m just happy that I could help, Princess Celestia.”

Dusk

“Only a few more hours, then I can sleep.” Luna was talking to herself again while she waited in the tower overlooking Canterlot. The time to raise the moon and guard the ponies’ dreams was almost there. “I just hope that it will be a quiet night… I’m too tired to fight off nightmares tonight… Well, then I could just shut down the dreams. A dreamless night is better than a nightmare, I guess.

“And thanks to Moondancer, we know have the recipe to make more vampire-cure if necessary. But I must say, it was awfully convenient that she just so happened to find it in the first book she checked…”

When the last sunlight was gone, Luna stepped on the balcony and raised the moon. Most ponies went to sleep soon, and so Canterlot went silent for the night.

Luna took a deep breath and entered the dream realm. All seemed peaceful, there were no obvious nightmares anywhere. Celestia didn’t dream at all, but that wasn’t worrisome. Tia learned how to shield herself against dreams shortly after her battle, and Luna could understand why her sister would still use it from time to time. It is the easiest way to safely avoid nightmares, after all.

Since there was nothing else to do, Luna decided to look for Moondancer’s dream. She wanted to ask her how it was possible for Moondancer to just find a cure. It could have been a lucky coincidence, but she wanted to have proof. And—if nothing else—Luna could show her gratitude with a nice dream.

Moondancer was asleep, but she didn’t dream, so Luna created one where the both of them were standing in the middle of the Canterlot Archives. Luna watched as Moondancer looked around her in awe. Many ponies in Canterlot would give a lot for the chance to enter the Archives, but sadly, Luna was only able to show Moondancer a reflection. Not because Moondancer wouldn’t deserve it, but because Luna simply didn’t read them. Even she couldn’t show things in dreams she didn’t know.

Eventually, Moondancer found Luna. Her enthusiasm left and she said, “Princess Luna, it’s a pleasure to see you again. But if you’re here, then that means I’m dreaming, right?”

“That is correct. I figured this location would be quite enjoyable for you. And even though it’s just a dream right now, granting you access in the wake world seems like a reasonable reward. But that’s not the reason I’m visiting you.”

“And what”—Moondancer asked—“is it then?”

“I wanted to ask if there is anything about you that I should know. It is quite the coincidence that you knew the cure, especially considering that nopony had known about the existence of vampires before the attack. I promise, if you tell me the truth, I won’t do you any harm.”

Moondancer thought about her answer for a few moments. Luna was about to lose her patience, but Moondancer said with a weak voice, “You wouldn’t believe that I was just lucky?”

“Obviously not anymore,” Luna said unamused.

Moondancer sighed, “I thought so… Well, since there is no other real option left, I might as well tell you the truth. I knew the recipe because—” Moondancer’s ears took on a bat-like appearance and her eyes became the same shade of red her mane was “— I am a vampire.”

“I will honor my promise and not harm you, so explain it to me! Why did you help us? Why do you know the cure and why did you not use it on yourself?”

“There are multiple reasons I helped your sister. I was born here and was a citizen of Canterlot my entire life, so of course I would do everything to help my princess.

“But admittedly, that was not the only reason. You see, we vampires, for the most part, don’t want to do anypony harm, let alone drink their blood like the one who attacked Celestia did. We just want to live peacefully. But if Celestia would have turned into a vampire or, even worse, would have died because of a vampire, the ponies of Equestria would let out their anger on all of us, and I couldn’t let that happen.

“The reason I know the cure is simple. Despite our best efforts, some ponies still think that we are all heartless monsters that all deserve to die. If they attack us, or we get in a dangerous situation by sheer bad luck, or we bite somepony for any reason, we can’t let them turn into vampires. On the one hoof, it would be wrong to make anypony one of us against their will. And on the other hoof, as I said, it would cause anger and fear among the ponies. So we all know how to make the cure, or where to get it if we don’t have the means of making it ourselves, for cases like that, in order to assure peace.

“And the reason I didn’t use it myself is that it doesn’t work on vampires, only on infected. And even if I could use it, I wouldn’t. I was born a vampire, I never knew another life, so how could I desire it?”

Luna was pleased with her honesty. But there was something left she still wanted to ask. “You said you were born a vampire, but Tia was becoming one because of the bite… And vampires are said to have an extremely long live, some stories go so far as to describe your kind as ageless or immortal. How old are you and how much truth is in the stories?”

