The Real Nightmare Knights

Chapters

Being A Hero Is For Chumps
Weird Séance
The House Of The Loving Dead
Shady Hollow
The Most Horrible Time Of The Year
At The Museum Of Madness
Love Starved
Arabian Knights
The Eyes Of The Tyrant
Insidious Intentions
Interlude Part I: A Heart To Heart
Interlude Part II: Welcome To The Nightmare Knights
End Of The Line
Sweet Apple Spectres
What Lies Beneath
Knight And Day
In Hushed Whispers
Interlude Part III: Cabal
Interlude Part IV: I Dream Of Fire
Goldenview
The Dead City
A Dark Deal

Being A Hero Is For Chumps

“When I was a filly... I dreamed about being something greater than I was. When I let bitterness rule my heart and transform me into my deepest, darkest nightmare, I felt no ill will towards my sister. Instead, I cursed myself for my own stupidity and for allowing jealousy to dictate my actions, and I accepted my fate. I took it upon myself to atone for my mistakes, and through them, I learned to be a better princess, a better pony, and a better sister...”

The solitary grandfather clock in the corner of the small office space ticked loudly as a deafening silence descended upon those gathered.

Luna of Equestria, formerly princess, let her words hang in the air as she folded her hooves over her desk. She took deep, slow breaths, exhaling softly out of her nose.

In front of her, her four ‘employees’ and sorry looking associates stood, quietly and solemnly, not daring to say a single word. Their uniforms, once sleek and neat tan-coloured jumpsuits that signified what and who they were, were covered, simply drenched, in something which could only be described as goo, slime or even goop to the untrained eye. To those in the know, namely those present, it was in actual fact known as the dreaded gak--and source of the princess’s discontent.

The night blue alicorn suddenly slammed her hooves down on her desk, knocking a nearby picture off the wall and raised her voice at them. “So why in Tartarus, do you insist on making things difficult for me?!” she bellowed in her royal Canterlot voice, shaking the very room in which they stood and chilling them all to the bone.

Luna glowered at them all with a quiet fury she hadn’t felt in an age and lowered herself down back to her seat.

The devious changeling.

The magic eating centaur.

The unassuming monster.

And the unrelenting invader.

They were the Nightmare Knights. They were her most proud creations, and yet they did vex her unlike anything else, and often caused her a severe headache--and endless stacks of paperwork to fill out.

Commander Tempest Shadow, the appointed leader of the Nightmare Knights, held her head up high and looked the former princess in the eye. This wasn’t the first time she had been reprimanded by a superior, and it surely wouldn’t be the last, and so she didn’t let her feelings of resentment show. Her hooves squelched and squished as she readjusted herself, looking ahead calmly at nothing in particular. Remaining as stone faced as usual, she cleared her throat and began to speak.

“With respect, ma’am,” she said. “We got the job done, just like you asked.”

Luna pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled a hot flush of air out her nostrils. “Yes, I understand that, but at what cost? Half of Canterlot is covered in the same gak you find yourselves drenched in!”

Behind the mauve coloured unicorn with a broken horn, her comrade in arms, the former changeling queen, Chrysalis, snorted derisively and looked at her fellow Knights, offering them a cheeky grin. “And I thought Twilight was ungrateful,” she muttered under her breath.

The Magic-Eater himself, Lord Tirek, and the filly Cozy Glow suppressed a smile back at her, knowing more reprimands would come, not only from the former princess, but from the leader of their company, whom of which they held a certain fear for--in spite of Luna’s wrath.

“Shut it!” Tempest barked, turning her head sharply to the right and fixing the changeling with a glare that could curdle milk.

Chrysalis clamped her jaw shut and made no further comment, choosing instead to look down at the ground as a glob of gak dripped out of her mane. Her membranous wings clung together in the sticky goo and rustled uncomfortably.

Beside her, Tirek picked off a bit of goo clinging to one of his forearms and grimaced. Beside him, Cozy Glow did something similar, extracting some of the slime out of her mane and flicked it onto the floor, panicking in silence for a moment when she realised she smeared it into the carpet before choosing to simply step over it and hope nopony saw her, looking around with wide eyes.

“We understand, ma’am,” Tempest continued, turning back to look at Luna. “But I repeat, we got the job done. That’s what you wanted, yes?”

Luna sighed and glowered at them all, the unicorn in particular. “You are correct, Commander, however, you will be assigned clean-up duty-”

“Aw, what?” Cozy murmured, quickly clamping a hoof over her mouth when Tempest shot her a look.

“Clean-up duty,” their boss repeated with a firmer voice. “And then, as I promised...” Luna looked at them all in turn and rubbed her temple. “Take a day off for personal development--but only--when Canterlot has been thoroughly cleaned. Am I clear, Knights?”

The Knights all snapped to attention. “Yes ma’am,” they chanted in unison.

“Good. Dismissed. I want to see those streets spotless.”

The former princess waved a hoof at them and bid them on their way. She stood and rose form her desk, turning to look out the window at the city. Canterlot always seemed much further away when she was in her royal chambers. Now she was simply a public servant, not quite a bureaucrat, but not quite anything else either, it seemed so much closer, and she herself seemed so much more involved than ever before.

And she loved it.

Her project was mad, nuts, some would say, and caused her no end of trouble, but she loved it all. Even her Nightmare Knights, as much as they irritated and annoyed her. Speaking of annoying, the glistening hoofprints left by them caught her eye, and caused her to sigh and half heartedly bring out a bucket and a set of sponges from under her desk.

She grumbled and grunted to herself as she began scrubbing and tidying up after them. When she saw some of the gak was smeared into the carpet and needed something stronger to come out, she pinched the bridge of her nose again and let loose a soft growl.

“Cozyyy...”

***

The streets of Canterlot were a mess. Even after several hours dragged by, very little progress had been made in cleaning it all up. A thin trail of slime coated the ground, and there were several globs of goo clinging to various walls, streetsigns and lamposts.

The Nightmare Knights worked hard and diligently, scrubbing at a corner of the main street to try and remove the slime from wherever they could.

“Boy, you sure told her, Commander,” Cozy Glow murmured as she used a small brush to scrub a lamppost, flitting around it with her small wings.

“Personally I would have given her a few more choice words,” grumbled Tirek, as he used his magic to bundle up large swaths of gak and engulf them in a fiery glow.

“Good thing you kept them to yourself, then, Tirek,” Tempest snapped as she used her hooves to scoop up as much slime as she could and dump it in one of the nearby waste disposal bins they had borrowed from the sanitation department of Equestria’s capital city. “Remember, you’re all on probation as far as Luna is aware.” She paused and wiped some sweat from her brow, taking care not to get any slime on her face.

Tirek pointed to a delicate looking mare sitting away from them, idly pawing at some of the slime in between her hooves, “What about her? Why does she get a free pass?”

Tempest narrowed her eyes. Her horn crackled to life, and a small zap of electricity fired out and hit the mare square in the flank, making her yelp and spin around “Ow! Hey, what gives?!” she cried, rubbing the sore spot on her rump.

“Chrysalis,” the commander warned, seeing through the shape shifter’s disguise as clear as day. “This is your mess we’re in, so it’s only fair for you to come and help us clean up. Remember, if you had just followed the plan, we wouldn’t even be here.”

The mare paused and curled her lip into a sneer. A shimmer of magic appeared around her, and Chrysalis pouted and hissed, baring her fangs for a moment at the commander. “It’s not fair at all. What’s the point in being a ‘good guy’ if you get punished with this peasant work for doing so?” she grumbled, stomping over to the rest of her comrades.

Tempest simply raised her eyebrows and gave the changeling a glare. Chrysalis stuck her tongue out and used her magic, to pick up pieces of goo and slam them down in the bucket, all while grumbling under her breath. The former queen grimaced and pinched her nose, recoiling as a glob of gak landed on her hoof.

“Ugh. Whoever said being a hero would be rewarding is a chump.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad, Chryssy,” Cozy optimistically said as she hovered nearby another lamppost, using the other end of her brush to scrape some gak off of it. “I mean sure it’s kinda gross doing this, but think of all the fun we’ve had recently. Doesn’t that beat being locked up in stone--or Tartarus?”

“Hnng, I suppose so, but there all these rules we have to follow...” Chrysalis grunted. “I used to be a queen you know-”

Tirek laughed out loud and in a pale imitation of her voice, he finished her sentence for her. “I used to have servants do all sorts for me, I was worshipped, and now I’m just a janitor.” He smirked and incinerated another patch of slime. “Oh boo hoo, hoo, keep working you verminous insect.”

“Who are you calling verminous insect, you simpering ape?!”

Tempest regarded them all and felt the corners of her mouth begin to twitch into a smile in spite of their circumstances and subsequent bickering. They were her crew, and as much as they argued and fought with each other, they were a dependable group, and the best at what they did in all of Equestria. Even if they did drench the city in ghost residue--they got the job done no matter what.

The commander would even go so far as to call her team a group of friends, despite not having known them for a very long time.

“Tell you what,” she said with a grin, ceasing their bickering for a moment “When we get done here, the first round’s on me when we get back to base. Deal?”

Cozy beamed up at her, while Tirek and Chrysalis raised their eyebrows in scepticism. “Gee, you mean it, Tempy?” Cozy asked.

“Don’t call me Tempy, Cozy,” Tempest grunted. “Or I’ll rescind my offer.”

“Aw come on, I give all of us a cute nickname! See, Chrysalis is Chryssy, Tirek is Terry, and you’re Tempy!” The filly pouted and wiped some sweat from her forehead and puffed her cheeks out. “C’mon... lighten up a bit.”

Chrysalis snorted and focused more on scrubbing than the conversation. “I hate being called Chryssy,” she muttered.

“And I also hate Terry,” Tirek retorted with a snort and a flex of his muscles. “What sort of nickname is Terry anyway? It’s the same length as my actual name.”

Cozy pouted again and crossed her hooves in a huff while she floated in the midst of them all. “You guys are no fun.”

Tempest whistled sharply as a small crowd of ponies began to watch them work. She nodded at her team, and they nodded back and fell silent, letting her do the thing.

The unicorn cleared her throat and addressed the growing crowd. “Fillies and gentlecolts,” she said, raising her voice to address them. “If you or your property as been damaged in any way due to any unnatural events as of late, please direct all complaints and inquiries to Director Luna’s office at the Canterlot Palace. Thank you.”

The ponies gathered gave her curious and fearful looks and scampered on ahead, choosing not to linger.

“Luna’s not going be very happy at that,” Chrysalis chuckled.

“Yeah well, what you gonna do?” Tempest muttered back with a coy grin. She sighed and tapped her hoof impatiently, her grin fading almost as quickly as it appeared. “At this rate our personal time will be over before it starts, hurry up!”

“Do you want to try and scrub this filth off with a brush?” the changeling fired back.

Tirek rolled his eyes as they devolved into another shouting match and continued using his magic to gather up bits of gak and compress it into balls, which he then promptly incinerated. The sound of trumpeting horns made him glance up, and spy a golden chariot with a familiar purple pony approaching them rapidly.

“Ahem,” he coughed, pointing at the chariot.

Tempest and Chrysalis removed each other from the other’s forehead and lowered their hooves before it came to blows as the chariot touched down. The commander barked some orders and their hooves moved rapidly as the yformed an orderly line.

“Make way for Princess Sparkle!” came a rousing call from a bellowing royal pegasus guard. “Say hey, it’s Princess Sparkle!”

Cozy rolled her eyes as they all formed an orderly line, standing shoulder to shoulder. “What, does she think she’s Princess Cameli of Ababwa or something?”

The commander cuffed the back of the filly’s head and saluted in a military fashion out of respect for her friend and monarch before standing to attention. Tempest was perhaps the only one of the Nightmare Knights that actually liked the Princess of Equestria, and didn’t bemoan and begrudge her presence whenever she made an appearance.

“Thank you, sirs,” the princess said to her guardsponies, stepping out of her chariot. She looked around at the copious amounts of gak still lining the streets and grimaced. “Sooo does somepony wanna fill me in?” she asked, glancing at Tempest for a brief moment.

The unicorn with a broken horn cleared her throat and bowed her head. “Just a clean-up operation, your highness,” she rigidly stated.

“Please Tempest, don’t be so formal,” Twilight laughed.

Tempest straightened herself up and smiled as the princess approached her. They clasped hooves in greeting and gave each other a small hug, causing the Knights behind the commander to wretch and pretend to barf. Twilight scowled at them and gave them all curt nods in turn.

“Chrysalis. Tirek. Cozy.”

“Princess,” they tersely replied back in unison with equally as curtly nods.

Twilight pulled back from Tempest and fluttered her wings for a moment. “So how’ve you been?” she asked.

Tempest shrugged. “Same old, same old, really,” she said nonchalantly. “Business is booming as they say.”

“I can see that. You’ve really got your hooves full, huh?” the princess chuckled, nodding at the slime strewn about the place. “Want some help?”

“Oh--oh! Yes please, Princess!” piped up an excited Cozy Glow, earning her a glare from Tempest and two hissed ‘shushes’ from Tirek and Chrysalis. “What? It’ll take us for-ev-er to clean all this up!” the young filly whined. “You’re all thinking it so I’ll just say it, if Princess Twilight can help why shouldn’t we accept?” She looked at the princess and turned her little ears down. “That is, if it’s not too much trouble.”

Twilight allowed herself to smile at the formerly villainous pegasus. Despite her misgivings about the situation she found it humorous that they were trying to clean up their mess. “I don’t mind at all. Tempest, What do you think?” she asked, addressing the commander.

The unicorn looked at her, then at the gak, at the sheer amount of slime they had to clean up, then at the Knights’ hopeful faces and with a heavy sigh, she shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Princess, we have our orders and we can’t afford any more shortcuts. Besides.” She glanced around at the crowd that had begun to gather again, ignoring her team’s deflated sighs of discontent and grumblings. “This is great free advertising.”

The princess blinked at her and nodded in silent approval. “Alright, Tempest. I can see you’re taking this ghost hunting business very seriously.”

Tempest nodded back, choosing not to correct her--as the Knights were more than simple ‘ghost hunters’.

“It is a serious business,” cut in Chrysalis with a disdainful look and a snort, not as tactful as Tempest was. “I’m sorry not everypony understands that, Princess,” she added with a sneer.

The commander slowly closed her eyes and braced herself for the verbal onslaught that was sure to follow, and made a mental note to give the insect some absurdly menial task as a punishment. Perhaps cleaning the drains of their home depot out with nothing but a toothbrush.

Twilight glanced at Chrysalis equally as disdainfully and scowled. Before she could say anything in retribution, a chill wind blew passed them all, making the Knights’ heads sharply turn and look around. Tempest cracked her neck and her horn began to spark and fizz. As her team looked back at her they all nodded together in understanding.

“Might want to step back, Princess...” she murmured quietly. “And tell your guards to not interfere.”

Twilight’s scowl of disapproval turned into a frown of confusion. “What? Why?”

To answer her, there was a shimmer in the air, and something, a creature from beyond the average mortal ken of existence, began to materialize before their very eyes, shocking and chilling Twilight to the bone.

“What is that?” she whispered.

A huge and rounded bulk, larger than a grizzly bear began to take shape. Its featureless face turned to them in an eerie stillness. A wide section of it suddenly wrenched open to reveal a lipless mouth that quivered and slavered with an intense and curious hunger. A mass of writhing, snake-like tentacles could be seen underneath it as its clumsy body heaved and pulsated, glistening like wet leather.

As the Knights dutifully formed a defensive line in front of the princess without a single word, Tempest grinned at her and winked, bemused by her befuddled and shocked expression.

“What we’re here for.”

The nameless monstrosity roared. Its wretched voice sounded like the scraping of metal chairs across a hard floor. Its body lumbered towards them, jaw open wide and fangs dripping with venomous intent, unaware of the pain that was the Nightmare Knights waiting for it.

Weird Séance

“Mm hmhm mhm...”

Tempest Shadow hummed a familiar tune to herself as she buttered the second slice of toast she had made for herself, glad to be out of her ectoplasmic gak stained uniform and in from the cold autumn wind.

Her freshly made hot cocoa sat on the counter, to which she carefully picked it up and took it over to the lounge, setting it down on the table and then went back to retrieve her food. Not having a working horn and thus unable to use magic had never stopped her from enjoying the basic amenities most unicorns afforded, like simply holding more than one thing at once, so she had learned to live--for all intents and purposes--like an earth pony, even if she took a bit longer than normal. She pulled the collar of her dressing gown close to her and moved back through to the other room, where her fellow Knights waited for her to finish getting herself sorted out.

Her slippers, as pink and fluffy and as much a juxtaposition to her short temper as her equally pink and fuzzy dressing gown, made quiet and padded hoofsteps as she moved, until she eventually sunk into one of the comfy chairs currently going unoccupied.

All of the Knights wore the same type of dressing gown--at this point it was much their uniform as their actual uniform. All were pink, fluffy and, in a word, cute. Even Tirek, the mighty magic-eating centaur wore one as he sat with his hooves up on his extraordinarily large chair and ate a cupcake topped with multicoloured sprinkles.

Chrysalis sat idly and with a bored expression as Cozy Glow excitedly tapped her hooves together and inched forwards on her little bean bag. In front of them, and the source for the filly’s excitement, was an old black and white television set with an old horror movie currently playing.

“Really, now this is just ridiculous,” the former queen muttered bitterly. “Do we really need to have a ‘movie night’?”

“Princess Twilight said we need to spend more time together to become a more effective team,” Cozy replied, speaking in a monotone voice as if she had practiced it. She perched on the edge of her bean bag, with her eyes firmly affixed to the screen. “She said one of the things she and her friends did was a movie night, and besides, we might pick up a thing or two from watching something with ghosts in it, couldn’t we Tempy?”

“We are not friends,” the changeling growled under her breath. “We’re co-workers.”

Tempest grunted and noisily crunched her toast. “What is this, anyway?” she asked.

“Drag Me To Tartarus, apparently,” Tirek sulkily responded with folded arms and a huff as he ate his own snacks. “An insult to my former cellmates if you ask me.”

Cozy rolled her eyes and waved a hoof at them, still refusing to turn around and look them in the eye. “I was a prisoner in Tartarus too, ya know, and I don’t think it’s offensive. Now shush, and pay attention, I can’t hear anything over all of your yammering.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and inspected her hoof, finding more interest in herself than her comrades as usual. Tempest looked at them all in turn and sighed before taking short and quiet nibbles of her toast.

Cozy was, of course, the youngest, but by far the smartest of the group. She was the thinker; it was her tactics that they typically followed when determining how to approach a situation. She formed the plans that ensured them victory after victory, or swift retribution if they ever failed. A vengeful mind tended to do that.

Tirek, meanwhile, was their resident magic expert, being far older than any of them combined and having experienced the true denizens of Tartarus first-hand. On matters of the paranormal and supernatural, what he said was what they followed. If he said wraith, they prepped themselves for a wraith. If he said eldritch abomination, they fought an eldritch abomination. If he advised caution they were cautious--you get the idea.

Chrysalis was something akin to a heavy hitter, shapeshifting herself into a smattering of various different creatures in order to battle with those abnormally large spectres and even able to take the form of one of the deceased loved ones, for when violence wasn’t the answer. Of course, Chrysalis being Chrysalis, this usually only ended up making the dead even more restless.

There was Director Luna, formerly princess. Ever as calm and collected as when she was a princess--save for when she was chewing them out for causing her an ever-growing list of trouble. She saw to all the public relations the Knights had, treating everything she dealt with with a cold, ruthless and business-like like manner. Despite her outward frigidness, she cared deeply for the Knights as she did for all of Equestria, and viewed them all as proudly as if she was their mother--which in some ways, she was--having founded the Nightmare Knights and given all its members a purpose in life instead of either wandering the world aimlessly or being frozen in stone for all eternity.

And last but not least there was Tempest herself. Their straight-faced, no nonsense leader, their drill sergeant, and their warden. She was given the arduous task of making sure they fell into line when needed, and she was the mare responsible for reporting directly to Director Luna on most matters, usually taking the brunt of her verbal onslaught for her team if they had warranted one.

As much as she may have resented them at times, she would happily admit she enjoyed their company. They were the outcasts, the misfits of Equestria. Willing to do the dirty work nopony else wanted, or couldn’t, do. Not only that, but at one point they had all been enemies of Equestria, which made them perfect for throwing themselves at danger time and time again. In the commander’s eyes, and most of Equestria no doubt, they were... expendable, and thus forged a bond together, albeit one that would wain and tear in places at times due to their infighting.

When it mattered, though, when their lives--and for a certain someone, their cushy jobs--were on the line, never mind that of Equestria, they worked as one unit, one single entity that took down ghosts, ghouls, and anything else in their job description with ruthless force and relentless anger.

Tempest suddenly looked around and frowned, realising they were one member of their group short, the lesser known but equally as important fifth member of the Knights, even if she was only honorary and not an active ghist hunter like the rest of them were.

“Where’s Jack?” she asked.

Chrysalis waved a hoof at her with disinterest and picked at something in her mane. “Downstairs, somewhere. I saw that wretched creature struggle with a mound of papers when we came in.”

“And you didn’t offer help?”

“Why would I? She was doing her job. Unless you had an ‘ulterior motive’ for hiring a secretary?” The changeling batted her eyelashes at Tempest with a coy grin. Tempest simply scowled at her and pushed herself up and out of her seat, deciding to go and see if the young mare wanted or needed help. She set her empty plate and cup of cocoa down on the table and stretched her legs.

Cozy glanced at her with wide eyes and clutched a pillow tight to her chest. “Where’re you going?” she squeaked, clearly terrified from the scary movie.

“I’m gonna see if Jack wants in on this, or some help at least. She is part of the team, after all,” Tempest said back to her without looking back. “I won’t be long, just go ahead and keep watching.”

The filly looked somewhat disheartened at her words but still turned her attention back to the screen, and proceeded to yelp and bury her face in her pillow, quivering in fear.

The sound of Tirek berating her and Chrysalis giggling gleefully at her discomfort could be heard as Tempest left the room and started down the stairs nearby.

“Oh come on, nothing even scary happened!”

Tempest chuckled to herself shook her head, carrying herself down the large set of ancient stairs.

Their base of operations, as cliché as it may have seemed, was in fact the dilapidated ruin, and the possibly haunted, Castle of the Two Sisters, long since fallen into disrepair and disuse even after the Knights had moved in. Director Luna had been kind enough to organise them to be set up with electricity, a working plumbing system, and transform the ruin into somewhere liveable for her team, but that still didn’t make up for the sheer amount of cobwebs they had had to clear away.

Or the cold drafts that chilled them to the bone.

Or the howling winds that rocked them gently to sleep.

And the leaky holes. But still, it was their home, their bastion away from the horrors they faced on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, and a reprieve from the masses of Equestria.

Tempest reached the bottom of the stairs and entered into the great hall in search of their secretary’s ‘office’, which was really nothing more than a desk surrounded by a mass of papers, folders, and documents. For knights of an order like theirs to have secretary seemed like an odd choice, but after finding several missed calls and a few letters of complaints when they returned from a previous job, they decided somebody to help with the administration effort was sorely needed.

At the commander’s suggestion, Luna had put out an offer of employment, and after a short delay a spunky young mare named Jackdaw Inkwell was enlisted as the Nightmare Knights’ secretary and receptionist. With her thick Manehattan Hooflyn accent and largely unflappable attitude, as well as being able to match Chrysalis’s snide comments with her own equally as sardonic comments, she virtually ensured that she was a perfect match to join the team, and took her new strange and unusual occupation in stride, even developing something of a crush on Tirek.

“Jack?” Tempest’s voice called out as she looked around the great hall, towards the desk. “You here?”

Silence answered the scarred unicorn as she came to a halt. The quiet creaking of a chair made her ears twitch and a cold wind blew through the dusty hall, making the heckles on the back of her neck stand up on end. “Ugh,” she grunted. “I’ve spent too much time surrounded by ghosts...”

A quiet breathing and light snoring coming from nearby put her at ease, and soon enough she spotted who she was looking for, napping after a hard day’s work, slumped over her desk.

Tempest thought better than to wake her, and simply pulled the mare’s moth riddled blanket over her shoulders and grimaced. “Remind me to put in an invoice to Luna for a new blanket for you,” she chuckled softly.

“Hnn...” the mare murmured quietly in her sleep, making Tempest smile. “Mmm...”

“Alright, take it easy,” the Knight whispered gently at her. As she pulled away she saw the stack of organised papers on the desk and smiled again, glad to see their secretary was a hard worker at heart, much like the rest of the team.

The commander turned around and quietly made her way back towards the stairs, and back towards her fellows, when all of a sudden a terribly loud banging came from the main door, startling her and making her spin around, fully alert and ready in case of danger.

Jackdaw herself awoke with a start and a yell, and promptly fell off of her chair in surprise, landing on the cold floor with a heavy thud. She quickly picked herself up and readjusted her glasses and stomped over towards the door, grumbling under her breath while she did so.

“I’m comin’, I’m comin,” she yawned as the rapid knocking persisted. “Who do ya think y’are, can’t ya see we’re closed?!” she growled as she unbolted the door. Tempest watched her from the stairs, quietly and carefully as the door swung open, curious to see who was knocking with such urgency at this hour, and was prepared to berate Chrysalis for ordering food without consulting her again.

Instead what she saw surprised the daylights out of her, as a young, butter coloured pegasus filly with a sniffy nose shivered and looked up at Jackdaw with wide and frightened eyes.

“O-oh, I’m s-sorry...” the filly stammered. “B-but th-this is the N-Nightmare Knights, r-right?”

Jack nodded, immediately softening her voice and demeanour. “Sure is, sweetheart, whatcha doin’ here, though? Where’re your parents? Oh ya must be freezin’ out here, hurry up an’ come in. You want some cocoa?”

The filly nodded and sniffed as the secretary ushered her in and closed the heavy wooden door shut. When she turned around, she and Tempest, who had descended to the bottom of the stairs now, locked eyes, and shared he same worried smile for a moment. “Oh hey here’s Commander Tempest now. You wanna talk to her?”

The filly looked up at Tempest and her lower lip trembled in awe. “W-wow,” she breathed. Her wings fluttered weakly. “T-Tempest Shadow... You’re e-even cooler in p-person than th-they said...”

Tempest smiled awkwardly back at the filly and rubbed at her neck, having never been one to receive adoration before. “Thanks, I guess? What’s your name, kid?” She asked as the Knights’ secretary gave the filly a gentle push forwards. “What are you doing here? Where are your friends, and your parents?”

The filly rubbed her nose and shivered on the spot. “M-my name is Honey Bee… I... I didn’t know what to do, I told them not do try it, but they...” She trailed off and trembled, saying lightly from side to side. “They wouldn’t leave the Ouija board alone...”

The commander’s eyes went wide at the mention of the dreaded object, and rushed forwards as the filly began to cry. She ripped off her dressing gown and wrapped the child up in as much as she could, and spoke in as much a soothing voice as she could. “Hey, hey it’s okay. Come here. You wanna meet the team and tell them what happened?”

The filly’s eyes went wide. “W-wow, you really mean it?” she asked, with a hint of glee in her voice. “M-meet the famous Nightmare Knights?”

Tempest nodded, feeling a small sense of pride well up in her. “Sure do, kid.”

She and the filly waited patiently for Jack to come back through from the makeshift kitchen. Soon enough the mare dashed over as quickly as she dared, carrying a very hot cup of hot cocoa and fussed at her mane.

“How’s my mane look? Is T up there?”

“Yes, Jack,” Tempest chuckled, rolling her eyes. “But we have bigger things to worry about now don’t we?”

“Right. Sorry boss,” the mare replied with a sheepish grin and pinkened cheeks. She offered the cup of cocoa to the filly and smiled down at her. “Here ya go, kid. Be careful, though, it’s hot.”

The filly gratefully took the cocoa and smiled up at Jack. “Th-thanks, miss.”

Together, all three of them quickly began ascending towards the other Knights, and Tempest felt a knot begin to form in her stomach.

***

“Alright everyone, listen up,” the commander barked as she pushed the large wooden door open and she, Jack and the filly entered the lounge.

Cozy Glow immediately shrieked at the sudden loud noise and shot up from her bean bag, disappearing into the rafters like a frightened bird, while Tirek jolted himself awake and looked around wildly, and Chrysalis simply looked around at them with a bored and disdainful grimace.

Her eyes travelled from Tempest and jackdaw to the small filly and frowned.

“Taking in strays now are we? What have we become?” she bemoaned herself and leaned back in her chair, breathing a heavy sigh of discontentment. “First friendship ‘lessons’ and now this... ugh...”

“W-wow, you’re Chrysalis!” the filly squeaked in excitement. “And T-Tirek,” she said, looking at the imposing centaur as he stood up and approached them. “And... I don’t see Miss Cozy?”

“I’m up h-h-here...” came a wavering and subdued voice. Cozy poked out from behind her hiding spot with massive eyes and gently, and reluctantly, floated down to greet them. “S-s-sorry, T-T-Tempy, I, uh...” She bashfully pawed at the ground while Tempest fixed her with a firm glare. “You k-k-kinda sp-p-pooked me...”

“Listen up,” she repeated coldly, staring daggers ahead at Chrysalis, still lazily sitting in her chair in disinterest at the world around her. “This young filly here has something to tell us...” She looked down and patted the foal’s head. “Go on. Start at the beginning.”

The filly took a deep breath. “My friends found a Ouija board in the attic of my grandpa, so we thought we’d try and use it in a séance to try and talk to my other friend’s grandma. Well, we did... the thing, but s-something, uh... something happened.” Her eyes flicked around to the adults around her. “I... I think my friend got possessed--but not by his grandma... h-he started speaking in a weird voice and then tried to... hurt us... I had to trap him in the room... I couldn’t... I ran... " The filly’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks as she recanted her tale, shivering more and more with each passing moment.

Jackdaw quickly put her hoof around the filly and pulled her in, cooing at her gently. “Hey, hey, it’s alright, sweetheart. The Knights are gonna take care of it, ya hear?”

Tirek leaned down to the filly, suddenly seeming very interested in her and stroked his beard. “A possession? I see,” he murmured slowly, ignoring Jack’s flushed cheeks and heavy breathing as he grew closer to her. Cozy Glow, with trembling legs and loud knees, stood in between his hooves and looked up at Tempest, then down at the filly curiously.

“Th-that’s b-b-bad isn-n-n’t it-t-t?” she asked to nopony in particular, trying to force her teeth to stop chattering.

“It is,” Tirek replied with narrow eyes. He stared the filly in the eyes and spoke in a low voice as she looked at him. “Tell me, child, where did you perform this... séance of yours?”

“A-at the School of Friendship, Mr T-Tirek, sir...” the filly whispered, fearfully shuffling on the spot. “In Miss Starlight’s office...”

Tempest groaned inwardly and saw Chrysalis rise up out of her seat. As the changeling turned her eyes were pinpricks and a furious scowl quickly formed on her face at the mention of that place.

“The School of Friendship?” she hissed. “In... Starlight’s office?!”

“Be nice, Chrysalis,” Tempest warned, raising a hoof and her voice at her pre-emptively. “Yes, the school, yes Starlight’s office. If whatever this is isn’t strong enough to break through walls, it’ll still be in there.” She jabbed an accusatory hoof at the changeling as she began quaking with rage. “I want no trouble from you this time, Chrysalis. You’re lucky Starlight didn’t press charges. Remember what the director said last time?”

Chrysalis snorted indignantly and grew close to the commander, mere inches away from the pony’s face. “If that sow tries to make small talk with me again, I’ll-”

“You’ll respond nicely or pay for the consequences yourself.” Tempest jammed her head against the former queen’s, staring razor sharp daggers into her eyes and flared her nostrils. Lightning sparked between their horns and the room seemed to grow colder with each breath. “Am I clear?”

The changeling bared her fangs and reluctantly pulled back. “Crystal. Commander,” she hissed, smoothing her mane down with a dark look in her eye.

“Good.”

Tempest stamped her hoof, signalling them to line up in front of her. Jack guided their young guest away from them quietly.

“C’mon, kid, best leave ‘em to it.”

The unicorn with a broken horn cleared her throat and paced in front of her team. “All of you, get dressed and get ready to move out. There’s a kid on the line and I’m not letting anypony else get hurt. Tirek, what are we dealing with?”

Tirek tapped his chin and thought for a moment. “There are two ghosts that use Ouija boards that I know of. Phantoms and demons. To be certain I’d need more data.”

“Do we have enough space in the vault?”

“Indeed we do.”

“Well then that narrows it down at least.” Tempest nodded at him and looked down at the youngest of their team. “You hear that, Cozy? Demon or phantom. What’s the game plan here?”

Cozy closed her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath. When she opened them, gone was the cute little filly, innocently afraid of a scary movie, and in her place was the cold and calculated Nightmare Knight. “Demons are more aggressive than phantoms, so depending on which one it is we could be in for a fight.” She tapped her chin and frowned. “I suggest a pincer manoeuvre. Tempest, you and Chrysalis go on the offensive, while Tirek and I hang back and make sure it doesn’t leave the school. We circle around and close up together, and trap it between us, then we blow it to smithereens.”

The Knights, including Chrysalis nodded and murmured in agreement.

“Mhm. Sounds good. Jack, can you-” Tempest started.

The young earth pony nodded and flicked a strand of red hair out of her eyes. “Stay here an’ keep the kid company? Sure thing, boss.”

“Thanks. Knights, get ready and rendezvous in the main hall. We leave in five.”

As they dispersed, Tirek’s eyes met Jackdaw’s for a brief moment. She smiled up at him and twirled some of her mane around her hoof, looking at him over her glasses. “Be careful out there, T,” she said quietly as her cheeks flushed red.

He looked down his nose at her and rolled his eyes, then snorted dismissively and turned away, making her visibly deflate.

“Nightmare Knights are real heartbreakers, kid,” Jack said sadly to Honey Bee as the Knights made to get themselves ready. The filly looked up at her curiously and flapped her small wings, then looked towards the group with no small amount of awe.

“Don’t ever fall in love with one of ‘em...”

In one of the many houses in Ponyville, in a stuffy old attic and surrounded by dust, cobwebs and stacks of old boxes, three young friends looked around at each other with a glint of excitement in their eyes.

To them, they had discovered a treasure trove of secrets and wonder. To anypony else, they had simply wandered into an old storage area.

“We’ll show those Cutie Mark Crusaders they’re not the only awesome trio to come out of Ponyville,” said the first of the friends. A unicorn colt, with a coat as dark as slate and an equally as grey a mane, called Onyx, grinned from ear to ear as he opened another box and looked inside, smiling at all the old books and dusty artefacts. “Just as soon as we find something awesome for show and tell. Any idea what exactly we’re looking for, Honey?”

Honey Bee, the second of the friends, and who’s grandpa’s house they were currently investigating in search of something--anything--special, nodded. “My grandpa tells me stories from when he went all over the world. He’s bound to have something in here that’s-”

She stopped herself mid sentence and fluttered over to the other side of the attic as a box curiously labelled--DO NOT OPEN--caught her eye. She let out a small gasp and quickly waved her friends over to it, giving them each a thrilled look. Naturally, as children, their curiosity got the better of them and without a second thought or paying any heed to the large, clear as day warning, they dragged the large, ‘forbidden’ box forwards where they then proceeded to gaze at it with intense curiosity and childlike wonder.

“What do you guys think is in here?” asked the third friend, a white coated filly with a red mane called Candy Cane. She was the youngest of their group, and the only earth pony of the trio, and the only one with a sense of caution.

“Beats me,” replied Onyx, still grinning from ear to ear. “But I bet it’s cool, whatever it is.” His horn fizzed and sparked weakly as he tipped the box over, where it landed with a thud.

“Careful!” Honey cried in a hushed voice. Her ears turned down as she cast a wary glance over towards the trap door, the entrance to the attic. “We shouldn’t be up here anyway, and if grandpa-”

“We’ll be careful, Honey,” chuckled Onyx back at her and stuck his tongue out. “Don’t worry so much. C’mon, help me up, I’ll have a look inside.”

In quiet agreement, Candy and Honey stood flank to flank while Onyx clambered on top of them to peer inside. “It’s just another box,” he murmured. “Wait... is that... Holy cow guys I think-” The sound of his horn igniting with magic filled the quiet space, and he hopped down off of them clutching something to his chest. “Oh wow this is gonna be so cool, guys check it out!”

He laid whatever it was he had found down, and the two fillies frowned down at the unassuming board, furthering their frowns when the unicorn lifted the lid off of it and revealed a board of some sort covered in letters.

“What is it?” Candy asked.

“Yeah Onyx, what is it?” Honey parroted.

Onyx danced on the tips of his hooves in a barely contained excitement as he stared down at the board. “It’s a Ouija board!” he squeaked. “Ponies can use them to talk to spirits and stuff!”

“Spirits?” Honey Bee rolled her eyes, ever the sceptic. “Wee-gee board? C’mon Ony, we need something cool for show and tell, not this mumbo jumbo-”

“It’s not mumbo jumbo!” Onyx defensively cried, tearing his eyes away from the board to look at her. “And it’s Ouija. Spirits are real, my gram gram used to tell me stories all the time about them. Hey!” He suddenly clapped his front hooves together and leaned forwards. “I’ve just had an idea. We can use it to talk to my gramma!”

Both Candy and Honey shared a worried look. “Onyx... your grandma-”

“I know, but that’s what Ouija boards are used for. To communicate with spirits. I told you guys I can feel her sometimes watching over me. It’ll be fun, c’mon!”

Before they could protest any more, Onyx placed the lid back on the board’s box and carried it away with a smug look on his face. “We’ll take it to school tomorrow. We can ask Miss Starlight to sit in and watch us if that’ll make you two feel better.”

Honey sighed and shook her head in defeat. “I guess. Alright, Ony, have it your way. C’mon Candy.” She nudged her young friend and rolled her eyes, eliciting some giggling from the two fillies.

The three friends ventured back down the stairs, blissfully unaware of how grave their actions in the coming future may actually be.

***

The following day...

Starlight Glimmer looked up in surprise as a gentle knocking came from the other side of her door. The hour was late, and school had just finished--everypony, griffon, hippogriff, dragon, yak or changeling should be home or in their dorm by now, and so she wondered who in Equestria would be coming to see her so late.

“Come in!” she called out, choosing to put on a friendly face now and ask questions later, thinking it must be an important issue if whoever it was waited until school was finished.

The door was pushed open, and three sheepish looking foals entered, carrying a small box between them. “Hello, Miss Starlight,” they said in unison.

Starlight smiled down at them. “Well hello you three!” She pushed herself up from her desk and walked around to greet them properly, recognising them as new starters to the youngest year of the school. “Honey Bee, Onyx and Candy Cane, right? How can I help?”

The fillies and the colt nodded eagerly. “Wow she knows our names!” the red and white one whispered, making no trace to hide her excitement.

“Um, Miss Starlight?” said Onyx, taking a ginger step forwards. “We, uh, we wanted to ask if you could, um... watch something for us?”

“Of course I can!” Starlight beamed with pride at them asking something like this of her, it obviously meant a lot to them and naturally as Headmare of the School of Friendship she was more than happy to-

“We wanna hold a séance you see, for my gramma.”

-To help them with anything... they... wanted.

“A séance?”

“Uh huh. My gramma used to say the spirits of the dead still linger, so I wanted to ask if she’ll appear for show and tell tomorrow.” Onyx looked up at her with big, wide eyes and smiled.

Honey Bee, the pegasus of the group piped up and fluttered her small wings. “And we want you to, uh, supervise it, miss... if you wouldn’t mind.”

Starlight looked up at the space above the door frame and exhaled through her nostrils, wondering what happened to the youth of today. Ghosts. Spirits. Séances. What happened to just reading a good scary book? “Jeez, Starlight you sound so old...” She murmured to herself. She facehoofed and smiled sheepishly at them. “Alright, kids. I’ll sit in and watch to make sure nothing ‘happens’ to you.”

“Great! Can we start it now?”

“Ssssure...”

“Wow Miss Starlight you’re awesome!”

The foals quickly assembled themselves in a triangle, placing the box down gently in the middle of them. They folded their legs and lifted the lid up off of it, while Starlight returned to her seat with mild interest and pink cheeks.

“Oh, I’m just doing my duty as your teacher,” she murmured, smiling to herself, thinking nothing more of the idle fancies of children.

“You guys know how a Ouija board works?” Onyx asked, looking over at his friends in turn.

Honey and Candy both shook their heads.

“I seen it in a movie before. We all put our hooves here, on this thing,” he said, reaching out and putting his hoof on the planchette, the moving piece. The fillies followed suit, gingerly and tentatively placing their hooves on the same thing. “And then we ask some questions.”

They all looked at each other, while Starlight watched curiously.

“Alright, you go first, Ony,” said Honey. “It’s your gramma you wanna talk to right?”

Onyx nodded excitedly. He cleared his throat and with as much courage he could muster, began to speak. “Gramma? Can you hear me?”

Silence fell upon them all. The fillies looked at one another then at Onyx sadly. Candy reached out and put her hoof on his shoulder, while Starlight also leaned forwards.

“Hey guys, not to be a downer or anything,” she said slowly and carefully. “But Ouija boards and séances don’t... really work.” She put on a sad smile and her most understanding voice when the two fillies looked up at her curiously. The colt’s eyes were fixed firmly on the board, watching for any sign of movement or response. “They’re just gimmicks. Used to tell spooooky stories late at night between friends.”

“But what about the Nightmare Knights? Don’t they fight real ghosts?” Honey Bee asked. Her wide eyes shone and shimmered in the light of the lamp on the Headmare’s desk.

Candy nodded, patting Onyx on the back sadly. “Yeah that’s right, my cousin in Canterlot said they fought a ghost the size of her house.”

Starlight groaned and scratched the behind of her ear. She had her own feelings about the exact legitimacy of the ‘Nightmare Knights’, and one of their number in particular she had an equal amount of fear and disdain for, regardless of what ‘good’ they did nowadays. “The Nightmare Knights,” she began slowly. “Well, what can I say about them? They’re, uh... interesting. I personally don’t believe in ghosts, but...” She licked her lips, knowing this was a delicate subject. “They-”

“HnnnNNN...”

Onyx suddenly groaned, cutting her off. A soft whisper of pain escaped the young colt and his pupils shrank. His breath came out as wisps on the wind. Starlight frowned and noted the sudden decline in temperature of her office. “That’s... odd,” she murmured. “Does he usually do that?”

Candy removed her hoof from him and shook her head, suddenly feeling very afraid of her dear friend.

The colt’s hoof suddenly began to push the planchette around, towards several letters.

“Ony?” Honey asked with wide eyes as she followed his rapid movements. “What are you...”

Starlight furrowed her brow and noted the letters begin to repeat themselves. Three simple letters, over and over. “R-U-N... run?” She suddenly felt a palpable dread rise up in her, and a chill ran down her spine. “Onyx what are you doing?”

The colt’s mouth twisted and contorted as if he was struggling with something. The letters kept repeating, his hooves moving rapidly across the board in an erratic fashion.

R-U-N.

R-U-

The planchette stopped, frozen mid movement. Onyx’s eyes closed and he stopped breathing. Starlight immediately got up out of her seat and waved the fillies over to her. “Girls, come here,” she ordered firmly. “Now.”

The fillies fearfully and quickly darted to the other side of her desk to stand with her, watching their friend with enormously wide eyes.

“Onyx?” Honey whispered. “Ony?”

Onyx’s eyes snapped open, and his mouth twisted into a cruel looking grin. A voice, not his voice, rumbled out from him. Something deep and guttural. Something evil. “Onyx is not here,” he rasped, exhaling a long, dogged breath.

Starlight’s horn immediately ignited as the small unicorn turned to them and rose up into the air, hoisting himself up with invisible wings. His horn crackled to life with solid black magic. “Girls, get behind me!” she ordered again. “Quickly now! Onyx this isn’t funny,” she said, addressing the young unicorn. “Stop this right now before somepony gets hurt.”

Onyx, or whatever was controlling Onyx, looked at them and sneered. “Stupid, mortal creature. I will not be ordered by you.”

Honey pushed herself out from underneath Starlight and stepped forwards, despite her teacher’s protests. “Ony?” she whispered as she stared up at him with tears in her eyes. “Onyx, p-please...”

“Silence!” Onyx roared. Black magic surged from his horn and swatted the young filly away, sending her sprawling through the air and landing towards the door. She landed with a whimper and looked around to see the Headmare puff her chest out.

“Run, Honey!” she yelled as a shield formed around her and the remaining filly. “You!” She raged at the possessed unicorn. “Don’t you dare touch my students again!”

A glow of magic surrounded Honey and cast her out. The door slammed shut behind her, and soon all she could hear was her own heavy breathing, and muffled sounds of a fight on the other side. She quickly picked herself up and, with tears streaming down her face, beat her wings as fast as she could and tore through the school.

She didn’t know who to tell, or what to do. Then it came to her, even through the panicked haze she found herself in. The name of the one group who could possibly help save her friends and Miss Starlight.

The Nightmare Knights.

And as luck, or fate, would have it, they were only situated in the castle in the Everfree Forest, just outside of Ponyville. All she had to do was charge through the dark forest...

The filly swallowed hard as she reached the entrance to the school. She didn’t pause, she didn’t hesitate in the slightest. Instead, she burst through the doors and soared through the skies, towards the edge of the Everfree Forest, thinking and wishing her friends would be okay soon.

She only hoped that the Knights would listen to her.

***

The present...

Tempest Shadow’s horn sparked and fizzed idly with magic. She eyed the School of Friendship carefully, looking up at the extravagantly designed building for any sign of the spirit they were after having left. It was clean, as far as she could tell, and she sniffed the air, taking a deep long breath. Ghosts left a smell of burnt toast wherever they went, strangely enough, you see, something she had quickly learned in her new occupation. She smelled nothing, thankfully and with a satisfied nod she turned around.

She cleared her throat and addressed the Knights as they readied themselves. “Remember the plan?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at them individually.

Tirek and Cozy Glow nodded, while Chrysalis craned her neck upwards and tutted in disgust, not paying attention and lost in her own world.

The commander sighed and continued on regardless. “Chrysalis, you’re with me. Cozy and Tirek, you enter behind us in two minutes exactly, and bar the doors behind you. If this thing runs, it’s on you.”

Cozy saluted in a military fashion and grimaced as she looked over the school. “Aye aye, Commander.”

Tempest nodded at her and turned back to the door. She cracked her neck and her shoulder muscles, and pressed a hoof against them. The heavy doors swung open with a loud creak. She strained her ears, listening out for any signs of life or fighting. Although she heard nothing, she remained hopeful that if anypony could defend themselves, Starlight Glimmer could. Honey Bee had also mentioned another of her friends was still in there, not that it mattered much, the Knights’ primary objective was to eliminate the threat, and secondly to ensure nopony else got hurt. Tempest figured that if this thing got the better of them, which it obviously wouldn’t, more ponies would get hurt regardless, and that was simply unacceptable.

Glancing to her left she saw Chrysalis slowly approach and shiver in disgust. “This place is horrid,” the changeling muttered under her breath. “I can feel them all here, asleep in their... beds.” Her wings buzzed briefly and fluttered lightly as her scowl deepened. “Those blood traitors I once called my family...”

“Focus, Chrysalis,” Tempest warned. “We’re here for a job. Keep your thoughts to yourself unless they’re about our prey.”

“Prey?” Chrysalis mused as they entered together, flank to chitinous flank. “You sound almost like one of my old praetorian guards.”

The commander glared at her and soldiered on. Their hoofsteps echoed around them, and the eyes on all the portraits seemed to follow her. The school itself was pristine, just as how she imagined Twilight’s institution should be. She realised she had no idea where to go, having never set foot in this place before. “Where’s Starlight’s office?” she murmured to herself.

Chrysalis snorted upon hearing her. “If I was that wretch, I’d have my office at the centre of the school.” She sneered at a painting of Twilight’s smiling face and raised her hoof to her mouth, performing a fake gagging animation. “Yugh.”

Tempest rolled her eyes but silently agreed with her all the same. It would make sense for a Headmare’s study to be in the centre of the school. As close to all the students as possible she supposed. “Alright.” She paused and looked around, and inwardly groaned to herself. “Cozy should have draw us a map...”

“Starlight’s office is this way, in case you were wondering,” the changeling grunted, nodding her head in a direction.

Tempest gave her a puzzled look.

“I entered this place undercover once or twice, looking for a way to covertly take my revenge on her.”

The look of bepuzzlement turned into a disapproving scowl.

“Oh, hush,” Chrysalis muttered and avoided the look being sent her way. “I never did anything or got very far. She was always surrounded by so many of these simple creatures.”

The commander grumbled in the dim light. “We’ll talk about your discretions later, Chrysalis.” She shook her head and sighed. “For now we focus on the mission. Agreed?”

“Fine.”

“Lead the way then, your majesty.” Tempest flashed her a toothy grin and inclined her head in a bow. Chrysalis ignored her snide jab and strode on ahead, sniffing at the air occasionally. Tempest thought she was searching for the smell of ghosts, and it was only until one point, she saw the queen’s tongue lap up some drool that she realised it was a scent of ‘food’ the inhabitants of the school radiated that she was smelling.

“So much love... within these walls...” Chrysalis mumbled, almost in a trance like state.

“Focus,” Tempest growled. “Or do I have to get physical with you?”

Chrysalis batted her eyelashes and half closed her eyelids in a sultry manner at her. “Why Commander, I never figured you for that type,” she giggled coyly.

Tempest felt her cheeks immediately flush with blood, thankful her dark coat hid such blemishes, and scowled. “Chrysalis,” she hissed, if only to keep her from barking and waking somebody up. “Focus.”

The changeling rolled her eyes. She came to a sharp halt and sniffed the air. She turned her head and sniffed again, growing closer to a door. She pressed her head against it and listened for a moment, gesturing for Tempest to come closer. “Here,” she whispered, her voice taking on a severe tonal shift. “It’s here. I can sense... Starlight’s wretched presence.”

Tempest nodded and moved to the other side of the door. They looked each other in the eye. Any animosity of the previous moments was wiped clean as they assumed their roles as Knights once gain.

With a sharp intake of breath, Tempest reached out and pressed her hoof against the door. It was hot, almost burning hot, like there was a raging inferno on the other side of the door. She knew what that meant.

“Demon.”

“Tirek was right,” Chrysalis agreed, inspecting her own hoof before placing it on the ground. “Ready, Commander?”

“Ready. On my signal. Three. Two. One-”

It was now or never.

Together the Knights pushed the door open and charged forwards. One’s horn was glowing vibrantly in a brilliant green aura, while the other’s crackled to life with pale blue lightning. Despite the warmth radiating within the room, their breaths came out as if they were outside in the middle of winter. Their eyes were immediately directed towards the mass of shadows swirling in one corner of the room, banging and raging against a magical force field.

And up against the wall opposite, behind an overturned table, and similarly contained--or protected--by another magic shield of the same colour, Starlight Glimmer poked her head up. She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as she saw the Knights, and with a shaking hoof pointed to the growing dark presence in the room.

Tempest nodded at her and trained her focus back on the beast. “Chrysalis, close the door, stay back while I speak with our unwelcome guest.”

Chrysalis nodded and kicked the door shut behind her. A nearby chair was surrounded by a series of glowing green lights that resembled fireflies promptly jammed itself against the door as a makeshift barricade, for all the good it would do them if the demon decided to run.

“Starlight Glimmer?” the commander said to the mare behind the shield. “I presume?”

Starlight nodded. She spoke, but her words were muffled by the magic shield.

Tempest shook her head and pointed to her ears. “I can’t hear you. What?”

The unicorn rolled her eyes and pointed at her horn, then at the shadowy mass in the corner of the room. She reached around and pointed to a small filly clutching at one of her back legs and burying her face into her tail, then back at the shadow.

The Knight quickly put two and two together. She already knew it was one of Honey Bee’s friends who was possessed anyway, so that was a wonderfully useful bit of information Starlight had given her, and she began to share in Chrysalis’s dislike for her. She turned her head and looked Starlight in the eye, fixing her with a cold glare. “We need to lower the shields,” she said slowly, making sure to enunciate her words and move her lips in a way that was readable, and hoped the Headmare of the school could lip read.

Thankfully, Starlight Glimmer did appear to have the capabilities to lip read, and the magical shield opposite to her flickered and faded, like a lamp losing its power. The swirling mass of shadow dispersed to reveal a scarred and deformed, grotesque looking colt unicorn floating three, maybe four feet off the ground. His eyes glowed with an unnatural hate and malice.

Chrysalis bared her fangs at it and braced herself, while Tempest took a step forwards. She cleared her throat and began her speech. “As a duly dedicated representative of the state of Equestria, I hereby order you to cease any and all supernatural activity, and return forthwith to your place of origin after releasing this host.”

The child looked down at her and snarled. “Who are you to command me?” he rasped at her.

Tempest assumed that it was the demon, not the child speaking. “I am a Nightmare Knight. Is Onyx alive?” she asked, remembering what Honey Bee had told her, and couldn’t help but smirk as the demon’s eyes widened.

“He’s in here. With me,” the colt continued to rasp, taking deep, ragged breaths as he spoke. He chuckled, a horrid rasping sound that turned into a a painful cough. “Nightmare. Knight. You are an enemy to us.”

Tempest narrowed her eyes and cracked her muscles again, keeping in between the creature and the mare with the filly. “Yes we are.” She flared her nostrils and gave a subtle nod to Chrysalis, who inched closer without taking her eyes off the beast. “Will you comply with our wishes?”

The possessed colt hissed and bared his teeth. “This vessel is mine now,” it said, almost mockingly. “I will not surrender it.”

Tempest smirked in response. “Have it your way.” She nodded to Chrysalis, who’s horn ignited in a flash of green light and fired a concentrated stream of energy towards the possessed colt, where it coiled around him like sentient rope and burned into his skin.

The demon let loose a howl of pain and an outrageously loud roar.

While Starlight had gotten lucky that this demon was bound by more-or-less a set of mortal rules, there were those that did not. As regular magic had no effect on such monsters, Luna had taught all of her Knights a series of spells specifically designed to counteract the magic of the departed and face down creatures of the night. A way to fight fire with fire, as the saying went.

One of those spells was an imprisonment spell, which Chrysalis had just employed, and its job was as described on the tin. The Knights used these spells specifically for a victim suffering a possession. One or more of them would hold the affected in place, while another would entice the demon out with a hardier, more powerful vessel, like Tempest herself.

The possessed Onyx fixed her with a hateful glare and roared at her. “Release me!” he ordered.

The commander shook her head. “Let’s make a deal, instead. You demons like making deals, yeah?” She grinned coyly and took a step closer.

The demon furrowed its brow at her and snarled again. “What are your terms?”

Tempest cracked her neck and stretched her legs. “The body you’re inhabiting is a weak, defenceless foal of a pony isn’t it?” she coldly stated, beginning to pace back and forth in front of it. “Wouldn’t you be happier in a stronger, more capable body? One you could wreak true havoc with?”

The demon’s eyes narrowed at her. The shadow surrounding the colt’s body dissipated for a moment to reveal his body. “You would suggest another?” it asked, looking her up and down.

“I would.”

“Yours?”

“Hmm.” Tempest tapped her chin, deep in thought. “It does sound tempting, to host such a powerful being like yourself. But-” She held up her hoof. “Before I agree, I’d need assurances you wouldn’t kick me out of my own body. I worked hard for this, you know.” She looked up into the soulless black eyes of the creature.

“Such as?” it asked, clearly falling for the bait. It continued to eye her, and then Chrysalis, who’s magic still surrounded it and bound it in place with a quiet hiss. “Speak!”

The commander spun around as she came to the end of her pacing. “I’d need you to promise not to injure or hurt anypony else, be they young or old, able bodied or infirm, while inhabiting my body.” She stopped in front of it and looked up with a slight shrug. “That’s it.”

The demon began to smile. It shifted in its magical cage and appeared to bow. “Thine wish shall be granted, if I am only released.”

“Ah, but-” Tempest rubbed the back of her head and inhaled through clenched teeth “See, I’d need to hear you say it as part of a verbal contract. If you would, then my partner here will release you-” She nodded towards Chrysalis, who nodded back with a silent grin on her face. “And we can get started on dominating or destroying Equestria as you see fit. Sound fair?”

The colt shifted and twisted around. He held up a hoof and let his forked tongue slither out from behind his blackened and rotted teeth. “By the servants of Tartarus and in the name of the Father, I, Mistrazol, Duke of Tartarus, will-”

“Thank you, that’s it,” Tempest cut him off with a chuckle. She looked up with a smirk, losing all pretence of politeness and cordiality she had been speaking to it with. “Thank you for that enlightening discussion, Mistrazol,” she laughed. Chrysalis also laughed out loud and continued to grin as the demon’s eyes widened, realising it had been tricked.

“No!” it hissed.

The commander of the Knights held her head up high and mighty, and looked the demon possessed colt in the eye. “Mistrazol, Duke of Tartarus, I command you to leave this child be, and return from whence you came!”

“Nooooooo!” the demon shrieked.

The magic surrounding it disappeared, and the shadows surrounding the colt’s body began to rise up into the air, forming a foreboding looking black cloud. Once every inch of it had left Onyx, the cloud dove down towards the Ouija board on the ground and absorbed itself into the cursed object. The pair of Knights looked down at it, then up at each other. With a firm nod, Tempest pointed her horn towards it and fired a bolt of lightning at it, immediately scorching the wood and snapping the board in half, shattering the link between their realms.

The colt, meanwhile, slumped to the floor with a heavy thud. His chest remained still for a few moments while Chrysalis stepped closer to investigate.

“Is he alive?” Tempest asked, looking down at the broken Ouija board. It felt exhilarating to her to banish a demon like that. She always did get a kick out of her new occupation now.

“He is breathing. With minimal damage,” Chrysalis replied with a grin, which immediately began to fade as the magic shield surrounding one corner of the room dissipated, and a small filly with a red and white mane darted out from behind her cover.

“Onyx!” she squealed, immediately rushing to her young friend’s side and skidded to a halt beside him. “Is he--will he--is it--ohh-” she stammered, looking between all the adults in the room with wide, puffy eyes, no doubt from crying and weeping too much. Her jaw quivered as she looked up at the former queen, until the changeling sneered and turned away, grumbling under her breath about how wretched ponies were.

Starlight Glimmer also left the cover and approached Tempest slowly, making her look up at her with a blank expression. The mare looked utterly bewildered beyond belief. Her mane was frazzled and her breath came heavy. “What... was that?” she croaked.

“A demon,” Tempest replied matter of factly.

“Oh... how did-”

“A demon’s power resides in their name. If you know their name, they’re bound by an ancient set of laws to obey you.” The Knight waved her hoof and sighed. “I don’t know exactly how it works so don’t ask me.” She looked down at the filly and the colt and frowned, then looked up at Starlight. “They need medical attention. You’re their teacher, you should do it.” She picked up the broken board and turned the pieces over, looking at them curiously. “We’ll take this to dispose of safely. Luna will forward you the bill.”

“Wha--bill? What do you mean bill?” Starlight began, furrowing her brow in confusion. “You can’t just-”

Without another word, or deigning listening to the Headmare’s protests, Tempest turned and signalled to Chrysalis it was time for them to leave. The changeling queen glared bloody murder at Starlight, both former enemies locking eyes for the briefest moment, before she turned and stamped her hooves on the way out. The chair she had jammed against the door snapped as her magic ripped it away and let it carelessly fall onto the ground.

Tempest was proud of her, mostly for following the right conduct and her signals, but also for not attacking Starlight herself. It must have taken no small amount of restraint on her part. She looked down at the broken pieces of the Ouija board in her hooves and sighed.

“Another night, another job. Tirek will probably want to look at this,” she said casually, as if they hadn’t just faced down an angry demon from another realm of existence.

Chrysalis nodded in a silent and barely controlled rage.

Tempest glanced at her and smiled. “That was nice work in there, Chrysalis. I’m glad you’re on my side.”

Her words reached the changeling’s ears, making her pause for a brief moment. The look of hate on her face vanished, and with a small smile she begrudgingly muttered under her breath. “You’re welcome.”

As Headmare Starlight Glimmer tended to her students and a horse-drawn ambulance rolled up outside the school, the Nightmare Knights reconvened with their comrades and set off back to headquarters without any fanfare or congratulations.

Most of the world remained blissfully unaware of the dangers they continued to face, and that was how they liked it. Cozy asked incessant questions about what exactly happened, and Tirek took the broken board from Tempest with delighted curiosity and enthusiasm, studying the ancient markings and cursed wood.

As the commander said, another night, another job done for the Nightmare Knights.

The House Of The Loving Dead

You have reached the Nightmare Knights. If your haunting is an apparition, wraith, spectre, revenant or tortured soul, please press one. If your haunting is a demon, phantasm, poltergeist, djinn, oni or ghoul, please press two. If your haunting is not on any of these lists, please press--you have selected: One.

Thank you for your patience. You are--number one--in the queue.

In a large house in the heart of Canterlot, a pegasus frantically paced back and forth with the receiver of his telephone jammed against one of his ears.

He was a fairly well off stallion; born and bred in the capital of Equestria to loving parents with a stable, well paying job and a good mix of friends. Yet, as of recently, he had fallen under some hardship. For one, he had woken up on on this particular morning to find himself unexpectedly married, and two, his new wife appeared to be--for all intents and purposes, and to put it quite simply...

A ghost.

He had determined this by way of how she appeared to always float through the air like she was underwater, her translucently pale skin, her words like a mere whisper on the wind and her habit of phasing through solid objects at will.

For the past few days he had found himself, more or less, a prisoner in his own home, unable to leave from sheer fright. Whenever he dared venture out to the world, before long he suddenly found himself back on his couch with the hooves of his ‘wife’ draped around him, holding him in place while she snuggled against him. Anypony he spoke to--his friends, his co-workers and even his nosy neighbours--all claimed they couldn’t see her. He had begun to lose all hope, when he saw an advert for them of the television, and deigned to call the Nightmare Knights.

Cloudy Haze’s crystal blue eyes were wild and wide, and he kept glancing back through the hall of his house towards the living room and shiver. His pale purple feathers bristled and stretched out, and he brushed a strand of his turquoise mane out of his eyes. “Come on... come on,” he muttered as his tail swished nervously. “Won’t somepony hurry up already...”

Following a longer pause than he dared to consider, a click sounded, and a voice on the other end of the line grumpily answered him.

“Nightmare Knights whaddya want?”

He blinked in confusion for a few moments. The voice was female, and sounded distinctly like she was from one of the boroughs in Manehattan, and just as rude as any from that dreadful city. Before he got lost in his own thoughts, he quickly collected himself and spoke. “Hello? Is this really the Nightmare Knights?”

The voice let loose a heavy sigh on the other end. “Yeah, well done Sherlock Pones, you’re a real Grade-A listener ain’t ya? Whaddya want?”

“I have a, um... ghost problem,” Cloudy answered, choosing to bite his tongue and refrain from commenting on the speaker’s rudeness. “It’s my wife, she... I’m not sure where she came from you see, but she, um... she’s not a pony. She... she glows, and I can see through her sometimes. Oh this is a mess, yesterday was so peaceful and calm, and today-”

“Can ya cut to the chase, buddy? I’m sorta busy here,” said the grumpy mare on the phone with what sounded like boredom mixed with mild irritation in her voice.

“Right, yes, of course, I’m sorry, it’s just that-” Cloudy leaned around the corner and saw the edges of his wife’s silver white mane disappear into the living room. “It’s just... when I went to bed last night I wasn’t married, and now... well... I am. She gets... angry when I try to leave. Please.”

With another sigh the voice spoke again. “I’m sorry, bud, but the Nightmare Knights are ghost hunters, not marriage councillors.”

“No! Please!” Cloudy winced in the panic in his own voice. “Please, she... I don’t know what to do. Nopony else will believe me, so you have to. She’s a ghost I tell you! I swear to Celestia!”

The line held silent for a few moments. Cloudy Haze bit his lip and began to despair, feeling like he was going mad. Perhaps he was. It was just a few weeks ago that ghosts seemed like far fetched stories colts and fillies would tell each other while gathered around a campfire, and then more and more news reports of these supernatural happenings began cropping up around Canterlot and the wider world of Equestria. He never expected he would ever have the need to call such a group like the Nightmare Knights, having dismissed ‘ghost hunters’ as an idle fancy and yet another pet project of the princess.

“Please hold sir,” the mare said. The grumpiness and sarcasm in her voice vanished. He heard muffled speaking coming from the other end. The mare’s thick accent mixing with another, softer yet sterner voice. “Hello?” she said after a few moments of stifled words.

“I’m here,” replied the pegasus with a breath of relief. “Can you help me or not?”

“Yeah, we can help ya. What’s your address, sir?”

“260 Princess Way, Canterlot.” Hope began to rise in Cloudy as he heard some more muffled voices. He fluttered his wings in excitement.

“Alright, and your name is?”

“Haze. Mr. Cloudy Haze.”

“Alright, Mr. Cloudy Haze, the Nightmare Knights will be there soon. Please refrain from antagonising the spirit any more and everythin’ll be okay. Ciao.”

Cloudy balked. “Antagonising the spirit? But she-” The line went dead. He huffed and slammed the phone down. “How rude. Well...” He glanced down the hall again, towards where his ‘wife’ was sitting, and winced as he ran a hoof through his mane. “At least help is on its way.” As quietly as possible, the stallion inched his way towards her and swallowed as he crept around the corner.

Her head shimmered as she sat there, staring at the television with a small smile on her face. Her mane flowed out behind her like wisps on the wind. Her pale white body seemed almost translucent in the light shining through the window. She turned to him as she spotted him and her solid white eyes beamed at him.

“Hello, dear. Who were you talking to?”

Cloudy swallowed. “Just, um... work colleagues... darling.” he winced, having never been married before, he didn’t know what to do or how to react. Not only that, but she was simply stunning, too, if not for her spectral appearance. She patted the padded sofa next to her and gestured for him to join her.

“Please, dear, won’t you sit with me? We need to leave soon...”

The stallion’s legs moved as if they had a mind of their own. He found himself sitting down next to her, shivering at her cold touch as she nestled her muzzle into the crook of his neck. The television was blank, nothing but static staring back at him.

Cloudy swallowed nervously, and hoped the Nightmare Knights were as good as they said they were and that they arrived soon.

***

Tempest awoke with a start as a ringing bell sounded in her ears. She quickly jumped up and immediately began to fish her uniform out of her locker. “Get up!” she barked as her fellow Knights also stirred and held their heads.

Tirek reached out with a heavy hand and pressed it into a large button on the wall. The ringing stopped, and with the Knights now awake, they began their daily grind, starting with reluctantly and slowly getting dressed. Cozy yawned and stretched her legs and her wings.

“Do we really have to do this?” she whined as she rubbed her eyes. “It’s so early...”

“It’s 10:30,” Tempest grumbled, glancing at the clock and quickly silencing her. “We have a job to do, so get up and get ready and assemble in the main hall.” She finished zipping up her suit and smoothed her messy bedhead down as much as she could. The light blue stripe going across her chest shimmered for a moment as she gave her body a shake. She grunted in annoyance and swished her tail upon noticing how slowly they all moved. “Move it, Knights!”

They seemed to speed up for a few seconds as they pulled their own uniforms on. Cozy’s was similar to hers, save for a pink stripe instead of a blue one, and Tirek’s resembled a sleeveless vest with red stripes. Chrysalis was the only one who didn’t technically wear a uniform, as a shimmer of green magic appeared around her. One moment she wore nothing but her own chitinous shell, and the next she wore a sleek light jumpsuit like the ponies did. Her stripes were as green as her magic. She flicked her tail and buzzed her wings gently.

“I do not regret many things,” she murmured, examining a reflection of herself in disgust. “But I rue and lament agreeing to wear a uniform. Ugh...”

Tempest rolled her eyes at her. “Suck it up, Princess,” she grumbled. “Remember the deal you made? It’s this and be a Knight or back to stone and collect pigeon droppings. Your pick.”

Chrysalis scowled at her and under her breath muttered something about hating pigeons more than ponies and reluctantly fell in line.

At times, Tempest often felt like she was more of a caretaker than a leader to the Knights. At least, when they were home. On the job they moved like a well oiled machine, with her only directing them with gestures of her head or a swish of her tail, working quickly and efficiently to beat back the spectres that plagued Equestria. At home, during the periods of rest in between jobs, however, she certainly felt like he was dealing with a group of belligerent children sometimes.

Cozy flapped her wings and rose up into the air, coming to a steady hover beside the commander. “Ready, boss,” she said, bringing a hoof to her forehead in a salute.

Tirek snorted and rubbed his back as he yawned and stretched. “I am also ready, I suppose. Although I share in the bug’s sentiment. This is itchy.” he grumbled and scratched at his chest.

The commander rolled her eyes. She swore one day she’d roll them straight out of her head at this rate, and waved her hoof through the air. “Move out. Assemble in the main hall.”

“What, no breakfast?” Cozy asked with wide eyes. As if on cue, her stomach let loose an audible growl, making her wince and rub it gently.

“No. The bell means we leave as soon as we can.”

“Awww... I wanted pancakes.”

Tempest sighed. She felt her own stomach grumble, and she too could go for some pancakes right now. Perhaps wherever they were going today they could pick up breakfast on the way. For the mean time, she focused herself on her job and shepherded them out the room and down the long flight of stairs towards the main hall.

They rounded a corner and saw Jack munching on some toast, as if to tease and taunt them with food. “Mornin’,” she said cheerfully after swallowing. She batted her eyelashes at the centaur and pushed her glasses “Mornin’ T.”

“Hmph.”

Tirek folded his arms and snorted at her, while Chrysalis grinned from ear to ear at him and then the mare. “Aren’t you going to say hello, Lord Tirek? Why not pursue your admirer? It would be your first after all.”

“Silence insect,” the centaur snarled at her and raised his hand to swat at her.

“Enough you two,” Tempest warned as she pushed herself between them before they could start bickering, pushing one hoof into each of their chests. She looked ahead to the earth pony behind the desk and gave her a friendly smile. “Sorry, Jack. Where are we going today?”

“Canterlot,” said the secretary, looking over the notes she had scribbled down in her notepad as the Knights approached. Her attitude remained undaunted, despite Tirek’s scorn. “260 Princess Way. A stallion, name of Cloudy Haze, went and accidentally married himself a ghost. Says she get aggressive whenever he tries to leave. Also he claims nopony besides him can see her.” She looked back up at them and shrugged. “That’s it. Sounds like a milk run, boss.”

Tempest bobbed her head up and down. “Seems so. Never is with ghosts. Thanks, Jack. Alright Knights, you heard her.” She turned to them as they lined up one by one. “Tirek, I wanna know what sort of spirit doesn’t like people leaving.”

“I’d suggest a wraith,” the centaur offered. “Or perhaps a phantom, as only our client can supposedly see it.”

“Right. Cozy, how do you suggest we do this?”

Cozy furrowed her brow and tapped her chin. “Gee, I--I don’t know, Tempy. It depends if this thing wants to go away willingly or not. We could try speaking to it first, or we could try to trap it using Cloudy Haze as bait?”

Tempest twitched the end of her nose. “A live bait approach? I’ll consider it. Chrysalis?” She looked at the changeling, who scratched at her nose and looked like she wasn’t paying attention. “If this ghost turns hostile I’ll need you to back me up, like yesterday?”

Chrysalis nodded at her. “I suppose I can do that,” she said as she inspected her hoof nonchalantly. “Although I would like to see our dear Lord Tirek use his thick skull for something other than research.”

Her eyes flickered with a hint of something Tempest couldn’t quite place. Glee, maybe? In any case, she was glad to know the queen had her back. “Good. Move out!”

“Hey, since we’re going into Canterlot,” said Cozy as they moved. “Do you think we can go get some pancakes? As breakfast? I know this little place-”

“No,” Tempest snapped.

“Aww please?” The filly made her eyes look as large as possible and stuck out her lower lip. “You wouldn’t want your favourite teammate to go hungry would you?”

The commander tapped her hoof on the ground.

As the Knights left the castle and the heavy wooden doors swung shut, Jack was left alone once more. She let out a contented sigh and picked up her magazine of Cosmare and put her hooves up, idly flicking through the pages. After a few moments of peace and quiet, the phone rang again.

She leaned over and picked it up once again, holding it in the crook of her neck while reading the latest gossip. “Nightmare Knights. Is your haunting an apparition, wraith, spectre, revenant or tortured soul, or--what?”

The secretary’s face scrunched up in irritation as the caller interrupted her to babble about some nonsense. “No. No, we don’t summon dead family members so you can get the password to the safe. Buzz off, bozo.”

Her hoof slammed the phone down again and with a huff she returned back to relaxing and catching up on the latest gossip.

***

The Knights had come to a stop and examined the houses in front of them. 258... 259... 260 Princess Way, there it was. The home of their newest client, located just off the main street of the capital. Tempest craned her neck to size the building up and down. It had to have been three storeys tall, clearly a noble’s house, or perhaps some similarly stuffy upper class cretin. She shook her head and rapped her hoof on the maplewood door.

Her ear twitched. The corner of her muzzle twitched as she waited a few moments.

“If the client’s already dead, can we go and get some food now?” Cozy lightheartedly and jokingly asked, hovering behind the commander.

Tempest turned her head slightly to give her a filthy look and banged her hoof on the door again. “If this is a waste of time remind me to blacklist this guy,” she muttered.

It wouldn’t have been the first time they received a bogus phone call from an anonymous tip. It infuriated Tempest to no end when creatures didn’t take her seriously. Whether it was because she worked with a bunch of delinquents or whether it was because of her broken horn, she didn’t know, but it infuriated her all the same.

Again, her knocking echoed through the street, and she grunted as she grabbed the handle. It of course, was locked, so she took a step back and lowered her head.

Tirek, Cozy and Chrysalis all covered their ears, seeing what the unicorn’s plan was.

Lightning spilled forth from her broken horn, and with a flash and a bang the door handle was blasted to kingdom come. Tempest raised her head back up and pushed against the door, where it then fell over with a heavy clatter into the pony’s home.

“Cloudy Haze?” she repeated, peering into the darkened house. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like ghosts in general, viewing them as far too unpredictable for their own good, and prepared herself. The heckles on the back of her neck stood up, and an unnaturally cold shiver ran down her spine. That signified one thing, and one thing only.

This house was haunted.

As if a spectral vision himself, a youngish pegasus stallion appeared, waltzing out from the darkness with a worried frown and large eyes. His mane was messy and unkempt, and a fine layer of stubble grazed his chin. “Hello? Are you-” He stopped and noticed the smoking door laying on the ground, the one Tempest was standing on. “My door! I hope you’re going to pay for that!”

Tempest snorted and gestured behind her. “Take it off the bill. You called about a ghost problem?” She stepped forwards and entered the house, looking around for anything out of place. The chill grew, and she saw her own breath as she breathed. Freezing temperatures, a sure sign of a haunting.

The Knights also followed her, and soon enough they all stood in the narrow hallway, with Chrysalis and Cozy looking around like tempest. Tirek’s horns lit up with the light of his magic as he picked up the door and fastened it back onto the frame. He nodded to himself and dusted his hands before he cast a wide glance around.

The pegasus nodded, trembling in fear as the four villains examined his home. “I--I did, yes, you’ve come to, eh... fix it for me?”

The unicorn nodded. “Tempest Shadow. This is Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow.” She gestured behind her to her companions.

He swallowed and trembled under their gaze. “Cloudy Haze,” he said, holding a shaking hoof out. “It’s, uh... a p-pleasure to meet you all. Thank you for coming.”

Chrysalis snorted. “Yes, yes, dispense with the pleasantries.” She rolled her eyes and fake-gagged at a picture of a loving family. “Is this ghost of yours dangerous?”

“Uh, well, no--but she doesn’t like it when I try to leave.”

Cloudy pawed at the ground and turned his ears down.

Tempest firmly nodded her head. She reached into one of the pockets on her jumpsuit and pulled out a small electronical device and proceeded to wave it around the room. One of the LED lights on the end flickered briefly. The Knights watched her calmly and quietly, and as she pushed it in one direction it began to beep very loudly.

“Level five...” she murmured.

Tirek nodded and cleared his throat. “With your permission, Commander, I’d like to ask our host a few questions.” He inclined his head towards Tempest as she nodded back at him and gestured for him to go on. “You,” he snapped, suddenly and abruptly turning to Cloudy.

“M-Me?” he whispered. The pegasus squeaked as Tirek put an arm around him and practically dragged him forwards.

“Yes, you. Tell me more of this ghost. When did it first appear?”

“Uhhh, w-well it was this morning, I, um, we--she’s married to me... somehow...”

“I see. Has she made any demands of you? Any hint as to why she would be haunting you?”

Cloudy and Tirek’s voices became muffled as they moved through the house. “You two,” Tempest barked, rounding on Chrysalis and Cozy. “Keep close. If this thing gets aggressive we need to keep Cloudy safe.”

The changeling reluctantly nodded her head. “I understand,” she grumbled. “Although I’m not happy with it.” Her eyes shifted over to a painting of a family portrait hanging on the wall and she gagged again. “Ugh. I hate ponies.”

“If it helps, Chryssy, we don’t really like you either,” Cozy piped up, whether genuinely trying to help or antagonising her further it wasn’t clear. “But don’t worry because I do!”

“Oh good, we shall have to practice our secret friendship hoofshake!”

Chrysalis scowled at her and let her sarcasm speak for itself. Tempest couldn’t help but smile and shook her head as they walked through the old and dusty house. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted movement and stopped. For a split second she saw a wispy trail of hair breeze passed her, and she had the distinct feeling she was being watched as another chill ran down the length of her spine.

“I felt it too,” Cozy whispered as she came to a rest on the commander’s back, perching like a parrot.

“So did I,” Chrysalis echoed, narrowing her eyes.

“Jeez I hate ghosts, why do they have to be so creepy?”

Tempest shrugged. “Did you think ghosts would be as colourful as we are?” She sniffed and suddenly sneezed as some dust infiltrated her nostrils. “Sorry,” she apologised as the Knights readjusted themselves. “This place is dusty... too dusty...”

“What do you mean, Tempy?” Cozy asked with a tilt of he head. “This place looks just like an old house to me.”

“That’s what I mean... don’t you think it’s odd?” Tempest continued, making note of the cobwebs on the ceiling. “A stallion, I’d say mid twenties, living alone in a big house like this?” She rubbed the back of her neck and winced. “It doesn’t sit right with me, is what I’m saying.”

Chrysalis glanced at her worryingly. “You suspect there is something else at play here?”

“It’s a possibility I wouldn’t rule out.”

Cozy frowned. “But like what?”

Tempest shook her head. “It’s hard to say for certain. I want to search the house. I’m sure our host wouldn’t mind if we found the fetter that’s keeping the ghost here.”

“I agree.” Chrysalis nodded her head beside her. “Where do you want us?”

“Cozy, you take the first floor, I’ll take the second and the attic. Chrysalis, you check the basement. Big old houses like these always have basements.”

“Understood.”

“Good. Move out. Let’s find us a ghost.”

With that, the three Knights dispersed. Tempest and Cozy began ascending the great flight of stairs heading upwards, while Chrysalis continued to poke around on that floor, following the commander’s instructions to the letter.

***

After nearly forty minutes of searching, Tempest had found not a single thing that radiated with ectoplasmic energy. Every now and then, her EMF--Electro-Magnetic Field--detector would go off, but other than that she found a big fat zero. She poked her head over the corner of the stairs and called out to Cozy. “Anything?”

“Nada,” came the voice of the filly floating back to her from the floor below. “I don’t think Chryssy or Terry have either.”

“Hrrrmm. Alright, I’m about done with this floor so I’ll check the attic now.”

Tempest brushed another cobweb away and coughed again. The house was indeed old, and the air itself seemed to be caked in a fine layer of dust. It still seemed very strange to her that a stallion his age would be living by himself, and as she looked at another family picture, it dawned on her that Cloudy Haze wasn’t in any of them.

“Strange,” she murmured, and looked up towards where the attic door was, and the small bit of string that hung down from it. She lamented not having a working horn again and not being a pegasus. Really, she should have sent Cozy or even Chrysalis up here.

“Hindsight is always 20/20, Fizz,” she begrudgingly told herself. Instead of choosing to continue bemoaning her situation, she crouched low to the ground and leapt upwards like a pouncing cat, just barely nabbing the little piece of string with her teeth.

She hung there for a moment, like a dark, angry piñata, and with a creak, the attic door began to swing open, forced down by the pony’s weight.

Tempest released her hold and landed with a quiet thud. The nimble unicorn quickly stepped back before the foldable stairs crushed her, and with a snort, she ascended them, taking careful steps on the creaky wood. Exploring old houses was something she had gotten used to in her time as a Knight, although that chill she felt when they had first entered still persisted on her spine and made unease grow in her stomach. Even after all these past few weeks, she still felt unsettled when the dead were shy.

She gritted her teeth and poked her head up through the attic entrance, looking around. It was dark, despite the light spilling in from the floor below. It provided some light at least. The Knight sighed and pushed herself up and off of the stairs, stooping to not bump her head on the low hanging rafters or wayward beams. Whoever designed these old houses in Canterlot needed a good kicking in the flank.

“Now let’s have a look around, shall we?”

Tempest looked around as her eyes began to adjust to the darkness and spied a large series of boxes, one of which was labelled simply ‘WEDDING’ in big block letters. She frowned. “I thought he said he woke up married?” she murmured, remembering the pegasus’s words. “If that’s the case, then why...”

Pressing her hoof against the box and giving it a hard shove, the contents spilled out to reveal a groom’s suit and bridal gown nicely and neatly packaged up in plastic wrapping. She stepped around them and fanned her hoof in front of her face, waving away the dust cloud kicked up by the movement.

“Why would he have these?”

She pushed them around with a hoof and glanced into the box. There was nothing besides the clothes and a large black binder, of what she assumed was a wedding photo album. Thinking it might have held some clue to the strange circumstances she was in, she fished it out and held it open, blowing away some of the dust that sat on top of it.

Even in the low light of the attic, as she flicked through the pages her bepuzzlement grew. Picture after picture of happy couples of all sorts, earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, all mingled together with friends and family, but nopony she recognised. She rubbed her nose and sniffed, the dust once again infiltrating her nostrils and closed the book. “I need to show the others this,” she murmured and held tit close to her chest. “Hopefully Mr. Haze can gleam some sort of information from this.”

As she turned and made towards the square of light that was the attic entrance, a voice like a whisper on the wind suddenly spoke as clearly as if there was somepony whispering in her ear.

“Help him...”

It took a second for her to register the sound as a voice, and when she did, Tempest froze in her tracks and cocked an ear out, listening intently to the soft, incredibly sad sounding voice. “Help who?” she asked. “Cloudy Haze?”

“We shouldn’t be here... please...”

The Knight thought for a moment while all the pieces of the puzzle suddenly clicked together in her head, and her heart began to sink. She flicked open the photo album again and had another, thorough look. She paused and eyed the photo on the page she had it open at and let loose a heartfelt sigh. There, in the photo, was a bright and happy looking young mare, roughly in her early to mid twenties, surrounded by friends and family, wearing the same dress that was neatly packaged and forgotten in the box. Beside her stood an equally happy looking pegasus stallion of similar age, wearing a dark suit and planting a kiss on the mare’s cheek, frozen forever in a moment of eternal bliss.

Underneath the photo, Tempest read a single sentence out loud.

“Cloudy Haze and Misty Frost at their wedding. 1910.”

She stared at the date, bringing it closer to her eyes to see easier. 1910. That was... one hundred and ten years ago, making the stallion downstairs either very good looking for his age, or perhaps this house had more than one ghost occupying it.

Tempest assumed the latter and closed the book, holding it to her chest as she returned to her comrades.

***

Tirek, Chrysalis and Cloudy haze all looked up curiously as Tempest entered the room with a grim look. Cozy sat munching on a biscuit, one of the many--now few--snacks their gracious host had left for them.

“Oh hiya, Tempy!” she cheerfully cried through a mouthful of jammy dodger. “We were starting to wonder where you were.”

With a light thud, the commander dropped the photo album on the table in front of them, making the plates jingle and clink against each other. “Found this in the attic,” she stated with a curt nod of her head towards Cloudy. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“Uh, bu--sh, uh--sure, I guess,” the pegasus stammered, looking quite distressed and disorganised. “I-if it helps with getting rid of this ghost, then-”

Tempest held up a hoof to silence him. “Tirek. Open it and turn to the last page. Tell me what you see.”

The centaur leaned over and flipped open the book, following her instructions while she locked eyes with the client. His own eyes widened and he whistled as he examined the page.

“Well now. This is interesting, isn’t it, Queen Chrysalis?” he chuckled grimly after second’s pause.

Cozy’s moved her gaze between them with her cheeks stuffed with biscuit. “Mmf hm?”

Chrysalis grasped the book in her magic and dragged it towards her. Her eyes skimmed the page, reading the words, looking at the photo, and a smile began to dance across her face. “Oh my. It is indeed, Lord Tirek.”

“What is?” Cloudy asked, looking at them all fearfully. “That’s just an old book of photographs, it doesn’t have anything to do with... whatever’s happening to me.” He frowned and tapped his hooves together nervously, like a foal in front of a Santa Hooves impersonator. “Does it?”

Tempest sharply inhaled between her teeth and glared at the Knights for acting like this was some surprise birthday party. “I’m not sure how easy this will be to hear. It’ll be easier if you sit.”

The pegasus’s lip quivered. “W-What do you mean?”

The Nightmare Knights gathered around him. Cozy flapped up and peered over Chrysalis’s shoulder, looking at the photo with a frown on her face. “What does that mean?” she asked.

“It means, Little Pony,” Tirek sneered with a grin on his face. “That our client, Mr. Haze here, is in fact the very ghost he hired us to get rid of.” He looked at Cloudy and snorted at the stallion’s pale expression. “Although I fear he may not even know it himself.”

Tempest nodded in agreement. “Wonderful tact, Tirek, but yes, that’s what I’ve determined.”

“No, n-no it can’t be, I’m... I’m not dead!” Cloudy cried, stepping away from them. “No, you--you’re all villains!”

Chrysalis stepped closer to him. “We may be. But we are Nightmare Knights, and we take our job very seriously.” She raised a hoof at him and swished her mane out of her eyes. “And you sir, are dead and have outstayed your welcome in this world.”

Cloudy fervently began to shake his head. “No! No! No!” His head, like the rest of his body began to shake and tremble. “Stay back! Stay away from me and get out of my house!”

“Cloudy,” Tempest said calmly, reaching out a hoof to him. “I understand this is difficult-”

“Difficult?!” the pegasus roared in her face. “I practically beg you all to come here and help me from whatever’s haunting me, and you inform me I’m dead?!” He stamped his hooves and flared his nostrils. “Get out. Out of my house, out of my life, this instant!”

He pushed himself up and puffed out his chest, glaring at Tempest mere inches away from her face. Slowly, his eyes drifted over to behind her, just over her shoulder, and his lower lip trembled as he looked at something. Or rather, someone.

“She wants us to help you, Cloudy,” Tempest said quietly, lowering her voice, knowing he was looking at the spirit of his wife. “She’s waiting for you.”

“Who is she?”

“She’s your wife, you dolt,” Chrysalis snapped at him, ignoring the pained expression on his face. “See?” She pointed at the photo album, at the two ponies very clearly very much in love. “This is you, and this is her.”

Cloudy looked at the photo and tears welled up in his eyes. “Why... don’t I remember her...”

Tirek cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the room to himself. “If I may? Some spirits who linger find they have difficulty adjusting to their new ‘un-life’ in the realm beyond. They delude themselves into thinking they are alive, and alter their own memories to coincide with stories they create for themselves.” He twiddled his thumbs together casually. “Every memory you have of your time here, in Equestria as of recently, is a figment of your imagination. Think of it as a... bad dream, if you will.”

The pegasus looked utterly crestfallen as he continued staring over Tempest’s shoulder. “Misty...” he whispered. “I...” He looked down and held a hoof in front of his face.

To his surprise, and before the Knights’ very eyes, it shimmered and appeared translucent for a moment. Cloudy’s eyes watered and he released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “I... I think I remember now. Oh... Nightmare Knights, I... I’m sorry for wasting your time.”