“I understand the confusion. A vampire can either be born like me or is created after a pony has been bitten. And the bitten ones are indeed ageless from the moment their transformation is completed, but we born ones age normally until we’re completely grown up, and then only age really slowly. But none of us are truly immortal—we can all be killed. And I’m exactly as old as I claim to be.”

“You answered all the questions I have for now. Do you want to tell me anything else before I leave?”

“Yes. Please, don’t tell anypony what I am. I don’t want to risk losing my friends. Of course you can tell Celestia if you need to, but nopony else. Not even Twilight.” Luna attempted to answer, but Moondancer continued before she had the chance. “And I know the ponies want answers and that rumors are spreading, and that they deserve answers, but please be careful with what you tell them. I don’t want to be the cause of a new wave of hatred against my kind.”

Valentine's Episode: My Roommate is the cutest Vampire

“Tavi, how about we go out tonight?” Vinyl asked, lying on a couch, “It’s so boring to just hang around in the house all day.”

“And what do you have in mind?" Octavia asked while replacing a string on her cello.

“There’s this awesome club in Canterlot—”

“I thought you didn’t like the clubs in Canterlot,” Octavia said, “because they were too ‘stuck up.’”

“Yeah, most of them are,” Vinyl admitted, “But this one’s the exception. It's one of the best dubstep clubs in Equestria, and it’s the only one in Canterlot where being a lesbian isn’t an issue, so I was a regular for years.”

“That really seems exceptional for Canterlot.”

“Right? Anyway, it’s built in an old warehouse, so it’s far enough from all the snobs who could cause trouble. And the owner makes sure that paparazzi and photographers from gossip papers stay far enough away.”

“And who is the owner?”

“A stallion called Mephisto. I never saw him, but—"

“Mephisto? As in, Mephisto Morningstar?”

Vinyl asked surprised, “Yeah, how do you know?”

“Is the club, by any chance, called ‘Nightshade’?”

“How did you know? Did you use your vampiric powers to read my mind?” Vinyl said cheekily.

“You know I can’t do that.” Octavia put the cello away and took a sip from a chalice standing on the living room table.

Vinyl grinned. “You know how overdramatic that thing is?”

“It's just a cup, I don't know what's so dramatic about it.”

“Tavi, it has a bloodstone in it.”

“A simple magical stone put there for convenience sake.”

“It's made from gold, and decorated with rubies and sapphires,” Vinyl deadpanned.

“Is it my fault that my ancestors preferred the extravagant?”

“Wait, it's a family heirloom?”

“Well, yes,” Octavia admitted.

“That's even better!”

“Anyway," Octavia said to get the conversation back to topic, "Mephisto is also a vampire, and runs a bloodbar in the caves under Canterlot. I worked there as a cellist decades ago, but I didn’t know that he expanded his business overground.”

“You never mentioned that."

“I’m 297 years old,” Octavia reminded Vinyl, “There’s a lot I haven’t mentioned yet.”

Vinyl grinned, “But I bet I still have the best story to tell.”

“Oh, now I’m curious. What is it?”

“Around six or seven years ago, I went to the club and found a new customer there, sitting in the more secluded part of the club, being all alone. That somepony turned out to be none other than Princess Luna.

“We started talking, and she explained that she was only there because she was curious why so many ponies were awake at night, since something like that never happened back in her time, and that she found it amusing that I decided to invite her to a ‘private music session’ instead of, you know, bowing and stuff.”

Octavia couldn’t believe it. “You hit on a princess?”

“I totally did.” A huge grin stole itself on Vinyl’s face. “Successfully, I might add.”

“You want me to believe that you—what was that lovely expression that you used—composed together with Princess Luna?”

Vinyl nodded enthusiastically. "Eyup, and it wasn't just one song, either."

“No. Sorry, but no”—Octavia shook her head—“I would believe a lot, but that is too much, even for you.”

“We could go and visit the Nightshade. Maybe Luna is around to confirm my story. And you could show me the underground section.”

“I guess it would be nice to see the old club again…”

“So, what do you say?”

Octavia finished her drink. “Let’s go to the Nightshade.”

Later that night, they arrived at the club. They were on their way to the main floor.