Tempest shook her head. “Don’t. The Nightmare Knights, while our clients may usually be living, protect both worlds as best we can. We separate the monsters of our worlds and guide each wayward soul back to where it belongs.” She smiled at Cloudy as he looked at her sadly. “So don’t apologise. You needed help, even if you didn’t know why.”

Behind her, the Knights nodded their heads in silent agreement.

He looked up again and the corners of his mouth tugged--the signs of a smile began to dance on the sombre pony’s face.

“I... I have to go now don’t I?” he murmured.

Chrysalis nodded. “Better late than never.” She stepped aside and waved a hoof upwards, towards where he had been looking. Tirek inclined his head ever so slightly, while Cozy watched carefully.

Tempest straightened her neck up. “Yes, you do, Cloudy. Go, join your wife. Be happy in the next realm and leave this place behind.”

He looked at them all in turn and stretched his wings, becoming more and more translucent and spectral as the seconds passed. “Thank you, Nightmare Knights. I wish there was some way I could repay you. Tempest Shadow. Cozy Glow. Chrysalis and Tirek. I’ll always remember your names.”

It was then that Tempest realised they wouldn’t be getting paid for this job and silently groaned to herself. “You take care now,” she said, biting her tongue and smiling all the same. “Just... don’t come back here again, okay? We’d have to force you to leave, and you’re a nice enough guy. It would kinda suck to do that to you.”

Cloudy smiled and nodded his head. “Oh, I believe you, Miss Shadow. I believe you...” He turned away and closed is eyes for a moment. “I’m... Misty?” The chill that lingered on the Knights’ backs moved further up their spines. “You’re as beautiful as the day I first met you...”

Before them, the light shifted and a pegasus mare appeared, hovering lightly off the ground without moving her wings. Her long mane flowed out behind her. Her hooves were as see through as the rest of her, and her eyes shone and sparkled with droplets of tears. She reached out to her husband and their hooves connected. She looked up at the Knights and beamed at them.

“Thank you...” she breathed. “Cloudy, my love... come with me... we have to go.”

Cloudy looked around at the Knights one last time and smiled at them. He rubbed his eyes and began to rise into the air, his wings as motionless as his wife’s. “Goodbye, Nightmare Knights,” he said. “And thank you.”

Without further ado, he and his wife disappeared with a shimmer. The chill that came from a haunting vanished and the old house remained silent, save for the breathing of the Nightmare Knights.

Chrysalis placed the photo album gently on the table, as a final reminder of the love of two ponies bound in death as much as they were in life to one another and tenderly stroked the cover. She turned and locked eyes with Tempest, who simply nodded approvingly and led the way out. One by one, they silently marched out of the room, into the dusty corridor and out the front door, leaving the dusty old house to collect further dust.

As they reached the street several ponies gave them a wide berth, pretended not to care or look like they were spying in any way shape or form, or flat out turned the other direction and walked away.

Tempest rolled her eyes and yawned.

“So much for the milk run,” Chrysalis said quietly to her, drawing out a light hearted laugh from the scarred unicorn.

“You’re right.” The commander looked at them all in turn and smiled. “That was nice work in there, everyone. Quick and clean. Piece of cake.”

Cozy held her hoof up and widened her eyes. The corners of her mouth began to turn into a smile.

“Yes, Cozy?”

“Speaking of cake, I was thinking... could we get some pancakes now?”

Tempest scratched her muzzle and grinned. “I suppose we could, as long as you get the tab. You know where we’re going?”

“Yuh huh!” The filly eagerly bobbed her head up and down and flapped her wings, rising herself into the air. “Just follow me!” She suddenly stopped and turned around. “Wait, what tab? I don’t have any money.”

The Knights laughed at her and moved together, eager to get something to eat while they had a moment of peace.

Shady Hollow

Blair Wisp, a young, twenty something thestral from the humble little town of Shady Hollow, hummed a quiet tune to herself as she swept aside the remnants of shattered pumpkin staining the ground by the bridge leading in to town.

A sunbeam shining through the trees revealed the silhouette of a slightly worn tricorne hat caked in mud, some several feet away from the bridge’s mouth, with some more shards of pumpkin littering the ground for good measure. She stepped closer to it and picked it up. As she turned it over in one of her hooves, she recognised it as belonging to that funny looking schoolteacher sent from Canterlot. Mr. Crane, she recalled his name being. Well, it appeared to her that Mr. Crane had trespassed too far into the woods and invoked the Headless Horse’s ire. The latest to do so in a long and storied list.

A grim look spread across Blair’s face as she placed the hat carefully in her pack and gave her wings a quick stretch. They shimmered and glistened as a few droplets of rain dripped in through the trees. Behind her, her ebony black tail swished and her dark coat gave her a shadow like appearance. Her flank was blank, as thestrals saw no use for cutie marks or desired a ‘special talent’ of any sort, simply doing what needed to be done here and there; whether it was farming, hunting, or tending to their town.

Blair craned her neck and looked upwards as more sunlight broke through the dark and gloomy clouds and the trees, revealing to her the path a touch more. She supposed this Twilight character had done a good job with the sun today, as she had with the moon the previous night.

Regardless of how isolated they were in Shady Hollow, it mattered little to the thestrals of Equestria of who exactly was running the country at any given time. The one called Luna had visited the town from time to time while she sat on the throne, unafraid of their unponylike appearances and even recruited some of their best and brightest--or should that be darkest?--To serve in her Night Guard in olden times, a decision met by many with equal parts fear and excitement.

When the Equestrian Civil War had begun, all of Equestria had suffered for it. But some historians would argue that the thestrals had suffered the most besides the dark princess herself. Aside from being used as shock troopers and heralds of the night, even a thousand years after the battles had finished and after the Lady of Nightmares had been cured of her madness, many ponies viewed their shadow-inclined cousins with suspicion and fear; seeing them as bad omens and--while not necessarily evil creatures--certainly dark and foreboding. Even those that had ventured out beyond the wild wood and made themselves known in the wide world did not escape the prejudice thestrals faced on a daily basis.

Blair cared little for such idle fancies as what ponies thought of her, however. No, she was simply content to live and let be, to keep the old traditions of her little town alive and continue to respect the dark woods that surrounded them. Although dull and predictable, her life was not without total boredom, as evidenced by the sound of quickly approaching hoofsteps and hurried voices, making her look up curiously.

“Keep that camera steady, brother. I want to get a good shot of the bridge.”

“It’ll be a wonder if we get a good shot of anything in this fog. I can’t see a blasted thing.”

A pair of rather impudent and full of themselves sounding voices sounded out from the fog. Blair tilted her head and squinted. Her cold, cat-like eyes pierced through the mists until she spotted what looked like two ponies. Two rather tall, skinny ponies, wearing blue and white striped shirts with funny looking hats. One of them held a small video camera to his eye and swooshed it around, getting wide sweeping angles of the forest.

“Just you wait, Flam. Imagine, if we manage it, we’ll be the first ponies in the history of Equestria to capture the Headless Horse on film. Bump!’s ratings will be the highest they’ve ever been!”

Blair looked on in mild amusement. They continued to remain oblivious to her presence even as they waltzed straight past her without batting an eye or breaking stride. The fog was so thick it was almost like the mists themselves had wanted her to remain hidden.

The thestral watched and followed them curiously, making no attempt whatsoever to hide herself. She thought they looked the same. Most ponies did to her, what with them not having the same nuances thestrals had. These two, however, well... they were identical in almost every way, save for the one holding the camera who had a thick, red and white moustache decorating his upper lip.

They came to a stop by the bridge’s entrance, with one standing in front of the other and straightened his bow tie. “Ready, Flam?” he asked.

“Ready, Flim,” replied the other. “Let’s bing-bang-zam in three... two...”

Blair tilted her head and listened curiously as they began their spiel.

“Hello fellow cryptid enthusiasts and welcome to another exciting episode of Bump!” said the first pony, Flim. “Brought to you by the Flim Flam brothers, world famous cryptozoologists and seekers of truth! On today’s episode, we have arrived here at Shady Hollow--one of the last blank spots on the map of Equestria.” He gestured behind him. “Just beyond this bridge here, lies the home of the thestrals and resting place of the not so restful spirit of the Headless Horse himself!”

Blair wrinkled her nose up and silently judged them. The thestrals held no particular love for the Horse, as vengeful and ruthless as he was, but they still respected him and never would even dare thinking of exploiting his reputation for monetary gain--or if any thestral had had that idea, they never voiced it.

The ponies continued on like this for several minutes until one of them held a hoof to his ear.

“Brother, do you hear that?” Flam asked, cocking an ear out and swivelling himself around, pointing his camera towards the trees and the dimly lit path. “It sounds like... hooves approaching. Could it be?”

Flim nodded eagerly and squinted into the fog. “I do indeed, brother. And I’d have to agree with you. Quickly, behind those trees.” He turned into the camera and grinned, while the thestral remained hidden from sight and watched them curiously. “Just barely into today’s episode, viewers and already an appearance! What a rare treat for you all. Careful now. Watch... and listen...”

Blair knew of the legends and the songs, and knew what foretold the Horse’s presence. Why these pair of unicorns thought that the actual Horse himself would be approaching them in broad daylight made her question her own sanity. Didn’t they know that he only appeared after midnight?

As if to answer her, from the mists came the a very forced sounding and false laugh, making Blair raise a hoof to her face and silently shake her head in disapproval and benign amusement.

“Nyah ha ha ha haaa!”

From the darkened trees bounded a pony, wearing what was quite clearly just a cheap, ragged cloak and a pumpkin wedged firmly onto his head. He came to a rather unceremonious stop and the pumpkin wobbled, making him quickly readjust it and attempt to look as imposing as possible.

“Foolish mortals, you dare to trespass here? I should take your...”

The ‘Horse’ paused for a moment to adjust his pumpkin head.

“Ugh some got in my mouth... Agh. I should take your... y... hmm. Line?”

Blair couldn’t help but give those present a look of haughty derision as the pony took off his ‘head’, to reveal somepony indeed not the Headless Horse, but rather a miserable and furious looking, solid brown earth pony of no particular discernible features. His muddy brown mane clung to his scalp, greasy and slick with pumpkin juice.

“Cut!” Flam, or Flim, barked, making her head snap around to look as the two brothers stood up from their cover. The one holding the camera snapped it shut and lowered it.

The other one, Flim, or Flam--Blair was never very good at identifying ponies you see--stomped over to the ‘Horse’ and pushed his face in close to him.

“Head!” he yelled, disturbing some crows that nested high above. Blair’s ear twitched as she directed her gaze upwards and saw the trees shift in the wind. A small but growing sensation of dread began to build in her stomach, yet she didn’t know why. Licking her lips she lowered her gaze back down and watched the heated exchange unfold.

“The line is ‘I should take your head’! When we hired you as an actor, we expected you to be able to act!”

The Not-Horse sighed and wiped some mucus off of his face and dried his hoof on the rag he wore. “Listen Fl... whichever one you are. You try wearing that disgusting thing and not get any in your mouth. My contract never stated I’d be forced into this getup.” He snorted and kicked the pumpkin away and began to tear at the cloth around him. “I quit.”

Flim sighed and ran a hoof through his neatly combed mane as it was quickly becoming bedraggled and messy. “You can’t just quit, you signed a contract and made a deal! Try it again, give us a rousing laugh, one that strikes fear into the hearts of our viewers! Like this-”

Blair watched silently as the unicorn reared up on his back legs and howled with--again, very forced and fake--laughter. “Mwah ah ah ah!”

Both his brother and the Not-Horse, as well as Blair herself, snickered with laughter as he fell back down and readjusted himself.

“Perhaps, brother, leave the theatrics to somepony else?” Flam offered.

Flim scowled at him and snorted and kicked the dirt. “Well, I’d like to see you try any better.”

“Very well then, I shall. Since you’re not comfortable acting, perhaps you can be our camerapony, then, my good stallion?” Flam asked, turning to and holding the camera out to their associate.

The earth pony shrugged. “I guess. I still expect to be paid.”

“Naturally, of course.”

Flam passed the hired actor the camera and cleared his throat. He inhaled a deep breath before rearing up on his back legs and prepared himself.

”YAH HA HA HA HA HA!”

A resounding and terrifying laugh sounded throughout the woods, emanating from all around those present and permeating their very souls. Flim and the brothers’ hired help looked at one another and whistled, quite impressed with Flam’s display. Blair felt the growing dread in her stomach increase tenfold and found herself frozen in fear for a moment.

“Well, brother, that was... something,” the unicorn chuckled nervously. “Perhaps you should be our hired actor?”

Flam swallowed and turned as white as a sheet. “Th... that wasn’t... me...” he whispered.

”YAAAAH HA HA HA HAAA!”

The laughter came again, only this time it was... intensely closer. The trees began to glow with a bright reddish colour--the colour of blood--and the air grew colder, revealing their breaths. Blair felt something inside her wake up as she spied a pony among the trees. It was taller than any thestral and wore a long black and ragged cloak. Its hooves were feathered and as black as night. It had no mane, but its tail lashed around the trees like a living shadow. Where the pony’s head should have sat, a pumpkin with fiery, flickering eyes stared back at her, a malicious grin carved into his face.

It was him. The Headless Horse in the flesh.

Against her better judgement and with a deep and primal fear coursing through her veins she leapt forwards out of the bushes, and barked at the ponies.

“Run!”

Time seemed to slow as they looked at her, then at the Horse, then back at her. The hired actor was the first to move, quickly lobbing the camera at one of the unicorns before darting away, back down the path the brothers had approached from.

“No not that way!” Blair cried despairingly. “Across the bridge!”

It was too late. The unicorns and the thestral stood frozen in terror, and watched as the Horse turned his pumpkin smile towards the earth pony scampering away from him and procured a large, double headed axe from within the folds of his cloak. The glowing, sinister red light intensified for a moment. The earth pony glanced around to see the axe raised and a shrill cry of terror escaped him. Blair squeezed her eyes shut but heard a heavy thunk and a thud all the same, and she knew what had happened. She swallowed and dared to open her eyes only to see the Horse return his weapon to the folds of his cloak and lean down to pick something up.

The Horse’s mad laughter resounded through the woods again and he reared up on his hind legs, his morbid trophy a silhouette against the light shining through the trees.

Blair quickly turned and hauled flank across the bridge.

“Run!” she screamed at the brothers. Her wings beat up and down, desperately trying to carry herself forwards as much as possible. Her tail tucked instinctively between her legs as images of being grabbed and pulled back flashed through her mind.

After what felt like an eternity, she reached the other side and thrust herself down into the dirt and the safety of the other side of the brook, panting and gasping for air.

“He’s not supposed to be out in the day,” she breathed, looking around wildly. The Horse stood at the other end of the bridge, his grin chilling her to the bone. Raring up on his hind legs again, he turned, and with a swish of his cloak, he vanished as quickly as he appeared. The glow of his aura vanished along with him.

With shaking hooves, she rose up and started towards the town. “I have to tell somepony...” she whispered to herself. “Brawn... my brother... somepony...”

“Excuse me! I say, filly, wait just one moment!”

Blair paused in her tracks and slowly turned around. The unicorn brothers quickly assembled themselves and approached her.

“You’re a thestral, yes?” Flim asked as he readjusted his hat and straightened his bow tie.

She nodded. “Excellent observation,” she muttered dryly.

“And you live here in Shady Hollow?”

Again, Blair nodded.

“Wonderful! Flam, would you-”

Flam lifted the camera up to his eye and quickly counted down again. “Three, two, one.”

Flim sidled up to Blair and swung a hoof around her. “My dear viewers, your beloved hosts here have just escaped the clutches of the dreaded Horse himself! If not for the timely intervention of this young filly here-” He nudged Blair in the side and wiggled his eyebrows. “We might have found ourselves goners, and Bump! would be a thing of the past. Tell me, miss thestral, what is your name?”

Blair blinked. “Blair,” she stated without thinking, before twisting her face and shrugging him off.

“Blair!” The unicorn grabbed her hoof and gave it a vigorous shake. “You have my and my brother’s eternal thanks for saving our hides. Care to spare a few moments to answer some questions we have?”

“I didn’t save anypony’s hide,” she snorted. “I told you to run, and you did.”

“Ah but if not for your timely intervention, the Horse would surely have-”

“Listen.” Blair rounded on him and flexed her wings. Her sharpened fangs revealed themselves as she snarled at him. “Whatever you hope to achieve by coming to Shady Hollow forget about it. Something is terribly wrong here. The Headless Horse is only supposed to appear at midnight, not during the day. Now, if you’re finished, I have to tell someone. Excuse me.”

As she turned away she flicked her tail dismissively at the unicorn brothers, and heard them quickly scramble to recompose themselves and continue with their shtick.

“Ahem. Well, viewers. There, uh... you have it. A mystery indeed. Come with us now as we venture forth into Shady Hollow. As always, we at Bump! seek the truth of the matter. Onwards, brother!”

“And cut.”

“Our rating will be sky high once this episode airs.”

“Indeed they will dear brother. Think of the money...”

Blair shook her head and wondered who would believe her, and who could help. If the Horse was indeed free to wander about during the day now, then Shady Hollow was in grave danger and leaving the safety of the town was out of the question. An idea came to her, and she remembered her brother was close to Princess Luna. Yes, maybe she could help... or at the very least send those who could help.

***

Princess Luna looked up as a knocking came at her door. She put down her quill and cleared her throat, moving aside the stack of paperwork left for her to fill out after another ‘excursion’ by the Nightmare Knights. “Enter.”

The door swung open to reveal one of her trusted Night Guard, a young thestral of about thirty winters. He strode forwards and sank his head in a bow to her and stood silently while waiting for direction. She could see that he was tense. His eyes seemed distant and the midnight alicorn got the impression something was troubling him.

“At ease. Willow, wasn’t it?” she asked, offering him a smile, hoping to alleviate some of his clear tension. “You may remove your helmet, if you so wish.”

He bowed again and obeyed her, lifting his hoof up to remove his helmet. His jet black mane, cat-like eyes and gaunt appearance stood out against the usual brightness of Equestria. She supposed that was typical of all thestrals, however, and a bitter taste was left in the director’s mouth for a moment as she saw his ragged wings flutter nervously.

“My Lady Luna,” Willow started. His voice was coarse, and as dogged as his war-torn wings. “I have a message. From my sister.”

Luna stood up and moved around her desk to give him a proper greeting. She admired the thestrals and always enjoyed seeing them, no matter the circumstances, almost viewing them like her kin. Once shunned and forgotten by the wider world, now relics of a bygone era, much like herself.

“What is this message?” she asked him.

He looked over her with piercing, feline eyes. “Our hometown is besieged, it would seem.”

“Besieged?” Luna felt the heckles on the back of her neck stand up and a sudden rage boiled inside her. “Who by? Who dares threaten Equestrian territory?” She flexed her wings.

Willow shook his head and bared his fangs in a brief moment of anger. “Not a who, your ladyship. But what.” He paused, and looked down at he ground. “Forgive me for sounding foolish, my lady. I refer to the Headless Horse, a ghost which has terrorised Shady Hollow for decades. My sister and I grew up listening to stories and songs about him.”

The alicorn relaxed herself but remained alert.

“I see,” she stated, looking out the window for a moment before turning back to him. “Ghosts and their ilk are not as foolish as they might have seemed a few years ago, Willow. Please, never apologise for their interference in our mortal lives. Tell me of this Headless Horse.”

Willow inclined his head towards her as a token of respect. “The legends state, and for as long as we have heard the stories we have known this to be true, that the Horse has always been confined to the late hours of the night, between midnight and three in the morning. My worry comes from the fact that my sister informed me he attacked during the day.” He gritted his teeth and set his jaw. “She barely escaped with her life, and according to her, the spectre is patrolling the woods, rendering any of them unable to leave.”

Luna nodded and tapped her chin. “I see. Troubling indeed.” She sized the thestral up and down. “And your sister has tasked you for asking for my assistance?”

“Yes, my lady,” he said, holding his head up high. “I beg and implore you to-”

“I shall alert my Knights immediately,” Luna stated, cutting him off quickly. She spun on her hooves and moved to the window. “As luck would have it, I have been informed that they are in Canterlot as of this very moment. Would you accompany them to your hometown for me?”

Willow nodded, breathing a sigh of relief and looked at her gratefully. “I would, your grace. I have not seen Blair in some time. It would... be nice.”

Luna nodded knowingly. “I understand completely. Stand aside, please, and I will summon them here.”

Willow stepped aside and tilted his head slightly. He, like many others living in Canterlot, had seen Princess Twilight zipping around the place with flashes of magic, but to his knowledge she had never summoned anypony before. For Luna to do so was going to be a sight to see for sure.

The director’s horn ignited in an indigo aura and with a flash and a pop, four figures materialized out of thin air before them both. Three were pony shaped, and one was half a pony and half something like an ape.

“What the-” one of them said.

The speaker, the smallest figure, a pegasus Willow could see, looked around with wide eyes. Upon seeing Luna and the thestral looking at her, a look of dreaded realisation dawned on her face. She sunk to the ground and pounded her hoof into the wooden floor.

“You maniac!” she howled. “You took them away! Darn you! Darn you to Tartarus!”

Willow looked bewildered at them. “My lady?” he whispered to Luna.

The alicorn smiled at him and gestured to the four figures. “Willow Wisp. Allow me to introduce to you...” She paused and began to scowl, even as the leader of the group picked the filly up by the scruff of her neck and plopped her into position before standing at full attention.

“The Nightmare Knights.”

***

Sugar Glaze Place, the number one pancake, sugary sweets and crêpe café in Canterlot, was unusually quiet for the time of day it was. A few ponies sat here and there, but all gave one entire side of the café a wide berth.

The reasons for this were fourfold. The Nightmare Knights sat at a booth by the window and waited for their food to arrive. Tirek had just barely managed to squeeze in to the seat, and even then his legs had to rest alongside him as they wouldn’t fit under the table like a pony’s would. Cozy didn’t mind as she sat next to him, hovering just above the seat with an excited grin on her face, casually bopping her hooves on the counter in some sort of tune, while Tempest and Chrysalis sat across from them.

The former looked around the nearly empty establishment and grimaced. Despite their status as ‘reformed’, most ponies still looked at them with fear and kept their distance. She supposed that was simply a side effect of their past lives, and as time would pass they would--hopefully--be remembered for being Nightmare Knights instead of simply villains, and didn’t bemoan them for it. Chrysalis on the other hoof, she seemed to be struggling with the concept.

The former queen propped her face up on her hoof and gazed out the window at the crowds moving passed them, occasionally clicking her tongue and baring her fangs as some hoity toity Canterlot pony spotted her staring and hurried on their way.

Movement, and the sound of clinking plates, made them all turn and look expectantly at the approaching serving mare. Cozy whooped and cheered and flitted up into the air. Tirek yanked her tail down and forced her to sit, giving her a scowl as he did so.

“Sorry about your wait guys,” the mare said with a chipper voice.

When Tempest saw that on her wings and across her back were several plates, each one with a stack of pancakes, crêpes, waffles--and four milkshakes, she grimaced, thinking they had perhaps ordered too much. “Darnit, Cozy,” she muttered under her breath.”

“Lemme know if I can get you guys anything else,” the serving mare said cheerfully as she slid each of the plates onto their table and set the glasses down. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks,” Tempest said as her own stack of pancakes stared back at her, dripping and glistening with sauce and a clump of ice cream looking like a crown directly on top. It did look delicious, she conceded.

“Oooooh!” Cozy squealed as she nabbed her fork. “Where to start, where to start...” She twirled it around in one of her hooves and began to salivate. When she noticed her fellow former legionnaires of doom hadn’t started eating she paused and frowned at them. “Aren’t ya gonna have anything, Chryssy? Terry?”

Tirek lifted up his plate and eyed it suspiciously. “What are these?” he asked, poking and prodding at the food.

“I believe they are what are commonly referred to as waffles, Lord Tirek,” Chrysalis muttered before Cozy could answer, snatching one of the menus from another table and pointing between the image shown with that on his plate. “They look disgusting. What is this... ‘camel sauce’ they’re dripping with?” She twisted her face and stuck her tongue out. “I’ve never tried camel before.”

“It’s caramel, not camel!” Cozy cried in defence of the food. “Try it. It’s sugary and sweet and sticky and-”

“I’ll pass,” the queen grunted and shoved her plate away. “I’d rather suck the love out of a dung beetle than put any of this wretched pony food in my mouth.”

Tempest silently ate her food throughout the encounter while the filly argued that waffles, pancakes and the like were the best food ever made. She wiped the edge of her mouth with one of the provided napkins and smiled, leaning back in her seat in contentment.

“Ugh. If I say I’ll try some will you leave me alone?” Chrysalis snapped.

“Uh huh!” Cozy beamed happily at her, giggling mischievously to herself, quite pleased she had gotten her own way. She leaned forwards with bulging wide eyes as the changeling used her fork to slice a piece of pancake off.

Reluctantly and slowly, and while the Knights watched like a group of weirdos, Chrysalis’s tongue unfurled and licked what was on her fork, tasting the sugary sweetness, the ice cream and the sauce all at once.

It was incredible. Purer than the purest love she had ever eaten. The flavours all blended together perfectly and practically exploded in her mouth, making her insides feel all funny and gooey. Definitely poison to have such an effect. Regardless, Chrysalis found she wanted more and jammed the fork in her mouth, chewing and swallowing almost instantly. She quickly collected herself after a moment’s pause and coolly brushed some mane out of her eyes.

“I suppose this is... acceptable,” she murmured, much to Cozy’s elated delight.

“Yay! I told you it would be!” She grinned at Tirek. “And I told you I could get her to eat some.”

The centaur muttered something under his breath and begrudgingly extracted a pouch full of coins from the inside of his vest. “Here,” he grunted and dropped it in front of the filly.

Chrysalis’s eyes widened. “You gambled on whether I would enjoy some delic--disgusting pony food or not?!” she roared, not bothering to pause for her slip up. “Commander, can you believe this-” She froze and gaped at what was happening before her.

Tempest shifted in her seat and pulled out a small bag of coins from a pouch in her jumpsuit, giving it over to the grinning filly without a word but directed a sheepish smile at the former queen.

“I don’t believe this. I have half a mind to simply take my leave of you all! In fact-” Chrysalis leaned forwards and lifted up her pancakes with her magic. “Deplorable creature that you are, Cozy Glow, I’m going to eat all of this in front of you, and savour every last bite, just to spite you.”

Cozy giggled away to herself and twirled her fork again. Just as she pressed it into the pancake in front of her and carved herself off a piece and lifted it to her mouth, there was a flash and a poof of magical dust. The filly blinked as she bit down on precisely nothing and looked around with wide, big and confused eyes.

“What the-” Cozy started, looking around wildly.

She spotted the reason for them all being there, as did Tempest and the others, and sank to the ground in front of Director Luna. She pounded her hoof into the floor and howled in sorrowful, overly dramatic pain. “You maniac! You took them away! Darn you! Darn you to Tartarus!”

Tempest saw the director smile and gesture towards them.

“Willow Wisp. Allow me to introduce to you...”

The commander quickly grabbed Cozy by the scruff of her neck and hoisted her to her hooves. She gave her a stern glare and moved her hoof over her mouth, indicating for her to be quiet now.

“The Nightmare Knights.”

Tempest, Cozy, Chrysalis and Tirek all looked up expectantly at the director and held their heads up. Cozy’s brow stayed furrowed at being torn away from her pancakes, but she held the former princess’s gaze all the same.

Their leader took a step forwards and cleared her throat. “Director Luna? To what do we owe the pleasure?” she asked with a slight bow.

Luna nodded back at her and gestured to the thestral standing at her side. “Nightmare Knights, allow me to introduce Willow Wisp, a member of my Night Guard. Willow, these are the Nightmare Knights. Commander Tempest Shadow, Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow.” She turned back to Tempest and held her head up high. “Willow will act as your liaison with the thestrals in his hometown of Shady Hollow and fill you in on the details when you arrive. When you are finished alert me and I will return you to Canterlot for a full debriefing.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tempest said, nodding politely at the thestral as a token of respect. “May I ask a few questions before we leave?”

“You may. But be brief, Commander.”

The Knight inhaled through her teeth. “Give me background, what are we working from?”

Luna nodded and began to explain. “Shady Hollow is a small town located in Western Equestria. It is an isolated town located deep within a forest that surrounds it. There, the legend of the Headless Horse originated, and it is he whom you will be facing.”

“The Headless Horse?” Cozy whispered, looking between her comrades, Luna and the thestral quickly. “He’s just a myth right? Just a story they use to scare little kids like me into behaving, right?”

The thestral stepped forwards. “If I may, your ladyship,” he said to Luna. She gestured for him to speak and turned to look out the window as he spoke. “The Headless Horse is no mere myth, Cozy Glow.” His voice was low, and dripping with dread. “He has hunted and slain any and every pony who dared venture into the Hollow’s woods for as long as I an remember. Once in my home town, I hope you will see that I speak the truth, as does Lady Luna.”

Luna tapped her hoof and he took a step back. “Thank you, Willow. Any further questions, Knights?”

Tirek cleared his throat, making the midnight alicorn look at him expectantly.

“Pardon me, Director, but what sort of threat is this ‘Headless Horse’? What sort of ghost is he? Need we take any of our supplies?” He folded his arms and snorted. “I do not mean to sound rude, but to go in blind is a touch foolish is it not? Especially if he is as aggressive as we are led to believe.”

“While I understand your concern, Lord Tirek, I am confident that all that you need will be provided by the thestrals in Shady Hollow,” Luna responded. The corners of her mouth twitched into a small smile and her eyes sparked with mischief. “Unless, of course, you wish to remain behind, in which case I could have it arranged for you to return to the castle? I believe Miss Inkwell will be delighted to spend some alone time with you.”

Tirek quickly fell silent and simply bowed his head to her, a dark scowl crossing his face in an instant.

“We understand our duty, ma’am,” Tempest said, potentially saving him from further embarrassment. She cast a glance to her team and noted their faces. Despite Luna’s thinly veiled threat Tirek looked determined to do a good job, as did the other two. Even Cozy, as dejected as she looked at losing out on pancakes, looked ready and eager to kick some ghost flank.

“Good. Do not underestimate your foe here, my Knights,” Luna warned. “There are no doubt worse ghosts prowling the edges of reality as we speak, but rarely ones more lethal than the Headless Horse.”

With that last warning her horn ignited in a blaze of magic. She turned to Willow and smiled softly at him as he looked a touch worried. “I shall send you all there now as close as I can. This may tingle, Willow. I assure you any feelings of dysphoria are normal and will pass shortly after. If you would stand by them.”

He inclined his head towards her and neatly folded his wings at his sides, moving and coming to a stop beside Tempest. A single bead of sweat ran down the side of his head and he licked his lips. Tempest wondered if he had ever travelled by teleport before. She assumed he hadn’t. Truthfully, she hadn’t either until she became a Knight some months ago.

Light emanated from the former princess’s horn, and with another flash and bang their surroundings changed once again. They all found the cold wooden floor underneath their hooves disappear, replaced instead by soft, warm earth. Chrysalis waved a hoof in front of her face to dissipate the dust kicked up by their arrival and rustled her wings.

“Well this is a lovely locale, isn’t it?” she muttered. “This is Shady Hollow, then?”

The thestral stumbled and coughed, rapidly blinking his eyes. “Yes... yes it is...” he murmured, glancing up and around at the trees. “But... there is something wrong here. It feels...”

“Sick,” Tirek murmured.

Willow nodded and swallowed hard, taking a step forwards to reacquaint himself with the old woods,

Tempest glanced at the centaur curiously. “Do you sense anything?”

He nodded slowly. “I suspect there is more than just one vengeful spirit at work here, Commander, although I cannot say for certain what exactly.” He flexed his muscles and cracked his shoulders. “We should be cautious.”

“I agree.”

“Can we hurry up, please?” Cozy grumbled and folded her hooves like a stroppy child. “Hopefully I can still get my pancake while it’s still warm when we get back.”

Chrysalis snickered at her discontent and misfortune. “Oh boo hoo, hoo. Perhaps if you hadn’t been so concerned with whether I enjoyed mine or not you could have eaten yours by now.”

“So you did enjoy it?” the filly chuckled, giving her a sly grin.

The changeling’s face fell and a scowl appeared on her brow. “Watch yourself, Cozy Glow,” she growled. “We’re a long way from Canterlot. Anything could happen to you out here, especially with a bloodthirsty maniac charging about these woods...”

Tempest covered her mouth with a hoof to keep from laughing out loud as she saw Cozy’s horrified expression. She strode forwards and joined their thestral guide’s side. “Where to, Willow?” she asked him.

Willow remained stock still. His ears twitched rapidly atop his head, and his tail kept flicking nervously. He tensed up and flinched as Tempest tapped him on the shoulder and got his attention.

“I... I am sorry, Knight. Yes, Shady Hollow is this way. Once we cross the bridge we will be safe from the Horse’s power.”

“Lead on then. Tell me more about the Horse.”

Willow blinked and looked at her. “You wish to learn more about him? Is this so you can fight him easier?”

“Exactly.” Tempest grinned coyly at him. “It’s what we do. What can you tell me?”

“Little beyond stories, I am sorry to say. Brawn Bones would tell them and sing songs about the Horse, you see when we were foals. If it can help then I would point you towards him. As roguish as he may seem, he has a good heart and enjoys the company of strangers.” Willow nodded, more to himself than anything. “Yes. Bones will be able to assist you further I am sure. When we arrive at the town I will introduce you.” He gave her a quick glance up and down and smiled. “I hope for your sake, Tempest Shadow, that you and your Knights are ready.”

Tempest grinned and turned her head to those behind her. “Knights, what is it we do to ghosts like this Horse guy?”

Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy all matched her grin with their own.

“We come.”

“We see.”

“We kick their flank!”

Willow looked bewildered at their jovial attitude as they all laughed together and threw their heads back. He shook his head slowly and led them up to his hometown.

None of them noticed the trees begin to glow red with a sinister and foreboding light behind them. None of them saw the pony standing amidst the light, staring at them with a wide grin carved into his face.

***

A drowsy, dreamy influence seemed to hang over the woods, pervading the very atmosphere of the sequestered glen that was Shady Hollow. The town itself was full of dark buildings, narrow alleys, cobblestone streets and dull colours--even during the day as it was now, it looked bleak and uninviting. The town’s peculiar inhabitants, the thestrals of Equestria, didn’t seem to mind this at all however. In fact, one could say that with their equally as dull colours, the thestrals suited the aesthetic of their chosen home.

Despite the dreariness of the town, the local tavern was, as usual, the most colourful part of any locale; practically alive with joyous creatures sharing in drinks, rowdy roughhousing, and of course merrymaking. One particularly rambunctious thestral swung his hooves around his smaller friend and pulled him in close.

“Willow, me old lad! How’ve you been? Finally deigned to leave Canterlot to converse with the peasants?” he teased.

The Nightmare Knights shifted in their seats, looking around cautiously at the gathered and bustling throng. Tirek looked as out of place as can be, and Chrysalis sneered around the room as the thestrals of Shady Hollow gave her warm smiles and friendly greetings. Cozy, meanwhile, was devouring some food their hosts had ordered for them, moaning and groaning in pleasure as she ate the strange baked pudding stuffed with carrots.

“Mm... you guys gotta try this,” she told her companions.

Willow meanwhile rolled his eyes at his friend and shrugged him off. “Brawn listen to me.”

In comparison to the skinny Night Guard hidden behind his armour, Brawn Bones was a burly, brawny creature as his name might have suggested; with a square jaw, a bone white coat, pale yellow eyes and a slate grey mane. Tempest guessed he was in the mid-thirties range from the traces of muzzle on his chin and rings around his eyes.

“We’re not here to sit and make merry, although I am pleased to see you my friend. We were sent here to-”

“Willow, lad, don’t be so formal.” Bones grinned at the Knights and bobbed his head up and down and waved his hoof in the air towards them. He smiled warmly at them and held a hoof out. “Introduce me to your friends.”

“They’re not my fr-” Willow began with a sigh, earning a sneaky wink from Chrysalis and a bat of her eyelashes.

“Tempest Shadow,” Tempest curtly said as she nudged the changeling in the thorax and extended her hoof towards the outstretched one and gave it a firm shake. “This is Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow.”

“A pleasure to meet you all!” Bones raised a tankard and grinned at them all before taking a large swig of it. When finished he smacked his lips together and set it down. “Now, what was it you were saying, Willow?”

“Him,” whispered the young mare sitting beside Willow before Tempest could say anything. She spoke quietly, and her voice was tinged with dread. “I saw him myself, Brawn. They need to know everything they can to face him.”

Willow put a comforting wing around her and gave her a gentle squeeze.

Tempest looked at the frazzled mare carefully. Her mane was a mess, her pupils were contracted and appeared like the smallest black vertical slits in a sea of green. Her hooves trembled even as her brother held her steady and her wings kept flapping of their own accord. Something had clearly spooked the filly.

“And you are?” she asked her.

Willow cleared his throat. “My sister, Miss Shadow. Blair. She-” He lowered his voice to a whisper and looked around conspiratorially. “She was the one who saw the Horse, you see.”

Bones’s face fell. The jovial attitude vanished in an instant, replaced by a grim and concerned expression.

“What exactly did you see, Miss Wisp?” the commander asked the young mare in as soothing a voice as possible, trying not to spook her any more than she already was. The Knights all leaned forwards, even Cozy put down her knife and fork for a moment, but retained a mouthful of food.

The mare shifted her gaze to Tempest and swallowed. “He was a great... beast of a pony. Dressed in a black cloak, his tail seemed to coil around itself like a living shadow. He had a laugh, a dark, booming laugh that chilled me to my core, and...” she trailed off and began shivering.

Tempest leaned back and rubbed her nose.

“He wore a pumpkin for a head,” murmured a unicorn that had sidled up to them quietly.

Tempest looked around in surprise and frowned. “A pumpkin? Sorry, who are you?”

“Good heavens, let me apologise,” the unicorn continued, gesturing to himself and the identical pony beside him in everything besides the moustache. “And allow to introduce ourselves! I’m Flim-”

“And I’m Flam,” said the moustachioed stallion, currently holding a small camera up to his eye. The steady red light on its side indicating it was recording them. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Mind? Mind what?” Tempest growled at them. “Can’t you see we’re busy here?”

“Ah but, Miss Shadow--yes, we at Bump! have heard of the famous Nightmare Knights.” Flim tipped his hat to her and gave her a wide, toothy smile as she tilted her head in question at him. “We record the supernatural and the paranormal, the fantastical and the unbelievable, and broadcast it to all of Equestria!”

Cozy swallowed her food and wiped her mouth with the back of her hoof. “Bump!? what’s Bump!?” she asked.

The unicorns grinned at her and lowered their heads. They quickly rearranged themselves and stood back to back in some sort of attempt at a serious pose holding the camera aloft with magic and pointing it at themselves. “To protect the world from devastation-”

“To unite all ponies within our nation-”

“To share our knowledge of the unknown-”

“To ensure that ghost stories aren’t overblown-”

“Flim!”

“Flam!”

“Bump! Takes off at the speed of light!”

“Truth hiders beware and prepare to fight!”

The Knights looked at one another in a stunned silence with eyebrows raised to the sky as the unicorn twins finished, their eyes twinkling like stars for a moment or two. When they had finished and readjusted their hats and shirt collars, they looked at the group and turned their ears down.

“Too much?”

“A bit,” Chrysalis replied with a lopsided smirk as she struggled to contain herself at their absurdity.

Blair glared at them. “They were pretending the Horse was a pony dressed up,” she said. “They didn’t take him seriously enough, and now he rides during the day.”

Flim pulled at his collar and grimaced as Tempest’s scowl deepened at them. “Ah. Well, yes, we did. Purely for dramatic effect, you see. But since our, um...”

“Associate,” Flam put it, cringing slightly at the fierce looks the Knights’ Commander gave him. “is unfortunately no longer with us, we find ourselves in a bit of a pickle with this Headless Horse fellow.”

The room fell silent in an instant. The joyful noises the thestrals were making replaced by an eerie silence, and dozens of cat-like eyes focused themselves on the gathered company. Tempest’s ear twitched as she swore she could hear a fly’s wings beat.

Brawn coughed and tapped the table, drawing the attention back to himself. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, Blair--I’ve known you and your brother since you were foals--or you... unicorns whom I do not know or particularly care to know, but don’t you think that’s a little farfetched?” he asked the mare, genuinely seeming concerned for her. “What’s more, if we cannot leave during the day then we’ll end us as prisoners in our own home, what would you have us do?”

“That’s why we are here, Mr. Bones. To prevent that,” Tempest said, shooting some nearby thestrals a look. She cleared her throat and addressed both their contact and the room. “The Nightmare Knights have been sent by Director Luna herself to get rid of the Headless Horse. But to do so we need information.” She leaned forwards and looked Bones in the eye. “So please, tell us what you can and spare no detail.”

The brawny thestral leaned back in his chair and scratched at his chest. “Lady Luna herself, you say? I can’t tell you much besides what the stories say, I’m afraid.”

“That will do. Any information is better than no information.”

“The Horse is evil incarnate!” cried a voice from the crowd.

A series of murmurings went up around the speaker, making both Willow and Blair’s ears turn down.

Brawn held up his hoof. “That’s enough, everytral.” The crowd continued to stare and grumble quietly despite his declaration. “I said that’s enough! Go about your business.”

With that, the crowd quickly returned to normal, although several pairs of eyes still stared at the group. Chrysalis scowled back, baring her fangs at a few of them. “It’s the same wherever we go,” she muttered. “Narrow minded fools.”

“They don’t mean ill of you, Miss Chrysalis,” he replied with a sigh. “They’re just frightened, afeared that the presence of an outsider will bring the Horse’s wrath down on our heads.”

Tirek cleared his throat. “Ahem. Mr. Bones, you were about to tell us what you could?”

Bones nodded and took a sip of his drink. “Of course, my apologies. As the stories go, one thousand years ago, the Horse was a soldier in the Equestrian Civil War. Yet unlike many who followed Nightmare Moon...” He paused as they gasped and all took on grim expressions. The quiet whirring of the unicorn brothers’ camera filled the void between them all, earning them a scowl from Chrysalis. “The Horse supported her not out of pity, or vanity, or even a desire to see the moon never set. No, he followed her purely for his love of bloodshed...”

The thestral whistled and looked up at the cobwebs adorning the ceiling.

“He was a demon given pony form, designed and made for one thing and one thing only: Spreading death and destruction wherever he went. In the final days of the war, when Celestia banished her sister to the moon, this butcher returned to Shady Hollow, to the place he felt some kinship in the world aside from the Night Queen with the thestrals of old. The princess sent her Solar Guards to track him down and bring him to justice for his crimes, but they arrived too late.”

“What do you mean?” breathed Cozy, teetering on the edge of her seat in awe, wiping up the plate with her hoof and licking the gravy. Tempest rolled her eyes and realised she should have asked for a bib for her.

Bones shook his head sadly. “The thestrals had felt betrayed by Nightmare Moon; their faith in her shaken after their unbeatable sovereign had been... well... beaten. When the Horse arrived, they grew resentful and anxious that Celestia would come for them next for supporting the dark alicorn. To try and appease her before she could, they bound the Horse and cut off his head with his own axe in the town square.” He shivered and grimaced and rubbed his own neck while the others looked on gravely. “They took his body into the west woods and buried him under an old willow tree. The legend says that night, at midnight when the moon was at its highest, did the mark of the moon burn itself upon the wood, and the Headless Horse rose from his grave. Thus he began his vengeful quest against the living. To protect themselves, thestrals used an ancient form of shielding magic and placed it on the bridge into town, I’m sure you’ve seen it.” He inhaled deeply for a moment before continuing.

“If that bridge should ever fall, Shady Hollow will burn.”

The group fell silent for a few minutes, contemplating his words.

Chrysalis was the first to break the silence. “Typical of Celestia in my opinion,” she grumbled. “Incites the worst at the first mention of her ‘terrible wrath’ and lets somepony else clean up her mess.” She shrugged as Tempest glared at her. “That is, if this story is true.”

“It is,” Blair said, looking her in the eye.

Tirek stroked his beard and tapped his chin. “And where exactly is this willow tree?” he asked calmly, choosing to refrain from quipping about the former princess.

Bones shook his head and shifted in his seat. “Deep in the west woods. The Tree of the Dead, they call it, as the tree withered and appeared rotten shortly after... it happened. They say that creatures of the forest go there to die.”

“Do we have any specific location other than ‘deep in the woods’?” Chrysalis sneered. “I’m not traipsing through some trees in search of a graveyard.”

“Well if you have any better ideas, your majesty,” Tirek snapped back at her. “I’m sure we’d love to hear them.”

The changeling growled and buzzed her wings lightly as they began bickering back and forth. Tempest simply leaned back in her seat and rubbed her temple, feeling just as frustrated at their situation. Brawn Bones sighed and ran a hoof through his mane, their discontent adding to his.

“I’m sorry I can’t be of much further help, Knights.”

Blair’s ears turned down. “I... know where it is. I can guide you if you want, Miss Knight?”

Willow rounded on his sister and frowned. “What? How?”

Tempest looked at her curiously. “How would you know where it is?”

“Well, um, I was walking around the other day, looking for pinecones, when I came across a clearing.” She shivered before continuing, and avoided the stern glare her brother was giving her. “The ground was littered with bones--just like the stories say--I didn’t stay too long...”

The Night Guard shook his head. “It’s always been dangerous to wander around on your own, Blair,” he scolded.

“I’m not a child anymore, Willow,” she fired back at him. “I can look after myself.”

“Anyway,” growled Tirek. “You were saying?”

“She’s said enough,” Willow stated firmly. “I’m not letting my little sister go rushing off into the woods, even if it is to help Shay Hollow.”

Chrysalis snorted at him and grimaced. “So you would doom your home because you refuse to let one pony help? A truly noble specimen you are, Willow Wisp.”

“That’s enough,” Tempest barked, making the Knights immediately cease in their jeering.

Bones looked between them warily. Even in Shady Hollow did they hear of how three of the four Knights present had almost decimated Equestria and destroyed or corrupted all magic and the very nature of friendship itself. He wondered exactly what kind of pony Tempest Shadow was to command such fearsome creatures without batting an eyelid, or even be able to subdue them with mere words and vague, thinly veiled threats.

“We have a lead,” the Knight continued. She looked at the Night Guard and narrowed her eyes. “Willow, I’m sorry but your sister will have to guide us. It’s that, or we burn the whole forest down.”

The thestrals recoiled in horror. “Surely you’re joking?” Bones asked. He immediately regretted his question as instead of answering him with words, the three villains simply grinned at him. Their eyes flashed with malice left over from a previous life, and he swallowed nervously.

Willow hung his head in defeat and gritted his teeth.

“Feel free to join us if you will,” Chrysalis told him. “If nothing else, perhaps the Horse will take your head instead of one of ours...”

Tempest rose from the table and bowed her head to Bones. “Thank you for your help, Mr. Bones,” she said to him. “We’ll take it from here.”

The thestrals occupying the tavern parted as the Knights and their thestral company, followed closely by the unicorn twins left the premisies. Bones ran a hoof throug hhis mane and shook his head gently.

“Luna guide you, Nightmare Knights...” he whispered. “And Celestia save you, should you need it.”

***

It had been a few hours since the group left town in search of the Tree of the Dead, marching through the dark woods. Of course, the grim atmosphere and their mission didn’t in the slightest deter Flim and Flam from asking incessant questions, talking to their camera about their ‘esteemed guests’ and giving them ‘interviews’. Tempest was beginning to lament not sending them away immediately.

No-one else seemed to mind them, though, so as much as she didn’t like it, she tolerated them and let them be. Chrysalis in particular seemed to relish in filling their heads with embellished stories of their exploits and cracking inside jokes with Tirek and Cozy Glow at their expense. Blair and Willow walked on ahead, with the latter scolding the former about wandering off into the woods.

Tempest walked alone and off to one side, keeping a sharp look out for any sign of the Horse. A deep sense of unease had begun to grow in her stomach ever since they left the Hollow. She embraced it, as it kept her sharp and alert. Blair, and Willow for that matter, despite the Night Guard’s training regime, didn’t look as comfortable as they pushed passed some more trees and stumbled over some overgrown roots and underbrush.

The commander cocked an ear out and listened curiously, realising something she didn’t know she was missing. “Wait,” she said to the group. “All of you. Listen.”

They all turned their heads and held their ears out, even Flim and Flam.

“I don’t hear anything,” said Willow. “Commander, what are you-” He stopped as he looked into her eyes.

She nodded back at him. “Exactly. No birds. No crickets. Not even a wind.” She narrowed her eyes and carefully looked around. “We must be getting close.”

The brothers ceased their chattering immediately, no doubt for ‘horror effect’ or some nonsense for their show. Among them, the group’s mood had shifted dramatically, and all of them could taste the palpable dread in the air.

Blair swallowed and waved them on with her wings as they continued on. The trees seemed to grow thicker and darker as they moved onwards, twisting and stretching up to the skies. The forest seemed never ending, even thicker and darker than even the Everfree forest. The absence of sound aside from their hoofsteps unnerved them all until they suddenly broke from the trees.

A thick and impenetrable fog seemed to descend upon them in an instant, blinding them and obscuring their vision

“This is it...” Blair whispered. Her ears trembled as they swivelled atop her head. “It has to be...”

Willow put a wing around her and gave her a comforting nuzzle. Tempest whistled quietly for her team. and stretched her legs “We’ll go first,” she told them. “We need to be careful. Stay behind us, and keep an eye out.” Without another word, she stepped forwards into the mist.

The Night Guard nodded. “Luna be with us.”

“She isn’t, that’s why we’re here,” Cozy said with a gleeful grin on her face as one by one the Knights disappeared from view. It did little to alleviate his fears, possibly even enhancing them somewhat. Flim and Flam readied themselves and looked on the verge of turning tail and running.

They shared a nod with one another and raised their camera high. “Imagine the bits, brother,” one said to the other. “The real Headless Horse... the real Nightmare Knights!”

“I am,” replied the other. “Oh, you bet your flank I am.”

They clasped hooves together and each stepped forwards. Their hooves tentatively reached out before finding their footing, stumbling and tripping over a series of uneven stones that littered the ground. Ahead of them they could just make out the tail ends of their party and hurried to catch up.

A gust of wind shifted the mist enough for the commander to make out that the stones were actually strangely brittle white rocks that cracked and shattered under her weight. The wind passed and the fog returned, and with it their vision was obscured once again.

Tirek crunched over some of the rocks and blindly waved his arms out in front of him. “I can’t see a thing,” he muttered.

“Your powers of observation continue to amaze me, my lord,” Chrysalis snarked.

Tirek stuck his tongue out her and grumbled under his breath.

Cozy, peering over the edge of his back at the ground curiously, tapped the centaur gently. “Terry, hang on a sec -” She hopped down off of his back and landed on the ground when he stopped. She inched closer to one of the rocks and gave it a quick inspection. Very quickly she turned as white as a sheet and her pupils shrank in mild terror. “Uhh, Tirek?” she whispered at him.

“What?”

Tirek turned his head enough to see the filly’s pallid expression and frowned.

“Not to alarm anypony, but, uh, you know that crunching sound we’ve been hearing as you stepped on all those little white rocks?”

Tempest paused and turned around.

Cozy swallowed hard and flapped up into the air. “Well, they weren’t rocks.”

They all directed their gaze downwards and saw a sight that chilled them to the--not to be precise--bone. Under their hooves were not in fact dead or dry leaves, or funny looking white rocks, but bones.

Femurs, skulls, tibias, rib cages and spines belonging to all sorts like mice, birds, a few larger animals--Chrysalis saw what she thought looked like a boar skull--but thankfully no ponies or pony shaped creatures. The mists chose that moment to fully dissipate and unveil a dark, towering tree above them.

Tempest narrowed her eyes and glanced at Blair, noting the mare’s trembling, even with her brother by her side. He also looked as white as a sheet, no doubt having never seen such a sight before.

The commander looked up at the dark, twisted and gnarled tree in front of them. The drooping branches and the strands of the willows themselves clinging on like tendrils grasping at a life once had certainly gave the tree its namesake, if the hundreds of bones that surrounded it like a macabre garden didn’t. She whistled sharply through her teeth and gestured at the trunk.

The Knights fanned out and began inspecting the tree, searching for any sign of a grave. The FlimFlam brothers meanwhile, instead of offering to help like the altruistic souls they were, rubbed their hooves together, imagining all the money they were going to get and how much their ratings would soar with a discovery like this.

“Flam, are you getting this?”

“I am, brother... oh boy I sure am...”

Willow and Blair stood to one side, gazing up at the tree. “It’s just like the stories say,” breathed the former. “The Tree of the Dead...”

“I know...” The latter nodded. “I-” She stopped and squinted at the base of the tree as something caught her eye. “What is... Miss Tempest?” she called. “Nightmare Knights?”

Tempest’s head popped around the side of the tree. “You found something?”

“Look.”

The mare pointed down to what she had seen. Tempest walked over and looked down. The clouds above parted just enough for a ray of light to shine down and reveal a symbol, burned into the very wood. “The mark of the moon...” she whispered. “Chrysalis,” she barked. “Get in here and dig.”

Chrysalis rounded the corner and huffed. “Really, Commander? Digging in the mud like some dirty, grubby foal?”

“That’s an order,” Tempest shot back with a coy grin. “You can change into something else if you’d like to help yourself.”

The changeling curled her lip at her as green fire erupted around her. In her place where she once stood, now stood a scowling timberwolf with sharpened claws and jagged fangs. The wolf pawed at the ground carefully before starting to dig, scuffing and kicking up mud and dirt behind her in a way only a dog could.

Tirek and Cozy stifled some laughter behind their hands and hooves. “I would suggest you keep this form, your majesty. It makes you tolerable,” the former chortled.

“Would the doggy like a treat?” the filly teased before she fell into a fit of laughter, rolling around on her friend’s back giggling and clutching at her sides.

“I’m not sure why you’re laughing, Cozy,” Tempest warned her. “It’s your turn to clean the toilets when we get home.” She grinned at the horrified expression crossing the young Knight’s face, and then looked at Tirek. “And you should know better. How would you like to help her?”

Tirek’s smile faded and a scowl quickly replaced it. “Pay attention, you wretched thing!” he grumbled at Cozy. “And thanks for getting me in trouble.”

“Me?! You laughed first!”

“Did not.”

“Did too!”

Chrysalis wheezed a laugh at them, looking very much more like a hunched over dog with a underbite than a regular timberwolf now as she continued to dig.

Willow looked on in amazement, and felt a very real sense of fear wash over him as his and Tempest’s eyes met briefly.

The scraping of mud eventually stopped and Chrysalis turned around. Green magic ignited the air around her once more and her true form stood, looking down at what she had uncovered. “Commander...”

“I see it, Chrysalis.” Tempest’s face was grim as she and the others looked down. The Knights gathered around, Willow and Blair as well, and Flim and Flam craned their necks--and their camera--to see into the hole. There, at the changeling’s hooves, was indeed a skeleton, with a very intact head on its shoulders.

“So that is the Headless Horse...” Willow murmured. “Buried at the base of a willow tree...”

Blair nodded and leaned into him for support. The mare trembled and shivered.

Tempest cleared her throat. “Alright enough gawking everyone. Let’s finish this.”

Tirek nodded in agreement. “Of course, Commander. I must preface this act with a warning, though, for our company who doesn’t do this sort of thing regularly.”

The scarred unicorn nodded. “I suppose. Go ahead.”

“What do you mean?” Blair asked with wide eyes.

The centaur looked at those gathered, specifically the unicorn twins and the thestral siblings and addressed the issue. “When burning bones of a spirit, they are almost guaranteed to get angry and try and attack. When this happens, it is best to fend them off as much as possible until the bones have been turned to dust. Fortunately for you all, this is why we are here.”

“Eloquently put,” Chrysalis chided as she pulled herself out of the shallow grave. “But you forgot the part about us nearly dying the last time we did that.”

Tirek waved a hand at her. “That was merely the first time. We know what mistakes not to make now.”

Willow blinked. “Wait, you almost died?”

“Yeeeah but we got over it,” Cozy said without a hint of irony.

“I thought the Knights were infallible?”

Tempest snorted. “There are sill some kinks we’re working out.” She shook her head and stamped her hoof. “Like sleeping on the job?” She glared at the red menace himself and raised her eyebrows at him.

Without another word, a stream of fiery magic fired forth from the centaur’s horns, incinerating the bones in an instant like a snowflake in a fiery grip. Willow stepped back and put a protective hoof out in front of his sister as flames lapped at the air in front of them. Flim and Flam’s eyes shone in the light, the fire being reflected in their camera lens.

After a few minutes and after the smoke had risen up into the air, there was a great rumble heard through the woods. The fog cleared in an instant to fully reveal their grim surroundings and a sinister red light began to emanate from the tree itself.

“By Celestia! It’s happening again!” cried Flam. He held the camera as steady as he could with trembling hooves. His brother reached over and held it, and him, as steady as possible with equally as trembling hooves. “The same glow as before when Miss Blair saved us! Commander, it’s-”

“The Headless Horse,” growled Tempest as a great maw opened in the tree trunk. “Here we go...”

A shadowy figure galloped towards them, growing larger with each second. She could see the glowing, fiery eyes of the Horse’s pumpkin head, his long black cloak billowing out behind him, and his tail snaking and coiling around behind him like a living shadow. She saw a glint of something, and with a whoosh an axe whizzed passed her head, circling the clearing before returning to the tree. She noticed it was surrounded by the same glow in the Horse’s ‘eyes’.

Without skipping a beat she yelled at the top of her lungs. “Knights!”

They quickly assumed positions and leapt away from it. Tirek’s horns ignited and an orb of magic appeared between them, channelling dark energy from the Otherworld. Atop his back, Cozy began directing them as to where the Horse was about to strike next, and beside them Chrysalis was surrounded by green fire once more. A fearsome black dragon where she once stood raked its spear-like claws along the ground and snarled, its reptilian eyes glowing with a fiery intensity. Flim and Flam darted away and hid behind some nearby bushes only the end of the lens of their camera poking out, and Willow gave Blair a hard shove out the way as the Horse rode towards them.

“Terry, duck! Watch it, Chrysalis! Tempy he’s on you!” came Cozy’s callouts as they battled the fearsome spirit.

Blair gasped as she looked on the spectacle before her. Colours of all sorts: red, green, blue, orange, and the pale green of the Horse himself lit up the woods as the Knights fired spell after spell, and the spectre countered and battled them back with his ferocious axe.

A raucous, mad laughter emanating from the spirit echoed around them, striking fear into her and making her clamp her hooves over her face. Her brother shielded her with his body and held her still, folding his wings over her as best as he could. She glanced into his eyes and saw pure, unadulterated fear.

”YAAAH HA HA HA HA!”

After deftly dodging another blow by the spectre’s axe, Tempest lowered her horn and pointed it at their enemy. A spectral, purple and unstable beam of energy fired forth and finally found its mark, striking the Horse square in the chest, only to curiously have no effect.

“What?”

She balked. “The ectomagic, it’s... useless?”

Chrysalis swiped at the Horse with her claws, making him leap backwards and perform a cartwheel. For a pony with no head, he was extremely nimble on his hooves.

The Horse held his axe close, focusing his flaming gaze on the unicorn with a broken horn. He raised one hoof to his chest and levelled his weapon at her, seemingly recognising her as a warrior of the night.

Cozy’s mind ticked over as she watched their magic continue to have no effect, but noticed how he kept leaping back and trying to avoid a swipe by Chrysalis. Even when the mighty dragon sent a jet of fire towards him, he dodged it, but his cloak wasn’t saved and began to burn, its end becoming singed and charred with embers. She blinked and realised what was happening, and quickly reached up and hissed in Tirek’s ear what she had realised. The centaur’s eyes widened as he noticed it too and nodded.

The Horse reared up on his back legs and twirled his axe around. The same glow of magic that surrounded his weapon grabbed Chrysalis by the throat and began to squeeze.

“Tempy! Use a physical spell! No ectomagic!” Cozy yelled.

Tempest obeyed without even questioning it. A surge of lightning shot out from her forehead, surging and zigzagging through the air, and once more found its mark.

This time, he appeared to stumble and fell over backwards, writhing in pain.

The magic surrounding Chrysalis released itself and she dropped to the ground, returning to her original form. Tirek rushed to her to check to see if she was okay. She assured him she was and looked on as smoke poured out of the Horse’s chest where Tempest’s spell had hit him, and a sound like a wheeze came from the pumpkin. The fire emanating from it was put out in an instant, and his axe dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.

“What in Luna’s name...” Blair whispered as she gingerly picked herself up. “Is that...”

“He ain’t no ghost,” Cozy chuckled nervously, her eyes flicking rapidly between her fellow Knights as they looked to her for an explanation. “Remember that old movie we watched a few days ago? How it was just a pony in a suit?” She looked back down at the Horse. “I had a hunch is all.”

They all approached him cautiously, Flim and Flam had their camera at the ready, still wearing some twigs and leaves on their heads and clothes and blabbering to themselves about the ‘heroic’ and ‘indomitable’ Nightmare Knights had just vanquished the dreaded Headless Horse himself. Blair reached out to the pumpkin, but Willow gently touched her hoof and shook his head.

“Look at his tail.”

They all did, and saw that it was not in fact living shadows, and now simply just a normal pony tail, solid brown and boring in colour. In fact, the Horse’s body seemed a lot smaller now, and the pumpkin looked like it had begun to rot.

Tempest felt a chill run down her spine. “Get it off,” she panted.

The centaur of the group cracked his fingers and reached out. He grasped the rotting, mouldy pumpkin with both hands and pulled, and with a tug, it came off with a light popping sound and crumpled to mush in his grip. He made a noise in disgust and shook his hands, wiping some of the foul juice onto the dirt by his hooves.

Cozy poked over his shoulder in wonder and amazement, while Chrysalis’s face twitched in anger.

The Knights, Flim, Flam, Willow and Blair all craned their necks in to see nothing more than a unicorn, strangely skinny and lanky for a pony but still, just a simple unicorn lying there, looking dazed and confused. His eyes swirled with green, luminous magic, yet quickly faded into murky brown pools. His horn glowed faintly with traces of magic, the same magic he had been holding ‘his’ axe with.

“Ahh!” he shrieked and quickly tried to cover his face. “My face. He’ll find me without my face! Have to run! Have to hide, no--no hide, just run. Can’t run. He’s coming...”

Tempest grabbed his hooves and forced them apart. “Who are you?” she asked him as calmly as possible. “What’s your name?”

He weakly tried to shrug her off while looking old and frail, and clearly terrified of something. “He’s coming... he’s coming!” he continued to rave in absolute nonsense.

Blair went as white as a sheet like she’d seen a ghost. “Mr. Crane?”

Willow remained silent and stared at the pony.

Chrysalis rounded on her with a sneer. “You know this wretch?” she hissed. “Who is he?”

The mare nodded and her lower lip quivered. “Mr. Crane... he... he came to Shady Hollow a few weeks ago, a teacher from Canterlot. He vanished after a small party we threw last night, and... I thought the Horse killed him...”

“Clearly you thought wrong, then.” The changeling pointed an accusatory hoof at the pony in front of them. “This creature is nothing more than a charlatan playing off the fear of an old legend, no doubt using it for his own twisted games.” She paused for a moment. “Quite admirable really, as far as villainous nature goes.”

Crane looked around at them curiously until his eyes rested on the thestral mare. “Run! Have to run... can’t hide. He’s coming! He’s coming!” he rasped. His voice grew weaker and as he tried to stand he immediately stumbled and slumped back down to the ground. “He’s coming!”

“Who is coming, Mr. Crane?” Blair asked, placing one hoof on his shoulder and turning him to look at her. “Please, tell us.”

“Can’t... can’t hide, have to run...”

Behind them all, Flim cleared his throat and Flam turned to him, camera in hoof. “Well folks you saw it here with your own eyes. It appears that for all intents and purposes, we, and the rest of Shady Hollow for that matter, have been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok and flat out deceived-”

“Can it, Flim,” Tempest growled at them. The Knights glanced at one another and then their Commander with growing unease, more so than what they felt on the approach to the tree. She looked down at Blair and motioned for her to continue.

“Mr. Crane? Can you hear me?” she said quietly to the jabbering pony. “Who is coming?”

“Run. Must run and hide.” Crane’s teeth began to chatter as he continued to rant incoherently. “He’s-”

“He’s coming, we get it,” Cozy muttered and rolled her eyes. “Geez, what is he a parrot or something?”

Tempest sighed and ran a hoof through her mane. “We’ll have to take him back to Canterlot. Maybe Luna can get inside his head and figure out what he’s talking about.” She looked over to the grave they had dug and the ashen embers of the Horse’s bones. “At least the Headless Horse has been dealt with,” she said quietly. “But now there’s...”

She turned her head back down at Crane as he began rocking back and forth, still whispering about someone coming.

“This.”

Willow flexed his wings and nudged Blair gently. “Step back, Blair,” he said to her. “I shall alert Lady Luna and send you to her now, Nightmare Knights.”

“That’s it?” his sister asked with wide eyes. “You’re leaving? just like that? But... I thought...”

He nodded glumly and nuzzled her cheek. “I was sent on a mission by Luna herself, Blair. I have to return to her for a debriefing and resume my duties in Canterlot. If I disobey then... what am I?”

“Free.”

All eyes turned to Chrysalis as her poignant tone left them all surprised. She began to blush and looked away with a frown. “Can we leave so we can leave this miserable town and return home, lest our journeying here be for nothing?”

Tempest nodded in agreement with her. “Yeah. Luna needs to know about him.” She looked back down at Crane and grimaced. “Take us home, Willow.”

“Ahem.”

All eyes turned to the cougher and the speaker. Flim and Flam stood side by side and lowered their camera. “Well friends, my brother and I must part ways with you now,” Flim said. “We’ve gotten all we need for the latest episode of Bump! and let me tell you, it has been a great honour to watch the famed Nightmare Knights work firsthoof--and to capture it on film for the world to see, no less!”

Chrysalis scowled at them. “If you’re quite finished,” she growled. “Then beat it.”

“And so we shall,” Flam quickly stated, shifting his hooves under the changeling’s stern gaze. “Come, brother. We need to get this edited and broadcasted.”

The pair of them walked away from the group, the completely wrong direction from civilisation and began talking to each other about the amount of viewers and sponsors they were going to get from this episode. Blair sighed and shook her head. “I’m going to have to get them, aren’t I?” she muttered.

Tirek laughed. “I would give them a bonus featurette and chase them through the woods if I were you, just for the fun of it.”

A slight grin spread across the mare’s face. She nuzzled her brother again. “Come visit us again soon, won’t you?” she said to him.

“Of course,” he replied. “I will.” He looked up to the Knights and waved them over. “I advise you to stand close to me, Knights. And Blair, step back.”

He touched his chest plate and his sister obeyed him. A glowing light surrounded them all, and in an instant they were gone, with only a breeze blowing passed where they once stood. Blair sighed heavily and set off after Flim and Flam, deciding not to be cruel to them and simply agree to guide them back to town, and then somewhere else if they wanted.

***

There was a snap, a crackle and a pop as Luna looked up from her desk to see the Nightmare Knights, the Night Guard she had sent with them, and somepony she did not recognise. The midnight alicorn pursed her lips as she stood and pushed aside her papers, setting down her quill in the process.

“So the Headless Horse, is he-” she began.

“The situation was more complicated than we had originally thought, your high--madam Director,” Willow said with a bow. “But the Nightmare Knights were successful.”

“We can speak for ourselves,” Cozy Glow muttered.

Luna frowned and held her head up high. “And who is this guest you have brought with you? You there, stallion, state your name, rank and intention.”

“Run!” Crane blabbered. “Run. Hide, hide and run. He’s coming.”

“I see. What is your name?”

“Hide! Got to hide! Can’t hide--should run.”

Tempest shook her head. “Blair said he was a teacher sent from Canterlot a few weeks ago, called Crane,” she explained. “He was masquerading as the Headless Horse, and only started this when we managed to subdue him and take the pumpkin off. He just keeps repeating himself over and over. Run, hide, some variation of the two, and ‘he’s coming’. We don’t know who.”

The director lowered her head to the stallion and touched his shoulder gently. Her horn glowed briefly as she cast some spell at him and closed her eyes. His own eyelids fluttered shut and he slumped over in a deep sleep.

“Masquerading, you say? Troubling. Thank you for bringing him here, Willow. That will be all, Nightmare Knights.”

The commander bowed, although the rest of the Knights looked disgruntled at being dismissed so casually without even a word of thanks to them for a job well done.

“That’s it?” Chrysalis snorted. “Here I thought you liked us, Luna.”

Luna glared at her and said nothing. Instead, her horn ignited in a blaze of indigo magic and surrounded the Nightmare Knights. Their surroundings changed once more and they realised they were standing in the main hall of their castle. Jack looked up briefly from her magazine and raised her eyebrows.

“What took you so long?” she muttered.

Tempest exhaled a breath she didn’t know she was holding and strode up to the secretary’s desk with a corporate, business-like demeanour. “Any messages?”

“Nice to see you too, Commander.”

“Don't sass me. Any messages?”

“Nope.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Nadda. Zilch.”

“Ugh. Fine, let me know if anything comes up. I want to know the second it happens”

Jack looked at the commander over her glasses and frowned. “You got some downtime and all you can think about is work? You need yourself some sugar, girlfriend.”

Tempest’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks while the Knights snickered behind her. “That is... wholly inappropriate, Jack,” she snapped after a moment of stunned silence. “Just do your job and let me know if anything comes up.”

“Affirmative, Commander,” the earth pony said with a wave of her hoof. “Don’t say I never try an’ help, though.”

“She’s not wrong, you know,” Chrysalis chuckled. “A mare like you could do with some... sugar.”

Tempest rounded on her as they started up the stairs towards the common room. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped.

“Don’t take this personally, Tempy,” Cozy chimed in. “But you’re kinda wound tight a lot of the time.” She shrugged and fluttered her wings as the unicorn’s glare found her. “That’s nothing compared to Terry, though. You should have seen what he was like in Tartarus.”

“I told you I hate that name,” Tirek growled at her while Chrysalis laughed and the corners of Tempest’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Besides after being in there for centuries, being ‘wound tight’ would be the least of your worries.”

“You guys ever hear about how he and his gram-gram would write letters to each other?” the filly continued, ignoring his jab at her. “She calls him Moon Pie.”

“You leave Gram-Gram out of this!” Tirek roared in her face, going from zero to a hundred in an instant.

“Oh well that’s just delightful,” Chrysalis chortled, snorting with laughter. “Does Moon Pie wove his gwandma?”

“At least I have a gram-gram you snivelling cockroach.” He paused and began to grin. “And at least I don’t cuddle a stuffed toy of Princess Twilight in bed.”

Chrysalis’s laughter ceased immediately. A deep dark red began to spread over her face and her eyes shrunk so much they were almost invisible. “Cozy gets hooficures!” she practically screamed.

Cozy put her hooves up in defence. “Well yeah, who doesn’t wanna look their best when they’re saving the world?” She grinned with a malevolent glint in her eye. “What do you do with a stuffed toy of Twilight?”

“I’ll have you know I throttle it every night and plan my revenge. It helps soothe me.”

“Pfft, yeah right. Does somepony have a crush?”

Once again the Knights took to bickering and arguing amongst themselves while poking fun at Chrysalis. Tempest allowed herself to laugh and shook her head, glad to be in their company. Perhaps she was wound tight. Perhaps she didn’t care, as they all came with their set of quirks.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” she told them before punches could start flying or magic could start getting eaten. “Settle down. Go do whatever you want to relax--that doesn’t involve destroying Equestria.”

“Aw Tempy, you’re no fun,” Cozy giggled.

With another job and another day done, the Nightmare Knights had earned some well deserved rest, free from ghosts, cameraponies, rowdy thestrals and strange, crazy murmurings.

At least until next time, when they’d have to do it all over again.

The Most Horrible Time Of The Year

‘Twas the night before Hearth’s Warming, and all across the land,
Ponies were rejoicing, their holiday was finally at hand.
Songs were being sung. Merry was being made!
Hearth’s Warming was here, and many a joyous game were played.

And yet, despite the worldwide jubilee,
There, in the castle at the heart of the Everfree.
A bitter and bad tempered storm was forming,
As a certain changeling grumpily declared...

“I hate Hearth’s Warming.”

Chrysalis sat in a large, comfy chair by the warm fireplace with folded hooves and a deep, dark scowl across her face, grumbling humbugs about Hearth’s Warming. The Knights themselves were surprisingly amicable when it came to the festive, cheerful holiday, and thoroughly enjoyed a few of the my traditions that came with it. But the former queen utterly loathed it, and despised the season.

“Lighten up, Chryssy,” Jack cried as she trotted passed with a box full of tinsel and fairy lights on her back. More decorations for the already too colourful tree taking up a sizeable portion of the room. Chrysalis twisted her face in disgust at what the mare wore; a cream coloured festive sweater with an image of figgy pudding embroidered onto it.

“It’s the holidays! Aren’t ya gonna wear your sweater?”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” the changeling curtly replied in little more than a growl and kept her brow furrowed. Her own festive jumper, one of black, light green and yellow--embroidered with the image of a cheerful bee--lay in a discarded heap of itself on the arm of her chair. She used a short stick to poke it further away as if the holiday cheer was infectious. “Besides, there are more important things to worry about than your perfectly wretched pony holiday.”

Cozy Glow flapped passed her carrying a small box of baubles and began hanging them on the tree. She wore her own bright red festive sweater, adorned with small images of pancakes, waffles, and gingerbread mares holding hooves in a line. “Aw c’mon, Chryssy. Don’t be such a flat mirther!” she cried cheerfully.

Chrysalis’s scowl deepened, and her eyes flashed bright green. “I don’t even know what that means.”

Tempest snorted from the other side of the room and slurped at her drink of yaknog. Even the grumpy, cynical Commander of the Knights wore a hideous bright blue Hearth’s Warming sweater that showed a bunch of ponies with joined hooves and broad smiles. “Someone who doesn’t like Hearth’s Warming...” she said as she smacked her lips together and tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Now where have I heard that before?”

“Hm hmm hmm hm,” Tirek sang quietly to himself with a wide smile as he also helped decorate the tree. “I believe it was one Snowfall Frost, the protagonist of a Hearth’s Warming Carol,” he said matter-of-factly. “In other words, the villain who almost destroyed the holiday because she didn’t understand it.”

Chrysalis glared at him and crossed her hooves the other way. “Villain? That’s rich coming from you.”

“You’d be surprised how much I actually enjoy this time of year, your highness. Gram-Gram and I used to-” He paused and his cheeks began to turn even redder for a moment as Cozy giggled quietly from the other side of the tree, outside of his vision. “Ahem. Yes, well... the point being I’d happily shatter the soul of anypony or anything that tries to ruin it.” He levelled his gaze at her and flexed his muscles.

The former queen simply raised her eyebrows at him and fixed him with a cold stare.

“Annnnywaaaay,” Jack quickly said before they could come to blows, still determined to poke and prod at the miserable creature. “What kind of childhood did you have? You mean to tell me you don’t like all the singing?”

Chrysalis fell back in her seat and looked towards the fire with a faraway look in her eye.

“Nope.”

“What about the yaknog?” Tempest asked, waving her nearly empty drink at her.

“You make me sick.”

“What about setting up the Baby Celestia Nativity every year?” Tirek queried with a tilt of his head as he held up and booped two small figurines of a certain pair of princesses together, a lopsided smile quickly spreading across his face.

“That’s... mildly intriguing, but no.”

“Alright, alright, so you don’t like any of that. But what about Santa Hooves?” Cozy quipped. “Surely, you gotta like him, right?”

“Santa who?”

They all gasped in shocked horror and stared at the former queen. She looked around at them in turn with uncaring, cold, Scrooge-like eyes.

“What?”

“Uhhhh whaddya mean Santa who?!” Cozy exclaimed and threw her hooves in the air in disbelief until it dawned on her. “Big fat pony, wears a lot of red? Ring any bells? Do changelings not have Santa or something? How could you not have a Santa?”

Jack quickly nodded her head in agreement, eager for an explanation. “Yeah, what gives?!”

Chrysalis snorted derisively at them. “Changeling’s do not stoop so low to celebrate the same pony traditions you do,” she said, unaware that now, thanks to Twilight, changelings did in fact celebrate Hearth’s Warming with all the trimmings. “Especially not Hearth’s Warming.” She glanced over at Tirek, grimacing at the centaur’s uncharacteristically festive and joyous demeanour. “I don’t suppose you wouldn’t believe in this ridiculous ‘Santa’ as well?”

Tirek smiled as he hung another set of baubles on the tree. His horns had some sleigh bells tied to them that ring-ting-tingalinged as he moved, and his own dark red sweater, depicting a happy centaur giving a present to a happy gargoyle, just barely stretched across his chest.

“In my homeland, we would tell our young ones of how once a year, on Hearth’s Warming Eve, a creature of the festive spirit would deliver presents to the children of Nessus whose names were on the Nice List,” the red centaur explained. “Although we called him Santaur, I suppose he is the same as this ‘Santa Hooves’ the ponies have.” He coughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. “I have not been on that list since I left Nessus thousands of years ago, but I still enjoy the holiday!”

“Yeah, yeah, none of us have been on the Nice List in a while I’m guessing,” Cozy said bitterly. Her spirits perked up briefly as she continued, and smiled a broad smile at them all. “That’s why I’m hoping for something good this year! You know, ‘cause we’re the good guys now?”

Tempest chuckled softly and nodded. “That’s what Luna seems to think. Twilight too.”

“Something ‘good’ this year?” the changeling queried with a tilt of her head. “I don’t follow.”

Cozy’s eyes lit up and she flapped to about a foot in front of the former queen with an excited grin plastered over her face. “Welllll, Chryssy, you see on Hearth’s Warming Eve, if you’ve been good you earn a spot on the Nice List, where Santa will then bring you whatever you want the most.” She paused and cast a glance over at Jack, then at Tirek, and with a grin made smoochy noises and booped her hooves together with raised eyebrows. “Maybe for Jack he’ll bring her Terry wrapped up in a nice bow?”

Jack turned scarlet and faced away in utter embarrassment, while Tirek scowled and swiped through the air at the filly. “One more word out of you you blasted pigeon and I’ll turn you into coal!” he snarled at her.

Tempest snorted so much of her drink she began to cough and pounded on her chest to try and catch her breath. “Cozy that’s enough. Leave the lovebirds alone,” she chuckled and wiped a thin trail of nog from her mouth. Her words only incensed Tirek more as he began a tangent, ranting and raving and pointing accusatory fingers at them all, except Jack who remained silent all the way through, although her cheeks were turning a nice shade of rosy pink.

“What we desire the most, eh? Can I ask for Starlight Glimmer’s head on a platter?” Chrysalis asked with a malevolent glint in her eye, ignoring the plight of the centaur.

Cozy giggled once more at Tirek’s discomfort and shook her head. “Nooo only good things like toys or books or candy. Presents! Stuff you give each other. Like socks! You do anything bad and it gets you on the Naughty List, and if you’re on the Naughty List you get nothing but coal, trust me I should know,” she explained. “I’ve had coal for like six Hearth Warmings in a row.” She pointed a warning hoof at the changeling, who only tutted in mild discontent. “Keep going the way you are, Chryssy and we’ll all get what we want, and you’ll get a bag of coal for Hearth’s Warming!”

Tempest nodded in agreement and set her drink down. “She has a point.”

Chrysalis looked the commander up and down and turned her nose up. “Even you as well, Commander? Humph. Well, as interesting as this delightful holiday sounds,” she snarked. “I can think of a thousand things I would be rather doing right now. Perhaps dear old Luna has deigned to gift us with something worthwhile that I could look over.” She pushed herself up from her seat and buzzed her wings gently.

“Ah c’man Chrysalis don’t be like that,” quietly said Jack with a shake of her head, grateful for the quick change of subject away from her and Tirek. “It’s Hearth’s Warming for Celestia’s sake! It was Luna’s orders that we--ah!” She accidentally pricked her hoof with the hook of a bauble she was placing on the tree, causing her to drop it. It hit the ground and slowly rolled towards the changeling. “That we enjoy ourselves over the holidays in the first place and to leave all that stuff to her,” she finished, sucking her hoof.

“Humph.” The former queen scowled again as she turned away. “I can only throw up in my mouth so much listening to you lot babble on about such an inane practice.” She curled her lip at the bauble rolling towards her and batted it away with the same energy she pushed her sweater away with. “Bah. This really is the most horrible time of the year.”

Jack fell into quiet dismay as she watched the changeling of the group stand and walk away. Her ear suddenly twitched as she heard something come from the fireplace, something more than the crackling of wood. To her untrained, Hooflynite ears, it sounded almost like scratching, like nails scraping along hard stone. Curious, she stepped closer to the fire and peered into it.

“Uhhh guys?” she murmured.

The Knights turned to look at her, their own ears twitching curiously as they too heard the unfamiliar sound. Even Chrysalis stopped as she listened.

“You all hear that too, don’tcha?” the secretary whispered. “Sounds like somethin’ freaky’s comin’.”

Before any of them could answer her, the back of the fireplace gave way to a flash of red and white coloured magic. A huge gust of wind blew into the room, knocking out the fire in an instant and sending the chairs rolling over and any loose decorations to be scattered about the room.

“Hold onto something!” immediately yelled Tempest, springing into action as she dug her hooves in and forced herself to hold steady.

Chrysalis changed shape into a heavily armoured creature with a colossal horn for a nose, intending to weigh herself down so she couldn’t get blown away and looked around warily. Tirek shielded Jack with his massive body and grabbed Cozy to hold her steady as some soot and coal knocked out of the fireplace, where it struck his back painlessly.

Just as quickly as the wind started, it began to pull back, creating a vacuum of air that dragged in anything not nailed down. Tirek wasn’t prepared to be lifted off of his hooves, and let loose a small yelp of surprise as he rose into the air. The filly and the mare he had been shielding reached out for him to try and hold him steady, only for them to be also lifted off the ground as the suction seemed to grow stronger, determined to draw them in without any thought of their wellbeing.

“Waaah!” cried Cozy as she fumbled for something to grab a hold of other than Tirek’s finger. Jack reached out to grab her hind legs and tried to hold onto her, shrieking lightly as they tumbled through the air towards the brick wall of the fireplace.

Tempest wasted no time in preparing for what she was about to do and thrust herself forwards, tactically colliding with a chair she fully intended to use as an anchor and grabbed the mare’s tail with her teeth. She planted herself but could still feel the pull of the magic weigh heavily on her.

“Hishalysh! Henn hne!” she mumbled through a mouthful of hair. The chair inched forwards, being pulled in with intense ferocity of the vortex intent on pulling them in. “Hnww!”

Chrysalis, against her better judgement, braced herself and transformed into a large monkey, reaching out with one long, spindly arm to grab one of Tempest’s back hooves, then reached with the other to hold onto something--anything to hold herself still.

She quickly began to feel her tendons stretch and grow taut. It felt like her muscles were scream in pain at her as the vortex only grew stronger, seemingly aware she was trying to defy it.

An odd thing it looked like, the Nightmare Knights strung out like a string made mismatched creatures, thoroughly Discordian in design.

Chrysalis gritted her teeth. The strain was growing too much for her, but she could feel them all start to pull back. Choosing to act quickly, she braced herself and changed form again, this time to a large, squid-like creature that could grasp and hold all of her comrades at once.

“Blubub-blubb!” she cried in whatever languages squid spoke in, translated roughly to ‘Hold on!’.

With a heave and a ho she could feel herself start to win, and slowly but surely she pulled them all back from the vortex, and with a final thrust yanked them all behind her with a gasp. The magic died down and the great suction had stopped, allowing them all to catch their breaths and enjoy to continue to live unharmed once more. Green fire sprung up around her again and her true form was revealed to them.

“Is everyone okay?” she panted.

They all nodded. Jack had landed unceremoniously on Tirek’s chest and quickly jumped up with scarlet cheeks. “Sorry, T,” she mumbled at him, to which he waved a hand at her and gently helped her down not unkindly.

Tempest picked herself up and looked at the former queen gratefully. “Thanks, Chrysalis,” she said, panting lightly. “If you hadn’t kept us steady we’d all be who knows where by now--wait!” She cocked an ear out and heard the scratching again. They all did, although it was too late. “Watch out!”

Chrysalis was suddenly lifted off of her hooves as the magical vortex struck again with force. Tirek grabbed the three ponies around him and held them steady with his bulging red arms and dug his hooves in. The changeling was not so fortunate, however, and with an undignified yelp she was sent hurtling through the air towards the fireplace. She managed to catch herself on the rim and hold her steady for a moment, and stared with widened eyes at the commander.

“Tempest...”

Few things fazed Tempest Shadow anymore, but seeing the former queen’s wide eyes staring at her in fear, and hearing her own name be whispered in despair sent a shiver of unease down the commander’s spine. The room lay still after another flash of light. She took a tentative step forwards as a few snowflakes drifted in from the empty fireplace, falling gently on the ground. An eerie stillness and unnatural calm fell upon the Knights and the old castle. The tree was overturned, what lights they had set up lay smashed and even the baubles they had hung on the tree were shattered to bits.

Cozy joined her at her side only to step on the shattered remnants of a bauble. She looked down and removed her hoof gently, and with a quivering lip asked one simple question none of them had the answer to.

“Guys... Where’d she go?”

***

Teleportation was not uncommon to Chrysalis. Not anymore at least, and being flung to the far corners of the world she was no stranger to either, but this... this was something else entirely. It was like some sort of tunnel she found herself in, being dragged through a great empty space until finally, with a gasp and a short cry, she found herself propelled through an icy blizzard too thick and heavy to fly through, and thudded hard into something freezing cold and crunchy.

Coming to her senses after being dazed for a moment, she quickly jumped up and looked around, only to immediately start shivering and feel her chest tighten as the cold washed over her in an instant.

Changeling’s weren’t like yaks or even sturdy earth ponies, preferring temperate or arid climates more than anything else. They certainly weren’t built for cold weather like this, and as she rubbed her hooves together she immediately felt the cold burrow deep into her chitin. Just as she was about to transform into something warmer, she spotted a pair of large doors in front of her not too far away, and a very bright, warm looking light emanating from within.

Seeing not many other options besides stand out in the cold and turn into a changeling popsicle, she reluctantly trudged through the snow until she reached the door and pressed her hoof against it. Even through the door she could feel the warmth within, and she braced herself to be prepared for anything before she pushed it open.

Stepping inside she saw it appeared to be some sort of waiting room, and the smell of freshy baked bread and cakes assaulted her nostrils. The walls were ginger-coloured, and dotted with pictures of joyful looking creatures with large antlers in various poses typical of what she assumed were Hearth’s Warming traditions. As her eyes traced over the room she saw one such looking creature currently sat at the far end of the room behind a desk, currently flicking through a magazine, in a manner very similar to Jackdaw Inkwell. On the desk to one side of her sat a large bowl full of juicy looking apples.

The former queen brushed some snow off of her back and fluttered her wings for a brief moment before striding up to the desk and cleared her throat, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

“Ahem.”

The creature glanced up at her. “Can I help you?” she asked, sounding bored if nothing else. Her dark purple fur and long eyelashes made Chrysalis think she looked like the commander--and yet her demeanour screamed that creature who fawned endlessly over Tirek. On her antlers were several sets of sleigh bells that jingled with the short movements her head made. “Hello?”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes even more at her and furrowed her brow. “I was brought here against my will,” she growled, trying to keep her temper. “Where am I? What am I doing here? Tell me quickly before I-”

“What’s your name?” the creature replied with an irritated sigh as she reached over to the strange box beside her.

“My... what?”

“What’s. Your. Name?” the snarky creature repeated slowly, earning a glare and a scowl from the changeling. “So I can look you up?”

“Chrysalis of the Changeling Hive,” Chrysalis replied and puffed her chest out. She remained quiet while there came a clacking sound from the creature as her hooves danced over a smaller rectangle in front of the strange box. “What-”

“You’re not in the system,” said the creature uncaringly after looking at the box for a few moments. “You got another name at all? Changed it recently?”

Recently? Chrysalis thought for a moment until it dawned on her. “Chrysalis... of the... Nightmare Knights,” she muttered bitterly.

There came another clacking sound as the creature did the same motion as before, and turned to the changeling once again. “There you are. Yeah, he’s waiting for you.” She thumbed a coven hoof towards the door behind her disinterestedly. “Go through there, take the third door on the left.”

The changeling looked down at her in a few minutes of silence.

“What’re you deaf or something?” the creature grumped with a heavy snort. “Through there, third door on the left. Big Guy’s expecting you. Don’t keep him waiting.”

Without another word she leaned back in her chair and lifted up her magazine enough to cover her face, her antlers glowing with dark purple magic.

Chrysalis scowled and pushed away, only to pause and look at the bowl full of apples. She lifted one up with her magic and bit into it with a loud crunch as she pushed through the doors. “Third door,” she murmured to herself as she stalked through the wholly unfamiliar territory.

Finished with her apple she cast the core aside, and stopped in front of the door in question. It looked ordinary enough, although the walls and the floor alike were made of some sort of metal material. She listened out s she rapped her hoof on it and waited for a moment.

“Come in!” a muffled voice called for her.

Taking a deep breath and preparing herself to face a potentially dangerous adversary, she pushed the door open.

“Ah! Chrysalis!” a cheery, joyful pony with a thick, white and very bushy beard cried as he saw her. He stood from his seat to greet her as if she were an old friend. “Come in, come in. Close the door behind you would you, my dear? Thank you. Now, I hope the trip over here wasn’t too much for you?” His hat, as faded and red as his coat, jingled with a sleigh bell attached to the top.

“Trip?” Chrysalis growled. “Perhaps you mean abduction-”

“Ah, I must apologise for the intrusion, for I assure you that was not my intention to disrupt your Hearth’s Warming, young Chrysalis,” he chuckled quietly and looked at her over his half-moon spectacles. “Please, won’t you sit?” he asked, gesturing to the small chair opposite his desk. “We have something to discuss.”

“Do we now?” she snapped, and slammed a hoof onto his desk. “How about we start with your total and complete surrender to me?” Her horn ignited in a flash of magic. The old pony simply continued to look at her with a twinkle in his eye. “And I will not destroy you for interrupting Hearth’s Warming?”

“I thought you didn’t like the holiday?” he chuckled nonchalantly, as if there wasn’t a raging changeling queen standing before him.

“Besides the point,” Chrysalis continued with a snarl. “You have obviously heard of me, so why am I here? And where is here? And who exactly-” She jabbed a hoof at him with a barely contained rage. “Are you?”

The old pony leaned back in his seat and folded his hooves over his chest. “Well now. Let us start with a basic introduction, shall we?” he laughed and stood. As he stood he slid off of his chair, and Chrysalis could see now he was much more rotund than he had appeared when he was sitting.

“My name is Santa Hooves,” he said with a polite bow.

Her jaw fell open slightly, temporarily stunned by his words before she quickly collected herself. “Santa... Hooves?” she groaned inwardly as she spoke. “Not the same pony Cozy Glow was just blabbering on about?”

“The very same,” he replied with a joyful smile.

The changeling facehoofed. “I must have gone mad,” she muttered. “Or perhaps I ate something? I told Tirek to wash the dishes more thoroughly...”

“I can assure you your being here is no accident, my dear,” he laughed with a shake of his luxuriously large beard and gestured towards the door she had entered through behind her. “If you would follow me, I will explain everything.”

Chrysalis stared at him warily, continuing to think she had gone insane from the amount of hate she had to repress for her teammates and their inane babbling about Hearth’s Warming. He walked around her slowly but purposefully, and his eyes continued to twinkle with a certain kindness--like an old grandfather speaking to his grandchildren--to them. She joined him at the door reluctantly, keeping her eyes focused solely on him and tensed her muscles up. He placed one hoof on the door and pushed it open.

Instead of the dull grey of the corridor she was expecting, Chrysalis winced as a sickeningly vibrant and colourful workshop, full of diminutive, bipedal creatures, no bigger than a child, dressed in red and green with overly large pointed red hats that bustled about in a flurry of movement met her.

“What...” she whispered as her eyes readjusted to the sudden increase in light. “What sort of enchantment is this?”

“Welcome to the North Pole,” the pony who called himself Santa cried happily and clapped a hoof on her back. “Walk with me, won’t you?” he told her, and stepped into the workshop.

Chrysalis followed him while looking around in awe at the sizeable machinery that pumped and churned around her, then down at the creatures tending to said machines. “What are they?” she asked, genuinely curious as there were not many creatures she was unfamiliar with.

“Elves,” the old pony stated matter-of-factly.

“Where do they come from? Not even the drones of the Hive could achieve such marvels as these machines...”

“Yes, they are quite technologically advanced aren’t they?” Santa laughed as he paused to let a group of the creatures rush passed. “They come from a far off place called Elfland. After I saw the terrible conditions they lived in, I invited them to come and work for me here in my workshop as a means of escape from the vicious trolls and orcs that preyed on them. And I must say, it has been an absolute delight having them here--thanks to their technological prowess, production has risen more than six hundred percent in recent years!” he stated proudly with a wide smile hidden behind his beard. His smile faded, however as he continued. “Although I’m afraid we’re a might behind schedule tonight, as you will soon see why.”

The former queen stopped and stared at the various beeping and whistling machines around her, and gawked as one elf walked around with a small device that made similar noises as he tinkered with it. After rousing herself she hurried to catch up with the surprisingly spry--both for his age and his size--stallion. As they rounded a corner they both stopped, and he turned to her.

“Tell me, Chrysalis,” he said in a kindly voice. “What do you know of the Krampus?”

Chrysalis frowned and readjusted herself as some of the diminutive creatures hurried passed her and through her legs. The tips of their large hats brushed against her underbelly making her involuntary let loose a giggle. “The Krampus?” she asked, quickly reaffirming her scowl and feeling her cheeks burn red for a moment. “Is that another ridiculous pony holiday?”

“Aha! If only it were so easy,” Santa chortled and shook his head. “No, alas, the Krampus is the reason you are here, and the source of my discontent for the evening. He is a troublemaker, the Dark Spirit of Hearth’s Warming. He mines and delivers coal to the naughty creatures of the world, as it has always been,” he explained. “Until tonight, however, when he committed a vile act of ultimate mischief and now threatens to destroy Hearth’s Warming by stealing something very important!”

Chrysalis blinked. “Like what?”

He pointed wordlessly to a large space where a conspicuously large absence of something should be. There was an outline drawn on the ground of some sort of contraption she didn’t recognise.

“My sleigh, my dear,” Santa sighed. “Without my sleigh I cannot possibly travel the world fast enough in a single night.” His smile faded for a moment and he looked down at her over his glasses. “I find myself in need of a Knight, you see, and you will do perfectly, Chrysalis.”

The changeling rounded on him. “Me? Why me, surely Cozy Glow or even Tirek would enjoy this more?”

He shook his head sadly. “I fear they would fall under the Krampus’s spell. He holds a spell that saps at the Hearth’s Warming Spirit every creature who shares in this holiday has. Every creature, that is, except you, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis made an ‘o’ shape with her mouth and nodded. “I see. You need me because I do not care for your ridiculous holiday, is that it?”

“Precisely. I believe you will be immune to his wicked ways, and the natural combatant for such a foe.” He paused, and his eyes sparkled with knowledge. “Perhaps that is what Luna saw in you when she recruited you to be a Knight in the first place? A way to fight fire with fire as it were?”

“Humph,” she snorted. “You forget though, Santa, who I am perhaps? Why would I want to help ‘Santa Hooves’? What’s in it for me?”

Santa looked into her eyes with the same twinkling kindness he practically oozed ever since she met him. “Because you know it is the right thing to do, don’t you, Chrysalis?”

She felt her lip curl as she looked back at him, and turned her head away. “Ugh. Even so, the Nightmare Knights don’t do jobs for free. I believe there is a payment of sorts to be made?” she muttered.

“That will all be taken care of as soon as my sleigh is returned to me.” He lifted up his hat to retrieve a small watch which he tutted at as he looked at it. “Time is running out. It’s now or never, your majesty,” he said to her. “Will you help me save Hearth’s Warming?”

The movement behind them stopped, and the workshop fell silent save for the odd noise here and there. Chrysalis felt the beady little eyes of he elves on her, and sighed in discontent. “This is peer pressure, but fine,” she begrudgingly muttered. “I’ll do it.”

The elves all whooped and cheered and threw their hats in the air at her words. Several party streamers were thrown above her head, making her curse and grimace as confetti landed down around her head. She shook her hoof as a few of them climbed on top of one another and made a small tower and draped a garland of holly around her neck.

Santa stepped forwards and proceeded to grab and vigorously shake her hoof. “Splendid! I’m more than pleased to hear that, my dear. But before you go-” He nodded at a set of approaching elves carrying warm looking, woollen clothes and gestured to her. “You’ll want to put these on, lest you catch your death of cold out there.”

Chrysalis glared at him and the brightly coloured clothes. “Are you forgetting I can change my shape at will, Santa?” she snapped, and to demonstrate transformed into a thick woolled yak. “I do not need such garments.”

The old pony laughed and nodded. “Indeed you can and surely will,” he agreed. “However it is my understanding that the cold affects a changeling’s powers does it not?”

The former queen paled and lowered her voice to a whisper. “How do you know our darkest secret?” she hissed, and looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was listening as she transformed back into her regular self. “Tell no-one and nothing of what you know, or I will make you wish you hadn’t.”

Santa chortled and shook his head at her. “I know a great many things, my dear,” he replied ominously, ignoring the look she was giving him and turned away. “Now come, time is short and we must act while there are still a few hours left of Hearth’s Warming to save. I will explain on the way, follow me...”

***

Chrysalis stepped into the dark cave and out of the bitter cold of the North Pole with chattering teeth. The warm hat, sweater, scarf and long socks she wore did very little to aid with the cold despite Santa’s promises. But, she supposed, she hadn’t frozen yet, and so they served their purpose.

“Now,” she breathed. “Where is this wretch?”

She tentatively took a few steps forwards and ignited her horn, casting her familiar green magic over the walls and damp tunnels of the mountain, grateful for a reprieve from the outside.

When Santa had told her the Krampus made his lair on the tallest, grimmest looking mountain he wasn’t exaggerating, and it had been a mighty climb for her to do by herself against the howling winds and chest-tightening cold. Her breaths came as wisps on the wind, even in the relative warmth of the cave. She traced a hoof along one of the walls and cocked an ear out, listening as she heard a mad gleeful cackle from up ahead.

She gritted her teeth and readied herself as she followed the sound deeper into the mountain. The laughter grew louder and the words that followed became coherent after a time, so she took light steps forwards and cocked an ear out to listen.

“I’ve done it! After fifty thousand years I’ve finally done it! Hearth’s Warming will be ruined!”

Chrysalis braced herself as she rounded a corner and saw the flickering of a light nearby. If the Krampus lived up to his infamy, then he was surely as deadly as he was ancient, and that if there was to be a fight between them then it would rock the mountain itself. Good. She was in desperate need of venting her frustrations that came with the holiday and those insufferable fools she called teammates out on something, and with boiling blood and righteous fury she prepared herself to face the dreaded Krampus.

“That fat milksop won’t get anywhere without his ‘beloved’ sleigh! Nyehehehe!”

Unaware of her presence quickly approaching him, the Krampus continued to gleefully jeer and cheer for himself, and he began to giggle madly in his lair.

Chrysalis picked up the pace and pressed herself against the wall as she rounded the corner and spied him. There he was, in all his glory.

The Krampus was a giant of a pony, at least the size of Tirek after he had eaten a hefty portion of magic, coated lime green with a blood red mane, his sickly yellow eyes shone like beacons in the darkness, and atop his forehead sat a gnarled and twisted horn reminiscent of a tree root. On all four of his hooves was a large bell attached that rang and jingled with his movement. If not for them, the large creature would have been silent, for Chrysalis couldn’t hear any hoofsteps.

Just as she was about to step out and strike from the shadows, her ear twitched and she heard a sound; a sickening, disgusting sound. The Krampus also heard it and began to scowl.

“Geez I take the fat guy’s sleigh and all he does is start singing?!” he bellowed. “Him and those wretched elves of his!” He flounced around and paced back and forth. “Ooh how I hate Hearth’s Warming! Won’t anything destroy their infernal spirit?”

Chrysalis snorted in agreement with him, inadvertently bringing his attention onto her. They locked eyes and for a moment there was calm between them, until he exploded in a flurry of movement and stormed up to her and looked her up and down with his pale yellow eyes and his lip curled into a sneer.

“How dare you set hoof inside the lair of the Krampus?!” he bellowed in her face, making some spittle fly from his wretched teeth and land on her cheeks. “The impudence!” He raised a hoof and pointed to the ceiling in an overdramatic fashion. “The audacity! The un-mit-i-gat-ed gall!”

The changeling remained unfazed as he jammed his nose against hers and towered over her. “Well?!” he roared. “What have you got to say for yourself, missy?!”

“Are you quite finished?” she growled menacingly without batting an eye. “Or can we get down to business?”

The beast stepped back and ignited his horn in a flash of magic. “Business? Oh I’ll show you business, Chrysalis of the Nightmare Knights!” he barked. “You called down the thunder by setting hoof in my home! And now! Get ready for the boom as I leave you naught but a husk as you left countless of your own victims!” Magic erupted from his horn and fired directly at her, engulfing her in a flash of light. “Have a taste of your own medicine, your highness! Feel the Hearth’s Warming Spirit evaporate from your very bones!”

Chrysalis remembered what Santa had said and braced herself as the beast’s magic washed over her. It felt strange, like a slight tingle in the tips of her hooves but besides that totally harmless. She grinned, flashing her fangs at the Krampus as the magic swirled around her until it dissipated in a poof and a shimmer.

“Are you done?” she sneered.

Without missing a beat the Krampus stepped closer to her and raised a hoof at her in misguided triumph. “Aha! See now you quiver in fear in the face of evil itself! The terror you feel is welling up inside you, yes?” he chuckled with a sadistic glint in his eye.

Chrysalis glared at him as he began to circle her. “Not at all, no.”

“Denial is to be expected when dealing with pure evil,” the Krampus rasped, and flashed a grin at her.

“I’ve seen scarier things than some green lunatic,” the former queen muttered at him, looking him in the eye. “Can we get a move on? I’ve apparently got a holiday to save.”

He pouted for a moment before narrowing his eyes at her. “Hmm. I see the raw, unadulterated fear I cause you to feel has already addled your mind, poor little bug,” he murmured.

“Who are you calling bug?!”

“Very well, seen as how your mind is already ravaged I shall simply take my leave and wash my hooves of you.” He waved a hoof at her and turned his head nonchalantly. “Go on now, be on your way. While you still have use of your legs--whoa!”

Chrysalis hoisted him up in a blaze of her own magic and slammed him into the floor. “Listen to me you... snivelling worm,” she snarled as she looked into his fear-soaked eyes. “I am Queen Chrysalis of the Hive--formerly of the Hive-” she corrected herself with a grunt of irritation. “-Now a Nightmare Knight. I am not a frightened foal, nor do I care for simpletons--especially on a day such as today.”

The Krampus made a gargling sound from inside his throat. Chrysalis lifted him up enough for him to speak and sneered at him. “Something you wish to say, Krampus?”

“What do you want?” he mumbled, losing all of his bluster and self importance in a matter of seconds.

“The sleigh,” she growled.

“Fine, take it. Take whatever you want, just don’t hurt me, ‘kay?”

With a grunt of irritation she spun him around and sat his flank down on the cold hard floor of the cave. “What a wimp,” she grunted and released her magical hold of him. “So much for pure evil. Where’s the presentation?”

The Krampus cleared his throat and addressed her, shaking in fear. “Listen I just mine the coal, alright? Me and the fat guy have a rivalry going on; I do this, break a few things here, kidnap some elves there, steal presents from Equestrian towns every now and then, you name it--but he’s never sent a hit-creature out to get me before! What’s up with that anyway?”

“You’ve never stolen his sleigh before and threatened to destroy the holiday for good?”

He balked and pushed his front hooves together. “Uhh... well no, not exactly.”

“So don’t do it again. Or I’ll be back.” Chrysalis curled her lip at him as she climbed into the sleigh and looked utterly befuddled at all the buttons before her. “How does this work?”

“Push the big red button and tell it where you want to go,” the Krampus quickly answered. “I can show you if you’d like-”

“That’s a hard pass,” she interrupted him with a scowl on her face. She pressed the big red button as indicated and a series of lights lit up. She cleared her throat and narrowed her eyes. “Santa’s Workshop,” she stated, loudly and clearly. Something inside of it hummed to life and the engine hissed and wheezed like a steam train.

The Krampus scrambled to his hooves and smoothed his coat down. “So, uh... we cool?” he asked her as the sleigh began to rise into the air.

Chrysalis fixed him with a cold glare, one of the tricks she had picked up from Tempest. “If you pull something like this again do not think I won’t come back and finish the job,” she warned with a wag of her hoof. “I know where you live, Krampus.”

As her words sunk in the red and green, so-called Dark Spirit of Hearth’s Warming--an exaggeration on Santa’s part Chrysalis believed--gulped and stepped back as the sleigh took off into the night, zooming through the air towards the workshop. He stood there for a moment before tutting and immediately began to draw up plans for next year’s Hearth’s Warming, including designing and preparing to install an alarm system in case of changeling intruders.

“Next time, Nightmare Knight,” he growled. “Next time I’ll be ready for you...”

***

Unable to sleep, Tempest Shadow had taken to reading some of Tirek’s books about magical portals that appeared suddenly and took creatures against their wills. She wondered where Chrysalis was right now, unafraid to show how worried she really was, showing true concern for her teammates.

As she reached the end of the current book she closed it quietly and let loose an irritated grunt of frustration and despair.

She closed her eyes and took a few slow breaths, trying to centre and calm herself. She needed to be slow and methodical, just like Twilight would. But her teammate’s life was possibly in danger maybe, and if not her, then whoever took her was possibly in even more danger, and a lost, raging changeling queen supposed to be in her charge would look decidedly bad for the Knights, and possibly jeopardize their entire standing.

She heard some hoofsteps behind her, and felt the warm glow of the light of the fridge spill out from the kitchen in the adjacent room. She opened her eyes and prepared herself to order whoever it was, probably Cozy stress eating again, back to bed. They had a big day tomorrow, searching for their lost number, and she needed them all to be one hundred percent. Herself included, she realised, and scolded herself for staying up so late.

She cocked an ear out and listened as she waited for whoever it was to come through again, and as she heard the fridge door close she saw a familiar green light lit up the world. Who else of course but the missing Knight herself, Chrysalis in the flesh, stalked through the room, wearing a set of pink, woollen clothes, and sucking on the business end of an entire carton of milk. Her gulps were the only sound as they locked eyes with one another, frozen in time for a moment.

Tempest’s eyes shrunk in a quiet fury. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” she snapped.

Chrysalis slowly took the carton of milk out of her mouth and wiped its opening down with her hoof before offering it towards the unicorn. “I’m sorry did you want some?” she mumbled.

The commander, despite herself, found that she began to smile. Partially in relief, partially in finding the humour in a bad situation. She stood from her seat and moved to stand beside the changeling, and stretched out a hoof. She stopped herself and hesitated, seemingly to grapple with her own thoughts for a moment before shrugging and lunged forwards to give her teammate--her friend--a short but tight hug. With an awkward pat she pulled away and jutted her head down in a nod.

“It’s good to see you’re alive,” she said quietly and looked at her strange attire she was wearing up and down. “I don’t even wanna know. Let’s get some sleep--you look tired.”

The former queen also nodded with a grunt. In the low light cast by her magic, Tempest swore she could see a smile on the changeling’s lips. “You have no idea...” she murmured, and set the now empty carton of milk down. “I hate Hearth’s Warming,” she reaffirmed, earning a light chuckle from the unicorn with a broken horn.

***

A few hours later...

While most ponies were waking up and celebrating Hearth’s Warming Day with their loved ones, friends and family, Director Luna was busy striding up to the reception desk at Canterlot General’s Psych Ward, preparing herself to visit a certain stallion being treated there. She cleared her throat and rapped her hoof on the hard wooden desk.

The nurse behind it jumped in fright at the sudden presence of the midnight alicorn. “Oh!” she cried and whipped off the red an white bobbled hat she wore with an embarrassed smile. “Miss Luna. What a surprise, Happy Hearth’s Warming!”

Luna smiled at her, trying to hide her waning patience. “I’m here to visit a Mr. Crane. I brought him in a month ago?”

After picking up and scouring a clipboard for the information she needed under the intense stare of the alicorn, the nurse quietly and quickly replied. “Crane... Crane... ah yes, he is in 3B-A, your majes--Miss Luna.”

“Thank you. Tell me about him. Is he a danger to anypony?” Luna strode passed her, causing several nurses and orderlies wearing jolly green sweaters to scramble out of her way.

“N-no, miss, but he... um... he’s scary, in a different way,” the nurse stuttered as she quickly rose from her seat to join the dark mare. “We give all our patients some paper to write their thoughts down on, to help them cope you see,” she explained as they walked. “But Mr. Crane, he... he used up all the paper we gave him, and took to writing on the walls and the floors instead.”

“What sort of things?”

“Mad things, miss.”

“I see.” Luna nodded. “How is his health?”

The young mare hung her head sadly. “Bad. Despite our best efforts, he barely eats. Sleeps even less. He barely even keeps himself clean. We had to sedate him just to give him a bath after the first week.”

“And has he said anything?”

“Only the odd word here and there,” the nurse answered with a shiver. “Things like he’s coming, that he must run, that he has-”

“To hide. I see.”

As they reached 3B-A, she noticed the shocked and pallid face the nurses around them had as they looked at the door and furrowed her brow, wondering what in Equestria the skinny, scarecrow-like pony from Shady Hollow could have done to unsettle them all so much. With a deep breath she pressed her hoof against the door and pushed, and stared at the ghastly sight before her.

On the wall, the floor and the ceilings, there were indeed drawings and scribblings belonging to a madpony. His bed was pressed up against the wall, seemingly to give him more space to draw and write, while Crane himself looked on the verge of death, with dark ringed, sunken eyes and gaunt cheeks. His messy mane was greasy and clung to his scalp, and his coat--although brushed and recently washed. He twitched and looked up at the sudden movement in his vision.

His mouth opened and a silent hiss of air escaped him. His lips were cracked and dry, and his teeth looked in as bad condition as the rest of him.

Luna quickly strode over to him and knelt by his side. “Hello Mr. Crane. Do you remember me?”

The scrawny pony moved his head in such a way that could have been interpreted as a nod, although it was too weak to tell for certain.

“Would you like a chair, Miss Luna?” asked the nurse nervously, giving the drawings around the room a wary glance.

“That won’t be necessary, thank you.”

Luna brushed aside some remnants of blackened chalk and sat down on the floor opposite the decrepit stallion. “Well. Down to business, I suppose. I’ve come to ask you if you can tell me anything you can tell me about Shady Hollow, Mr. Crane.” As she finished she saw what looked like a flicker of recognition in his eyes. “Please. Is there anything you remember?”

Crane looked at her gravely before twisting his body around to point with a shaky hoof towards the bed propped up against the wall. “You wish to show me something?” she asked him.

He nodded weakly.

The alicorn’s horn ignited and she moved the bed aside, only to gasp and feel her chest tighten with a sudden and intense cold as if she had just set hoof on the North Pole itself. Though crude, she could plainly see what he had drawn and why he had covered it up, for it disturbed her immensely so, he himself, as well as the nurse caring for him judging by her small shriek.

It was Canterlot, engulfed in flames. A shadow with crow-like wings towered above the carnage that-- even though just a chalk drawing--radiated a sinister presence. And at the centre of it all, Luna could see five figures standing side by side. Four of them she recognised, but the fifth? She had an inkling as to who, but...

“He’s coming...” Crane whispered, breaking her train of thought. He began to shake and quiver in fear at the drawing. “Have to hide... or run...”

As the afflicted pony began rambling quietly to himself, Luna turned to the shocked and horrified mare standing in the doorway. “Get me Princess Twilight,” she snapped. “Immediately. Tell her it’s urgent.”

The nurse nodded her head and darted away to do her bidding. The former princess looked back at the mural and felt her chest tighten in anxiety even more.

“May the stars preserve us...”

At The Museum Of Madness

Fzzt.

“Try Celesti’Os now! Free crown replica with every purchase!”

“No.”

Fzzt.

“The Transformers will return after these messages.”

“Bah. Just missed it...”

In the Castle of the Two Sisters, after enjoying some relaxing and some would say needed, R&R after another job well done, Cozy Glow lounged on her comfortable little bean bag. She sank deep into its crevices as she idly flicked through the television’s channels, lamenting the fact that ‘nothing’ showing was worth watching. Tirek sat behind her, often huffing and sighing and lamenting his own life choices, occasionally wondering if being target practice for pigeons would be more enjoyable than listen to Cozy rant and rave about something so minuscule.

He didn’t know where the others were, nor did he particularly care, as he was not the caretaker--despite how often as he got stuck babysitting Cozy Glow. “Just pick something,” he snapped irritably, growing weary of her constant channel surfing.

Fzzt.

“Oh my alicorn! Another interception by Rainbow Dash of the Wonder-”

Fzzt.

“Have you suffered an accident at work lately?”

Fzzt.

“We now return to... Serpientes Largas: Bodas Y Traiciones.”

Cozy suddenly bolted upright with a wide smile, and practically glued her eyes to the screen.

“Oh finally!” she cried, and fumbled around for her bag of popcorn as the episode began to play.

The scene shown was a colourful villa with sweeping angles and dramatic turns around a couple of characters: a dark coated stallion with a jet black mane and the light traces of salt and pepper stubble on his chin, and opposite him a mare of extraordinary beauty, wearing a stunning white dress bedazzled with rubies, sapphires and emeralds. It appeared to be some sort of wedding, what with the large crowd seated behind the couple, and an official looking pony wearing dark robes standing between them.

Behind her, Tirek snorted and lazily rested his head against his palm, thoroughly bored and clearly not enjoying Cozy’s turn for the remote. Alas, that was the democracy he must now obey. How he hated it.

“A soap opera? Really?” he grunted. “You know these things are as fictional as they come, right?”

“Shush!” she snapped, with a wave of her hoof towards. “It’s no different than that ‘Thrones’ thing you watch.”

Tirek folded his arms and slumped back in his seat with a bitter pout on his face. “Ugh. Fine. Do you even know what they’re saying?”

Cozy readied her box of popcorn and began stuffing her face. “Uh yeah? How else would I know what’s going on?” she asked, looking at him like he had just asked her if the sky was blue, or the sun was yellow.

Tirek blinked and looked down at her pointedly. “I didn’t know you spoke that dialect of Equestrian.”

“Sí, por supuesto.” The filly grinned at his bewildered expression before turning back to the television. “Now shush. Pay attention. You might learn something.”

The dark coated stallion cupped the mare’s face in his hoof and smiled. Between them, the pony wearing white robes with a gold cross around his neck beamed at them both and cleared his throat to address the room. “Y ahora...” he began with a wide smile. “Si alguno de ustedes tiene alguna razón para evitar este matrimonio, hable ahora o guarde silencio para siempre-”

“¡Me opongo!” came a loud, raspy voice from behind the crowd. All the heads in the room turned, including the bride and groom-to-be, and promptly let out shocked gasps--as did Cozy.

“Oh my gosh--what?!” she hissed, and pressed her hooves into her cheeks. “Wha--noooo, he’s supposed to be... what?!”

The corner of Tirek’s upper lip raised as if tugged by an invisible piece of string and his brow furrowed in mild interest and confusion both as he looked at the newcomer pony; a stallion remarkably similar to the groom, save for a bedraggled mane and dishevelled coat, who raised his hoof at the groom and scowled. “¡Hermano mío, intentaste matarme!” he cried in a deep and hoarse voice, radiating with charisma despite his bedraggled state. “¡Y llévate a mi esposa!”

The bride gasped and pulled her hoof away from the groom in horror. “Mi amor eres tu?” she cried with tears quickly forming in her eyes. The crowd gathered gasped again and began murmuring among themselves, and Cozy raised her hooves to her head in shock.

“What?! No way!”

“What? What’s happening?” the centaur asked with a tilt of his head.

“That’s her ex-husband,” Cozy explained quickly as she refused to take her eyes of the screen, enthralled by the drama unfolding before her. “He fell--or maybe I guess he was pushed--into a volcano like four episodes ago and was presumed dead, and Señorita Bejewellica over there had to marry somepony or else the dinosaurs would come down from the mountain and eat everypony, so she’s marrying his brother. Oh good gosh this is good television!”

“Fell into--What? Dinosaurs? That doesn’t even make sense.”

“It does if you know the story. Oh! Don’t lemme forget to tell you about the aliens too! Gangly pink things with two arms and two legs, hehe... they look so weird! I wonder how they made them...”

“Aliens?!” Tirek scratched his head and frowned. “What sort of show is this?” he muttered in utter bewilderment.

“Really, really good,” Cozy replied with a grin, and popped another kernel of popcorn into her mouth.

Back on screen and in the world of drama, there was a heated exchange occurring. The bride slapped the false groom across the face, leaving a dark mark against his cheek. She started screaming at him and hitched up her dress enough to run into the open hooves of her returned-from-the-dead lover. The reunited couple embraced and kissed passionately to several ‘awwws’ from the crowd, but the would-be-murderer began to scowl. He reached into the coat of his tuxedo to draw a weapon--a gun! He pointed it at them and squeezed the trigger. There was a flash, and a single gunshot rang out...

And then the screen went black.

Cozy’s eyes shrunk after a few seconds of confusion. “NoooooooOOOOOO!”

She spun around to face the culprit, and locked eyes with Tempest Shadow, who, without a care, casually dropped the remote and jutted her head towards the door. They locked eyes and for a second it looked like the filly was ready to go hoof to hoof with the commander in a battle to the death.

“Get dressed and meet in the main hall,” barked Tempest, quickly putting an end to any of the aforementioned imagery. “We have work to do.”

Cozy trembled and glowered with the fury of a thousand suns. “¡Te maldigo!” she growled.

Tempest raised an eyebrow at her. “Guarda tu energía, pequeño,” she replied with a wink, and gestured towards the door. “That’s an order, Knights. Double time!”

Tirek smirked as the filly jumped up and sheepishly hurried to obey, eager to not incur the wrath of Tempest Shadow any more than she had already. The centaur himself rose up from his seat and stretched, cracking his back and his shoulders as he moved. He paused as he reached the stairs, and glanced back towards the television set with a frown on his face, wondering exactly how Serpientes Largas: Bodas Y Traiciones would end.

To his disgust he found himself ensnared by it, and dragged his hand down his face in despair. “You’ve got to be joking me...” he grumbled before setting off down the stairs to re-join his comrades.

***

The Nightmare Knights stood side by side, flank to flank, each wearing their crisp and clean uniform; a statement to how far they had come under Tempest’s training and stern but fair, she thought, guidance. Tempest stalked back and forth like a tiger in a cage with her brow furrowed. Chrysalis yawned lazily, looking as bored as ever, and Cozy continued to mutter under her breath about missing her favourite show as she hovered beside her teammate.

Meanwhile, Tirek adjusted the lengths of his vest ever so slightly and glanced over to the secretary as Jackdaw Inkwell readjusted her glasses and cleared her throat.

“Ahem. Boss you want me to start, or?” she asked, looking up at the commander. She flicked through her notes and pressed her teeth into her lower lip.

“We’re ready, Jack,” Tempest replied quietly. Her words hung heavy in the air, and even Cozy could tell something was bothering her. She came to a halt and inhaled deeply. “Go ahead.”

The secretary furrowed her brow and cleared her throat again. “Alright so some big shot from the Manehattan Museum of Natural History has requested the Nightmare Knights to investigate a theft of a priceless artifact and return it to the museum.”

Tirek frowned while Chrysalis scoffed. “That’s it?” the latter snarled. “Return a worthless trinket to its owner? Surely even Cozy Glow should be able to do this one on her own?”

Cozy folded her hooves in a huff and flapped her small wings. “I’m missing some juicy drama for this?”

“Read the next part,” Tempest growled, and fixed the pair of them with a glare that would turn the risen dead back to their graves.

Jack swallowed and squinted at her own notes. “Uhh let’s see. The Necro-nom-icon Ex Mortis has--am I saying that right? Has the potential to be-”

She didn’t get a chance to finish speaking. Tirek suddenly lurched forwards and swiped her notes from her, looking over them. As his black eyes finished tracing the words written in her hoofwriting his red visage paled slightly. “Impossible...” he whispered. “It cannot be...”

Cozy furrowed her brow and clicked her tongue while Chrysalis fell into a stunned silence, ears suddenly pricking up and her eyes shrinking into vertical slits. “The Necrowhaticon Ex What?” the filly asked with a tilt of her head.

Tempest gave the centaur a wary look as he rounded on her with trembling hands. He quickly and quietly straightened himself up and looked her in the eye.

“I will leave at once, Commander,” he stated and lowered Jack’s notepad, ignoring the hearts she had in her eyes as she sat at this close proximity to him. “I will need no equipment, and can move faster on my own-”

The commander allowed herself to smile at him, and held up a hoof to silence him. “Tirek, the agreement of the Knights that you signed was that we all work together. Besides I don’t need to tell you how dangerous this thing is. We go together.”

The changeling roused herself and spoke up. “Are we certain it is the real Necronomicon?” she whispered. “And when we have retrieved it are we to just leave it unguarded in a museum of all places? Perhaps we should bring it back here for... safe study.”

“You think I would allow you to even hold that particular tome?” Tirek snorted viciously at her. “Forgive me, your majesty, but I would sooner deliver it into the vaults of Tartarus than let your devious mind pour over the cursed knowledge inside of it.”

Chrysalis curled her lip upwards at him and bared her fangs at him. “We are on the same side, Tirek,” she hissed, “I merely suggest that it remain in our capable hooves instead of being left in the care of some nameless fool in Manehattan.”

Tempest cleared her throat and eyed them both sternly. “That’s enough you two,” she warned.

Cozy put her hoof up and waved it around, feeling rather ignored and growing increasingly bitter. “Hello? Guys? What’s the Necro... whatever?” she repeated her question, only growing more irate as it once again went unanswered as Tirek waved a hand.

“I sincerely hope it is a forgery,” he grumbled, “for I have no desire to see the Necronomicon Ex Mortis on Equestrian soil.” Upon the raised eyebrows and sceptical look both Tempest and Chrysalis gave him, he placed a hand on his chest. “Centaur’s honour, I am reformed now if you will remember?”

Tempest couldn’t help but feel a small sense of pride at his words, even if Chrysalis snorted and snickered behind her hoof at him.

Cozy Glow, meanwhile, looked around at all of the adults with a frown and raised her voice. “Hey so... for those of us who don’t know what’s going on...” She cupped her mouth with her hooves and bellowed as loud as she could, which wasn’t much for a pony of her size but still got the point across well enough. “What. Are. You. Talking. About?!”

They all turned to look at her almost apologetically. Chrysalis cleared her throat and was the first to speak. “Allow me to clarify, would you kindly, my Lord Tirek?” she questioned the centaur as he folded his arms and snorted. “The Necronomicon Ex Mortis, Cozy Glow... is the single most dangerous and powerful spell book known to any kingdom on Equus,” she said with grave intensity. “Countless copies and forgeries have been made in search of it, so in short, should it indeed be the real Necronomicon that has been stolen Manehattan, then the world is not safe.”

The changeling pulled herself up and looked to the commander, then at Tirek. “I assume you both know of its importance, but I will explain in detail for our youngest member.” She glanced back down at Cozy with concern laden eyes as they nodded at her to continue. “The Necronomicon Ex Mortis, or as it may be known, the Book of the Dead, was originally constructed by the mad Saddle Arabian Alhazhoof in the death throes of an ancient empire. Through it, Alhazhoof sought to commune with a race of beings known as the Great Old Ones.”

Cozy nodded, listening intently on the edge of her proverbial seat. “Who’re they?”

“Ancient and powerful cosmic entities once worshipped from a time before time like gods, with goals far beyond our understanding. Alhazhoof went mad in search of them, driven to the brink of insanity as he scoured the heart of the Saddle Arabian desert for the Nameless City. The legends state that the book was buried with him when it died, only for his sarcophagus to vanish like a cloud on the wind. Poof.”

She waved her hoof through the air. Tirek mirrored her action by waving his own fingers and echoed her words. “Poof.”

“Centuries passed until it was next found, at the earliest site of Equestria’s recorded history.”

“Which was when, Chrysalis?” Tempest asked calmly.

The changeling inhaled sharply between her teeth and narrowed her eyes. “When Grogar wielded it to create his monsters.”

Silence fell upon the room. Jack paused in the filing of her hoof to cock an ear out and listen intently, feeling her own heart increase in its palpitations upon the former queen’s words.

Cozy cleared her throat and bit her lip. “So what’s it doing in Manehattan?” she mumbled.

“That is precisely what we are going to find out,” Tempest answered. “Providing it is the real book and not a fake, I suspect it’s copyright page alone has far more dark magic in it than anything found even in Celestia’s private collection, and we must retrieve it as soon and as safely as we can.” She stamped her hoof twice, signalling them to get ready to move out. “C’mon. Let’s get this over with. With a little luck, we’ll be home before sundown.”

Chrysalis poked around the inside of her mouth with her tongue and let out a hollow laugh as they moved towards the door to begin their newest mission. “In my experience, Commander, there is no such thing as luck.”

***

Manehattan was unusually dark for this time of day. The dark storm clouds that had gathered above held a sense of dread about them, mirrored perhaps by the group of creatures standing in front of the Manehattan Museum of Natural History. Its door was locked shut and its windows shuttered. A few Manehattanite police officers stood on the perimeter waving some passers-by along, and warily eyed the Knights as they did so.

Tempest Shadow tapped her hoof impatiently as thunder rumbled through the skies overhead, staring up at the closed doors and dimly lit building. “Maybe everypony’s gone home?” Cozy unhelpfully put forwards.

“Officer?” the commander said, and stepped forwards the stallion standing in front of them. He bristled and straightened up.

“What is it?” he gruffly barked in an accent similar to Jack’s back home.

Tempest wrinkled the end of her nose and sighed. Typically, local law enforcement didn’t enjoy the Knights’ company, and they often butted heads together. “We’re expected up there,” she stated, and pointed up at the museum. “So can you let us pass?”

“No,” the officer grunted. He sighed and scowled at her as she stood there silently. “Listen lady, I’m here ta do my job, a’ight? Now it beats me what business you got in there, but this is a crime scene.” He stuck his chest out in front of her and looked down at her. “So I’m gonna have ta ask ya to move along, an’ take your freaky friends with you.”

Just as Tempest began to curl her lip and puff her own chest out, trying very hard not to hit a police officer, the door to the museum creaked open, and a dishevelled looking unicorn stallion stepped forwards. He spotted them and waved them over, signalling to the surly officer to let them approach. He begrudgingly stepped aside and avoided their eyes as they stooped underneath the line of tape and hopped up the stairs, muttering under his breath about the state Equestria was in.

Chrysalis flashed him a wicked smile and flicked her tail in his face as she strode past him and up the stairs with the rest of her teammates.

The pony from the museum quickly ushered them in and shut the door behind them. Just in time too, as more thunder broke and the heavy downpour of rain crashed down onto the roof, echoing throughout the big, otherwise empty building.

“You must be the Nightmare Knights,” the unicorn murmured, looking at them all--Chrysalis in particular--carefully. “Tempest Shadow, Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis.” His cyan mane bobbed and weaved as he nodded to each of them in turn, and what they could see of his pale purple coat shimmered in the dim light of a nearby lamp. He wore a finely pressed jacket, likely owing to one of his station.

“Your deduction skills are impressive,” the changeling retorted. Her eyes flashed and reflected the lightning cracking the sky outside.

He swallowed and bowed his head. “My name is Amethyst Veil. I am the curator of this museum.” He pulled himself up and wrung his hooves together. “I am afraid this is a matter most urgent, Knights.”

Tempest nodded. “When you rang ahead you told our secretary that you had the Necronomicon here? And that it was what was stolen?”

“Indeed I did, and yes it is,” Amethyst Veil nodded glumly and gestured for them to follow him. “My office is this way. If you’ll kindly follow me, I will explain on the way there. That... wretched thing arrived three days ago, and since then strange things have been happening,” he said as they started off through the museum. “Staff and visitors alike have been hearing whispers in the dark, experiencing strange phenomena the longer they were in the presence of the book.” He shivered and shuddered. “I took it upon myself to remain behind while I sent most of the other staff home. Unlike most in Manehattan I care for my employees, and will not have them needlessly put in harms way if it can be avoided.”

“How noble of you,” muttered Tirek as he trailed behind the group, examining various paintings and a series of sacred stones from an ancient Equestrian time.

Tempest cocked her head sideways as they followed the curator to his office. “So who was here at the time of the break-in?” she asked.

Veil swallowed, perhaps sensing her accusatory and suspicious tone. “Only myself and the janitor. A fellow called Wash Bucket, he’s a good friend of mine.”

The commander nodded understandingly, although she felt it odd there were no security guards present.

“Here is my office,” the curator mumbled before she could query it, and fished round for some keys in the pocket of his finely pressed jacket. “I have dared not leave any door unlocked in case the thieves return, although with their prize acquired I suspect they wouldn’t dare to do so at all.”

The flash of lightning streaking across the sky illuminated the surprisingly dark room as they entered. Veil quickly stepped towards a lamp and lit it with his magic. “May I offer any of you a glass of sherry?” he mumbled, and procured a small bottle and some glasses from a drawer of his desk. “It’s just about the only thing kept me going since this mess started.”

“Not on duty,” Tempest snapped as Chrysalis licked her dry lips, and shot her a look. The scarred unicorn cleared her throat as Veil poured himself a small glass and lifted it to his mouth. “So what can you tell me about the theft, Mr. Veil?”

“Not much I am afraid,” Veil replied sadly after taking a sip. “I do not know where the culprits came from, nor do I know where they went.” He took another sip and gazed out the window at the darkened skies and torrential rain. “I suspect, however, that their intentions are not good.”

“If I may make a suggestion?” Chrysalis murmured quietly as thunder rumbled outside. The sound of rain hitting the roof continued to echo around them, even in this relatively small office. She flicked her mane dismissively and glowered at the unicorn librarian suspiciously. Her eyes drifted over to is desk, and a coy spread over her face. “Perhaps Mr. Veil himself is the thief he so vilifies?”

Her words seemed to light a small fire in Veil, and he rounded on her with frustration on his face and eyes that glinted and gleamed with indignity. The glass he held in his magic trembled slightly as he set it down on his desk. “I take my duties extremely seriously here as curator for the exhibits I have been placed in charge of,” he rasped, “I assure you, Chrysalis, that I would never even imagine stealing one of them for myself!” He quickly began to grow flustered. “These are priceless artifacts from all corners of the globe that belong here, so that we may learn and benefit all of ponydom. The cheek you must have to dare accuse me! Why it’s inconceivable!”

The changeling’s face twitched into a cruel smile. “Wonderfully and so eloquently put, curator,” she sneered, “but perhaps if you have such a care for these objects, and are not in fact the culprit, then will you so kindly inform us of how the most dangerous book in existence slipped through your iron-like grasp?”

Veil’s ears flattened and the bridge of his nose turned slightly pink. His jaw flapped open and close a few times until he fell silent.

Tempest stamped her hoof and shot Chrysalis a look, although she agreed with her and nodded. “She’s right, Mr. Veil. As far as we know everypony who works in the museum is a suspect, including you. And with just you and one other, our suspect list is quite short.”

The curator wrenched his gaze away from the sweetly smiling former queen and turned to look at the dark mare with a humble bow. “Be that as it may, Miss Shadow, you must believe me. I wish only to share what we have acquired here for the benefit of all ponykind, and to our friends in the neighbouring regions of course.” He lowered his head respectfully towards them. “I wish to aid in any way I can in recovering this priceless, dangerous artifact. If... if there is anything at all you can ask of me that would be of assistance, please don’t hesitate to do so.”

“Can I use the bathroom?”

All eyes shifted towards the filly at the centre of the room as a deathly silence descended on them. She looked around at them and shrugged. “What? Rain makes me need to go.”

Tirek grumbled under his breath and scuffed the back of her head. “Shut up,” he growled at her as Veil silently raised a bewildered and shaking hoof and pointed out the door.

“D...down the hall... third... door on the right.”

Cozy beamed at him and flitted through the air, cheerfully and blissfully ignoring the stern look from the commander. “Thanks. Oh!” She clapped a hoof to her head and turned with an embarrassed smile. “Didn’t you say you locked everything?”

Tempest ground her teeth together and shot Tirek a pointed look as Veil levitated his keys towards them. Cozy snatched them out of the air and beamed happily as she floated away. The centaur sighed and started after the child, quietly bemoaning his situation as the one closest to her and therefore forced to babysit her yet again. Chrysalis held a hoof to her mouth to hide her grin at his displeasure as the commander looked back at Veil.

“So, Mr. Veil. Where is this janitor? May we speak with him?”

Amethyst Veil returned to his drink and slung it back. Afterward he smacked his lips together nervously. “Wash Bucket? He’s... he’s, um... occupied.”

“With what, Mr. Veil? With such an important matter as this, I’d like to ask all the suspects questions. So far that’s you, and Wash Bucket.”

The irritation in Tempest’s voice was as clear as day, so much so that even Chrysalis sensed it.

The curator furrowed his brow and coughed. “I’m terribly sorry, Miss Shadow, but I do not know where she is,” he stated firmly.

Chrysalis cocked her head and a small smile appeared on her lips. “She? Just moments ago you claimed you didn’t know where he was.”

The unicorn’s eyes widened and he shuffled on the spot. “Ah... m-my mistake, it must have been a slip of my tongue,” he quickly answered.

“Funny that, how one’s tongue can slip up under duress. In any case, I’d like to ask you some questions, curator...” the former queen continued, and began circling the room as Tempest fixed her eyes on her “That picture on your desk for instance... am I correct in thinking it is of you and your pretty wife?”

Veil’s eyes darted to the picture on his desk, of himself as a younger unicorn sitting beside a pegasus mare wearing a grin as wide as her wingspan on her face. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head. “Indeed it is, yes. What does this have to do with-”

“What’s her name? Your pretty wife?”

Tempest frowned and tapped the ground, drawing her teammate’s attention. “Chrysalis...” She gave the expression on the changeling’s face a curious look, wondering what she had uncovered. If there was any sign of deception in their current occupation, Chrysalis would be the one to find it. She was, after all, a master of disguise and deceit. Her eyes flashed like a dragon’s and her upper lip pulled back to reveal her fangs in a menacing grin.

She glanced toward the commander and held her head up high with an unblinking stare. The dark mare turned back to look at Veil.

The curator’s eyes flitted between them, and he nervously began to stammer. “I, um... I fail to see what th-that has to do with anything. The... the Necronomicon needs to be-”

“Answer the question, Veil,” the commander growled and took a heavy step forwards. Her single hoofstep perforated the silence that quickly fell upon them.

Chrysalis continued to circle the room, coming to a halt in front of a large cupboard. She rested a hoof against it and smiled slyly to herself. “Don’t you think it’s strange, Commander? A museum like this, the most famous museum in the world perhaps, and no security guards? Especially after such a high profile theft? Yes there were some police officers outside, but I wonder how much of the truth do they really know. Curious. Also...” She turned, and fixed the curator with a questioning and suspicious gaze. “He cannot remember his pretty wife’s name.”

“N-now hold on one second,” Veil stammered defensively. He tugged at his collar and swallowed hard. “I must apologise--my mind, you see, it... it has been frazzled by the events of the past few days. Of course... of course I know my wife’s name. it’s... um, it’s...”

Thunder and lightning crashed and roared outside, so much so that it almost sounded like an animal howling. The rain’s intensity seemed to thicken as well, drenching any misbegotten creature caught outside at this time.

“You love her, don’t you, curator?” Chrysalis crooned as she stepped away from the cupboard. She moved slowly, one hoof in front of the other, walking like a cat stalking a mouse. “Your wife, whose name you do not remember?”

The unicorn backed up and looked around the room. “Of c-course I do!” he snapped. The cupboard bumped and rustled with sudden movement, from something inside of it. Tempest stepped closer to it and prepared herself, watching it carefully. She swore she could hear a soft whimper from inside of it and rested her hoof on the latch.

“But how could you love her ‘Amethyst Veil’. If you’ve never met her?”

With a yelp Amethyst Veil found himself lifted up into the air within the queen’s magical grasp. She stood stock still, glaring up at him with narrowed slits for pupils. “I caught your stink the moment I laid eyes on you,” she snarled, dropping all pretence of niceties. “Reveal yourself to me, worm. Your true self, as wretched as it may be.”

The curator squeezed his eyes tight shut, and as a light blue flame sprung up around him, Tempest shielded her eyes for a moment. When she lowered her hoof, she saw that instead of a pony being held in Chrysalis’ magic, there was a changeling being held. A light purple, bright eyed changeling with translucent wings, who winced and grimaced as his former queen held him.

“Tempest,” Chrysalis growled, referring to the cupboard she stood beside. As she spoke, she let her forked tongue slither out from behind a set of razor sharp teeth.

The cupboard beside Tempest rustled once more as she flicked the latch open. From it spilled out a similarly looking changeling, a smaller, lime green female with big, bright luminescent opal coloured eyes who cowered and grovelled before the Knights. The commander looked down at her, then at the male, and then at Chrysalis, and winced at her furious expression.

“You had better start explaining,” she said slowly, not taking her eyes off of her teammate. “And for your sakes, do it quickly. Who are you?”

“I-I’m Ambrosia, and this is Nectar,” the young female stammered without looking up at either of them. “W-we, we... um...”

Chrysalis fixed her with a hate-filled glare and grabbed her with her magic as well, hoisting her up beside the creature formerly known as Amethyst Veil. “I do not care what the names of the treasonous balls of pus before me are!” she raged, partially at them and partially at the commander. “Tell me why you’re here in Manehattan, impersonating a pony, at the scene of a break-in and theft of a woefully dangerous artifact. I would suspect your precious king has not sanctioned your visit, nor your deception?”

Nectar swallowed and wriggled in her grasp. “N...no... Thorax doesn’t know we’re here,” he confessed. “We came here ourselves, just the two of us.”

Tempest narrowed her eyes at him and stepped to stand side by side with her teammate. “To do what exactly?” she growled.

Ambrosia blinked her large, shining eyes at the unicorn and the corners of her mouth twisted into a sneer. “W-we were looking for the Necronomicon. We heard it was being kept here and knew how dangerous it was.” She swallowed nervously. “W-we were told to only secure it with a spell, but something went wrong... and then...”

The room, the entire building in fact, seemed to shake and rumble as something howled and shrieked with an awful, unholy sound. Tempest noticed the ground beneath her hooves tremble, and recoiled as the sound reached her ears. The wind and rain battered and lashed against the window, growing in intensity to match the roar of whatever had shrieked.

The former queen dropped her ex-subjects in an instant, where they quickly grasped one another and huddled close, utterly petrified of the changeling queen’s wrath and whatever it was that was rapidly approaching them.

“You idiots,” Chrysalis rasped. Her pupils were so finely cut slits they were practically invisible as she quaked with rage. “You... insignificant... insipid little slugs, what have you-”

The door suddenly crashed open with Tirek and Cozy Glow bursting back into the room, looking haggard and frightened. They slammed the door behind them and looked around at the scene before them. A few seconds of silence passed between all parties until Tempest stepped forwards.

“Report, Tirek,” she snapped not unkindly, but professionally as a series of wet thumping sounds came from behind the door. “What is that?”

Tirek looked deep into her eyes and uttered a single word, one that sent chills down all of their spines as something massive crashed against the door behind him.

“Shoggoth.”

***

Cozy hummed a small tune to herself as she trotted out of the bathroom with a contented look on her face. Tirek scowled when he saw her and pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning against. “Finally we can leave,” he growled, and pointed back towards where the curator’s office was. “Perhaps the commander has learned something by now and I won’t have to babysit you anymore.”

The filly wrinkled her nose and drifted through the air in the exact wrong direction he was pointing. “Babysit? I resent that. Besides, you don’t wanna have a li’l look around?” she cooed and twirled the keys around on her hoof with a sly grin. “Here I was thinking you would jump at the chance to learn a thing or two, Terry.”

Tirek clenched his jaw and shook his head, once again finding himself bemused and amazed by the filly’s deviousness. “Of course I would,” he chortled, “but you should know as well as I that that doesn’t mean we are given free reign to do as we please. Having said that, Mr. Veil was kind enough to give us the keys, and I’m certain the commander would appreciate us investigating the area unhindered.”

“Golly what a good idea! You sure are smart, Tirek,” Cozy jokingly laughed and flapped through the air with a wide grin.

They wandered off down the corridor together, stopping occasionally to look at some of the exhibits. Cozy soon and bitterly realised that Tirek was using their little incursion to actually just visit the otherwise empty museum, and judging from the intrigued expressions he was giving some of the museum pieces, he was enjoying himself. Of course that didn’t stop her from yawning and slumping down where she hovered.

“Ugh, museums are so boooring,” she whined. “It’s just a bunch of old stuff nopony cares about anymore... Where’s the excitement?”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Tirek snorted as he traced his eyes over an old painting from fifth century Equestria. “If you hate museums so much why did you want to look around? Besides, if I had to sit through your insufferable dramas, then you should do the same for my interests. After all, isn’t that what friends do?”

Instead of any argument Cozy instead blew him a raspberry and pretended to press against an ornate vase, threatening to topple it over.

“Don’t touch anything if you can’t respect-” The centaur paused scolding her mid sentence and froze where he stood.

His ear twitched. A strange scent drifted past his nostrils at that moment. His black eyes narrowed and he inhaled deeply. An itch set in the back of his mind and made his tongue feel fuzzy almost instantaneously. Without a word, he started off down the corridor, occasionally sniffing the air. Cozy grinned mischievously to herself as she flitted after him.

“Finally! What is it? Whatcha smell, boy?” she giggled.

He scowled and paused as they came to a T-junction. “A faint trace of... something,” he murmured. He looked left down the corridor, then to the right and took another sniff. “Something resonating with intensely powerful magic. This way.” He set off again, following the scent.

“I don’t smell anything,” Cozy commented idly as she too sniffed the air.

“You wouldn’t. You aren’t trained to absorb and eat magic. To me, all magic has a scent, and to be more precise, a taste. The purer the magic the better it smells and tastes. I would liken a unicorn’s magic to sweet pancakes,” he added with a smirk as her eyes went wide. “Whereas the fouler the magic, the stronger it smells... And this... this is particularly foul magic.”

It was hard for Tirek to place his finger on what exactly the smell was, but something about it set his teeth on edge and his mind abuzz with questions. The eternal burning desire for knowledge that he once felt as a child burned within him once more, and as a Knight of Equestria he found himself with a seemingly renewed purpose. Perhaps this was his destiny after all, he wondered. Not... what fate had originally planned for him.

They came to a halt after about five minutes of walking outside a locked set of double doors covered in strange clear green goo. A sign above the doorway read Mysteries of the Unknown World, and he quickly deduced that this was where the book was being held before it was stolen. The scent of whatever it was was stronger now, stronger than it had ever been, and his hooves began to tingle in anticipation.

“Help me,” he told Cozy as he started to pull away the strands of slime.

“Doesn’t this stuff look kinda familiar?” Cozy asked as they quietly ripped and tore at the strands of hardening goop. “You know, like that... ‘stuff’ Chrysalis puts out when she... uh you know?” She mimed the act of vomiting followed by slurping.

Tirek agreed with her. “It does resemble changeling secretion, but... it takes days for it to form like this. It begs the question of why is it here? What purpose could it be blocking this door off from the rest of the museum?”

The centaur and the filly ripped and tore the last of the strands of slime away from the door until they could comfortably walk through it. Tirek grasped the handle and turned it, only for it to be locked. Cozy coughed and jingled the keys at him, to which he rolled his eyes and took them from her. After the fifth one, the lock clicked, and he pushed the set of doors open with a wide swing. The stink of raw, twisted magic assaulted his nostrils, making him pinch his nose and grimace.

The large, mostly empty room had a few vases, paintings and artifacts lining the walls--exhibits to be gawked at by paying customers no doubt. Some ancient tribal masks and weapons from Farasi, a well worn scratching post from Abyssinia, a tennis ball--a tennis ball? According to the plaque beside it, it appeared to be some sort of religious artifact from the diamond dog homeland, Canida, first thrown by the so called ‘Master’. Amongst these objects was quite the menagerie of collected relics from across the world; each as old and mysterious as the last...

But there, at the centre of the room, and what drew his eye the most and made his heart leap into his throat and a cold sweat form on his brow, was a pedestal holding an open book. Not just any book, but the Necronomicon Ex Mortis itself. He recognised it from the ancient drawings and depictions of it he had once chased. The cursed and legendary tome written by the mad Saddle Arabian, bound in equine skin and inked with the blood of living creatures. What was worse, though, was the trail of black, iridescent slime that spewed forth from its cursed pages.

Shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles formed and popped as the mass began to grow, disturbed by their presence, spilling out over the pedestal and onto the floor.

“What the bleep...” Cozy whispered beside him, gaping in a mix of curious wonder and fear at the black sludge.

As they moved forwards into the room some more Tirek’s hooves suddenly squelched under something gross and sticky and he looked down, grimacing at the thin trail of the same slime that had trickled towards him. He quickly stepped away and scraped it off of his hoof. Cozy pulled a face and stuck her tongue out as she looked down at it. “Eugh!” She grimaced and gagged. “It looks like the same stuff that comes outta ghosts. What is it?”

As the amoeba-like gelatinous slime began making a series of disgusting squelching and popping noises at the Knights, Cozy suddenly clutched at her head and groaned. Her wings faltered and began to flap unevenly, and she dropped to the ground. Tirek quickly caught her and lifted her up like a teddy bear, tucking her to his chest and letting her hang loosely in his arms. “Careful. Do not touch it,” he told her gently.

“It hurts to look at...” she mumbled blearily and shook her head. “Feels like I’m... flyyying... Whoooaaa...”

“We must inform Commander Tempest...” mumbled the centaur as he too began to feel the effects of the wretched slime poke and prod his mind.

It did indeed resemble the ectoplasmic gak left behind after a ghost’s appearance, but he knew this was something far more ancient and powerful. As the Necronomicon was clearly its source, he correctly assumed that the reason for them being there was a ruse, and this was no theft. He came to the conclusion that perhaps somepony had meddled in affairs far greater than themselves or anything in this world.

But who? And why? Questions that sorely needed answering would have to wait.

The living sludge, for it was indeed alive, popped and squelched again until a myriad of faintly luminous temporary eyes began forming and un-forming, fixing both the Knights present with the animalistic, hateful gaze of a creature born from the void. Some of them were lizard like, sporting vertical slits. Some held horizontal pupils like a goat’s, and some were round like a pony’s. All of them practically oozed malice as the beast began to grow, pulsing and swelling until it towered over even the centaur.

Tirek did a quick calculation in his head at how large he would have guessed it was. Roughly fifteen feet across and some twenty feet high, somehow it had been trapped in this room until they had opened the door. He surmised that whoever left it here and sealed the door shut had an inkling of what they were doing.

As the creature heaved and shifted towards them, Tirek jumped backwards extraordinarily quickly for someone of his size. Spurred perhaps by the innate desire to live that resided in all things, he hugged Cozy tight to his chest and slammed the doors shut as a gaping maw formed the foul creature’s mouth to reveal thousands upon thousands of razor sharp needle-like teeth. It lunged forwards, shrieking a dreadful cry of a nonsense language.

“Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”

He released Cozy from his protective grasp and looked her in the eye as he pressed his shoulder into the door, just in time to prevent it from escaping. Thankfully, the filly’s wings regained their uses as she couldn’t see the beast any longer, and she rubbed her head in confusion. “Cozy!” he barked at her. She looked at him dumbfoundedly as the creature thumped against the wooden door, cracking and splintering it. “Run!”

The filly snapped herself out of her dazed state and beat her wings furiously as she turned tail, only to pause and look back at him in concern. “You’re coming too, right?”

“Obviously,” he grunted at her and waved her away. “Go. Now!” He pushed himself away and began to gallop, with the filly tearing through the air beside him. The door, having nothing blocking it now, shattered and ripped its poor hinges away from the frame, and with another terrible shriek the beast charged after them, knocking paintings off of walls and scorching the ground beneath its wretched, malformed body.

“Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”

“What is this thing?!” Cozy howled as they thundered down the corridor, back towards their comrades.

Tirek panted and thrust a pillar holding up a no doubt ridiculously expensive vase--as fate would have it, the same one he had scolded Cozy for messing about with--down onto the beast’s path, hoping to slow it down. “An abomination!” he yelled as it moved over the pillar unfazed, crashing into a wall as they rounded a corner. “Mindless beasts bred to destroy and consume all in their path-”

The creature roared and slathered over the ground towards them, ripping through another exhibit and sending shards of debris through the air. Cozy tumbled through the air with the force of the shockwave until Tirek caught her. Together, they ran, until they spotted the curator’s office, and burst through the closed door.

The strange sight in front of him made a dozen questions appear in Tirek’s mind, as he saw Tempest and Chrysalis standing in front of and--probably--interrogating two reformed changelings, with the former queen positively quaking with rage at them. He made a mental note to learn what had transpired in his and the filly’s absence.

The centaur gasped for air and braced his back against the door as he heard the beast quickly approach, it’s murderous wet thumping sounds growing increasingly frantic and unruly. Cozy dove into the room and crashed against the table, panting and gasping for air as her small body quivered and shook.

“Report, Tirek,” Tempest Shadow barked, standing up straight and looking him in the eye.

“Shoggoth,” he breathed. “The Necronomicon Ex Mortis is still here. It was never stolen. Instead someone, intentionally or not, summoned a shoggoth.” He jerked forwards as the foul entity behind him crashed its massive body against the door.

The commander quickly sprung into action and joined him in barring the door as best they could. “Chrysalis, put the civilians somewhere safe,” she ordered, gesturing to the pair of young changelings.

The queen gladly obeyed with a cruel sneer, and started towards them. Her horn ignited and lifted the table up, overturning it to create a makeshift shield, and she grabbed her former subjects to angrily thrust them down and plant them behind it where they sat like children after being put on the naughty step.

Tirek jammed his shoulder against the door and snarled as a slithering tentacle wormed its way through a crack between his legs, only to be stamped on by the commander. It recoiled and a short shriek followed after it.

“Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!” it wailed.

“Cozy, stay back,” Tempest grunted as it thumped against the door again. “Make sure they don’t interfere, and keep an eye on them.”

Cozy quickly saluted and flew over towards the pair of changelings as Chrysalis finally wrenched her hateful gaze away from them. The former queen cracked her neck and stood opposite Tirek and Tempest with a grimace on her face. “Stand aside,” she told them in a low growl as her form began to change. Green fire sprung up around her as it always did, and in her place a mighty ursa major stood, its size taking up a majority of the office space.

Tirek and Tempest glanced at one another before quickly diving out of the way. Chrysalis hurled her new massive body against the door. From the other side they could hear some wet slapping noises and another awful shriek. The shoggoth appeared stunned, confused almost by the sudden burst of strength railing against it, until it shrieked again and redoubled its efforts.

“Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”

The commander rounded on Tirek. “What do we do?” she asked him. “What’s a shoggoth, and how do we beat one?”

Tirek shook his head and looked around the room. “I’d be happier to explain more in detail when it is dead, although I’m not certain we can defeat it in physical or magical combat,” he confessed. “I believe it would take nothing short of a bolt of pure lightning, or perhaps even the Elements of Harmony themselves, to destroy one for good.” He hesitated and thought for a moment as he remembered what he saw. “Unless...”

“Unless?” Tempest queried, looking at the door as the wall shook and began to crack.

Tirek dragged a hand down his face and tapped his chin with his finger. “It was spawned from the Necronomicon, and is still connected to it. If we can close the book and cut it off from its source... maybe. Maybe...” He tapped his chin and continued to think.

Chrysalis growled and shifted her hulking body as the shoggoth continued to pound against the door. The wall above both her and it continued to crack, and a dozen black, slimy tentacles began to break through.

Tempest took aim and fired up at them, singing and severing them where she could, to which Cozy then jumped up and down and stamped on the ones that continued to wriggle on the ground before she darted back behind cover.

Tirek looked over at the pair of changelings, at their wide eyes watching him from behind the overturned table. “We need a distraction,” Cozy murmured with a glint in her eye, seemingly pondering what he was pondering. She leered towards them. “Something to lure it away while we can get to that book.”

The commander turned to look at them, and then at the changelings. She pursed her lips and jutted her head from side to side. “No. Absolutely not. I’ll lure it away, you get to that book,” she snapped at the pegasus. “We don’t use civilians as live bait, Cozy Glow.”

“I wasn’t-”

Cozy balked and glanced at Tirek, who simply raised a finger to his lips. “The bear and I will keep the civilians from getting in the way,” he said.

“Good,” Tempest replied with a respectful nod. She looked around the room and frowned. “First I need a way around the blasted thing though,” she murmured.

“Um... Miss Shadow?” came a shy, tentative voice. One of the changelings, the light purple one, raised his head gingerly over the upturned table as he stood with trembling legs. The Knights all turned to look at him expectantly and disdainfully. Civilians never fared very well in these types of situations. “Th-there’s a small ledge outside the window,” he said, and looked towards the large window of the office. “You can use it to come around to another office and slip past the thing there.”

Tempest followed his gaze and nodded. “That’ll do,” she grumbled. “Tirek give me a hand.”

Tirek stepped closer towards the window and helped her pull it open. It stuck for a moment, but with a short heave and a sharp tug it came free. A gale of wind and rain billowed into the room, quickly drenching them and forming a small puddle on the floor.

Chrysalis snorted and looked away as her body heaved forwards again. If ursa majors could speak, Tirek thought, then no doubt her royal majesty would be cursing their situation and call the changelings worms, slugs or some combination of the two, and bemoan them for unleashing a shoggoth. He suspected that they were the ones who gooed up the door, and possibly knew something about the shoggoth, or even the Necronomicon itself. As the curator of the museum was nowhere in sight, he also suspected one of the changelings to be him. Most likely the purple one, although one could never be too sure with changelings--reformed or not.

Any train of thought he might have had was interrupted by a loud screeching sound on the other side of the door.

“Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”

“Ugh why does it keep screaming that?” Cozy grumbled as she covered her ears up. “Boy, shoggoths sure do make a lot of noise don’t they?”

Tempest stepped closer to the window, ignoring her attempt at a light-hearted comment. “Cozy, get ready to move. You remember the way?”

“Uh huh,” Cozy groaned as she removed her hooves from her ears.

“Good. As soon as the door’s clear, run. Find the book and lets send this thing back to where it came from.”

The filly swallowed and bristled her wings. “Sure, Tempy. Leave it to me.” She spoke with clear determination and focus, a contrast to her usual casualness and joking, carefree attitude.

Tirek placed a hand gently on her head for some reassurance he thought she needed, and looked down at her as he rubbed one of her ears between his finger and thumb in a rare show of affection, however small it may have been.

“Thanks, big guy,” she mumbled, and patted his hand.

Tempest observed them quietly, and none of them noticed a small smile appear on her face. “When you’re ready, Tirek. Give me a boost.”

He removed his hand from the child’s head and lifted up the commander to help her onto the window’s ledge. With the rain and wind coming down hard, and amidst the unnatural greyness of the world, Tempest was all but invisible save for the light blue stripes of her uniform. Very quickly she was taking on the appearance of a drowned rat as well as her mane clung to her scalp and her neck. “You were right after all, Chrysalis,” she murmured. “There is no such thing as luck...” She disappeared into the rain, inching towards her goal.

“One more thing before you go, Cozy,” he said to the filly as they all turned to the door and waited. “When you reach the book, before you even touch it, recite these words. Listen very carefully, and pay attention. Klaatu, verata, nikto. It is vitally important that you say those words. Who knows what could happen otherwise.”

Cozy waved a hoof at him. She pressed her teeth into her lower lip as the shoggoth roared again. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it,” she said without looking. “You guys worry about yourselves, alright? I got this.”

A flash of lightning appeared in the cracks, followed shortly by shriek. The wet thumping sounds that the shoggoth made faded away as it tore after the commander, no doubt who of which was giving it a world of trouble. Cozy glanced back to look at his face.

“Hey?” she murmured. “Don’t die today, alright? It’d kinda suck.”

Tirek chortled and glanced over at the ursine major and shared a knowing look with her as her form began to change. Chrysalis took a few ragged breaths, exhausted from having to keep a shoggoth at bay on her own. Her wings fluttered weakly, and one of them was bent into a distorted angle, making her wince and grunt in pain as she corrected it with a quiet snap. “What, do you want a goodbye kiss?” she rasped before slumping to the ground and panting for air. “Hurry up you dull creature, before it comes back and has its way with us all.”

Turning back to the small pegasus, his first friend in the world, Tirek looked her in the eye and said, “I suspect we shall be fine, Cozy Glow. Go.”

***

Cozy floated over the wreckage that was the once locked door to the Mysteries of the Unknown exhibits and winced. “Geez that thing really did a number on this place, huh?” she mumbled to herself. Several of the rare artifacts had been smashed, and the Abyssinian scratching post had been coated in vile sludge. “Oof, that’s gonna be expensive...”

She pretended to push up her non existent sleeves and licked her lips as she drifted towards her target, the cursed book open. “Alright, book,” she growled at the Necronomicon, “get ready for the closing of a lifetime.” Taking care to avoid looking directly at the trail of black slime left behind by the beast, she reached out to the pedestal, only to stop and catch herself.

“Whoa... hold on a moment. Tirek’s words, right. The magic words.”

She quickly cleared her throat and spoke as loudly as she could. “Klaatu... verata... N... hmm...” She paused, and her eyes widened. Her eyebrows scrunched together slightly and she looked back down at the book. “Ah geez, necktie... nickel... nectar... agh!” She thrust her hooves up in frustration and tapped her chin.

She could hear them all now, everyone she ever knew. Mocking her. Berating her. Cozy never listens. Cozy’s just a child, what does she know? Cozy Glow, the only pegasus in a family of unicorns, what a disappointment. Why doesn’t she listen? Why can’t she do anything right? Why was she ever-

“Shut up! I’m trying!” Cozy yelled to the empty room as a fresh tears formed in her eyes. She quickly rubbed them and placed her hooves on either side of her head. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “C’mon, Terry. Mind meld with me... Think, Cozy... think!”

She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the right word to come to her. A vein in her forehead popped out. Her face began turning purple with strain, and the word, that single, solitary word continued to elude her despite it teetering on the edge of her memory.

“Nicole, kneecap, knickers, knickerbocker... ugh it sounded like tick-tack-toe didn’t it? Knack... knick... toe?”

There it was. She kissed her hooves and waved them in the air. “Ha! Told you I could do it!” she cheerfully cried and looked back down at the book as the roar of the shoggoth sounded through the entire museum. She heard the crack of lightning followed by the zap of magic as Tempest fought the wretched monster.

“Oh, right, yeah. Ahem. Ahhhheeemmm.”

She held both hooves out either side of the book and spoke loudly, calmly and clearly. “Klaatu, verata, nikto!”

She slammed the book shut triumphantly, and waited for something to happen. The trail of sludge pouring out of the book snapped, severed at the base like a docked tail, and it dropped to the ground with a wet plop, making her grimace and pull a face in disgust.

“Ew.”

Cozy bit her lip again and continued to wait.

And then...

At first it started with a rumble, like an earthquake, picking up until the entire room shook. As she was floating and flapping her wings, the filly remained unmoved by the rumbling, and could only wince as several relics toppled over and crashed onto the ground, probably costing somepony thousands of bits. The rumbling stopped, and next came the howl and shriek of a large creature in intense pain. The book began to tremble and wrenched itself free of her grasp, where she floated backwards and looked up at it. The slime trail leading out of the room began to recede, to dissolve into nothing--following an almighty shriek and one final gargled cry of the shoggoth as it slugged its way into view.

“Tek... eli-liii! Teeekkk... eli-liiiii...”

The shoggoth reached out, grasping with failing tendrils of living slime as it began to dissolve and fade away, leaving only scorch marks where it once rested, and then...

Silence.

The book stopped trembling and dropped to the ground. Cozy grabbed one of the Farasi tribal sticks that had spilled out onto the floor and poked it a few times to make sure it wasn’t going to eat her or anything. Confident--fairly confident--it in fact wouldn’t eat her, she set the stick down and gingerly picked up the book.

Now she got a good look a it, it looked like it had a face on the cover, contorted and twisted into a mask of hate and pain, and felt strangely fuzzy. It was surprisingly warm, too. Like touching another pony. She swore she felt it rise and fall for a brief moment as she held it, like it was breathing.

“Weird...” she mumbled.

The sound of movement and a few ragged breaths behind her made her spin around and breathe a sigh of relief. “Oh it’s you, Tempy,” she chortled nervously upon spotting the commander. She waved the book in the air. “I did it. Oh... are you hurt?”

Tempest had a thin scorch mark on her face, no doubt where the shoggoth had slapped her at some point and held one leg above the ground. Her uniform was ripped and torn, and she had several bruises showing on what parts of her body weren’t covered up. She rasped deep, raggedy breaths and pulled her head up. “I’m fine,” she said stubbornly, and nodded to the book. “Is that it, then?”

Cozy shrugged and looked at it in her hooves. “Think so. It’s not doing anything else, so...”

The commander nodded firmly and turned to leave.

The pegasus quickly flew over to her and clutched at the dangerous book. Even so, she still extended a hoof and tried to help the unicorn as best she could.

“Thanks. Good job, Cozy,” Tempest said to her quietly, and smiled at her as she took the outstretched hoof and hobbled away. “You did good here. I’m proud of you.”

Cozy felt a sense of pride and self-worth swell within her. Nopony had ever said they were proud of her before, and she felt a newfound respect for the commander begin to form.

“Ugh let’s take the day off tomorrow,” Tempest grumbled as they turned to leave, making Cozy rouse out of her own thoughts and snicker out loud. The unicorn hobbled with the aid of the filly, muttering and cursing under her breath. “Call in sick or something...”

“You wanna get some pancakes?” the filly asked with a grin. “I saw a place on our way in but, I, uh... didn’t want to say anyth-”

“You know I could kill for some sugar right now?” the dark unicorn chuckled, earning a wide smile from the little pegasus. “But we need to deal with those two first,” she said, pointing towards where the curator’s office was.

Cozy nodded, her smile fading as she suddenly remembered the changelings. “Yeah what gives? Who were they? Where’s that curator guy?”

“We’re about to find out. C’mon.”

***

Heavy was the mind burdened with knowledge.

Director Luna looked up the steps to the Manehattan Museum of Natural History with narrowed, piercing eyes. The officers around her watched her quietly and carefully, and kept the crowd off of her as best they could, taking great care not to draw the gaze of either of the massive black stallions on either side of the former princess.

Doom and Gloom, the cheeriest ponies the director knew, snorted like equines of old as they waited for direction. Whether the midnight alicorn was former princess or not, they were her right and left hooves, even more so than the Nightmare Knights, and would accompany her into Tartarus itself if she asked them to.

Speaking of the Nightmare Knights, Luna furrowed her brow and remembered the message she had received. Time was a valuable commodity these days, and she didn’t have any to spare wasting away out here when she was needed in there.

Her horn ignited as she effortlessly ripped away the yellow warding tape obstructing her path and began the ascent. The steps were glistening wet, and a few rays of her sister’s sunlight--no, Twilight’s sunlight, she corrected herself--were shining down over the city. She quickly gathered that the storm that had ended recently had not been a natural one if the remnants of dull grey clouds were anything to go by.

“Doom. Gloom,” she said upon reaching the door. She never needed to say anything more than their names for them to understand what she wanted of them.

The former marched forwards and opened the door while the latter stepped inside and looked around. After a few short minutes he snorted and gave a grunt of approval to his partner, who moved in as silent as the wind despite his size. Luna held her head up high and entered after them, only to immediately step on a piece of rubble and look around at the carnage.

She felt a small headache begin to form on the side of her head. She’d need to get the reconstruction crews down here and compensate the museum for any damages incurred. Thankfully Twilight gave her the budget she needed, so money wouldn’t be an issue, but even so there would need to be a lot of replicas made.

Stepping over an overturned and time-worn column from the early days of Equestria’s first regency, her ear twitched in annoyance as she heard the Knights’ voices drift into earshot. They were arguing. Again. Why were they always arguing? She couldn’t hear precisely what about at this distance, but assumed it was about the reason she had been summoned.

Following their voices she moved through the museum silently, gliding over some of the carnage and wreckage, and as she rounded a corner she spotted a cracked and charred wall. That, coupled with the raised voices and traces of foul eldritch energy in the air, told her that that where where they currently her, no doubt resting after facing down a shoggoth.

Luna paused in her stride and tittered to herself, shaking her head slowly with a small grin on her lips as she listened to the Knights continue to bicker. In a way, they reminded her of how she and her sister used to be, and still were at times; frequently bickering, yet came together when needed. She took a deep breath and her smile faded. She needed to be the their boss now, not their friend, despite how happy it made her to see evidence of them working as one, and how heavy her mind may have been at this current time.

She pressed her hoof against the door at the centre of the scorched wall and pushed it open, where it didn’t open so much as it did fall inwards with a loud clatter.

The Nightmare Knights, plus two uncomfortable looking changelings, turned to look at her and the room fell into a deathly silence as she entered. The director gave all present a courteous nod, noting Tempest Shadow’s torn and tattered uniform, not to mention her injured leg and bruised body. Chrysalis too looked slightly injured, albeit not as much as the commander, while Tirek and Cozy Glow both looked unharmed, with the latter holding onto the Necronomicon Ex Mortis like it would slip out of her grasp given the chance.

Despite her injuries, the commander still stood up straight on three legs and saluted as best as she could in response. “Director,” she said calmly with a wince as she lowered her hoof. “We weren’t expecting to see you here.”

“Commander,” Luna replied with a polite nod. She took a look around the room, then focused her attention at the two changelings with a reserved expression. “I came as soon as I received your message. Report.”

Tempest frowned and glanced sideways to her team, who shrugged and looked just as confused as she did. “I didn’t-”

“I’m sorry, Commander, but she means us,” interrupted one of the changelings in a calm and collected voice. The light purple one, along with his partner, saluted and held up his head high. “Agent Nectar, ma’am, and Agent Ambrosia as requested.”

Luna gave them both a nod of acknowledgement, feeling the temperature of the room increase as tempers began to rise.

“The situation escalated quicker than we had anticipated,” continued Agent Ambrosia to a room of silence and swallowed. She looked around at the Knights and trembled slightly. “The Nightmare Knights had to be called in to assist, and they did not disappoint. The shoggoth has been destroyed and the Necronomicon Ex Mortis has been pacified, but unfortunately we were unable to ascertain who the culprit was for summoning it, or even if they still live.”

Luna could feel the judgement, bitterness and resentment positively radiate from the Knights as she nodded. “I see. Thank you, agents,” she said quietly. With a flap of her wings Doom and Gloom stepped to one side, freeing up the doorway. “When you leave, get the reconstruction team down here ASAP, and if any of the media ask you any questions, tell them the museum is undergoing refurbishment and is closed until further notice.”

The pair of changelings clicked their hooves together and saluted her again. “Yes, ma’am!” they barked in unison, and hurried away to do her bidding with the glares of the Nightmare Knights clinging to them like cobwebs. On his way out, Agent Nectar glanced back at Tempest Shadow, and gave her something of an apologetic, albeit unreciprocated, smile before disappearing from view.

Luna turned to look at the Knights, while Doom and Gloom both bristled behind her and flapped their bat-like wings. Their pale green eyes scanned the room as silently as they always did, and the tension that filled the room fell so heavily it could have been cut with a knife.

“I apologise for the deception, Knights,” the director said. “But in this current climate of ours secrecy is key. The less you know the safer you will be in the long run.”

Chrysalis curled her lip and bared her fangs at her. “Is that all you have to say”? she snarled.

Tirek reached out to prevent her from taking a step forwards. He silently shook his head as she turned to him in fury as he balled his hands into fists, seething with quiet rage, while Cozy Glow folded her hooves and scowled.

Luna pulled her head up and looked them all in the eye one by one. “Again, I can only apologise, but I felt the best course of action was to not involve you unless it was necessary to do so.”

“How is that even remotely true?” Chrysalis growled, pushing past Tirek’s arm and taking a firm step towards the alicorn, who remained unfazed and unflinching in the face of such rage. “Necessary to do so?! You puffed up, ignorant-” She flinched, so overcome with such anger and ferocity that she cut herself off. “And what possible use could you have for those slugs in your employ?” she eventually sneered, jabbing a hoof after Agents Nectar and Ambrosia.

“Who better to move about unseen and gather intelligence than a changeling?” the director fired back with a cocked eyebrow and ears facing forwards. “Surely you of all creatures would know the answer to that, Chrysalis.”

The former queen curled her lip upwards again and opened her mouth to begin berating her until Tempest stamped her hoof, bringing all eyes towards the dark unicorn. She held her head up and took a few steps forwards until she was nose to nose with the director. She ground her jaw, seemingly looking for the right words.

“You disapprove of my methods, Commander?” Luna said, coldly looking ahead as the dark mare remained silent. “Well too bad. We’re in this for the survival of everything we hold dear. This is a bigger operation than you may have thought it was, and sometimes instead of a hammer I need scalpel.”

Instead of retaliation as expected, Tempest simply sighed and narrowed her eyes. “Ambrosia said there was a culprit,” she muttered. Her tone of voice was full of her usual professionalism and stoicism, although her eyes held a raging inferno of restrained fury. “Do we know anything about them? Who they are? What they want?”

Luna felt her resolve wane for a split second, the question posed to her catching her off guard slightly and she looked down at the broken horned unicorn. “Other than they are the enemy, there is very little we have been unable to obtain on them. There are forces greater than anything we have ever seen at work here, Knights,” she added pensively. “More powerful than simple ghosts and spirits.”

Behind the commander, the Knights murmured and grumbled amongst each other before she stamped her hoof again, bringing them into silence once more. “And what do we do about the Necronomicon?” she asked, keeping her attitude calm and stabilized.

“I’ll take it back to Canterlot for safe keeping,” the director replied. “There is room there for such a dangerous artifact.”

Tempest nodded and jerked her head sideways, towards her team. “Cozy.”

Cozy flitted forwards with the book in her hooves. She reluctantly held it out to the alicorn, who took it in her magic gratefully, then flitted backwards to rest on Tirek’s arm.

Luna traced a hoof over its cover, feeling its dark energy course through the air. “I understand that lies and deceptions are unpleasant, Knights,” she said quietly as she tucked the tome under one of her wings. “But even though you may be kept in the dark for now, you are still our brightest beacons, and our first line of defence.”

Sensing the displeasure on the air like the scent of burnt toast despite what she thought were some inspirational words, Luna sighed and turned away. “Return to your home, Knights. You’ve earned some rest.”

“That’s it?” Cozy mumbled sulkily. “Wham, bam, thank you for doing a good job now get outta here?”

Luna turned back to look at her. She poked around among her teeth with her tongue for a moment before adding, “I hear the pancakes at Aunt May’s are the best in Manehattan. I’ve also heard there is a limited time special offer: Free service for saviours of the city.”

The corner of Tempest’s mouth twitched upwards in what could have been considered a smile for the briefest of seconds, while Cozy Glow’s face lit up like a Hearth’s Warming tree.

“Whoa, really? Terry you hear that?” she whispered excitedly, tugging at the centaur’s arm.

Luna kept her head held up high as she left them to their own machinations once again. The Necronomicon pulsed under her wing, making her head itch and causing her tongue to feel fuzzy. She hoped the pages within it could elucidate some sorely needed answers for her, as cursed and wretched as it was.

A dark shadow had crept up into Equestria, one she was very reluctant to see return. She could sense it even now, gnawing at the back of her mind like a bad headache.

Love Starved

Tempest awoke to the sounds and vibrations of explosions shaking the entire room, accompanied by a cacophony of very loud and angry shouting. All in all, rather typical as far as mornings at the Castle of the Two Sisters went. She wondered who was doing what, and which end of the stick Cozy Glow was on this time.

With a groan she pushed herself up and out of her bunk, tearing the nightcap of her head with a dour expression. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, clicking her tongue and grimacing at the prospect of having to deal with whatever the Knights were doing today, muttering under her breath while doing so.

As another explosion rocked the room, conveniently shaking the covers off of her bed, she swung her legs over and stood. With another groan she stretched and cracked several muscles in her back and neck, and made to find the source of the explosions. The bunkroom door closed gently behind her, and she made her way downstairs.

In the main common room, Tirek sat with a set of spectacles resting on his nose, holding a book in one hand and resting the other on the nearby table, ready to catch a glass of water he must have gotten for himself. He looked up as Tempest entered the room and waved her a small greeting.

“Commander,” he said gruffly, also clearly perturbed by the events surrounding them. His fingers coiled around the glass to keep it from knocking it over as another explosion shook the room and sent some books tumbling off of the nearby bookshelf. “Did you rest well? How’s the leg?”

“I did. It’s better, thanks for asking,” Tempest sighed and flexed her leg. Where it was once injured in her ordeal with the shoggoth still stung, but with the help of healing magic and a few days of bed rest, however, she was very quickly approaching one hundred percent. There was a flash of green light from one of the many winding corridors of the castle, making her eyebrow twitch in annoyance. “Do we know what’s happening?”

“I haven’t had the chance nor desire to ask.”

“Fair.”

The commander sighed again and strolled through to the kitchen intending to fix herself a bowl of Celesti’Os, pausing only to glance at the calendar on the nearby wall, thinking nothing more of the date circled. She finished pouring the milk and had just eaten a mouthful of the crisp, golden hoops when Cozy Glow tore around the corner, panting and looking both bedraggled and afraid.

“Tempy!” she wailed upon spotting her, and flew over to her where she then crouched behind the unicorn’s leg and pointed with a trembling hoof. “Please talk some sense into her! Tell her it was an accident!”

Tempest followed where the filly was pointing and raised her eyebrows as a furious Chrysalis thundered around the corner skidding to a halt, snarling and practically frothing at the mouth with rage. “You little rat!” she howled, and stormed towards her prey. “Stop moving!”

The commander gently placed her spoon back in the bowl to stir her cereal slowly. Her eyebrow twitched again and her tail flicked out sideways. “Tirek,” she said calmly, and without looking.

Tirek set down his book and stood up with a heavy sigh. As Chrysalis passed by him, she suddenly found herself hoisted up into the air, ensnared in his magical grip.

“How dare--release me!” she demanded and whipped her head around to fix Tirek with a deathly glare. “Unhand me at once you filthy half-breed!”

“No,” the centaur replied firmly, scowling at her grievous insult. He raised another hand and lifted Cozy up too, wrenching her from out of her hiding spot between the dark unicorn’s legs.

“Whoa, what the-”

Tempest cleared her throat as they were lifted up and looked them both in the eyes one by one. “Now. What’s this about?” she asked quietly, continuing to stir her cereal. “What happened?”

The room exploded into a flurry of noise as Chrysalis pointed accusatory hooves at Cozy and demanded recompense, while Cozy practically shouted back something about an honest mistake. The unicorn and the centaur both looked at each other wearily and sighed again.

“One at a time,” Tempest growled, letting her patience slip momentarily.

Cozy clammed up and flicked her eyes between her and Chrysalis, who scowled and did the same.

“Chrysalis. What has Cozy done to earn your ire?” Tirek asked, breaking the silence between them all.

Chrysalis pointed a hoof at the filly. “She ate my love,” she hissed. “And I am now hungry because of it.”

Tempest nodded after taking another mouthful of cereal, although she didn’t understand what she meant. “Cozy? What do you have to say for yourself?”