“I’m honestly doubting that we’ll find Princess Luna in here,” Octavia said, “Even if I’d believe that she would visit an establishment like this, I’m sure that an important pony such as herself as far more important things to do than—”

They stepped into the hall, and past the silence shield placed on it. My poor ears! Octavia thought, Why must she be into the most disorienting music known to ponykind? She looked at the crowd of ponies filling the room, pressing against the stage. The DJ was a tall unicorn in a hooded cloak.

She turned her attention back to a grinning Vinyl. Why is she staring at the clock?

The clock turned midnight.

The DJ opened her dark blue wings as her coat turned into a swarm of bats. “THIS NIGHT…”

Luna rose on her back hooves. A shining image of her cutie mark, easily twice her size, appeared above her head. “SHALL LAST…”

She let her hooves crash down, summoning thunder and lightning as the bass drop. “FOREVER!”

“You were saying?” Vinyl asked, the most smug grin Octavia had ever seen on her face.

“You said she’s a guest, not the DJ!”

“She’s both!”

“And how do you suppose we ask her to confirm your story? We can’t just storm the stage!”

Vinyl looked at Luna for a moment with a glowing horn and said, “Backstage, after she finished this track! Follow me!” She began making her way through the crowd. Octavia did her best follow her without falling over, and after a lot of pushing, reached a staff only side door. Vinyl put her hoof on the lock, opened the door, and waved Octavia through. Octavia let out a sigh of relief when the door closed behind them.

“Come on, it wasn’t that loud,” Vinyl said.

“Your ears aren’t built for echolocation, Vinyl.” Octavia looked her in the eyes. “Mine are.”

“Oh… Ooooohhh, yeah.” Vinyl scratched the back of her head. “I should have thought of that. My bad. But the—” she facehoofed “—I forgot to give you a pair…”

“A pair of what?”

Instead of answering, Vinyl levitated a pair of earplugs out of her ears.

“You wore earplugs the entire time!” I almost vomited on the bloody floor!

“Yeah. I wear a pair almost every time I’m in a club. Would’ve gone deaf long ago without them. Guess it just became so second nature for me that I just… forgot. I’m really sorry, Tavi.”

“Why do you even go to clubs if you can’t even stand the loudness?”

“The wubs, of course! Just because I can’t hear the volume doesn’t mean that I can’t feel it.” They started walking down the hallway. “If the music’s good and the wubs are strong, you feel it in your entire body. There’s nothing better than standing in front of a subwoover cranked up to eleven and just letting the wubs stir your insides!”

“I prefer my insides to stay in the place they are supposed to be.” Vinyl turned around a corner and up a flight of stairs. “Where are we going?”

“Luna has a private room here, in case an emergency happens in the dream realm,” Vinyl explained, “Or if she wants to be here but still wants it quiet.”

Vinyl opened another door and went into Luna’s room. It looked like an ordinary living room, with a table, two couches, and cupboards. There was one window, a circle, except for a crescent moon shaped bit in the middle. Vinyl threw herself onto a couch. “So, now we just have to wait.”

Octavia sat down beside Vinyl, just to stand up and kneel down when Luna entered the room a few minutes later. “Your Highness.”

“Sup, Luna?” Vinyl said, waving from the couch.

“Hey, Vinyl.” She walked to the other couch and got comfortable. “And you must be Octavia, right?”

Octavia looked up and turned to Luna. “You know my name?”

Luna chuckled. She levitated a tea set onto the table. “I do, yes. After Vinyl met you at Cadence’s and Shining’s wedding, she talked about nothing else but you for weeks. It was quite cute, to be honest.”

“Did you have to tell her that?” Vinyl complained.

“So she was honest?” Octavia asked, ignoring Vinyl.

“Depends on what she told you,” Luna said.

“The first time I blew your flute,” Vinyl replied.

“How you approached me seven years ago in this club, drunk, looking for a quick bang? Yes, She told the truth.”

“Told ya!”

“You did. I’m sorry for not believing you.” Octavia took a sip of tea. A confused look appeared on her face. She turned to Luna. “Wait, that happened the first night you were back in Equestria, right?”

“It did, yes.”

“And you were still together when the wedding happened?”

“Why do you think we missed the fight?” Vinyl said grinning.

“That means you were together for two years!”