“W-well,” Cozy murmured, “I mean how was I supposed to know those little candies weren’t actually candies? They were where the food is so I thought-”

“You’d help yourself?” Chrysalis sneered viciously. She opened her jaw to reveal rows of razor sharp teeth and ran her tongue along her fangs before shifting her eyes towards Tempest again. “Commander I insist you let me feed upon her as atonement for her actions.”

Tirek snorted and released Cozy from his grasp. “I would hardly suppose that is fair,” he growled, having developed a bond between himself and the filly. “What do you mean by she ‘ate all of your love’?”

“None of your business!” Chrysalis snapped, glowering at them both.

Tempest put her spoon back down in the bowl and tapped a hoof on the counter. “Chrysalis,” she said in a warning tone. “We can’t help of you don’t explain.”

The changeling queen twisted her head back around to look at the unicorn. Her face contorted, appearing furious one moment then morose the other.

“Love pellets. She ate my love pellets. Small containers no bigger than a pill, filled with enough condensed love to last me for weeks. It’s how I survive seen as how I’m part of this ridiculous outfit. Today was when I was scheduled to have the next one,” she said after a moment’s pause and hung her head. She looked at Cozy in nothing short of disgust. “And that little pig ate them all!”

The commander gave her a sympathetic look. “Alright, how do we get some more? Cozy can pay for them if need be.” She fixed Cozy a look as if to say ‘yes you will, do not argue’ as she opened her mouth to protest, and quickly fell silent.

“It’s not that simple, Commander...” Chrysalis hissed. “I made them myself, siphoning what love I could and fashioning it into a means of sustainability after I was exi--had my Hive stolen from me.” Her eyes narrowed and her lip curled at her potential slip up. “Now I have none left and I am getting hungry, and you should all know things get crazy when I’m hungry.”

“How crazy?” Cozy asked, daring to speak directly to her terroriser.

“I’m not talking to you,” Chrysalis snarled, looking down at her with eyes blazing with righteous fury. “And I will only explain more if I am released from this indignity so will you please put. Me. Down?!”

Tirek looked towards the commander for approval. She nodded affirmatively, so he shrugged and lowered the former queen down. She readjusted herself and shifted on the spot before inhaling a deep breath. “If I do not feed soon...” she growled through gritted teeth. “...Then I am going to go into feral mode.”

“Feral mode?” Tempest asked with a cocked eyebrow. “What’s that?”

Chrysalis inhaled sharply through her teeth. “Not. Pretty,” she answered gravely.

“Wh-what do we do?” Cozy whispered fearfully. As Chrysalis scowled at her and curled her lip into a sneer she let out a small ‘eep’ and darted behind Tirek’s leg.

“I do not wish you two serious harm,” the changeling said to both Tirek and Tempest, making a point to exclude Cozy Glow. “Having said that, and though I am loathe to suggest it, I should be restrained as I will not be in control of my actions. At least until I am fed an ample amount of love.” She snorted and kicked at the ground, causing her to stumble and hold her head in frustration. “Although, where one would find enough love to cure love starvation is beyond me.”

Tempest nodded thoughtfully. She looked back at the calendar on the wall, specifically at the circled date, and an idea formed in her head. “First thing’s first, let’s get you somewhere safe where you can sit this one out. Tirek, how deep are the dungeons of this place?” she asked, turning to the centaur of the group.

He folded his arms and snorted. “Quite. Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

“I am. It seems the safest, most secure place.”

“The dungeons. Is that necessary?” Tirek cocked his head and scratched at his elbow, showing a rare display of concern for the changeling. Chrysalis seemed to notice it too, as she fell quiet and lowered her head.

“Yeah, Tempy, that’s kinda harsh isn’t it?” Cozy chimed in. “I mean, she was trying to eat me, but I’d say we put her in bed or something.”

“It’s only temporary, and I don’t like it any more than either of you. But I think it’s what would be best...” Tempest stopped as her eyes came to a rest on Chrysalis, noting how the changeling’s breathing had become heavy and somewhat laboured. “Chrysalis?” she murmured, taking a step towards her, concern mixed with dread etched into her face.

The former queen looked back up at her with bloodshot eyes and trembling legs. “It’s happening...” she hissed. “There is no... time... you must... hurry...” She slumped to the ground as apparent sleep took hold of her, but before she hit the deck she was enveloped in a warm, familiar golden glow.

The Knights all heard the twinkle of magic in the air and whipped around, gazing in a mix of fear and awe at the pair of ponies standing there in the doorway. One of them, the Nightmare Knights secretary herself Jackdaw Inkwell, nervously looked at them all and shifted where she stood. Tempest saw what appeared to be a gift basket full of fruit of all things balanced on her back.

“Uh... hi guys,” she mumbled, giving all a small wave. “Is this a bad time? Uh, some--somepony’s here to see you.” She gestured up to the alicorn standing beside her.

Celestia, formerly princess, smiled at them all. Her horn glowing with the same golden light that held Chrysalis. “Hello, Nightmare Knights,” she said kindly like she was an old grandma speaking to her grandfoals. “I hope I’m not intruding too much, but from the looks of things I suspect I have arrived just in time.”

***

Ponyville had just begun to stir and wake up as Celestia landed amidst the cheerful little town with a flap of her brilliant white wings. Several banners wishing everypony a a happy Hearts and Hooves Day abounded here and there, strung between the simple but quaint little town.

It had been far too long since she had been here, she thought as she looked around with a fond smile, and made a mental note to tell herself to visit it more often, in particular Granny Smith. Despite her many, many years of existence and apparent frailty, Celestia knew she was always as sharp as ever. Besides, that old nag owed her for another rematch of chess.

Alas, that would have to wait, as she trotted down the street, quickly approaching the edge of the sleepy little town full of sleepy little ponies. Twilight was doing a marvellous job of raising the sun as usual, and so Celestia couldn’t help but feel absolute pride in her former student as that oh so familiar light washed over her.

“Out with the old, as they say,” she chortled quietly to nopony in particular. She fluttered her wings and checked the basket nestled safely in between them on her back, deliberately delaying herself from going any further. “Yes, yes... everything still seems to be in order.”

She raised a hoof to her muzzle and smiled softly at her foolishness. She had a very good reason to feel nervous; after all the Nightmare Knights were amongst the worst Equestria had ever seen. But... Luna trusted them as much as she trusted Twilight, and Twilight trusted Tempest Shadow as much as she trusted any of her friends. Still, as Celestia looked towards the dark forest that contained her destination she couldn’t help but feel somewhat apprehensive.

She paused briefly in her stride as the smell of freshly baked cakes and pastries drifted past her nose. Her eyes closed and she inhaled deeply through her nostrils, taking in and savouring as much of that smell as she could. “What harm could it do to stop and get myself some breakfast?” she idly wondered before shaking her head and scolding herself. “Gah. Stop procrastinating, Celestia. You sound just like a foal who doesn’t want to do their homework.”

Crouching low to the ground, the old alicorn thrust herself up and into the air before anypony could see her, or hear her mumbling to herself, and floated amongst the clouds like an eagle or a regular pegasus.

How small Equestria always looked from up here. She remembered in her youth how she had promised to one day explore every inch of it, and never be one for sitting in her castle while the world moves on without her. Unfortunately, due to easily avoidable disaster, she found herself doing exactly that.

She winced as a flood of bad memories came to her. Memories were practically all she had now, what with retirement being so dreadfully dull, Twilight having far surpassed any expectations she may have had, and Luna taking on this Nightmare Knights venture. She smiled and thought about them as she drifted over the forest, spying her ancient home even from up here.

Who would have guessed that Equestria’s greatest enemies would become her most valuable assets one day? Certainly not ‘Old Sunbutt’ as some ponies were fond of nicknaming her. Celestia giggled lightly and shook her head as she began her descent.

Her solid white hooves touched the soft ground gently in front of the oh-so familiar door. She straightened up and checked the basket once more, checking on its contents. There, still nestled safely and securely between a pair of orange-yellow fruit, Twilight’s note remained steadfast, wrapped tightly in her official seal.

Celestia turned her head and looked up at the old castle. She didn’t mind being a delivery pony, not at all, as the distraction from boredom was a nice reprieve. As well as that, the last time she had seen this place was when Luna had returned from the moon, and even then it was a wreck and a ruin, devoid of any joy or previous life it may have once held.

Now, however, it looked the same it had back then, but with something a bit extra thrown into the mix. Fresh blood, fresh life and a host of new memories to be forged for--hopefully--many years to come.

Taking a deep breath, she rapped her hoof on the door. The sound it made echoed around the small clearing, and even sent some crows flying up and into the air, cawing and shrieking at being disturbed. The door creaked open to reveal a young earth pony mare, one who looked strikingly familiar to Celestia’s own once upon a time secretary, wearing red spectacles and sporting a shock of red hair that hung loosely over her face. Atop her ears a pair of headphones sat, from which the beats of Songbird Serenade could be heard, playing at some volume.

Her eyes widened in recognition.

“Hi-” Celestia began, only to have the door slammed shut in her face, making her blink rapidly.

The door creaked opened again after a short pause and a few moments of silence, and the same mare gave her the same bewildered look.

“Hel-”

The mare slammed the door shut again, making the former princess crack a smile. “The nervousness of fillies never changes,” she murmured quietly, and waited patiently for the mare’s nerves to calm themselves. “When you’re ready, dear.”

Sure enough, the door opened again, and the young pony gave her a strange, slightly worried look, having removed her headphones and made an attempt to quickly brush her mane. “Uh, hi, P-Princess, I mean I guess not anymore, right?” She turned her ears down and winced. “Hi.”

“Hello. You must be Miss Jackdaw Inkwell, am I right? The resemblence between yourself and Raven is uncanny,” Celestia answered, trying desperately to stifle her laughter and suppress her smile. “May I come in?”

Jackdaw quickly stepped aside and waved her in. “Oh sure. Yeah, of course...” Celestia stepped inside with a grateful bow of her head and heard a quiet thump as the young mare slapped her head. “Geez, where are my... uh, pr... hmm. Boss’s sister? You want some coffee?”

The alicorn tittered lightly, gently resting a calming wing on the nervous mare in an attempt to soothe her. “Just Celestia would do fine, Miss Inkwell,” she said quietly with a broad smile. “I’m an ordinary pony like anyone else nowadays, and yes please thank you very much.”

“Riiight.” Jackdaw swallowed and readjusted her glasses. “Uh, call me Jack, then.”

“Hello, Jack,” Celestia chuckled and removed her wing. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Jack appeared to relax somewhat and smiled, although her eyes still held some small amount of wonder and fear to them. “Hi. Uh, likewise.” An awkward silence fell between them before the secretary cursed under her breath and quickly darted away to make her visitor a cup of coffee. “You want some cream?” she asked.

“No thank you, I take it black. Like my stallions.”

All of the colour drained from Jackdaw’s face, and judging from her wayward eyes and vacant expression, her brain appeared to shut down when presented with such knowledge.

“I’m joking, Jack,” Celestia laughed, grinning from ear to ear as if her words weren’t a planet shattering revelation. Her face dropped and she took on a deadly serious expression. “I’m not in to stallions.”

The earth pony’s brain began its start-up functions again, and choosing to ignore that little tidbit of information, she chirped a quick confirmation. “No cream, sureokaycomin’rightup!” she hurriedly said, rushing the words out as fast as she could in one breath.

Celestia’s mischievous smile returned as wide as a mile as she gazed around the halls she grew up in. A strong sense of nostalgia began to rise in her gut. “I love what you’ve done with the place,” she commented, looking at the decorations and homey look the castle had, despite what appeared to be scorch marks dotted here and there. “This place has seen its share of better days, and I’m glad it’s being used again instead of going to waste like a dusty old relic. Oh thank you.”

Jack wandered back over to her with a cup of steaming hot coffee in her hoof and held it out to her, decidedly less shocked than moments earlier, although still watching the former princess warily. “Oh yeah, you and the boss used to live here, right?”

“Mhm,” the alicorn answered as she took a sip, holding the cup in her magic. She smacked her lips together and beamed as the hot liquid trickled down her throat, giving her that kick that only coffee could give. “Oh this is lovely, thank you. Yes, Luna and I grew up in these very walls. We spent many, many hours traipsing up and down these corridors, getting into all sorts of trouble. Why one time, I remember Star Swirl was giving us such a stern talking to. You see as a joke Luna and I had swapped the arrangements of the Elements of Harmony, placing Honesty where Loyalty should be and we even flushed Laughter down the toilet. The priests thought it was a bad omen and fasted for two months.” She giggled and chortled quietly and took another sip. “Our father was furious.”

She fell quiet with a twinkle in her eye, before shaking her head an smiling down at the secretary who looked up at her with wide eyes. “A happier time. Anyway.” She traced a hoof gently over a patch of blackened stone and frowned before continuing. “May I ask what caused this damage?”

The earth pony sighed and shrugged as she looked at the pristine hoof darkened by muck. “Oh that’s them being weird again. Chasin’ each other around firin’ spells all willy nilly,” she muttered, and jerked a hoof towards the stairs. “Screamin’ ‘bout somethin’ or other. I don’t know, I stay out of it mostly. Doesn’t help ‘cause I’m always the one cleanin’ up their messes. Oh hey lemme get that for ya,” she added, gesturing to the basket on Celestia’s back, apparently noticing it for the first time.

Celestia levitated it off and rested it on her back with a faraway look on her face. “I see,” she said quietly. “Thank you.”

“Whoof... any time,” Jackdaw wheezed under the sudden weight. “You wanna see them, I s’pose?”

“Indeed. I am afraid I did not come here to simply exchange pleasantries and enjoy a nice cup of coffee,” the former princess chortled, looking down at her with a smile. “I have a message from Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I suspect that my arrival is rather on the timely side.” She gestured onwards, towards the stairs as her cup floated towards the secretary’s desk. “Shall we?”

“Sure.”

They ascended the stairs where they could quickly hear raised voices, growing frantic quickly. Jack rounded the corner first and stopped and stared. Celestia quickly joined her and without skipping a beat, her horn ignited to catch a falling Chrysalis.

The remaining Nightmare Knights spun around to stare at her, wild eyed and worried. She hadn’t intended on making such a flashy entrance, but nevertheless, here she was. She put on a smile, expertly masking her own worries. “Hello, Nightmare Knights. I hope I’m not intruding too much, but from the looks of things I suspect I have arrived just in time.”

Tempest Shadow, a pony she had not had much of a chance to speak directly with lately, held her head up high and gave her a wary look. “Miss Celestia,” she said with a slight bow, barely masking the look of mild irritation plastered across her face. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Tirek also appeared annoyed, although downright hostile would perhaps be more appropriate, as he folded his arms, gritted his teeth and glared at the alicorn.

Celestia stepped forwards and fluttered her wings. “No Miss, please. Since retiring I’ve come to hate titles.” She flashed them a warm, genuine smile to try and show them she was not their enemy. “I came here to bring a message from Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she added, and turned to the centaur and the filly at his side. “Hello, Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow. Keeping well, I hope?”

Cozy trembled at the sight of her and swallowed but nodded vigorously, while Tirek rolled his eyes. “Uh huh,” he grumpily grunted. As Tempest gave him a hard stare he unfolded his arms and gave the former princess a reluctant bow and a thump of his chest, an old Nessian salute if Celestia’s international history was correct.

“Celestia,” he begrudgingly grumbled, quickly returning to his standoffish position. He looked towards a subdued looking Chrysalis, still surrounded by the alicorn’s magic. “You must excuse my being blunt, but we’re a touch preoccupied for grandstanding.”

“I understand entirely, Lord Tirek.” Celestia followed his gaze and gently lowered the former queen down onto the ground. She examined her quickly and from a distance, taking note of her ragged breathing, serving only to confirm her suspicions. “Love starvation... I have seen this once before, a long time ago.” She felt her heart heave as she looked on in pity. “I hoped I’d never see it again...”

Tempest tapped her hoof and cleared her throat with narrowed eyes. “You said you had a message from the princess?” she tersely asked.

Celestia roused herself from her memories once again and nodded. “Oh, goodness me, yes. Here.”

The note from Twilight levitated out of the basket atop Jack’s back and floated towards the dark unicorn. Celestia noticed how the friendly secretary was looking at Tirek in total adoration, very similar to how Cadance used to look at Shining Armour when he was in the academy--too wonderfully innocent and, not to be unkind, dense to pick up on her advances. A smile graced her lips before fading as Tempest began reading the letter out loud.

”Dear Commander Tempest Shadow,

I urge you to come to Canterlot at once. We have a serious matter to discuss.

This is not a request, but an order as your princess.

Yours truly,

Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

The commander lowered the letter and poked around the inside of her cheek with her tongue. She looked down at Chrysalis, even going so far as to gently brush some of her hair out of her face tenderly. Celestia suspected that the Knights, while they may not have liked her or anypony else very much, held a certain fondness for one another, and couldn’t help but smile proudly for the second time that day.

“Sounds kinda serious for Twilight,” Cozy mumbled quietly and looked up at Tirek. “What do you think she wants? Shouldn’t we all go?”

Her words seemed to kickstart Tempest’s senses. She clicked her tongue and straightened up, looking at them both expectantly. “No. You stay here and monitor Chrysalis’s condition. She’s only asked for me,” she grunted.

Cozy started back in protest. “Wha--really, Tempy?” she asked, and gestured to the changeling. “What if she tries to eat me again?”

“Wha-” Jack mumbled, tearing her gaze away from the magic-eater to blink and look at the filly with wide eyes “Eat you? I’ve missed somethin’ here...”

Tempest looked at her sternly and set her jaw. “I don’t have a choice. You heard what the princess wrote. ‘This is not a request, but an order’.” She turned away, resting her eyes on the alicorn in the room for a moment. The look in her eye told Celestia she had an idea.

“Unless... Celestia, you said you’ve seen this before? Would you-”

“I would be happy to, Commander,” Celestia answered with a smile and an inclination of her head, already knowing what she was going to ask. “I believe I can handle myself should she... act out, as it were.” She bowed low and spread her wings. “Although this could get... dangerous,” she added, “love starvation is a serious business, and not one to be taken lightly. If I may suggest something?”

Tempest nodded and gestured for her to go on. Celestia inclined her head and continued. “I suggest that Lord Tirek, Cozy Glow and Miss Inkwell take the day off and go into Ponyville to relax themselves. Of course, with your permission, Commander.”

Tempest looked her up and down, surprised by her willingness to stay back while Cozy stifled a happy and mile-wide smile fit by jamming her hoof in her mouth. The corner of the unicorn’s mouth twitched upwards for a moment as a smile threatened to also overtake her stern features.

“Thank you, Celestia,” she said quietly and jutted her head towards the stairs, proceeding to bark loudly at her team. “You heard her, Knights. Take the day off, go do whatever in Ponyville. Jack go with them, keep an eye on them for me.”

Tirek groaned inwardly as Cozy began practically drooling over all the caramel apples and sugar she was going to eat while Jack gave the commander a faint salute.

“Aye aye, boss,” she mumbled.

“Yes, well. Come along then.” The centaur trundled past the alicorn and gave her a glare, pausing only slightly to look down at Jackdaw with a certain look in his eye, while the young mare peered up at him with hearts in hers. Cozy flitted through the air beside him and looked between them with a grin as they looked at one another.

“Hey, I didn’t say anything,” she joked as he swiped through air at her and growled under his breath, prompting her to begin singing a teasing song as they marched away towards the main hall. “Terry and Jackdaw sittin’ in a tree... K-I-S-S-I-N-G...”

Celestia suppressed a smile and watched as Tempest looked down at her teammate. She reached out to gingerly place a hoof on the changeling’s back. “Take care of her, Celestia,” she said quietly as she looked up into the former princess’s eyes. “Please.”

The alicorn bowed again in admiration of the commander’s dedication to her team, although she wondered if perhaps the relationship blossoming between Lord Tirek and Miss Inkwell was not alone. “Of course, Tempest. Like she was one of my own ponies, I will ensure no harm comes to her. Or she causes no harm to anypony else.”

Tempest nodded respectfully and made to leave, following her teammates towards the stairs. She hesitated for a moment, standing side by side with the former princess.

“I thought... the dungeons might be best to keep her safe,” she murmured over a just barely audible whisper. She turned her head just enough to look her in the eye and gave her a stiff nod. Celestia returned the gesture, and smiled as the dark unicorn trotted away.

Beside her, Jack let out a heartfelt sigh and bashfully pawed at the ground.

“Do not give up, Miss Inkwell,” Celestia whispered to her as she used her magic to gently pick up Chrysalis and bring her over. She placed a wing on the young mare’s back and smiled at her. “Trust me, love is often similar to building a snowmare. All it needs is a gentle push to get it rolling.”

The earth pony looked up at her with a frown. Celestia winked at her and a knowing grin took over her features as she realised what the former princess was saying.

“Jack, you comin’ or what?” came Cozy’s voice from down the stairs, spurring the mare forwards with a sudden start.

Celestia sighed and guided the unconscious Chrysalis out of the room, ensuring none of her legs grazed against the ground or the doorframe. “This will certainly be a Hearts and Hooves Day to remember.”

***

“Hnnnnnnnnggggg...”

Chrysalis groaned as she raised her head. Her stomach pains had increased tenfold, and her head swam with delirium.

“Huuuunnngggrrryyyy...” she hissed, and made to move to push herself up.

Only she couldn’t. As she rested on a bed made of straw, she realised that her legs had been bound together, and her horn had a sock on it. Her lip curled upwards into a sneer as she found herself unable to perform do any magic and free herself, foiled once again by simple cotton. Taking a quick look around she saw that the room itself was quite dreary compared to the rest of the castle. Something dripped nearby, and moisture lined the three cold, stone walls, indicating she was underground. The fourth wall was made up of a set of iron bars.

She could hear hoofsteps approaching, and for the briefest of moments panic set in as her mind set to work wondering what had happened. The last thing she remembered was looking at Tempest, then overcome by darkness, and hunger. The eternal hunger, created by the void in her own heart.

In truth, she hoped that she hadn’t hurt any of the Nightmare Knights as she thought about them. Even Cozy, devilish imp and source of misery that she was. As the source of the hoofsteps grew closer, the eternal hunger overcame her senses and her jaw swung open, unhinging like a snake’s and her tongue lashed at the air in front of her.

Her green eyes, smattered with red bloodshot lines locked onto the creature as they walked into view, and for a moment she blinked in confusion as none other than Celestia smiled at her from behind the bars. Filled with a sudden an intense rage, she began to pull at her bindings, snapping her jaw and lunging forwards like a wild animal. She flopped uselessly on the hay as her wings were also bound and prevented her from moving at all.

“Oh good, you’re finally awake,” she said. She tapped the bars and sighed. “Despite what you may immediately think about this arrangement, it was not my idea to confine you so, but Commander Shadow suggested it would be for the best... I must confess I agree with her, given your current disposition.”

Chrysalis’s jaw opened wider, revealing a nest of razor sharp teeth as an animalistic growl escaped her throat.

If the alicorn was disturbed at all, she didn’t show it, and sat down on a small chair on her side of the bars. “I suppose this was inevitably going to happen, wouldn’t it?” she mused with a sigh, gazing at the ‘prisoner’ sadly. “What with not being a fully reformed changeling, you still need a continuous source of love don’t you?”

Chrysalis let out a soft hiss and jerked her head forwards, gnashing her jaw and reaching out with her tongue. If she could, she would gladly sink her teeth into that petty white neck and drain all of the love out of her in an instant. Not even just her love, but all of her emotions.

“I’m assuming your supply of love ran dry?” Celestia shook her head and looked on grimly, almost nervously. “On top of that, with today being Hearts and Hooves Day it must be difficult, hmm?”

The changeling let out a soft hiss at her and narrowed her eyes. Was Celestia actually taunting her? Or just teasing?

“In any case, I brought you some things.”

The alicorn’s horn ignited and lifted up a small gift basket, full of fruit. “Just some of your favourites.” She lifted one of the orange-golden oval fruits up up and held it in the air before her with a smile. “Mangoes! Would you like one?”

Chrysalis scowled and bared her fangs in a wordless snarl, growling like an angry dog.

“You used to love these,” Celestia murmured quietly, turning it over in her hooves. “Here, I’ll add some flavour to it.” She lifted the little orange-yellow fruit up to her mouth and gave it a gentle kiss before levitating it forwards.

Suddenly the mango looked and smelled delicious. As it got close to her mouth Chrysalis began to salivate, and her tongue lashed out and pulled it in where the maw of teeth smashed it to pieces. She swallowed, and felt some of her senses return. Her eyes still stung, and her stomach still hurt, but she felt her jaw recede and juice drip down her chin. She reached up with her bound hooves and wiped it as best she could.

“Why... are you here... Celestia?” she rasped. “Not to simply feed me... unless you take... pleasure in this... sick game of yours?”

The alicorn stood up and set the basket down. “Believe me, Chrysalis, this was not part of my plan,” she confessed and began chewing her lip. “Rather that now that you’re... somewhat reformed, I was hoping we could talk.”

Chrysalis snorted derisively at her and rested her head on her makeshift pillow. “Speak then,” she spat. “Or go... away. I don’t--hnng... care either... way.” Another pang of hunger shot through her, making her wince. That kiss Celestia had given the mango, it certainly added flavour to it and was a very temporary fix, but a light peck wasn’t enough. She needed more, she needed-

She looked up at the alicorn as a loud click rang out between them. Celestia pushed the heavy iron door inwards and stepped forth, into the cell. Chrysalis growled lightly as magic surrounded her.

“Before we talk, and now that you’ve ‘calmed down’ as it were, what say you and I go somewhere a touch cheerier?” the pony asked, still smiling, although her eyes held a great amount of sadness to them. “Unless of course you’d rather sit in this cold, dark, damp, and quite frankly dingy dungeon?”

Chrysalis convinced herself she hated the former princess. She hated how smug she always looked, and how condescending she was at times. But she knew she was right, and did not wish to remain locked in the dungeon to be fed like a rabid animal for any amount of time. Even if it meant being entrusted to her.

“...Fine.”

Chrysalis allowed herself to go limp as Celestia picked her up. “I thought so,” the latter chuckled softly. “Let me know if you want another mango. I have no desire to see you suffer, Chrysalis. I’m here to help.”

“Hmmph.”

The pair of them walked, or, rather, one walked and one was carried through the castle. Up some stairs here, down some there, around a dozen many corners so many times Chrysalis’s head started to spin. She could feel the hunger begin to build in her again and made a soft grunting noise, indicating she wanted another of the fruits.

Celestia stopped to lift up another mango to her lips. She was positively radiating with love. Chrysalis could sense and smell it, and longed for more of it, and wouldn’t dare admit it, but she was grateful the alicorn knew how to transfer love into certain objects with a small gesture--i.e. like kissing it.

Once again the changeling greedily devoured said mango as it floated towards her, absorbing all the love she could from it and once again she felt her senses return to her. “Where... are we going?” she growled. Juice dripped down her chin and a few drops landed onto the ground, staining the cold stone yellowy-orange.

“Oh, nowhere in particular,” Celestia mumbled. “Truthfully I was using this opportunity to wander about my old home and reminisce. Do you remember when-” She turned to the changeling and stopped.

Chrysalis vertical slits for pupils met her in an uncomfortable silence.

“Ahem. Yes, well... I believe I have done enough sightseeing, and once again I find myself procrastinating. Let us return to the common room, then. Miss Inkwell said there were some snacks in the fridge for us. Well. Me.” Celestia’s stomach let out an audible groan as if on cue, making the former princess wince. “Oh excuse me,” she said shyly. “I know I have no right to complain about being hungry when you’re like this, Chryssy, but-”

“You don’t get to call me that.”

The changeling fixed the alicorn with a cold, murderous stare, forcing her to turn her ears back and apologise.

Celestia lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Chrysalis,” she said sincerely. “I got caught up in the moment.”

They both remained silent for the duration of their walk through the castle, save for the twinkle of Celestia’s horn. Soon they reached the common room, and she gently placed Chrysalis down onto sofa.

The former princess sat down on the opposite end of the sofa, giving her the space she desired out of either respect of her wishes or fear. Either way, Chrysalis was pleased to be spared the indignity of being hoisted up and around, and imagined driving her teeth through that soft white neck again, draining the pony dry of not just her love, but her hopes, fears, memories and everything in between.

“Shall I find us something to watch?” Celestia offered as she lifted up the remote control for the television set. “I must confess I am something of a technophobe, though,” she giggled nervously as she examined the small rectangular object. “They didn’t have these as we were growing up, did they?”

Uncaring for her attempt at reminiscing, Chrysalis let out a low growl and directed her eyes upwards, to her cotton covered horn. A quick idea formed in her head, and she spoke clearly, trying to mask her hate for a moment. “Take this off and I’ll do it.”

Celestia didn’t fall for it of course, and shook her head with a quiet giggle. “Technophobe though I am, I believe I can manage and save myself some pain from your teeth. It’s this button, isn’t it?” She pressed the big red button, and as the television switched on she promptly fell backwards over the back of the sofa following the sudden burst of volume. It clearly startled the daylights out of her, and the particularly loud title credits of whatever movie it was began to play.

Chrysalis smirked as she sat there, totally unfazed by the loud noise, having grown used to Cozy Glow watching her trite at loud volumes and expected as much. Celestia meanwhile picked herself up and sheepishly turned the volume down.

“Should have let me do it,” the queen sneered with a cocky grin. “Save yourself the embarrassment of the infallible Celestia getting frightened like a child by a loud noise.”

“And enjoy letting your fangs sink into my neck?” The former princess stuck her tongue out as the pair grinned at each other. Chrysalis quickly remembered her disposition towards this particular pony, and looked away with a scowl as her stomach grumbled again.

“Give me another one.”

Celestia’s horn ignited and passed her another mango before standing to fix herself something to eat. “Would you like a drink as well?” she asked.

The changeling didn’t answer, choosing instead to silently eat her fruit, watching the screen. She had seen this one before, at least half a dozen times, as Cozy seemed overly fond of movies about giant monsters falling in love with fair maidens. Perhaps, Chrysalis mused, the filly hoped it would give Tirek some inspiration or some such nonsense.

While she sat and pondered that thought, her babysitter, or perhaps ‘warden’ would be more apt, quietly wandered way only to swiftly return to her seat with a small bowl filled with various snacks. She smiled at Chrysalis as she sat down, making immensely irritating rustling sounds as she took her place on the opposite end of the sofa. Every now and then, she would even kiss a biscuit or something and send it towards the former queen, who would practically inhale it to keep from going savage as her stomach threatened to consume itself from hunger.

***

After almost two hours or so of nothing but them eating and watching the movie, Chrysalis had had enough.

“Why haven’t you spoken yet?” she snarled, and fixed the pony with a deathly glare. After so many mangoes her strength had held at a steady level, for the time being at least.

Celestia’s wings rustled and she flinched. “I... don’t know where to start,” she murmured, and avoided looking directly at the former queen.

“Well I do. Your presence annoys me.”

Here it was, thought Chrysalis. The rage that had been building inside of her since Celestia’s reveal had come to a head, and she would not relent, not now.

“Annoy is too weak of a word. I’m furious that you dare show yourself here, in this place regardless if it was once yours or not. I am happy here, Celestia,” she hissed, admitting an awful truth she already knew about herself since starting this career path. “The Nightmare Knights, myself included, enjoy what we do, and each other’s company. Do you not like that? Seeing me happy?”

She scowled and curled her upper lip upwards to show off her fangs once again as Celestia remained silent and stone-faced, watching the movie without a word. Still, Chrysalis persisted. “Do you not like the fact that the idea of the Nightmare Knights, whether it was some mad scheme concocted by Luna, or formed by the machinations of Twilight Sparkle’s mind, do you not like that it actually works?”

Growing increasingly angry at the lack of input from the former princess, Chrysalis pushed herself up despite her bindings and sat up, looking her in the eye. “Or do you just not like me?!”

One of Celestia’s wings quivered. No matter how small of a movement it was, at least it was something. Good, the changeling thought. She jumped on that opportunity to have a sorely needed vent.

“Do you want me to apologise for never treating you like a goddess?” A thin trail of spittle ran down her chin as she spat her venom filled words out. “Is that what you want me to do? To treat you like you’re perfect like all your little ponies do?”

The alicorn put aside her bowl of snacks and looked positively miserable. Still, even now, with a changeling queen raging at her she remained as silent as the grave, serving only to further fuel Chrysalis’s anger.

“Is that what you want from me? Am I too much of a burden and too much of a problem for you that you won’t even speak to me anymore?!” The former queen’s brow furrowed and her lip curled into a sneer. “Why won’t you say anything?!” she roared. “If you detest my presence so much you won’t even talk to me then why are you even he-re?!”

Chrysalis’s voice broke.

A strange thing happened next. She felt her eyes begin to water and her lip start to tremble. Her strength waned as hunger set in once again, and her already weak muscles gave out, letting her sink back into the sofa. Her heart pounded in her chest and her vision became fuzzy and blurred.

She sniffed and blinked, and regained her composure in a moment of clarity.

“I’m glad that I woke up, Celestia...” she growled, forcing herself to keep her voice in check, although tears rolled down from her eyes. “From you and your nonsense. You’re exactly what I never wanted to be: a sad, doddering old mare with nothing to show for it. You’re a walking, talking pony tragedy.” She snorted and licked her teeth, feeling her hunger rear its ugly head again. “I can’t believe that I thought you once actually cared about me. And I cannot fathom why you would be pretending to care now. Looking for a chance to save your guilty conscience perhaps? Or are you here to simply stroke your own self-inflated ego?”

Celestia turned her head slightly and retreated behind her mane in a manner very similar to Fluttershy. Chrysalis could still see her mouth, however, and swore she saw a tear roll down past her chin. For a moment, the changeling queen’s heart broke for the second time in her life, although this time with guilt.

She sighed and hung her own head as a wave of emotion passed over her. She fell silent, waiting for the inevitable judgement and argument that always followed whenever she spoke her mind, and then...

“I’m sorry.”

Chrysalis blinked and looked up quickly. Celestia had turned to face her. Her teeth were gritted and indeed, tears were streaming from her eyes, staining her white coat. Her purple eyes sparkled and shone like diamonds, clearly belonging to a broken heart of her own.

“I’m sorry, Chrysalis. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but that’s no excuse for how I treated you, and of course I see you’re happy here now.” She sniffed and forced a smile onto her face. “I’m so, so proud of you, and my sister, for making the Nightmare Knights work. It tore my heart apart seeing you encased in stone, and I’m... I don’t have enough words to express how glad I am you’re doing well now.”

The former queen sat in stunned silence. This was not what she had expected, and could only watch as Celestia’s lip quivered and she hung her head, pulling up a pillow in front of her like she used to when she was a filly.

“I sent my sister to the moon for a thousand years and lost the best thing that’s ever happened to me in the same night...” the former princess continued softly, gently stroking the pillow as she spoke. “You were there for me when I needed you, but I wasn’t there for you. I understand why you must hate me, Chrysalis. That’s... why I came here today. To apologise to you. To tell you that I never expect your forgiveness, that I only hope there comes a day when...” She hesitated as her voice cracked. Her lip trembled so much she failed to form words and simply began to whimper, letting the tears flow freely down her face. Her whimpers turned into full blown sobbing, her body silently heaving as she buried her face into the pillow.

Chrysalis thought on her words, listening to her cry. She shifted in her spot and inched closer to the distraught pony. “I...” she murmured, utterly lost for words.

She had what she wanted. She had finally spoken out against the one who broke her heart all those years ago, the one who made her what she was today, she had finally had vindication for the suffering she had went through... and was baffled to find she hated every second of it.

It was a hollow victory by any definition.

Celestia looked at her with red and puffy eyes. Her horn ignited and began undoing the bindings on the changeling’s hooves. The sock covering her horn lifted up and over, and was promptly cast at the far side of the room. The princess straightened up and pulled some of her mane away, revealing her slender neck.

“Chrysalis... you’re hungry. I don’t want to see you suffer. This is the least I can do for... for everything I put you through. For everything I have done to you. Please.”

The changeling looked down at her newly freed hooves and flexed them for a few moments. A surge of strength returned to her, and as quick as a flash, she lunged forwards to tackle the alicorn to the ground, making her yelp in surprise and accidentally kick the table. The flurry of movement sent the contents of the snack bowl and the gift basket scattering across the floor and roll to a halt. Chrysalis opened her jaw, baring her fangs as much as possible and let her tongue snake through the air towards her prey.

Celestia turned her head, bracing herself for what she thought was very much her end and remained silent.

The queen knew the pony was so full of love she may never have to go feral again if she drained it all, and yet... she hesitated. Her stomach screamed at her, longing for just a single drop of love. She lowered her head and grazed her teeth against the pony’s soft skin, tongue extended and tenderly licking the spot, willing herself to take the plunge and do it.

One swift movement, one stab of her fangs downwards and that would be it. The hunger would stop; she would be satiated, for decades at least, possibly the next few centuries if she rationed it right. And then when everything was said and done, having exhausted her reserves, she would find a deep dark cave to hide away in and lose all knowledge of her life, turning into nothing more than a feral beast as her ancestors had.

So why didn’t she do it?

It wasn’t so much she knew she shouldn’t, as leaving the beloved Celestia a husk of her former self would surely lead to imprisonment, banishment or worse, but that she simply couldn’t. Her mouth slowly closed and she wrenched her head back, uttering only one, singular word.

“Celly...”

Celestia turned to look up at her with tears in her eyes.

Chrysalis blinked her own tears of frustration and heartache away and looked utterly defeated, resigned to her fate of being hungry and nothing short of a monster. She hung her head and glumly began to pull away, only for one of Celestia’s hooves reach up and caress her face, holding her in place.

“Please,” the princess said quietly. “You need it.”

She was right of course. Chrysalis did need it. Not only that, but it was what she wanted more than anything in the world, to indulge herself and feed, to end her suffering. But not that way. Not in a way that would leave the most beloved pony in Equestria a shell of her former self. She needed something more...

Without thinking Chrysalis lowered her head, and Celestia raised hers. Their lips met in a tender and passionate kiss, pressing against one another, neither set vying for control over the other but instead working together as one. Chrysalis felt her hunger recede as she fed on the pony’s love, the same way as they had all those years ago, as she had when they had first...

Love coursed through her body. Her strength rapidly returned and the hunger faded into an obscure memory. The nagging voice that cried out from her stomach demanding to be fed was silenced, and with enough in her reserves to last for a while, she finally broke off and pulled away, panting for air slightly.

She had taken so much... no, Celestia had given her so much, that she did not know if she needed to make more love pellets. In fact... she knew she didn’t need to make any more, at least not for a long time until she had stopped riding this high. Her wings began to shimmer with a certain new glow to them, sparkling like dew drops resting on a spider’s cobweb.

“Thank you... Celestia,” she murmured quietly and sat up, noting the odd sensation she felt inside herself.

“It’s the least I could do...”

Celestia remained on the ground, also panting lightly. Her eyelids fluttered, her cheeks had turned rosy red and her chest, containing a very much alive and beating heart, rapidly rose and fell with each gasping breath. She reached out with a trembling hoof and rested it on the changeling’s without a word.

Chrysalis’s closed her eyes for a few moments as she caught her breath. When she opened them, she looked down at into those magnificent grey-magenta eyes once again as Celestia looked up at her.

“I...” she whispered, resting her own hoof on the pony’s. “I feel... different.” She leaned down to lie beside the alicorn, and nestled in that luscious, thick and wavy mane of hers. It smelled like a mix of lavender, honey and... mangoes. “Strange, like I’m... like I’m not... hungry.”

Celestia turned her head to look at her.

The two of them lay there for a moment, both simply looking at one another, enjoying the moment before Chrysalis sat up and directed her eyes towards the swirl of hair around her. “I liked your hair better when it was pink,” she muttered out the corner of her mouth, her cheeks turning a nice shade of pink to match her statement.

Celestia tittered and giggled like a schoolfilly. Her eyes sparkled and shone with tears as she rubbed her nose and sat up. “You know since I’m not a princess anymore I’ve been thinking of dyeing it back to pink?” she sniffed. “Goodness me, look at me, I’m all flustered.” She laughed and ran a hoof through her hair with a tut. “You wouldn’t happen to have a brush or anything nearby would you?”

Chrysalis rose to her hooves, and offered a leg out to help the princess stand. She found herself lost for words, struggling with what she wanted to say. Her face twisted and her cheeks puffed out.

The alicorn noticed, and stepped closer to her. “Is everything alright?”

“No. No, Celestia...” the changeling murmured, and turned away, looking morose and crestfallen, despite her newfound sensation of being full.

“No?” Celestia blinked and tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t... we can’t just pick up where where left off...” Chrysalis felt her cheeks begin to blush again as her heart swelled. “I had... a thousand years to think about you. A thousand years to plan my vengeance. Everything I did against Equestria--taking your niece’s place to invade Canterlot... swearing vengeance upon Twilight Sparkle and her friends--I did it all to get at you because I hated you.”

The former princess nodded understandingly and turned her ears back.

“Besides... things are different now...”

Celestia looked thoughtful for a few moments before asking quietly, “Are you and Commander Shadow...?” She trailed off, letting the question hang in the air.

Chrysalis took a few moments to fully understand what she meant and with a horrified look she was quick to defend herself. She turned back to the pony with a horrified look on her face. “What? No! Tempest--the commander and I have a professional working relationship. I admire her tenacity and would even go so far as to say she is my fff... my ff...” Her blush intensified as Celestia simply raised an eyebrow and cracked a smile at her hesitance. “If you must know then yes she is my friend,” she snapped, puffing her chest out as she spoke. She meant her words, and would freely acknowledge it now. Maybe not to the other Knights, but she found herself thinking of them as friends as well. Even Cozy.

“But that’s it. The only romantic tendencies in this castle are between Tirek and that little mare he keeps eyeing every now and then, despite his protestations that he says otherwise.”

She looked deep into those purple eyes, those radiant jewels of beauty that she adored and sighed a heartfelt sigh. “What I am trying to say is that one kiss does not fix a lifetime of heartache, Celestia, and nor does it excuse any history between us... I need... time to adjust.”

Celestia lowered her head, her mischievous grin fading and took on a serious expression. “I understand, Chrysalis. Truthfully I had no expected you to be so... receptive to even discussing... us, let alone going so far as to do that.”

The corner of the former queen’s mouth curved upwards slightly into a small smile. “I was desperate,” she snorted matter-of-factly. “You would be too if you were starving and on the verge of turning feral.”

The princess smiled and fluttered her wings. “I suppose I would be. What do you propose happens for now?” she asked.

Chrysalis pressed her teeth into her lip as a wave of exhaustion suddenly pass over her. “I feel... I need to rest... and think.”

Celestia nodded again and reached out with a wing. “I understand, Chrysalis. I have no intention of rushing... anything between us, if there even is anything to even speak of.”

Silence hung in the air between them for a few moments. They looked at one another for what felt like an eternity before Chrysalis reluctantly turned away. Her legs turned to jelly, making her suddenly reach out to try and steady herself. Celestia was quick to catch her and hold her steady, to which she uttered a quiet thank you.

The pair of them left the room and began ascending the stairs towards the Knights’ bunkroom. Celestia of course knew the way, but even with her assistance Chrysalis could feel sleep creep up on her. Apparently a full stomach made her quite sleepy.

Despite her only current desire being one of a long sleep, Chrysalis’s mind raced. Everything, all of her life as Queen of the Changelings had led to the moment when she would finally confront her, when she would finally let Celestia know the torment and heartbreak she went through, and to eventually inflict a similar fate upon her. Night after night she had laid awake for hours on end planning all the ways she would do it, only it for it to end like it had. The idea of them was inconceivable, preposterous, even, and yet at the same time... it was wonderful and beautiful.

It made her giddy to think about, and her head swam with her own thoughts as they reached the sleeping quarters. Celestia guided her to her bunk, picking up the doll with a remarkable likeness of Twilight to look at for a moment. She giggled quietly and stroked its mane as before resting it in between the changelings hooves, who pressed it towards herself with a tight squeeze.

“Don’t tell the filly...” Chrysalis mumbled sleepily.

Celestia chuckled and gave her a gentle nuzzle. “Of course not. Sleep well, Chrysalis. Happy Hearts and Hooves Day.” Using her magic, she pulled the covers over the former queen as she quickly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

After a few moments of simply watching silently to make sure the changeling was indeed breathing, Celestia turned to leave with a sad smile on her face. She swiftly returned to the common room and began to tidy up after the mess they had inadvertently caused before anypony could question it. As she quietly worked, she glanced towards the television set as one of the main characters said a distinct, poignant line, and one that resonated with her deeply.

”It wasn’t the airplanes... it was Beauty killed the Beast.”

Arabian Knights

Since the time before Celestia, the Royal Palace at Canterlot had always held great murals of painted glass depicting past events or great acts Equestria’s rulers had performed in the main hall.

Tempest Shadow stood in front of one such painted window, looking up at the image of her greatest source of shame, and one of Twilight Sparkle’s greatest victories. As she stared, she could feel the full fury of the Storm King’s furious eyes bare down on her, and for a moment it looked like the jagged lightning around him flashed and came alive, swirling with wild energy that threatened to overwhelm and consume her-

“Commander Shadow?”

With a shake of her head she wrenched her head away from the stained glass window and shifted where she stood. Her uniform had grown tight under one of her legs and she took the time to readjust herself before turning to the speaker.

He was a tall, mottled grey stallion with a thin black moustache and looked about as old as the palace itself was. Though his eyes, despite being clearly very aged, were still piercing and sharper than most who resided in Canterlot, and Tempest guessed he must have had some military training from the way he carried himself before saluting her.

“A pleasure to meet you, Commander,” he said, speaking calmly and clearly as he lowered his hoof. His voice was soft yet firm, and tinged with a hint of endless patience. “My name is Sir Pennyworth. If you will follow me, I will take you to where the princess and her guest are waiting for you.”

Tempest raised her own hoof to her head and saluted him back with a puzzled frown. “Guest? Twili--the princess didn’t mention anything about a guest in her summons,” she said, thinking it best to correct herself in the face of such a grandstanding pony--a sir no less. He answered her with nothing but a cocked eyebrow and a neutral expression before turning to walk away with swift, deliberate steps, to which she matched with her own. She glanced back at the unmoving mural with a wary look in her eye.

Save for their hoofbeats, the palace corridors were silent. Tempest gave the old butler a sideways glance as they walked side by side and eyed him up warily. He seemed to notice and the faintest of smiles graced his face.

“You may have to forgive me for being frank, Commander,” Pennyworth said quietly. “But I must say it is an honour to finally meet you.”

Tempest blinked and fully turned to look at him. “An honour, sir? Why?” she asked in all earnestness. To her, she was nothing more than a public servant, doing her duty for the good of Equestria as a way of atonement for her past actions.

“Why? Isn’t it obvious?” His eyes twinkled as he looked at her with a smile. “If not for you, Equestria and our dear princess would have been lost to that brute the Storm King.”

The dark mare’s ears turned down and she looked away shamefully.

“Oh. That.”

She let out a heavy sigh and remembered the events that led to her where she was today as clear as crystal. The invasion, her turning three of the four princesses into obsidian statues, hunting down Twilight Sparkle and finally delivering her to the Storm King herself, only for who she thought was her ally turn out to be her enemy, and who she thought was her enemy become her friend and reintroduce her back into Equestria.

“Twilight would have done it without me,” she stubbornly answered.

Pennyworth chuckled softly and bobbed his head in agreement. “Maybe so. But you saved her life, Commander, as you save many Equestrian lives today as a Nightmare Knight. Whatever the world may have thought or still think about you, to me you are a hero.” He winked at her and gave her a genuine smile as they came to a halt outside a set of large marble-white doors. “Right, well. Here we are.”

Tempest opened her mouth to argue otherwise, but he pushed the doors open before she could form words, and revealed the princess’s study. It was decorated mostly with books. Rows upon rows of books stretching from floor to ceiling. The princess herself was, sat at her desk like usual, opposite a stranger dressed in extravagant and ornately designed robes. What drew the commander’s eye however, was that this stranger’s head appeared to be made entirely of gold.

The old butler strode purposefully and pridefully with her in tow until he came to a halt by the princess.

“Your majesty and her esteemed guest,” he said as he went into a low bow. “May I introduce Commander Tempest Shadow, as requested.”

Twilight smiled warmly and stood up to greet her properly. “Thank you, Sir Pennyworth.”

The butler turned to the mare beside him with twinkle in his eye and bowed to her. “Until we meet again, Commander.” With that, he turned and left the room his hoofsteps echoing around the otherwise silent room, quietly closing the marble doors behind him.

An awkward silence fell upon the room as Tempest stood there. She straightened her neck and looked her in the eye. “You summoned me, Princess?” she said, trying not to show how unsettled the stranger’s appearance made her or how bitter she was to be kept waiting for so long.

Twilight nodded eagerly and gestured to the seat across from the stranger. “I did. Commander, allow me to introduce the Grand Vizier of Saddle Arabia, a friend and ally to Equestria. Please, won’t you sit? We have something we need to discuss.”

Her guest bowed his head towards the commander, his yellowed and scarred eyes staring directly at her from behind his mask.

The commander nodded back politely as she sat down with a racing mind. Saddle Arabia? That’s a world a half away, what was he doing here? “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Grand Vizier,” she said after a moment’s pause to compose herself and hide her suspicions.

“The pleasure is all mine, Commander,” he replied. His voice sounded muffled ever so slightly by his mask, and dripped with so much charisma she imagined he was a spectacular public speaker. “We have heard tales of you and your Knights even in my homeland. The unicorn with a broken horn is almost as famous as Schehayrazade the Storyteller.” His eyes twinkled despite the scarring, and she got the impression he was smiling behind his mask. “I hope my appearance does not unsettle you so much that we cannot do business.”

Tempest turned her ears down and a shameful knot began to form in he stomach. Had he seen through her that easily? She opened her mouth to apologise, only for Twilight to interject on her behalf. “You’ll have to forgive her, Grand Vizier, it’s just that ponies aren’t used to, um...”

He chortled and shook his head as he looked at the princess. “It is quite alright, your grace. I begrudge not a single living thing for being alarmed or even frightened of my appearance. For even in Saddle Arabia is a disfigurement such as mine not commonplace. But I digress.” He leaned back on his chair and pressed his forehooves together, and Tempest saw they were bandaged up so much not a single shred of skin was showing.

“Tell me, Commander, do you believe in fate?” he asked her calmly.

She gave him a puzzled frown and narrowed her eyes. “Fate, sir?”

The Vizier stroked the chin of his mask and exhaled. “The great tapestry that guides us and pulls us on our destinies. We in Saddle Arabia believe in fate very much so, and it is my belief that it was your fate to become a Nightmare Knight, Commander. And that fate brought me here, to your country.” He chuckled softly before turning to the princess. “Just as it was your fate to become Princess of Equestria, your grace, so too it is mine that I come before you to beg for your assistance.”

Twilight was quick to answer him with a polite but firm saying. “Oh, please, Vizier, Equestria and Saddle Arabia have always been allies, you don’t need to beg us.” She smiled, a deep and warm smile befitting the Princess of Friendship.

“But beg I must, and beg I shall, your grace. For I fear the great evil that is choking the life out of my country will eventually turn its attention towards that of fair Equestria if it is not quelled.” The Vizier’s voice began to grow with conviction and passionate anger. He lowered his hooves and leaned forwards again. “I have visited your country many times over the years, and I am fond of its peoples. I wish a thousand years of suffering upon any who would harm it, and will do all in my power to prevent such a thing.”

Tempest’s ear flicked as she thought of her team’s history and couldn’t help but wonder where this guy was when Equestria needed saving countless times ago. “What great evil?” she asked.

“A dark spirit,” the Vizier continued, turning to look at her. “A djinn spawned from the darkest depths of the blackest magic. It is thanks to the machinations of its evil nature that the sultan and his sons were slain in a terrible fire that engulfed the palace.” He gestured towards his face with a bandaged hoof while Twilight turned her ears back and looked shocked and horrified. “And left me with these scarred patches that you see before you now.”

Tempest bobbed her head in apologetic understanding and winced. “A djinn? I see.”

She remembered, with a touch of thanks and a hint of quiet dread, the lessons Tirek had enforced upon the Knights when it came to learning the restless dead.

Out of all types of ghosts they would face; phantoms, banshees, sprites and even demons, djinn were amongst the most vicious and cunning of the bunch. Typically smarter than a regular spirit and highly aggressive, not to mention their uncanny ability to move at lightning quick speeds, a fight with a djinn would leave more than its fair share of physical--if not mental--scars.

“Where did it come from?” she asked carefully.

The Grand Vizier adjusted the hem of his robe hesitantly.

“To put simply, Commander... we do not know,” he answered bitterly. “But my mages and I can safely assume that once the creature has laid waste to Saddle Arabia, it will turn its foul attentions towards that of the wider world.” He stood from his chair and practically grovelled before the ponies. “So it is that I am here today, before both of you. I ask, and beg, that the Nightmare Knights save us and right this wrong, lest we all perish in shadow.”

The commander shifted in her seat as he sank to the ground with his head hung low. She cast a wary glance towards the princess who looked between them with wide eyes and bated breath. Despite the trepidations and misgivings Tempest may have had about the situation, what exactly could she do? Refuse an honoured guest in front of the princess? Turn a blind eye to potential world ending disaster?

She took a deep breath and looked up towards nothing in particular. “Of course we will, Grand Vizier,” she finally answered and said in a serious, not at all sick of it, voice as she stared ahead with irritation marked across her face as clear as day. “Through rain, snow and sleet just like the post, the Nightmare Knights will face any ghost.”

The Grand Vizier and Twilight both breathed sighs of relief, although the latter tittered lightly at her very obviously rehearsed---by Luna’s behest of course--motto. The Vizier quickly stood and dusted the hem of his robe off before raising a hoof to where his mouth would have been and then to the ceiling. “Sands and skies be praised. With your grace’s permission, we will depart as soon as we are able,” he said, looking at Twilight.

The princess rushed out an affirmative yes with a series of quick nods. “Oh, of course, yes. Commander,” she said, turning to look back at Tempest. “How soon can the Knights be ready to move out?”

Tempest’s ears swivelled atop her head for the briefest of moments as she was suddenly filled with anxious thoughts of Chrysalis’s ‘condition’. “Just say the word and they’ll come,” she answered, choosing to hide the truth for the time being. After all, if the government she worked for was allowed to keep secrets, then she would keep secrets of her own.

“Tempest? Is everything alright?”

But of course, Twilight could sense something was bothering her. The commander straightened up and looked her in the eye. “Yes of course, Princess. It’s just we haven’t seen a djinn before. From what Tirek has said it could be dangerous.”

The princess furrowed her brow ever so slightly before slowly nodding. “I’ll ask Mr Pennyworth to have a message sent to them as soon as he can.”

Tempest did not feel good about lying to the princess and bitterly turned her head. She reminded herself why she had to, though, for Chrysalis’s sake. After all, she couldn’t imagine Twilight would be particularly happy about letting a potential security risk like a former villain about to snap go to another country, even if she was a Knight and under supervision. A scowl formed on her face in spite of her attempts to hide it.

The Grand Vizier cleared his throat, drawing their attention to him once more. “If your grace is willing, should we depart?” he asked, clearly aware of some tension between the mares.

Twilight nodded, turning away from Tempest and forced herself to smile. “Yes, of course, Grand Vizier.” She gestured away with her hoof towards the marble doors. “After you, please.”

The commander followed them, and upon overhearing the Vizier mention his airship, their means of transportation, felt her gut begin to writhe in a new kind of anxiety.

***

Tempest paced back and forth as she waited at the skydocks in upper Canterlot. Twilight’s message must have gotten to them by now, and unless Chrysalis had devoured them all in a fit of starvation, they should arrive at any minute. Still, she couldn’t help but feel impatient, anxiously waiting for her team to arrive.

“Where are you?” she muttered under her breath, and cast a glance towards Twilight and the Grand Vizier who were deep in conversation about the construction of a marvel like his ship.

She looked up towards it, and although it was impressive, she only felt the dread and anxiety in her stomach grow as she was strongly reminded of one of the Storm King’s zeppelins.

The Vizier’s ship was, in a word, huge, and resembled a luxury cruise liner ship more than the warships she had previously commanded, but no less impressive. Held aloft by a massive balloon painted to look like some sort of giant sea serpent, the hull was painted in various shades of purple with marvellous shining, red and gold banners hanging down above the colossal golden fins and propellers that helped pushed it through the air. It was truly an extravagant creation, one clearly belonging to the higher status of someone like the Grand Vizier.

As were the Vizier’s retinue of loyal soldiers that stood guard by the end of the ramp leading up to the ship. All wearing their own finely embroidered robes their master was dressed, each and every one of the tall warriors stood stoically waiting for direction, the bejewelled hilts of their swords sparkling and twinkling in the sunlight. Twilight and the Vizier strode up to them as he said something in their language to them.

Tempest watched as a few of them broke away and began to disrobe, much to the oohing and ahhing crowd that had gathered to see these strangers and their strange ship. A pair of them unsheathed their swords, huge curved blades that ran down the lengths of their bodies, and began to have a quick sparring match, putting on a slight show for the Equestrians watching.

Unfazed by the clang of metal on metal ringing out around her or the muscular and tanned stallions, Tempest quickly scanned the crowd, looking for any centaur or changeling related faces. Alas, there were only ponies as far as she could see, and none of them were the filly she needed either.

Her ear twitched as Twilight and her honoured guest grew close to her and their conversation became audible.

“Oh the first time I was on an airship didn’t end so well, Vizier. Although it was better than the second time. The second time I was in a cage.”

Tempest flinched and her face fell as she looked at her purple monarch. How many times was that going to be brought up today?

“A... a cage, your grace?” the Vizier queried with a tilt of his golden head, sounding understandably shocked.

Twilight balked and ruffled her wings upon spotting Tempest’s dour expression. “Oh... oh no I’m sorry, that’s just an expression, Grand Vizier,” she quickly explained. “There were so many safety regulations and rules to follow, it felt kinda restricting. I meant to say it was like a cage.” She smiled wide, perhaps too wide for it to be natural and let out a stifled and nervous laugh.

The Vizier nodded, making the princess look somewhat more at ease and her smile return to normal proportions. “Oh I understand that sentiment entirely, your grace.” He looked up at the commander. From the way his eyes sparkled, Tempest knew he was smiling, perhaps even chuckling to himself. “What say you, Commander? Have you ever set hoof on a ship capable of flight such as this?”

To her credit, Tempest did her best not to scoff at him. “Once or twice, Vizier,” she answered as diplomatically as she could, choosing to keep the details of her past life as vague as possible for the time being. It wasn’t like she would be needing that knowledge any time soon, right? “Certainly nothing as grand as yours.”

He followed her gaze and looked upwards at his ship, at the name engraved on the side of the hull in finely carved lettering and practically exuded pride, even through his mask. “You would be hard pressed to find such a vessel in any other part of the world. The Grace of Dawn is the only one of its kind, you see?” he explained. “She was constructed to transport only the most important of Saddle Arabians. Although she has no weapons to speak of, her hull is tougher than even the hardiest spice worms’ carapaces. I hope it will offer some sense of comfort to the Nightmare Knights as we journey.”

Before either Twilight or the commander could ask what the devil a spice worm was, one of his guards chose that moment to approach from the gangplank. He spoke in their language, a harsh yet strangely rhythmic series of words wholly foreign and incomprehensible to the untrained ear.

The Vizier nodded and turned his attention to his hosts. “Forgive me, your grace, but I must speak with the captain.” Twilight nodded to him and bowed her head. He returned the gesture and swiftly turned, following the guard away and up the ramp that had been lowered for him.

Tempest and Twilight both craned their necks to look up at the ship and shared an exchange of glances. For a moment, the tension between them was lost, but the princess’s face began to practically glow with joy as her eyes drifted past the commander. Tempest turned and followed her gaze, and was beyond relieved to see all the members of her team approaching, as well as Celestia.

“Woooow...” she heard Cozy Glow murmur in awe, tilting her head back so much she almost tipped overlooking up at the airship. “We’re gonna hitch a ride on that?” she asked.

Flanking either side of her, Tirek and Chrysalis--who looked thankfully wholly unlike an enraged love-sucking monster--rolled their eyes as they all came to a halt. Standing beside Chrysalis, Celestia chuckled softly and gave the commander a subtle nod, one that said, ‘everything is fine’.

“Once again your skills of deduction are proven to be invaluable,” the changeling answered sarcastically. She fluttered her wings ever so slightly as she spoke, the movement drawing Tempest’s eye to them. They sparkled and shone in the sun, glistening and shimmering like dew drops on blades of grass. The commander frowned, they didn’t always look like that, did they?

“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said after clearing her throat, drawing the Knights’ attention to her, and in turn their present company, and roused Tempest from her own thoughts. She smiled warmly, looking on like a proud parent. “It is so good to see you again, my student.”

The Knights all quickly saluted and stamped their hooves in unison as Twilight nodded at them all before rushing to give her old mentor a tight embrace. “Celestia? Oh, it’s good to see you too, but what are you doing here? I thought you were in Las Pegasus?”

Celestia chuckled and placed a wing over the princess’s shoulder. “Oh, I was, but it got very boring very quickly. What’s new with you? I hear you may be holding entrance exams into the school for gifted unicorns soon?” She winked at the commander as Twilight quickly began to gush, and steered the pair of them away, out of earshot of anything the Knights may speak about.

The Knights themselves stamped their hooves and saluted before the commander with a range of expressions on their faces. Tempest tilted her head upon seeing Cozy’s rather large grin. “Did something happen in Ponyville, Cozy?”

Cozy’s smile only widened. “Ohh, Tempy,” she crooned. Tirek bristled and let out a soft growl. “You won’t believe what I’ve seen today.” Her voice was riddled with absolute glee and sounded very much like a gossiping mare at the spa. She leaned forwards and cupped her mouth with her hoof, whispering at a barely audible level. “So, get this, right? Terry and Jack-”

“I warn you, you little half-windigo,” the centaur finally snarled and clamped a hand down around her muzzle. “Breathe a word of what you saw to anyone and you won’t live to see your tenth birthday.”

He released her and folded his arms in a huff. His threat didn’t stop her grinning, although she shrugged and mined zipping her mouth shut. She still winked at the commander and puckered up her lips to make kissy noises for half a second, quickly stopping when Tirek’s redder than usual face twisted into a mask of barely restrained loathing.

Tempest found herself smiling and shook her head. She figured it was about time the lovebirds did something about their situation, although she hadn’t expected Tirek to make the first move. She looked Chrysalis in the eye and noticed how calm and serene the former queen looked, and her smile faltered.

“And you, Chrysalis? Not ‘hungry’ anymore?”

“I... no. Not anymore, Tempest,” Chrysalis answered hesitantly in a rather uncharacteristically ‘nice’ tone of voice. She flattened her ears down and turned her head. “All I needed was... some bed rest.”

It must have been in her imagination, but as the changeling looked towards the white alicorn and the pair of them shared a sideways glance, Tempest swore she saw Chrysalis’s cheeks form a nice shade of pink.

“Well, it’s good to have you back anyway,” she added, and her voice took on an authoritative tone. “Now, all of you this is a very important mission. I’m sure you got the gist of it from the princess’s letter, but here are the facts. We’ve been summoned for a job in Saddle Arabia.” She paused as they all appeared intrigued. “And we’re going to be facing a djinn.”

Tirek’s eyes widened and he unfolded his arms to scratch at his chin. “A djinn, you say? Interesting.”

“That’s not all.” Tempest took a deep breath and gave them all a very serious look before continuing. “It’s not afraid to move out in the open, and it’s already killed some very important ponies. We need to stop it before it gets any stronger.” She inclined her head towards them and tapped her hoof on the ground as they looked at on another warily. “Another thing, Knights. While we’re in Saddle Arabia, I want all of you to be on your best behaviours. We’re not only representing the princess, but all of Equestria. Anything less is unacceptable.”

The Nightmare Knights all nodded in agreement under her stern gaze. Even Cozy looked took her warning to heart more so than usual and gave her a hearty salute. “We know what to do, Tempy. We won’t--whoa.” She turned her head slightly as movement caught her eye and began to stare. “Geez I’ve heard of gold going to somepony’s head, but really?”

Tempest knew exactly what, or rather who, she was referring to, and turned to see the Grand Vizier striding towards them.

“Ah, the famous Nightmare Knights!!” he cried happily. He bowed low to them all in turn upon reaching them, making bemused expressions spread across their faces. “Lord Tirek, Lady Chrysalis, Commander Tempest Shadow and, of course, young mistress Cozy Glow. It is a great privilege to meet you all, and so fortuitous that you arrive when you do. The captain has informed me that we are just about ready for take-off.”

Upon hearing him speak, Celestia and Twilight chose to re-join the group and stood side by side, giving him a courteous greeting. As his gaze fell on the alabaster alicorn, he bowed so low his mask nearly touched the ground.

“Lady Celestia,” he said as his voice took on a slightly more enthralled tone. “Since our last meeting your beauty has only grown, though your age has not.”

Celestia smiled and returned the bow as her cheeks reddened ever so slightly. “You are too kind, Grand Vizier.”

Tempest swore she could hear Chrysalis let out a low growl behind her, but when she turned her head the changeling’s face was neutral and unwavering. Her green eyes held a certain gleam to them, however.

“If the circumstances of your visit were different, I would happily invite you for a round of tiddlywinks,” the former princess continued, “but Princess Twilight has explained to me the urgency of your situation in full, and I have no doubt in my mind that the Nightmare Knights will give an exemplary performance in helping your situation.”

The Vizier stood up and held his head up high. As he stood across from her, Tempest could see clearly now that he was indeed as tall as Celestia as she suspected, although his mask gave him a few centimetres more on his head. “Alas, were that I could, but these are dark times we find ourselves in, your grace.” He turned and gestured towards the ramp up to his ship. “And I must beg your forgiveness for my abruptness, your humble majesties, but we must depart while the winds are willing.”

Twilight was quick to nod and give him a short bow. “Of course, Grand Vizier. We wish you the best of luck.”

He brought his hoof to his chest before raising it up past his head. “As-salamu alaykum,” he said, bowing his head in respect.

Celestia mirrored the same gesture back to him with a bow of her own head. “Wa ‘alaykumu s-salam,” she answered in perfect Arabic, showing a slimmer of the vastness of her worldly knowledge. Her former student looked up at her in awe and with an open mouth. She returned the look with a simple wink and a knowledgeable grin.

The Grand Vizier stamped his hooves and called out, signalling his retinue to return to the ship to the sound of an impressed but disappointed crowd. The soldiers that had been sparring sheathed their weapons and began laughing amongst themselves as they began to board, clapping each other on the backs and speaking in their own language.

The Knights followed their Commander as she led them aboard, following the Grand Vizier. The airship seemed to grow as they went further in, appearing much larger on the inside than the outside and resembled something of a first-class train carriage complete with servants. Cozy traced a hoof along the intricately carved wood making up the corridors of the ship as they entered the hold, proceeding to follow their host up into what he described as the luxury guest lounge.

“Please,” the Vizier said to them all as they took a look around a particularly clean and comfortable looking room, filled with silky pillows, ornate furniture and the finest decorations from his homeland. “Make yourselves at home. We should arrive in Saddle Arabia, favourable skies willing, by sundown. I would advise getting some rest until then, but of course feel free to wander about the ship as you see fit. We have an on-board library, alchemical lab and a small medical facility should you have need of it, sands forbid.”

Even behind his mask, Tempest could tell he was beaming with pride, glad for a chance to gush about the luxuries the Grace of Dawn provided to somepony firsthoof.

“There is a dining room and adjacent kitchen in the room opposite this one, should any of you require food. I will also inform you that all of your varied diets have been taken into account as well.” He bowed his golden head to them all and then straightened up and adjusted his robes. “But for now, you must excuse my absence. To put it simply and as kind of an image as I can provide, my bandages require changing.”

“Thank you, Grand Vizier,” the commander said with a polite nod. Although remaining wary, she was impressed with how cordial he was, and how uncaring--or unknowledgeable--he was about their various histories and past lives as villains. He looked at each of the Knights in turn with total admiration in his scarred eyes before turning to leave, leaving them to themselves.

Tirek stretched his muscles and looked around the room. “An odd fellow, but friendly nonetheless,” he murmured. “With your permission, Commander, I would like to see this library. There may be perhaps some knowledge about our alleged djinn in such a place. Saddle Arabians have always been notoriously secret, and so I wonder what can be gleamed from their history now that we have access to one of their libraries.”

Cozy was quick to sit on his shoulder like a parrot. “Oh yeah, and I wanna look around this place too. I’ve never been on an airship before.” She nudged the centaur and batted her eyelashes and put on an imitating voice of a certain somepony. “Won’t ya keep me company, Mistah T?”

The centaur flared his nostrils and shrugged her off with a menacing growl in his throat. “Commander do I have permission to throw Cozy Glow overboard?”

“Permission denied,” Tempest idly commented with a yawn. “Besides it would be a waste of effort on your part. She could just fly back aboard.” She stifled a grin as Cozy’s expression changed for a moment to one of shock and abject terror, before quickly switching back to her usual cockiness.

“Heh, Tempy I didn’t know you had a sense of humour. C’mon big guy,” she said to Tirek. “Let’s have a look around. Ooh let’s get some grub.” She tugged at his arm towards the door, very much like how a child might pull at a parent at the zoo. Tirek, to his credit, begrudgingly followed after her, leaving the changeling and the scarred unicorn alone.

The commander sat down in a seat nearby the window and watched as they began to rise into the air. She could hear the roar of the engine spring to life and the gears underneath her hooves turn, bringing a wave of unwanted memories back to her as the large mechanical fins on the side of the hull began their work.

She looked down and spotted Twilight standing with Celestia, growing smaller and smaller by the minute, their hooves raised as they waved their goodbyes along with the rest of Canterlot.

Chrysalis sat down and looked out the same window, particularly down at the princesses with a look that Tempest, if she were a poet, would describe as heartfelt longing. Not being one for such fancy wording, however, she thought she must be imagining things. “Something on your mind, Chrysalis?” she asked casually.

The changeling remained silent, clearly deep in thought.

Choosing not to press the issue and with very little else to do, Tempest closed her eyes and prepared to rest, grateful for a moment of reprieve from the world--however brief it may turn out to be. She quickly drifted off to a quiet slumber, not realising how exhausting the day so far had been.

***

The sound of cannon fire. The roar of an engine.

The wind howling around her. The rain lashing against her face.

Commander Tempest Shadow of His Excellency the Storm King’s navy stood on the prow of her ship, sneering down at her prey.

A crippled and rudderless vessel with a broken mast limped into view from behind come clouds, smoking lightly from the barrage it had just received. It wasn’t even big enough for a full crew, maybe even just the captain and some deckhands. Normally, a sloop like this wouldn’t have even warranted a cursory glance, but this particular ship was carrying something immensely important. An artifact, one of unimaginable power, the first step in the Storm King’s master plan.

Tempest spotted the captain of the downed vessel, a simple pegasus pony, step out onto the deck and wave a white flag. Pathetic, but at least they were smart enough to not fight back. She signalled to two of her Storm Guards to board it with her as her ship aligned itself with it. She hopped down and landed with a heavy thud, her cold steel shoes clinking against the rain soaked wood. The mark on the flank of her armour cut through the darkness like a beacon with its electric blue glow, showing all who she belonged to.

The captain meanwhile fell to his knees and flapped his wings uselessly as the Storm Guards held him in place, grunting in their guttural yeti language at him. He hung his head and pointed with a trembling hoof to the cargo hold and began begging for his life, but sounded far more concerned for his ship than his life.

Tempest hated her own kind with a passion. They were all so materialistic, so preoccupied with things that they never saw the bigger picture. With a sharp jut of her head she ordered one of her Guards to retrieve the artifact. After some rummaging he returned holding a bundle, and knelt as he offered it to her.

The commander reached down and unfurled the wet cloth. Her eyes widened as she gazed upon the object. The Staff of Sacanas. It was real after all, allegedly capable of absorbing and distributing magic at will.

With it, her master could restore her horn.

With it, she could be whole again.

Turning swiftly to leave and spying the wretched flag of Equestria billowing in the wind, a cruel thought entered the commander’s mind. Whistling through her teeth and without looking, she condemned the captain to go down with his ship, and as she set hoof aboard her own ship she smiled as her cannons opened fire once again.

To her surprise, she sound of splintering wood never came.

Instead, a cackling laughter filled her ears. An unnatural and juxtapositional laughter, broken and hollow yet at the same time full of mirth and revelry. As she turned, she found herself suddenly floating in a sea of darkness, alone and cut off from anything and anyone bar the unnamed captain, although he appeared different now. Changed. Unponylike. His coat darkened, his teeth grew into points, his wings receded into his back and a horn sprouted form his head. He bared his fangs and his unnaturally green eyes flashed at her from the darkness. He reared back and howled with laughter, and then everything went black...

“Tempy? Tempy wake up! Tempy! Tempest!”

Tempest’s eyes snapped open as somepony gave her a shove, accidentally pushing her off of her seat and sending her sprawling onto the ground. Feeling groggy from the unexpected wake-up call, she cast a quick glance out of the window to see dark and stormy clouds, coupled with the flash of bright green and orange lights. She blinked and rubbed her head for a few seconds as she got her bearings. “Cozy?” she panted, looking up at the apologetic filly floating next to where she had been sitting. “What is it?”

Cozy shrugged. Her wide eyed and afraid expression set Tempest’s teeth on edge. “You gotta come see. The crew’s gone loopy and I think it’s just us now. You me, Chrysalis and Tirek.”

“Where are they?” the commander asked as she noticed the chair Chrysalis had been sitting in was empty. “And what do you mean ‘loopy’ and ‘just us’?”

“It’s easier to explain if you see for yourself. C’mon!”

Without much further ado, Cozy flapped her wings and darted across the room towards the door. Tempest picked herself up and followed her, galloping close behind, inadvertently stumbling over the upturned chairs and cushions littering her path.

As Cozy yanked the door open the commander saw a bone chilling sight.

Lining the passageway, all of the Grand Vizier’s guards, servants and airship crew members were slumped over with a glazed look in their eyes. They were breathing, which was a positive for sure, but clearly under some sort of mass hypnosis spell. Some, the few coherent ones, mumbled under their breath in their rhythmic language, eyes transfixed on nothing in particular.

Tempest swallowed and carefully stepped over them as she moved quickly down the corridor. “What is this?” she breathed. Cozy remained silent, flying past them all with a worried look on her face. As they rounded a corner they spotted the Vizier sitting by some stairs, staring at nothing in particular.

“Grand Vizier!” Tempest called in concern, and knelt beside him. He looked like he was in a bad way, groaning softly as his metal head hung low. The filly flittered beside her, looking up the stairs in concern.

The Vizier’s breathing was laboured, and his hooves began to tremble upon hearing Tempest speak. He turned slightly to look at her. “Commander... the djinn...” he rasped before trailing off and murmuring something else in Arabic.

His words serving only to confirm her suspicions, Tempest gently lowered him to the ground. His chest rose and fell steadily, but the ship suddenly lurched to one side, sending her stumbling into a wall and the Vizier’s mask to clink against the ground. “If the whole crew is like this, then who-” She shared a cautious glance with Cozy, who winced and tried to hold herself steady in md-air. “Then who’s driving?”

The pair of them both darted up the stairs, out into the open. The cold air hit Tempest like a brick, almost knocking the wind out of her. A thin layer of frost covered the deck--which even for this altitude was strange.

“There they are! Guys, I brought Tempest!”

Tempest turned and looked at who Cozy was shouting and pointing at. Chrysalis and Tirek stood back to back, firing spells into the darkness surrounding them. Chrysalis glanced over and gave her a nod of acknowledgment.

“Nice of you to join us, Commander!” Tirek cried. “Watch out, here it comes again!” He lifted a finger to point out into the dark. The swirl of magic between his horns glowed like a bright beacon as he fired a stream of energy towards his unseen target.

Tempest squinted. There, from the darkness, or perhaps what was the darkness, was what she would describe as a living shadow, snarling like a ravenous animal as it deftly avoided being hit, twisting and coiling through the air like a snake, occasionally lashing out with tendrils of black smoke towards the Knights.

This must have been the djinn, Tempest guessed, and with a growl she readied herself to enter the fray, only for the ship suddenly lurched to one side again. She felt her stomach churn and perform somersaults, and she stumbled where she stood.

“Tempy!”

Cozy’s shrill voice calling to her made her turn and look towards the youngest of the Nightmare Knights grip a tight hold of the wheel, trying desperately to hold it in place and stop it spinning as they lurched to the left.

“Help?!”

The commander deactivated her horn and charged towards her to help her steady the ship. Beside the wheel was an unconscious Arabian, face planted into the deck with his flank raised unceremoniously into the air. She supposed this was the captain, and internally apologised to him for taking command of his ship before rearing up on her back legs to grip the wheel. She quickly spun it, calling upon her muscle memory from her old sky sailing days, and righted the ship once more.

Cozy released her grip of the spoke and took a step back with some relieved breaths. “Phew. At least we should stop spinning now,” she said as her teeth began to chatter. “How far away from Saddle Arabia do you think we are?”

“I have no idea, Cozy,” Tempest answered truthfully. The smoke and clouds around them made it impossible to see anything past the prow of the ship. “But I hope we’re close.”

The shadow of the djinn came around again, snarling and laughing. Some tendrils that spawned from its body struck the deck, slamming down and denting the wood. Tirek dodged to one side, narrowly avoiding being crushed, and lifted up Chrysalis to save her. Ignoring her sudden and sharp yelling, he placed both hands on her and held her steady, pointing and aiming her towards the shadow like a living weapon as she fired blast after blast.

No doubt she would have some cross words for him later for such an indignancy. One of her energy beams made it dodge downwards, and slam into the side of the ship with such force it sent them all rocking and careening off to one side.

Out of instinct, Cozy jumped up and began to flap her wings as the unsteady ground made her wobble. Unfortunately, she didn’t realise how close to the railing she was, and a sudden gust of wind sent her tumbling through the air. “Whoa what the-” she cried, and desperately tried to catch herself on something.

Tempest managed to jam the wheel in place and lunge towards the filly, just barely managing to catch her tail in her teeth before she disappeared over the edge. “Got you!” she grunted, holding on as best as she could to keep herself from being dragged overboard too.

Hanging over the side of the ship, Cozy looked down at the great void of nothing beneath her and froze. Her blood ran cold, sweat began to dot her brow and her wings clamped down to her sides, petrified by fear. As a flood of bad, forgotten memories came back to her, all she could do was squeeze her eyes shut.

She heard the voices of her brothers and sisters inside her head call out to her. They called her a weak flyer and laughed endlessly at her, taunting and jeering her just because she couldn’t do magic, relentlessly mocking her for not only being a pegasus, but a pegasus afraid of heights.

Suddenly a voice louder than the others called her name and the others were silenced. She recognised the new voice, it being wholly distinct from her cruel family. She opened her eyes as warm, red fingers closed round her mid section and pulled her back with a sharp tug, snapping her back to reality in the process.

No longer looking down into the absence of everything, she turned to look at her saviour and stared up into Tirek’s face as he held her. Behind him, Chrysalis had been given use of her own legs and continued to sling spells into the darkness, her magic lighting up the sky like fireworks. After a few seconds of staring up at the centaur’s face the filly’s lower lip trembled, and she thudded her head into his chest.

Tirek himself rested his hand on the top of her head gently, and appeared genuinely concerned for her, then somewhat embarrassed at such an act of compassion as Tempest raised her eyebrows at him, and finally he cleared his throat and scowled as he set the child down, pointing a judgemental finger at her.

“I told you not to fly around the edges of the ship,” he warned, towering over her. “Didn’t I tell you it’s dangerous? Didn’t I tell you you could get blown overboard?”

Cozy rubbed her eyes and sniffed, quickly returning to her usual argumentative self. “Hey I’m a Knight as much as you are!” she snapped back and puffed her chest out, looking up at him defiantly. “Besides that guy wasn’t much help and with you two doing your thing, somepony needed to try and stop the ship from spinning around like that.” She pointed to the captain, still slumped face down and flank in the air.

Tempest watched them glare at each other in silence for a few moments. Maybe it was her imagination, maybe it wasn’t, but she sensed a familial connection between them, and a small smile graced her lips.

Tirek opened his mouth to no doubt scold her again, only for Chrysalis to shout at them all over the howling wind as the djinn’s form began to swirl and coil through the air towards them.

“Need I remind you all that we are fighting for not only our own lives but those of everyone on this miserable ship?!” She gritted her teeth and her horn remained ignited, ready to cast any offensive or defensive spell when necessary as the swirling mass of shadow pulsed and shifted in front of them all.

Tempest cleared her throat as her own horn began to spark and crackle with lightning. “Chrysalis is right,” she said, flexing her legs and narrowing her eyes at the living shadow. “With me, everyone. Get read-”

With a roar of anger and frustration the shadow began to swirl and grow until it was bigger than anything any of the Knights had ever seen, seeming even bigger and more foreboding than the shoggoth in Manehattan. From the folds of its smoky body a dark beam of black and purple magic fired forth.

Tempest dove forwards while Chrysalis leapt backwards, quickly grabbing both Tirek and Cozy with her magic to drag them with her as the magic cashed down into the deck of the ship, instantly creating large, black crystals in its wake. As the smoke cleared, from inside the crystals several figures shifted and burst forth, revealing themselves to be abnormally, dangerously thin, hairless and bipedal creatures that chittered and squealed as they stared at the Knights with glowing, bulbous eyes. Each of them had a small pair of horns atop their heads and in their twisted and elongated fingers they each held a sharp and cruel looking weapon.

One of them lurched forwards towards the changeling queen, its sword held high to strike. Chrysalis curled her lip in disgust and cast a spell towards it, striking it in its chest and knocking it back several steps. It paused for a moment and looked down at where her magic had struck, then looked up and made to charged again.

“Ghouls,” she spat and spread her shimmering wings. She looked up past the creatures and locked eyes with Tempest as she looked back. “Focus your efforts on the djinn, Commander!” she called out, and fired another blast at the ghoul that charged her. “Leave these foul wretches to us.”

“Yes, destroy it, destroy them!” Tirek added as he pointed to the djinn above them with a snarl,. He leaned down and grabbed a piece of broken timber as one of the ghouls charged at him. He swung his weapon and collided with the thing’s head, sending it sprawling.

Cozy proceeded to kick and strike it as hard as she could as her own ghoul charged for her. Its awkward, stiff movements couldn’t keep up with her dexterity as she danced around it, however, and its blows fell onto nothing. She giggled at one point as its axe embedded into the wood beneath its feet, even going so far as to blow a mocking raspberry at it.

Tempest couldn’t help but feel her insides swell with pride and made a mental note to congratulate them all properly for working s a team as she picked herself up and released another blast of magic towards the djinn. It immediately returned fire with spells of its own, the same black and purple magic as before.

Both streams of magic met in mid-air, lighting up the blackened skies around them. Clearly not expecting to be matched, the djinn began focusing all of its might onto its enemy, forcing its form to shrink and the clouds it had conjured begin to dissipate. Tempest gritted her teeth and pressed on with as much power as she could muster, digging her hooves in as she felt herself begin to slip.

She craned her neck upwards, arcing her lightning skyward to try and navigate her opponent’s defences, yet it matched her and arced its own black magic upwards too. So much so that she got a good look at it now, and nearly lost her concentration in surprise as the shadows fully receded and the light of the setting sun shone down around it.

As it turned out, the djinn wasn’t a djinn at all, but a pony--albeit one very well versed in dark magic. Not a Saddle Arabian either, but an Equestrian; a dark stallion whom of which had green and red eyes accompanied by trails of purple smoke that flowed outwards like ethereal tears. Atop his brow and the source of his magic was a curved and sharp looking red-stained horn that crackled with purple and black lightning. Around his head and flank a mane and tail made of the same shadow he himself had been made out of just moments prior formed and flickered like the dying flames of a fire. A wicked, vicious snarl graced across his muzzle as he locked eyes with her, and glowered at her with palpable hate.

As a few seconds crawled past of this stalemate they were in, Tempest realised who the unicorn was. She recognised him from the murals in Canterlot, from the stories she had heard during her travels to the Crystal Empire. She should have guessed from the black crystals--who else in Equestria was known to be a living shadow? Who else, other than...

“King Sombra?” she whispered.

King Sombra, the Tyrant of the Crystal Empire and Lord of the Dark Crystals himself, deactivated his magic, sending Tempest’s blast firing upwards past him and searing through the very air.

“Who in Tartarus is Sombra?” he growled. His surprisingly calm voice echoed around them both as an eerie silence fell upon them.

The Grace of Dawn broke through the clouds, and the shining capital of Saddle Arabia came into view behind him, along with several rapidly approaching airships of the Saddle Arabian navy. Tempest felt herself grow lightheaded, their duel proving to be more taxing than she originally thought, and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Sombra looked down at her and tilted his head in bewilderment and confusion as she lay there gasping for air. They locked eyes for a moment before his horn began to glow and crackle again.

The shadows that once surrounded him reconstructed themselves and lifted him high into the air. He looked down at the Nightmare Knights, glowering at the trio behind the fallen unicorn as his spectral body faded away like dust in the wind, slipping out of their grasp before they could even get their bearings.

With his departure, the ghouls he had summoned dropped where they stood and disintegrated into nothing. Free of combat, the Knights rushed over to their Commander as she struggled to stand.

Not a word was spoken as they helped her up. They knew what they had seen, yet like Tempest, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Of all they had seen and done in the past year, none of them ever expected to see him again. It didn’t seem possible. It wasn’t possible, yet it had happened. Sombra was alive. Noises from below deck told them the crew was beginning to wake up, and a good thing too for the Arabians on the approaching airships looked non too pleased even at this distance.

Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy exchanged silent glances as Tempest stared up at the sky, eyes brightly blazing with magic. Her heart pounded in her chest. She felt her hooves tingle and her legs turn to jelly, and then the fatigue of her fight suddenly overcame her. She collapsed into a dreamless sleep as she fell, with nothing but the piercing eyes of the ‘djinn’ striking deep into her mind...

The Eyes Of The Tyrant

A pair of sickly green eyes flashed in the darkness, forcing Tempest’s eyes to creak open as she arose from a dreamless and restless slumber.

She winced as she pushed herself up, her joints feeling stiff and worn down, and rapidly blinked and squinted as her eyes adjusted to her bright surroundings. The killer headache was currently nursing did her no wonders either.

“Ugh... Where-”

Before she could react or say anything more, a small pink blur suddenly darted towards her and thumped into her chest, knocking her back and practically pinning her down onto the pillows.

“What the-”

“Careful, Cozy,” Tirek’s familiar voice came from towards the foot of the bed in a scolding but not unkind manner. “It wouldn’t do to knock her out would it?”

Tempest raised her head again and blinked at him. He nodded and smiled back at her. “Glad to see you’re still with us, Commander,” he said and thumped a hand against his barrelled chest in a salute. “It was quite touch and go for a moment there.”

Beside him Chrysalis echoed his sentiment with a firm nod of her own. “Yes, I can’t imagine telling either Luna or Twilight that you died in your sleep would be very good or productive.” She flicked her mane out of her eyes and fluttered her shimmering wings as her cheeks turned a faint shade of pink. “But I am... glad to see you alive regardless.”

The commander smiled and sat back up, still with the pink limpet attached to her front. “Well don’t I just feel so loved?” she snickered, much to Chrysalis’s chagrin. She brought her hooves around and gently patted the limpet’s head. “Hey, Cozy? You good?”

The small creature stirred and pulled away, revealing herself to not be a filly with wide eyes and a trembling chin. Cozy sniffed and looked up at her with eyes wider than dinner plates. “Tempy! Oh geez we thought you were a goner!” she wailed.

Tempest, despite neither expecting nor knowing what to do with such sudden affection being thrust upon her, smiled. “I’m fine, Cozy,” she said, slightly touched by the concern shown for her and awkwardly patted her head again. “What, you think a little headache is enough to take me down?”

The filly pulled away and sheepishly rubbed her legs together before shrugging. “I guess not.” She looked around, noticing in particular Chrysalis’s mocking grin. “Hey, I can admit when I like someone. I’m not you,” she muttered, making Tirek snigger and Chrysalis’s smile drop in an instant. “Anyway, how are you feeling, Tempy?”