“More or less, yes,” Luna admitted.

How did they avoid being caught by photographers? Octavia wondered. “I must say, it’s surprising to learn that you are into mares, Princess Luna.”

Luna sighed deeply. “Really? Did you never hear of Labrys?”

“Of course I did,” Octavia said, “She was a legendary earth pony from the time of Old Equestria, her strength rivaling Rockhoof’s. But historians are in agreement that you two were merely good friends.”

“Of course they do—” Luna rolled her eyes “—because good friends commonly share deep, passionate kisses, or proclaim that they’d rather die together than live forever without the other. From all the things that could have stayed the same over the one thousand I was banished to the moon, why did straightwashing have to be one.”

“I wish I knew,” Octavia said, “It’s one of the more irritating thing ponies do.”

“Oh, vampires don’t do that?” Luna asked curiously.

“Not really. Nopony really cares about that. If they care about something, its purity of blood. What gender the body containing said blood has is more or less irrelevant.” Octavia looked at Vinyl. “Needless to say, my parents wouldn’t be very happy about my choices, either way.”

“Fuck em,” Vinyl said, giving Octavia a kiss, “You’re an awesome mare, and I’ll buck the teeth of everypony in who says otherwise.”

“I love you too, Vinyl,” Octavia said, hugging Vinyl tightly.

“I wouldn’t mind leaving you two alone,” Luna offered, “in case you want to compose a little bit.”

“Or the three of us could compose as a trio,” Vinyl said.

“Maybe another time,” Octavia said. She turned back to Luna. “If you don’t mind me asking, why do you have a room here?”

“It’s just… calming here.” Luna stood up and walked to the window. “Seeing my little ponies enjoying the night helps me keep my jealousy in check. It doesn’t make it go away completely, but it helps.”

“Oh, I… I understand.”

After a while, Luna returned to the stage, and Vinyl and Octavia decided to go to the bar. Octavia was about to complain about the lack of wines, but then looked closer at the barkeeper. “Sans? Is that you?”

“How do you know my… Melody?”

“It really is you! You’re still working for Mephisto?”

“You know me, as long as he pays, I’ll stay. What brings you here?”

“Her worse half,” Vinyl said, appearing by Octavia’s side.

“Would you look at that, Tavi got a pet!”

“Pet?” Vinyl asked confused.

“Girlfriend. She’s my girlfriend,” Octavia clarified, “Not my pet.”

“I see,” the barkeeper said, “Well, then this isn’t the right place for you two. Dubstep just isn’t romantic, don’t you think?”

“Oh, definitely not. I guess you can bring us downstairs?”

“You’ll find a passage in the warehouse across the street.”

Octavia led Vinyl to the original Nightshade, an underground jazz club and bloodbar. A small ensemble provided a calm background music, and darkwood tables lit by candles filled the space used as a dance floor in the overground club.

The two sat down at table in a corner. “It’s still the same as it was back then,” Octavia said.

“I guess it’s not too bad.” Vinyl looked for familiar faces among the guests, but it was too dark recognize anypony’s faces. She turned back to Octavia. “The candle flatters your eyes. I could look at them for hours.”

“Aw, Vinyl, you really can be quite romantic if you just—”

“Melody! You’re back!” a very young voice exclaimed.

“I’m kinda busy right now, Mephisto,” Octavia said with a sigh.

Vinyl looked down to the pale colt standing by their table. “That’s Mephisto?”

“The one and only, Miss Scratch,” Mephisto said.

“You seem pretty young for a nightclub owner.”

“I was bitten as a colt.” He turned his head, showing the bite scars on his neck. “Three hundred years ago. Vampirism tends to keep one remarkably... fresh, as my sister likes to say.”

“So there’s a centuries old filly running around somewhere as well?”

“Yeah, Babette, but she doesn't live here. Last I heard, she was on her way to Himmelsrand. But I should go before Melody rips my head off.”

Vinyl looked at Octavia. Her eyes glowed, her fangs were out, her ears fluffy. My girlfriend is the cutest bat in all of Equestria, Vinyl thought.

“Good call,” Octavia said.

“I’ll tell the server to bring you some wine,” Mephisto said, “Your favorite is still point noir, right, Melody?”

“Yes. Unblooded, please.”

Mephisto nodded and left.

Octavia turned to Vinyl, her eyes turning back to their normal colour. “Sorry about that.”

“Eh, I had worse experiences in clubs.” A waiter came and brought them two glasses of wine. Vinyl picked one up with her magic. “Happy hearts and hooves day, Tavi.”

Author's Note

I know that some of you are waiting for Rarity to give Spectre the dress, and I promise that it will happen in the not too far future, but Flu- and Finals-season hit me really hard, so it will take a little bit longer

Episode 16: Shared Pain

The circle of fire grew again, and Twilight stopped screaming as soon as she was no longer engulfed in flames. She had lost count of how often she had gone through being burned alive, or how long she was burned this time.

“So,” Daybreaker said from the entrance of the town hall, “did you reconsider your answer?”

Twilight collected her thoughts. I can’t let this happen to the others! And I can’t beat her. There’s only one way to save them… “Yes.” She looked at Daybreaker. “If you promise to spare my friends from this, I will pledge to serve you.”

“Wonderful!” Daybreaker clapped her hooves and laughed gleefully. “You know what to do, just finish the spell! And don’t worry, you won’t even think about turning back, or as seeing it as betraying your friends.”

Twilight looked down on the book, all the letters still burning except for those in the last paragraph.

“My heart and soul I'll open now.”

The next line caught fire.

“So before evil I shall never bow.”

The fire closed in on Twilight again, but this time, it wasn’t painful. The flames, they… they feel… good…

“Armed with the power of your radiant light…”

The moment of truth. I’ll sell my soul to save my friends. But it’s not like I’d have a choice. Nothing can stop her…

Daybreaker’s patience was nearing its end. “Hurry up!”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Twilight said. Why did I call her… But it’s fitting. Just one more line, and I’ll truly be her servant, anyway. She took a deep breath, expecting the heat to fill her lungs and burn away her last doubts, but the air was ice cold. She tried to say something, ask what was happening, but the words froze in her throat. The fire around her turned blue and colder than anything Twilight had ever felt before.

“NO!” Daybreaker yelled. She jumped down the stairs of the city hall, standing in front of Twilight, and looking every which way. “What do you think you will accomplish with this? Do you think saving her will change anything? That it will make a difference? I will get out! All you did was buy this rotten world another year, at best!”

She waited for a response, but didn’t get one. “Show yourself! I know you’re here! Do you really think I would believe that she is strong enough to resist me? Just end this charade!”

A stream of blue fire from somewhere behind Twilight hit Daybreaker in the chest and threw her off her hooves.

Shaded appeared in front of her. “Here I am,” she said with cold rage.

Daybreaker attacked her with her firebreath, but Shaded just deflected it with her wings. “Do you really think you could hurt me?” She summoned her scythe. “You’re just a tiny fragment of the real Daybreaker. You can’t hope to defeat me while your true self is still locked away.”

“But soon, I’ll be completely free, and then it will be over for you! You just got lucky last time we fought each other, Si—”

Shaded swung her scythe at Daybreaker before she could finish her sentence. When the blade touched her hide, it didn’t cut through it. Daybreaker just dissolved, and the blade absorbed her essence. After she was gone, the fires consuming Ponyville died down, the clouds of smoke cleared up, and the book disappeared.

Shaded turned to Twilight. As soon as Shaded undid her ice spell, Twilight collapsed, shaking and sobbing. Shaded walked up to her, and gently lifted her face to look her in the eyes. “Twilight,” she said with warmth in her voice, “I’m sorry that I wasn’t here sooner. This is something you should have never had to experience. If you want, I can take it from you. You just have to nod, and the pain will be gone.”

Twilight nodded, and Shaded charged her horn, collecting her magic in a small sphere at the end. A string came out of the sphere, connecting to Twilight’s horn, her breathing calmed down more and more the longer the two were connected, until Shaded eventually cut the string. She offered Twilight a hoof to help her up, which Twilight gladly took.

“Incredible,” she said, “I can remember that it happened, but the pain, the trauma… it's gone. You just made it disappear.”

“Sadly, no—” Shaded shook her head “—Even I can’t make something like that just disappear, just like Starlight couldn’t just hex away her anger.”

“So, how—” Her eyes widened. “You transferred it to yourself, didn’t you?”