“Like I fought a rock and lost, but besides that I’m fine,” Tempest mumbled and stretched her legs. “Where are we? What happened?”

She looked around, and realised they were in what looked like a very fancy bedroom. A lavishly ornate wardrobe stretched the length of the room against one wall, and an equally as grandiose vanity table rested beside the bed. Even the bed itself looked like something out of a storybook. Its covers were spun from golden-red silk, and the very frame appeared to be made out of solid gold that stretched up the ceilings, in the middle of which a golden chandelier burned brightly, casting a warm orange glow over them all.

Embedded into the other wall and across from the bed was a magnificent golden archway of which some thin drapes across the gap led out onto a balcony. Gold capped domes and spires pointed straight upwards, reflecting the starry night above. She turned to Tirek with a concerned look in her eye, and repeated her question.

“Where are we? How long have I been here?”

“We’re in the guest quarters of the royal palace of Hisan Arabi, the capital of Saddle Arabia,” he told her as she moved, swinging her legs to the side and sitting upright in a rather un-ponylike fashion sure to cause some sort of spine-based dysphoria. “A few hours, Commander. Your duel with the... ahem... ‘djinn’, knocked the wind out of your sails, as they say.”

The room fell silent as Tempest rubbed her face and took a deep breath.

She exhaled slowly and pushed herself off of the bed, stumbling only slightly as her hooves touched the cold, hard floor. Suddenly the joyous attitude they had all shared upon her awakening vanished; replaced by a sombre, sober atmosphere that hung over their heads like a bad hangover.

She pulled herself together with Tirek’s assistance and stood up straight, holding her legs slightly apart. She assumed a commanding stance, one worthy of her rank, and in turn made the Knights glance at one another and shuffle awkwardly.

“Are we alone?” she quietly asked through gritted teeth after a few moments more. Her tone gave them the impression that she was like a dormant volcano, ready to blow at any minute.

Chrysalis cast a quick glance around the room towards the door. Her horn ignited in the bright green aura of her magic as she scanned the surrounding area, searching for any signs of life. Satisfied they were indeed alone, her horn deactivated and she gave the commander a quick nod of confirmation.

“Good.”

The tension seemed to ramp up as Tempest began to stalk back and forth like she always did when formulating a plan. She limped a few times as the feeling in her legs came back to her but she remained steady, her resolve quickly proving to be as strong as ever even in the face of their current predicament. Cozy winced and rubbed her forelegs together, looking around at all of the adults with a puzzled frown. She made a popping sound with her mouth and inhaled a sharp breath between her teeth before speaking quietly.

“Soooo are we gonna talk about Sombra?”

The Nightmare Knights bristled and scowled upon mention of the so-called ‘djinn’. Of all that they had seen and faced; ghosts, demons, eldritch monsters made of nightmare fuel and everything else in between Sombra was an anomaly to say the least, and perhaps the greatest threat to Equestria’s safety. For him to be alive and here in Saddle Arabia was unprecedented, and couldn’t possibly mean anything good.

“That was him, wasn’t it?” the filly persisted. “Or did we all go cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs on that ship?”

“It was,” Chrysalis said in a low growl. “I’d recognise that arrogant fool anywhere. As to why he is here, I could not say.” She tapped her chin and scowled. “And even then that would be grasping at straws. What about you, Tirek? Anything you’d like to share with the rest of us?” she asked the centaur of the group as he folded his arms and tapped his hoof.

Tirek shook his head and grimaced. “I have no idea why Sombra would be here. As far as I’m aware this isn’t even his territory--the Crystal Empire takes that honour.” He looked at Tempest pointedly as the unicorn flinched. The corner of her mouth twitched downwards into a sneer as her eyes took on a slightly glazed over look and she paused in her pacing. “Commander... you fought him--I saw your horns form a connection... Did he say anything to you at all? Offer any clue as to his emergence--or why he appears to have taken the role of a djinn?”

A few moments of silence passed before she answered him. “He asked me...” Tempest stared out the window over the city, remembering the Black Lord of the Dark Crystal’s piercing eyes stare deep into her very soul. As Tirek waved a hand in front of her she roused herself of her thoughts and looked the centaur in the eye. “He seemed confused when I said his name, and asked me who Sombra was.”

Tirek stroked his beard and frowned. “He did, did he? I see... Amnesia, perhaps?”

“That’s what first came to my mind,” she retorted, and quickly resumed in her pacing, trying to shake the image of his eyes out of her mind.

Cozy whistled and rubbed the back of her head. “Well that would make things easier, right? If he doesn’t know he’s... you know, Sombra?”

Tirek nodded. “In theory, yes. But there is also the possibility, and it is far more likely, that with no restraints such as memories he could pose an even more serious threat than we had originally anticipated.”

“So what do we do?”

Tempest poked around her teeth with her tongue and kept quiet as the Knights began to talk amongst themselves. She remembered her dream as she slept on board the Vizier’s airship, more distinctly how what should have been a memory twisted into a vision of Sombra laughing like a madpony. Sombra was supposed to be destroyed, banished back to the darkness by the Elements of Harmony--by Twilight and her friends. For him to so casually return like it was nothing unnerved her, very much so.

She cleared her throat and shook her head, both clearing the thoughts from her mind and drawing the attention in the room back to her. “It doesn’t matter.” She looked at the Knights one by one as she spoke. “We know he’s here, and if history’s taught us anything it’s that he can be beaten. For now, our top priority is finding out what we can about this... ‘djinn’. That’s the job, that’s why we’re here. And... while we’re at it, keep this information strictly between us four, got it?”

Tirek nodded and looked over her face, noting the apprehension lining her features. “I agree,” he concurred. “It would be prudent to act like this was nopony we know. I for one cannot imagine what kind of situation it would cause if it came out that an Equestrian was responsible for killing the sultan of Saddle Arabia.” He scowled and pressed his hands together.

“However, Sombra, in life, was never one to act randomly or without reason. This was the pony who had plans for his plans, schemes layered upon schemes, the pony who cursed an entire empire into obscurity for a thousand years with a mere few words and a wave of his horn. He is a tyrant and a dark wizard, but not an assassin.” He paused, and he and Tempest shared a grim look.

“Do you think someone’s controlling him?” she murmured in understanding.

“It is a possibility we cannot ignore, Commander, especially seen as how he may have amnesia,” Tirek continued with a nod and began to explain his train of thought. “On the Vizier’s airship I found a book about djinn--myths and legends for the most part, but they all shared one thing in common. The djinni are amongst the most dangerous of their kind, yet in those stories they were all ensnared and enslaved to the one who controls them, usually via some sort of magic lamp. Now we know that the ‘djinn’ is Sombra, it could be hypothesized that he was summoned here for a specific purpose as he was when Discord brought the three of us together... Although what that purpose would actually be escapes me...”

The commander nodded earnestly. “Right. Do we have any suspects?”

Tirek bitterly shook his head. “As of yet, no. We have no reason to be suspicious of anypony here. And I’m sorry to say but the book was damaged upon our attack.” He looked towards the horizon, through the thin veil and out over at the city and sighed. “There is the smell of dark magic in the air here, Commander. We should be careful, and proceed with-”

“I must apologise for interrupting this brainstorming session, Lord Tirek,” Chrysalis suddenly said with a sharp turn of her head. She jutted her chin towards the door and her upper lip twitched upwards. “But someone is coming.”

The Knights quickly fell silent and rearranged themselves and braced themselves. From beyond the door there came some muffled hoofsteps, and a rapid knocking on the door. “Nightmare Knights?” came the muffled voice of the Grand Vizier from the other side.

Tempest nodded to Chrysalis, signalling the changeling to open it. Indeed the Grand Vizier stood there looking in at them, looking as alive and healthy as he could look, dressed in fabulous purple and golden robes.

“Ah, my friends!” he cried happily, and quickly stepped forwards. He stopped in his tracks when he saw their grim faces. “Oh... I hope I am not interrupting anything?”

Tempest shook her head and smiled at him. “No, Vizier, we were just going over some plans, theories and stuff,” she said, and inclined her head towards him as he continued to approach. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

The Vizier bowed to her and chortled softly. “I am humbled by your concern, Commander. Truly, the Nightmare Knights’ abilities were not exaggerated, I see? Not only did you save the lives of everypony on my ship, but I was also told that you, Commander, faced the beast down alone and drove it back? And now you have made such a quick recovery!”

The commander felt her eyebrow twitch and her cheeks flush with what she saw as undeserved praise. “Really, Vizier, we haven’t even done anything yet,” she stated calmly with a forced smile. Behind her the Knights stood rigid, casting wary glances at one another. “You can dish out praise when the job is done. Speaking of which, we should get a move on and start investigating what we could.”

“Of course, of course, even so your accomplishments should be noted?” the Grand Vizier chuckled and nodded at each of them. “Although, I will say that after such a long journey, you must all be famished, and something to eat before heading into battle with the devil would be prudent, yes?”

Tempest opened her mouth, only for the sound of a low grumble of several hungry stomachs to fill the air and answer for her.

The Vizier tittered lightly and adjusted his robes. “Forgive me for being presumptuous, my friends, but as luck would have it, we have had a great feast prepared for your arrival.” He hesitated as Tempest glared at him and raised her eyebrows. “Would you do us the honour of attending and sampling some of our hospitality before you go into battle?”

“I don’t think that’s-”

Tempest felt a sharp tug on her tail and heard a noise that sounded somewhere between a hiss and a gasp. She quickly spun around and spotted Cozy clutching at her and staring up at her with large, pleading eyes.

“One moment, please, Grand Vizier,” she grunted, turning back to the masked pony and flashing him a quick smile.

He nodded back at her and took a step back, turning his head away as not to intrude.

“Cozy we don’t have time for this,” the commander whispered, fixing the filly with a stern glare as they all drew their heads together. “We’re on a tight schedule here as it is.”

Cozy pouted and stuck her lip out. “Aw c’mon, Tempy, I’m starving! It’s not like I’m a changeling, I can’t feed off of love like a certain somepony.”

Chrysalis scowled and let out a soft growl and a hiss. “If you’re referring to me, Cozy Glow, then I advise you to choose your next words very carefully.”

“What, you think you’re the only changeling I know?”

...

“Alright fine, yeah maybe you are. So what?”

“If I may, Tempest,” Tirek said, quickly putting an end to another round of back-and-forthing before it could truly begin while pinching the bridge of his nose. “If Sombra is indeed targeting the Grand Vizier, would it not be best to keep a close watch on him?” He glanced over the dark mare’s shoulder at the masked pony. “Who knows, perhaps Sombra will try again soon, and wouldn’t it be better for all of us if we were there to prevent another attack?”

Tempest felt it dawn on her what he was suggesting. “That’s a good point. Alright, fine, we’ll go to this feast, but I want you all to keep a sharp lookout for anything suspicious, alright?”

Cozy let out a small ‘yes’ and a hoof pump. “Thanks Terry, I knew you could talk some sense into her!” She grinned, only to falter and snap a hoof to her head in salute when the commander glared at her. “Aha... just a joke, Tempy... Don’t worry about us, we’ll keep an eye out!”

The dark unicorn rolled her eyes and pulled away from the small huddle.

The Vizier as he saw her movement and drifted back over to her. “Well, my friends?” he asked hopefully. “What say you?”

Tempest took another deep breath and looked ahead at the doorframe before forcing another smile onto her lips and focusing on him. “We would be honoured, Grand Vizier. But we-”

“Wonderful!” he cried happily, cutting her off and swinging a hoof around the room towards the door, gesturing for them to follow him. “As Equestria’s own Bluish Carol would say, what a joyous and frabjous day this is indeed! Come, there are many who have come here today to see our saviours and deliverers from this terrible evil afflicting us.”

Before any of them could say anymore, he spun on the spot and started off, moving quickly and purposefully out of the room and into the corridor. The Knights glanced at one another for a moment before hurrying after him, only just managing to keep pace with his happy gait. Tempest wondered what kind of party the Arabians would throw if the Knights were successful in their duty and actually managed to beat Sombra.

If.

She didn’t like that, and felt a lump form in her throat.

After a few minutes moving down the corridor and following the Vizier into the rest of the palace, Tirek began to appear suspicious and jumpy of something, and kept glancing over his shoulder as if they were being followed. Tempest noticed and hung back for a moment, catching his eye.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him as a group of servants scurried past, whispering among themselves and looking at Tirek in equal parts curiosity and fear.

“I have a bad feeling about this, Commander,” he replied quietly. “When you’re as old as I am you get a sense for when bad things are going to happen...”

Tempest narrowed her eyes as they walked side by side. “What do you mean?” She lowered her voice to a whisper so that only he could hear her. “Is it Sombra? Is he here already?”

“No it’s not that, it’s...” he whispered back and shook his head, taking a sniff of the air and looked particularly grim. “I’m not sure. There is... what I think is magic nearby, but it’s... wrong. Like it’s... sick, or tainted. We should be careful.”

At his troubling words Tempest simply nodded back at him and looked towards the Vizier. A small troop of guards on patrol marched passed them, their bronzed armour clinking and clanking as they moved, saluting at their leader and his guests.

“Although I am confident in our abilities, we have not fought a creature like Sombra before. This will be challenging, and dangerous...” Tirek murmured. “More so for some... than others.”

He rested his eyes on the small filly in front of him, who was currently deep in conversation with Chrysalis about some form of pancakes and the right amounts of toppings they can or should have. Strangely, Chrysalis herself seemed quite receptive to their conversation, even going so far as to offer her own thoughts on how much syrup and how many pancakes it took to make a syrup-pancake-sandwich. A pained expression crossed the centaur’s wizened features for a moment.

Tempest noticed her friend’s dour expression and gently nudged him with her shoulder. “Hey. She’ll be fine,” she whispered. “She’s got you looking out for her, right?”

“That’s what concerns me,” he stubbornly grunted. His slightly raised voice made the pair of Knights in front pause in their pancake based conversation to give him a frown and a strange look. He quickly looked away and adjusted the bracer on his left wrist, tracing over the cold steel with his free hand and a far off look in his eye. He grew quiet after that, not even continuing to glance over his shoulder anymore.

The commander’s face fell and she remained silent as they continued walking. The Vizier raised a hoof to signal their halt, and came to a sudden halt outside a set of heavy looking and ornately carved doors.

He said something to the guards on either side of it in a short, terse order. They hurried to obey him and pulled open the doors, allowing them all to pass. “Onwards, my friends,” he said, sounding like he was smiling, and strode forwards.

***

The cool and refreshing night air hit the Knights in the face as they entered into a huge, open spaced courtyard. The floor was marble tiled and painted with a great spiral swirl, and a few shrubs and trees planted neatly around made the whole area look rather pleasant.

The skies were thankfully clear as well, allowing the moon to shine bright in the night sky--a peaceful far cry form the airship journey in, thought the Knights as they looked around. Aside from the silver moonlight shining down upon them, several dozen lit braziers provided for each and every creature there to be seen, despite the dancing shadows cast up onto the palace walls.

Towards the back of the courtyard sat a large throne, elevated on a slightly raised platform. As she looked, Tempest noticed that the braziers around the throne itself were unlit, and a large sheet covered the whole platform, no doubt as a gesture of respect for the fallen sultan. It was nice, in a way, she thought, and made her wonder how long Equestria would mourn if any one of the princesses were to pass away in such a violent manner. She swallowed and shook her head, wishing not to dwell on such bad thoughts and instead enjoy a moment of reprieve with her team while she could. As she looked at the empty throne she was bitterly reminded why they were there, and made sure to keep a suspicious eye out for anypony in particular that may have warranted their attention.

Although such a thing was far easier said than done.

The sound of raucous laughter and joyous celebration, coupled with the intoxicating scent of Arabian wine filled the air as goblets and chalices were filled up and passed around, with each recipient happily and cheerfully sharing their drink and pouring another cup with his or her neighbour.

In the centre of the courtyard, a troop of mares dressed in silk, see-through garments were performing a dance routine for the amusement of those sober enough to watch while some stallions nearby played instruments and gave them musical accompaniment.

One of the guards standing by the gate saw the arrival of the Grand Vizier and his guests and picked up his heavy looking mallet, crashing it into the gong at his side to signify their presence.

An eerie silence fell as everypony stopped what they were doing and bowed their heads. The dancers quickly sank to the ground in respectful bows as the Vizier passed them, remaining perfectly still. He stamped his hoof twice in quick succession and inclined his head to nopony in particular, signalling for them all to carry on as they were.

And then as if nothing had happened, life sprung back into the room. The dancers leapt up and resumed their routine without skipping a beat, and the musicians playing for them continued just as quickly, picking up right where they had stopped.

In front of the throne, and apparently the Vizier’s destination, lay a table containing a spread of food the likes of which none of the Knights had ever seen. From simple and easily recognisable apples and oranges like those in Equestria, to elaborate constructions of delicious looking cakes and pies, to bowls upon bowls of greenery and a smattering of other treats, each one looking as delectable as the last, it looked too good to be real, like some sort of dream. Tempest’s mouth watered as they approached it, and the Vizier gestured to the seats.

“Please, make yourselves comfortable, my friends,” he said with a twinkle in his eye as he moved around to take his place. He paused for a moment to look up at the throne, and bowed his head slightly and murmured a quiet prayer in Arabic. He turned around and gestured to the table, and the abundance of food. “Please. I insist you take whatever food and drink you want. You are our honoured guests here after all.”

Tempest nodded politely and sat down to one side of him. The ravenous hunger that had taken hold of her stomach upon seeing the food threatened to overwhelm her. “Thank you, Grand Vizier,” she said respectfully as she eyed up a particularly juicy and shiny looking red apple. “You are very kind.”

Beside her Chrysalis also sat down, and across from them on the other side of the Vizier Tirek and Cozy took their places at the table.

The filly was not so restrained as the commander was, and promptly began to stuff her face full of sugary pastries and every other thing she could get her mitts on.

“Heck yeah he is!” she cried as she finished quickly devouring a round of cookies, much to the amusement of some nearby servants. “Thanks, G.V.!”

“G.V.?” the Vizier cried in absolute delight as he too settled down. “You know I quite I like that? I shall have to remember to put that on my luggage.” He tittered lightly and stroked the chin of his mask as a servant approached and placed placing a straw in the goblet in front of him, no doubt so that he didn’t have to remove his mask. “G.V., how amusing...”

Chrysalis looked down at the food in front of her with varying levels of thinly veiled contempt before her eyes settled on a strange looking, deformed oval shaped piece of fruit with a reddish-orange hue to its skin.

Tempest watched out the corner of her eye as the queen’s expression softened, and used her magic to pick up the fruit and hold it close to her mouth. The changeling closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, letting her eyelids flutter and a small breath escape her lips as she whispered a single word at just barely above an audible level.

“Celly...”

“Sorry, what was that?” Cozy asked her in between hooffuls of food. “Did you say something, Chryssy?”

The changeling froze and opened her eyes to fix the pegasus with a glare that could strip paint off the walls. She ran her tongue over one of her fangs in a wordless display before she bit into the weird fruit, savagely tearing a chunk of it away and letting its juice drip down her chin. The message in her eyes was clear: ever mention or bring up whatever that was again, and her suffering would go down in legend.

Cozy swallowed what she was eating and shrugged. “Alright, I only asked if you said anything. It ain’t my fault you can’t talk about your feelings,” she added as quietly as she dared.

Tempest rolled her eyes and chuckled set down what was left of her apple core, having quickly and silently devoured her prey within a few moments of eyeing it up. She pursed her lips and burped slightly, quickly apologising and covering up her mouth.

The Vizier chortled quietly and sipped his drink, watching them and the rest of the congregation enjoy the feast and festivities. Except Tirek, who sat with his fingers pressed together, looking deep in thought and like he was concentrating on something.

After a while of noticing him not even touch the food, the Vizier turned to address him. “My Lord Tirek, is everything not to your liking?” he asked, sounding disheartened.

The centaur remained silent. His eyes flicked backwards and forwards, and his mouth moved slowly and silently.

Cozy waved a hoof at the Vizier. “Oh he does this sometimes when he’s thinking,” she cheerfully explained as she slurped at a small mug of apple juice set out specifically for her. It went unsaid, but even in a foreign land none of the Knights--not even Chrysalis--was about to let a filly as young as her taste wine regardless of the situation. “He’ll snap out of it when he’s finished. Or when something interesting happens.”

The Grand Vizier nodded. “Ah, I see. Perhaps some entertainment is in order, then? As luck would have it I may have such a presentation that would browse your interests, if you so wish.”

Tempest’s eyes drifted over to the group of mares dancing nearby and the end of her nose twitched slightly. One of the mares batted her long eyelashes at her, making her cheeks turn a darker shade for a moment. “Oh? What sort of presentation?”

The Grand Vizier clapped his hooves together and raised his voice.

“Summon the magician!” he called out. Some guards quickly saluted him and hurried to obey him, leaving the hall and closing the heavy doors with a loud thunk.

The Knights turned to look at the Vizier with quizzical expressions. Even Tirek seemed to rouse himself out of his self imposed stupor and frowned. “Magician?” he murmured, voicing all of the Knights immediate thoughts and inadvertently proving Cozy’s previous statement to be true. “What magician?”

Chrysalis scoffed and waved a dismissive hoof as her magic lifted up another of her weird fruits. her tongue lashed out towards it. “I would imagine just another unicorn fond of a few fancy parlour tricks,” she said with a mouthful of food, as cold and unapologetic as ever.

“Chrysalis,” Tempest sternly snapped, shooting her a look as if to say ‘be nice’.

The former queen shrugged and ate her fruit, falling into silence while they waited.

Cozy swallowed the small cake she was eating and grinned. “Say... Weren’t you beaten by a unicorn magician, Chryssy?” she crooned. “One who loved using those same ‘cheap parlour tricks’?”

The former queen frowned at her small comrade. “Unless you’re referring to Twilight Sparkle or that hag Starlight Glimmer, both of which I would--reluctantly and begrudgingly--consider more than mere magicians, then no.”

The filly nodded earnestly, her smile fading as she watched her plan for teasing Chrysalis fall apart before her very eyes. “Yeah she went with Starlight, Discord and Thor--uhh...” She faltered as Chrysalis leaned across the table and bared her fangs in a short hiss. “Thhhhat changeling you made us promise never to talk about to do that thing you made us promise never to talk about. What was her name? Troopsie? Trapsie?” She tapped the side of her head and knitted her brow in concentration.

“Trixie,” interjected Tirek absentmindedly and half-heartedly, watching for any sign of the so-called magician approaching. “Big hat. Blue cloak.”

“Yeah that’s it!” Cozy happily cried, snapping her hooves together. “She’s one of the teachers at Twilight’s school now isn’t she?”

“You tell us, you were the one who went there,” Tempest answered as she lifted her drink to her mouth and took a small sip. She realised she had never tried Arabian wine, being more of an Equestrian cider fan herself, and was pleasantly surprised to find it was delicious. She took another sip before setting it down. It wouldn’t do to get inebriated before a battle after all. Or maybe it would. She thought it best not to chance it either way.

The Vizier tilted his head slightly as he listened, his mask no doubt hiding his bemused expression as he listened to the Knights bandy words back and forth.

“So yeah, Chryssy, her name was Trixie. Are you telling me you really don’t remember her?”

“Trixie?”

Chrysalis wrinkled the end of her nose as she lifted up her own goblet in her magical grasp. “Trixie...” She mulled over the word. She opened her mouth a few times about to say something, but proceeded to only furrow her brow more and more and keep cutting herself off with a quiet hum. Cozy, meanwhile, grew more and more irate, and sinking further into her chair and groaned in frustration.

The former queen tapped her chin and sipped another drink, sloshing it around in her mouth before eventually shrugging and shaking her head. “Nope, I’ve definitely never met anypony called Trixie. Really now, Cozy, this is a feeble attempt to rile me, even by your standards,” she scoffed. “Making up past enemies indeed. For shame, it’s not like we don’t have enough as it is!”

“Oh come on!” Cozy cried and threw her hooves up in the air. “How can you not remember but Tempest and Tirek do?! She and Twilight had a rivalry, kinda, she’s Starlight’s best friend. She’s like, almost as famous as Twilight is?” She pressed down on the table with her hooves. “Ringin’ any bells, here? You guys even sound the same!”

The changeling snickered at her and shook her head again. “Are you perhaps giving up your career as a Nightmare Knight to become this mare’s biographer now? Might this little pony have some sort of celebrity crush?” she teased in a nasally voice.

If the filly ground her teeth together any harder than she already was she may have cracked them. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” she growled and slumped down into her seat with folded hooves and a haughty harrumph.

Chrysalis, delighting in turning the tables on the little mischief maker, stifled a series of giggles and lifted up another of her strange fruits. “Perhaps this magician of yours, Grand Vizier, will leave a more lasting impression than this alleged ‘Trixie’ Cozy Glow seems to be oh so fond of.”

After a minute of hesitation and bemused silence, the Vizier began to laugh so much he nearly toppled out of his seat and had to take a moment to quickly compose himself. “Oh--oh my, yes, I must agree, Lady Chrysalis, I am more than certain Master Bray will meet your expectations.”

“Master... Bray?” Tirek said, turning his attention towards the Arabian with a peculiar look on his face. “I have not heard of any wizard by that name. Is he powerful?”

“Oh yes, without a doubt, my Lord Tirek. Despite his... nature, as you may soon see, he is a venerated practitioner of magic, and it is thanks to him that I survived the fires that took our beloved sultan from us,” the Vizier continued proudly yet sadly. “Truly, I believe he is a sorcerer of unparalleled skill and unmatched power in all of Saddle Arabia--so much so that I might even dare even to say that he might rival that of your own Princess Twilight Sparkle one day, if he does not already. He is a good friend of mine, and has served the royal family for generations. Here he comes now!

“Has he?” Tempest questioned, sharing a look with Tirek just as the gate swung open once more, followed by the crash of a loud gong echoing out through the night. The dancers quickly dispersed to a series of disappointed groans.

A hooded figure stepped forwards until he came to a halt just before the Vizier’s table. He was short for an Arabian, roughly the same size as an Equestrian pony, perhaps even a touch shorter and stubbier.

“Your most illustrious Grand Vizier,” he said, his voice waving and wafting through the air in an almost song-like manner as he bowed low. “I am overjoyed to see you alive and well,” he continued, “and I must apologise for the lateness of my arrival to our noble and most esteemed guests, for I do so get caught up in my work. I welcome you into our home, Nightmare Knights, and hope that Saddle Arabia more than meets your expectations.”

He threw his hood back, making the Knights’ jaws drop in surprise.

For although Saddle Arabia was an exotic place compared to Equestria, none of them had ever expected to see a donkey smiling up at them, posing as the court magician of all things. He looked ordinary enough, with long ears, buck teeth, green eyes of no particular discerning features, a mud brown coat that even from a distance looked coarse and rough from what was showing under his cloak, and a shabby looking dark brown mane that sat atop his head.

Tirek curiously leaned towards the donkey and looked him up and down. “You are a long way from home, Master Bray,” he said.

Master Bray answered with a toothy smile and continued speaking calmly and clearly. “Indeed I am... as are you, Lord Tirek, the Exiled Son of Nessus.”

Tirek’s look of curiosity quickly changed into a simmering glare and a disgruntled sound of barely contained anger escaped his throat. Bray didn’t notice, or perhaps more accurately, didn’t care, and he simply kept smiling as he turned to the other Knights and rattled off their names in a taunting, teasing sort of way.

“As are all of you... Cozy Glow, the unloved child who’s parents wished for a unicorn...”

Without saying a word Cozy quickly turned her ears down and looked away. Her wings fluttered gently before clamping down at her sides and she slumped down in her chair.

“...Queen Chrysalis of the Hive--or lack thereof...”

Chrysalis’s pupils contracted into vertical slits as she stared the jack in the eye and curled her upper lip in a low and menacing growl, unafraid to hide her displeasure.

“...And of course...” He levelled his gaze at the unicorn with a broken horn and said with a grin, “the Herald of the Storm King herself, Tempest Shadow.”

Tempest felt the heckles on the back of her neck stand up on end. “Mhm,” she grunted, thoroughly unamused.

She stood up and placed both front hooves on the table. “I’m sorry, Grand Vizier,” she said as the masked pony started in his seat and turned to her. “But I was under the impression that the Nightmare Knights are here to fight a djinn, not...” She waved a hoof at the donkey and sneered at him. “Be attacked like this.”

The Grand Vizier quickly stood. “Oh no, you must forgive him, Commander,” he said quickly. “Master Bray has a rather dry sense of humour. I assure you he means you no offense.”

“Uh huh.”

With a mere few words and within literal seconds of meeting them, this random donkey in the middle of Saddle Arabia had managed to anger and annoy each of the Nightmare Knights, an honour they usually kept reserved for each other. Chrysalis was clearly close to leaping off of her seat to throttle the donkey, and Tirek gripped the table with such force his knuckles were turning white, while Cozy looked dejected and depressed, having lost her appetite entirely.

Bray raised a hoof and smiled, turning his long ears down, although it was a false gesture. “My deepest apologies if I have indeed caused offence to you, Nightmare Knights. I merely wished to demonstrate that I know of your pasts, and as such know of your powers and skill. If I may?” he said, gesturing behind him.

Tempest reluctantly and against her better judgement sat back down, keeping her eyes locked on the donkey. She nodded precisely once, and waved for him to go ahead.

“From banishing demons and poltergeists to the vanquishing of the dreaded Headless Horse, the Nightmare Knights are indeed respected and admirable warriors all! They have come here this night to vanquish us of our evil, to put an end to the tyranny of the accursed djinn once, and for all!” he cried with a wave of his hoof around the room to some smatterings of applause and a few faint cheers of praise. “And it is for that reason, my Lords and Ladies, that for your delectation and delight I will present you a taste of the awesome power I wield in my hooves.”

He stamped his hoof twice, and once again the doors swung open.

To the surprise of the Knights, what entered the courtyard next was a large, solid brown and pink nosed brute of a creature that looked somewhere between the cross of an ape and a pig, carrying an urn large enough to fit a fully grown pony under one arm and a small chest under the other. Long tusks jutted up from its mouth and its nose dripped with unknown moisture. Trailing behind him was a young Equestrian looking mare, who came to a halt by Bray and curtsied as she stepped around the giant accompanying her.

Her coat and her mane were both white as snow, and from beneath her hair Tempest spotted a pair of faintly glowing pink eyes. She was an albino, the commander realised, and watched as the mare quivered in a manner so pitifully shy she could have given Fluttershy a run for her money.

“Drog. There,” Bray snapped, addressing the large brute, and pointed to a spot near the centre of the yard.

‘Drog’ ambled over to where he was told and set his burdens down. With the heavy thud that kicked up a small cloud of dust. Afterwards, he stood slack jawed and idle, gazing up at the sky and the moon as a fly buzzed around his head. The mare opened her mouth to say something but only winced and retreated back into her mane when Bray scowled.

“Ahem,” he coughed, tapping his hoof impatiently. The brute turned to him and blinked unevenly. The magician sighed and his shoulders sagged.

“Must I instruct you on every detail you imbecile?” he cruelly snapped “Pick up Constant. And put her in the urn. Chop chop, we have guests waiting.” He tutted and glanced towards the Knights and offered them an apologetic smile. “Troggles are obedient creatures but mind numbingly dull sometimes,” he explained.

A flicker of recognition passed over Tirek’s narrowed eyes. “A troggle? Interesting...” he murmured quietly. Tempest cast a cursory glance at him before looking back at the magician and his assistants.

The brute ambled over to the mare named Constant and stopped just shy of her. She peered out fron behind her mane and looked up at him, stepping forwards as he held his paw out to her. “Thank you... Drog,” she whispered.

Drog made no sign that he had heard her soft voice. Tempest wasn’t sure she had spoken at first, thinking her whisper just a mere blow of the wind as the troggle lifted her up to the cusp of the urn. She hesitated for a moment when she reached the top, looking down into the inky darkness before Bray shot her a look and cleared his throat. She shrunk away from him and swallowed, and without a word she disappeared from view into the vase. Bray meanwhile approached the chest and flung it open. After bundling up his cloak around one hoof he reached in, and pulled out a long, green serpent that twisted and writhed in his grip.

Drog reached down and flinched as his hands closed around the donkey’s barrel, hoisting him up much the same as he had the mare. Unlike Constant, Bray didn’t hesitate when he propped himself up on the top and without a second thought he dropped the snake in after her. The crowd gasped in alarm and immediately began to murmur amongst themselves. The Knights’ eyes went wide and they all rose from their seats started forwards, as alarmed and wary as the crowd was.

“Patience, my friends,” the Vizier said, waving a hoof in an attempt to assuage their fears. “Master Bray knows what he is doing. Even if the rest of us don’t.”

They shared a look towards one another and all remained tensed but fell back into their seats, continuing to watch the strange display with morbid curiosity.

The troggle lowered Bray to the ground once again and meandered away, resting on his haunches and dragging his knuckles on the ground as the magician reached into the folds of his cloak. From them he procured a small vial of brightly luminescent blue glowing liquid. He quickly unstoppered it and poured it over the rim of the urn, then took several steps back as it began to hiss. After a few short seconds it erupted into a long plume of smoke that wafted up into the air.

Bray stepped forwards once more and raised a hoof, looking at the Knights with a toothy grin. “Behold!” he cried, and slammed into the urn with such force it was shattered it on impact.

As the last of the ceramic fell away and dissolved into the air, what was revealed inside the urn was a frightful sight, and many of the watchers gasped in horror and shambled away. For where the albino mare had no doubt once sat, now crouched a strange and exotic looking creature. Her coat was a pale ocean green, as was her mane. Only her eyes gave away her identity, still glowing the steady pink of an albino that cut through the night like a pair of spotlights. But her most intriguing aspect, the one everypony in the room was staring at, was that of her lower half, for where her hind quarters and ordinary pony tail should have been, slithered the shimmering, emerald green body of a colossal snake.

Bray bowed slightly and moved off to one side before turning around and looking at the snake-mare.

“Dance,” he commanded with a deep and powerful voice. She turned, her forked tongue slithering out from her mouth and lapping at the air in front of her. Her eyes blinked unevenly. He whistled sharply through his teeth and repeated his command. “Dance for me...”

The crowd remained deathly silent, utterly transfixed and hypnotized by the magician’s impressive display of magic as the lamia pulled herself up before letting her hooves fall limply to her sides. The musicians that had been playing for the dancing mares earlier picked up their instruments once again and began to play an oddly serene tune.

The snake-mare’s eyes glazed over and slowly, she began to rock; swaying back and forth in tune to the music. Her forelegs swung with rhythmic motion and fluttered around her body as she started to twirl and spin, putting on one of the strangest shows the world had ever seen. Soon those in the crowd watching in intense curiosity began to clap and stamp their hooves, both cheering her on and singing the magician’s praises.

Tirek watched with a mixture of awe and revulsion, utterly and completely mesmerized despite the sinking feeling growing in his stomach. Chrysalis, meanwhile, was more focused on the magician, and kept her eyes trained on him like a hawk, clearly very much still furious for the remark about her hive. Cozy meanwhile nibbled on a biscuit, despite having lost her appetite.

“I am asleep...” the Vizier murmured, just as astonished as they were by the spectacle happening before them--even in spite of knowing Bray’s skillset consisted of. “This must be a dream...”

“A nightmare would seem more likely,” Tempest retorted. Even she knew that the creature dancing before them was thought to exist only in the legends about the pre-Equestrian world; a figure that allegedly stalked the edges of towns looking for children to steal. She had never expected to see one in the flesh, even since becoming a Nightmare Knight, and the very sight of the hybrid creature made her skin crawl.

While everypony’s eyes were fixed upon the strange dance routine, none of them noticed the end of her tail coil around her body, rising up into the air until it suddenly lunged towards her neck and began to constrict. She immediately stopped dancing, the alien, almost glazed over look in her eyes replaced by very equine-like emotion as her hooves pawed at it to try and free herself. She scraped and clawed, gulping and gasping for air, her movements becoming more frantic and panicked in a matter of a few short moments.

Her mouth opened wide and an almighty shriek escaped from her throat, snapping everypony out of their hypnotic trance. Drog let loose a braying call of fear and covered up his large ears. Several of the guards drew their swords and marched forwards, intending to put a stop to the affair.

Bray quickly silenced them with a raised hoof of his own and stormed forwards, scowling and looking somewhat disgusted in his creation. He produced another vial of the same liquid as before and poured it over the snake-mare. There was another flash and a shimmer of light, and once more the bronze coloured mare lay on the floor.

Constant looked visibly shaken and semi-conscious, but very much alive as the guards rushed towards her. “I assure you,” Bray said to the Knights, pausing to cast her a glance filled with visible disappointment. “My assistant is perfectly unharmed and will recover with a few hours bedrest.” He stamped his hoof and jerked his head towards the door. “Drog, take her away.”

Drog looked deeply afraid and worried, and scooped up the semi-stable mare with a large paw. As he slung her over his shoulder and carried her away, Tempest saw she had a mask for a cutie mark and wondered what it meant. The troggle’s footsteps were loud and heavy as he plodded away, and effortlessly pulled the doors shut behind him.

The Vizier stood up and flocked towards the magician as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause before turning back to their own conversations and discussions. The Knights on the other hoof, drew their heads close together and began to confer among themselves.

“It just me,” Cozy whispered, “or is this Bray guy shadier than a thestral? I mean... what the heck was that snake... thing?! And--and that big guy that came in with her?”

“Those creatures, Cozy, were relics of the old world...” Tirek murmured, sounding equal parts curious and concerned. “The big one was a troggle, and the snake-mare was what is known as a lamia, a crossbreed created by dark and powerful magic. For this Bray character to not only have one, but both in his apparent retinue and have such control over them like that is troubling to say the least...” he paused, letting his words sink in.

“I do not like him,” Chrysalis snarled, shooting the magician a filthy glare.

“Gee, really?” Cozy muttered back. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“He insulted me by daring to mention my Hive.”

“You mention it all the time!”

“Quiet you two.” Tempest made a zipping motion across her mouth at the changeling and the filly and looked to Tirek as they fell silent. “Is he behind Sombra, do we think?”

“It’s possible,” Tirek answered. “He is clearly knowledgeable of dark magic, but truthfully it will be hard to say for certain.” He leaned back in his seat and stroked his beard. “Unless something is proven to be definite, this one will require some thought...”

“A wonderful display, Master Bray!” the Vizier cried, and slapped a hoof on the jack’s back. Tirek made a pushing motion with his hands as he and the Knights withdrew from their discussion and looked back up at the pair.

The masked pony signalled for a nearby servant to bring over a drink. “Truly you are an equine of many talents, my friend,” he declared proudly.

Bray smiled and bowed to him, taking the goblet in his hoof. “You are too kind, Grand Vizier,” he chuckled. “Although I suspect my display may have disturbed the Knights more than perhaps they thought it would?” he said, looking towards the Knights, and sipped at his drink. “I must confess I had assumed you all had stronger stomachs than a simple bit of transfiguration magic.”

The Vizier looked at his guests and chuckled softly. “What did you think, Knights? Have you ever seen such sights? And from one without a horn, no less!”

Tempest, Chrysalis, Cozy and Tirek all narrowed their eyes at him.

“No,” the centaur eventually said. “May I ask, Master Magician?” he continued slowly, leaning back in his seat and pressing his hands together. “The lamia of the world were extinct as far as I was aware, and troggles haven’t been seen in an age. How... how did you come by one of each? The odds seem... astronomical, to say the least.”

“Ah ah, my Lord Tirek,” Bray chortled and wagged his hoof back and forth as he took a sip. “A good magician never reveals his secrets. Does he?”

Tirek knotted his brow together and scowled in disapproval.

The jack’s eyes flashed with secretive knowledge, and his lips parted in a coy grin. “Perhaps one day you will find out,” he added cryptically. “Perhaps sooner than you think. But enough about me, this is your moment after all is it not, Nightmare Knights? Please, allow me to raise a drink to you, for your health, and to wish you victory against the dreaded djinn!”

As he raised his goblet to a raucous cheer and a hip hip hooray from the crowd, a dreadful and powerful stomping sound similar to hoofbeats began to echo into the night. Bray lowered his drink and narrowed his eyes, and every single creature present stopped what they were doing and listened to the sound.

Tempest wrenched her curious gaze away from the donkey and cocked an ear out. A palpable dread had already begun to fester in her stomach, only growing larger as the ‘entertainment’ had performed. On top of that, the approaching stomping certainly didn’t help.

The Grand Vizier himself coughed and looked around. “What is that... what is that noise?” he murmured.

The commander felt a familiar tingle in her horn, and in her mind’s eye flashed a pair of sickly green eyes, outlined by trails of purple smoke. A shiver ran down the length of her spine with such force it made her tail flick involuntarily.

“Vizier, I suggest you stay behind us,” she growled. The tone of her voice was grim and serious. She stood up to move around the table and stand beside the Vizier. Her team quickly followed suit to join her. She didn’t know if they also sensed his presence, but even if they didn’t, she was glad they were there to back her up.

The Vizier turned to look at her and started on the spot in confusion. “Whatever do you mean, Commander?”

“It’s not safe. Please, Vizier.”

The stomping sounded rhythmic and slow, as if its maker was taking his sweet time--savouring and anticipating the anxiety he caused. A low murmuring came from the crowd as they turned to one another in fear. Bray shuffled quietly where he stood, an odd, neutral expression across his face.

“Commander?” Tirek murmured, cracking his shoulders and flexing his muscles. “What’s the plan?”

“We-” she began, just as Sombra invaded her mind, his piercing eyes flashing brightly and making her headache return with a vengeance. She clenched her jaw and shook her head. “Ugh... We take him down,” she grunted and clenched her jaw. She massaged her temple and grimaced while Tirek gave her a worried look before thumping his chest.

“Understood.”

The stomping continued to grow louder and louder still, until it suddenly stopped--leaving a deafening void of silence in its wake for what felt like an eternity. The crowd, the Knights, the Vizier and Bray all held their breaths, waiting and watching to see what would happen next with an ample amount of dread embedded into their hearts.

And then, a shriek went up from the crowd. Several hooves raised and pointed up at the large shadowy cloud spreading across the top of the palace high above them, silhouetted against the moon. The guards quickly began barking orders to one another and the crowd, ushering them towards the gate as quickly and safely as possible while a pair of green eyes watched from up above.

“Get to safety!” Tirek yelled, waving to the crowd. “Grand Vizier, tell your soldiers to fall back as well. We’ll take it from here.”

The Vizier made no motion to move, spurring Bray to speak for him. “Skies protect you, Knights,” he murmured. Although he sounded concerned for them, Tempest heard a flicker of something else in his voice. Something almost like giddy anticipation perhaps. Her ear flicked and she watched as Sombra’s shadows began to descend, crawling down the side of the palace like an overgrown slug.

For it was indeed him. The Tyrant of the Crystal Empire. The Dark Lord. The Djinn of Saddle Arabia. All were one and the same. Tempest felt her stomach perform a somersault as his eyes flashed inside her head again.

Chrysalis snarled and bared her fangs in preparation. Her wings unfurled, shimmering and shining like dew drops on a spider’s web.

Cozy trembled and darted behind one of Tirek’s legs. The centaur shook his arms--’reloading’ his muscles, if you will--and slammed his hands together. “Stay close to me,” he whispered to the filly. She nodded earnestly and tucked herself close behind his leg, flicking her tail nervously. As he drew his arm apart, two crackling orbs of orange magic held there, ready to do battle as their master wished.

“You gotta teach me how to do that,” she mumbled, letting out a mirthless chuckle.

The crawling shadow stopped as it reached the ground, quickly reforming and reconstituting itself. It grew still for a time, and then...

Sombra stepped forwards.

Save for his head he was clad entirely in obsidian black armour that reflected the pale moonlight up above, and clinked with each movement. His black mane swirled around his head like the very shadows surrounding him and his horn jutted up into the air, crackling with black lightning.

He stopped and stared at those before him in absolute silence save for the quiet wind nearby.

“Djinn!” the Vizier cried out all of a sudden. Tempest felt the colour drain from her face as he spoke. “How dare you befoul this presence with your tainted stink! I know you for what you really are: Murderer. Thug. A demon of the wastes!” He slammed his hoof down as he spoke. His eyes, hidden behind the mask, blazed to life with fury and righteous anger.

“Grand Vizier I really don’t think-” Tempest began, watching Sombra carefully.

“I am the Grand Vizier of Saddle Arabia, Commander,” the Vizier snapped, “and I will not allow this house to be sullied anymore than it already has--and I will not be bullied into submission by one so cruel and cowardly as-”

He froze as Sombra’s horn crackled to life. Sparks of black lightning surrounded all of their throats, and air grew heavy around them, lifting them up and casting them all away. The Knights gasped for air like fish out of water, and struggled to recompose themselves. The djinn strode forwards, ignoring their plights entirely, even going so far as to step over Tempest and sneer at her as he did so. He wore a dark scowl on his features as he came to a halt before the Vizier, and his lip curled upwards as his horn began to bubble with indigo and black magic.

The Vizier, the only one unaffected by the djinn’s magic, stumbled backwards and fell against the table behind him, knocking it over and creating a mess. Sombra raised a hoof and rested it against the side of the ornate mask. Tempest thought he may have been trying to remove it, to look his prey in the eyes as he killed him. She tried to stand and push herself forwards, only for her legs to turn to jelly. Out the corner of her eye she saw Bray also clutch at his throat and paw uselessly. She couldn’t place it, but something about his movements seemed... off, like they were forced.

“T... ry...” Cozy squeaked. Tempest glanced over and grimaced when she saw her turning blue in the face, at how she reached out towards Tirek hopelessly.

Tirek himself looked about ready to go to war. He pushed himself up off the ground, fighting against the magic pressing him into the earth. He had a fire in his eyes, and took a few heavily laboured steps towards her, reaching out just as she was.

Tempest dreaded to think what he would do if the filly he had come to care for were to be seriously injured or, Celestia forbid it, die.

She had to think of something, to try and stop Sombra from bringing down Tirek’s’ wrath around them all. Although she had no doubt in her mind that if something were to happen to Cozy, she would join him in doing whatever needed to be done, but she feared that if that were to happen he would simply eat enough magic to be able to smash the moon into the planet.

She had an idea and licked her, growing drier by the second, lips.

“Somm... braa...”

Sombra stopped dead in his tracks. He removed his hoof form the Vizier’s face and slowly turned. The commander noticed his eyes begin to stop glowing, the purple trails surrounding them recede. He appeared puzzled just like he had on the airship, and with his concentration broken for the moment he released his magical grip of their throats.

Cozy gasped and coughed, blinking rapidly with tears in her eyes and groped blindly along the ground for one of Tirek’s hands. He quickly scooped her up and held her close, checking her over quickly in his arms.

“You’re okay,” he murmured reassuringly and stroked her hair in a tender fashion. “You’re okay...”

Her eyelids fluttered as she lay limp, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she tried to suck oxygen back into her lungs.

Grateful to be able to breathe unhindered once more, Tempest began to push herself up and looked at the tyrant. Their eyes met once more, and a frown of recognition appeared on his brow.

He opened his mouth to say something, only for a powerful blast of green magic cascade into his side, sending him hurtling through the air until he collided with one of the exterior walls with enough force to bring it crashing down around him and encasing him in rubble and dust.

Tempest shifted her gaze at the attacker.

Chrysalis placed one hoof in front of the other and held her head up high. Her horn shimmered and sparked with magic. She had a vicious, mean sneer on her lips and eyes cut so finely into vertical slits she could rival that of a dragon.

“Chrysalis...” the unicorn breathed. She rubbed at her neck, feeling where Sombra had gripped her with a wince. “Did you see...” she murmured.

“I did.”

The changeling shook her head, letting her mane spill down around her and flexed her legs. She looked over at the Vizier, and at Bray kneeling beside him, holding his hoof and helping him sit up. “I am... fine... my friend,” the masked pony rasped, and shakily rose to his hooves. “The beast did not...”

“Commander...” Tirek said all of a sudden, bringing both of the standing Knights’ attention to him. He brushed some of Cozy’s mane out of her motionless face and looked up. Her chest had stopped rising and falling rapidly and now her breath was coming short. His face was white as a sheet, and his eyes were laced with nothing but concern. “Cozy’s breathing has dramatically slowed. She need medical assistance that we do not have here. We need to move.”

Chrysalis clenched her jaw and scowled. “Tempest, go with Tirek and take Cozy to safety.” She jutted her chin towards Sombra’s temporary tomb. “The Vizier as well. I can hold off this wretch long enough for you to do so.”

Tempest immediately responded by protesting and shook her head vigorously from side to side. “No. We need to stay together-”

“There is no time!” Chrysalis growled and rounded on her with a stern scowl on her face. “He will pursue and then we all of us may perish. Besides...” Her scowl softened and a small smirk graced her lips. “Isn’t that the point of being a Nightmare Knight? That we’re expendable?”

“Not to me!”

Tempest’s words rang out in the night, bringing a heavy and touched silence to the changeling. Tirek reached out and placed a hand on the unicorn’s shoulder. “Tempest...” he murmured softly, his voice shaking. Whether in fear or anger she didn’t know, and both made her nervous.

“Commander, if I may?” Bray said, drawing hers and those of the Knights’ eyes for a moment. “I am not only the court magician but I the court physician as well. I have an ample store of medical supplies in my quarters on the southern side of the palace that may of some assistance, but we must hurry.” He looked at the filly in Tirek’s arms. “I would hate to see such a young one lose her life so fruitlessly if it can be avoided.”

Tirek remained motionless, still with his hand on the commander’s shoulder. “Tempest,” he murmured again. “Please.”

Knowing he was right, and thus by proxy Chrysalis was too, the scarred unicorn inhaled an gave him an affirmative stiff nod. “Alright let’s go. Master Bray, lead the way. Grand Vizier you come with us too. Double time it!”

“Yes,” the Vizier nodded quickly as the rubble containing Sombra rustled.

“I am glad you are in agreement. Follow me, Nightmare Knights!” Bray declared, rushing out in front to lead the way. “Hurry!”

The Knights turned and followed him. When she reached the gate, Tempest paused for a moment to look back at Chrysalis and twisted her face with guilt. Their eyes met, and she felt her gut wrench. “Don’t die,” she said. “That’s an order.”

The former queen smiled and nodded at her. “I’ll keep that in mind, Commander. Now go!”

She watched them leave and turned back to focus her attention on Sombra. She cracked her neck and shook her legs, and her shimmering wings rustled against her back. She shifted where she stood and exhaled slowly, watching as a few rocks rose up into the air, held aloft by black sparks of magic.

All at once they hurtled themselves towards her. Her horn ignited in a flash of magic and she swung her head, using her telekinesis to cut through them like butter. She smirked.

“Is that all you have, wretch?” she jeered. “I will confess I had expected more from a ‘djinn’.”

Sombra burst out of the rubble looking like a rabid, raging animal. His armour was dirtied and caked in dust, but no less undented. His eyes had long since returned to their pale sickly green, and he shook his head and bared his fangs with a growl of hatred. Chrysalis’s smirk faded. She flared her nostrils and reared up to slam her hooves down.

The dark warrior glowered at her and ignited his horn into a series of pulsing, purple bubbles. They stared one another down, watching to see who would make the first move. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and glanced down at his hooves as beads of sweat began to dot her brow.

One such drop ran down the side of her face, come to a rest on her chin. It clung on as she shifted, and then it dropped. As it hit the ground the dirt beneath Sombra’s hooves cracked, and he propelled himself into the air with an unnatural amount of force, driving his horn towards her with all his might and rage.

She snarled and bared her fangs, and rose to meet him.

***

Luna’s ear twitched.

She sat motionless and alone in her old meditation chamber, a long since unused room in the highest tower of the Canterlot palace. Her wings were enclosed around her and her head was hung low, deep in thought. She released a breath she didn’t know she was holding, and her wings fluttered as she stood up in her meditation chamber. This was a place she had always come when concerned about something, or needed a moment to herself. Today, even at this late hour, was no different.

The itch at the back of her mind had begun hours ago, when she had first learned the Knights had been summoned to the princess and soon after whisked off to Saddle Arabia. Her vision had been troubling, and she sensed they were all in great danger. She moved to the window to look out over her home of thousands of years.

“Hold fast, my Nightmare Knights,” she murmured as a shadow darkened the skies over Canterlot. The scheduled storm had arrived just on time, and lightning flashed across the sky, followed by the rumble of thunder. “Help is on the way.”

She turned and with a flutter of her wings she barked two names. “Doom. Gloom.”

Almost instantaneous two of her loyalist and staunchest servants appeared in her doorway side by side.

“Ready my chariot. The Nightmare Knights are in grave danger. We must hurry.”

They snapped their hooves to their heads, as silent as ever and hurried to obey.

Director Luna looked back over Equestria as lightning illuminated her features. In her reflection she saw a pair of green, cat-like eyes look back at her. She took a deep breath and turned, moving swiftly. “You're a fool, Luna..."

Insidious Intentions

Chrysalis let out a soft hiss as she and Sombra faced down one another. Green flames flickered at the ends of her hooves as she changed form again, back to her usual self.

Their battle so far had been brief but destructive, as evidenced by the surrounding rubble and carnage. A portion of the palace that had served as the entranceway to the courtyard they had started in was all but demolished, brought to ruin by the titanic duo that was this pair of mortal enemies and old rivals from eons past.

Up above, in the dark backdrop of the Arabian night sky, the moon dimmed as the wind pushed some large, black clouds that had begun to gather in front of it, inadvertently casting a shadow over the world. The distant rumble of thunder overhead heralded an oncoming storm, and the first few drops of rain began to fall onto their battlefield.

They quickly became drenched when the skies switched from a few measly drops to a torrential downpour. Chrysalis folded her ragged, gossamer wings and narrowed her eyes as she exhaled slowly, letting the cool water soothe her aching body. Her chitin was in a bad shape; her thorax was bruised and the faint traces of her own luminous green blood, intermingling with the rain, trickled down from the various scratches and cuts she had suffered at her opponent’s behest.

To her credit, although she looked badly hurt and was sure she had some internal bleeding somewhere, across from her Sombra looked to be suffering in a similar manner. His armour was scuffed and cracked and riddled with scorch marks, and from a thin cut under his left eye trailed some of his own blood, almost indistinguishable from his dark coat. He curled his lip at her, revealing his set of sharpened fangs. His bright green eyes glowed in the dark, accompanied by the equally as bright trails of purple smoke leaking out from them.

They stared at each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move after their current reprieve, the silence between them broken only by the roar and rush of rain.

Suddenly and in a flurry of movement, Sombra lunged forwards with wild abandon, eyes and horn both ablaze with sinister, corruptive magic. Chrysalis braced herself and just barely managed to deflect his blow, letting sparks fly between them once more. This was a dance she was well versed in, and was mindful of her hoof placements even in the quickly growing muddy and sloppy ground beneath them. They twirled around one another almost like a ballet routine, entangling one another in flowing and hypnotic movements yet remaining poised and graceful even under such pressure and the threat of death.

The umbral assassin was relentless in his strikes. His horn and his hooves came down again and again, fuelled by his anger and his want for victory. As their heads pressed together again and he looked into Chrysalis’s eyes, she could feel his hot breath against her face, the offending odour making her nose wrinkle. Sombra saw the single moment of distraction and capitalised on it, sweeping a leg towards her shins to knock her off balance.

With a grunt she quickly stepped back to dodge but slipped in the mud again. Her wings buzzed to life to lift their owner into the air, and he glowered up at her amid the rain. That was her advantage, as she had wings and he did not, but still, she knew not to get cocky as he took aim and fired beam after beam of black magic at her, drying the air around her for a split second. She drifted backwards out of his view, using the downpour to obscure herself and quickly circled around him, keeping her eyes trained on him like a hawk.

Sombra’s eyes darted around as he tried to spot her. Chrysalis used his momentary distraction and struck, diving towards him out of the shadow to strike him across the cheek. He rocked to one side, shaken by her powerful blow, and raised a hoof to wipe his nose. A low growl left him when he saw his own blood.

Hit and run tactics were a typical way of changeling fighting, thought the queen.

It was how they brought down larger beasts like the dread maulwurf, and Chrysalis quickly found out that they seemed to serve her well here too. Sombra was thrust from side to side again and again as she continued to strike, darting in and out of view as nothing more than an indistinguishable dark blur.

As she dove towards him to strike once more, lightning flashed round them, illuminating their surroundings. In the moment of light, Sombra spotted her and pivoted on the spot with superpony speed, his horn blazing to life, and ensnared her within his dark grasp. Her eyes widened as the wind was ripped from her lungs with the sudden stop. He lifted her up into the air then slammed her into the ground with a tear inducing crunch. She lay there for a moment in a dazed state before he picked her up again and spun around. Using his momentum, he hurled her through the wall of the palace, and into a dark and enclosed area where she couldn’t use the weather to her advantage.

Though a Queen of the Changelings was a force to be reckoned with and would be used to defending her Hive from all manner of unearthly terrors, even Chrysalis knew that she would eventually lose in a battle of sheer strength against the likes of Sombra--a prospect unfortunately looking sooner than she had anticipated as she skidded to a halt amid a heap of rubble and debris.

She knew she would have to get creative, and hoped beyond hope that Sombra would be susceptible to a more unorthodox style of attack as he stepped through the freshly made hole and eyed her with all the ferocity of a bloodthirsty manticore.

Putting her plan into motion, she started with picking herself up as best as she could. Her legs wobbled, whether part of the plan or not, the weak movement gave the illusion that their fight had taken more than its toil of her. Perhaps it actually had and she was simply experiencing pain-induced delusions. She collapsed to the ground in a heap, and panted heavily as her lungs screamed for air and her muscles begged for a rest. Her eyes flicked upwards at the shadow approaching her, and noticed his victorious, cocky and arrogant smirk as he held his head up high and cracked his neck. Unbeknownst to him, he was walking into a trap, falling for her live bait technique hook line and sinker--to use a pony expression. The devious changeling would have grinned if she had the strength to. Instead, she hacked out a gob of spit onto the ground beside her and glared up at the dark warrior as he reached her.

“Well go on then!” she snapped, filling her acid words with bitter tasting defeat. “Finish it.”

Sombra’s smirk turned into a sneer as he looked down in disgust at her for a few moments, his green, glowing eyes simmering with maliciousness in the dimly lit hallway. He reared up on his back legs, his heavily armoured front hooves poised to strike; to slam down and crush his enemy into dust and put an end to their fighting once and for all.

Chrysalis’s feigned look of pain gave way to her typical mischievous smirk, and just as he thundered down she managed to pull enough of her strength together to dart forwards between his legs and spring up behind him. She coiled herself around, ignoring the fire of pain shooting through her chest, her legs, her head and everything in between, and hoisted herself up and onto his back. She clasped her hooves to either side of his head to hold him as steady as possible as her horn began to glow; casting a debilitating spell over him, employing the same tried and true technique she had used to subdue Shining Armour all those years ago, albeit far more haphazardly and roughly.

He bucked wildly and snarled, furiously twisting to try and thrust her off.

“Go to sleep, go to sleep, gotosleep,” she repeated as she fought to hold on. She could feel herself slipping, needing only a few more seconds...

His mind was certainly strong but not unbreakable, as evidenced by his angry grunts and snorts growing quiet. Soon enough her spell began to take hold, much to her relief. Sombra stopped bucking and finally, the magic in and around his eyes began to recede, replaced by a dull, glazed over look. Chrysalis took the moment of pause for a breath, and slumped off of him as they both collapsed to the ground again.

“How exhilarating,” she panted, sitting up and looking at his dulled eyes. “I haven’t had a fight like that since... well...” She bit her lip, watching him curiously. “Since our last duel. Not that you would remember that, though, would you, Sombra?”

She found herself smirking as his brow furrowed ever so slightly and his jaw lulled open in an attempt to mouth something, a warning perhaps, or adversely just to curse at her. He shifted where he lay, his legs moving almost reluctantly--dragging along the ground in an attempt to pull himself up and stand, only to then weakly give out underneath him.

“You always were strong-willed, weren’t you, Sombra?” she continued, examining his face carefully and watching his sluggish movements. Despite his state, she sensed a great deal of hate and magic still radiating from within him, and he weakly snapped his jaw towards her, flashing her his sharpened fangs. The fact he was this recipient to her words and able to even move in this state gave her a small ounce of worry. “Not strong-willed enough, though it would seem.” She coughed and rubbed her nose, and carefully and painfully picked herself up. “Now. Reveal your secrets to me.”

A stream of magic fired out from her horn, connecting with his and creating a bridge between their minds. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling like she was falling.

When she opened her eyes she was in an unfamiliar place. A bitterly cold, frigid and foreboding place, a wasteland of snow and ice with nary an animal or bush in sight. As the wind lashed at her legs she immediately began to shiver and fluttered her wings, wrapping them around her midriff to keep herself as warm as possible. Yet despite the sudden change in temperature, her bones didn’t ache so much anymore, and from what she could see of herself she bore no war wounds or marks of any sort.

“What is this?” she muttered through chattering teeth. “I was supposed to be looking at memories, not this-”

“Living nightmare?” a bitter sounding voice dripping with sarcasm finished for her from up ahead. A voice belonging to a young creature, probably around Cozy’s age from how it squeaked. “This land where time exists only as a simple suggestion?”

She quickly looked up and squinted into the snow for any sign of the speaker. She spotted a small figure standing nearby, facing away from her and looking out over the great expanse of nothing. Chrysalis furrowed her brow, wondering how she had not seen them earlier, and took a few cautious steps towards them.

“What do you mean?” she barked. “Who are you?”

The figure rustled and shifted where they stood and slowly turned their head just enough to allow a lone, mossy green eye, devoid of all semblance of joy give her a stern, resentful glare.

Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed and a chill ran down her spine as she recognised the stallion. “Sombra?” she murmured in realisation as she gazed at him.

His coat was lighter than the stallion she had been fighting, and his mane and his tail were both frazzled and unruly, blowing in the wind as the blizzard raged around them both. Big, heavy looking bags lined his eyes and a layer of stubble graced his chin, adding to his unkempt and messy appearance. He turned enough to fully face her, and her eyes were then directed to his horn as it jutted up like a normal unicorn’s, not curved or tinged with red at all..

The changeling paused in her movement and her mind set itself to race as she stared at him. For a brief moment she imagined herself pouncing, and driving her hooves into his face as repayment for what he had done. Yet despite the whirlwind of thoughts she had in that moment, all that escaped her was: “You look different.”

“Do I? I hadn’t noticed,” he acidly replied and turned away, continuing to stare off into the white void in front of him. “Perhaps being imprisoned inside ones own mind would do that. I wouldn’t know.”

Chrysalis blinked for a few moments in perplexed confusion before she quickly gathered her wits and moved around to examine him.

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s rude to stare?” he growled.

“Am I correct in assuming that you are the ‘real’ Sombra?” Chrysalis asked, ignoring his snide remark.

“Obviously. My word, I always knew you changelings were dull but I had always assumed you were smarter than the rest of your ilk, Chrysalis. Apparently I was wrong,” Sombra snarled. “Don’t act so surprised to see me, either, you did invade my mind after all. Tell me, did you learn that from Celestia during one of your trysts? Or does your appetite extend to more than one alicorn’s love?”

The changeling’s familiar scowl reappeared and her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. “How dare you...” she growled, her temper suddenly flaring up.

Sombra, meanwhile, snorted and waved a dismissive hoof at her without even showing the slightest hint of concern for his own well being. “In any case, you are here now so you may as well aid in my escape from this cursed place.”

Chrysalis had to physically restrain herself from tearing him limb from limb in that moment. Once she was calm enough to function without frothing at the mouth in rage, she instead settled for giving him a look of haughty derision. “Aid in your escape? Surely you cannot be serious?” she scoffed.

“I am serious. And my name is Sombra, not Shirley.” He snorted hot air out of his nostrils, letting it hang in the air in the bitter cold. “Believe it or not, I am on your side here, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis raised a sceptical eyebrow at him and continued to smirk as she stepped around him. “I always knew you were a failure as a king, Lord Sombra, but I never expected your next career to be that of a comedian. Please, indulge me, if you would, as to why would I ever believe you?”

“Because...” he said through gritted teeth. “Luna sent me here.”

The air grew still and the wind seemed to die down as the words left his mouth, and then it became Sombra’s turn to smirk as Chrysalis’s eyes widened and her jaw lulled open in surprise.

“You... what?” she murmured, her gravitas waning in the face of such a stunning revelation. She scanned his face for any sign of mischief or trickery, only to detect apparent genuine sincerity. It baffled her. It befuddled her. With four words he had taken everything she knew and cast it to one side. On top of that... he appeared to be telling the truth as well. She was sure of it. “You...” she repeated, blinking rapidly. “What?!”

Sombra sighed and nodded. “Allow me to elucidate. Your very own ‘Director’ Luna offered me a deal. In exchange for my co-operation I would be given a boon of my choosing. Being the pragmatic soul I am and with little else to do with myself, I agreed, with not one single ulterior motive of my own. Crystal Scout’s honour.” He flashed the changeling a dark smile that sent a shiver down her spine. “But unfortunately I was... waylaid; my investigation was stunted, and before I knew it I was cast aside, imprisoned here in my own mind while my body was sent to wreak havoc across Saddle Arabia.”

Chrysalis watched in silence as his smile vanished but the darkness behind it did not.

“I never cared much for the Arabians of this place, but when my actions are twisted and warped into someone else’s design against my will, I have a habit to take it personally. I want revenge, Chrysalis, as well as my freedom.”

Chrysalis stared at him, taking in and processing the information presented to her. “So, what, you propose an alliance?” she eventually hissed, taking no effort to hide her suspicion.

Sombra nodded slowly. “That is the idea. Our goals align; it is the only logical option, as much as I am loathe to suggest it.”

The silence between them as Chrysalis fell into thought was deafening.

With a tap of her muzzle, she exhaled slowly. “And after?”

“After?” The dark stallion wrinkled his nose and frowned. “What about ‘after’? Is my word not enough for you? Must you require assurances?” he snarled.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and began to circle around him. “Come off it, Sombra. Once our deal is complete, and your vengeance is reaped, what then? Will you attempt to invade the Crystal Empire again? Will we become enemies?” She narrowed her eyes at him and tilted her head curiously. “What exactly did Luna promise you in exchange for your services?”

His eyes flickered with a hint of resentment and he straightened himself up. “A chance at something different,” he said, both reservedly and bitterly. His expression changed, becoming far more like an average pony’s than the Black Lord of the Dark Crystal she knew and loathed, and a mournful look appeared in his eye as he turned to look up towards the sky. “I have had enough of war to last me a lifetime, Chrysalis. I am tired, spent, and have nothing to show for my efforts. So... I say let another claim the Crystal Empire, let those fools do as they wish; my place lies elsewhere. Perhaps I’ll lead a simple life and try my hoof at farming.”

The changeling immediately snorted at him and scoffed without missing a beat. “And you expect me to believe that? That the high and mighty Lord Sombra will simply relinquish his crown and rescind his titles after decades of fighting to maintain them?”

“Is that so hard to believe?” he snapped back, slamming a hoof into the snow. His voice rose in anger and he pressed his face into hers. “Tell me, Chrysalis, how many times have you had your essence shattered and sent into the netherworld? Do you know how painful it is? How many times have you felt yourself slipping deeper into that dark and endless abyss, never knowing if you’ll be able to get out again? How many times have you begged for it to stop, only for the powers that be look down and whisper no?”

Chrysalis balked as he glared at her, his eyes tired and bloodshot. She opened her mouth to retort, to fire back with some witty, chiding remark about being weak enough to be beaten time and time again, but in a rare display of humility, she instead simply closed her mouth and gave him an almost pitying look and a small incline of her head.

Sombra flared his nostrils and puffed his chest out, taking a step back and sitting back down in the snow. “That’s what I thought,” he spat. “Then, your majesty, do we have an accord? Aid in my freedom in exchange for an alliance?”

The queen tongued around on the inside of her mouth, deep in thought as time trickled by. She imagined the commander in this situation, and asked herself what would Tempest do? Most likely she would see the sense in at least working together to vanquish a common foe, and would agree to bargain with the former tyrant. At least for the time being. Adversely, the possibility that Sombra could very well have been telling her any old fairy tale he could have dreamed up crossed her mind.

But... there was something about his words and the tone of his voice that resounded within her, bringing with it the images of a happier life of her own to the forefront of her mind. He appeared genuine; and though Sombra was a snake that couldn’t be trusted as far as he could be flung, she detected no lie in his eyes. With a sigh she bobbed her head up and down and made her decision, holding her hoof out to him.

“We do,” she stated, and clasped his.

They shook firmly, once up and once down. He nodded back at her as he pulled back, not even bothering to hide his relief as his shoulders sagged and he let loose a breath he had been holding.

Chrysalis looked around at the vast, white wilderness surrounding them and frowned. “But all of this in consequential if we are stuck here for the foreseeable future, isn’t it? How do we leave?”

“Well that’s quite simple, Chrysalis.” Sombra cracked his neck and flexed his shoulders. He looked her in the eye, and said, in all seriousness, “You need to kill me.”

***

Luna tore across the skies like a comet as she sat in her chariot with a furrowed brow and hoof raised to her head, the only sound accompanying her being the rush of wind and the steady beat of her thestral guards’ wings.

Doom and Gloom worked tirelessly to carry their princess towards her destination. Even if her title was Director now, she would always be a princess to them, and they would always serve her as such.

The director lowered her hoof from her temple and glanced up at the horizon, at the vast ocean between her and the Nightmare Knights. The clouds above were growing light with the first few rays of dawn. She cleared her throat, signalling to her stallions to go faster.

The pair of thestrals turned their heads just enough to look at her. A pair of powerful whinnies came from them like the pegasi of old as they understood her without the words even needing to be said, and their wings beat harder as they kicked their legs out more powerfully, gaining a burst of speed and galloping through the air like a pair of bats out of Tartarus, ever ready to do her bidding.

Luna couldn’t help but feel like she had missed something, and felt a growing hole in her heart begin to expand, like it had so many years ago...

***

“Inside, friends! Quickly!”

Bray slammed the door shut as the Vizier and the Nightmare Knights followed him in. Almost immediately did the smell of ammonia and sterile medical equipment hit Tempest’s nose, making her wrinkle it in discomfort. She looked around at the mess of scientific equipment looking like something straight out of Marey Shelley’s Frankenstag and couldn’t help but wonder just what sort of ‘magician’ Bray really was. Her ear twitched as she realised she could no longer hear the sounds of Chrysalis battling Sombra up above. The entire situation she found them all in set her teeth on edge, and she made no show of hiding her concern.

At least they had stopped running down a seemingly endless set of stairs.

Bray strode through his room purposefully, removing and casting off his cloak as he did so. Tempest noticed how his body was covered in scratches and scars of all sorts, and branded across his flank was a mark in the shape of some sort of eye. If Tirek was as suspicious as she was, he made no show of it, instead stepping forwards after him, still clutching at Cozy in his arms.

“Through there, Lord Tirek,” the donkey said, pointing to a burgundy coloured curtain held up in a nearby doorway on the other side of the room. As he spoke, Tempest detected the hint of something a bit too gleeful in his voice and narrowed her eyes at him. “There is a bed, that is where you may lay Miss Glow down while I prepare the items we need to save her. Commander,” he said turning to her with the beginnings of a smile gracing his muzzle. “Why don’t you and my lord Vizier make yourselves at home in the meantime?”

The Vizier nodded gratefully as he sat down on a nearby chair, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “An offer I will gladly accept. Thank you, Master Bray,” he panted, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

Tempest stood rigid. Her ear twitched as she heard a rumble from above and she turned her head upwards, watching a beam on the ceiling shake and tremble, sending a layer of dust raining down. They all heard it, and the room fell quiet, save for the tinkling of glasses together. She and Tirek glanced at each other, their expressions heavy with dread.

Bray cleared his throat and gestured to the curtain again. “Lord Tirek?” he murmured softly. “We should proceed.”

“Agreed,” Tirek growled.

Tempest watched him disappear behind the curtain and turned her head towards the door they had entered from. She thought that if she started running now, she might be able to make it to save Chrysalis in time before-

“Commander, won’t you join me?” the Vizier asked, almost like he could sense her thoughts.

With a heavy sigh she turned away and dipped her head as she fumbled for the seat. Hot air jetted out of her nostrils as they sat in an awkward silence, listening occasionally to the sounds of distant battle between two veritable titans.

“Curse this frailty of mine,” the Vizier muttered, attempting to elicit a conversation out of her. Her eyes drifted over to him glumly as he rubbed his chest with a bandaged hoof. “You know once, in my youth,” he continued, “I used to--oh how do you say in Equestrian? ‘Run track’?”

The beginnings of a smile tugged at the corners of Tempest’s mouth. “I didn’t know they had running tracks in Saddle Arabia,” she said.

“Oh yes. Quite large ones too, you should know,” the Vizier nodded with a laugh. “The camels always had the advantage when it came to running in the sand, however.”

Tempest snorted in laughter, glad for a touch of levity. That levity was immediately broken, however, as another crash was heard, followed by an eerie and deathly silence. She swallowed and her gaze shifted over towards the door she was previously eyeing. “I shouldn’t have left,” she grumbled. “Chrysalis needs my help-”

The Vizier quickly cleared his throat, seeing her begin to spiral. “If I may, Commander?” he said. She started and froze on the spot, refusing to meet his gaze. “It is my belief that Lady Chrysalis is more than capable of handling herself. And although I too worry for her safety, I am confident in her abilities. I am sure Lord Tirek would agree with me, were he not... preoccupied with his own concerns.”

Tempest’s hairs on the back of her neck bristled, but she knew he was right. “I know, Vizier,” she murmured, sinking back into her chair. “I know. I’ve never seen anypony, or anybody, rather, fight like Chrysalis does. I know she can handle it on her own, but still, she... she’s my friend, and I worry about her. I worry about them all...” She sighed and pressed her teeth into her lip, shifting on the uncomfortable wooden chair. A thought crossed her mind, and a soft exhale of air escaped her nostrils.

“You know what’s funny?” she asked him.

He stared back at her with scarred, yellowed eyes twinkling with age. “What, Commander?”

“Most ponies don’t understand that the Nightmare Knights are at least attempting to reform. When Luna hired me to do this, I thought she wanted me to keep them in line, or to keep an eye on them, at least. But I was wrong. In fact, she told me I needed to keep them safe from the masses, not the other way around. I didn’t know what she meant at first, but then... well then I did. After I had seen the stares and judgmental looks.”

Her voice took on a critical edge and lost its light-heartedness, and she flared her nostrils ever so slightly as she spoke.

“Even after we’ve made a name for ourselves,” she continued bitterly, “even after a year of doing this; helping ponies who need it, chasing ghosts away, they all still look at us all like... like we’re the monsters. They don’t understand that we’re here to help.”

Tempest looked down at the floor. “Your people, Vizier, are the first ones to look at us like we were heroes. So much so that Chrysalis, Chrysalis of all creatures, is willing to fight and die for them, just to give us enough time to stop Som... the djinn.” She bit her lip and her eyes flicked upwards, hoping he hadn’t noticed her slip-up.

The Grand Vizier nodded glumly, appearing as though he hadn’t. “Ponies are simple creatures, Commander,” he said quietly. “Some would say narrow minded, others would say blissfully ignorant. Judgmental looks are something I am all too familiar with.” He gestured to his face and sighed wistfully. “Were it so that I did not wear this mockery of a visage, I fear too many would look upon a sad, old face of a dying stallion in revulsion, and many more would cower in fear of something they did not comprehend.” His voice was soft and soothing, and laced with an otherwise unimaginable patience as he held a hoof to his chest and looked the dark mare in the eye. “I hope you understand, Commander, and I say this on behalf of Saddle Arabia, that we wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavours, and you should know that we stand with you in all things.”

Tempest didn’t know what to say. She smiled and turned her ears down, feeling her cheeks flush with blood. Luna had given them praise, sure, and various clients had thanked them for helping, but something about the Vizier’s words seemed so genuine, so thoughtful and endearing it almost brought a tear to her eye.

“Thank you, Grand Vizier. That... that means a lot.”

“You’re welcome, Commander Tempest Shadow.”

“Fizzlepop,” Tempest quickly corrected. He looked at her with a tilt of his head, making her cheeks turn a darker colour. “My name... my real name... is Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”

“It is, is it?” The Vizier chortled softly. He bowed his head towards her. “It may surprise you to know that I was not named ‘Grand Vizier’ at my birth. My name is Abda, named for my father and my father’s father.” He extended a hoof towards her. “A pleasure to meet you, Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”

Tempest smiled and touched it with hers. “The pleasure is mine, Abda.”

And with that, their little heart to heart was concluded. The Arabian stood up and adjusted his robes, nodding towards the other room. “Well, then. Should we check on Lord Tirek and Miss Glow, Commander? I am sure you are anxious for an update.”

“Yeah.” Tempest grinned and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I am.”

As they reached the curtain and pulled it back gently, the commander’s good feeling vanished in an instant, and she felt her heart leap into her throat as she stared in stunned silence at the scene which was unfurling before her very eyes.

Firstly, and the chiefest of her concerns, was the huge white snake currently in the midst of coiling itself around a semi-conscious Tirek, constricting around him and crushing the life from his body. One of his arms was twisted at an unnatural angle. Secondly, behind the beast there was a large, dark hole in the wall, no doubt where the snake had come from. And thirdly, and perhaps most disturbingly, Bray and Cozy were nowhere in sight.

Without a word being spoken, Tempest’s horn crackled to life. A bolt of lightning seared through the air until it ricocheted off of the snake’s scaly hide, making the devil shriek in pain and relinquish its grasp of the centaur. Tirek slumped to the ground, fluttering in and out of consciousness.

The serpent coiled around itself and prepared to lunge at the intruders, ready to devour those responsible for interrupting its latest meal.

Time seemed to slow as a great gaping maw opened wide and it lunged towards Tempest. The dark mare tensed her muscles and braced herself to dodge, to roll out of the way and get a good hit on it, when suddenly something shoved her aside. She skipped along the ground to catch her balance and spun around, and stared in abject horror at the beast’s jaw close around the masked and golden-robed pony, clamping down hard with a sickening crunch. “Grand Vizier...” she murmured softly, realising he had just saved her life. “No...”

His body shuddered violently in the beast’s jaws. With a trembling hoof, he reached out to her. “C...mmand-d...er,” he croaked. He coughed, sending blood trickling down from inside his mask, and then he went limp. The light in his scarred eyes dimmed, cruelly and unceremoniously snuffed out in the blink of an eye.

Tempest’s boiling blood drove her into a vengeful rage. Her horn sparked and crackled with lightning, initiating a barrage of spells to be fired at the beast with wild abandon.

The snake hissed and began beating a hasty retreat as Tempest’s magic crashed against it, scorching and marking its hide. It howled with pain as she struck one of its eyes, and slithered back into the tunnel. Tempest stood, panting in the now silent room as her horn smoked lightly, before hurrying over towards her comrade.

“Tirek?” she murmured. “Tirek can you hear me?” she said as she cupped his head in her hooves.

His eyes creaked open weakly and a few ragged breaths escaped him. “Commander...” he wheezed, looking up at her. “Took me... by surprise... sorry.”

“Stop that,” she snapped. “What happened? Where’s Cozy? And where did that snake come from?”

He reached out with a trembling arm and pointed towards the tunnel. The other lay limp and lifeless by his side. “There... The mare... turned herself into...” he croaked and his eyes grew dark. “Bray,” he said with finality.

Tempest felt her blood begin to boil. “Bray did this? He set that snake on you? He took Cozy?” she growled. He nodded to each of her questions, setting her teeth on edge. “Alright. I’ll get her back, Tirek. Stay down, you’re hurt. You need to rest.”

“No... time.” His head dipped and he raised a hand to his chest, thumping into it with as much gusto as he could muster. “Just need... to catch... breath,” he wheezed, “then... save Cozy...”

“No, Tirek.” Tempest held her hoof up, cutting him off in protest, eyeing his broken arm warily. “Stay here. Stay with the...” Her voice caught in her throat.

Both of their heads turned to the lifeless Grand Vizier. Tempest felt her heart heave with sorrow, and judging by Tirek’s crestfallen expression, he felt similar. She paused before slowly standing up to move towards the Arabian. When she reached him she placed a hoof on his chest. “I’m sorry,” she said with her head bowed. “May you find peace in the next world, Grand Vizier Abda of Saddle Arabia. May it be kinder than this one...”

With a heavy sigh she stood up and turned around. Her eyes, despite stinging with bitter tears, were ablaze with fury. “Stay here, Tirek,” she said. “That’s an order.” She cracked her neck and stepped towards the tunnel entrance.

She turned to look at Tirek for a brief moment. He stared up at her and nodded reluctantly.

“Find her,” he said as he picked up his own arm and cradled it in his lap. “And crush that donkey into dust.”

***

Chrysalis’s head snapped towards her opponent and she blinked. “Come again? You want me to what?”

Sombra sighed and grit his teeth. “This place we are in, though it is indeed the deepest parts of my mind, is more akin to a metaphysical dreamscape, and instead of us physically being here, we are in a state of mind similar to if we were dreaming,” he started to explain. “And pain, similarly to a bucket of cold water, often wakes one up from a dream no matter how deep one may be sleeping. Q.E.D., if you were to plunge your horn into my chest and in all effectiveness ‘kill’ me, it should create enough of a shock to my system that it will revive my consciousness and awaken me from this living nightmare.”

“Should?” Chrysalis said with a raised eyebrow. “And, dare I ask, what will become of me if this plan of yours falls through?”

“If my theory is correct then we will both be spat out and reappear in the real world once again in our own bodies, or, alternatively, I will die... and you will suffer catastrophic amounts of psychological trauma from being trapped in a dead pony’s mind for the rest of eternity.”

The queen stared at him in silence.

“But the chances of that happening are in the lesser percentile. Probably.”

“Your confidence is overwhelming, Sombra,” she deadpanned. She snorted and traced a hoof in the snow, and with few other options to choose--bar none--she sighed and dipped her head. “Very well, I’d rather not waste any more time here if it’s all the same to you.” She lowered her horn, pointing it directly at his scrawny, matted chest and a light grin danced across her mouth as she remembered the pain he, even if it wasn’t ‘him’ him, had caused her just moments ago. “I will confess, I am going to enjoy this. Are you ready?”

Sombra shook his legs and nodded firmly. “I know you are, you wretched creature.” He inhaled sharply and braced himself. “Do it. Strike me down.”

Chrysalis took a deep breath and pushed forwards There was the sound of glass shattering, followed by the sensation of vertigo, as if she was looking down at herself from a great height. The world turned white, and soon Chrysalis felt her body begin to ache all over.

The cold of Sombra’s mindprison had been swapped for the chill of the cool Arabian night air, blowing in from the large hole in the wall caused by their duel. The thunder crashing overhead and the roar of rain outside was deafening. She groaned, and coughed as she blinked rapidly and looked around. Something warm trickled out of her mouth. She felt faint and unbearably tired, but still pushed herself up on shaking legs.

Beside her, Sombra’s motionless form lay. She reached over to give him a gentle prod. “Sombra?” she croaked, not realising and wincing at how hoarse and rough her voice sounded. She coughed and cleared her throat and repeated herself, only firmer. “Sombra.”

When he didn’t move the second time, she grunted and turned away in frustration and the slightest hint of reproach. She pushed away and began to shamble off, bitterly thinking how her venture into Sombra’s mind had only left her with more than a few questions and a big fat zero amount of answers. She stopped when she realised she had no idea which part of the palace she was in, or for that matter where the others had followed that runt of a magician to.

“Hnng...”

She heard a low groan behind her and slowly turned. Sombra, to either her dread or delight--she couldn’t tell which--was indeed alive, despite his haggard and war-torn appearance. Blinking, picked himself up, looking cautiously around the room, then down at his hooves, then finally up at Chrysalis and froze. They both froze.

In that moment, when his blood red eyes fixed on her, Chrysalis wondered if this Sombra was indeed the same she had just been conversing with, if his plan had succeeded and he was no longer a prisoner in his own mind. If he wasn’t, and lacking the strength to continue to fight, she simply glared at him, panting lightly. In a matter of moments, she figured her fate would be sealed, and that would be that.

Sombra’s horn sprung to life as she expected.

She braced herself for the end, waiting for the indignant defeat and cursed herself for being naïve enough not to see through such a see-through set of lies. Only what happened next was decidedly unexpected to say the least. When the stream of his magic connected with her, she felt strange, like slipping into a nice, warm bubble bath. Suddenly her joints didn’t hurt so much anymore, and the blood that was leaking out of her various cuts began to slowly trickle its way back in. Her wings slowly unfurled; restored to their proper strength as magic washed over her, healing her wounds and curing her ailments.

She lifted up a hoof and inspected it, feeling like a new changeling fresh from the birthing vats. Only... she promptly noticed now how her leg holes seemed smaller. She frowned. That was impossible. Had her majestic form shrank somehow? Had she undergone a metamorphosis she wasn’t aware of-

And then it came to her.

Just like how her wings had taken on a particular shimmer, the rest of her body was following suit. She quickly realised with disgust--and a mild amount of horror--that she may eventually face the possibility that she could exchange her gorgeous grey chitin for those sickly pastel colours her traitorous spawn currently bore. Her pupils shrank and she lowered her now shaking hoof, only for her intrusive thoughts to be interrupted by the sound of Sombra clearing his throat.

She looked up at him. He raised an eyebrow at her and watched as she bristled and straightened up.

“I hope you aren’t too enamoured with yourself to forget our bargain, Chrysalis. I certainly haven’t.”

She growled softly as she watched the same glowing light pass over him, healing him as it had her. “So you are the ‘real’ you now, then, Sombra?” she snapped, looking at him askance. “I wasn’t aware you were skilled in healing magic.”

“Indeed I am,” he answered, and inclined head precisely one quarter of an inch towards her. “It may come as a surprise to you, not that you ever bothered to learn, but I was quite the avid studier of medicines in my youth. You could say I was taught by... the best.”

Chrysalis noticed his hesitation and swiftly recognised the familiar, sort of sad and faraway look that appeared in his eye. She had had that same look many times before, when she was wistfully remembering her youth.

“Regardless,” he said, quickly shaking his head. The look disappeared in an instant. “I hope you don’t mind, but being near death wasn’t particularly healthy for either of us.” He flashed her a grin, apparently delighted to be returned to the waking world as himself. “And I for one am most pleased to see my theory was correct.”

“Yes, yes, you must be very proud of yourself, Sombra,” Chrysalis snapped, her patience rapidly thinning. “Bravo, give yourself a pat on the back. Now would you kindly explain yourself? How is it that you came to be imprisoned in your own mind?”

His jovial attitude vanished in an instant. Magic sprung from his eyes, disappearing into the air a pair of faint purple trails. His horn, curved upwards and tinged with red, glowed softly, and a low growl left his throat. “Luna had asked me to investigate a source of potentially powerful magic, here in Saddle Arabia, specifically in the sultan’s own palace. Here it was I met him.” He shook his head and curled his lip in disgust. “A donkey of all things, who dared call himself a master magician. He was the one responsible for my-”

He stopped when he heard the vicious, animalistic snarl leave the former queen’s throat. Her lips pulled back to reveal a set of razor sharp fangs, and her pupils shrank to nearly beyond vision. “A donkey... magician?” she hissed.

Sombra nodded, narrowing his eyes at her. “You’ve met him then?”

“I have,” she spat. “And his cohorts... Bray...” Lightning flashed in the sky outside as she spoke, filling the world with light for a moment. She lowered her head slightly, shaking with rage and the fury of a thousand suns. “I knew he couldn’t be trusted. The others are with him now...”

The dark stallion tapped his muzzle thoughtfully. “I see. Well, we must hurry, then. I imagine that Luna would blame me if anything were to happen to her precious Nightmare Knights.”

Chrysalis’s eyes glossed over as his words sent an avalanche of worry cascading trough her mind. If Tirek, Tempest and Cozy Glow were indeed still with that cur, then they were in grave danger. Her friends were in danger. Perhaps a year ago she would have projectile vomited at the mere thought of that ever being one of her concerns, but now...

Sombra’s horn began to crackle and pop with indigo magic. “I advise you follow me, Chrysalis,” he stated, snapping her back to reality. “If memory serves I had tracked his lair to beneath the palace. If we hurry, we may not be too late.”

She jutted her head up and down with stiff, irregular movements as he started away. She said nothing, following after him with long, powerful steps and a foul temper, her mind consumed entirely by one singular thought.

Her friends were in danger.

***

The temperamental, flickering light of Tempest’s broken horn lit her way as she made her way through the dark and foreboding tunnel. She was no stranger to entering dark and foreboding places, yet something about this very tunnel, perhaps the unnatural formation of it or the lingering cold in the air, sent shivers up and down her spine.

Even so, a fiery determination born from not just wanting--needing--to save her young comrade and friend, but also to avenge the Grand Vizier, spurred her forwards.

His death shook her more than she had chosen to let on in front of Tirek, and it was already weighing heavily on her mind. The Knights had failed. Saddle Arabia was going to tear itself apart electing a new ruler, and without Abda or the sultan there to oversee it, the outcome could take months--years, even.

She ground her teeth together as she pressed on, peering ahead into the darkness. Chrysalis decided to pay her a visit in her mind once again for the first time in a while, and a new sensation of worry crept up on her. If Bray was behind it after all, and he was controlling Sombra, then that begged the question of why? And what did he want with Cozy?

Just as the tunnel dipped, she saw a flash of light from up ahead. She dropped to the ground and began to creep along, pressing her belly to the cold, damp floor in the hopes of maintaining the element of surprise.

She moved forwards as quietly yet quickly as she dared, pausing for only the briefest of moments when the tunnel tapered off into a large chamber seemingly carved out of the very rock. Looking ahead she saw the light source: A large obelisk glowing with various runes, seemingly abandoned. Taking a quick glance around, Tempest saw that neither Bray nor either of his cohorts were in sight. She crept forwards cautiously into the open like a rabbit coming out of its burrow, her ears pricked up and alert; swivelling atop her head and listening intently for any sign of danger. She moved up a slight hill and spotted an altar in front of the obelisk, and more importantly, the small frame of a young pegasus.

“Cozy!” she murmured, hurrying forwards. She checked the filly over and pressed her ear to her small, pink chest and listened. The steady rhythm of an alive and working heart made her breathe a sigh of relief.

Yet despite her relief and her joy that Cozy was alive, she couldn’t shake the aura of dread that surrounded her. Where was the snake? Or Bray for that matter?

Her answer seemed to come from behind her, as the air began to draw towards a certain spot. Her mane fluttered in the sudden rancid, foul smelling wind that stung her eyes, and she turned around to see a large swirling mass of shimmering magic began to form.

“A portal?” she murmured softly to herself. Her ear twitched again as great hiss and a rumble came from above somewhere, and the giant snake that had attacked them earlier lowered itself into view. She quickly darted around the altar and crouched out of sight, waiting for the right moment to strike. She twisted her head around and watched carefully, and curled her lip in disgust when she saw the magician himself step forwards out of the vortex.

It sealed shut behind him and disappeared as Bray entered into the chamber. He suddenly paused, his long ears twitching and he narrowed his eyes. For a moment, Tempest thought she had been detected and readied herself to attack. But then he sneezed and rubbed his nose.

“Oh, bless me,” he said quietly. After he excused himself, there came a dreadful rumble and hiss from above. Tempest directed her gaze upwards and watched as the snake that had attacked them lowered itself into view.

“You’re late...” the snake hissed in a terrible voice that sent shivers down her spine. Tempest spotted her scorch marks along its hide and had to physically restrain herself from launching another barrage at it when she saw the traces of a red sheen on its teeth. “Did you enjoy your trip, Bray?”

Bray said nothing, but shot a filthy glare at the serpent as its form began to glow white. Its figure grew smaller, until it resembled a pony. A pony with a coat as white as snow, and wide, pink eyes. Tempest quickly recognised the once shy and timid creature, even if now she looked disdainful and contemptuous.

Constant glowered at the donkey as she looked him up and down. “Hmmph. Be that way,” she muttered, taking a few steps forwards and flicked her tail as she grew close to him. “I should warn you I have no doubt I was followed. We are running out of time.”

Bray paused and turned to her. “You are referring to the Nightmare Knights, I presume?”

She bobbed her head up and down and sighed. “After some playfulness, the large one was just about to satiate my appetite,” she said, “but I was interrupted.” Her eyes narrowed and she ran her tongue over her teeth. “The Grand Vizier of this place got in the way, as well as that meddlesome Tempessst Shadow.”

With each word Tempest felt her blood boil more and more. She flicked her eyes over towards the donkey as he nodded solemnly. “I see,” he said. “Well. That complicates matters doesn’t it?”

Suddenly his hoof went up and struck the shapeshifting mare across the face, knocking her down into the cold ground. Tempest thought that was the least she deserved, and kept watching as he rounded on her. “Idiot beast,” he snarled. “You were supposed to finish them all without delay, Constant! Not toy with your food!”

As Constant sprung back up her face changed into a horrific visage of both mare and snake, with her pupils becoming slits and her nose flattening in on itself--not to mention her jaw swinging wide open to show off her serpentine fangs that glistened with saliva. “Do not speak to me like I am some common animal!” she growled. “My name is Kiyohime. Not this... Constant you so kindly decided to introduce me as to those peons!”

The donkey sighed and waved a hoof at the devil in disguise as her face returned to ‘normal’. “If I had introduced you with your real name, then that oaf Tirek would have suspected something when he realised you were the infamous Serpent of Neighpon, now wouldn’t he?” he snarled viciously.

Tempest made a mental note to ask Tirek of her origins if he knew them. And to punch Bray on his behalf for calling him an oaf.

The snake-turned-mare hissed and glowered at him.

“Think before you question my methods, you dull creature.” Bray tapped the side of his head with his hoof before straightening himself up. “Regardless. Your failure is of little consequence. Drog is tending to our safehouse where the master will gather his strength, and from there, we will begin preparations for our conquest.” He spoke with elation, like he was excited about an upcoming party. Tempest bit her tongue and chewed the inside of her cheek to keep from giving her position away when he stopped just shy of the altar. “You will go there now, and await further instructions.”

Tempest’s mind began to race. Conquest? What safehouse? Who the heck were these guys?

“Do not forget our deal,” the white mare growled menacingly.

“Yes of course, Kiyohime. You will be reunited with your ‘lost love’ as soon as our work is done.” Bray flashed his associate a wicked, bear-trap like smile. “Now go.” He waved a hoof and the vortex reappeared. “See to our host. I have some... unfinished business to attend to.”

The serpent-mare narrowed her eyes at him before walking away. She stepped through the portal and with a blinding flash, she was gone.

When the room fell silent once more, Bray sighed and walked away from the altar. “You can come out now, Commander,” he said to the air. “I know you’re here...”

Tempest froze. Had he always known she was there? Had he seen her or heard her? She furrowed her brow and with little choice left, she slowly emerged from her hiding spot and held her head up high, glaring daggers at the magician.

He smiled sweetly at her. “Ah. There you are. We have much to discuss, don’t we?”

The commander scowled at him and her horn began to spark. “I’m going to give you one chance to explain yourself, Bray. What is this? Who are you?”

Bray sighed and went into a sweeping bow. “My name really is Bray, Commander. Bray, the High Priest of Grogar.” He looked up and grinned at her quickly turning pallid expression.

“Grogar?” she hissed.

She, of course, knew of Grogar--who in Equestria didn’t? The story of Gusty the Great was one of her favourites when she was little, even after her incident with the ursa. On top of that, she knew how her three fellow Knights came to be together, with Discord allegedly turning himself into Grogar to unite them. None of the stories ever mentioned a high priest, or this Bray character, however.

“You’re lying,” she growled. “Tell me who you are. Now!”

Bray sighed again and cocked an unimpressed eyebrow at her. “I am telling the truth, Tempest Shadow. Lord Grogar, the Emperor of Equus and Father of Monsters, is my master. My allegiance lies with him, and I will do anything to see his power restored.”

“But you’d have to be-” Tempest began.

“Thousands of years old? Yes.” The donkey grinned at her. “My master, before his banishment by the Cursed Adversary, saw fit to grant me with exquisitely long life so that should anything happen to him, I would always be there, ready and waiting.” A far off look appeared in his eye. “It has been far too long since I have gazed upon my lord’s dark majesty. How I long to see him again, to hear his voice, to feel his...” His eyes flashed and his body quivered. He raised a hoof to his muzzle and chuckled softly, while Tempest felt a new chill in the air and glared at him. “Well. It is what it is, I suppose.”

He dragged his hoof down his face and turned to look at her. “You wouldn’t understand, would you, Commander? How could you possibly understand?”

He began to circle her. Tempest made sure to keep him in her sights at all times, and to remain positioned between him and Cozy. “What do you want with Cozy?” she demanded.

“The child? Just a drop of her blood. It is the key to unlocking my master’s prison, you see?” he said, almost dreamily. “She shares the bloodline with the Adversary, so it is only natural I enlist her help--willing or otherwise--to free him.”

The commander hesitated. “Shares the bloodline?” she murmured quietly.

Bray laughed cruelly at her. “She never told you, did she? Why her family adores unicorns so? She is descended from the great Gusty herself. Her family sees unicorns as the superior of your species, but what they do not know is that it is all a lie; all a sham. Gusty was no hero to Equestria. Gusty was a coward who fled, and lied-” His voice began to grow bitter and hateful, and his teeth ground together as he spoke. “-And tricked, and cheated her way into becoming a legend.”

He spat on the ground and stamped a hoof, but then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I have a question for you, Commander, if you would so indulge me?” he said after a few moments.

“Why should I? I should kill you here and now,” Tempest growled back. She didn’t believe a word he said, but did make another mental note to ask Cozy about her ancestry.

“And right you are. But, seen as how I am but a simple donkey,” Bray chortled, “I am no match for your military prowess, Tempest Shadow, and I know that you are going to destroy me. Merely, I wish to ask you something, as my last request.” He smiled and bowed again.

Tempest eyed him up suspiciously. What was his game? What sort of trick was he pulling? She narrowed her eyes and kept her head held high, and thought that if she allowed him his question, she might get some of her own in as well. “Fine. Speak, then.”

“Thank you, Commander. Your kindness rivals that of the Elements of Harmony.”

His chiding words and cocky giggle felt like a sting to her heart. She fixated her gaze that could melt steel onto him, ready for the slightest sign of trickery.

“My question is this, Commander. Why do you fight for a country that hates you? Why bother protecting ponies that don’t care about you, or look down at you just because you’re different?”

His words caught her off guard, most likely as they were intended to do so. On top of that, she felt the sting of truth pierce through her when she remembered the many, many stares she and her team faced on an almost daily basis, of how she herself suffered pitying looks from other unicorns, and the name they called her when she was little... Breakhorn. She bitterly shook her head and ground her teeth together. “Equestria is my home,” she growled. “I’ll die to protect it, and its people. No matter how they look at me or treat me.”

Bray nodded sagely. “A wise answer. Predictable, but wise. Tell me, have you ever considered different? I know you have in the past, of course, when you followed that vain warlord.”

Tempest felt her blood boil. A growl escaped from between her clenched teeth. “No I haven’t.”

“Really? You strike me as a pragmatic mare, Tempest, so I want to ask you to join us.”

The commander blinked. She looked Bray up and down like he was insane. He was insane. He was deranged, loony, off his rocker. She decided to voice as much.

“Join you?!” she raged. “Why in Tartarus would I ever join you? You’ve killed ponies, you’ve attacked me and my team--I’m guessing you were behind Mr. Crane’s condition as well?” She suddenly thought of the old pony from Shady Hollow, and as she suspected, Bray nodded and giggled like a happy schoolfilly. “You kidnapped Cozy, and now you’re asking me to join you?! You’re even crazier than I thought!”

She stamped her hoof and flared her nostrils. “What, you want to bring back a dead, insane tyrant so that you can rule? For vengeance? Is that it?!”

Bray’s smile wavered, and for a moment she saw the monster under the façade. “For justice, Commander,” he said quietly. “Don’t you see? The hypocrisy of Equestria has gone unchecked for too long. Only by freeing my master: Grogar the Magnificent, Grogar the Beautiful, Grogar the Unending, can we right this grievous wrong and bring order back to the world!”

“Order?” Tempest let out a quiet chuckle and shook her head. “You have a strange definition of order, Bray.”

She blinked, and suddenly he was an inch from her face. The rapid movement caught her off guard, and she was knocked to the ground when one of his hooves collided with her barrel, sending her sprawling across the ground and knocking the wind right out of her lungs.

The donkey was far stronger than he looked, she realised, and as he flourished his cloak she saw his chiselled physique, his rippling muscles and his body lined with scars and scratches. “Don’t you see?” he rasped. “Ponies lie, Commander. They always lie. They manipulate, especially your precious princesses,” he spat. “Every act of kindness, or generosity, or any other of that trite they spout about harmony can be dragged into the light squirming and wriggling to be seen for what it really is: a self serving act of vanity.” He tutted and turned away, placing his hooves on the altar beside Cozy. “Even those like the Grand Vizier. He once expressed a certain... desire in you to me, you know. I suspected within a year of you becoming fast friends he would have asked you to marry him.”

Tempest felt her body immediately begin to bruise where he had struck. She saw spots and started gulping for air like a fish out of water as his words echoed around in her head.

“But then, there are those like your comrades,” the mad donkey continued while looking up at the obelisk. “Or, how they used to be at least. They would scheme in the dark and plot the downfall of their enemies and nothing more--you knew where they stood.” He brushed some of the filly’s mane out of her face and a sly grin spread across his face. He reached into his cloak to pull out a small scalpel and a thin vial.

With it pointed at her friend, Tempest watched it descend, and heard him let out an odd sigh as he held up the vial, now containing some dark red liquid. “Finally. The last piece of the puzzle...”

“Get away from her!” she gasped, struggling to stand.

“Ah ah, Commander,” Bray taunted, fixing her with a stern glare as he placed the vial back into the folds of his cloak. He raised his hoof to her, and suddenly everything went tight. She felt like she had the weight of a small carriage pressing down on her, forcing her to lie still. “My Lord taught me more than passions of the body, you see,” he grinned. “He taught me how to use the magic that sits in the atmosphere, how to draw it from others without them even realising. And this-” He gestured up to the obelisk. “-This ugly thing is a conduit for such power. With it, I can draw strength from all of Saddle Arabia. Here, I am indestructible, and when it is time for me to leave, I will take that power with me.”

He grinned down at her and flexed his shoulders. “Now, don’t interrupt, for I would hate to ruin our little chat just yet.” He flashed her a wicked grin and cleared his throat as she lay there, glaring at him. “Now where was I? Oh yes, your ‘friends’. Everypony at least knew where they stood, they were, for all intents and purposes ‘evil’. But you ponies, especially those arrogant fools Celestia and Luna? Riddled, and I mean, riddled with hypocrisy.”

He pulled his hoof back just as Tempest’s vision was fading in and out of darkness. She gasped for air and held a hoof to her throat. She realised now that it was him, not Sombra who had caused all this out in the courtyard. Sombra had been a mask he had cleverly hidden behind. She wondered what else heh ad done using others as shields.

“They’re pacifists, unless in times of war,” the magician continued. “They’re teachers, except for when they have to teach their students the truth. They’re accepting of all kinds, unless you don’t conform with their beliefs. And when they save you from a fate worse than death, it’s only so they can use you for their own gains!”

Tempest hesitated as she thought of her team’s situation. That couldn’t be right, could it? No. He was getting inside her head. The lack of oxygen had made her-

“So I’ll ask you again, Commander,” he said, taking a step forwards. “Why do you fight for a country that uses you, that will eventually toss you aside like trash?” He reached her and looked down, almost pitifully. “We both know you’re a higher calibre than the rest of your kind, Tempest. Why waste your talents on them, when you can be so much more? Why settle for serving when you can rule?”

He extended a hoof towards her, making her look up at him. A shimmer in the corner of her peripheral vision caught her attention for a fraction of a second, and she nodded reluctantly. “That... was a good pitch,” she murmured.

Bray smiled dangerously at her as she clasped his hoof in hers and hoisted herself up. “I’ve been practicing,” he crooned. “What do you say, Tempest Shadow? Can I count on your support?”

Tempest took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she appeared calm and collected and the corners of her mouth quirked upwards into a smile. “You know what, Bray? I’m in.” Her own eyes glinted with malice back at him, and his smile grew wider.

That was, until a jet of green and purple magic struck him in the barrel, knocking him away across the room into a large pile of dust. Tempest felt her legs quiver and she buckled, just as a dark figure rushed forwards to catch her. She looked up and blinked in confusion at the pair of ruby red eyes looking back at her.

“Whatever he did to them both I will destroy him for it!” the unmistakeable voice of Chrysalis roared. “I want to make him suffer!”

A twisted, sinister laughter began to resound within the chamber. Tempest pulled herself together to look over at where Bray had landed to see him rising into the air, surrounded by a forcefield of crackling magic.

“You survived, then I see, Lady Chrysalis,” he chuckled in an almost glad tone. “And I see you’ve managed to release Sombra from my little curse too. How dreadfully wonderful. At least this will be sporting, if nothing else.”

Tempest swivelled her head around to look at the pony holding her. “Sombra?” she mumbled, feeling weak and woozy. She began to feel as light as a feather as magic surrounded her and lifted her up. She blinked, and suddenly she was resting on somepony’s back. Somepony dark and smelling faintly of smoke.

She weakly raised her head to see several beams of light green and purple magic fire up at Bray. He cackled again and raised a hoof. “Alas, this is where I bid you adieu, Nightmare Knights. Remember my offer, Tempest Shadow,” he cackled. “Should you make the right choice, I will be waiting. Until next time. Ta.”

There was a flash of light followed by the stench of death, and then he was gone. The glowing of the obelisk suddenly stopped as well, plunging them into darkness, and a great cracking sound like the world was splitting open filled the chamber. The familiar green light of Chrysalis’s magic provided them all with some sorely needed vision.

“No! No! Get back here you vile, cowardly little...” the changeling roared. Her words were drowned out as a portion of the ceiling dropped, landing with an almighty crash. Her mouth moved wordlessly as the crash resounded throughout Tempest’s skull.

“It’s too late,” an unfamiliar voice growled. The voice of the pony Tempest was resting on. She blinked in confusion and struggled to keep her eyes open as she heard the rumble in his chest, even on his back. “Chrysalis, pick up the child and let us leave this place, before that devil brings the entire city down on our heads.”

“Entire... city?” Tempest murmured.

She saw Cozy be picked up in a familiar green shimmer and then suddenly they were running. She was being carried, whisked away to safety by an unlikely ally. She felt strange as they ran. Like she was waking up from a bad dream. That was, until, there was another presence she could feel, and the sudden pressure of soft, feathery wings engulfed her.

“Hold still, Tempest Shadow,” a soothing, bitterly familiar voice told her. “You are safe. I am so, so very sorry...”

***

Time passes. . .

The sun had begun to crest the horizon of the world, casting a golden light over what was left of the capital of Saddle Arabia after a huge swathe of the city had suddenly collapsed into the sands, bringing untold devastation and chaos in its wake.

The official story was the Grand Vizier and the Nightmare Knights had descended into the depths of the earth to confront the djinn in its lair. After a victorious win, the djinn had only, in a last, twisted act of maliciousness, exploded, unfortunately creating a sinkhole that dragged the city down with it. The Grand Vizier known as Abda, named for a once famed Arabian warrior of ages past, stayed behind to ensure the Nightmare Knights got away safely, giving his life for his people and his country.

He would be honoured for ages to come.

But nice words and a good sentiment did very little for Tempest Shadow’s mood. She sat, glowering at the dark blue alicorn as she read out a speech promising aid to any who needed it as airships full of relief workers arrived in the skydocks as well as establish a monument to him.

Beside her, Tirek and Chrysalis sat, with Cozy Glow rubbing her eyes and looking around blinkingly at the strange scene around them, perched upon Tirek’s shoulder like a small, pink parrot. One of the centaur's arms was in a sling, despite some healing magic cast by a particular somepony conspicuously absent.

Sombra had long since made himself scarce. Luna had argued that it wouldn’t very well do for the supposed djinn to be seen alive and well, not when such a sombre attitude covered the city. As to where he had, Tempest had no idea; not that she particularly wanted any idea. All she did want was to put this place behind her and get on with her life.

As Luna stepped down from her podium and approached them, Tempest bristled and stood up. She had a bandage around her head and some around her barrel where she had been struck. She stared defiantly ahead as the director came to a halt in front of them.

“I am glad to see you are well, Knights,” she began. Her voice was unusually soft, and lacking in its usual harshness she typically had whenever speaking with them.

“You knew, didn't you?” Tempest quietly asked, simmering with rage. “You knew the risks, and you didn’t object to sending us here?”

“I would have, had I known the true extent of the risks, Tempest,” Luna answered coolly with a sad, far off look in her eye. “But I did not, so I did not.” She exhaled slowly and looked around at them all. “I have done a great many things in my lifetime, as you may know. I have had many victories, and made many more mistakes. Making the Nightmare Knights is one of my greatest achievements, and appointing you at their lead, I maintain, is one of the best decisions I have ever made. But... failing to keep you informed of the true danger, failing to keep you safe... may be my greatest failing.”

She bowed her head low and folded her wings by her sides.

“I hope you can eventually forgive me. All of you, and know that I promise that I will always keep you appraised of what is happening when I know what is happening.”

Tempest snorted derisively at her and fixed her with a cold glare. “How long have you known?” she growled. “About Bray. About Grogar?”

A cold wind blew through their manes. Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy all shuffled uncomfortably, each of them all too familiar with that particular adversary.

“Shady Hollow,” Luna said plainly, bristling only slightly.

Tirek’s eyebrows raised so much they threatened to join the Equus space program. Chrysalis scoffed and snorted. Cozy mimicked Tirek and Tempest remained deathly silent.

“Mr. Crane... has been painting the future. Specifically certain events including you four,” the director went on, and inhaled sharply when none of them said anything. “I want you all to know something. Knowing one’s predicted future can usually have catastrophic decisions. Princess Twilight learned this lesson long ago, and it is not something to be dabbled with lightly.”

“Does she know?” Tempest growled, flattening her ears to her head. “Did Twilight know what we were going into? Did she know about any of this?”

“No,” Luna said firmly. “She knew of Mr. Crane’s condition, and has seen some of what he has painted but not all. If she did she would not have sent you here, believe me.”

An awkward silence descended upon them for a few agonisingly slow minutes.

“I doubt any of us want to know our futures, Director,” Tirek eventually grumbled. “We’re not as foolish as Twilight can be. We’re on foreign soil, Commander, don’t give me that look. I am merely suggesting that we preferred whether we knew we were going into mortal peril or not.”

Luna nodded. Her ears turned down. “I can... understand that. I had assumed... otherwise, Lord Tirek. I apologise.”

Chrysalis scoffed again. “And you expect us to...” She fell silent when she saw the subtle ear flick of the commander.

Tempest turned her head slightly and nodded, the motion so small only those who were really looking for it would have noticed it. Chrysalis certainly did, and so she continued.

“You expect us to take you at your word, Luna? After what I know now? After that one teensy tidbit of information went awry?”

The midnight alicorn bristled again. “About King Sombra, you mean?” she said.

The changeling nodded. “Mhm.”

“Well-”

Cozy’s hoof shot into the air, interrupting Luna. “Uh, question,” she said. “What gives? What’s his deal now, is he a good guy like us or what?”

The alicorn looked up at her and swallowed. “That is for him to decide. I believe he told you the terms of our arrangement, Chrysalis?” she answered, looking back down at the former queen. Chrysalis nodded with a carefully neutral expression. “Yes, well. If he chooses that path, then he will become a civilian.”

“You want him to join us,” Tempest uttered. It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

After a short pause Luna answered her. “You have seen for yourself his skillset is invaluable, Commander, in particular his medical knowledge. Without his assistance I suspect you would be in the hospital for weeks on end right about now. He could only be a boon to you, should he take that life path. However I never once expressed a desire for him to do so, merely that he should be free to choose his own pursuits--granted they were not ones of world conquest and domination.”

Cozy made an ‘o’ shape with her mouth, and Tirek and Chrysalis exchanged glances. “And what are we going to do about Bray? He got away...” Tempest asked carefully.

Luna’s expression twisted into a scowl. “I have already sent agents across the world to track his whereabouts. We will find him, Tempest, before he carries out his insidious intentions. I guarantee it.”

Cozy rubbed her head, confused. “So is he why all the ghosts are happening?” she asked, and looked down at her bandaged leg. Judging by her face and the red streak across the bridge of her nose she was uncomfortable with something.

“In short, yes,” answered Tirek as he reached up to her. “I had suspected something was this case all along. You see Bray is trying to break the barrier between our world and the world of the dead to resurrect his master... Grogar. There are cracks forming in reality wherever he fails to do so, and so the restless dead are coming through. I suspect the closer he gets to succeeding in his insane goal the more we will be required to perform our services.”

They all murmured in agreement.

Tempest puffed her chest out and sighed. “Is that all, then Director?” she grunted. “Are we done here?”

Another moment of silence, before...

“There is... one more thing, before you depart, Knights.”

They all pricked their ears up as Luna bowed her head and pursed her lips, trembling ever so slightly. “I am stepping down as Director of the Nightmare Knights Organisation,” she confessed. “For a time.”

The Knights stared aghast at her.

“My recent mistakes have been costly and ill informed,” Luna continued, unafraid to hide the bitterness and resentfulness in her voice. “So I am appointing a new temporary head of our organisation. A fair and just replacement who I have no doubt will more than make up for my mistakes in the coming days.”

“Who?” Cozy blurted out. She itched at the bandage around her foreleg. “And what happens to you?”

The midnight alicorn looked up at her again. “I will remain here for a time until order has been fully restored, Cozy. Then I will... go on a sabbatical, as I am told they are called, until I am fit to direct again. As for who my replacement is, she is an impartial party with relevant knowledge of being a former villain and carries exceptional organisational skills. She has already served dutifully in her previous engagements and I cannot think of a worthier replacement for me.”

Tempest felt the heckles on the back of her neck stand up as it dawned on her. “You don’t mean who I think you mean do you?” she murmured. “Do you?”

Luna nodded, as if she could read her mind. “I do indeed, Commander. I understand there may be some difficulties adjusting at first, but I am confident you will overcome them.”

Tirek dragged a hand down his face as he realised who she was talking about. Cozy’s eyes turned to dinner plate levels of size as she too realised, and Chrysalis only wrinkled her snout in confusion. “Yes, well. And?” she muttered. “Who is this mystery mare we will be answering to, then?”

The director cleared her throat as the others held their breath, waiting for the inevitable reaction.

“Starlight Glimmer, of course.”

Interlude Part I: A Heart To Heart

“Walk with me, Cozy.”

Cozy started on the spot, looking up in a fleeting panic.

Tempest’s tone was short and to the point, but her words, and more importantly her eyes, were laced with kindness, relaxing her ever so slightly. “Uh, s-sure, Tempest,” she mumbled, rising up from her chair.

While Tirek and Chrysalis were both currently occupied, the former asleep and the latter seemingly frozen, her face fixed into a near permanent grimace of hate since Luna’s startling confession, Tempest saw now as the ideal time to address the elephant in the room, and something that had been gnawing at the back of her mind ever since her encounter in the cave.

She closed the door behind her gently as they left the room.

“Wh-Where are we going?” Cozy asked hesitantly.

“Well I don’t know about you, but I’m famished.” Tempest cast a glance down and laughed when she saw her small compatriot’s eyes widen. “So I was hoping we’d find a kitchen on this flying tub.”

Cozy’s stomach let out an audible groan. Her ears twitched and she nodded slowly.

“Thought you might be hungry as well. C’mon, I’ll make you a sandwich. You like peanut butter?”

“Ew, no.”

“Me neither. Let’s hope they have something better.”

The airship Luna had procured to take them home was considerably smaller than the Grace of Dawn, and had an odious scent to it, but it suited the Knights’ needs well enough. Not to mention, the Arabians did comfort better than any Equestrian, regardless of ship or status. As they travelled down the carpeted corridor, the commander imagined for a moment how easy their life would be if they could airship everywhere instead of getting the train or walking, and was of half a mind to claim it for their own on company expenses.

After a few minutes of an awkward and loud silence, they eventually came across a small kitchen, and Tempest was pleased to find that despite being masters of the culinary arts, Saddle Arabians stocked rather ordinary Equestrian items as well. She quickly made them both up some tomato and lettuce sandwiches, and together they sat down at the small table nearby.

As they ate only the sounds of the crunch of vegetables accompanied them. Tempest swallowed what she was currently chewing and hesitated before taking another bite, contemplating on how to broach the subject.

“Cozy,” she finally began. “I-”

“This is about my family. Isn’t it?” the filly interrupted, as deceptively perceptive as ever as she took to licking tomato juice off of her hoof. Her sandwich was gone now, her plate wiped clean by a ravenous beast and the bread replaced only by crumbs. She burped quietly and wiped her mouth, looking downcast and slightly afraid, if anything.

Tempest felt the corners of her mouth twitch into a sad smile. “Yeah,” she nodded. “I was hoping you could tell me a little bit about them, Cozy.”

Cozy flinched.

Tempest knew she had to be careful. From what little she had gathered about Cozy’s family, they were not a pleasant bunch, and a very sore spot for the filly. She didn’t want to see the youngest of their number upset in any way shape or form, looking at her very much like an elder sibling would.

“Bray said-”

“I know what Bray said,” Cozy suddenly snapped, making the commander fall silent. She pressed her hooves into the table and looked up with a grimace. Her curly mane and little ribbon bobbed up and down as she jerked her head upwards. The pink stripe of her uniform shimmered as it caught the sun. She let out a shuddering sigh and tapped her hooves together. “Sorry. It was weird... I was asleep but also kinda awake? I... Heard him mention my mom. About how we’re related to Gusty the Gre-eat.”

The commander’s nose twitched when she heard the young Knight’s voice catch in her throat. “That’s right.” She reached out and placed her hoof over the trembling filly’s. “But we don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to,” she stated. “We don’t-”

“It’s fine.”

A shadow darkened Cozy’s eyes as she murmured softly yet loudly enough to cut the commander off.

Tempest couldn’t help but admire her as she rubbed her eyes and blinked rapidly several times. She was far braver than she looked at times, and deserved full recognition for it.

Her hoof stopped trembling under Tempest’s, and eventually she let out a heavy, heartfelt sigh. “Alright, so... According to my family tree, Gusty is like my great, great--about five hundred more greats--grandmother.” She paused. The ship creaked as it lulled gently from side to side, drifting calmly through the skies. “My family practically worships the ground she walked on--I’m pretty sure my uncle sleeps with this rusty old shoe that was allegedly hers,” she added with a snort. “Weirdo.”

Tempest nodded in agreement. “That is weird,” she murmured with a smile that vanished almost instantly when she saw the tears brimming her young friend’s eyes.

“My dad’s a unicorn. So's my mom,” Cozy mumbled. “So's my brother and my and sisters. So is my uncle. They all are, just like Gusty was. Every single one of them... And after I was born they made sure I was aware of that fact... Every. Single. Day.” Her voice grew louder and bolder as she spoke. She looked up with a scowl and the corners of her mouth turned downwards. Her wings unfurled behind her and stretched as far as they could. “Just because I had these, they put me on the branch of the family tree farthest away from all of them. And I hated them for it.”

The commander didn’t say anything, choosing instead to just watch her closely. She knew a thing or two about being different. All the Knights did at this point, but even so, she couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Cozy growing up.

“I hated her the most, Tempest,” Cozy whispered, her boldness and her temper rising. “I hated Gusty the most for starting it all. If she hadn’t been so much of a hero, then maybe, maybe, I could have had a family that weren’t complete jerks.” She slammed her hoof into the table, clattering the plates while Tempest remained silent, letting her vent uninterrupted. “Do you have any idea what it’s like? Just wanting to belong with your family? Suffering insult after insult just because you were born a different pony?” Tears welled up in her eyes as she slammed her hoof again, albeit far weaker this time. “What kind of pegasus can’t fly?” she said in a nasally voice. “What kind of pegasus is afraid of heights? It’s just like-”

“A unicorn that can’t do magic.”

Cozy’s eyes widened and her jaw lulled open as she realised what was said. She stared up at the commander, completely aghast, and turned as white as their usual quarry. Tempest sighed bitterly and leaned back in her chair, scratching her chin.

A pregnant silence hung in the air between them for a few moments. The pegasus’s jaw opened and closed slowly as she struggled to form words.

“Tempest, I’m... I’m sorry, I didn’t...”

The commander smiled sadly at her and waved her hoof. “Don’t worry about it, Cozy. Let’s just say I know what being different feels like,” she said.

The colour slowly returned to Cozy’s face when she saw Tempest wasn’t upset with her. Once again, her jaw began to open and close as she directed her eyes to the mare’s forehead. “How did it... Happen?” she murmured quietly.

Tempest cracked a smile and raised a hoof to her forehead. “What this old thing?” She realised that none of the Knights had ever commented on it before, nor had she ever spoken about it with any of them. She was glad, and proud in a way to finally have the chance to talk about it with somepony. She just never expected that somepony to be Cozy Glow, and couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, when I was just a filly--about the same age as you are now,” she started, “my friends and I were playing with a ball. We were bouncing it back and forwards with our magic and doing neat tricks with it, balancing it on our horns, then our hooves... It was fun. Until my friend Glitter Drops bounced it over my head and it rolled into a cave. I thought it was my fault for not catching it, so, being young and foolish, I went after it.” Tempest shrugged noncommittally. “Only what I didn’t know was that that particular cave was home to an ursa major.”

The filly made an ‘o’ shape with her mouth. “That must have been scary,” she murmured.

Tempest nodded and traced a hoof over her scar. “It was. And it hurt. These... Souvenirs it gave me were nothing compared to what came after, though.” The hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end and she felt a slight chill travel down her spine as a wave of unwanted memories came flooding back to her. “The other kids wouldn’t play with me after that. I became ‘that dark and scary filly whose magic burned everything’. They were frightened of me, just because I was different. They pushed me away and shunned me, even called me br...” She inhaled through her nostrils and grit her teeth. “Breakhorn.”

The ship creaked again as she finished. Their plates clinked gently as the subtle movement knocked them together. She looked out the window at some clouds passing by with a far off look in her eye. “So I ran away from home,” she went on. “Found myself somewhere where nopony would tease me, and told myself I would never have friends that could betray me again. I joined up with the Storm King and... Well look where that got me.” She laughed joylessly and tapped her hooves on the table. “And that’s that, I suppose.”

An uncomfortable silence descended on them as they looked at one another, until Cozy coughed and pushed her plate around with an idle hoof. “You know what?” she murmured, cracking a smile for the first time in a while. “I’ll be your friend, Tempest.”

A lopsided and goofy smile spread across the commander’s face at the sincerity of her words, and felt the end of her nose twitch--a tell-tale sign of some waterworks on their way. “Thanks Cozy,” she said, and leaned forwards to tousle her mane. “I’d be happy to be your friend too. We can look out for each other, yeah?”

Cozy giggled and rubbed her nose. “Sure thing, Tempy. Oh!” She suddenly clapped a hoof to her head, startling the dark mare somewhat. “Geez I almost forgot. My family collected a lot of her stuff. Gusty’s, I mean. A lot of artifacts from that time period. There could be something there that...” She trailed off and twirled her hoof in the air in a grimace. “I don’t know... Could help with... Stuff?”

One of Tempest’s eyebrow cocked upwards. “Do you think they might have something related to Grogar?” she asked.

“Maybe?” Cozy rubbed the back of her head and sighed half-heartedly. “There must be something we could use. It’s just...” She turned her hooves outwards and shivered. “I don’t... Want to see them just yet. I’m not... Ready.”

Tempest nodded, completely in understanding. “When we get home I could ask the director to look into it for us?” she offered. “Or even Twilight herself? I’m sure she’d give them a stern talking to about being mean. And you wouldn’t have to see them at all.” She nudged the filly and smiled. “How does that sound?”

Cozy smiled back and nodded eagerly. Her large eyes shone with life, a far cry from her previous, broken and hollow expression. “Yeah. Throw Starlight to the wolves. That way Chrysalis doesn’t have to deal with her.”

Tempest snort laughed and quickly covered up her mouth. “That’s our boss you know,” she chuckled.

“Eh, yeah, but she’s only a temp, right?”

“True. Very true.”

The Knights shared a grin and some quiet laughter as the distant chime of bells signalled their approach to Canterlot, and a muffled voice of one of the crewponies on deck called out.

“Port ahoy!”

Cozy’s ear twitched as she yawned and stretched. “Oh I can’t wait to get home,” she murmured. “More importantly to my nice, warm bed in that rickety old castle.”

“You and me both,” Tempest agreed, thinking of her own comfortable cot. “I’d imagine Jack’ll be pleased to see Tirek again too,” she added with a coy grin.

The filly rounded on her, quickly looking over her shoulder and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, so we’re friends now, right? Can I tell you a secret?”

Tempest leaned in curiously with her ears pricked forwards. The grin that had begun to spread across her face widened up to her eyes as Cozy whispered her secrets into her ear. “Really?” she whispered back.

“Really!” Cozy nodded enthusiastically.

“Well I’ll be...” the commander chortled and chuckled quietly. The Knights walked side by side as they made towards the door and their remaining compatriots. “C’mon,” she said. “Let’s go home.”

Cozy trotted happily along the ground, her wings folded neatly at her sides. Her smile was as wide as a mile, and not just because she was in her homeland of sugary treats and pastry delights.

Interlude Part II: Welcome To The Nightmare Knights

Twilight looked up from her desk and frowned.

Her ear twitched as the distant rumble she swore she just heard faded into the distance. She hesitated, listening for a moment, but as silence answered her she simply shrugged and continued her work.

“I didn’t think we were scheduled for thunder,” she commented, reading over the several dozen letters that arrived for her that morning. One such letter had Luna’s official seal on it and carried a certain sense of foreboding to it for some reason.

”WHERE IS SHE?!”

Oh she definitely heard it that time.

The princess quickly began to tidy up as fast as she could, recognising the unmistakeable sound of an angry changeling queen bellow her demands, followed by the occasional zap of magic. She sighed, wondering what the disturbance was about today. Her eyes were drawn towards the unopened letter from Luna and that sense of foreboding intensified for a moment.

”STARLIGHT GLIMMER! BRING ME STARLIGHT GLIMMER!”

Twilight tried her best to ignore the frightful splintering of wood and magical explosions coupled with various screams coming from somewhere in the palace as the sound of Chrysalis raging and howling with intense anger echoed up and down her abode. She broke the official seal on the director’s letter and unfurled the slightly yellowed paper, scanning her eyes over everything it beheld.

In a sudden and deep understanding of why today was going the way it was, she looked up over the rim of the paper and sighed.

“Oh... bother.”

And here she was hoping for an easy day.

“TAKE YOUR FILTHY HOOVES OFF ME, YOU WRETCHED MONGREL! I DEMAND TO SPEAK WITH-”

The door to her office burst open with all the intensity of a small explosion, practically knocking itself off of its hinges in a big plume of smoke and making Twilight cough and sputter in the process. She waved a hoof in front of her face to clear some of it away, only for a furious Chrysalis to lean in mere inches away from her. Twilight’s eyes flicked to the right where she saw the old butler Pennyworth bristle and glare at the back of her guest’s head, but thankfully appear completely unharmed.

“Presenting, Ser Chrysalis of the Nightmare Knights, ma’am,” he said stiffly.

Twilight rustled her wings and nodded, highly aware that the current situation required a certain amount of delicacy to it. “Thank you, Mr. Pennyworth,” she said, keeping her steady gaze focused on Chrysalis. Her horn began to glow as she moved the other documents off of her desk and into its drawers.

“Where is she?” Chrysalis hissed. The former queen’s horn blazed to life with magic, bathing her in a green glow. “Tell me, Twilight Sparkle. I demand you tell me where Starlight Glimmer is.”

The princess sighed and leaned back in her seat. “Hello to you too, Chrysalis,” she said as politely as possible, staring the raging changeling in the eye. “And what, may I ask, are you planning on doing to my friend?”

There was a shimmer in Chrysalis’s eyes, like the gears in her head were turning and she had realised she had ‘don goofed’. Even so, her lips trembled as she pulled them back to reveal her fangs. She reared her head up and looked down with a sneer, but before she could say anything further the air she froze, and the air started to crackle and hum with magic.

“Presenting, Knight-Commander Tempest Shadow of the Nightmare Knights,” came Pennyworth’s world weary sigh as a zap of sky blue lightning seared through the air, colliding with Chrysalis and frying her carapace.

The queen was sent hurtling away into a bookshelf, causing an avalanche of perfectly and meticulously organised books to come tumbling down... as well as make Twilight scream internally.

Tempest Shadow, looking equally as furious as Chrysalis herself was--if not more so--came charging forwards after the queen with all the intensity of a lion chasing its prey, staring flaming hot daggers at the lightly smoking pile of books where the Nightmare Knight once stood.

“Chrysalis,” she growled through a set of gritted teeth and skidded to a halt. “Stand. Down. That’s an order.”

The commander’s tone was as imposing as she herself was. Twilight felt a shiver run down her spine and swallowed, knowing times like this were exactly why Luna chose her for this job. As hers and Tempest’s eyes met for a second, the dark mare looked extremely apologetic while still maintaining that powerful, commanding air about her.

The pile of books suddenly erupted as Chrysalis picked herself up. She reached up and extinguished the small candle-like strand of hair still alight on the top of her head with her hoof, then glowered at the commander in rage. She shook herself free of smoke. The flicker of regret in her eye had vanished. Meanwhile, behind Tempest, there came a flurry of movement and the stomping of hooves. Mr. Pennyworth cleared his throat, sounding more than a little miffed now.

“Presenting Sers Tirek and Cozy Glow of the Nightmare Knights.”

Tirek and Cozy rounded into view, both out of breath and panting lightly. Twilight’s eyes were quickly drawn to the sling and set of bandages wrapped around one of the centaur’s arms, and a myriad of questions entered her mind. Chiefly: what in Equestria could injure Tirek like that?

She fluttered her wings and opened her mouth to greet them just as Chrysalis slammed her hoof down and snorted.

“Commander, I will not!” she declared, snarling like a rabid timberwolf. She stamped forwards a few times and pressed her nose against the commander. “I cannot! I refuse!”

Tempest’s horn crackled like a firework about to go off as she stood her ground. “Enough, Chrysalis! Think--for two seconds--just think. You can’t barge in here like-”

“I will not kowtow to Ssstarlight Glimmer!” Chrysalis yelled, shouting over Tempest. The dark mare’s eyebrow twitched dangerously and the crackling in her horn grew louder. Chrysalis noticed, and appeared fearful for exactly one heartbeat before resuming her tirade. “Before I am subjected to any further indignity I demand to know where Starlight Glimmer is so that I may exact a swift and brutal vengeance-”

“Presenting, Miss Starlight Glimmer,” came the old butler’s slightly cranky but calm voice, cutting her off.

All heads turned and the air grew still as indeed Starlight Glimmer stood in the doorway beside him, awkwardly rubbing her forelegs together. “Hi, Twilight,” she mumbled, using her magic to open up her saddlebag to pull out a tightly bound scroll. “I got this weird letter from Luna and was hoping to ask you about it.” She looked at each of the Knights with a small, nervous smile. “Is this, uh... is this a bad time?”

The tension in the room grew so thick it could have been cut like a slice of cake. Pennyworth clicked his hooves together and addressed Twilight. “Should I perhaps call for the guards, ma’am?” he asked her, cocking one eyebrow upwards at the trembling changeling. “Or will that be all, your grace?”

Twilight shook her head, her eyes flicking between the Headmare and the Knights carefully. “That won’t be... I don’t think that will be necessary. Thank you, Mr. Pennyworth,” she said. He clicked his hooves together again and inclined his head towards her in a polite and respectful bow before making a swift exit. Twilight couldn’t fault him for it at all, as if she weren’t the princess she would have vacated the premises as well.

She slumped back in her seat and raised her front hooves to her head to massage her temples gently. Tempest’s horn stopped fizzing for a moment and she closed her eyes, sucking in air between her teeth like she was preparing for something. Chrysalis began to tremble and shake, her wings unfurled and she crouched low to the ground, while Tirek and Cozy Glow sighed and braced themselves, knowing what was about to come.

Then it happened.

Chrysalis dove forwards, her front legs outstretched like a panther pouncing on its prey. Immediately afterwards, Tempest leapt onto her back, straddling her like a mechanical bull in an attempt to subdue her, inadvertently knocking over several decorations and ornaments decorating Twilight’s office as they thrashed around. Tirek quickly stepped in front of Starlight in a protective manner, accidentally shoving her aside with his heavy back legs. The Headmare fell to the ground and blinked in both terror and then confusion as Cozy gingerly helped her up.

“She’s going through a rough patch,” the filly mumbled quietly, trying her best to avoid looking at either Starlight or Twilight.

Very soon the once pristine and neat office looked like a warzone as Chrysalis turned on Tempest, kicking, punching and biting in an attempt to get away. Seeing very few options left, and in a bid to save what was left of her study, Twilight’s horn began to glow, casting a voice amplification spell over herself. She hadn’t yet mastered the Royal Canterlot Voice, but this was the next best thing. Level three would do the trick, she imagined.

”STOP!” she bellowed, shaking the very walls of her office, and the foundations of the palace itself. High above, up in the rafters of the castle, some crows cawed and squawked in distress.

Chrysalis and Tempest froze mid brawl, one of the pony’s ears in the changeling’s mouth and one of the changeling’s legs twisted into an unnatural angle in the pony’s grasp. Their heads turned to look at the princess as she glowered at them both.

”PUT. EACH OTHER. DOWN!”

Tirek winced and sighed quietly as he massaged his bad arm, and both Cozy and Starlight’s ears flattened down to their heads.

Twilight took a deep breath and her horn stopped glowing as the two Knights disentangled from one another, refusing to look each other in the eye. “Everypony please, just... relax, okay?” she said, lowering her voice to normal levels of volume. She looked down at the letter on her desk and inwardly groaned. She loved Luna as much as she loved any of her friends, but Celestia she did leave such a mess behind her sometimes.

Her expression hardened as she took a deep breath. It wasn’t very often when she had to chew somepony out or scold them. In fact, she avoided it whenever she could, at the most merely offering a stern glare and a disappointed tone in an attempt to mimic Celestia as best she could. Today, though, was one of those rare occasions when she required something a bit extra.

“Nightmare Knights,” she barked as she moved around her desk to stand in front of them all. “Fall in.”

Tempest and Chrysalis disentangled from one another and begrudgingly formed ranks. Tirek filed in beside them and Cozy flittered over to stand beside him, looking down at the ground.

“Starlight come stand over here as well, please,” the princess continued, keeping her stern and disapproving tone steady.

Starlight cautiously moved forwards to obey the monarch, skirting around the edge of the quartet and staying away from Chrysalis as much as possible.

“Thank you. Now.”

Twilight turned her attention to the Knights. She looked up at the ceiling, inhaled deeply, then looked down at them and exhaled.

“What the heck was that?!” she bellowed, throwing all of her authority into her voice, making all present flinch. “Chrysalis, did you really think you could barge in here and demand I turn over Starlight to you?! What did you say you were gonna do--’exact a swift and brutal vengeance upon her’?!”

Chrysalis growled softly. “I will not-” she began, only for Tempest to loudly clear her throat and shoot the changeling her signature Look.

Twilight glared at her. “Are you done?”

The former queen’s lip curled upwards into a sneer, but she bit her tongue and hung her head, choosing to remain silent under the steel-eyed gaze of the commander.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Twilight took a deep breath and began to pace in front of them. “Now I know this news about Luna comes as a surprise, especially for you, Starlight,” she continued. “After all her sudden retirement was bound to leave some... questions and uncertainties.”

“Luna’s retiring?” Starlight blinked. “Again?”

“Don’t act like you didn’t have a hoof in it you little hag,” Chrysalis snapped, unable to contain herself. Twilight stopped pacing and sighed while Tempest’s glare intensified. “Was stealing my Hive and poisoning my subjects against me not enough for you? Now must you stick your measly face into all of my affairs?”

“Chrysalis!” Tempest growled warningly.

“I will not sit idly by while this wretch feeds us lies, Commander!” the changeling raged, turning to look at Tempest. “After all, she is the architect of my... my...” She trailed off, shaking and overcome with rage. “Ugh!”

The commander raised a hoof to her. “Enough,” she said firmly, but not without a hint of compassion. “Take a breather. Think about this, Chrysalis.” Twilight watched curiously as Chrysalis stepped back, simmering with rage. She wondered exactly what kind of hold Tempest had over them if she could get Chrysalis to see reason.

A truly bewildered Starlight looked around at all of the Knights’ faces. “Uh... I have no idea what you’re talking about, Chrysalis,” she murmured. “Really.” She turned to Twilight with a quizzical expression. “Twilight, would you help me out here? Please?”

“You’re the new Director of the Nightmare Knights,” Twilight said matter-of-factly while silently lamenting how she wished Luna had a better grasp of ponies and how they did things. A promotion, or a substitute would seem more approriate given that Starlight was a teacher, would usually involve a rundown of duties, and at least informing said substitute of their new position. Luna, being Luna, had obviously chosen to forgo such bureaucracy, which was strange because she loved bureaucracy like some sort of madmare.

“In other words, you’re taking over for Luna while she’s... away.”

“Wait, what?” The lilac mare’s jaw fell open in disbelief. “I am?”

Chrysalis hateful stare remained intact, although she blinked and appeared momentarily unsure of herself and shared a glance between herself and Tempest. The dark mare wrinkled the end of her nose and stepped forwards. “You didn’t... know?” she asked Starlight.

The Headmare shook her head vehemently, her eyes darting between the Knights’ faces. “Definitely not. No offense, but you guys kinda terrify me. To tell you the truth I’d hate to be your boss.”

“Golly, I wonder why,” Cozy snickered behind her hoof, earning a swift and stern glare from Chrysalis.

The changeling’s head slowly turned back to Starlight as Cozy continued to smirk, completely undeterred. She sneered and looked the newly appointed Director up and down, then with a tut she turned away. “Ugh. Not even worth stepping on,” she grunted.

Starlight’s nose twitched. “Uh, thanks? So Twilight, when you say I’ll be taking over, does that... what does that mean?”

“I’ll go through it all with you later, don’t worry,” Twilight replied. Truthfully she had no idea what Luna actually did beyond clear up whatever PR mess the Knights had caused. Speaking of PR mess... “For now, though, Tempest, how was Saddle Arabia? How is the Grand Vizier?”

With a heavy sigh and a host of bitter memories, Tempest began to run through exactly had happened. When she mentioned Sombra, the princess flinched.

“Sombra?!” she exclaimed, recoiling in shock so hard she toppled over backwards in her chair and landed with a clatter on the ground behind her desk.

“Oof,” Cozy murmured quietly.

Quickly springing back up as Starlight readjusted her chair for her, Twilight leaned across the table in search of answers. “How?! Why?!” she demanded.

“Luna had brokered a deal with him in exchange for his services,” the commander answered. “He was being mind controlled by another party, one we didn’t see coming. Chrysalis managed to snap him out of his trance and in turn, he saved our lives.”

“B-b-b-but--w-w-wha--I-I-I--you-” She took a deep breath to compose herself and held a hoof to her head. “What?!”

Starlight glanced at the princess warily and seeing her begin to spiral, she decided to step in. “Twilight, everything Luna did she did for a reason, right? Maybe releasing Sombra, while... clearly crazy, might have been the right thing to do? It sounds like the Knights wouldn’t be here without him.”

Twilight rounded on her with wide, bloodshot eyes.

“Maybe--I mean... she was right about the Nightmare Knights, right? They helped me out not too long ago when a demon had possessed a student.” Starlight paused for a moment. “Am I in charge of that bill now, then? Do I still need to pay it? Whatever, not important.”

Twilight managed to take a deep breath and calm herself as best she could. “B-but... Sombra, though!” she cried. “He’s...”

Tempest winced slightly and stepped forwards. “I know, Princess. He saved our lives,” she reiterated. “Starlight’s right--if he wasn’t there, we wouldn’t be here now to tell you what we know.”

With a heavy sigh, the princess reluctantly nodded. “I... I guess?” She inhaled deeply. “Do we know where he went?”

“No.”

The princess nodded glumly and pushed a pencil on her desk back and forth. “So he could be anywhere? Great...”

Starlight politely cleared her throat and patted her friend on the back. “You said he was being mind controlled, Tempest? Who by?”

Tempest ground her teeth together and her eyes narrowed. “A donkey called Bray,” she said. “A self-proclaimed magician. He was behind everything that happened.”

The director quickly turned to her and tilted her head. “Bray?” she repeated.

The Knights all frowned and looked at her curiously. Even Twilight glanced at her sceptically. The sudden attention flung her way made her cheeks turn rosy red.

“You’ve heard of him?” Tirek asked.

“Well... yeah? I mean, of course I have,” Starlight replied, her nervousness fading as her eyes lit up. “According to The Unicorn’s Gambit series of historic fantasy novels, he was Grogar’s loyal servant and faithful ally in the pre-Equestrian era before Gusty took the Emperor down. I, uh... I read a lot about that time period,” she added bashfully. “But they’re just books right? Just stories?”

Tirek scoffed and snorted. “May I remind you that until recently ghosts were just stories, Miss Glimmer.”

Tempest flinched ever so slightly, expecting a reprimand for talking back to a superior. To her surprise and relief, the lilac mare chortled softly. “True. You got me there, Tirek.” She tapped her chin and thought for a moment. “Was he alone?”

“No. There was a troggle named Drog-”

“A troggle?” she practically squealed in excitement. “I thought they were extinct...”

“-And a mare who could turn into a huge serpent.” He lifted up his bandaged arm as he finished. “It was she who did this to me,” he added darkly.

Pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place as Twilight observed her friend, and realised why she had been chosen as Luna’s successor. A small, sly smile began to tug at the corners of her mouth as she silently applauded the cunning alicorn, although her mind weighed heavily with the possibility of Grogar returning.

“What’s a troggle?” she curiously asked.

“Tall, upright pigs, essentially. In those books about Gusty, Grogar had taken them from their homeland--actually somewhere supposed to be in another dimension! To be his slaves and his soldiers, and he used them to invade Equestria before it was called Equestria. But the other one?” The director began to pace, resembling Luna in more ways than one right about now as her eyes darted back and forth and the gears in her mind ticked over. “A mare who could change into a snake? Hmm... That sounds like an old Neighponese legend. Maybe we should reach out to Mistmane, she might know something?”

Twilight nodded sagely and somewhat proudly. “Nice work, Starlight,” she said.

“Huh?” Starlight stopped pacing to turn to her with a quizzical frown. “Why?”

“Well you’ve just given yourself and your team a lead,” the princess snickered, nodding towards the Knights as they watched silently. “Do you still have those books anywhere?”

The director blanched. “I... my team? Oh that’s gonna take some getting used to. Yeah, they’re in a trunk at home somewhere. Why, d’you think they’re more truthful than we originally thought?”

“I do,” Twilight said, bobbing her head as she spoke. “I’ll see if I can find anything else about this Bray guy, where he might go or if he has any more friends we might not know about.” She looked at the Knights and smiled, her eyes sparkling and shining like stars. “Good job, you guys. Even though this is... quite frankly awful news, we needed to hear it, and I’m glad you’re all here.” She spread her wings and bowed her head in respect.

Taken aback slightly by the unexpected praise and show of gratitude, the Knights each began to swell with pride. Tempest and Tirek both saluted dutifully. Chrysalis inclined her head one quarter of an inch forwards with the tightest smile imaginable, and Cozy smirked and pretended to inspect her hoof. “Eyy, no problem, Twilight,” she said coolly. “It’s what we do, after all. We’re kinda cool like that.”

Tirek waved his hand towards her with a disapproving grunt. “You had to ruin the moment didn’t you?” he grumbled.

She pulled one of her eyelids down and cheekily stuck her tongue out at him in response, only for him to catch it like a viper striking its prey and pinch it in between his finger and thumb. “Owowowow! ‘Egh’o, ‘egh’o!” she whined.

Tempest sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. When she looked up both Starlight and Twilight were smiling, clearly trying not to laugh. She felt the corners of her own mouth begin to tug upwards against her will, and she stamped her hoof. “Let her go, Tirek,” she barked.

Tirek released his hold of the wriggly muscle and it snapped back into the filly’s mouth like a tape measurer. “Do you ever wash your hands?” she grumbled, scraping her tongue as best as she could to try and remove any and all unwanted flavour. “Why do you taste like soil? Blegh!”

The centaur scowled and folded his arms as best as he could, wincing again in pain. The director’s attention was brought to his injured arm, and a concerned look passed over her face.

“Do you want to get that seen to, Tirek?” Starlight asked him. “We can call an ambulance, or-”

“Certainly not,” he snorted derisively. “I do not need pony medicine, nor will I-”

“What if I ordered you to go to hospital to get fixed up because it’s good for your health?” she quickly fired back.

A snort of laughter escaped Chrysalis before she scowled and looked away, muttering quietly under her breath.

Tempest smirked when she saw Tirek’s eyebrow twitch and the corner of his mouth twist into a sneer. “Well then I would have to be grateful for your concern, wouldn’t I, Director?” he rasped as if the words hurt his throat to speak.

The commander nudged his side gently with a lopsided smirk on her face. “Don’t worry, Director, we’ll make sure he gets the treatment he needs.”

Starlight chortled quietly and bobbed her head. “I’m sure you will, Tempest. Uh, Commander.” She smiled and looked at them all, although as her eyes hovered over to Chrysalis for a moment she faltered and swallowed. The changeling narrowed her eyes slightly and a small hiss escaped her throat.

“There’s something else you should know, before we leave,” Tempest added, looking ahead at Twilight. She bristled and straightened the legs of her uniform slightly as she gestured for Cozy to join her. The filly fluttered forwards with an unreadable and oddly stony expression on her face. “Cozy’s family may have links to Grogar. From what I know, they’re avid-”

“They’re obsessed with Gusty the Great,” Cozy piped up, her voice flat and lacking in any emotion. The Knights, Tirek especially, gave her a concerned look as she continued. “They probably have... I don’t know, something, some books or artifacts or whatever to do with Grogar.” She suddenly looked uncomfortable as Twilight and Starlight looked down at her, and she rested against one of the commander’s legs.

“Just look for the Glow Estate, on the edge of Canterlot. You can’t miss it... Don’t mention me.”

The princess continued to look at the filly for a few moments as an awkward silence descended upon them. She realised she had no idea what Cozy’s family was like, or if they were anything like she herself was. She wondered what she meant by don’t mention her, but judging by the filly’s face she knew it couldn’t have been anything good and chose not to pursue it.

“The Glow Estate?” she said quietly. “Nice thinking, Cozy. I’ll have a message sent their way and we’ll see if we can work something out; I’m sure they’d be more than willing to help if the safety of Equestria is at stake.” She bobbed her head up and smiled. Cozy smiled back, although it was lacking in any sincerity.

Satisfied with her answer, Tempest looked towards Starlight. “What orders do you have for us now, Director?”

There was a beat before Starlight realised she was being addressed, and she roused herself from her myriad of thoughts. “Huh? Oh, um...” Judging from the look on her face, her mind had just gone blank.

“If I may?” Tirek helpfully offered.

She gave him a grateful nod and gestured for him to speak freely.

“Might I suggest that we return to our headquarters, in Ponyville? I suspect our absence has gone noticed and our quarry is, after all, restless; as they are known to be.”

The director nodded rapidly and tapped her hooves together. “Right. Yeah, good idea, Tirek.”

As the Knights stood and stared at her expectantly as if they were waiting for something, Twilight cleared her throat and leaned in to whisper into Starlight’s ear. “You need to tell them they’re dismissed. Say ‘dismissed’.”

“What? Oh, right. Uh, dismissed.”

Tempest snapped her hoof to her head. The Knights followed suit and all turned to leave. “Hey, Tempy?” Cozy said as Chrysalis held the door open for them all.

“Yeah?”

“D’you think we could get some food on the way home? Some takeout or something before we get to Ponyville?”

Tempest laughed. “You want a Li’l Woona Meal from Burger Princess?”

“Aw c’mon Tempy I’m starvi--wait what, you really mean it?”

Starlight and Twilight watched them go curiously as the Knights began talking amongst themselves. The mares glanced at one another, thinking the same thing. “Is it just me,” Starlight murmured. “Or did they seem like they were.. friends?”

Twilight pondered for a moment. “I guess friendship can be found anywhere, even in them.” She looked around at her once nice and tidy office and sighed. “Well we’d better get this cleaned up first. Oh, we’ll need to go through what you’ll be doing as Director, don’t we?”

The director glumly nodded. “I’m really in charge of them now?” She winced and flicked her ear. “Somehow I don’t think I’m cut out for this.”

The princess reached out to touch her tenderly. “Hey. I’ve got your back, Starlight. We’ll get through this together. Right? Besides, I saw how you took charge there, knowing what you know about Grogar and Gusty is probably why Luna picked you for this.”

“I guess. I just wish I had some warning about this, I only barely had enough time to give Sunburst and Trixie a warning that I’d be away from the school for a while.”

“I know how you feel.” Twilight sighed as her horn began to glow and she quickly began to place everything back where it was. “How are you three, by the way? We haven’t spoken for a while, have we?”

“Oh we’re good. Super even,” Starlight beamed happily, always glad to talk about her special someponies. “We all went to Las Pegasus for Trixie’s birthday last weekend.”

“Oh that must have been nice,” the princess chuckled. “But I thought Sunburst didn’t like rollercoasters?”

The lilac mare’s cheeks turned a slight pink as she pawed bashfully at the ground and brushed some mane out of her face. “We didn’t go there to ride the rollercoasters, Twilight.”

Twilight stared at her for a few seconds before her own cheeks turned scarlet and her wings fluffed up. “You’re terrible, Starlight Glimmer,” she declared.

“Hey there’s three of us, I’m not the only one to blame!”

They glared at one another. Then they began to laugh. They giggled and gossiped like friends often should.

The moment of jubilation they had was but a fleeting moment, however, for as Starlight covered her mouth to compose herself and looked towards the door, her smile faded and worrisome thoughts began to take hold as she thought about the Knights and their latest adversary.

“So what’s the plan, Twilight?” she murmured quietly. “Where do we start with... this?”

The princess sighed. It was a valid question indeed, and one she didn’t really have an answer for. She rubbed her ear and fluttered her wings. “I think...” she murmured as her stomach grumbled. “We should get some breakfast, for starters.”

The director nodded and started to inch towards the door, subtly trying to not look at the mess the Knights had caused. “Cool. Cool, cool, cool--I’ll go and get us some, and you-”

“Oh no you don’t,” Twilight quickly said with a mischievous grin as her horn lit up and procured a dustpan and brush from under her desk. They floated towards Starlight and gently bumped against her a few times. “Your team is responsible for this mess. So get to work, Director.”

Starlight groaned and dragged a hoof down her face as she begrudgingly took the dustpan and brush in her magic. “Ugh, I knew there was a catch,” she muttered grimly.

“What ever do you mean? Working with some of Equestria’s most dangerous ex-villains and possible loose cannons isn’t going to be stressful at all. You make a start and I’ll start with organising your new duties into a comprehensive list and write up some letters. Sound fair?”

“Not at all.”

“That’s the spirit. Welcome to the Nightmare Knights, Starlight Glimmer.”

End Of The Line

The Friendship Express was quiet today, thought Glitter Drops.

Canterlot was usually so busy, it was a surprise to her that the train was mostly empty. Well, at least the back carriage was. Currently joining her would be an old pony sitting near the front, a family of four near the middle, a hoity toity looking unicorn on his own at the back, and in between them all was she herself, and of course-

“Mom, look!”

She turned and smiled at the frizzy haired filly sitting beside her, currently pressing her face against the window. “What’s that, honey?” she asked. “Is it one of the princesses?”

“Uh uh! You gotta guess,” Fizzy mumbled in awe, still with her face pressed against the glass. The little filly was almost the spitting image of her mother. Solid teal coat, with a mane only a few shades lighter and eyes just as bright and the same shade of indigo. The only difference was in the mane’s texture. While Glitter’s was poofy and well kempt, little Fizzy’s was wild and unruly, despite her mother’s best efforts. A feature from her father no doubt.

Glitter chuckled and wrapped a hoof around her foal as she rattled her brain to think of who the filly liked more than any of the princesses. “Oh? Is iiiit Songbird Serenade?”

“Uh uh!”

“Sapphire Shores?”

“Nope!”

“Fluttershy?”

“Mom, you know Rarity’s the best out of all of them! And no, darling, it’s not Miss Rarity either before you ask.”

Glitter rolled her eyes at the forced eloquence of which her child spoke in an imitation of her favourite Element of Harmony. “Well then who is it?” she chortled, nuzzling into the filly’s frizzy mane. “Oh, is it Uncle Spring?” Uncle Spring Rain. Her childhood friend, now happily married to a stallion of his own and living in Chicoltgo. She hoped it was him as she hadn’t seen that old scallywag in a good while.

Fizzy quickly pulled away from the window and wiped her hoof against it as her breath began to fog it up. Satisfied with her peeping window, she pressed her nose against it again. “Oh! Oh!” she cried happily, jumping up and down in her seat as she craned her neck to try and see whoever it was. “They’re getting on! Do you think I can ask them for an autograph, mom?”

Now that really caught Glitter’s attention. They? Who were they? Again, she racked her brains thinking of who Fizzy could be talking about. Then she remembered a few nights ago, when they had all been watching that alleged ghost haunting show Bump! hosted by those charlatans Flim and Flam. Suddenly she went pale and her chest grew tight.

“Sweetie,” she mumbled, “you don’t mean...?”

The frizzy haired filly happily clapped her hooves together as she spun around and perched on the edge of the seat in front of them, peering towards the entrance to the car. “The Nightmare Knights are so cool!” she cried. “Sooo much cooler than the Wonderbolts, blegh. I hope they sit next to us.”

Glitter Drops felt her blood freeze in her veins. When she had seen her old friend, and namesake of her daughter, on television traipsing around some dark woods with some of Equestria’s most terrifying bad guys, calling themselves the ‘Nightmare Knights’, in search of the Headless Horse, she felt like she had seen a ghost for herself. Nopony from Nowhere--the quiet little village she grew up in--had seen Fizzlepop Berrytwist in years. Not since... the incident.

She pressed her teeth into her lip. An awful guilt had hung over her head for years since that whole ugly affair. She was the one to throw that ball, after all. But Fizzy... Fizzlepop that is, had insisted on being the one to go get it, to be the one to venture into that cave. When she had gotten out of hospital and could play again, Glitter was ashamed to admit she was frightened of her friend. Her magic had become unruly and destructive, and despite wanting to still be friends, she caught herself more than once shying away from Fizzy’s offer to play. After that they just sort of... fizzled out as it were.

Then the teasing from the other kids started, and that horrid nickname soon followed.

The laughter and relentless bullying only stopped when Fizzlepop vanished without a trace one day. Glitter Drops and Spring Rain both spent countless hours gallivanting around the countryside, calling her name and begging her to come home, begging for forgiveness for not standing up for her, for not defending their friend when she needed it.

Several unbearable months later the search was cancelled and everypony moved on. Glitter didn’t, though. She always believed her best friend was alive somewhere, and when she had met her special somepony and settled down, she insisted they name their firstborn after her. Just in case they ever did meet again.

That just in case was apparently about to happen, and she gave the foal in her hooves a gentle squeeze as she felt her breath catch in her throat.

“Mom?” Fizzy looked up at her curiously as she turned around. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, um...” Glitter quickly shook her head and forced a smile onto her face. “Just thinking, honey. Which... Knight is your favourite?” she asked, having a dreadful feeling like she already knew the answer.

“Tempest Shadow, duh! She’s cool and tough, and strong. I wanna be just like her when I grow up!”

Momma Drops flinched as she remembered, in vivid detail, the ursa’s paw coming down, Fizzy crying out in pain, and all the misery that came after it. “I don’t think that’s the best idea, honey. See, Miss Shadow-”

“Commander Shadow,” the filly pointed out, and raised a hoof to her head as she turned to look at the door.

“Right, yes, sorry. Commander Shadow-”

Glitter froze. She felt a pair of eyes stare at her. A pair of purple eyes with a scar running over one of them. Slowly, she turned her head and looked up, directly into the eyes of Fizzlepop Berrytwist, also known as Tempest Shadow herself.

The dark pony’s pupils were small and her ears twitched top her head. Her tail flicked out sideways and her nose wrinkled. She flinched, and appeared to snap back to reality. “This one’s nearly empty. It’ll do,” she barked, turning her head to address those following her.

Cozy Glow, the once Bane of all Magic and most nefarious filly in all of Equestria flew into view and peered over the dark mare’s shoulder. “What, no buffet table?”

Tempest flicked her tail again and sighed. “How can you still be thinking about food? We’ve just eaten,” she growled, stepping to one side.

The small pegasus blew a raspberry at her and waved her hoof. “C’mon guys, Tempest doesn’t understand the idea of second breakfast.” She drifted passed the scarred unicorn and settled own into a seat at a conveniently sized four creature space directly across from Glitter and Fizzy.

Glitter Drops swallowed as the rest of the Knights trundled in after her. Lord Tirek was so big he had to hunch over to avoid scraping the ceilings with his horns, and Queen Chrysalis looked around disdainfully at the inside of the train and down at her fellow passengers with a mask of barely contained contempt on her face.

“Friendship Express...” she sneered. “Why do ponies insist on naming everything so annoyingly nice?”

Tirek snickered and slid into his seat. Glitter noticed he had one of his arms in a sling, and imagined what kind of frightful creature could have done that to him. He looked up at Tempest still standing by the door and frowned. “Commander, are you going to join us or stand there all journey?”

They all looked over as Tempest took a few stiff steps forwards and eventually sat down, just a couple of feet away from the pony of her past. She kept her eyes focused ahead like a laser, refusing to even twitch in Glitter’s direction.

Glitter herself sat upright, feeling on the spot and unbearably tense. Beside her Fizzy practically squealed in excitement and kept staring at the Knights, and outside the platform slowly begin to move as the train finally pushed off.

“H-Honey, come here,” the young mare said quietly, wrapping a hoof around the filly again. She hated how shaky her voice sounded, and cleared her throat quietly. She pulled her daughter in close and whispered in her ear. “They look busy. Maybe we should let them ride in peace?”

Fizzy looked up at her and began to pout. “But-” she protested.

“Butts are for sitting, not for sentences.” Glitter shushed her and shook her head, feeling her brow begin to dot with sweat.

“Hrrmm... yes, momma,” the filly grumbled sulkily and folded her hooves. The stern look she was getting didn’t stop her from looking over at the Nightmare Knights occasionally.

From the corner of her eye Glitter saw Tempest’s head twitch in their direction. She swallowed again and remained looking ahead in a frozen and awkward pose. What was she supposed to say? Was she supposed to say anything? A multitude of questions assaulted her mind, each one leaving her with little to no comfort. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, just as the looming figure of Foal Mountain shadowed the train.

She released a shuddering breath and opened her eyes as darkness enveloped the train. The automatic lights flickered on and bathed them all in a soft orange glow. Fizzy nestled against her and shivered. “I hate this tunnel,” she mumbled quietly.

Glitter reached over to tousle her mane and smiled. “I know. It’ll be over soon, sweetie,” she said reassuringly. “Just you wait and see.”

The train trundled on for a few minutes more towards its destination. Glitter glanced over at Tempest once or twice in that time, and each time the dark mare simply sat with a stone cold and expressionless mask. She thought more than once about saying something, but again, what was she supposed to say? And how would she even broach the subject?

“Would you kindly tell your child to stop staring at us?”

Glitter blinked and roused herself from her thoughts as a stern voice snapped at her. Beside her Fizzy squeaked and buried her head into her side. She looked over at Chrysalis scowling at both of them and immediately began to pale. “Oh... oh m--I’m sorry, she--Fizzy I told you to not stare!” she stammered.

“I know, mom, I know.” Fizzy mumbled shyly, poking out from behind one of Glitter’s legs to stare at Chrysalis with big, shining eyes that twinkled like they were full of stars. Perhaps they were, as Momma Drops had seen that look many times before whenever the Knights were on the news.

“Apologise at once,” Glitter sternly told her, swallowing her anxiety to put on that mom voice.

Her daughter hung her head and gently pressed the tips of her hooves together. “I’m sorry, Miss Chrysalis, it’s just... I’m the Nightmare Knights’ biggest fan!” she exclaimed, unable to contain herself.

Chrysalis’s brow loosened from a deep scowl into a knot of confusion. “Our biggest... fan?” she wrinkled the end of her nose and leaned forwards. “Why?”

“Because you’re cool! A lot of ponies at school love the Wonderbolts or Princess Twilight and her friends, but I think you guys are the coolest group in Equestria,” the filly squeaked, gazing up at the changeling queen with wide, awestruck eyes before turning to look at her scowling mother. Her ears turned down and she swallowed. “B-But I’m sorry for bothering you. I’ll stop now. It was an honour meeting you, Nightmare Knights”

Glitter Drops nodded, satisfied with that apology. Her heart melted for her daughter, but she knew it was for the better. She tucked Fizzy under her leg and turned her away, and gave the quartet an apologetic grimace. “I’m sorry again,” she mumbled, bitterly thinking there goes her chance to speak to Tempest.

The Nightmare Knights looked utterly perplexed and somewhat bemused. Except of course Tempest, who still sat rigid and unmoving, simply staring ahead. An awkward silence carried for a few minutes more before Cozy Glow finally spoke up.

“Cool, huh?” the devious filly grinned. “I guess I am pretty cool after all. Who’s you’re favourite?” she chuckled, adding a wink on to the end of her question and leaned across the table between the Knights. “I mean, I already know, we kids gotta stick together against all these ‘grownups’ right? But humour the old guys.”

Fizzy began to giggle and grinned back. Glitter flicked her eyes up towards Tempest again, but the stoic mare remained... well, stoic and uncaring, and still just stared directly ahead. She sighed and released her hold, knowing that her daughter’s inner fangirl was about to burst now that her ‘idols’ were paying attention to her.

“Oh please don’t feed her ego anymore,” Tirek groaned, shaking his head as he pushed Cozy back into her seat. “If her head gets any bigger it may explode. Anyway it’s obvious that this small child is a pony of supreme intelligence, therefore, she’s actually my biggest fan, not yours.”

Chrysalis scoffed and bared her fangs at him. “And you are so painfully stupid sometimes, my Lord Tirek, that it is a wonder you’ve survived this long.” She flourished her wings and her mane and smiled sweetly at them all. “Clearly this child, whose name is...”

“Fizzy,” Fizzy declared happily. Glitter saw Tempest flinch out the corner of her eye, and saw how one particular vein in the dark mare’s neck began to swell and how her muscles tensed up.

“Fizzy,” Chrysalis continued, “is aware of the grace and beauty required to be a queen, and therefore I will allow her to be my biggest fan, so that she may spread the word of Chrysalis far and wide.” Her eyes shone and sparkled like two vibrant emeralds, and Glitter felt the teeniest, tiniest amount of apprehension as she ran her tongue over her sharpened teeth.

Fizzy meanwhile seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself and saw nothing wrong. She giggled again and held her hooves to her face as her cheeks turned slightly pink.

Cozy leaned in, almost as excited as she was. “So who’s your favourite, then?” she asked, subtly pointing at herself.

“Her,” Fizzy proclaimed, pointing her hoof directly at the sullen faced Tempest Shadow. “B-But I like you all,” she quickly stammered as the Knights’ faces fell and each looked disappointed. She beamed as she began to gush about them. “Chrysalis you’re so pretty, and Tirek you’re so smart, you must know more than Princess Twilight does, right? And Cozy Glow do you... do you think we can be best friends?”

Tirek smirked and adjusted the hem of his vest. Chrysalis looked rather pleased with herself and ran a hoof down the length of her mane, her eyes glinting with glee. Cozy’s face twisted into a lopsided grin and she held out her hoof “Definitely. You can be my apprentice after Tirek teaches me how to do magic!”

“When I what?” the centaur sputtered.

Fizzy hoof bumped the maniacal filly and beamed with joy. Glitter also beamed, but with pride at how her daughter could so easily make friends, even if that friend was Cozy Glow. “And Commander Shadow you’re just the coolest! How you chased Princess Twilight across Equestria, how you drove that big ship, oh! And how you...”

She paused as Tempest remained stone faced and expressionless, not even looking at the filly speaking to her.

Cozy turned to the commander and reached out to boop her on the nose. “Hello? Equestria to Tempy? You got a fan, aren’t ya gonna say anyth-”

Tempest moved as quick as a viper and grabbed the hoof a mere millimetre away from her nose and glared at its owner. The filly’s eyes widened in a mild terror, and even Fizzy’s indomitable attitude wavered. Tirek and Chrysalis both straightened up and swallowed, clearly feeling nervous and worried both. In a quite touching gesture, Glitter thought, the changeling’s wing flourished out towards Fizzy in a sort of protective manner.

A shadow seemed to darken the commander’s eyes as she looked around at them all and she silently released Cozy’s hoof. “Excuse me. I need some air,” she grunted. Chrysalis tucked her legs in as she moved passed and began to march towards the back of the train. She jerked the back door open and stepped out onto the bit with the railings, closing the door behind her with a gentle slam, but a slam nonetheless.

“Did I say something wrong?” Fizzy mumbled as a tear rolled down her cheek. Her lip quivered and she looked up at her mom with the biggest, widest eyes in the world.

Glitter felt a fire ignite in her belly. Tempest may have had beef with her, may have hated her and wanted nothing to do with her, but nopony, and nopony makes her little Fizzy cry. She tried to calm herself and not let her anger show as she patted her foal’s little, frizzy head. “No, you didn’t sweetie.”

She looked up, glaring at the Knights. They looked back, then towards where Tempest had gone.

Chrysalis swallowed. “A mother’s wrath is something to behold. I will not interfere,” she muttered.

“A sentiment I too share,” Tirek echoed.

Cozy gulped and flapped her wings. She drifted over to sit opposite Glitter and Fizzy. “Uh, hey, Fizzy? Wanna hear about our latest job?”

Fizzy’s face lit up. The excitable young filly’s eyes began to sparkle again and some colour returned to her face. “Oh! Were you fighting a banshee? Or a spectre? Ooh! Were you vanquishing a ten thousand year old Ponerian shape-shifting god of destruction threatening to destroy the world?”

As Glitter stood up, trembling slightly with fury, she hesitated. Everything she knew about the Knights claimed they were villains, monsters of the highest calibre. But here they were, and here she was entrusting her only daughter, the light of her life to them, and she was perfectly okay with it. Not only that, but Chrysalis appeared fearful of her for a moment there.

“Fizzy, be a good girl, okay? Momma needs to have a few words with Mss Shadow.” Her voice wavered only so slightly and her legs shook. The anger and anxiety had mixed into something unpleasant and she had butterflies. She gave the Knights a curt nod and kissed her foal’s head.

Fizzy nuzzled her back. “Don’t be too mean,” she ordered.

Glitter smiled. “Of course not. Just a few words, is all.”

With that, she turned, and marched towards the back of the train. The uppity unicorn from before had fallen asleep and leaned against his seat with his mouth open, a thin trail of drool hanging from his mouth. He reminded Glitter of her husband and Fizzy’s father, the aspiring drink aficionado Frobscottle. Oh boy was he gonna get a story later. She took a deep breath as she opened the door and stepped out into the cool air of the tunnel.

Just a few feet away Tempest Shadow turned, and upon realising who it was, promptly turned away with a snort.

Glitter closed the door behind her with a soft click and cleared her throat. “Miss Shadow,” she started, putting as much authority as she could into her voice. “I want you to apologise for upsetting my daughter.”

The cold shoulder she received as a response made her resolve weaken just a touch. She sighed, and wrinkled her nose before speaking again. “Fizzy, I-”

“Tempest,” Tempest snapped coldly. “My name. Is Tempest Shadow.” She turned again and sneered down at the young mare as she practically spat her words out. “I didn’t come out here for company, Glitter Drops. And I certainly don’t want to talk to you. So turn around and walk away--we have nothing to say to one another.”

If Glitter wasn’t furious, she would have been hurt by how her old friend was speaking to her. Her heart was both hardened by her mother’s instinct and protectiveness of her child, and currently ripping itself apart as a flood of happy memories that may never come to be again seemed to vanish in an instant. “You made my daughter cry,” she said plainly. “If you hate me, fine go ahead, but don’t you dare-” She strode up to her old friend and jabbed her hoof against her chest. “Don’t you dare, make my daughter cry, Tempest.”

The commander glared and grabbed her hoof. In one swift motion, she flipped the young mare around and onto her back, and pinned her beneath her heavy hooves. Glitter looked up in fright and alarm as the commander’s horn began to crackle and spark with lightning. “Don’t. Push me. Glitter Drops,” she growled.

Her eyes were glowing with magic and rage. And hate. She released her hold of the young mare and straightened herself up. “Now go away. If I have to choose between being alone or being with you for the rest of this train ride, then I choose to be alone.”

Glitter held a hoof to her chest and quickly picked herself up, her breath coming short and fast. She was frightened. In all the years she had spent imagining how this meeting would go down if she and Fizzlepop were to ever meet again, she had never expected it to turn out like this. And she was afraid. As she rubbed her eyes and tried to do something about her frazzled mane, her trembling legs finally gave way. She fell, directly onto the rickety railing.

There was a creak and a snap, and before she knew it she was falling even further, and the train tracks were rushing up to meet her. She flailed her legs out, trying to catch herself on something--anything. There was a sharp tug on her tail, and she turned her petrified eyes towards its source. To her surprise and somewhat relief, Tempest had grabbed a hold of her in her teeth and was trying to pull her back aboard the train, but she was too far forwards, too close to the edge. Glitter could see her hooves begin to slip, and her heart leapt into her throat.

“Fizzy, watch out!” she cried, a mere second too late.

Tempest lost her footing. As both mares tumbled through the air time seemed to slow down, and returned to normal when they hit the ground hard.

They bounced a few times amidst the little rocks and dirt of the train tunnel before coming to a complete halt. The lights of the train faded away into the darkness of the tunnel, and Glitter felt her heartbeat in her ears as she looked at where it had been just a moment ago. “Fizzy?” she whispered, listening to the rumble echo around in the dark, oppressive tunnel. “My baby...”

***

All Glitter Drops could think about was how her child was alone now. Sure she was being looked after by the Nightmare Knights, but other than that she was alone. A palpable, tasteable fear began to build inside her. What if she never saw her little Fizzy again? What if she could never get out of this tunnel? Oh Celestia, what was she supposed to do?

She took a deep breath and inhaled. “Relax, Glitter. You’re just in a tunnel. You’ve been through it loads of times. It has an end. First thing’s first, get some light going.” Upon her command her horn began to glow a soft teal blue. She was never that good at magic, but she knew the basics pretty well, as well as a pretty neat bit of healing magic that came in handy once or twice when Fizzy scraped her knees. She looked around now that she had some light and gasped when she saw her companion.

Tempest looked badly hurt--she had hit the ground harder than Glitter had apparently, for while the young mare had only a few bruises and sore spots, the commander had a nasty cut on her head and she was holding one of her legs close to her chest.

She groaned and grunted as she picked herself up. Her opal eyes glinted and shone in the light cast from Glitter’s horn. “Ugh... Are you okay?” she snorted.

Glitter nodded slowly and stiffly.

“Good. We need to keep moving.”

The young mare blinked. “But... you’re hurt,” she stated, watching as Tempest limped towards her. “Shouldn’t we... wait for rescue? Or at least until you can walk?”

“I can walk fine,” the Nightmare Knight growled, placing her injured hoof onto the ground gingerly. “And how long do you think that will be? Before or after another train comes through here?”

Glitter bit her lip and swallowed. “O-Okay, then...”

Tempest marched passed her without another word, grunting with each step on her bad leg.

A terribly awkward silence descended upon them as they walked. Glitter held her head up as high as she could, giving them enough light to see while also trying to keep an eye on the dark mare that had tackled her... and tried to save her.

“Why did you do it?” she murmured quietly, unable to contain herself or commit herself to silence for the entire walk.

“Ugh... do what?” Tempest grunted.

“Try to... to save me?”

“I’m a Nightmare Knight, it’s what I... hnng... do. We’re sworn to protect the ponies of Equestria, and... hnng... whoever else needs it, from all sorts of... hnng... dangers, not just ghosts.” The commander shot her a look. “Including clumsy idiots who don’t watch where they’re going.”

Glitter blinked back a fresh set of tears and grew indignant. “You frightened me,” she whispered. “And that railing wasn’t secured properly.”

Silence answered her. Well, silence save for Tempest’s grunting and their accompanying hoofbeats.

Glitter Drops’ mind began to race as they trudged on through the darkness. She thought again about how Fizzy was alone, and what if they didn’t get out of this tunnel before another train came? Just how long was the tunnel through foal mountain? They had been riding the train for a while so it shouldn’t be that much further, right? They must have been at least halfway through, surely. Celestia’s sake, that would mean they had to walk through half a mountain-

”Gliiiitterrrr...”

Her ear twitched and she stopped, cocking her head to one side as she did so.

Tempest also stopped when she saw the light source stop following her, and turned around. “What is it?” she grumbled.

“I thought I heard something,” Glitter murmured, listening intently. “A... voice calling out to me.”

The dark mare narrowed her eyes and cocked her own ear out for a few minutes. “I don’t hear anything,” she grunted. Her scowl loosened as she spoke, and she gestured forwards. “We should keep moving. Hearing... hnng... voices in the dark is usually a bad sign.”

Glitter agreed, and started to move again. Every now and then she heard a noise, like hoofsteps behind her, then in front of her. “It’s just your imagination,” she told herself. “There’s nothing in this tunnel besides you and...” Images of her daughter flooded her mind again and as tears misted her vision, she stumbled. Right into Tempest’s flank.

“Careful,” the dark mare said, catching her. They shared a look as Glitter readjusted herself. She sniffed and rubbed her nose, turning it up at the Knight. “You’re welcome,” said Knight sneered.

“You made my daughter cry,” Glitter snapped. “And then you attacked me. Now we’re stuck here, and you’ve already made your position towards me quite clear. So if it’s all the same to you, let’s just go.”

They glared at each other for a moment before Tempest snorted and nodded. “Fine by me.”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

Glitter glowered at her company as they set off in absolute silence. After a length of time she kicked a rock out of her way in frustration. It bounced along the ground for a while, then fell away into nothing. A sudden endless, bottomless abyss too dark and too deep to see how far it truly went. She stopped just shy of it and peered down over the edge, and shined her horn as much as she could. Their path led them directly over it, over an old bridge made of rusted metal and worn concrete.

“Was there always a bridge in this mountain?” she asked.

“If there was, how often does anypony see it?” Tempest said coming to a halt beside her. “It’s too dark to see anything, and who’s looking out the window in this place?” Now that she was closer, Glitter could see the fresh blood running down her face.

“Do you want me to dress that for you?” she asked quietly. “Or tidy it up at least?”

Tempest stiffened and fixed her eyes on her. “With what, exactly?” she growled.

The young mother looked over her uniform. “A sleeve of your jumpsuit would do,” she said simply. “And... I know a bit of healing magic.”

Under the cold stare she was getting she shrugged and made to move on, only to hear the sound of ripping fabric a moment later. The commander pulled her sleeve off using her teeth and bundled it up. “There,” she said, throwing it at Glitter. “Do what you have to do, and hurry up.”

Glitter Drops scowled and took it in her magic. “If you’d sit down this would be easier,” she said, looking at the gash below the Knight’s horn.

Tempest sighed and reluctantly sat down.

Glitter took a deep breath as her horn began to glow brighter and a tendril of light reached out towards the wound on the dark mare’s head. “I’m sorry if this hurts,” she said. She was sorry--honestly--but a small, vindictive part of her, the mother side of her, took the tiniest ounce of joy in seeing the mare who made her baby cry wince in pain. Tempest grit her teeth and hissed. The blood trickling down her face stopped and began to turn backwards, and the wound closed up a little bit.