“I did. It was the only way to help you. Things like this… they are going to leave lasting scars, and I’d much rather have those scars myself than have you suffer from them.”

“How are you still so calm?”

“I’ve been through worse… But now I suggest we return to the waking world.”

Twilight opened her eyes, and found herself lying on the floor of her bedroom in the middle of a purple rune circle.

“A containment seal,” Shaded explained, standing in front of her, “In case the fragment of Daybreaker had tried to make a run for it like the last one.”

“I thought Celestia forced the last one out of Starlight’s dream?”

“What she did was more like catapulting Daybreaker out. Daybreaker felt me approaching, used it to get away. And afterwards, I had to hunt her for weeks through the dreams of everypony in Equestria.”

Twilight looked over to her bed. “Where’s Derpy?”

“Waiting outside, same with Dinky, Starlight, and Spike. I woke them up when I noticed that something was going wrong in your dream, so that Daybreaker couldn’t just jump over to them while I set up the runes. I did the same for the other elements, and I sent a message to Luna to come as well, in case something goes wrong.”

“Makes sense.” Twilight tried to step out of the seal, but was stopped by its forcefield. “So… could you please undo the seal?”

Shaded hesitated a moment. “There’s something else I want to address before I do. Daybreaker lied when she said the seal broke again. While it’s true that she’s building up more power, we were able to reinforce it enough to prevent that for a while, although I’m sure you’ll understand that I don’t see that as a reason to relax just yet. But she didn’t lie about having placed the seeds for this years ago. I wasn’t sure until now, but now its certain. A tiny piece of her magic is embedded in you.

“I can place a spell on you that would prevent it from affecting you again. It’s a dark magical rune I would have to place in your left eye. Now, I know Equestria’s stance on dark magic, and that you had some bad encounters with it in the past, but I want to assure you that—”

“I know,” Twilight said, “It’s not as bad as its made out to be, and with enough caution, it wouldn’t negatively affect me, right?

Shaded was taken aback by that. “Yes, but I’m surprised that you’re so accepting of the idea.”

“Look,” Twilight said, “I used dark magic myself in the past. Celestia even taught me a bit. And I spent months sorting and organizing the library of Castle Everfree, and there were a lot of books about the dark magic in there.”

A small smile stole itself on Shaded’s face. “And you read them?”

“Curiosity got the better of me, yes. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that using it can be extremely dangerous, but just learning about it can’t do any harm, right? It’s just magic, after all. So, will the rune be very noticable?”

“Only if you use magic, then it will glow depending on how much you use. But otherwise, it will be only visible if somepony gets extremely close to you, and even then just barely. And you really trust me enough to let me cast a spell on you?”

“Of course.”

Shaded nodded, charged her horn and stepped forward. “I’ll have to place my hoof over your eye. It will sting a little bit, but it is important that you stay absolutely still while I cast the spell.”

Twilight took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

Shaded raised her hoof, purple mist gathering around it. Twilight’s body tensed up when the magic flowed into her eye, but managed to stay still, even when the door was kicked open by Celestia.

“Get away from her!” she shouted. When Shaded ignored her, Celestia shoved her away.

Shaded stumbled back a few steps before saying, “We really have to stop meeting like this.”

Celestia charged her horn. “What are you doing to her?”

Before Shaded could answer, Luna walked into the room.

“Would you stop threatening her?” she asked annoyed, “You promised to give her a chance, remember?”

“I didn’t immediately blast her away for trapping Twilight. That’s her chance,” Celestia said to Luna. Then she turned back to Shaded. “Now tell me what you did to her! And I swear to Epona, if you harmed her, so help me—”

“Princess Celestia, I’m okay” —Twilight rubbed her eye— “Thanks to Shaded. Without her, Daybreaker would have gotten me.”

“And the dark magic she used on you?”

“Just a seal to prevent another incident like that,” Shaded said. She lit her horn, and the rune circle around Twilight disappeared. “And fortunately, I finished it before you so rudely interrupted me. Aborting a spell like this in the middle of casting it can have dire consequences.”

Celestia didn’t shift her gaze from Shaded when she said, “Luna, could you take a look at it? Dark magic was always more your thing.”

Luna sighed. “Sure, Sister.” She walked up to Twilight, gestruting her to show it to her. “It’s hard to see…”

Right, she said it’s not going to be clearly visible, except when I use magic, Twilight thought. She charged her horn, causing the rune to glow.