The teal coloured nurse took her position behind her old friend, holding both ends of the fabric in her magic and drew it around Tempest’s head. “Hold still,” she grunted.

“It hurts,” snapped Tempest.

“If you held still it wouldn’t hurt as much!”

“And if you had just turned around and walked away, we wouldn’t be in this mess would we?”

Glitter snorted and roughly grabbed Tempest’s head in her magic, losing her patience and fought to hold her still as she tied the makeshift bandage. “And if you hadn’t attacked me and frightened me I wouldn’t have had wobbly legs, and I wouldn’t have fallen against he railing. Would I, Commander?”

Tempest growled and bristled, wincing every few seconds. “I could have let you fall,” she grumbled.

The makeshift nurse sighed. “Well I’m glad you didn’t,” she muttered quietly as tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m glad Fizzy has a mother, still. Even if she is lost in this Celestia-forsaken tunnel.”

The dark mare shivered and flicked her tail along the ground. “How... how old is... Fizzy?” she murmured.

“Eight and a half, although you wouldn’t guess that from how she speaks. She loves books, almost as much as she loves you.”

Glitter added the last bit on out of sheer spite, hoping to elicit some sort of reaction from the grumpy mare she once called friend. To her surprise, Tempest’s head turned and she swore she caught some glisten of moisture dampening her cheek.

“Look... I’m, uh,” she began, only for a cold wind to blow down the tunnel, accompanied by a soft and almost sensual voice.

”Gliiiterrr... Teeempessst...”

Both of them heard it. Glitter swallowed and finished tying the bandage as best as she could. “That’ll have to do,” she said quickly. “Although your leg...”

“I can manage,” the dark mare said stubbornly as she rose to her full height. “We need to move,” she said with all the authority she had as Commander of the Nightmare Knights. “Across the bridge. Now.”

Glitter nodded. “I agree. Climb on my back.”

“I beg your pardon?” Tempest sneered.

“I can get us over this thing faster without you hobbling. Trust me.”

Both of them looked over the bridge. Its rusted metal groaned and creaked, echoing in the chamber around them. Patches of the concrete that formed the bridge had long since decomposed and worn away, leaving numerous potholes in their path. Not only that, but the seemingly endless abyss beneath seemed to almost creep up with shadowy tendrils on the edge of Glitter’s light.

“And you’re going to carry me, is that right?”

“Well... it’s that, or I pick you up with my magic. I figured you’d want a bit more dignity than that.” Glitter smirked coyly as Tempest’s ears turned down.

“Fffffine. No comments about how heavy I weigh, then.”

Tempest gingerly stepped forwards as Glitter crouched. To her surprise the commander was lighter than she looked, and nestled in quite comfortably on her back. Glitter fought to supress a shiver as her breath brushed against the back of her neck. “Hold on,” she said as she took a few tentative steps forwards, warily keeping an eye out for any potholes.

“If you drop me I’ll kill you myself,” Tempest warned.

It was meant as a joke, at least, Glitter hoped it was a joke, but it didn’t make her laugh. She was too focused on looking where to go. Even with her light she couldn’t see that far.

“Do you think we can have some more light, Tempest?” she asked the mare on her back.

To answer her Tempest’s horn began to sparkle and crack with lightning. She fired a big blast of magic into the air that exploded like a continuous firework, lighting up the cavern and sending several sparks shimmering down onto them and their path, and with it, Glitter could see plainly where to go now.

“Thanks.”

She braced herself to move quickly but carefully, examining the best route to take across this potentially hazardous structure. As she moved her hoof, she nudged a small rock beside the rail. Off it tumbled, over the side of the bridge, and down into the depths it went, down to join a series of strange little moving white rocks in the darkness. Glitter looked down at them and squinted when she saw them start to move.

“What... are they?” she murmured. “Some of them are moving, look.”

Tempest turned her head and looked down as well. She quickly gasped and dug her hooves into the mare underneath her, making Glitter whinny and squeal in pain.

“Hey, that hurt!”

“Shut up and run!” Tempest barked. “Now!”

The urgency in her voice and the fear her words were dripping with spurred Glitter on. With a hop, skip and a jump here, and a quick dash there, they reached the other side of the bridge in no time.

“Don’t stop,” Tempest said, climbing down off of her back to hobble ahead as Glitter caught her breath. “We need to keep moving.”

“Why? What are they? Those little white stones?”

“They weren’t stones, Dropsy,” Tempest said, looking back at her. The whites of her eyes were showing in spite of how big her irises were, indicating how fearful she really was. “They were eyes. And I’d rather not stick around long enough to find out what manner of creature they belonged to. Bad things live in the dark in places like this.” She turned without another word, letting her words hang heavy in the air, and marched on ahead.

Glitter paled. She glanced back at where the bridge was, and spotted two of the same white ‘stones’ peering at her from over the edge, where just a few seconds ago is where she was standing. They narrowed and just kept staring, like an ungodly pair of spotlights in the darkness. The fear those eyes gave her was real alright, and she hurried on ahead to re-join Tempest.

After another few short minutes, with her imagination running wild with whatever else lay in the dark waiting for them, Glitter thought about Fizzy and wondered how she was doing. If she even realised her mother was missing, that is. It killed her knowing that all she could do was hope the Knights had everything in hoof. What if they needed to get off the train for whatever reason? What if Fizzy looked around for her and saw she wasn’t there? A thousand what ifs. All of them involved Fizzy in one way or another. Her daughter, not her current companion, that is. She realised now how confusing that would be should they ever meet properly.

“There,” Tempest said after they finally stopped hustling. “That should be enough distance. I don’t think they’d crawl out of their hole just to chase two ponies. Whatever they were.”

As she opened her mouth to answer, Glitter’s ear twitched.

”Gliiiterrr... Teeempessst...”

Both mares turned to look back at where the voice had come from. Both sets of scowls appeared on their faces. “Speaking of chasing... that one is still following us.” Tempest growled. Her eyes narrowed as she stared into the darkness.

“What is it?” Glitter whispered fearfully, somewhat grateful and sad at the change of subject.

“I’m not sure. Could be a type of ghost, I suppose. Could even be our imaginations, but it’s hard to tell without seeing it.”

“How many ghosts are there?”

“Oh, hundreds, Glitter. You’ve got the six main groups of ghosts, then you’ve got subcategories of ghosts within those six: Sprites, disturbances, elementals are the sort of ‘weaker ones’,” she said, “while vapours, frighteners and finally horrors tend to be more aggressive in nature.”

Glitter nodded, not really understanding but glad that Tempest was speaking to her so nicely.

“Tirek knows most of them by heart and I bet he could tell you exactly what’s chasing us in a heartbeat, but the rest of us just have to take guesses.”

“Do you have any preference for what kind of ghosts you fight?” the young mare asked.

Tempest scoffed. “Obviously we all prefer a casual disturbance--your run of the mill bump-in-the-night types--or even a sprite--sometimes the ghost of a cat or dog--to, say, a demon or a revenant. A demon would be a horror, and a revenant is a particularly vengeful vapour,” she explained.

Although Equestria was indeed a magical, amazing place full of all sorts of wondrous things, the casual mention of demons and vengeful ghosts made Glitter pale, and all she could manage to say was: “Oh.”

She and Tempest both fell silent after that and she decided retreated back into her thoughts as they pressed on. She thought about home, about Nowhere and Spring Rain and wondered how he was doing. Then her little Fizzy wandered into her mind and she swallowed down another anxiety attack before it could take place. She swore she was going to drown that little filly in kisses if they got out of this tunnel.

“When,” she quietly corrected herself. “Not if...”

“What was that?”

She flinched as Tempest’s sharp voice rang out in the quiet tunnel and turned to look at her. “Oh, um... just giving myself a little pep talk,” she stammered, smiling awkwardly.

The dark mare continued to look at her for a while before nodding slowly. “I do that,” she murmured. “Sometimes. When the stares we get become too much, or when the team’s being uncooperative. Although that’s hardly ever now.”

The end of Glitter’s nose wrinkled as a curious thought pushed itself to the forefront of her mind. “Can I ask? What’s it like, hanging out with them all day?”

Tempest snorted. “It used to be worrying. The first few weeks after they were released I slept with one eye open to make sure one of them--not saying who--wasn’t going to try and smother me in my sleep or something.”

A few seconds passed between them in silence.

“...Chrysalis?”

“Chrysalis.”

Both mares laughed quietly together at that. A strangely joyful sound in this dark and dreary place under the mounting. Tempest shook her head and continued. “But that changed. Now... we’re friends, in a way. Despite Chrysalis’s best efforts and suggestions otherwise, and taking into account their constant arguing, they’re all good creatures deep down. It might not look like it sometimes, but we’re friends. I think. Sorta like Equestria’s most dysfunctional family.”

Glitter laughed and bobbed her head up and down. “I can tell. You know, I never thought I’d ever see them in person, or even speak to them--let alone leave my baby with them,” she confessed. “I was in Canterlot when they... uh, y’know.”

Tempest tensed up slightly and her smile faded. “A lot of ponies were. Those same ponies, despite how they’ve changed, still see them as villains. Still see me as a villain. That’s why when Chrysalis asked...” She swallowed and the pain flickering across her face was plain to see, even in this oppressive darkness. “Fizzy... to stop staring, well we all assumed it was because she was frightened of us. We’ve never met anypony who’s a fan before. I mean, sure ponies know us, and know of us, but we’ve never had anypony declare themselves to be our biggest fan... they needed that, I think.”

Glitter Drops smiled, more proud of her daughter than she had ever been, and made a mental note to herself to tell her so. “Well... just so you know, Fizzy adores you. Ever since you saved Canterlot from that giant... thing and swamped our house in whatever that stuff was, she’s been obsessed with you guys and followed all your adventures in the news.”

She spotted the corners of the Knight’s mouth quirk upwards. “Sorry about that,” she murmured. She sighed and came to a halt, holding her head up high. “Look, Glitter, I...”

Glitter also stopped and looked at her expectantly.

“I’m sorry. For frightening you. I’m sorry I let us fall, too.”

They shared a look and inclined their heads towards one another. Glitter didn’t realise how close they had grown to each other even as they walked side by side. She liked it, but had to stop herself from reaching out towards her old friend. She felt like they weren’t quite there yet. Yet.

“And... for what’s worth I’m sorry for making Fizzy cry, too.”

Glitter’s ears suddenly pricked up.

“That was wrong of me,” the dark mare said, sadly looking at her. “And I promise that when we get out of this tunnel... I’ll make it up to her, somehow.” Tempest’s smile may have been forced, but then it may have not been. Regardless, it was the intent behind it that mattered.

Glitter’s heart felt all warm and fuzzy and she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she recognised her old friend from all those years ago, not Tempest Shadow, but Fizzlepop Berrytwist. “Thank you,” she said after a moment’s pause. “That... means a lot to me, and it’ll mean a lot to her, as well.”

They drew closer together for a moment, close enough that their breaths that hung in the air intermingled.

They both hesitated.

Tempest frowned and blew out the side of her mouth, watching the mist trail off into the darkness. “We need to keep moving,” she murmured. “It shouldn’t be much further now. Come on.”

Glitter nodded glumly and shivered. “Why is it so cold all of a sudden?” she whispered.

“Freezing temperatures indicates supernatural presences,” the commander explained. Hear ear flicked atop her head and she licked her lips, turning to give Glitter a knowing look. “We’re not alone here.”

As if to confirm her words, that soft, sultry voice from before whispered their names again, only this time, it sounded a heck of a lot closer.

“Gliiittteeerrr... Teeempessst...”

The pair of mares froze and slowly turned, and the light in Glitter’s horn flickered. She went cross-eyed as she looked up at it and swallowed hard. “Tempest...?” she squeaked.

“Get ready to run,” Tempest told her, scanning the darkness for any sign of movement. Her own horn began to spark and crackle. The light flickered again and faded completely. Glitter tried desperately to will her magic to come back, but a cold sensation took hold of her mind and she found that she simply couldn’t.

A firework of magic rocketed off from the commander’s horn down the tunnel. It hit something and exploded into a shower of light. The shriek that followed the explosion shook Glitter to her very core, and she took a panicked step back as whatever it was screeched and started hurtling towards them.

“Glitter, run,” Tempest ordered. “Now. Move!”

The commander remained still and held her head up high as she sent firework after firework down towards whatever it was.

The frozen Glitter managed to rouse herself from her fear induced stupor and snapped her head force towards her friend. “No, Tempest, I’m not leaving you again,” she said, sounding surprisingly calm in spite of all things.

“Please, just go. I’ll keep it here while you run. Go home to your husband and your kid, and tell the Knights to be good to each other.”

Glitter opened her mouth to protest further, only for her words to choke in her throat as Tempest’s magic lit up enough of the cave to reveal their pursuer. A colossal spider, horrid and covered in grotesque boils, stared at her with dozens of unblinking eyes, some pale, some red, all alive with rage and a desire to hunt, and feed.

“There you arrre...” it wheezed in the same sensual voice as before.

“Go!” Tempest roared as the spider dove forwards. Glitter gaped and froze like a rabbit in a spotlight. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t think. Despite how horrific this thing was, she couldn’t do anything, other than stare at it, and think about how this awful thing had been following them in the tunnel. Had it watched the train? How did it know their names? So many questions, and yet-

“Over here you eight legged freak!” her companion snarled. “Glitter, run! Don’t stop running! Just go!”

The commander’s order seemed to kickstart the young mare back to life. She took a step back and watched as the spider descended upon her friend, lunging for her with a snapping set of fangs. And then, with tears in her eyes and visions of her daughter flooding her mind, she turned and bolted down the tunnel. The coat on her cheeks quickly grew damp as she abandoned her friend again, although this time to a far crueller fate she thought. After a while of running, she didn’t know how long, she began to see light. Daylight. The end of the tunnel!

She gasped with relief and pressed on, but slowly came to a halt.

The cries of pain and another shriek of the creature sent a shiver down her spine, and a calm sort of serenity took the place of her fear. She stopped completely, so close yet so far away from the light of the sun, and realised how selfish she was being.

No. She wasn’t going to leave Fizzy behind. Not this time. This time she was going to be there for her friend.

Without a second thought, she turned away from the light and began to gallop back towards the darkness. Her hooves hurt from all the walking and her legs felt like they were going to turn to jelly at any moment, but still she galloped, begging and hoping beyond hope that her friend was still alive long enough to be saved. Towards the snapping and scratching and shrieking sounds she ran, and as she spotted the weak spark of Tempest’s horn, a fire ignited itself in her heart. Her own horn began to glow brighter than it ever had before, and with the mighty strength of a pony protecting its herd, she bellowed her best friend’s name and charged the spider.

“FIIIIZZYYY!”

The light from her horn fired forwards like a ray of Celestia-like sunlight, right into the beast’s side. It dropped Tempest’s body as it crashed into the wall of the mountain, hissing and howling in pain.

“Get away from her!” she roared as she came to a halt over Tempest herself. Growling and angry, she lowered her horn towards the spider as it began to pick itself up. With another shriek, it charged, and she charged it.

***

Once upon a time, there was a young filly, living in a village called Nowhere.

And that filly was a unicorn. A unicorn... who lost her horn. And when her magic stopped working like it used to, that filly lost her friends. She thought they abandoned her. She thought that they turned away from her in her time of need and betrayed her.

That little pony had everything taken away from her that day. Everything. Who she was, who she wanted to be, what she wanted to be... All of it was gone, ripped away from her in an unfortunate accident like a puff of smoke.

So she made herself a promise. Never again, she said. Never again would she have friends who could betray her. Never again would she put herself in harm’s way for somepony else. The walls went up, and never again would she ever think of anypony but herself.

Although her magic was virtually gone, her mind and her body grew strong. She learned how to control the destruction in her horn instead of fear it like the other children. She trained herself to use what wayward magic she had left and as fate had left her with nothing but the capacity for destruction, then she turned herself...

Into a warrior.

And decided that ponies everywhere, especially those she once called friend, that if they could not love her... then they would fear her.

That little pony grew. And then she found someone as ruthless as she herself was. From him she honed her destructive capabilities, and from him she turned herself into a living weapon. She became his right hand, the commander of his armies, and learned every dirty trick in the book.

And then, on the cusp of victory... he betrayed her too.

In her moment of glory, when she thought her horn might finally be fixed, he revealed he had lied to her and swiftly cast her aside. The unicorn was hopeless, and was ready to let it all go. But then a shining beacon of hope broke through the miasma of despair she was in, and in the end, a friend was made.

However long it was after that friend was made and she was afforded a second chance, she became the commander of a new group of creatures. Former villains, now good, sort of, but creatures she would one day call friends. She became a Nightmare Knight, sworn to protect her home from any and all threats of the supernatural.

But none of that mattered now, for the pony in that dark tunnel under Foal Mountain was still the same, frightened pony in that nameless cave all those years ago. After all the terrible things she had done and after twisting herself into an abomination and a disgrace to her people--all in the name of growing stronger--it all amounted to nothing in the end. She ended up right back where it all started, staring into the jaws of a horrific beast.

At least it wasn’t a bear this time.

It looked like a spider, but it was huge, and covered in disgusting boils and buboes. Its dozens of pairs of eyes twitched and blinked as it examined her hungrily, its fangs dripping with wretched fluid and venom.

“Glitter, run! Don’t stop running!” she bellowed, hoping that the young mare could at least get away before the bitter end. Bolt after bolt of magic fired into the beast, lighting up her surroundings with each flash. She stepped back and jumped up as it swung one of its legs towards her. Unfortunately, because it was so dark she didn’t see the other leg sweep from the side. It knocked the wind out of her lungs and as she landed, she felt a flash of pain sear through her already injured leg. Her horn sputtered weakly as she stumbled and tripped over. She gritted her teeth and rolled onto her back, hoping beyond hope that her sacrifice was only buying Glitter enough time to get to safety.

The spider lunged again, hissing in a way that sounded almost like it was cackling. She coiled her back legs towards her and prepared to kick it as hard as she could. With a grunt, she put as much force as she could into her kick, and made it stumble backwards.

It hissed and shrieked again, and circled around her. She saw a glint of something in the darkness as her lightning flickered weakly, and promptly felt a white hot pain shoot through her afterwards. Everything seemed to slow down as it withdrew its stinger from her belly. Its venom coursed through her, making her go as limp as a boned fish. She flopped to the ground, still aware of what was happening, but being totally helpless to do anything.

“Tempessst...” it hissed, the voice from earlier clearly belonging to it. “Do not worry, my little supperlugs... you won’t feel a thing...” She raged and roared inside her head at it as it began to engulf her in its wretched webbing. “And I’ll ffffind lit-tle Glit-ter too, soon enoughhhh...” A small dose of panic coursed through her as she thought about the young mare and what this thing would do to her.

All of a sudden, a bright flash of white light cascaded into the spider.

The light was blinding, and would still be blinding even if she could shut her eyes. As she couldn’t, they started to water and hurt like she was looking at the sun itself.

“FIIIIZZZZZZYYY!”

Somepony roared and raged her name, shaking the very mountain with their words. The spider was knocked off of her and sent hurtling away, crashing into the wall with the force of a small freight train, and a new set of legs stood over her.

“Get away from her!”

Glitter Drops...

The Nightmare Knight gazed up at the young mother as she fired blast after blast of the purest white light she had ever seen at the spider as they charged each other. It shrieked again and howled and writhed in pain, scratching and scraping at her in a vain effort to strike back, but her light just kept coming. Tempest watched, for it was all she could do, as the mare she hated fought on her behalf. As the mare who ruined her life... saved her life.

Soon the spider had had enough and hissed at them before turning tail and fleeing into the dark, softly whispering their names and promising vengeance one day as it did so.

Glitter huffed and nodded, satisfied it was sufficiently beaten. Her horn began to dim, lighting up only their immediate surroundings and not the entire tunnel it seemed. She sent a small bubble of light up into the air as she turned around, and gasped at Tempest’s limp body. “Fizzy... oh I’m so sorry,” she mumbled, stumbling over to her as her legs gave way.

Tempest felt her iron heart begin to melt as the mare pressed her ear to her chest. Her mane smelled faintly of bubblegum and cherries, very much like it did when they were kids.

“You’re alive!” Glitter cried through joyful tears. “Thank Celestia. Here... I think I c-can reverse the effects of the venom... hold... well hold still, okay?”

Jokes? Was Glitter telling a joke right now? Her fully working horn began to glow intensely again as soft teal magic engulfed Tempest. The commander gasped as air rushed into her lungs and the feeling returned to her body. Her foreleg still burned with pain and the pounding in her head made her see stars, but she was alive. All thanks to Glitter Drops.

The young mare, her saviour, patted her back and helped her stand on shaky legs.

“Fizzy... are you okay?” she mumbled, sounding like she was on the edge of tears.

Since the day Tempest lost her horn, she had fantasied about what would happen should she ever find herself in a position like she had all those years ago. But this... this was a scenario she never imagined.

“My name... is Tempest. Shadow,” she growled, pushing Glitter away from her. She curled her lip and bared her teeth in a pale imitation of how fierce Chrysalis could be.

Glitter looked shocked, horrified and distraught. “T-Tempest, I--I’m s-sorry, I just-” she stammered, quickly stepping backwards.

“Didn’t I tell you I wanted nothing to do with you?” Tempest grunted as she glared at the pony in front of her. “And didn’t I tell you to run? To leave and get out of here while you could? What if you died? Fizzy would be left without a mom, is that what you wanted? To abandon her like you abandoned me?!”

The mare’s face fell drastically. She turned her eyes down and sniffed. “I... I wanted to save you, Tempest,” she mumbled. “I c-came back, just for you...”

The commander sneered at her and took another step forwards, looking down her nose at her. “I was the commander of the Storm King’s army. I struck fear into the hearts of every creature I came across. Ponies quake at the very mention of my name even now!” She began to advance forwards, glaring and flaring her nostrils at Glitter, making her quickly jump back and stumble over her own legs. “I survived having my horn broken,” the scarred unicorn growled. “I survived wandering alone through the world. I made myself stronger because of it. I defeated armies, and princesses! I never need saving.”

Glitter stammered and looked her in the eye as her horn crackled and fizzled with magic. “I’m-I’m sorry, I--oof!” She stumbled again and fell over backwards, landing on her flank. She looked up, utterly petrified and on the verge of breaking down into a sobbing mess. “I’m sorry...”

A few seconds of silence passed after that. Suddenly Tempest threw her hooves around her and pulled the young mare into the tightest hug imaginable.

“And I am glad to have never been so wrong.”

She embraced the silently sobbing pony and nuzzled their necks together as her own set of sobs took a hold of her.

“Eh?” Glitter eventually murmured.

Unable to hold back the charade any longer, Tempest pulled away, smiling and letting the tears fall from her face.

“You-” the young mare mumbled. “You’re n-not mad? You’re not angry at me?”

“Of course not, Dropsy.”

Tempest could see something stir within her old friend at that moment. She ventured a guess as to why. Dropsy was her old nickname for her, and she last used it the day before she went into that cave, when they sat under-

“The oak tree...” Glitter mumbled. “You still remember it?”

The commander nodded. “I do.” Their night under the oak tree was just about the only happy memory Tempest had left of Nowhere, even if it was tainted with all the misery surrounding that village.

Glitter’s chin began to tremble. She rubbed her eyes and gingerly picked herself up as Tempest released her and took a step backwards. She realised her makeshift bandage had come loose at some point and was trailing over her eyes. She could feel the dry, sticky blood over her face and thought she must look like a right state. “Glitter, could you...?” she murmured, gesturing to it.

Without a word, the young mare’s horn began to glow and the bandage began to tie itself around the Knight’s head again. Then she spoke, in a little over a soft whisper. “It should have been me...”

Now it was Tempest’s turn to be confused. “What?”

“To go in that cave...”

“Glitter-”

“I’ve wanted to say this for years, Tempest. I... I need to say it,” Glitter snapped, finding her voice. She wallowed and gestured to her patient’s head. “So... please.”

The commander closed her mouth and nodded, watching her old friend with concern.

Glitter inhaled slowly and fought to keep her emotions from overwhelming her again as she did her best with the Knight’s ragged, bloodstained and blood encrusted bandage. “It should have been me...” she breathed. “I remember after when I had thrown that ball, we looked at each other for a moment, then you went ahead. You didn’t even ask. You were always so brave...” She hung her head and covered her face with her hooves as her body heaved. “But it should have been me... I should have been the one to lose my horn... or worse.”

Tempest blinked. She had thought about that cave every day since it had happened. But not once, not for one single solitary second did she consider that since Glitter Drops threw it, she should have been the pony to go get the ball... that she should have been the one whose horn was broken. Not once did she imagine anypony else going in there besides her. Something strange stirred within her at that moment, like a great weight was finally lifting off of her shoulders, or the clouds were breaking after a stormy night.

“I’m... I’ve thought about that every day...” Glitter continued in just barely over a whisper as she finished tying the bandage. “I felt so guilty that it was you and not... not me.”

“Dropsy...”

She blinked and looked up frantically as Tempest cupped her face with her hoof.

The commander had always looked at that cave as something terrible that happened to her, which of course it had. But she realised that if she had the option of turning the tables…of sending one of her friends in there…of Glitter Drops losing her horn instead of her… and knowing what would come after, she would always choose to be the one who went in.

She pulled her face in close to her friend’s, feeling the end of her nose twitch.

Glitter released a soft breath as she kissed her. It was a soft, tender kiss, only on the cheek, but one that said a mountain’s worth of words.

“I’m sorry, Tempest... I’m so sorry,” the young mother whispered, bringing her hooves around to embrace her friend.

“Shh. Stop that,” Tempest whispered back as she reciprocated the embrace. “It’s not your fault.”

“But it is! I left you, I-I should have b-been there for you, I should have-”

“Shhh. Everypony makes mistakes. It’s okay.” The commander began to rock gently back and forth, letting the mare in her hooves sob quietly into her chest. Her ear twitched as she heard a hissing in the distance of the cave. “Tell you what. What do you say to us getting the heck out of this tunnel, then we can talk as much as we want?”

Glitter laughed and sniffed. “Yeah... yeah I’d like that,” she said as she pulled away. “Before that thing comes back.”

“I think it’s already on its way. Help me up and... call me Fizzy.”

The young mare’s eyes shone like stars and her face lit up like a Hearth’s Warming tree. “Sure thing... Fizzy.”

Tempest felt a goofy smile cross her face as Glitter helped her stand. They shuffled off together, trying their best to ignore the soft pleading coming from the darkness of the tunnel. The spider was getting brave again it seemed, but neither of them took the time to worry about it now.

“So who’s Fizzy’s father?” Tempest asked, breaking the silence as they walked side by side towards the distant light.

Glitter began to sputter and cough, looking like she was choking on her own saliva. “Ahem, a, uh... stallion.”

“I gathered that, Dropsy,” Tempest chortled. The mirthic noise sounded strange to her now. Had she really not laughed properly in that long? Geez... she made a mental note to laugh more so it didn’t sound so strange. “Anypony I know? Spring Rain?”

“Oh no, Celestia, no!” Dropsy giggled, quickly waving her hoof through the air. “But him and his husband are Fizzy’s godfathers.” The young mother smiled, and Tempest fought to keep the hurt in her eyes hidden. Not very well it seemed. “I, uh... yeah, Fizzy’s father--Frobscottle--he’s in the fizzy drink business, and so he was more than happy to call her Fizzy when she was born.”

The commander’s eyebrow cocked upwards and her grin returned. “He is? Well isn’t that a coincidence?”

The teal unicorn’s smile also returned and her cheeks pinkened. “It is, but... well that’s not... entirely the reason,” she confessed. “No, I... I wanted to name her after a... good friend of mine. My best friend, actually,” she added, biting her lip.

“Oh?” Tempest murmured coyly as she bumped her hip into the pony beside her. “Somepony else I might have known?” Her tone was teasing and playful, but she could see Glitter was nervous all the same. “It’s a pretty good name, as far as names go, I think.”

Glitter giggled shyly and nodded. “It’s a wonderful name. Belongs to one of the bravest ponies I ever met. And... it’s the name of her godmother... if she’ll accept.”

Tempest snapped her head towards her and her eyes widened. “Are you... do you mean that?”

The young mare nodded again. “Tempest--Fizzy... I... I’ve loved you for a long time. I was devastated when you ran away--me and Spring Rain spent months looking for you. When everypony else gave up, I waited. I never gave up hope. I named Fizzy... Fizzy because I had hope that one day you would reappear... and I swore to myself that if you did I’d ask you to be her godmother, ‘cause I can’t think of anypony else I’d rather ask.”

“I’d be honoured to, Dropsy.”

Tempest smiled as Glitter pressed into her for another hug. The light of the day was getting stronger now, and the tunnel didn’t seem so dark.

“If you ride on my back I can get us there a lot faster without you hobbling along,” the young mare said cheekily.

Tempest stuck her tongue out at her. “No thanks. I wouldn’t want to spoil our wonderful memory of that bridge.”

They both laughed together at that, and stepped out into the sun. Ponyville was only a short walk away as well, they could see it down there, and saw the train still sitting at the station. It wasn’t even midday yet either. Glitter nudged her and nuzzled into her gently. “Are we okay, Fizzy?” she asked.

With an affirmative nod, Tempest nuzzled into her affectionately. “I think we are, Dropsy... I think we are...”

***

Tirek was playing Cozy at chess as they waited on the train station at Ponyville. Chrysalis, in an odd but kind move, had taken it upon herself to console the distraught child when they realised both her mother and the commander were missing, and was currently pacing back and forth the length of the train with a sleeping filly on her back.

“Gin!” Cozy cried as she moved a piece on the board.

He blinked and removed his hand from his face. “Gin? We’re playing chess, you simpleton,” he grumbled.

The filly frowned and rubbed her chin. “Oh...” she murmured. “And that means... it was Colonel Mustard?”

Silence and a glare answered her.

“In the lounge? With a candlestick?”

“I hate you. You’re doing this on purpose.”

“Aw c’mon, Terry,” she chuckled as he moved his piece. “You forgotten what my cutie mark is? I know how to play chess.” She moved her knight, and Tirek looked down as she slammed her hoof on the ground beside the board. “Checkmate!”

The centaur frowned. “That’s not...” It was. His king had nowhere to go. He gaped. “I lost? I don’t lose at chess!” he declared sulkily. “You cheated, you must have!”

“Keep. Your voice. Down,” Chrysalis hissed at him as she strode passed for the umpteenth time. “The little darling is sleeping.”

Cozy and Tirek both raised their eyebrows at one another as the former began to reset the board. “The way she talks about Fizzy, you’d think she was her mother or something,” she muttered quietly.

Chrysalis suddenly stopped and stared down end of the platform. Her wings unfurled and her horn began to glow as she lifted the small, sleeping Fizzy off of her back. “Fizzy, darling, it’s time to wake up,” she cooed softly, bringing the child around to her face. “Wake up, now.”

The little filly stirred and rubbed her sleepy eyes. “Wha... mom, is that you?” she slurred quietly.

“No. But it will be soon, my sweet. Look.”

The former queen pointed towards the two ponies stumbling their way onto the far end of the platform. Cozy and Tirek also looked, and felt their own hearts sigh with relief. Fizzy’s eyes opened wide, wider than any one of them ever thought possible, and her legs began to run, to sprint in mid-air! As Chrysalis set her down, she shot off like a wind-up toy, galloping as fast as her little legs could carry her when she spotted her mother.

“MOMMY!”

Chrysalis’s face twitched slightly as the filly darted away from her, and she had a sad, almost longing expression for a moment. It vanished as she began to swiftly follow her, with Tirek and Cozy hurrying behind.

Tempest smiled and Glitter breathed a sigh of relief at the ecstatic Fizzy bounding forwards. She practically tackled her mother to the ground when she reached them, and began to smother her with affectionate nuzzles and proclaim how worried she was.

“Took your time, didn’t you?” Tirek snorted with a grin as the commander drew herself up before them. He winced at the dirty, blood stained bandage around her head. “My word, Tempest, you look awful.”

“We ran into a little trouble in the tunnel. Nothing I couldn’t handle,” Tempest replied, smiling in spite of how she looked.

Chrysalis immediately grabbed her face with her magic and licked her hoof. “Hold still,” she grumbled as she began to scrub away some of the muck and grime and blood covering the dark mare.

In nothing short of utter bewilderment, Tempest glanced over at Tirek and Cozy.

“She’s on a sort of mother kick at the moment, I guess,” Cozy offered, grinning from ear to ear. “Boy it’s good to see you alive, Tempest. About five meals good. Right, Tirek?”

Tirek grumbled inaudibly and waved a hand at her. “Yes, yes, as we agreed I will pay for your next five meals.” He rolled his eyes even as Tempest’s eyebrows rose askew. “Commander you said you ran into trouble in the tunnel?” he asked curiously. “Anything we should know about?”

The commander straightened up as Chrysalis tutted and fussed over her, continuously scrubbing her face with her hoof. “First, I’m hurt, Cozy. I’m worth at least fifteen free meals, not five. Second, it was a spider. Big one. At least it looked like a spider,” she said, grimacing as the scrubbing intensified to an almost painful level. “It could... speak.”

The centaur’s eyes widened. “It could? How many eyes did it have?”

“Dozens. Too many to count. I was more concerned with its fangs to be honest. And it was covered in gross boils and buboes.”

“Well I’ll be... a Child of Ahhg, alive and well.” Tirek chuckled grimly.

Cozy rubbed her ear and twisted her face. “Ahhg? Who the heck is Ahhg?”

“What, not who, would be more precise, Cozy,” he explained. “I’ve mentioned him before, for he once sought out the Necronomicon. Ahhg was, in short, a monster; a creature spawned from the primordial depths of creation, and took the form of a colossal spider covered in blistering boils and sporting hundreds of eyes. When he was destroyed, I had supposed all of his wretched spawn were vanquished alongside him. Apparently I was wrong, should we perhaps alert the authorities?” he asked casually.

Tempest nodded. “I’ll let Director Starlight know as soon as I can. For now, though...” She looked down at Glitter nuzzling Fizzy and smiled. “For now... I have a promise to keep.”

Glitter looked up at her with tears adorning her eyes. “Fizzy...” she murmured.

“Yeah, mom?” Fizzy wrenched her head away from her chest and sniffed. The mare looked back down at her and blinked, then smiled and stroked her mane.

The commander laughed and shook her head. “Heh... no, honey, she means me.” She crouched low to look the filly in the eye and winked.

Fizzy blinked and frowned. “You? B-But... your name isn’t Fizzy.”

“Well...” Tempest chuckled slyly. “I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, okay? Are you ready?”

The foal’s eyes began to grow in size, and shone like they contained the night sky itself. “A s-secret?” she whispered, trembling and quivering with excitement. “What is it?”

Glitter quietly laughed and watched as Fizzy drew away from her and peered closely at Tempest’s face.

“My name isn’t really Tempest Shadow,” the once grumpy mare said. “It’s Fizzlepop Berrytwist, but my friends call me Fizzy.”

Fizzy’s jaw fell open. As did Cozy’s. “What?!” the young knight cried. “Your name isn’t actually Tempest?! It’s Fizzlepop Berrytwist?!”

Tirek was quick to clamp his hand over her mouth as Tempest’s icy glare found her. He nudged Chrysalis and gestured away with his head. “Come, Chrysalis. we should give them some privacy.” Chrysalis nodded and turned away to leave with a small smile across her muzzle. “Commander. I expect we shall see you shortly,” he said to the dark mare.

Tempest’s icy glare warmed up as she winked at him. “Sure, Tirek. Gimme five, okay?”

He thumped his free hand to his chest and followed after the former queen, Cozy Glow still struggling in his grasp.

Tempest shook her head and smiled, and looked back over at Fizzy. “so... now that you know my deepest, darkest secret, Fizzy, what do I do with you? I can’t have you running around and telling everypony. It’d ruin my street cred.”

“Iwon’ttellanypony!” she cried quickly, crossing her heart and hoping to fly, making the motion to stick a cupcake in her eye. “Promise!”

“Hmm...” Tempest tapped her chin and narrowed her eyes for a moment, then she began to grin and giggle. “You seem trustworthy, enough I suppose. And after all, I need creatures I can trust with the Nightmare Knights’ most confidential knowledge. How about I make you an honorary one? Would you like that?”

“Would I?!”

Glitter laughed and tousled her foal’s mane as she began to jump up and down and squeal in excitement. “Oh now you’ve gone and done it, Fizzy. She’s never going to let this go.”

“I try my best. Isn’t that what godmothers do?”

“God... mother?” Fizzy’s excitement stopped. She seemed to glitch out like an electronic system as her young mind tried to comprehend what was being said. “Wh...”

“That’s right, honey,” Glitter said, nuzzling in between her ears. “You see, Fizzlepop and I grew up together. She was my best friend when I was little, just like Uncle Spring.”

“She... was?!” the filly squealed.

Tempest nodded and crouched down again. “I was. And ‘cause I’m... what did you call me? ‘The coolest’?”

Fizzy began to blush and looked away. The commander reached out to her and turned her chin to look her in the eye, smiling warmly. “Well... yeah. When your mom asked me to be your godmother how could I refuse? You’re the coolest filly I know, after all, Fizzy.”

The child’s eyes began to water. She rushed forwards and swung her hooves around Tempest’s neck, giving her the tightest squeeze she could.

Tempest hugged her back, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. She spotted a tall pony wielding a pocket watch and dressed in a finely pressed suit step out onto the platform from the train. He looked down at his watch, then up at the middling crowd waiting for the train.

Glitter touched Fizzy’s shoulder and gestured towards him. “Come on, sweetie. They must be getting ready to board now. And your dad will be wondering where we are.”

Fizzy reluctantly pulled away from Tempest and raised her little hoof to her head in a salute, melting both her mother and the dark mare’s hearts. “You’ll come and see me soon in Baltimare, won’t you Aunty Fizzy?” she squeaked.

The commander’s nose twitched. “Aunty Fizzy...?” she murmured quietly. After a pause and letting a goofy grin quickly spread over her face, she raised her hoof to her head and saluted the honorary Knight back. “Well, that depends. I wouldn’t want to impose at all or anything-” She stopped herself short when Glitter stepped forwards and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Dinner is always at six. Feel free to drop by anytime.”

Glitter pulled away, smiling and rubbing her teary eyes. She and Tempest shared a grateful look and some more happy tears, then she turned away as the train conductor cupped his mouth and called out for the passengers to start boarding.

“Alllll aboard!”

The crowd began to push off, seemingly come from nowhere.

“Come on, Fizzy,” Glitter Drops said, ushering her foal away.

“Yes. momma,” Fizzy replied cheerfully. She waved goodbye towards Tempest and the other Knights. “G’bye Aunty--um, Commander Shadow!”

Tempest waved back, unable to hide the wide smile she had, or the elated feeling of joy rising within her. “Goodbye, Fizzy. See you soon, okay?”

She watched as the mare and the filly boarded the Friendship express, and she continued watching--and waving--as they sped away down the railroad, heading off towards Baltimare. Still smiling, she turned to re-join the Nightmare Knights.

Cozy was red in the face and looked ready to burst. And now that she wasn’t too distracted she saw that Chrysalis looked oddly serene--the holes in her legs had filled up completely and she had grown an extra set of gossamer wings underneath her current ones.

Tirek spotted the commander approaching and nudged the others to attention. “Well? Is that it, then?”

“Uh huh,” Tempest nodded. “Let’s go home. I need a shower.”

As she turned to leave, the Knights followed her through the quiet streets of Ponyville. Cozy Couldn’t take it anymore, however, and broke their silence with an exclamation so loud it startled some passers-by. “Your name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist?!”

The scarred unicorn sighed and nodded as a couple of ponies walking passed gave them all frightful look and darted away. “It is. Am I going to regret letting all of you in on that secret?”

“Nuh uh!” the young Knight declared mischievously.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re lying to me?”

“You think I’m lying?” Cozy chortled. “Fizzy, I’m hurt.”

Tirek and Chrysalis both snickered as Tempest glared at her.

“Hey, she put me up to it!” the pegasus declared, pointing an accusatory hoof at Chrysalis, making her quickly silence in her snickering.

“I did not!” Chrysalis snorted indignantly. “And I would not appreciate being accused of such treachery, especially by one such as you, Cozy Glow!”

As the Nightmare Knights fell into another bout of arguing, Tempest smiled, glad to be back among them. As they reached the edge of town and entered into the dark shade of the Everfree Forest, she flinched subtly and paused, swearing she heard the soft whisper of the spider in the back of her mind again.

She cautiously looked around and wrinkled her brow ever so slightly, then disappeared after her team into the forest. Towards home.

***

While the Nightmare Knights finally entered their home in search of some much needed rest, over in Canterlot Princess Twilight Sparkle strode up to the reception desk of the Canterlot General Hospital and smiled. “Hi,” she said cheerfully to the mare behind it, who remained typing away on her keyboard without looking up at her approacher. “I’m here to see-”

“One second, please,” the mare snapped.

The princess’s jaw clapped shut. She knew better than to bother an official doing their job, as the old librarian of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns would happily testify. She looked around at the clean white walls and rustled her wings. A pony wearing a full set of scrubs dashed passed, pausing for the briefest of moments to look at her in amazement before hurrying off. She chuckled quietly and inspected her hoof, tutting at the fleck of dirt marring her coat.

“Okay. Name and occupation?” the receptionist barked, still without looking up.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight answered. “Princess of Equestria.”

The mare seemed to glitch out like a computer system and froze. Twilight could see the gears turning in her head and fought to stifle a laugh. She had quickly learned why Celestia was the way she was and found herself more often than not imitating the mischievous mare at times. The pony behind the desk jerked in her movements and slowly turned her head to look up at the princess. Her face dropped and her already white coat paled to almost translucent levels.

“Oh, oh princess I didn’t... oh.” Her ears turned down. Her pink eyes glistened and misted up with tears. “I’m so sorry your highness, I--we’ve been very busy lately. B-But that’s no excuse.”

Twilight waved her hoof and smiled. “It’s alright, really. Now that I have your attention, though, I’m here to see somepony.”

The mare nodded. “Of course, of course. Uh, what was their name?”

“His name is Crane. He’s a teacher? Luna brought him in a while ago.”

“Crane? Oh right, yes I remember. One moment please, Princess.”

The princess watched as the mare directed her eyes back towards her computer. Her hooves danced over the keyboard as she put in the information. Twilight’s eyebrow cocked upwards as the receptionist frowned and hummed.

“Is there a problem?” she said quietly.

“It’s just... Mr. Crane has been discharged from this hospital, miss--your majesty,” the receptionist stammered, wincing and inhaling between her teeth.

Twilight blinked. “Discharged?” she said in disbelief. “But...”

While Luna had shown her the ‘centrepiece’ of Mr. Crane’s ‘art’, she was sceptical at best of it accurately predicting the future. At least, she was, until the Nightmare Knights informed her Grogar might be attempting to make a comeback. If the old pony painting said pictures was missing? Then that didn’t bode well at all.

Inhaling sharply and exhaling softly, she rubbed her nose and smiled. “What time was he discharged?”

The receptionist nodded, reading over the information before her. “This morning, your majesty. A concerned family member came to retrieve him, and was quite insistent they left with him.”

The princess nodded her head reluctantly and her overanalytical mind got to work. “I see.”

She flicked her tail out sideways and bit her lip. If a family member had indeed taken him home, then who was she to intrude upon that? Even if she was princess, she didn’t want to disturb the old pony any more than he had been already. She shivered as she remembered how he looked: impossibly skinny with heavily sunken eyes. “Do you still have any documents or information regarding Mr. Crane?”

The mare began to type away again until she nodded affirmatively and looked up again. “Yes, in the archives, although all of his... ahem... ‘possessions’ were confiscated by Miss Luna.”

Twilight nodded. Of course they were. Probably for the best, she imagined. Luna would keep them safe and in the right hooves at least. She knew the danger, more than most probably, of knowing the future laid out before you. “May I have a look at your archives?” she asked.

“Of course, Princess.” The receptionist turned and pointed. “The archives are through there, down the hall and off to the left.”

“Thank you.” Twilight smiled and turned to leave. “Oh.” She stopped and turned back to look at the helpful receptionist. “I never got your name, miss...”

“Constant, your highness.”

Twilight smiled and bowed her head respectfully. “Thank you for your help, Constant.”

Constant smiled back. Her eyes gleamed with delight and her lips parted to show her teeth. “The pleasure is all mine, Princess.”

Sweet Apple Spectres

In the small hours of the morning just before sunrise, Sweet Apple Acres was quiet. Too quiet, some would say, just the right amount of quiet for others.

In the living room of the old Apple farmhouse, the smiling face of Princess Twilight Sparkle, accompanied by the fanfare of Equestria’s national anthem in the background, flickered before fading out completely, replaced only by white static as the old television lost its signal. The room was bathed in flickering white light, casting strange shadows on the walls behind the comfortable sofas and chairs, one of which was occupied by a snoozing, snoring stallion.

Said snoozer, one Macintosh Apple--also known as Big Mac--nursed an empty bottle of cider after a long and happy day celebrating his younger sister Apple Bloom’s birthday. He shifted his weight and snorted in his sleep, pricking up the ears of his only company.

Winona, the family’s beloved dog, yawned and stretched, raking her claws on the rug. She shook her body and swished her tail, leaning forwards to give one of Big Mac’s hooves a sniff and a gentle lick as it flopped down near to the ground over the side of the couch. He stirred and a smile danced across his face.

“Honeybun...” he murmured in a soft but deep drawl, dreaming of his wife.

The farmdog’s nose twitched as she caught the scent of a tasty treat. A stick of celery that Big Mac had left unattended on his plate, resting by the foot of the chair, called to her. Quietly, she scooped it up with her mouth and carried it away, and munched on it as she ventured upstairs.

She pushed open Applejack’s bedroom door with her snout and trotted up to the bed where the sleeping pony lay.

“Agh... Winny...” Applejack groaned upon getting a face full of wet doggy snoot and a sloppy kiss. She turned over with a grunt and flopped back down into her pillow. “Lie down ya li’l... zzzz...”

As sleep took her and she began to snore, the dog simply turned and walked away, choosing to search elsewhere for snacks. Her nose took her next door into Big Mac’s room, currently occupied by Sugar Belle, the latest addition to the family and Big Mac’s wife. At first Winona didn’t know what to make of her, but she came around soon enough when the new mare gave her more than one tasty treat. She gave this sleeping mare the same treatment as the last, and even elicited a small giggle and a sleepy sigh from her.

“Hehe... Maaac, stooop....”

Seeing no food to be had here either, Winona turned away. Her tail continued to wag back and forth, even as she crept past Granny Smith’s bedroom--she knew better than to try her luck with that feisty old mare, after all--and she trotted through to the youngest Apple’s bedroom. The light snoring coming from the small pony told her she was asleep, but that didn’t stop the mischievous little dog from giving her hoof a gentle nudge and releasing a soft whine. After a few seconds of waiting and silence save for Apple Bloom’s breathing, Winona yawned again, and she decided to settle down and go back to sleep. At least until breakfast.

Just as the happy little dog closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, Apple Bloom woke up.

Despite being tired, the little filly quickly sat up with a nervous yet excited smile on her face. For the past few nights, some mystery voices in the old television downstairs had been speaking to her, telling her stories. None of the others believed her, calling it just some weird dreams or fanciful nonsense. But when she mentioned it to Granny, the old mare seemed apprehensive, and warned her against speaking to ‘the TV ponies’ as Apple Bloom called them, claiming it could be dangerous.

But Apple Bloom didn’t see what the big deal was about them. She was a tough little filly, she could handle herself, and besides they only ever told her stories about what she figured were their lives. Sometimes they were happy stories, and sometimes they were sad. Sometimes the voices were old, young or a mix, like several voices all speaking at once.

On top of that, she liked listening to them. She felt like she was making new friends, even if she didn’t know where they were coming from or who, or what, they were.

A soft whine made her pause, and she turned to look at Winona, just barely visible in the low light of the early morning moon, gazing up at her with wide, shining eyes full of love. The soft beating of her tail against the ground sounded very much like a heartbeat in the old, quiet house.

“Shh, girl,” Apple Bloom said, raising a hoof o her lips as she stepped forwards to fuss her dog. “Don’t tell anypony, Winny. Ah won’t be long.”

Seemingly satisfied with a quick belly rub, Winona lowered her head back down and went back to sleep.

Apple Bloom’s hoofsteps sounded enormously loud on the creaky floorboards as she ventured out onto the hall and cocked an ear out. Save for her own heartbeat in her ears, she hard nothing, and hoped they hadn’t gotten sick of waiting for her. She bit her lip and listened for a few moments more, until a soft twinkling could be heard.

Feeling a rush of excitement, Apple Bloom caught herself from hurtling down the stairs like it was Hearth’s Warming morning, and slowly and quietly crept down them, taking care to avoid the eighth step as it was notoriously creaky.

As she reached the bottom and rounded the corner, she spotted a strange flickering light coming from the living room, indicating that indeed her friends were there and waiting for her. “They’re here,” she whispered to herself excitedly. The twinkling was getting louder now. So loud, in fact, she feared it would wake the whole house up.

Swiftly but quietly, she stepped forwards--only to freeze as a loud grunt made her heart leap into her throat.

Gingerly she peered around the arm of the sofa, and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing it was just her brother, deep asleep. “Dang it, Big Mac,” she chortled at just barely over a whisper, the colour in her face quickly returning. “Ya big lug...”

Creeping around him, her attention was immediately drawn to the television, still flickering away to itself. The twinkling was definitely radiating from it now, and made her smile grow. She nestled down in front of it and glanced around. Her brother kicked in his sleep and snored, cooing softly to himself.

She smiled and looked back towards the screen. There was a flurry of whispers, each one indecipherable as if they were all speaking at once. She frowned. “Ah can’t understand any of ya,” she murmured. “Hold on. One at a time.”

The voices quietened down. One voice seemed louder than all the others, like it was in charge. It asked her if she was afraid.

“Nuh uh,” she whispered fiercely, while glancing around at Big Mac. “Just bein’ cautious, is all.” She smiled and chuckled.

The voice asked her if she would like to help the TV ponies leave where they are now.

Apple Bloom blinked. “Help? Well... gee, ah don’t know.” She pressed her teeth into her lip and flicked her tail. The voice asked her if she didn’t want to help, if she wanted them to stay where they were.

“N-No! Ah-ah mean, yeah, a’course ah wanna help. How though?”

The other voices came back again for a brief moment, a cacophony of begging and pleading, but again the main voice silenced them. It told her to put her hoof against the glass, and it would do the rest, then they would all be free.

Not one to disappoint her friends, however new they were and in spite of her sudden apprehension, Apple Bloom tentatively reached out and pressed one of her hooves against the glass, feeling the static pull up the hairs at the end of her legs.

“Is that workin’?” she whispered. “Ah don’t--both?”

She reached up with her other hoof and also placed it on the screen as instructed. She waited for a moment to see what would happen, and then...

Then she froze. A dark silhouette appeared before her, watching her from the other side of the screen. Her outstretched appendages tingled where they touched the screen, and though the shadow had no eyes that she could see, she could feel its hungry gaze upon her. Suddenly she felt very, very afraid, and tried to pull back, only to find that she couldn’t move.

“B-B-B...” she mumbled, hoping to wake up her brother. Her words just couldn’t come however, and choked in her throat. She felt paralyzed, glued to the TV screen--and not in the usual way a child was.

There was a sound like the crack of thunder and the howling of the wind as the floor beneath her started to shake. She felt herself slipping forwards, being drawn towards the shadow, and had only the vague sense that the whole house began shaking.

It engulfed her. Swallowed her. Took over every fibre of her being and pulled her into a dark place.

With one last effort, she opened her mouth and willed all that she could to come to her, and let loose an almighty scream. And then, everything went white, and silence fell upon the old Apple farmhouse.

***

Tempest Shadow yawned and clicked her tongue as she trudged into the common room of the old castle. Tirek and Cozy Glow already sat at the table, the former lethargically poking a spoon around a bowl of Celesti’Os, the latter just barely propping her face up with one hoof. The sound of some light humming caught Tempest’s attention, and she looked over to the kitchen to see Chrysalis flitting back and forth, murmuring a small tune to herself in an oddly cheerful manner.

The old centaur looked up as Tempest approached and yawned. “Another splendid... hahhh... day, eh, Commander?” he rumbled. Heavy bags lined his eyes, as they did Tempest’s, and a thin layer of stubble made itself home on his face above his beard.

“Feh,” the dark mare grunted as she slumped down into the seat across from him. Her mane, usually slicked back into an intimidating looking mohawk, was frizzy, unbrushed, and hung down loosely around her head. She stretched her legs out and cast a sideways glance towards Chrysalis. “What’s got her in such a good mood?” she queried.

Tirek shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care,” he answered truthfully. He yawned and pushed his bowl away, then folded his arms and rested his head on them on the table. A low groan escaped him and he sighed. “Buhhhh...”

After a long night dealing with a particularly bothersome and loud banshee, the Knights had not gotten much sleep before their next day had begun. A thin trail of drool hanging down from Cozy Glow’s mouth made a small puddle on the table. She stirred and mumbled something which could have been a hello as she spotted Tempest, then immediately returned to snoring quietly.

“Ah, Commander you’re here,” Chrysalis said cheerfully as she also spotted Tempest. “Coffee? Some for you as well perhaps, Tirek before we begin?”

“Please,” Tempest answered hoarsely as only Tirek’s thumb jutted upwards in confirmation. “How come you’re not tired, Chrysalis?”

“Ah well,” the changeling chuckled as the sound of the coffee machine rumbling to life started up. “To put it simply, Tempest,” she said, leaning across the counter towards them. “I do not require the same bodily functions as the rest of you.”

The centaur pulled his heavy head up and glared at her. “And how have you reached that conclusion?” he growled. “What sort of changeling witchcraft do you employ?”

“Bi-ol-ogy,” the queen answered smugly, tapping the side of her head. “You see, changelings require very little sleep as long as their love supplies are well stocked. A well fed changeling can last for weeks, possibly months, without eating, drinking or sleeping if they rationed it right. Infiltrators especially were taught how to ration their supplies to their most effective level.”

The loud ding that punctuated her words told her their coffee was ready. “Cream?” she asked. “Sugar?”

“Yes to both please,” Tempest said.

“Neither,” Tirek grunted. “And your supplies are well stocked, I take it?” he asked as Chrysalis levitated their drinks over, and a glass of milk for Cozy, complete with a straw.

Chrysalis pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him as she stepped around the counter. Tempest’s eyes widened when she saw the pink, frilly apron she was wearing and she took her mug in hoof, grateful to hide the grin quickly spreading over her face. “Not that it’s any of your business, my lord,” the queen snapped, “but yes. They are.”

Cozy stirred and snorted, wiping her mouth with the back of her hoof. She yawned, lazily moving her head over to her other hoof. “’Cause ‘f Cele-esstia?” she slurred, grinning cheekily despite being exhausted. She eyed the drink placed in front of her and tried to reach the straw without moving her head, puckering her lips like a goldfish and sucking in air like a vacuum.

Tempest and Tirek both grinned as Chrysalis’s cheeks turned pink. “Watch yourself, you little beast,” she growled as she reached the table and sat down. She used her magic to lift off the apron and cast it away, where it landed in a discarded heap on the floor.

The filly waved her hoof. “Yeah, yeah...” she muttered, still trying to reach her drink without actually moving, and making a fool of herself while doing so.

Chrysalis scowled at her. “For goodness’ sake must you behave like such an animal?” she grumbled, and used her magic to move the glass forwards. “Here.”

“Hey it worked!”

Cozy’s grin widened as her mouth enclosed around the end of the straw.

The queen’s scowl intensified as she realised she had been tricked. She huffed in disapproval and folded her hooves as she looked out the window.

Tempest rolled her eyes and just as she lifted her mug up to take a sip of that sorely needed boost to her system, just as Jackdaw Inkwell appeared in the doorway. She looked troubled, and concern plastered itself across her face as plain as day.

The commander put down her drink and stood up, making the Knights look first at her in confusion, then at the secretary. Though she was still tired, she narrowed her eyes and placed her front hooves on the table as she leaned forwards, frowning slightly. “What’s wrong, Jack?” she asked, her tone all business.

“Trouble,” the fiery-haired mare said. She adjusted her glasses, her eyes lingering on Tirek for a moment before looking at the commander. “Big trouble. There’s been some kinda incident at Sweet Apple Acres--y’know, Applejack’s place? That Applejack?”

Chrysalis snorted derisively and inspected one of her hooves. “Oh goodie,” she sneered. “First I am forced into servitude to Twilight Sparkle, then I am made Starlight Glimmer’s subordinate, and now I must help rescue Applejack, too? Will the indignity never end?” She scoffed and glared at the secretary. “So what is it, then? Does she want us to build her a barn? Plant some trees, perhaps? Don’t tell me she has a ‘vampire fruit bat’ infestation, or some other ridiculous nonsense?”

Tempest was about to scold her and opened her mouth, only for Jack to open hers first.

“Her sister’s disappeared,” the secretary snapped, shooting the changeling a filthy look.

The room grew quiet. Chrysalis lowered her hoof and narrowed her eyes at the mare. “And that is our concern... how?” she growled. “Surely a missing filly is a job suited for the authorities, no?”

“They think it was ghosts that took her, Chryssy,” Jack said, rolling her eyes. “So I guess that makes you guys the authorities, right?”

The commander and Tirek both exchanged troubled glances. Ghosts had never taken anypony before as far as they knew, and hauntings didn’t typically end with or even include foalnappings. This could only mean, as Jack already said, trouble.

“Yeah, so, if you’re done?” Jack shook her head and adjusted her glasses again. “The mare who called, Sugar Belle, said that there were mentions of something called the TV ponies? Bright lights, flickering, low temperatures.”

“Sounds like a haunting, alright,” Tempest murmured.

Jack nodded at her. “See, the boss gets it. I’d go now, guys, things didn’t sound great over there. Best not keep ‘em waitin’ eh?”

The commander nodded and raised her mug. “Right. Tirek.”

Tirek raised his to match her. “Bottoms up,” he rumbled.

They clinked and began to drink, taking big, long gulps. Cozy woke herself up enough to watch in mild curiosity as they began to what could only be described as rejuvenate.

Tempest’s mane began to somehow brush itself and return to its usual slicked back mohawk. As it did, the commander started to straighten up, holding her head up high. The bags around her eyes receded, as they did around Tirek’s. Like her, his appearance also began to change; the stubble around his face also faded away as his arms and muscles began to swell, growing larger by the second, until he was at his usual full height.

“Ahhh. Much better,” he chortled, going so far as to kiss his bicep. The soft sigh and googly eyes being directed his way from Jack made him quickly lower his arms and, but not before his eyes flicked over to hers. Chrysalis rolled her eyes at them both and fake gagged.

“Shall we, then?” she muttered, buzzing her wings lightly.

Cozy yawned and folded her hooves. “I want some coffee,” she declared as Tempest and Tirek both stood up.

“Absolutely not,” all the Knights, including Jack, said in unison. They shared a bemused look with one another before Tirek cleared his throat.

“You are far too young for coffee,” he said, poking the end of the filly’s nose. “Besides, it’s for adults. It’s what we need to get us started in the morning. It’s our ignition key. Children like you don’t need it. You have youth, you have all the energy in the...”

“Zzzz...”

“World.” Tirek’s eye twitched as Cozy appeared to have fallen asleep again mid-argument. “Hmm.” He looked back at Tempest, who sighed and gestured towards herself.

“Group huddle.”

The elder Knights, plus Jack, turned their heads towards each other and whispered in hushed tones as they debated whether or not to give Cozy some coffee. After reaching a quick consensus, Chrysalis went to pour out another cup. After blowing on it to cool it down, she jabbed the pegasus in the chest with it, startling her back awake.

“Bah! I wasn’t sleeping!” Cozy cried, rubbing her eyes. When she saw the mug held out towards her she gasped and her eyes sparkled. “Really?”

Tempest nodded with a reluctant grimace. “Go easy on it, though. Like Tirek said, coffee is for adults.”

Cozy blew a raspberry and grasped the mug with her front hooves. “Pfft, hey, I’m a Nightmare Knight, right?” she chuckled, grinning as she lifted it up to her mouth. “Trust me, I can handle some coffee.”

***

Cozy Glow could not handle her coffee.

The young filly had been filled with a seemingly limitless supply of energy since taking even the smallest sip. Her wings buzzed so fast she resembled a hummingbird, and not only that, but she couldn’t stop herself from flying around in backwards circles around her team as she filled them in on apparently her life story without prompt.

“...So they bumped me up a class because I’m smarter than all the other little unicorns and wasn’t fitting in--dad saw it as a detriment to his family--but I still can’t do magic ‘cause I’m a pegasus, right? So now I’m even more not fitting in--and even more of a ‘detriment’--’cause the other kids aren’t just unicorns who can do magic and I can’t--but nowww they’re unicorns who can do magic and I can’t and they’re bigger than me too! I was getting good grades as well where I was--I’m talkin’ like straight As across the board! My big brother, Dim Glow--he’s a jerk by the way-”

Chrysalis wrinkled her nose in mild amusement. “Your elder brother’s name is Dim Glow? What a ridiculous name even by pony standards.”

The road to Sweet Apple Acres was quiet, as was the adjacent, sleepy little town of Ponyville. Thankfully so, as nopony bar the Knights was around to hear their youngest member spill her beans to the world. In the distance big grey clouds gathered, a sure sign of a storm to come later that day.

“He tells me ‘I NeEd tO gRoW Up aNd sTiMuLaTe MySeLf,” Cozy continued, too steeped in her rant to register what Chrysalis had said. “So I tell him I’m stimulated enough, after all it’s not like my dad’s disappointment and my brother and sisters letting me know how much they hate me isn’t enough, right? One of my sisters, Dim’s twin, Bright--she’s also a jerk--tells me to think of it as a challenge to overcome, like my feathers, blah blah, blahblahblah. Blegh--I know right? Get off your high horse, you dumb horse. So I’m hated at home, hated at school, and--challenged by the way? Ha! That’s a laugh. I’m challenged enough to hold on to my lunch--that I made myself, by the way--’cause Dim keeps tryin’ to take it from me! Did I mention he’s a jerk? I’m in the same class as him now. Or I was, anyway. Get this, he’s an idiot, too--dumber than a bag of rocks--no wait--that’s not fair to rocks, I think rocks have more brains than him--he makes rocks look smart for cryin’ out loud!”

Tempest raised her eyebrows slightly as they walked. While Cozy’s caffeine induced rant may have been unprompted and seemingly never-ending, it did reveal some interesting insights into the filly’s home life. The apple trees surrounding them on the simple path swayed to and fro in the gentle breeze, sounding almost like they were whispering.

A cold wind blew down the path towards them, kicking up a wayward cloud of dust that looked somewhat like a leering face full of fangs for a moment behind them, then faded away into the atmosphere before any of them noticed.

“The point is everypony thinks I’m some shrimpy pegasus who thinks she’s smarter than them--which I am, sure, those morons couldn’t find their own flanks--and the only thing that makes them feel better about themselves are those stupid thing on their foreheads so they gotta bully me for it! But if they just did the stupid homework--and not give me such a hard time they’d see we’re all still ponies, right? Anyway I filled out my own transfer papers to Twilight’s school after the fifth swirly in one day and wound up here--and well y’know how that turned out. Oh hey I think we’re here.”

Cozy paused and flapped forwards (backwards) towards the ivory coloured archway of the famous farm. Tirek stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around in disbelief. “Is she done? Is it over?”

Tempest nodded and watched the young Knight’s wings as they moved at a million miles an hour. “Memo to group: never give Cozy Glow coffee.”

“I don’t want to say I told you so, Commander,” Chrysalis retorted. “But you leave me little choice. I told you so.”

Tempest rolled her eyes at her. “You were the one who actually made it for her, and we all agreed we should give it to her to wake her up.”

“Tempest is right,” Tirek added, folding his arms as they walked.

“Guys, c’mon,” Cozy said, waving them forwards. Her pupils had, worryingly, not shrank at all since they left the castle, and seemed only to be dilating further. “We got a job to do don’t we?”

The Knights all made to follow her as she drifted sideways through the air, haphazardly beating her wings like she couldn’t quite get the right rhythm down. At least she could see where she was going now, thought Tempest. Sort of. The commander looked around at the empty and quiet farm as they walked, and then up at the old farmhouse.

She stopped. The old house was still. Too still. There was no wind to blow in the trees nearby anymore, and the entire farm was just... quiet.

Tirek noticed her stop and turned to her. His ear twitched and he too looked around. Save for Chrysalis’s hoofbeats, there was nothing. No birds, no buzzing of flies, not even the sounds a farm would typically have. The pigs in the nearby pen stood like statues, watching them with small eyes, and even the chickens did the same.

A deafening void of silence surrounded them that grew so loud Tempest started to hear her own heartbeat.

“Do you ever feel like you’re being watched?” Tirek murmured to her, breaking the silence and snapping her out of her trance-like state.

Without a word, Tempest withdrew her trusty electromagnetic field emitter and switched it on. It jumped up to a level five almost immediately. She waved it around for a few seconds, keeping her eyes trained on the steady, unwavering light on all five LEDs. With a sigh, she returned it to her jumpsuit and scanned their surroundings.

“I don’t like it,” she eventually said. “Keep an eye and an ear out for trouble.”

“Both eyes, and both ears as often as I am able, Commander,” he answered, gesturing ahead. “We should continue. A filly’s life may be on the line and the longer we delay the worse it may get.”

Tempest nodded despite the dread suddenly hanging over her, tonguing around in the inside of her cheek. There was something at the back of her mind, gnawing at her, telling her to run, to turn tail and leave and don’t look back. But she knew she couldn’t, not that she would ever run from a job--and especially not when the Element of Honesty’s sister needed her.

She stepped forwards quickly as Chrysalis reached rapped her hoof on the old wooden door. The sound rang out around them, echoing around in the vast and empty silence that permeated the air. After a few seconds of nothing the changeling tutted under her breath.

“Typical. They ask for help and don’t even bother to answer the door when we arrive...”

Though she was irate, Tempest thought she heard a trace of concern lining the edges of her words.

The commander rapped her own hoof on the door and cocked an ear out. She heard muffled but raised voices and, albeit quietly, the sound of approaching hoofsteps. She adjusted the collar of her uniform and shot a look to the other Knights. She jutted her chin towards Cozy circling Chrysalis’s head. The changeling quickly yanked the pegasus down by the tail and forced her to the ground. She raised a hoof to her lips, silently telling her to be quiet.

The filly ran a hoof across her mouth like she was closing a zip and began to quiver and shake on the spot now that she wasn’t flying anymore, making Chrysalis roll her eyes again.

The door opened with a creak to reveal a mare Tempest hadn’t met before before. And a unicorn to boot. As far as she knew, the Apples were all earth ponies weren’t they? Was she a friend, or a long lost cousin or something?

“Hello?” the mare said, looking at them all warily. Upon realising who they were she gasped. “Oh. You’re the Nightmare Knights, right? I mean, of course you are, why else would you be here?” She pulled the door open more and forced a smile out a them. As her eyes travelled over Chrysalis and Tirek she quivered and swallowed. “H-Hi. I’m Sugar Belle.”

The commander heard the waver in her voice and straightened up, putting on her best reassuring voice, having dealt with more than one frightened pony before. “Hello, ma’am,” she said, bowing her head slightly. “My name is Tempest Shadow.” She pointed to each of her team one by one. “This is Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow. I take it you were who called us?” She already knew the answer, but thought it best to get formalities out the way.

The mare nodded. “That’s right, I did.” She cast a wary glance behind her and grimaced apologetically. “Listen, um... Applejack didn’t... well she wasn’t exactly... happy about calling you.”

Tempest nodded back at her and forced a smile out. “That’s alright. This won’t be the first time we weren’t welcome somewhere, don’t worry about it.” She flicked her tail and looked at the door frame expectantly. After a few moments, she continued. “Can we come in?”

“Oh right, yes of course,” Sugar Belle murmured, quickly blushing. “F-Follow me.”

Tempest bowed her head graciously. “Come on,” she said to her team, looking back at them as she followed Sugar Belle in. “Let’s get to work.”

Cozy shivered and twitched as they made to move. Her pupils, once wider than any of them thought equinely possible, now began to shrink. With the whites of her eyes revealed, so too were the large, red cracks that began to appear in them. She took in a shuddering breath of air and her wings extended for a moment, then promptly slumped down to the ground.

“Zzzzzz...”

“Well there she goes,” Tirek sighed. “Should I?”

“No, I’ll get it,” Chrysalis muttered.

She continued to grumble under her breath about Cozy being a little beast and lowered her head. She grabbed the filly by the scruff of her neck with her mouth, and hoisted her up, holding her like a mother cat holds her kittens. As she straightened up she caught the centaur’s bemused stare.

“What?” she sneered as she stepped over the threshold and into the old house after Tempest.

Tirek fought to suppress a smile and shook his head. “Nothing,” he replied as he entered in after her, stooping to avoid scraping his horns on the ceiling.

The Apple family home was as rustic on the inside as the outside, thought Tempest. Rustic, but quaint. As one of the oldest places in Ponyville, possibly all of Equestria, she suspected it wouldn’t be anything less. Sugar Belle waited until they were all in and lined up along the wall, then closed the door behind them.

Or she tried to. Tirek took up most of the room with his size. Sugar gazed up at him with a frightful grimace and swallowed.

“Um... ‘scuse me,” she said quietly.

He readjusted and moved out of the way for her without a word. Tempest felt a small sense of pride rise inside her that he offered no snarky comment or any some such to the young mare.

“There,” Sugar Belle said as she closed the door. “Follow me.”

As she led them down the hall, the same eerie silence that was outside permeated the atmosphere of the old house. Every step, every creak of floorboard sounded impossibly loud, but Tempest kept herself focused and held her head up high. She couldn’t let her unease show, especially when dealing with her team’s former enemy’s family. Soon enough, they entered into the living room.

As Tempest appeared in the doorway she came upon a grim sight. An old mare, rocking back and forth in a chair that looked as old as she was, looked up. She stopped rocking and narrowed her eyes, that, while still aged, were clearly sharper than most mares her age, at the Knight. Sitting on a chair with his head in his hooves was a large, red stallion who Tempest thought could possibly give Tirek a run for his money in terms of bulk. He shifted and glanced up. Tear marks streamed down his red cheeks, darkening his coat, and his eyes were red and puffy.

Sugar Belle rushed to him and nuzzled into him. he wrapped a mighty hoof around her and pulled her in close. Tempest noticed his lower lip quiver as she stepped forwards. A sudden growling made her stop and look down to see a small brown and white dog glaring at her as her team entered in after her, flanking her on either side. The dog’s ears faced forwards and its tail bristled as it went rigid. The heckles on its back stood up and it barked a few times, particularly at Tirek.

“Down, Winny,” grunted the last pony in the room: Applejack herself, sitting in front of the television. The dog obeyed immediately and although she whined softly, she trotted over to the mare, nuzzling her legs gently. The farmpony weakly patted her head before she shifted and fixed the Knights with the cold stare of her emerald green eyes.

Tempest, as an unfortunate side effect of being a part of the Nightmare Knights, was used to icy receptions. However, icy was an understatement to the stare Applejack was giving her team. She looked downright hostile, and like she was ready for a fight. She supposed that she had good reason for that, though, as her team and Applejack had crossed paths on more than one occasion, and never under good circumstances. Seeing them, her old enemies waltz right on into her home, must have been difficult for Applejack, the commander realised, and she cursed herself for not having more tact.

“Hello everypony,” she said calmly. “We came as soon as we could.”

She and the famous farmpony hadn’t interacted much after their initial meetings, but when it came for her to face trial for invading Equestria at the head of the Storm King’s army, Applejack testified on her behalf. It was thanks to her, and the rest of Twilight’s friends and of course the princess herself, that she was here today, a fact she was indeed grateful for.

Applejack shifted her gaze between the commander, then at the other Knights, lingering on the sleeping Cozy dangling from Chrysalis’s mouth for a moment. She bristled and held her head up high as she slowly stood up on shaking legs. “Ya’ll-” she began.

“It’s a mighty fine thing of ya’ll to come so quickly,” said the old mare all of a sudden. Her chair creaked and groaned as she leaned forwards and hopped off of it. She strode up towards the commander and held her hoof out. “The name’s Granny Smith.”

Tempest stretched her own hoof out in greeting as Applejack’s stare almost burrowed a hole into her head. “Tempest Shadow of the Nightmare Knights ma’am. This is Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow.”

Behind her, Tirek and Chrysalis both stiffly bowed their heads in greeting as Granny’s eyes turned to them. Cozy continued to snore quietly, and mumbled something in her sleep as her hind legs grazed the ground when Chrysalis inadvertently lowered her. Granny simply chuckled dryly and gestured to the stallion sitting beside Sugar Belle.

“That there is Big Mac, my grandson, and a’course ya’ve met Sugar Belle, his wife and my granddaughter-in-law.”

Sugar Belle’s cheeks went slightly pink and a small smile appeared over her mouth. They both nodded politely at the Knights although the hug Big Mac had around Sugar tightened slightly. Tempest nodded back at them, keeping her expression neutral.

Finally, Granny gestured towards Applejack. “And-”

“Granny we don’t have time for this!” Applejack yelled suddenly, jabbing her hoof towards the television. “Apple Bloom’s missin’! She’s missin’ and ya’ll’re happy ta have a bunch’a...” She glanced over at the Knights and her nostrils flared and her eyes darkened. “Of villains come walkin’ on in to our home? Don’t you remember what they all tried to do t’Equestria? On more than one occasion? To me? Or heck, any of us?” She shot a look towards the sleeping Cozy, earning a soft growl from Chrysalis for her troubles.

The other Knights remained deathly quiet as the old mare narrowed her eyes and steeled her gaze at her granddaughter. “Now listen here, Applejack. We’re all a might hurtin’ today, but havin’ no manners ain’t how we Apples do things, now is it? B’sides, ah’m willin’ ta fergive somepony fer past mistakes if it means savin’ my youngest grandfilly. Ain’t that fair?”

Her words cut through the tension like a hot knife through butter. Applejack immediately realised her mistake and backed down, splaying her ears to her skull and tucking her tail in between her legs. “Yes, Granny,” she mumbled as the elder mare stepped towards her. “Ah’m just...”

“Ah know, sugarcube. Ah know.” Granny touched her chin and raised her head up. She pulled the young farmer into a tight hug, then looked back towards Tempest and smiled sadly at her. “Like ah said. We’re all a might hurtin’ today.”

Tempest bobbed her head up and down understandingly, feeling her heart heave for them. “That’s why we’re here, ma’am. To get you your filly back.”

She wondered in that moment how any of the Knights would react if Cozy was to be taken from them. In fact, with a pang of guilt, she knew how protective they were of their own filly, as evidenced by how the events in Saddle Arabia panned out. The memory of Abda the Grand Vizier and Sombra’s eyes flashed through her mind and made her chest felt tight.

Tirek cleared his throat with a gentle cough, drawing the attention of the room to himself. Tempest bowed her head, letting the researcher of the group do his duties. “Now, might I inquire as to what exactly happened? These... TV ponies, as we were told. Who are they? What are they?”

Sugar Belle flinched and Big Mac shivered. Granny too released Applejack with a heavy sigh and retreated back to her chair. “Oh, these old bones of mine ain’t what they used t’be,” she murmured as she rubbed the back of her neck and nestled down. “T’put it simply, Mr. Tirek, Apple Bloom was taken by wayward spirits of the beyond,” she said cryptically.

Tirek nodded respectfully and lowered himself enough to look at her properly.

Granny Smith sighed again and began to rock back and forth. “Ah’m old, Mr. Tirek. Very old. Older’n what ah’m given credit fer. An’ ah’ve seen that this world o’ours has more’n what ya can see, sometimes. Ah know that sometimes... there ain’t no explanation save fer the supernatural. My grandpappy used ta tell me a story when ah was a youngin’, younger’n even Apple Bloom.”

The other ponies, Chrysalis and Tirek all craned their necks and leaned forwards to listen intently.

“He was a spiritual soul, he was. An’ he used t’say that when somepony dies, there ain’t just death, but a sorta transition from this world t’the next. That’s why we say ‘go into the liiight’.” Her rocking chair creaked and groaned, as did the floor when Tempest quickly and quietly crossed the room to investigate the TV. Applejack moved aside from her and Winona gave her a cautious sniff, but otherwise nopony paid her any heed.

“An’ he’d say that sometimes, unfortunately, not every soul that crosses over goes into that great beyond. He’d say someponies got lost along the way an’ end up in a bad place.”

Tirek bobbed his head up and down in understanding, tapping his chin. “Yes, I’ve heard of such a place. Limbo, I believe is its name, yes?”

Granny nodded sagely. “EEExactly. Save for the fact my grandpappy called it the In-Between.”

Sugar Belle wrinkled the end of her nose and looked between them. She cleared her throat quietly. “Um, I’m sorry, Mr. Tirek, Granny, but what... exactly is that place?”

The centaur inhaled deeply and paused for a few moments before turning to explain to her. “Limbo, Miss Belle, or the In-Between, is the space between this world and the next. In theory, it is where all living things go when they die.” He clasped hands behind his back and began to pace, earning a cautious glare from Applejack. “There is supposedly a light there that draws spirits to it, to aid them in passing on. But some spirits, i.e. like the ones we face on a daily basis, ignore the light, whether they are angry or vengeful or otherwise have unfinished business--sometimes they don’t even realised they’ve died--and subsequently travel back to our world.”

He stopped in front of a picture on the wall of the Apple family. He recognised a younger Granny Smith, although she was still aged, a younger Applejack and Big Mac, no older than perhaps thirteen and ten, and three others absent from present day. The foal he assumed was Apple Bloom, and the stallion and mare with them were their parents. He tongued around in his cheek for a moment.

“But the question remains: why take a filly? For what purpose? It doesn’t... make sense to me. Surely an adult would be more beneficial?”

“She could be bait,” Chrysalis said matter-of-factly.

All eyes turned to her. Applejack’s in particular lit up in a blaze of anger.

“That’s my sister, Chrysalis,” she growled. “Don’t talk about her like that.”

The changeling snorted. Her horn lit up and her magical grasp surrounded the filly, and took her from her mouth and gently placed her on her back. “Like it or not, Applejack, it might be the unfortunate truth. Changelings have used similar tactics for decades, centuries even.”

She paused and a sneer started to spread over features, matched only by the disapproving scowl quickly growing across Applejack’s face.

“At least... we used to.”

Tirek narrowed his eyes at her and snorted. “Yes, we all know of your kind’s underhanded tactics. Stealing children, indeed.” He stopped for a moment and looked thoughtful. A look of grim realisation spread across his face. “Although there may be an ounce of truth to your words...”

Applejack whipped around to glare up at him. “What’s that s’posed ta mean?”

He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “It is possible that...” He looked at the portrait of the Apple family, specifically at how the parents, what he took to be their mother in particular: a light coloured mare with bright eyes, gleamed with pride at the foal Apple Bloom. “Whatever took her plans to draw others to its side, to lure them in using her childlike innocence and purity of soul. In Limbo, in a dark place like that, her living soul would shine like a beacon. Or so I believe.”

The Apples grew quiet as he mused to himself. Sugar Belle sniffed and began to weep quietly. Big Mac pulled her in tight for a comforting hug. Granny Smith clicked her tongue and fell back into her chair, while Applejack simply looked at the ground.

“Tirek...” she whispered, her voice trembling with anger. “What’s happenin’ t’ my sister?”

The centaur roused himself and looked down at her. “I am not sure,” he replied. “But I can venture a guess it is not good.” He snorted in disapproval and shook his head, and looked over at Cozy resting in between Chrysalis’s wings. His face twisted in silent anguish, and his brow furrowed. “Utterly deplorable behaviour... using a child as bait...”

As his eyes wandered over to Tempest, they shared a fiercely protective gaze of the young Knight.

“Have you found anything, Commander?” he asked.

“No. it’s just a regular television,” she answered. “I’m about to do an EMF scan, though. Let’s see if it picks up anything.”

She reached into the pocket of her jumpsuit and pulled out the same device from earlier. As soon as she switched it on the LED lights along the top jumped to life, and it elicited a loud and steady beep.

“Level five. Same as outside,” she murmured.

The lights continued to glow, until there was a small flash and a significant pop and the shattering of glass, and then the lights went out. The commander tapped the side of it with her hoof and grimaced. She held it up as Tirek watched curiously. “Broken,” she grumbled.

“Troubling,” he replied grimly. “Very well. Time for alternatives.” He held up his hand and began to draw an invisible sign in the air. His horns began to glow and spark orange and he closed his eyes, and a series of sigils appeared where he was drawing them.

“What’s he doing?” Sugar Belle whispered, watching with a mixture of fear and cautious awe.

“I am going to try and sense her presence,” the centaur murmured as his eyelids flickered. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind... I need concentration.”

The room fell deathly quiet. Sugar made an ‘o’ shape with her mouth and sniffled, nuzzling into Big Mac as they watched. Granny’s chair stopped rocking. All the Apples held their breath, waiting to see what would happen. Tempest moved forwards as well, standing shoulder to shoulder with Applejack. Without thinking too much of it, she held her hoof out, seeing how the farmer looked like she was in need of a friendly hoof.

Applejack took it with a painfully forced smile, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“There,” Tirek mumbled. His hand swished through the air, leaving a faint trail of magic behind it. “I see her... I also see a terrible presence guarding her.”

Chrysalis adjusted herself when she felt Cozy twitch in her sleep.

“What kind of presence?” Applejack whispered, gripping onto Tempest’s hoof.

“It is her jailer,” Tirek muttered darkly. “Her warden. A creature filled with... hate and rage...” he trailed off and began to mumble, but still continued to trace his finger through the air. “It’s strong, too. Strong enough to punch a hole into our world and take Apple Bloom. Strong enough that its mere presence is enough to break our tools and affect the surrounding area, too, despite being trapped.”

He twitched his head one way and his fingers folded until only one remained pointing.

“It keeps Apple Bloom very close to it. It lies to her, it tells her things that only a child could understand, that she’s going to help it break free, all while using her to draw others in. It binds lost spirits to it, growing fat and powerful off of their power while she remains unaware. It wants to be free, to venture into our world and wreak untold havoc, but to do so it needs more...”

Applejack bowed her head and blinked the fresh tears stinging her eyes away as Winona rubbed against her legs and whined softly, seemingly understanding what was happening. The horror of their reality was beginning to set in, and with each word Tirek spoke the already heavy dread in the atmosphere grew heavier. Tempest felt the mare lean into her slightly, and helped steady her.

“She’s just a filly...” the farmer whispered sorrowfully.

“To Apple Bloom,” Tirek continued, his voice growing quiet and his brow starting to knot together, “it is lost, another friend in need of help, but to us...” He paused and his eyes opened. His horns stopped glowing and the sigil he had been tracing in the air vanished.

The air grew cold and the tension ramped up as those present hung on his every word.

“It is a demon,” he snarled. “A predator of lost souls. It has no name...” He paused and flared his nostrils with a disgusted look on his face. “Save for the Beast.”

“Sweet Celestia...” Sugar Belle whispered, covering up her mouth with her hoof as she gazed at the graven image. The stallion beside her squeezed his eyes shut as a tear rolled down his already tear-soaked cheek, and Granny and Applejack both just stared at the drawing in silence.

Thunder quietly rumbled across the sky outside, breaking the silence that had descended upon them. The first few drops of rain pattered against the windows.

“Now...”

Tirek set his jaw and looked towards the television with a grim expression. His eyes started to glow with intense devotion as his knuckles clenched white. Tempest knew that look. She readied herself and cracked her neck in firm agreement.

“Let’s go get your filly.”

***

Lightning flashed through the sky, followed shortly by thunder rumbling after it. The torrential downpour that descended upon Sweet Apple Acres came hard and fast, crashing down onto the roof and turning the farmland itself into a muddy mire.

Tempest watched as Tirek made preparations for whatever he was planning. He flicked rapidly through a small notebook of his he had procured from one of his vest’s pockets, quietly murmuring to himself about various magical spells and incantations. The living room of the old farmhouse was otherwise silent as they all waited with bated breath.

There was a slam of a door from behind them and soon enough Applejack trotted into view, soaked through head to hoof and dripping wet. Tirek looked up at her.

“Did you get it?”

The farmpony bucked a large coil of rope off of her back onto the ground. “Yeah,” she said as it landed with a heavy thud and a wet splat. “Here. One hundred feet, just like y’asked fer.”

She shook her entire body, sending droplets of water splashing down onto the ground. Big Mac draped a towel over her back, which she took gratefully and started to dry herself off with. “What’s it for anyway?”

Tirek looked down at the rope and nodded firmly without elaborating. He reached down to grab a length of it and pulled it taut, after a second and seemingly satisfied with it, he then let it drop back down. He sighed and cracked his shoulders as he went back down into a crouch. “I shan’t be much longer. Then we can begin.” His horns began to glow orange as he scanned over his notes.

The Apples gloomily nodded and waited, patiently impatient. The room was bare now, save for the television, the source of their misfortune. Tempest, along with Big Mac, had moved the sofas and chairs out of the way, so now if any of them wanted to sit they had to do it on the floor. None of them seemed to mind however, all too preoccupied with their own concerns to sit.

Except for Chrysalis, who simply sat in one corner and watched the whole affair, holding Cozy close to her chest. The filly had still not woken up, even despite all the noise around her. While usually the queen would lament being stuck on Cozy duty, she currently felt a small sense of comfort from the filly’s gentle breathing, particularly how their chests rose and fell together as one.

Her ears pricked up as Sugar Belle walked over to them slowly. “Um, Miss Chrysalis? Do you need anything?” she asked. The mare was trembling nervously, and her ears twitched as the changeling glared at her. “A pillow, or... something?”

“No,” Chrysalis grunted sulkily. She sighed and bit her tongue. “No thank you. We’re fine.”

The young mare bobbed her head up and down and quickly made to move away. She hesitated, though, and turned back to her. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “For doing this. I know it must be difficult, given your, um... but I just--I just wanted to thank you all. Apple Bloom means so much to all of us. Th-Thank you for helping us get her back.”

Her cheeks flushed red and she quickly scurried away to join her husband.

Chrysalis watched her go with an odd look on her face. “Ponies are simple creatures,” she muttered, exhaling softly. She rested her head amid Cozy’s mane, where her nose was quickly filled with the scent of sugar and cakes.

“Hnn...” Cozy mumbled in her sleep, turning slightly and resting her cheek against the changeling’s hardened carapace. Her hooves stretched outwards before curling back underneath her. “Mmm...mmy...”

Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed. The young Knight’s murmurings could have been just that, nonsensical murmurings, but she swore she heard a word in there. A word that she didn’t exactly hate.

Tirek suddenly clapped his hands and straightened up, rousing Chrysalis from her inner musings. “There. I believe we are ready,” he said, resting one hand on the television. He turned around as Applejack approached.

“Now will y’tell us what your plan is?” she asked him cautiously. “How’re we gonna get Apple Bloom back? Ya’ll don’t expect us t’just lasso her in, do you?” When he remained silent, her eyes widened. “Do you?”

Tempest also stepped forwards, also curious as to what he had planned, and Chrysalis picked herself up. She placed Cozy back onto her back and marched forwards to join their team. “Well? Let’s not keep everybody waiting any longer with your suspenseful theatrics, Tirek,” she scoffed.

“I’m going to open a portal between this place and the location of your lost filly,” he explained, ignoring the queen’s snide jab. “It will most likely be dangerous, and I must confess I have only tried this once before, and it did not end particularly well.”

Tempest cocked an eyebrow upwards, wondering what could have possessed him to try venturing into Limbo of all places.

“I must also confess that before we start... I do not know what will happen.”

The Apples shuffled and looked between one another worriedly. Applejack simply looked up at him and took a shuddering breath. “So long as it saves my sister,” she mumbled, “ah’m willin’ ta try anythin’.”

The centaur bowed his head to her. He looked around at all of them, focusing mostly on Tempest. “There is one other thing, before we start,” he said softly. “One of us must go in there-”

Applejack, as expected, was quick to step forwards and volunteer herself. “Ah’ll do it,” she said. “Ah can-”

“No.”