“Thanks,” Luna said, “Let’s see… three crescent moons connected to a circle with their backs, with a triangle formed between the points where the moons touch the circle… relatively bright for dark magic… It doesn’t look like any curse mark I know, and I can’t feel any malice in it.” Luna stepped back and looked at Celestia.

“Could you now please stop preparing to kill me already?” Shaded asked, “Twilight went through enough tonight already. There’s no need to add witnessing a murder to the list.”

“Fine,” Celestia scoffed. She dropped the charge in her horn. “I guess fearing to lose my student to you just like I had already lost Luna in the past made me overreact, but it's not like you could ever understand the pain from having to banish your sister to the moon for one thousand years.”

“Tia,” Luna said, trying to calm her down, “I know its hard for you, but please try to—”

“Excuse me?!” All three princesses turned to Shaded. Her eyes turned a slightly darker colour. “What do I not understand? The pain of banishing one’s sister?” She walked towards Celestia, who in turn stepped back. “Oh, what a difficult decision that must have been for you. So difficult that it took you a whole two minutes to make it! You didn’t even try anything else! No wonder the elements lost their power afterwards. You betrayed everything they stand for! And then, instead of, oh, I don’t know, mourning her or admitting that you failed, you made a national holiday out of our defeat! You think you lost Luna to my influence back then? I saved her when you didn’t care about her! She spent years ignored by everypony, even by you, who was supposed to be there for her, to the point where she was so eaten up by jealousy and hatred and guilt for feeling that way, that she tried to erase her emotions altogether with a black crystal when I found her!

“But I could have seen past all of that for the sake of diplomacy, but I will not stand for you saying that I don’t know anything about your pain. Because guess what, I may be the only one in the entire world who can understand that.” Shaded had forced Celestia so far back that she was now cowering before the wall, Shaded looking down on her. “You think the pain and guilt of banishing your sister for one thousand years is bad? Try having to kill your own sister, then we can talk about guilt!”

Nopony said a word, all paralyzed from shock.

After a few moments, Shaded silently counted to ten before taking a step back. “I suppose it is time to tell you all the whole story about Daybreaker. I'll be waiting in the library. If you think the other Elements should hear it too, bring them along. It’s not a story I’m going to repeat anytime soon.”

After the Elements, Starlight, Celestia and Luna had arrived, Shaded asked, “Would that be everypony, or do we have to wait for somepony else?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, we’re all here.”

“Good.” Shaded took a deep breath. “So, I’ll address the biggest thing first. Yes, Daybreaker was my sister.”

“What do yer mean, ‘was’?” Applejack asked.

Shaded sighed. “My sister Aurora Star and I were on a mission. That was back when I was a mercenary in the service of our king, Saminus. We had to protect a small group of merchants on their travels through the borderlands of our realm, Umbracala. It was supposed to be an easy assignment, with both of us thinking that our talents were wasted out there, and we only took the job because of the pay.

“But we were wrong. On our way back, two days away from the capitol, we discovered that a new cult of solar and fire mages calling themselves ‘Sunpriests’ had settled in the area. We were ambushed by a few of them. We defeated them, but they had called in reinforcements, and it was clear that we wouldn’t be able to get to the nearest fortress before being caught, so Star stayed back to buy us enough time to escape. We had sworn an oath to put our mission before anything else, and she was set on keeping it. Thanks to her, the merchants and I reached the fortress an hour later.”

Shaded paused for a moment that Rainbow used to ask a question. “So you went back and tried to save her, right?”

“I wanted to, of course. But my sense of duty told me to first finish my mission, so even after we were back in safe territory, I escorted the merchants back to the capitol. I asked Saminus to be allowed to take my unit and go back to search for her, either to rescue her or, more likely, to at least recover her corpse for a proper burial, but he denied my request. So I deserted and went back for her by myself.”

“Tracking their base down didn’t take as long as I had feared, but I was too late. The Sunpriests had ripped her souls apart, and stitched them back together with a Firio, turning her into the monster we know as Daybreaker, just before I had found her.”

Shaded gave everything a moment to settle in. The only sound she could hear was Pinkie’s mane deflating.

“You—” Celestia hesitated for a moment before asking “—you killed her that day, right?”

“No, I was unprepared and barely got out of there alive. Afterwards, with their new monster, the Sunpriests attacked more and more viciously, not just in Umbracala, but also in the realms of the vampires and werewolves. In reaction, the three nocturnal tribes reacted similarly to the three pony tribes during the Windigo Winter. And just like with your ancestors, Saminus, the werewolf king Lycaon and the vampire queen Sanguiane were to stubborn to form an alliance against Daybreaker.

“But I was good friends with the werewolf Princess Lupa and the heir to the vampire throne Sanguis. We all realized that we would all be lost if we don’t band together, and decided to take matters into our own hooves. The night after the failed conference, we each usurped our respective rulers, became the First Majesties of Noctris, and chose the trimoon symbol as our banner.

“What followed… I’ll spare you the details and will just give you a broad overview. The sunpriests had the support of a neighboring realm, so we had to fight not only against Daybreaker, but also lead our armies in an all-out war that lasted months. In the last fight against Daybreaker, I tried everything to save my sister. Every counterspell I could find, every anti-curse, every method to imprison her, but nothing worked.

“She managed to knock me to the ground, was about give me the killing blow. But because she stopped to gloat, I managed to get hold of my sister’s sword and stabbed it right through Daybreaker’s heart. My sister died, Daybreaker’s soul was sealed her away in the sword, and then, because of the danger it poses, we locked it away in a fortress deep in the mountains of the Frozen North, so that nopony could ever free Daybreaker from it.”

“If it’s so dangerous,” Rainbow asked, “Why didn’t you destroy the sword?”

“It’s often not that simple,” Celestia said before Shaded could, “Any attempt at destroying it could have also released Daybreaker. It’s often better to hide or protect artifacts like that instead of risking to unleash their magic on the world.”

“Precisely,” Shaded said, “and since we never had any issues with it in the six thousand years since, it would have been foolish to take that risk.”

Twilight needed a moment to process that. “Six… six thousand?”

Shaded nodded. “I’m a little bit over six thousand years old.” She turned to Celestia. “I hope you can understand my reaction from earlier now.”

“Yes. Yes, of course. And I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that you could never understand it,” Celestia said.

Shaded took a deep breath. “Apology accepted, but there’s more important matters we have to focus on. Tonight proved that the threat Daybreaker poses is real. And we will only be able to stop her if we stand together as friends. Daybreaker’s fire is strong, but with a bit of luck, the Fire of Friendship will be stronger, maybe even strong enough to prevent her from escaping in the first place.”

Celestia looked at Shaded for a moment before turning to Luna. “Since you are the one who leads this, I will accept your decision. If you consider Noctris to be a friend of Equestria, I will as well.”

“If we’re being honest, our realms are already friends here in Ponyville, and all it will take is a bit more time for it to be like that everywhere. But it’s a problem that we only know you—” Luna turned to Shaded “—You are of course a valued friend, but we can’t form a friendship with a realm consisting of three kingdoms if we only ever talk to one. I need to meet the other majesties, before Castle Everfree is completed.”

Shaded responded, “The success in Ponyville changed a lot of minds in Noctris, so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. But I’m afraid that we have to discuss the final touches of that another time. Right now I just need to know if you are in principle in favour of it so I can get everything underway. I will contact you as soon as possible.”

“Makes sense,” Luna said. Then she looked at the elements. “I asked you months ago to help me make this decision. So, what do you say?”

“Of course I’m in favour of it,” Twilight said, “I’m always happy about making new friends. And without Shaded, I would be serving Daybreaker now.”

“Same here,” Dash said, “I mean, I joined the Shadowbolts. Would be kinda weird if I would be against it.”

“If she’s in favour of it, y’all can count me in, too,” Applejack added.

“Oh, that would be fantastique,” Rarity said, “I support it as well.”

Pinkie’s mane blopped into shape again. “Me too! I mean, my sister is a nocturnal now, so of course I would never be against it. And I already have made so many new friends with the noctrals that moved to Ponyville. And I learned so many new cake recipes! And reasons for parties I never even heard about before!”

All eyes turned to Fluttershy. “Um… I’m dating Shaded’s brother, so…”

Author's Note

As a reminder since it was revealed half a year ago, Discord is Shaded's brother.