Big Mac took long and heavy hoofsteps forwards and shook his head. “No y’won’t,” he rumbled. His voice was low, softer than Tempest had expected for a stallion of his size. “It’s my fault Apple Bloom went... missin’ in the first place.” he said sadly with a forlorn look in his eye. “It’s only right that ah should be the one to go get her.”

Applejack vehemently shook her head and squared up to him. “Now that’s just plain foolish, Big Mac. You’re the strongest, ya’ll gotta be the one t’pull whoever goes in back. Ah can handle this.”

The siblings looked at one another. A moment passed before they began shouting at each other, arguing back and forth over who should risk their neck to save Apple Bloom: the diligent sister or the guilt-ridden brother.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes at their display, yet couldn’t help but be reminded of mewling grubs vying for her attention many, many moons ago. Cozy rustled and shifted amongst her wings, startling her for a fleeting second as she forgot she was carrying the small filly.

“Fer Celestia’s sake did ah raise ponies or mules?!” Granny suddenly cried, having enough and making both arguing ponies and the Knights flinch. “Both of you. Sit. Down.”

Applejack and Big Mac obeyed instantly, their faces sullen and their ears turned down. The old mare smacked her lips together and hobbled over, leaning on Sugar Belle as she moved. “Thank you, darlin’,” she said to the young mare, earning a small, somewhat apprehensive smile. “At least somepony knows what’s what, anyhow.” She came to a stop in front of her grandchildren and glared down at them. “Ya’ll should be ashamed of yerselves, fightin’ like this.”

“Granny-” Applejack started, swiftly earning a cuff to the back of the head. The same cuff was quick to find Big Mac’s head seconds after.

“Ah’m not finished. Both of ya’ll are needed here, in this place, fer when Apple Bloom comes back to us. She’s gonna be afraid and in sore need of her big brother an’ sister.”

Big Mac’s lip quivered. “So what do we do?” he mumbled.

The old mare turned her aged eyes towards the Knights. Her nose twitched and she looked caught between a rock and a hard place, almost hesitant to downright say it. But she didn’t have to.

Tempest inhaled through her nostrils, her eyes neutral and her expression placid. She stepped forwards, Chrysalis and Tirek flanking her on either side.

“You don’t need to worry,” she said, her voice the epitome of professionalism. Granny looked relieved but also somewhat guilty.

“It should be one of us that goes in after her anyway,” Tempest continued. She raised her hoof and gestured to her teammates. “And seeing as how Tirek needs to stay out here to keep the portal open, and Chrysalis you have Cozy to look after... well that narrows it down, doesn’t it?”

She cracked her shoulders and flicked her tail.

“Besides... we’re professionals, right? We throw ourselves into danger all the time.” She grinned, putting on a façade of bravado. In truth, she was slightly afraid of what she would face in there. In the lion’s den.

Applejack looked at her strangely. She stood up and moved forwards, until she practically pushed her nose against the commander’s. She suddenly swung her hooves outwards and pulled her into a tight hug. No words were spoken as she heaved silently and Tempest patted her back. She pulled away and nodded firmly, reaching down to pick up a length of rope in her hoof.

“We’d best tie this rope good and tight then, an’ make sure you come back safe.”

“Right. Good idea.” Tempest winked at her, eliciting a small smile and a well needed chuckle--no matter how quiet it was. She looked towards the centaur and nodded once.

Tirek thumped his free hand to his chest and snapped his notebook shut. He placed it back in his vest and stretched his arms out. His horns began to glow orange, and he closed his eyes. Then, after a short pause, he clapped his hands together and began to slowly draw them apart. Magic crackled forth from the orb twisting in between his palms and strips of orange lightning travelled through the air, eventually connecting with the TV. The house started to shake and the screen flickered on, casting shadows dancing on the walls behind them.

Chrysalis’s horn began to glow as she helped tie the rope around Tempest’s barrel. “For the record I think this is a terrible idea,” she murmured into the mare’s ear. Applejack’s ear twitched indicating she had heard, but the fame remained quiet as they worked.

“Noted. But what choice do we have?” Tempest answered. She winced as Chrysalis pulled the rope just a touch too tight. “Ow. Careful.”

The queen sneered at her and bopped her on the ear. “Oh ,hush. Do you want to be safe and secure or not?” Her features softened briefly as they looked at one another. “If you die in there, Tempest Shadow, I shall be very disappointed.”

“Aw, you do care,” the commander chortled, earning a lopsided smirk from Applejack too.

Chrysalis’s sneer quickly returned and she rolled her eyes. “I’m going to have to stop talking to you ponies. It’s bad for my health, I’m sure.” With one final tug she tightened the knot and stepped back. “There. Does that look satisfactory to you, Applejack?”

Applejack nodded. “That’s... some nice rope-work, Chrysalis,” she murmured.

“Why thank you, Applejack. Your praise means the world to me.”

The farmer’s cheeks flushed red and the bridge of her nose wrinkled. She said nothing, however, as Tempest got into position in front of Tirek.

“Now, Commander,” Trek said as orange lightning danced across his fingers and his magic worked itself. “We won’t be able to communicate when you cross, so tug the rope once to let us know you’ve made it. We’ll tug back to let you know we hear you. Then when you’ve found Apple Bloom and are ready to leave, tug twice sharply and we’ll pull you out. Understood?”

Tempest shook her legs and arched her back before nodding “Got it.”

There was a shimmer in the air before them all and the television flickered again, although instead of white static it looked more now like a murky window into swirling darkness.

The commander braced herself as the ponies, plus Chrysalis, took up positions behind her at different lengths of the rope. The queen used her magic to close and hold shut some of the window shutters.

Tempest took a deep breath and faced the portal. She closed her eyes and exhaled softly, bracing herself for a trip across the worlds. Her horn crackled and sparked with electricity, then she charged forwards.

On Chrysalis’s back, nestled in between her wings, Cozy Glow stirred. Her eyes slowly opened as lightning flashed outside, and she yawned and stretched. “Hey guys,” she mumbled sleepily, looking around the room as Tempest’s tail disappeared across the rift between worlds. “What’d I miss?”

***

Tempest felt like she was pushing through a thick cobweb as she stepped through the portal to the other world. It was dark, and a thick layer of ghostly green fog blocked her way. It was cold too. Unnaturally cold, but she mused that perhaps it was just the right amount of cold for a place where the dead dwell.

“Apple Bloom?” she called out hopefully.

As her voice travelled around her, the fog began to clear, and revealed that she was standing in the living room of a darkened house. The furniture was dated, by at least a few decades, she thought. And somewhat familiar.

She stepped around the sofa and stopped at the doorway to the familiar looking hallway. She quickly recognised the layout, having just walked it moments ago.

It was a mirror, and a dark, twisted one at that, of the Apple family farmhouse. The architecture just wasn’t quite right, the shadows and the angles looked a bit... off. It unsettled her.

“What is this?” she murmured to herself, warily looking up and down the hall. Crooked pictures of murky images and unknowable faces hung on the walls in place of the Apples. Her own voice sounded alien to her in this place. It made her uneasy and set her teeth on edge.

She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she looked backwards at the portal to the living world. It already seemed an entire stadium’s length away despite it being one room. She blinked and it returned to normal, or as normal as could be in a place like this.

The rope tied around her barrel trailed across the floor, disappearing into the portal. She gave it a tug once as per Tirek’s instructions, and braced herself as it tugged backwards.

She figured she would start upstairs. The stairs creaked under her weight as she ascended them slowly, keeping her ears alert and her eyes focused. As she reached the eighth step, she grunted as her hoof passed straight through it, revealing it to be nothing more than a hole to the vast expanse of nothing. Tempest realised she was holding her breath and let loose a long sigh.

“Snap out of it, Fizz,” she scolded herself. “You’ve seen weirder stuff than this.”

In truth, the Nightmare Knights had never once ventured into the realm of the dead, instead letting their prey come to them. That knowledge gave Tempest only the slightest moment of pause as she reached the top of the stairs, and looked down a long, long corridor to a door wreathed in ghostly light.

She hadn’t been upstairs of the old house, but she knew it certainly didn’t look as long as this from the outside. Again, the architecture was wrong, like somepony had seen a house and decided this was close enough.

The commander grit her teeth and marched forwards, taking long, powerful strides towards the door. Her horn crackled and sparked, and her eyes started to glow with magic, cutting through the darkness like a pair of spotlights.

The corridor seemed to stretch forwards to an even more impossible length as she travelled down it, seemingly getting caught at the mid way point. She pressed on, once again feeling like she was travelling through an ungodly amount of cobwebs. Between this and her and Glitter Drops’ little soiree into the train tunnel, she was starting to really hate spiders. The door loomed ahead, seeming to grow in size and ominous presence. She could hear a sort of chuffing from the other side.

Fire blazed in her eyes as she lowered her head and marched, continuing to push through. It clung to her face, whatever it was, and pulled at her hair and her coat. Her uniform felt like it was chafing and grew tight around her joints, like something was pulling it back. Still she continued, until she blinked and the door was suddenly there, mere inches in front of her face. She froze as not to bump into it and quickly collected herself, then reached up and twisted the doorknob.

The door swung open, revealing a large room very much like a long banquet hall, with a long dining table and sets of chairs up and down it. A blooming source of light hung above the table, bathing everything in a blinding white glow. The chuffing sounds Tempest had heard earlier returned, albeit far louder than before. It’s source, she quickly realised, was her reason for being here.

The Beast. It was every bit as repulsive as she imagined it would be, with a scabby, warty face, framed by two large, sinister and curved horns. Strangely, it appeared to be wearing some sort of cloth that swirled like living shadows.

The memory of Sombra’s appearance flashed through Tempest’s mind, catching her off guard for a moment. She quickly recomposed herself, refusing to think any more about his chiselled features or bright eyes, and shook her head. She narrowed her eyes at the Beast as it rumbled, ready to leap into action if necessary. But it remained still.

It sat with its head hung; its long arms ending in calloused hands and sharp talons fell limply at its sides. The chuffing sound it was making sounded almost like snoring. Tempest blinked and relaxed a touch. “If its asleep, then that might make things easier,” she muttered. It shifted and its eyelids flickered, making her swallow nervously.

She stepped forwards and took a cautious glance around, not daring to take her eyes off of the Beast for more than second at a time. Now that her eyes had adjusted to the bright light hanging above the table, the commander could see into the darkened bits of the room more so, and swore she saw several sets of eyes looking back at her. She blinked and they were gone.

“Gotta hurry. Apple Bloom?” she hissed as loudly as she dared, keeping her eyes trained on the Beast like a laser focus.

The clink of metal among the shadows answered her. Her head slowly turned and her hoof held itself in the air mid-step, and her eyes laid upon a small creature with a large red bow in its hair.

“Apple Bloom...”

The filly had her head low and her tail coiled around herself. Heavy looking chains lay clasped around her hooves. She looked totally and completely out of it, swaying back and forth with a small smile on her face.

Tempest’s gut lit itself alight with her fury. She scowled and quietly stepped towards her. She gave the filly a nudge and whispered her name again.

The young earth pony’s ear twitched. She moved her head slowly, looking with unseeing eyes.

Tempest snapped her hoof a few times in front of her eyes. “Come on, kid,” she hissed, giving the Beast a cursory glance. “Snap out of it.”

But still Apple Bloom didn’t react in any way. The commander closed her eyes and thought of the only thing she could do, something she and her friends used to do to stop daydreaming. “Sorry,” she mumbled, and leaned over to bite the filly’s ear.

“Ow!” Apple Bloom suddenly cried, making Tempest’s heart leap into her throat and cover up her mouth. The filly’s eyes went wide and she froze as the dark mare covering her mouth twisted her head around to stare at the sleeping demon. It, thankfully, remained asleep and unmoving, save for another round of chuffing.

Tempest breathed a sigh of relief and removed her hoof. “Apple Bloom?” she whispered.

Apple Bloom nodded dumbly.

“My name is Tempest Shadow. I’m here to rescue you. Please try and be as quiet as possible, I’d rather not wake that thing up.” Tempest jerked her hoof towards the demon.

“R-Rescue?” the filly mumbled. She moved her hoof to try and rub her head, only for her chains to prevent her and clink. She looked down at them and paled. Her breathing quickened and the commander was quick to see the early signs of panic fast approaching.

“Hey, hey, look at me,” she said as soothingly as possible. “I’m gonna get you out of here, okay? I’m gonna get you back to your family. But you need to listen to me. Do you remember anything before you got here? Anything at all?”

Apple Bloom blinked rapidly a few times and her lower lip trembled. “Th-There were some voices... askin’ me fer help an’ such... an’-an’ the big one.” She gulped and looked around. “My f-friend, he-”

She spotted the Beast. Her jaw opened in a silent scream and her pupils shrank.

Tempest took her hoof and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t look at it, Apple Bloom. It’s not going to hurt you again, as long as I’m here. Trust me. Can you trust me?”

The filly wrenched her gaze away from the demon and sniffed. “O-Okay...” She rubbed her eyes and bravely forced a smile out. “Ah can.” Tempest smiled back and looked down at the chains around her hooves. They were secured tightly, but looked old and rusted enough that she might be able to break them apart with a sharp jab of her hoof, or a blast of magic.

She looked back towards the Beast. As it moved in its sleep she spotted something glowing hiding within the folds of its cloak. A medallion hanging down from around its neck that glowed with a ghostly green aura. Curious, she thought, and wondered what it was. Pushing her professional curiosity out of the way for now, she focused back onto Apple Bloom. “Okay. Now let’s get these off of you. Hold still.”

Apple Bloom sniffed and nodded gloomily as the commander worked. The filly looked equal parts excited and utterly terrified. She still looked out of it, like this was a bad dream. A real bad dream.

She felt sick to her stomach, knowing that this child was at the mercy of this creature. She glanced around at it as each chain came away with a reasonably loud snap, but thankfully it remained asleep.

“One more,” she whispered. Apple Bloom nodded and kept her leg straight, as she had with the others. As it came loose, she she flexed her legs and shakily rose up. She suddenly gasped and shrank backwards as a shadow darkened over them both.

“T-T-T-” she stammered.

Tempest inhaled softly. “Run,” she whispered. Apple Bloom looked back at her as a sick, sadistic laughter filled the air. Her breathing quickened and she took a single step back.

“Run!”

The dark mare spun around, horn at the ready, only to be grabbed and unceremoniously hoisted up into the air. “Agh! Run, Apple Bloom!” she raged, swinging her legs. Her horn crackled and magic fired forth, striking the demon in the chest, or rather through the chest.

Its guttural and rasping laughter echoed around the chamber they were in.

The Beast sneered at her as it hurled her into the table, knocking the wind out of her lungs. It glided forwards and wrapped its claws around her neck, pouncing on her before she could move. Its yellow, bloodshot eyes bored into hers, practically oozing a sheer wanton desire for evil. Its talons pinched at her skin and dug in, drawing a few droplets of blood. Her forelegs swung wildly as she gasped for air, hoping to catch it in its miserable face.

It held her at arms length, pinning her down, and started to squeeze.

As her face started turning blue, memories of Tempest’s life flashed before her eyes. Glitter Drops and Spring Rain. The ursa. Running away from Nowhere, getting lost in the wilderness. Finding the Storm King and meeting Grubber. Being saved and in turn saving Twilight and reintegrating herself back into Equestria. Finally, the Nightmare Knights and all that they had done. Her limbs grew weak and her strength started to sap.

Apple Bloom watched in horror as she realised the pony grappling with the demon was losing. Without thinking, she skipped forwards and jumped up into the air, landing on its back with a soft thud. She reached up and pulled backwards on its horns, yanking it away from Tempest.

“Whoa!” she cried as it jerked its head, trying to shake her off. The grip it had around Tempest’s neck loosened and the mare slumped down, flopping onto her back on the table and gasping for air.

Apple Bloom clung on for dear life as the beast reached around for her, groping blinding for its attacker. It snarled vicious things towards her but said it would forgive her if she stopped now, and that they could still be friends-

“No!” she cried defiantly shaking her head. “Y-You’re not a good pony! You're not even a pony at all! Ah don’t wanna be friends with you!”

Her panicked words roused Tempest enough that the mare shook her head and touched her throat, wincing slightly when she traced over the few puncture marks she could feel.

“Tempest!” Apple Bloom squealed upon spotting her. “Help!”

The commander quickly jumped up to her hooves. She saw the filly on the demon’s back, and saw its face contort and twist with unbridled rage as it twisted and turned, unable to shake the young farmpony off. Her eyes caught a glint of something in the light. The medallion around the thing’s neck. it glowed softly with a strange, unearthly light and for a brief moment, the pale face of a ghostly pony loomed forth from it. Tirek’s words suddenly came to her in a moment of clarity.

’It binds lost spirits to it, growing fat and powerful off of their power...’

Suddenly she had an idea.

She set her hooves apart and narrowed her eyes and exhaled slowly, waiting for an opening. “Come on,” she muttered.

Just as the Beast finally managed to grab Apple Bloom and hold her in the air by her hair, it turned to face her. It snarled and raged incoherent nonsense, its voice echoing around inside her head. Its medallion, its seal, whatever it was that it used to ensnare other souls to it lay out in the open against its robe.

Tempest’s horn crackled and sparked with unstable magic. She fired at it, putting as much energy as she could muster into one blast of magic. With a sound like shattering glass, her shot found its mark. The Beast let loose an almighty shriek of equal parts surprise and rage and dropped Apple Bloom. The commander hopped down off the table and hurried to her, helping her up.

“On your hooves, soldier!”

Apple Bloom smiled weakly at her and huddled underneath her legs, and they both watched as the demon’s amulet fell to the ground in several shattered shards.

The Beast looked down in horror and made a desperate attempt to try and piece it back together. White lights--creatures’ faces with clear eyes and opened mouths--began to rise up into the air out of the shards, weaving in between its claws as it tried to grasp a hold of them.

Tempest counted hundreds--if not thousands of them--as they wailed and shrieked and started to encircle the Beast.

“What’s happenin’?” Apple Bloom whispered.

Before the Knight could answer her, each of the lights suddenly twisted and flew forwards, penetrating the demon’s cloak and its foul skin. It roared in fury and contorted itself to try and swipe them away, batting at its cloak like it was trying to fruitlessly put out a fire. They paid it no heed and continued to assault it in barrage of furious, righteous light.

The Beast fixed its bloodshot, yellow eyes upon Tempest.

She heard its voice in her head, declaring her its enemy. She heard it swear vengeance against her for all eternity, that her descendants would always fear the Beast’s shadow. It promised her that even in all of Tartarus her suffering would be legendary once it was finished with her. It lunged towards her with a snarl on its lips, then froze as the last of the stolen souls vanished into its chest. Its claws twisted around like it was cringing in pain, in a silent agony.

A mere few heartbeats passed before white cracks began to appear along its body. Its elongated talons broke away and faded into the aether like shimmering dust. Its eyes widened and its jaw opened wide for one last final roar and declaration of vengeance, only for a faint squeak and a hiss to leave its wretched mouth.

“Miss Tempest?” Apple Bloom whispered, hiding behind the mare’s legs, quivering in fear. “Wh-What’s happenin’ to it?”

Tempest didn’t answer, instead simply watching as the wretched, filly-stealing demon began to crumble into dust and fade away. Its arms disintegrated, as did its body, and then its face. Soon only its eyes remained, hovering in mid-air.

If she had to venture a guess, she would say with its source of power vanished, it was dying. But she knew better than to think demons, especially powerful ones like this, truly died.

“I think it’s trapped here,” she said quietly. “Without you, or the lost souls it had trapped, it has no power.”

Apple Bloom gulped. “Y’mean it’s just gonna stay here? Forever?”

Tempest nodded slowly, keeping her eyes fixed on what was left on the Beast. “I think so.”

Its eyes remained in place, simply staring at them, glowing with hatred in the darkness. The Knight shivered and nudged the filly towards the door. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get you home. Everypony will be glad to see you safe and sound.”

Apple Bloom followed her direction as they hurried towards the door. As they entered into what was once the impossibly long corridor, the commander glanced back. The Beast’s eyes remained fixed in place, forever frozen in mid-air in a permanent stare.

She closed the door on it with a satisfying click, and waited a moment. Feeling quite sure that it wasn’t going to suddenly attack them, she turned away, marching through the mirror of the farmhouse, which had since become less like a mirror and more like a shadow, as everything grew dark and splotchy--probably due to the demon’s power receding. Her stomach grumbled audibly in the silence that followed as they walked side by side.

“Boy, ah sure am hungry,” Apple Bloom mumbled lightheartedly, apparently picking up on the sound.

Tempest smirked. “You sound like Cozy.,” she said.

“Cozy? Cozy Glow?”

“Uh huh.”

It suddenly occurred to Tempest that maybe Apple Bloom mightn’t know who she or her team was, or for that matter that her team was comprised of reformed villains. “She’s a good guy now, don’t worry,” she quickly added as they ventured back downstairs. “Like the rest of the Nightmare Knights.”

Apple Bloom hesitated. “Nightmare Knights? ...Oh!” her face suddenly lit up in recognition. “Ya’ll’re Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow an’ you, now. They’re reformed now, right? Luna said so herself.”

Tempest frowned. “Luna?”

“Yeah...” Apple Bloom bobbed her head up and down happily. “She talks to us sometimes, me an’ my friends, in our dreams. But she hasn’t fer a while now. She said she had t’go.”

The commander’s brow slowly knotted together. “Yeah. She said the same thing to us. Sort of.”

“Where'd she go? Ah miss talkin’ to her.”

Her question had no answer that Tempest could give, as she herself had no idea where Luna was after taking a hiatus as Director. A short but heavy silence fell between them as they walked. Tempest glanced at the filly and noticed her forlorn expression, and decided she needed cheering up a bit. She gave her a gentle nudge and caught her attention. “Hey,” she said. “Thanks, for that back there, by the way.”

Apple Bloom blinked and turned her ears down. “What for? All ah did was somethin’ ah wasn’t s’posed to.”

“You saved my life,” Tempest said reassuringly. “If you hadn’t jumped on the...” She hesitated, thinking better than to reveal the true nature of the beast to a child. “...On that thing’s back, it would have killed me then and there. That was super brave of you.” She smiled as the filly’s eyes lit up and tousled her mane. “Tell you what, I’ll put in a good word for you so Granny doesn’t tan your hide, eh?”

Apple Bloom giggled and grimaced. She shivered and looked around as they entered into the living room and gave the portal a worried glance. “We gotta go through that?” she asked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be right beside you,” Tempest said, wrapping the rope around her hoof. She ushered Apple Bloom close to her and put a hoof around her, then tugged backwards twice in quick succession. As the rope went slack for a moment she braced herself and held the filly tightly. “Hold on.”

The young Apple did as was told and swallowed nervously, unsure of what to expect.

The length of rope coiled around the floor leading into the portal between worlds began to rapidly pull back, soon pulling both of them back across the bridge and into the world of the living once again. The only sound that followed them was a distant thunder-like rumble as another lost soul found its way into the spaces between this world and the next.

***

“You’re sure y’can’t stay fer anythin’ t’eat?” Applejack asked as she and Tempest clasped hooves on the porch of the farmhouse.

The rain had stopped and the unscheduled storm had dispersed, chased away by the weatherponies of Ponyville. As such, the farmland was muddy but quickly drying up thanks to the sun’s shining rays. Sound returned to Sweet Apple Acres as normal, the birds sang their songs, the pigs snorted and the chickens clucked, and the famous trees nearby rustled gently in a cool breeze.

Tempest nodded to the farmer and gestured away to her team, waiting patiently some ways away from the house. “I’m sure. With our job here finished we’d best push off and see what the next disaster is,” she said with a chuckle and smiled. “Besides, I’m sure you wanna celebrate getting Apple Bloom back. We wouldn’t want to intrude on that.”

As if on cue, the joyous sobs coming from Big Macintosh wailed throughout the house, followed by Granny Smith and Sugar Belle both laughing, and the sounds of a young Apple Bloom struggling to free herself.

Applejack waved her hoof. “Oh phsaw, Tempest,” she scoffed. “Ya’ll, all of ya’ll in fact, are always welcome here.” Tears brimmed her eyes as she looked at each of the Knights, lingering particularly on the former queen.

Chrysalis inclined her head forwards a few centimetres, and Tirek thumped his hand into his chest.

The farmer’s eyes settled back onto Tempest and flinched. She appeared to be grappling it looked like she couldn’t bear it anymore and swung her hoof forward, wrapping it around the dark mare to pull her into a tight hug, even going so far as to peck her on the cheek. “Thank you. All of you, fer gettin’ Apple Bloom back. Ah won’t soon forget it. if ya’ll ever need anythin’--anythin’ at all--just let me know and ah’ll help where ah can. That’s an Apple family guarantee.”

Tempest patted her on the back and smiled as they pulled away from one another. “We appreciate it, Applejack.” She glanced at her team and felt her chest swell with pride. They too looked prideful, except Cozy who looked somewhat guilty at having been asleep for most of it. The commander doubted any of them were going to hold it against her, though. Except maybe forbid her from ever having coffee again. “Well, Applejack,” she said with a sigh and stepped backwards. “We’d better be going now. Duty calls.” She raised a hoof to her head in salute, as did the Knights behind her.

Applejack matched it with a salute of her own. her mane rustled gently in the wind, still without her signature hat to cover it up. The commander turned away to leave, pausing only for a moment when she heard the scampering of hooves.

“Wait!” Apple Bloom cried.

Tempest glanced around at her, and saw a small bundle on the filly’s back. She gave her sister a quick nuzzle before she hopped forwards. “Ah wanted t’give you somethin, Tempest. As a thank you,” she said.

Tempest smiled and felt her cheeks redden slightly. “Oh that’s alright, Apple Bl-”

The filly paid her no heed, and instead took the bundle off of her back, and unfurled it. “Here. It’s my Cutie Mark Crusader cape,” she said proudly. “Ah want you t’have it.”

Applejack’s lip quivered and her eyes sparkled like the night sky. “Gosh darn it, Apple Bloom, ya’ll’re makin’ me misty-eyed,” she mumbled. Apple Bloom looked around at her and beamed, then extended her hooves towards Tempest.

Tempest reached out hesitantly. “I...” She had never received a gift for doing her job before. She didn’t particularly know what to do with it, and felt the bridge of her nose start to tickle. “Thank you, Apple Bloom,” she said quietly. “But don’t you... need it, too?”

Apple Bloom giggled and blushed. “W-Well, since ah’m gettin’ bigger, ah kind’a need a new one anyway.” She smiled up at her rescuer and gave her a quick hug. “Are ya sure y’can’t stay? Sugar said she’d make a cake, just as soon as ah get my chores done.”

The commander laughed and tousled her mane. “I’m sure, Apple Bloom. Hey, do me a favour and stay out of trouble, okay?” Her expression became stony and serious for a moment. “And no more talking to TV ponies who tell you they’re your friend, right?”

The filly paled and nodded hurriedly, glancing between both adults looking down at her sternly. “Yessum.”

Tempest flashed a smile at her and straightened up. “Good. Take care, Apples. Knights!” she barked, making her team snap to attention. “Move out!”

Applejack watched them go, with Tempest leading from the front, then Tirek, then Chrysalis and Cozy Glow. She smiled to herself and shook her head. “Twilight was right about them,” she murmured quietly. “Ah just never thought ah’d see it with my own eyes.” She nudged Apple Bloom back into the house. “And as fer you, young missy,” she said sternly.

Apple Bloom grimaced and shrunk away from her before being scooped up into a tight hug.

“Boy, am ah just glad t’ee you safe and sound again.”

The filly reciprocated the hug and smiled. Although her eyes began to bulge as Applejack squeezed. “Ack! Ap-jack! Help! Leggo!”

As the sound of laughter faded away into the distance, the Nightmare Knights once again traversed that dusty old path between Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville. Tempest and Tirek conversed about Limbo, with the latter asking the former about what she saw, and writing what she said down in his notebook.

“A twisted mirror of the living world, you say? Fascinating.”

Tempest snorted. “Try life threatening. Why’re you so keen about this stuff anyway?”

“Call it professional curiosity. It would do well to learn about where spirits come from, wouldn’t it?”

“I suppose. Are all spirits from Limbo, then?”

“Not necessarily.” Tirek scratched his chin and ran a hand through his beard. “Perhaps a lot of dangerous ones are. Our quarry is very much still an unknown variable, even to us. The more we can learn will only help us in the future, I am sure.”

Tempest blinked before nodding in agreement with him. “That’s true.”

“Now, as the Beast itself... this amulet, that you mentioned. What did it look like, exactly?”

As the commander began to describe all that she could remember, Cozy started to lag behind them all, twisting and scrunching her face up in deep thought as she drifted haphazardly through the air, heading straight for the treeline.

That was, until Chrysalis coughed and glared at her. “Ahem.” She tapped her hoof impatiently, hanging back a bit to let the filly catch up to her.

“What? Oh,” she murmured, adjusting her course to avoid the trees. “S-Sorry.”

It wasn’t like Cozy to apologise, or for that matter to appear so thoughtful. Chrysalis groaned inwardly and rolled her eyes. “What is it?” she grunted. “What’s bothering you?”

Cozy squirmed and grimaced. “Uh.. well...”

The queen scoffed and grinned at her. “My my, has Cozy Glow lost the use of her tongue?” she teased. “Spit it out, girl. Honestly.”

The pegasus scowled back at her and huffed. “I’m getting to it, alright?” she snapped. “It’s just... embarrassing.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and focused on the path, listening to the trees rustle.

Cozy inhaled and exhaled slowly, and pressed her forehooves together. “When I was asleep... I didn’t... say anything, right?”

The wind blew past them both, ruffling their manes. Chrysalis slowly turned and looked down at the pegasus, her condescending sneer replaced by a look of quiet curiosity. Her brow wrinkled the tiniest bit before she answered. “No,” she answered, narrowing her cold, alien-like eyes ever so slightly, and cleared her throat. “Why?”

The pegasus looked somewhat relieved and stopped appearing so nervous. “Phew. Oh, uh... just ‘cause I was having some weird dreams, y’know?”

Chrysalis arched one eyebrow upwards as they kept walking.

“Yeah, like--like one where we, me and you, Chryssy, we were actually... cuddling, and I... I called you mom.” Cozy chortled and rubbed the back of her head with a nervous, somewhat awkward smile on her lips. “I mean... talk about weird, right?”

“Hmm. Yes.”

Neither of them noticed how the other’s cheeks turned slightly pinker than usual. Up ahead, Tempest and Tirek turned to look at them, the former grimacing at how much they’d fallen behind.

“Hurry up, ladies!” she barked. “We have a job to do.”

The changeling snorted and picked up the pace. “Well, hurry along then, Cozy Glow,” she snapped. “I for one would be happy to never see this farm again, or the ponies within it.” She stuck her tongue out. “Such unrefinement. At least Twilight actually spoke properly.”

“Ah’m comin’,” Cozy grinned as she flapped her wings alongside her.

“Oh please tell me you’re not going to keep that accent.”

“Ah can’t rahghtly say that fer su-ure, Chrysali-yus. Ah might just d’cide t’turn a bit cou-ountry.”

Chrysalis closed her eyes and exhaled sharply out her nose. “Ugh. I hate you,” she groaned.

Cozy laughed and clapped her hooves together. “I love you too, m--Chryssy.”

Her jovial attitude vanished in an instant and her cheeks burned bright red. Without saying anything else, she buzzed her wings and flew forwards to perch upon Tirek’s shoulder. Chrysalis watched her for a moment before letting some of her mane fall over her face in a Fluttershy-like manner, obscuring the small smile she was struggling to force away that had appeared on her face.

What Lies Beneath

Tempest Shadow winced and grimaced as she slipped into the bath she had drawn herself. The warm water soaked into her skin and relaxed her muscles almost immediately. The perfect treat to a long day of hard work.

“Oh Celestia, that feels good...” she murmured as she let the warm water soak into her aching joints and muscles. As she started to relax, she glanced around the recently refurbished bathroom.

Director Starlight Glimmer, as part of her new duties, had seen fit to give the castle some sorely needed renovations, including installing actual doors on the door frames, install actual windows and window frames, and give the older rooms like the library, for instance, some proper lighting. Not to mention, all of the Knights, plus Jack, now had a space of their own to call home, their private quarters so to speak.

And so Tempest was using some of her downtime to enjoy a nice, clam and relaxing bath--in her bathroom no less.

She nestled down amidst all the bubbles and inhaled the sweet scent of the incense she had borrowed--with permission of course--from Chrysalis. The former queen’s knowledge of luxury was a thing to behold, she had soon found out. A knot in her back made her eye twitch and she re-positioned herself to make it more comfortable. Taking a deep breath, she submerged her head entirely, only to spring up a moment later.

The commander of the Nightmare Knights closed her eyes and exhaled softly as a smile painted itself across her face, letting her hooves float on the water around her, simply enjoying the peace.

BRRRRRRRING...

Her ear flicked when she heard a shrill ringing from downstairs. The phone. Somepony had a job for the Knights. Tempest tried her best to ignore it, and waited for a few minutes. She figured while she had a moment to relax she was going to use it, and give their secretary a chance to do her job.

BRRRRRRRING...

Her ear flicked again and this time her eyebrow twitched.

“Come on, Jack...” she muttered, her relaxed smile quickly turning sour. She opened her eyes and called out. “Jack?!”

Silence, and the phone kept ringing.

BRRRRRRRING...

Tempest groaned and jutted her lower jaw out. “Jaaaack!” she called again, unafraid to let her displeasure be known.

More silence, save for the infernal ringing.

BRRRRRRRING...

“Ugh... Chrysalis! Tirek! ...Cozy?” she added, quieter than the others. “Anyone?!”

When silence answered her after the third time she shouted, she had had enough. She grumpily rose up out of the tub and shook her body, sending droplets of water scattering across the ground. After quickly grabbing a towel and making an attempt to dry off, she ventured downstairs, all while muttering and grumbling under her breath about losing out on ‘her’ time.

As she approached the secretary’s desk she saw a mess of magazines and notes scattered about. She tutted, brushing some aside to find the red-headed mare’s headset. Quickly placing it on her head she angled the microphone towards her mouth and cleared her throat before pressing the button and picking up.

“Hello-” she began.

”Tempest! Thank Celestia!” came the startled, almost frantic voice of Starlight Glimmer. ”Listen, we have an emergency on our hooves and I need you guys to be ready to move out as soon as possible!”

Tempest blinked.

“I-”

”Especially Chrysalis,” the director’s hurried voice added. Tempest could hear some muffled voices on the other end and furrowed her brow in concentration, trying to determine who was speaking. She blinked again and wrinkled her nose.

“Espec--Director, what-”

”Sorry, Tempest, I gotta go, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Tempest sighed and reluctantly nodded her head. “Under-”

”Good. I promise I’ll explain when I’m there, Tempest.”

With that, Starlight hung up. Tempest twisted her mouth and chewed the inside of her cheek, wistfully thinking about her bubble bath and contemplating just running another one for the briefest of moments, in spite of how urgent the director sounded. But, with a heavy sigh, she put the phone down and began to properly dry herself off to make herself presentable.

A startled gasp behind her made her ear flick. She turned around and looked right at Jackdaw Inkwell, just as the red-headed mare adjusted her glasses and stepped off the bottom step of the stairs.

“Uhh... you shouted, boss?” she said, having the sheer audacity to smile, however nervous it may have been.

Tempest glared at her before answering both bitterly and sarcastically. “Last week. But don’t worry, I sorted it out. Where are the Knights?” she grumbled, running her towel over her head.

Jack rubbed her forelegs together and looked behind her. “Uh, Chrysalis and Cozy are getting some grub in the common room. Um... T’s in the library, workin’ on somethin’. He was, I mean. Dunno if he still is or not.”

The dark mare’s eyebrow made an audible creaking sound as it arched upwards.

The secretary began to blush and she shyly traced a circle over the ground. “We weren’t doin’ anythin’ weird!” she claimed defensively. A small smile danced across her lips as she spoke. “I just... like watching him work.”

Tempest’s scowl didn’t relent as she kept vigorously rubbing her head with her towel. “Hrrrm.”

When she finished, her mane promptly poofed up into an uncanny replica of the hair that belonged to legendary party planner and partygoer Pinkie Pie. She directed her eyes upwards at the wayward curl dangling over her face and growled quietly.

“Uh, well, I’ll tell you what, boss,” Jack said, looking at the hair like it might have jumped out at her. She spun her chair around and patted the seat. “Sit down and lemme see what I can do while I ring the bell and get the guys down here.”

“Are you a hairdresser as well as a secretary now?” Tempest snapped.

“A kid I used to babysit in Manehattan was real good with hair,” Jack explained as she pressed her hoof into the buzzer, letting the alarm bell ring out through the castle and summon the Knights. “And she showed me a few things every now and then. Got her cutie mark in hairdressin’ too, from what I heard.” She chortled to herself and bobbed her head up down. “I wonder what Babs is up to now... Anyway.”

The commander saw the sense in her words and, albeit reluctantly, sat down in her chair. Soon after a pair of hooves pressed into her mane and began to do something with it. After a few minutes of semi-awkward silence she coughed into her hoof, feeling the need to speak up and make small talk. “So... you and Tirek?”

Jack answered with a heartfelt sigh as she massaged the commander’s head. “Ain’t he a dreamboat? Those muscles, that beard, the way he does that... thing with magic...” The secretary shivered and giggled softly, making Tempest’s ear flick and an odd sense that felt almost like jealousy begin to form in the pit of her stomach. “I’m not sayin’ we’re anythin’ all official-like, though. Maybe one day... Anyway you’re done, boss. Whaddya think?”

Tempest blinked as Jack flicked open a small mirror and held it in front of her face. To her surprise her mane was back to normal, although it looked shiny and new. “Thanks Jack,” she said, examining herself and feeling rather impressed with how her mane looked. “This looks really good, you sure your special talent isn’t in hairdressing?”

“Oh, pshaw,” Jack giggled and waved her hoof dismissively as she helped the commander up, just as the Knights rounded the corner.

Chrysalis looked bored if nothing else. Cozy looked ready for bed, sporting a pink onesie and nightcap, and Tirek was wearing a set of goggles atop his head, with a somewhat distant and faraway look on his face as he followed them.

Tempest straightened herself up and cracked her shoulders.

“Alright listen up everyone. That was Director Starlight on the phone just now,” she explained. “Some sort of emergency for us. She said she’s coming here very soon, so get ready. And play nice.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. “Ugh, when isn’t there some sort of emergency?” she grunted. “Did she lose a precious student? Misplace some pencils perhaps? Pah.”

While she scoffed and rustled her wings, Cozy yawned sleepily and rubbed her eyes.

Tirek roused himself out of his thoughts and stroked his beard. “Did the director say anything in regards to said emergency?” he ventured.

Tempest shook her head. “No. Just that it was urgent and to get ready. Especially you, Chrysalis.”

The changeling scowled and pursed her lips. “Especially me? Oh goodie, I can’t wait to hear what that dreadful beast has to say now.”

As if on cue, there was a pop and a flash of magic that lit up the castle. Tempest shielded her eyes briefly from the sudden burst of light. “Nightmare Knights!” she barked as she lowered her hoof. “Fall-”

She stopped herself short when she saw the director, and who was accompanying her. A creature as tall as Chrysalis stood beside the mare, looking somewhere between a stag and an insect, sporting an array of pastel colours. Tempest felt herself visibly pale and her chest tighten as his and her eyes locked.

“Oh,” she murmured.

Time seemed to slow around them all. Chrysalis’s very hair rose into the air and both sets of her wings unfurled to their full majesty, shimmering in the flickering light from the nearby lamp. Her pupils shrank to mere pinpricks and her lips peeled back to reveal her set of razor sharp fangs.

With a flash of magic, a jet of brilliant green light fired towards the director and her companion, crashing into the shield the former quickly cast around herself. “Chrysalis, wait! Please!”

Tirek grabbed Chrysalis from behind, planting his hands on either side of her head to force the beam of light away from Starlight. Cozy rose up into the air to help him however she could, and yanked her nightcap off to jam down on the queen’s horn. With her magic nullified by simple cotton once again, Chrysalis took to snarling and snapping at them both like a rabid animal.

Tempest rubbed the bridge of her nose and groaned inwardly, and bemoaned Starlight’s lack of tact.

“You vile, hateful demon!” Chrysalis howled at Starlight in between snaps. “You pompous, arrogant, disgusting creature! How dare you bring that--that thing here!”

Starlight turned her ears down and trembled where she stood as her shield dissipated. Despite being Director of the Nightmare Knights, she was still very much just a pony, after all. “I’m sorry, Chrysalis,” she said, “but I had to. If we can explain-”

“No!” Chrysalis raged as Tirek and Cozy struggled in holding her back. Such was her fury that even the magic-eater’s strength couldn’t stop her from taking a step forwards. “Leave now, and maybe I won’t devour your innards!” She lashed out with a hoof and struck Tirek squarely in the jaw, making him grunt and grimace. “Unhand me you ape!” she bellowed.

Tempest sighed and removed her hoof from her nose and swished her tail out sideways behind her while they continued to grapple.

“Enough,” she said calmly, putting as much authority into her voice as she could. She hoped Chrysalis liked her enough to listen to her, even with... his presence. For Starlight’s guest was known to the Knights, especially Tempest, and especially Chrysalis. He was among a few of the things Luna had warned the commander about when she initially hired her.

First and foremost in her warnings: never force a meeting between them.

King Thorax of the Reformed Changeling Hive rubbed his neck and grimaced. He appeared grateful for the Knights’ efforts in stopping Chrysalis from attacking him and Starlight, if only slightly terrified.

“Chrysalis,” Tempest barked again. “Enough.”

Chrysalis’s eyes snapped towards her. Her lip quivered upwards, just barely managing to hide her fangs as a low growl left her throat.

The commander inhaled deeply and simply looked at her. “Let her go,” she told Tirek and Cozy, without breaking eye contact.

Tirek glanced at her with wide eyes. “Commander, are you su-”

“Yes.”

The centaur swallowed and released his hold of the former queen. Cozy fluttered her wings and came to a rest on his shoulder, just barely peeking out from behind his mass. Without a word, Chrysalis reached up to remove the nightcap adorning her horn and cast it to the ground. Her eyes glared burning hot daggers into Tempest’s, and then at Thorax.

A flash of disgust and vengeful fury crossed her face.

“Speak,” she spat.

Starlight breathed an audible sigh of relief and stepped towards Tempest. “Boy, I don’t know how you do it, Tempest, but thanks.”

The dark mare answered with a ghost of a smile and jutted her head towards Thorax. “You’d better explain what this is about, and quickly, Director.”

The Headmare-Turned-Director nodded gratefully and cleared her throat. “Right, yes. Everyone, this is Thorax, he’s-”

Chrysalis growled again as she started to pace like a tiger, watching both Starlight and the changeling king with a ferocious and intense gaze. Tempest watched her cautiously, and subtly gestured to Tirek to stay at the ready in case she tried to attack again.

“Well, I guess you don’t need introductions, do you?” Starlight winced. “In that case, um... Thorax, would you like to...?”

Thorax stepped forwards and bowed his head to each of the Knights. “First off, I don’t... really know how to say this,” he started. “Um, it’s a pleasure to meet you...” His gaze rested on Chrysalis for a minute and the former queen snapped her jaw and gnashed her teeth at him. “...Uh... to--to meet you all. I’ve heard a lot about you already.”

His voice was softer than Tempest was expecting for a creature of his size. Truthfully, she didn’t know what to expect from the king, the only changelings she had interacted with being Chrysalis--and Luna's pair of agents in the Manehattan museum. She quickly realised her knowledge of changelings was both warped by her teammate and utterly lacking in experience.

“I’ll just get right to it.” Thorax winced and fluttered his wings and swished his gossamer tail. “Changelings have been, um, missing--going missing, in the lower levels of the Hive,” he murmured softly, stumbling over his words. “There was--we--um...”

“Spit. It. Out. Worm,” Chrysalis snarled.

Starlight scowled and glared at Chrysalis. “Chrysalis, don’t-”

The Knight surged forwards, faster than Tirek could move, and towered over the young mare, making her freeze and, look up at her.

“Do not presume you may tell me what to do, or not do do, Starlight.”

Starlight, in spite of her fear, remained firm and held her head up high, matching the queen’s gaze. Before she could say anything, Thorax came to her defence.

“Leave her alone, Chrysalis,” he warned. “She’s only trying to help us, which is more than I can say for you so far!”

Somewhat impressed by his sudden backbone, Chrysalis slowly turned to look at him. The king puffed his chest out and kept his gaze trained firmly on her. His luminous disc-like eyes scanning hers. Despite his obvious fear of her, there was a certain determination in his eyes--a willingness to do anything if it meant saving his people. The commander saw it too and cleared her throat, hoping to defuse the situation before it could escalate any further.

“Please, your majesty. Go on. Tell us what happened.”

Thorax wrenched his gaze away from Chrysalis to look at her. “Yeah,” he murmured softly. “Yeah, okay. We organised a search party: My brother, Pharynx, and I, Spindleshanks, Dave and a few others all went down there to look for them and bring them home-”

Cozy snickered behind Tirek’s shoulder. “Dave? What kinda name is that?” she whispered, earning a stern shush for her troubles from the centaur as he listened intently.

Starlight and Tempest both glared at her as Thorax continued, seemingly without hearing her snide laughter. “Only... when we found them they were...” He shuddered and shivered.

Chrysalis wrinkled the end of her nose, showing the faintest race of concern for a split second, and then it passed. “They were what? Feral, perhaps? Love starved? How’s sharing a limited supply of food amongst yourselves working out for you?” she sneered cruelly. “Everyone getting enough to eat?”

The king shook his heavy head from side to side. “No--I m-mean, yes we are but, no they weren’t love starved. They were... dead,” he whispered.

Tempest felt a small sense of dread rise in her gut. “Did their spirits remain?”

Starlight tapped the ground quietly. “Tell them what you told me, Thorax,” she said quietly. “Go on.”

Thorax glanced at her and licked his lips. Tempest, Tirek and Cozy all watched him carefully and quietly, while Chrysalis just glared at him.

“Then there was a... I don’t know, a surge of magic through the tunnels, I guess? But afterwards they all... stood up.”

Tempest blinked. “They stood up?”

Tirek rubbed his chin. “Not only are the restless dead on our list of adversaries, but now we must also contend with the living dead?”

Cozy gasped softly in understanding. “Living dead? You mean zombies?!” she squealed. “We dealing with zombies now?” She grinned at Tirek and rubbed her hooves together excitedly. “Oooh hoo hoo...”

“Hardly,” Chrysalis snorted, shooting daggers towards Thorax. “Some illusion, I would venture. Although of course you would jump straight to the most implausible-”

“It’s the truth, Chrysalis!” Thorax snapped defensively. “I saw them with my own eyes. They were dead--I checked. I mourned, and just as we decided to start bringing them back to give them a proper burial, they changed.” He hesitated before continuing and grew pale. His hooves began to shake, his lip trembled and he shuddered, prompting Starlight to rub his back for reassurance. “They were angry, and looked different to a normal changeling. Not... like before," he added with a wince, "but white. Like their chitins were dying. They attacked us.” He looked down at the ground as tears rolled down his cheeks. “We only just managed to get away, but then... we heard a voice...”

Tirek leaned forwards curiously. “Care to elaborate? Did they identify themselves?”

Thorax shuddered. “It... she said she was the rightful Queen of the Changelings. That the Hive belonged to her... Pharynx had the idea of collapsing the tunnel, so we did and then... we ran.”

“A name, though?” the centaur persisted. “Did this mystery voice have a name it belonged to?”

The king nodded slowly and licked his lips. “Queen Imago.”

Chrysalis’s eyes shrank and her breathing grew heavy. “Imago?” she breathed. “Impossible. There is no way...” She moved away from them and started frantically murmuring under her breath. “Impossible...”

After roughly a minute of this, Cozy put her hoof up and waved it around. “Chryssy?” Chrysalis’s head twitched towards her.

“Hi. Who’s Imago?” the filly said, voicing their chiefest and greatest of questions.

The former queen stalked away from them all to look out the window at the darkening skies, watching the sun disappear over the tips of the Everfree Forest. “I suppose there’s nothing else for it, is there?” she grunted. “Very well. Once she was Queen of the Changelings. The third queen there has ever been, if you must know.” As she spoke, a chill ran down her spine and a host of unwanted memories came flooding back to her of ages past. “She led our people in a time of war and famine, many, many years ago. As well as that...”

She moved to one side and faced them, her eyes ablaze with righteous fury... and hate.

“She was my mother.”

***

A long time ago. . .

Chrysalis cowered and trembled with fear as the shadow of the Sovereign Lord of Equestria descended upon her.

The unicorn king was known throughout the world as a fair ruler of his ponies, and something of a father figure to them all. But to some races, the shapeshifting changelings in particular, Morpheus, the King of Dreams, might as well have been the devil incarnate, for his wrath was great and terrible. The young nymph in his steely gaze backed up, bumping into something, and twisted her head enough to look up in relief at her own ruler and liege lord: Queen Imago of the Third Changeling Hive.

Her mother.

A changeling as dark grey as her daughter, Imago’s carapace was covered in pock marks and scars. But their similarities ended at their eyes, for while Chrysalis had two shining emeralds in her head, Imago had but one. The other remained milky white and unseeing. Both, however, glowered and radiated with hate at her arch-rival.

“Imago,” growled Morpheus.

“Morpheus,” sneered Imago, curling her lip upwards to reveal a set of jagged and uneven fangs.

The several guardsponies surrounding them quickly lowered their spears, giving the queen pause for a moment. Her cold and calculating eyes darted around them until she hissed and pulled herself up. “It seems that I am outnumbered, my lord,” she growled quietly. “So here, as a token of my goodwill, let us enter into a parley.”

She smiled. It was an unkind smile, one of a predator--like a wolf smiling at the sheep. She gnashed her teeth together at the closest guard, startling him and making him jump. After cackling cruelly and fluttering her wings, she descended into a sweeping bow before her old enemy.

“What say you, my lord? One sovereign to another?” She flashed him a wicked grin, to which he met with his own stern scowl.

“Your kind is banished from Equestria, Imago,” Morpheus declared, unimpressed by her theatrics. “You know the law forbids you from entering my kingdom.” His deep voice rumbled out across the grassy knoll like thunder. The banners on his chariot billowed out in the wind, and his long mane, seemingly alive and twinkling like a piece of the night sky itself, followed suit.

Chrysalis shivered as he directed his gaze toward her and tucked her tail in between her legs.

He said nothing for a few moments until he levelled his gaze back at her mother. “However, as I am feeling merciful today, you and your spawn may leave. I advise you take this opportunity to survive. For your child’s sake.”

Imago sneered at him and side stepped her daughter, letting Chrysalis fall back onto her flanks with a quiet ‘oof’. “Come now, Morpheus,” she crooned. “Have you not met my daughter, Chrysalis?” She pressed her hoof into the nymph’s back and shoved her forwards. “Have no fear; I suspect it was mere hunger, not malicious intent, that drove her here into your precious Equestria. Isn’t that right, girl?”

Chrysalis couldn’t move, say or do anything. Paralyzed with fear, the changeling princess began to shake and tremble, so much so that her knees knocked together like the rattling of bones. Imago clicked her tongue in distaste and glowered at the king.

Morpheus remained as stoic as ever, even as several of his royal guards clad in blackened armour approached, spears lowered, horns aglow and wings flared.

“I will not repeat myself again, Imago,” the king repeated, sounding bitter and angry. “Leave. Or perhaps you do not understand the penalty for sullying my land with your misbegotten hooves?”

Imago raised a hoof to her bad eye gently and hissed, flicking her forked tongue out at the unicorn. “I do, but the child does not.” She looked down at the nymph by her legs and smirked cruelly. “Here. If you must exact your pound of flesh, then take it.” She gave the young changeling a hard shove, sending her sprawling into the dust and muddy grass, incidentally splashing some of Morpheus’s hooves with muck and grime.

The guards rushed forwards, holding the tips of their spears to the queen’s throat. “Mangy cur!” one of them declared. “How dare you assault King Morpheus! Give us one good reason why we should not end your miserable life now!”

“Enough,” warned Morpheus.

Chrysalis quickly turned her head to look up at her mother and trembled in terror, expecting the worst--either for herself or the queen. Imago simply continued to grin, even with the sharpened point of a weapon at her throat.

Morpheus, however, simply scowled and ground his teeth together. “Does your cruelty know no limits, Imago?” he sneered. “You would throw your own child to the wolves and for what? To make me the monster you think I am?”

“The monster I think you are?” the queen tittered, taking a few steps forwards towards the king, letting the tips of the spears grind against her carapace. The guards remained steadfast, and narrowed their eyes, waiting for their lord’s command. “Perhaps, then, it would be kinder to let her starve with the rest of our kind? We are dying, you hateful creature. Have you no compassion in your heart for those not of your precious ponies?”

The black pony looked down at the young nymph staring up at him with wide eyes and an awful, cowed expression and shook his head in disbelief at the queen’s cruelty. “I have little compassion for you, Imago. And for those that follow you, but innocents such as this child have no place in our feud. In exchange for not destroying you here and now, I will take your child as my ward. A ‘political prisoner’, so to speak. What say you to that?”

Imago paused and tilted her head curiously.

“Your... ward?”

She threw her head back and cackled at him.

“You would take her as your own? To what end, I wonder?” she taunted. “Perhaps your tastes venture beyond that of simple pony delights? Perhaps you long for some plaything you can shape to your own image as you see fit, oh gracious king of Equestria.” Her cruel and mocking laughter echoed around the empty field, going unanswered save for the bristling of guards in their armour and the rustle of grass as they shifted at the uncomfortable implications of her words and looked to their king. “Or perhaps you simply wish to add her to your collection of trophies you have amassed as a ‘great protector’. Tell me, does the Griffon Emperor miss his beak?”

The queen smirked at the visible discomfort she had heaped upon them all and turned away. “But very well,” she said with a wave of her hoof. “Take her. Do as you wish with the child, King Morpheus. Kill her, spare her, turn her into your toy; I do not care. Just know that in the end, I will remain and you... will be dead.”

“How dare you!” said the same guard as before. He lunged forwards with his pear, only for green fire to envelope the queen and a mass of feathers rise into the air. A huge, black crow rose up into the sky, its caws sounding like mocking laughter.

“Leave her,” Morpheus grunted, holding up his hoof to silently tell his soldiers to stand down. “Let her run, and good riddance to her.” His eyes directed downwards at the nymph lying alone, staring up at the bird with tears in her eyes. “As for this one...”

Chrysalis felt faint. “Mother!” she called out weakly as she scrambled to her hooves. “Wait! Please don’t go...” Her wings unfurled, but as they weren’t completely developed yet, they merely fluttered uselessly and threatened to tear on the wind. She felt her chest tighten as she watched her mother fly away, and suddenly she felt very alone. Her breathing came hard and short, and black spots began to take up her vision as another pang of hunger fired through her. “Mother...”

“Sire, what would have us do with this one?” another of the guards grumbled, pointing his spear at the nymph.

The fear that the dangerously tipped point suddenly thrust into her vision gave Chrysalis enough strength to yelp and shy away. She panicked and bolted in one direction, only for the warm grip of magic to surround her and hold her steady.

“Remain still, child,” King Morpheus told her.

Petrified from fear, Chrysalis did just that. She went limp as his magic surrounded her and held her up.

After a few moments of examining her, and removing a cluster of mud from her mane, he barked an order towards the soldiers. “Stand down.”

The guard closest to them blinked and let this spear tip towards the ground. “Sire?”

“I said stand down, Shining Shield,” Morpheus repeated, fixing him with a stern look.

Shining Shield, and the other guards, quickly obeyed and raised their spears, eager to avoid the King of Dreams’ ire. He turned back to Chrysalis and gently set her down on the ground. “Do not be afraid, little one,” he said quietly and kindly. “Nopony here is going to hurt you. You have my word.”

He extended his hoof out towards her, only for her to snap her teeth at him and fire a spark of magic towards his face, harmlessly bouncing off of his cheek. Instead of being upset, he simply smiled at her, and opted for a different approach. The king sat down beside her on the grass and reached into his robes, all while the soldiers looked at both him and the young changeling utterly bewildered.

“Here,” he said, pulling out a small box. He clicked the lid off with his magic and plucked out a slice of a strange looking fruit. It was a mix of orange and red hues, and smelled quite strongly of something entirely different to what Chrysalis was used to.

“Eat. I insist.”

Chrysalis gazed up at him with saucer-sized, hungry eyes and gingerly reached out to take it in her hoof. She sniffed it suspiciously.

“I believe it is called a mango,” the king explained kindly. “Eat. It’s rather pleasant, I’d say. If a touch tangy.”

The nymph licked the tip of the fruit tentatively. Her tongue lit up with flavour, and her eyes grew wider--if such a thing was possible. She quickly devoured it, gnashing her teeth upon the soft, sticky fruit, and licked her lips when it was gone.

The king beamed at her. “What is your name, child?”

Chrysalis licked her hoof where some of the ‘mango’ juice had dripped and averted her eyes from him. “C-Chrysalis,” she mumbled.

The unicorn king touched her chin to raise her head up and smiled at her. It was a kind smile, wholly different from the vicious baring of fangs her mother would give her at times. “Hello, Chrysalis,” he chortled. “My name is Morpheus. If that is too difficult to say, you may call me Morph.” After a moment’s pause he carried on. “Would you like something more substantial to eat?”

The young changeling felt her tummy rumble. The fruit was nice, but she needed more. She needed love... “Y-Yes, please...”

Morpheus leaned down to her and exhaled. A thin, pink trail of mist left his mouth and travelled through the air towards her. The guards stood and watched, mouths agape at the scene before them. Their scary weapons and armour gave her pause for the briefest of moments, but Chrysalis didn’t care. The smell of the king’s love was indescribable. So rich, so pure. She couldn’t help herself, and she opened her mouth wide and inhaled as much as she could, feeling for the first time in weeks the satisfaction of a hearty meal.

As she burped and hiccupped, indicating she was finished, the king smiled at her and extended his hoof. “Come with me, Chrysalis. Allow me to show you to your new home.”

To Chrysalis it didn’t make any sense. Every story her mother had told her about Equestria was that it was a land riddled with monsters who would destroy changelings without a second thought, ruled over by the worst monster of all: King Morpheus himself. In a mere few minutes, her entire preconception of ponies had changed. For the king to show her this unexpected kindness, even going so far as to offer her his hoof to hold... it made her feel exceptionally uneasy.

And yet she felt... safe. Safe enough, at least, to reach up and put her hoof in his. He guided her over towards his chariot, a large, midnight black affair pulled by a contingent of dark pegasi--creatures Chrysalis had heard only whispered stories about. She trembled as one snorted hot air out of his nostrils at her. The guards accompanying the king followed closely behind, those pegasi among them spread their wings as they prepared to take flight, and the earth ponies and unicorns simply started the trek home.

Almost as soon as Chrysalis had settled down, they were in the air and rapidly speeding towards the Equestrian capital--a wonderful, shining palace in the middle of a lush and vibrant forest. She felt the strings of her heart tug, and a single tear rolled down her cheek as she glanced back at the grassy knoll where her life had changed.

“Mother...” she whispered softly. She started to sob quietly, as it came to her that she was most likely never going to see her mother again. Without even realising it, she pressed into the king’s side as he put a hoof around her to comfort her. Her eyelids began to droop shortly after, and soon she drifted off into a dreamless sleep...

***

The present. . .

Save for the former queen’s hoofsteps, the castle was silent as the Nightmare Knights, Starlight and Thorax all waited for Chrysalis to say, or do, something. Cozy fluttered her wings and stood in between Tirek’s legs, watching the queen paced back and forth. Tirek himself folded his arms and simply waited, and Tempest tapped her hoof, noticing how anxious Thorax looked.

“Chrysalis?” she decided to venture. “Talk to us.”

Chrysalis turned slightly to look at her. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, brimming with fury. “It cannot be her,” she hissed. “It’s not possible.”

“Why... is that?” Starlight murmured. “I mean... if Thorax heard her, then-”

“Because she is dead,” the Knight snarled, rounding on the director. “I killed her myself when I took command over the Hive. If she has returned then... what was it all for?”

The Knights’ eyebrows skyrocketed in surprise. Cozy quivered and leaned against one of Tirek’s legs. Not even the young pegasus had a quip for that particular revelation.

Thorax grimaced and rubbed his antlers. “You see now, right?” he murmured. “That’s why I need your help. Why we need your help.”

“Help?” the queen rasped.

Thorax blanched, quickly realising he may have said the wrong thing as she fixed her hate-filled gaze upon him. “Chrysalis, please... Please... we don’t... we don’t know what else to do. You’re the only one who can help us.”

The rage that had been just barely contained by Tempest overwhelmed Chrysalis and came to a head. “Help you?! Why would I want to help a snivelling wretch like you?!” she roared, surging forwards and coming within an inch of the changeling king’s nose again. “You turned your backs on me when I gave you everything I had--everything I did, I did for you: my beloved subjects. My children! And you threw it all away at the behest of this creature!” She gestured towards Starlight, making the director turn her ears down and bite her lip sadly.

“As for you, Thorax,” Chrysalis snarled, “your kind, your ‘reformed’ changelings, are nothing but dirt under my hooves. You mean... nothing to me.” She spat her cruel words out and bared her fangs at him one final time before turning and stomping away, shoving aside Tirek and Cozy to march up the stairs, snorting and cursing under her breath.

Tempest stepped forwards to help Thorax to his hooves and hold him steady on his shaking legs, while Starlight patted his shoulder apologetically. “I’m sorry, Thorax,” the director mumbled. “I thought... I don’t know what I thought...” She sighed as she turned away, intending to leave. “Come on. Maybe Twilight will know what to do and how to help the changelings...”

The commander flicked her ear, hearing a noise upstairs like a muffled scream into a pillow, followed by a series of abnormally loud bangs and stomps. Then an unearthly silence. She and Tirek shared a glance, and she raised her hoof to stop Starlight from moving any further. “Wait just one moment, Director,” she said softly. “I think...”

Sure enough after a few seconds, Chrysalis came stomping back into view and buzzed her wings. She surveyed the room, eyeing each of the creatures in her vicinity carefully.

“Hrrrrnnnnnggg,” she groaned, and pointed at the king. She sneered at him and her hoof wavered. “You... If what you say is true, and you did indeed hear... Imago’s voice, then as much as I am loathe to admit it, I cannot possibly leave you imbecilic, cretinous ingrates to investigate it on your own.” She closed her eyes and exhaled softly, speaking through gritted teeth. “So... after some consideration, I will agree to come with you. For my own personal curiosity if nothing else.”

Thorax’s face lit up gleefully and he opened his mouth, only for her eyes to snap open and glare at him with one hoof raised.

“On the condition that we proceed my way. Is that understood?”

He blanched for a moment and looked at Starlight. She smiled at him, although it looked painfully forced and she herself looked about ready to collapse. Thorax swallowed and nodded eagerly. “Y-Yes, of course. Th-Thank you, Chrysalis.”

“As I said, I do this for my own benefit, not yours,” she spat at him as she marched forwards and waved her hoof. “Now, be a good rodent and make yourself ready. We should leave as soon as we can, but first... there is something I must do.”

Starlight nudged the changeling beside her and gestured away with her head. She mouthed a quick ‘thank you’ to Tempest before turning away, and struck up a quiet conversation with Thorax. “Sunburst told me Ocellus was great in show and tell the other day...”

Her voice grew faint as Tempest and the other Knights focused more on their teammate, co-worker, and friend.

“So what’s the plan?” the commander asked. “Chrysalis?”

But Chrysalis was a thousand miles away, a thousand years ago, remembering things she had long since thought forgotten.

Cozy clapped her hooves in front of the queen’s face, snapping her back to the present in an instant. “Equus to Chryssy. Come in Chryssy. Don’t get all weird on us now. What’s the juicy gossip? Imago is your mom, huh?”

The queen scowled at her. “There is no ‘juicy gossip’ to speak of, Cozy Glow. And while she was once, I refuse to believe Imago has returned, even as a ghost. These ‘undead’ changelings are most likely youths playing practical jokes on one another, inspired by... perhaps our exploits. And then of course there is this ‘voice’ he heard--who in reality may be nothing more than a unicorn sorcerer with delusions of grandeur and a flair for the dramatic.” She scoffed and her eyebrow twitched. “A magician, perhaps, turning tricks to-”

She stopped, realising what she had said. The Knights all bristled and flinched, and Tempest growled softly as they drew their heads together.

“Could it be Bray?” the dark mare whispered.

Tirek nodded in agreement. “It sounds on brand for that wretch, if nothing else.”

Cozy shuddered, subconsciously rubbing her leg where he had drawn her blood. “I’d rather it be zombies. That sounds kinda cool. Y’know, instead of the psycho donkey who wants to resurrect Grogar.”

“Resurrect who now?” Jack piped up, startling the Knights a touch as she spoke for the first time in a while. She rolled her eyes at them and sighed. “Yeah I’m still here, ain’t I? Did you say Grogar? Big evil overlord type?”

Tempest tapped her chin in thought. “If... and that’s a big ‘if’, it is Bray, why would he target the changelings?” she mused. “Just to disrupt another kingdom?”

“Perhaps,” Chrysalis grumbled. “And as much as I may hate... them, I would say I hate him more.” Her lip curled upwards into a snarl as she spoke.

“Nopony?” Jack sulked when none of them answered her. “A’ight, whatever.” She slumped back in her chair and returned to her magazine, once again tuning out of the conversation, and some would say reality.

“Further more, Commander...” the changeling continued, looking down at the ground. “I would ask that I go with Thorax alone.” She glanced up at Tempest, noting the commander’s stone-cold expression and thoughtful eyes.

Cozy’s ears pricked up and she wrinkled not just her nose but her entire face in protest. “Eh? Why?” She grew defensive quickly, and jabbed her hoof at Chrysalis. “You just wanna kick that creep’s flank yourself, right?” she demanded. “Well I want some revenge for my leg, too. So I’m coming with you!”

Tirek scuffed her on the back of the head again. “We all want to get our own on that beast,” he grunted at her. “If you remember, he made a fool of us.” He looked at Chrysalis curiously as he finished. “But yes, any reason as to why you wish to venture into this one alone, Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis inhaled through her teeth. “If Imago has returned... then it will be exceedingly dangerous. She was a tyrant, a vicious, bloodthirsty monster in life uncaring for anyone but herself, and in death... she may be worse--especially since how she has apparently mastered necromancy. Again, this may all be hyperbole and the machinations of a mere insane donkey.” She set her jaw and grimaced. “Even so, on the off chance my mother is... there, I cannot allow any of you to put yourselves in harm’s way because of her. Or them.” She jutted her head towards where Thorax and Starlight were standing and talking and her lip twitched. “No ifs, buts or exceptions of any sort.”

Tirek folded his arms and snorted. “So you would throw yourself to the wolves to save us from a grisly fate, is that it?” he sneered. After a moment’s pause his lip twitched upwards and he placed his hand palm side down on his chest in a begrudging sign of respect. “Admirable. If foolish.”

The queen rolled her eyes at him and met Tempest’s gaze. The commander had been quiet for a while now. The displeasure across her face was as plain as day and easy to see, making the former queen internally wince. “Tempest...” she said softly. “What say you?”

After some internal deliberation, Tempest sighed and raised her hoof. “As long as you know what you’re doing and stay safe,” she murmured, prodding Chrysalis’s chest as she emphasized the order, “I give you permission to go. Don’t make me regret this, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis briefly sagged with relief before pulling herself up and cracking her neck. She bowed her head towards the commander. “I... thank you, Commander. I assure you, I have no intention of dying tonight.”

The commander forced a smile while Cozy gaped.

“You’re all nuts!” she cried. “Chryssy can’t go by herself--what if something happens? What if it is Bray and what if he gets her? What then, huh?” Tears began to well up in her eyes as she protested more and more. Tirek planted one hand down on her head in an attempt to calm her as she glared at the changeling defiantly. Chrysalis simply looked back at her and took a deep breath.

“If you must know, Cozy, I wouldn’t... entirely be alone,” she murmured. All of them, not just Cozy, grew curious and watched her expectantly. She grimaced and turned her face away in an attempt to hide the growing blush on her cheeks. “You see... there is one other who I can safely assume could hold her own against Imago, if indeed she has returned--or even Bray for that matter...”

A lightbulb came on inside Tempest’s head as she had a sudden thought of who Chrysalis meant as Cozy rubbed her eyes and sniffed. “Who?” the filly mumbled.

The changeling’s eyebrow twitched as she and looked down towards the nearby desk, where Jack absentmindedly slid her the phone, her nose buried in a magazine--apparently not as oblivious to the entire scenario as she chose let on. The knowing look she gave the queen over the rim of her glasses said it all, really, alongside the slightly mischievous smirk.

Chrysalis pursed her lips and picked up the receiver with her magic. “A... friend,” she muttered. Her cheeks remained a steady deep red, and her wings seemed to shimmer brighter than normal--nowadays--as she spoke. They stayed that way even as she picked up the receiver and began to dial.

***

The skies across Equestria lit up in a fiery blaze of orange as the sun set on another day.

All across Manehattan, from the skyscrapers that made up the city’s skyline to the neon signs and commercials of Bridleway, the glow of the city that never sleeps lit up the rapidly approaching night.

“Hnnnnng...”

In one such skyscraper, in one of the luscious high rise apartments near the top, a lone pony sat at a long table. She sighed as she poured herself a bowl of cereal, and glared at the picture of her own face on the box as she set it down away from her.

“I hate Celesti’Os,” she muttered.

Celestia, the former Princess of the Sun, submerged her spoon in the milk and began to stir absentmindedly. Her mane was frizzy and unbrushed, as was her tail. Both had messy streaks of pink in them after several failed attempts to dye them to their original colour, before she wielded the Elements of Harmony. Entirely of her own volition, mind, and not because a certain someone had said they preferred it that way.

Her trip around Equestria that she had planned for when she was retired was cut short when she realised how dreadfully boring it all was on her own. If Luna was beside her, then maybe she might have staved off the boredom long enough for them to do something wild and crazy together, but alas, her baby sister had her own thing going on with the Nightmare Knights. And whatever she was doing now in the Crystal Empire.

Outside her open window, she could hear the hustle and bustle of city nightlife. Manehattan was always one of her favourites to visit, and with no duties as a princess, she decided it would be a good place to relax. Except she had done anything but relax as her mind continuously wandered over to certain creatures, and one in particular that she hopelessly pined for: one of the aforementioned Nightmare Knights themselves.

She and Chrysalis hadn’t spoken since last Hearts and Hooves day, yet every day since, that kiss they shared played on Celestia’s mind. That reaffirmation of affection she hadn’t felt in an age made the former princess’s chest swell and her heartbeat quicken, and she wished for nothing more than to simply spend time with the changeling again.

And yet... they hadn’t even so much as sent each other a letter in all that time. Celestia bit her lip. Was she being unreasonable? Chrysalis had said she needed time to process, but if they didn’t speak at all for weeks on end, then was there even anything to speak of when they did finally next meet?

With a forlorn sigh, she decided that she had had enough of sitting at table by herself and decided to move. She grabbed her bowl, wrapped her black and chitinous grey dressing gown around her, and slunk over towards her sofa. After brushing aside some wayward feathers littering her spot she slumped down into a heap. The remote lay nearby, seemingly taunting her just out of hoof’s reach. Though perhaps a small bit of a technophobe she was, she had gotten used to more than one modern device recently. Her horn lit up in a flash and encased it in a warm golden aura to bring it over to her, where she then flicked the television on just in time to catch another episode of Serpientes Largas: Bodas Y Traiciones.

She munched and crunched on her cereal as she quietly watched the soap opera with little interest.

“¡Ayy dios mío! ¿Por qué no me amas?” cried the mare on screen to her apparent paramour, a tall and rugged stallion with distant, green eyes.

“Big mood, Señorita,” Celestia muttered as she hopelessly poked her cereal with her spoon. Being fluent in almost every dialect and sublanguage of Equestrian meant that she was able to understand Mexicoltan with ease. She slumped further down into her cushions and pillows in a mess, wishing, not so secretly perhaps, for Chrysalis to walk through the door.

In a fleeting, futile hope, she shifted enough to look at said door and held her breath. Of course nothing, and nopony, came.

With a wistful sigh and a sad exhale through her nose, she lazily poked and prodded at her cereal for what felt like hours, but was in reality seconds, until the phone rang. With a grunt and a grumble she used her magic to bring it over to herself and held it up to her ear. “Hello?” she said wearily.

Only silence and the crackle and hiss of static answered her, prompting her to repeat herself, albeit far grumpier. “Hello?” After a few more seconds and just as she was about to hang up, she heard a familiar voice.

”Celestia.”

Celestia bolted upright so quickly she knocked her bowl down, sending soggy cereal all over the place. “Chrysalis?” she breathed. A series of noises and flabbergasted words left her mouth, her mind unable to comprehend what was happening. “H-How are you?” she stammered.

Chrysalis sighed on the other end. A heavy and forlorn sigh. ”Less than ideal. Are you free?” she said slowly.

The princess took a long look around her apartment, in particular at the upturned bowl of cereal and the milk seeping into the carpet. “I... yes, of course. Is everything alright?” She pressed her teeth into her lip as she heard another sigh.

”No,” Chrysalis answered. The tone of her voice sent a shiver down Celestia’s spine. ”I require your assistance.”

“What’s wrong?”

If she wasn’t already worrying, the silence that followed Chrysalis’s voice made Celestia start to.

”I’m being tasked by... Director Starlight to investigate for... ugh, King Thorax on a matter most urgent.”

Chrysalis sighed again, while Celestia waited with bated breath.

”Imago... might have returned. And she may be raising an army of undead changelings to invade the world... Need I say more?”

The Alicorn of the Sun felt her lower lip quiver. “Imago?” she breathed, letting her mane spill down over her face. An uncharacteristic anger flashed across her eyes and she grit her teeth together before composing herself. “Yes of course I’ll come,” she said calmly. “Where are we meeting?”

”The borders of the changeling kingdom. I’m travelling there as soon as we finish this conversation.”

Celestia nodded and swallowed hard. Suddenly her tongue felt very dry. “I’ll see you there, then. Good-”

There was a click as Chrysalis hung up without another word. The princess sat in absolute silence for a few moments, feeling her heart pound away in her chest with such ferocity it may have threatened to burst free from her chest altogether.

Memories of ages past flooded her mind. Things best left forgotten... Heart wrenching sorrow... An unending pit of rage... Centuries of unbearable guilt...

She stood up quickly. Her horn lit up with a bright flash as she removed her dressing gown and cast it across her sofa. She picked up her bowl, grabbed a nearby tea towel to throw over the milk stain and switched off the television all in a heartbeat’s length. Then, she strode into her bedroom full of purpose and determination to grab her brush and make herself look somewhat presentable.

Once finished, she returned to the main room and the balcony. She thrust the stained glass doors open and inhaled the dusk air.

“Wherever you are, Luna, and whatever you’re doing, I hope you know what you’ve started,” she murmured quietly as she unfurled her wings to their full majesty.

The magic of the pegasi flowed through her wings. She could feel the wind in each and every feather, and a quiet resolve took hold of her mind as she willed the sky to embrace her like it once did, to grant her the speed she needed.

With any luck, the only good that could come from tonight was an ample amount of closure. For both her and Chrysalis’s sakes.

After crouching low, she leapt up into the air, soaring high above the skyline of Manehattan, and sped on her way towards the Changeling Hive.

***

A long time ago. . .

“Hi! I’m Celestia, who are you?”

Chrysalis looked the cheerful, pink maned pegasus before her up and down. On her back was another small pony, a unicorn--a mere foal at that--sucking on a pacifier and watching her with wide, shining eyes. Morpheus smiled as he patted her shoulder reassuringly and gestured for her to speak.

“M... My name is Chrysalis,” the nymph said slowly. It still didn’t seem real that she was being invited into the home off her mother’s enemy. It felt like a dream. Fitting, she supposed for the King of Dreams.

Celestia swung her hoof forwards and pulled her into a hug. “Hi, Chrysalis!” she said cheerfully, squeezing so hard Chrysalis started to see spots before releasing her and gesturing to the filly on her back. “This is Luna, my baby sister. We’re princesses, are you a princess too?”

The nymph blinked and rubbed her throat. “Uh...” Was she a princess? She supposed she was, if her mother was queen. It didn’t sound right, though. “I, uh...”

“That’s hardly important, Celestia,” Morpheus chuckled, interrupting her thoughts, and patted her on the shoulder. “Chrysalis here has had a long day. Do you think you can make her feel welcome?”

After eagerly nodding and with a slightly mischievous grin, Celestia clapped her hooves together happily. “Yaaay! New friend!” On her back, Luna attempted to follow suit, and haphazardly banged her hooves together, accidentally getting caught in her, what Chrysalis presumed to be her sister’s, mane. “Ow! Father!”

The king chortled softly and used his magic to untangle the royal siblings. “Always getting in your sister’s mane, aren’t you, Luna?” he cooed, nuzzling the foal’s nose. “Come away, young one.”

He strode towards a nearby chair and sat down, letting Luna rest on his chest as he leaned back.

For Chrysalis it was almost too much. The scent of this rich, pure love these ponies had for one another was delicious. So much so that she swayed back and forth on the spot, inadvertently drawing Celestia’s curious gaze. She blinked and readjusted herself, lowering her head to appear submissive, even more so as the young princess began to circle her.

“I’ve never seen a pony like you before,” she said quietly. “Where do you come from?”

Morpheus carefully watched from nearby, remaining silent on the matter.

“Um... my home?” Chrysalis offered, unsure of what she meant.

Celestia spread her wings outwards and looked at them, and then at those on the nymph’s back. Chrysalis mirrored her action and spread her own wings, much to the princess’s delight.

“You have such pretty wings!” Celestia cried.

Chrysalis smiled briefly. “Th-Thank you.” she traced her eyes over the pristine white feathers on the pony’s back. “S-So do you.”

“And you have a horn, too! Can you do magic?”

The nymph’s eyes crossed as she looked up at her horn. It was small, for a changeling, and she wasn’t particularly good at casting any sort of spells. There were others in the Hive who were far better at magic than her, her mother first and foremost, followed closely by her teacher: Old Tweezel. She swallowed. “Um... n-no,” she mumbled, wincing at how Celestia’s face fell.

“Oh.”

“But I can do this?”

Green fire sprung up around the nymph, shocking Celestia and making her step backwards in alarm. Again, Morpheus simply watched, although his teeth clenched together and his piercing eyes narrowed slightly for a brief moment as the fire faded and another Celestia stood in Chrysalis’s place.

Celestia, the real Celestia, gasped and pointed a hoof. “You look just like me! Wow!” She giggled and clapped her hooves together. “Another! Oh, can you do Luna?”

Chrysalis nodded, and fluttered her pegasus wings. With another flash, she appeared like the babbling baby foal, and looked up at the elder sister with wide, shining eyes.

“Awww! Look, father!” the princess cried happily. “Another Luna! Can you teach me that sort of magic?”

“It’s not magic,” Chrysalis said, matter of factly as she transformed back into Celestia. “It’s biology.”

“Biolo-what?”

“Bi-ol-ogy. It’s something our bodies can do.” Chrysalis smiled happily, thankful for Old Tweezel’s lessons in why a changeling can change, and remembering his praise with fondness. She was the best at it, he told her, better than even the most hardened infiltrators. “All we have to do is picture another creature clearly in our minds, and it doesn’t even have to be a pony.”

She cycled through several creatures in demonstration, lighting up the room with bright flashes of green, all while Celestia watched in awe. Finally, she settled on her own regular changeling appearance, and couldn’t stop smiling.

“Whoa... So... you can be anything?” A flash of mischievousness travelled through the young filly’s eyes. “Say... a spider? One that Mr. Floop the cook definitely isn’t afraid of?”

The changeling caught on quickly and matched her grin with her own. “I... could,” she murmured. “But-”

Morpheus cleared his throat loudly, drawing the attention of both fillies. Chrysalis clammed up and lowered her head submissively. The king was nicer than she had been led to believe, but he was still scary. “There’ll be no scaring the servants anymore, Celestia,” he said sternly.

Celestia turned her ears down and nodded. “Yes, father...”

Morpheus looked down at Chrysalis next. “Furthermore, there will be no trickery or deception in this house, Chrysalis,” he said, not unlike how Old Tweezel spoke. “And while you are our guest, I tell you this not as a father, but as a king. There will be no impersonations of any of the royal family. Is that understood?”

“Y-Yes, sir,” Chrysalis mumbled shyly.

The king nodded in satisfaction and his horn lit up, his magic surrounding the filly on his chest. “Good. Celestia, take your sister. I must visit your mother and inform her of the good news.”

Celestia fluttered her wings as Luna came to a rest in between them. “What good news is that, father?” she asked.

Morpheus’s hardened face softened. “About Chrysalis coming to stay with us, of course,” he chuckled, patting Chrysalis on the back gently. “I would ask that you treat her like your own sister while she is here, my love.” He lowered himself down and nuzzled the pink haired pegasus. “Can you do that for me, my little Starfire?”

“Father!” the princess scolded, waving him away as she pouted. “You know I do not approve of that nickname you gave me.”

Luna appeared to dislike not having the attention, and clambered over her sister’s head to plan her hooves on the king’s face and babble incoherently in his face. All the while Chrysalis watched, smelling the intoxicating scent of their love with no small amount of jealousy. Her mother had not even once given her a shred of affection, let alone nuzzle her. She wondered what it felt like, and her eyelids fluttered slightly as the scent overwhelmed her.

“And yes, of course I love you too, my Stardust,” Morpheus chuckled as he kissed Luna’s forehead, just beneath her small horn. He glanced at Chrysalis and offered his hoof to her to help her stand. “You see, Chrysalis? Despite what your mother may have taught you, ponies are not bad creatures. We love, we laugh, and we enjoy one another’s company.”

Chrysalis felt her mouth twitch upwards into a friendly smile. “Yes, sir,” she said respectfully.

Morpheus smiled once more, then flourished his mane and turned away. He closed the door behind him with a soft click, leaving the fillies and the nymph to whatever mischief they may be able to conjure up.

Celestia certainly had some in mind as she smiled at Chrysalis. “So what do you do for fun, Chrysalis?”

The nymph wrinkled her nose, her smile rapidly fading. “Fun?” she mumbled. “What is fun?”

The princess gaped at her. “Huh? What do you mean ‘what is fun’? It’s fun, silly! Sometimes I read a book or play with Luna, or...” She dropped her voice an octave and leaned in, looking around in an melodramatic fashion. “...Sometimes I sneak into the kitchens to steal some cake.”

Chrysalis frowned. “Isn’t that... dangerous?” she asked, remembering the punishment for stealing from the love stores in the Hive.

“Only if you get caught.”

The princess’s eyebrows wiggled as the filly on her back giggled happily. Soon the elder sister began to giggle too, until she was holding her sides with her wings and trying to catch her breath. Chrysalis felt her mouth twitch upwards again as their laughter was infectious, and soon she started to laugh too. She hadn’t laughed in a long time. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last...

“I can see that we’re going to be such good friends already...” Celestia said as she held her hoof out.

Chrysalis gingerly reached out and took it as her eyes started to brim with fresh tears. She had never had a friend before. It made her insides feel all fuzzy and warm.

And she liked it.

She liked it a lot. She liked Celestia a lot...

***

The present. . .

Even within her armoured carapace, Chrysalis could feel the night’s cold and biting wind.

Her mane fluttered out to the side as she stood on a grassy knoll overlooking the Changeling Hive. The tall spires that were once hers still remained. Although instead of her magnificent Dark Tower, tall and imposing, there was instead a sickeningly colourful thing painted with swirly shades of aquamarine and green as some of the spires’ tips had trees growing out of them.

And not only that, the barren wasteland that once made up the landscape had changed too. Yes the jagged earth still remained, looking like someone had carved up the very ground with a knife, but it was all... green. And nice.

She hated it. And couldn’t hide her disgust even if she wanted to.

The rustling of feathers and the rush of wind behind her made her ear flick. “You’re late,” she said stiffly.

As Celestia stepped up beside her she offered her a tight smile and bumped their hips together. “Considering you gave me barely any notice I think I’ve made good time.”

They stared at one another for a moment before breaking into sets of smiles, although Chrysalis’s was far more akin to a grimace than an actual smile. Celestia saw it as such and swallowed. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“How do you think?” Chrysalis snapped. She blanched, not intending to sound so harsh and sighed. “Celestia, if... if Imago... if she is here, I don’t know if I can... do it again.” She lowered her head and curled her lip upwards. “I don’t know if I can kill her again.”

Celestia reached out and touched her chin, turning her head so they faced each other. “Hey,” she said softly and as reassuringly as she could. “I’ll be right beside you, okay? Don’t-”

The snap of a twig nearby made her pause. Both of their heads turned towards the treeline. Silence, save for the wind rustling the leaves above answered them.

Chrysalis coughed, prompting Celestia to pull her hoof away. They both quickly readjusted herself and rustled their wings respectively. “Yes, well. We should proceed,” the changeling said. “Starlight already sent his majesty to go on ahead to pacify... his subjects. Let them know I mean them no harm or some such.” She tutted in utter disdain.

The princess bobbed her head. “A smart move, I think. No offence to you, Chrysalis, but I’m not sure the changelings would be so eager to see you.”

“Believe me, I am not eager to see their miserable colourful faces either,” Chrysalis clapped back. Her eyes suddenly traced over Celestia’s mane as the moonlight caught it at just the right angle, revealing several messy streaks of pink. “What’s wrong with your mane?”

Celestia grinned sheepishly at her. “Slight mishap with some conditioner this morning.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

“...Uh huh.”

After a few seconds more of silence and staring at one another, they broke out into a set of smiles. Quiet at first, their giggles turned into hearty laughter that travelled through the dark of night. Celestia went to put a hoof around her to pull her into a hug, but hesitated at the last moment. Chrysalis noticed the hesitation and her smile quickly faded and she jutted her head towards the Hive. “Ahem. As I said: we should proceed. I would assume you are eager to return to some important ex-princess duties, yes?”

Celestia paused before nodding glumly, thinking about her miserable, lonely existence in an empty apartment. “Yes. Important... things...”

They walked side by side in silence down the hill, and remained in silence until they reached the very edge of the Hive, gazing up at the towering structure. Chrysalis traced her eyes over a nearby shrubbery and grumbled under her breath. She stamped her hoof a few times loudly on a rock nearby, signalling their arrival.

Celestia nudged her side gently and raised her eyebrows. “I know it’s going to be difficult, Chrysalis, but try to be nice.”

“Hrrrnnn...”

When Thorax nor any of his changelings came forwards and the pair were left in silence once again, Chrysalis growled again. “Where is that slug? And for that matter where are the sentries?” She looked up and around the entranceway. “There should be someone here.”

Celestia pricked her ears up and listened. “Yes, it is quiet, isn’t it?” she murmured. “Too quiet.”

“I can hear breathing,” the changeling grunted, peering into the cavernous entrance to the Hive. “But it’s not coming from in there...”

She spun around as quick as a cat and ignited her horn. Her green magic surrounded something, and lifted it into the air, where it squirmed silently in an attempt to free itself.

The princess warily eyed the suspicious thing up and down. “What is it?” she murmured “I’m not too familiar with the creatures that inhabit this part of Equestria, I must confess.”

“No...” Chrysalis growled. Her magic flashed around whatever it was she was holding and soon it began to materialise into existence, with a series of protestations and cries.

“Put me down, Chryssy!”

A small, dishevelled-looking pink pegasus filly soon faded into existence.

“A spy.” Chrysalis’s horn deactivated and her magical glow left the filly she was holding.

Cozy Glow dropped to the ground in a heap and rubbed her head. She had some leaves in her mane and some mud on her coat, indicating she had most likely been hiding in a tree or a bush for some time. Blinking, she looked up at the adults and smiled weakly. “Surpriiise.”

The changeling looked down at her in a barely contained fury and sneered at her. “Why are you here, Cozy Glow? I specifically told you all I would be coming here without any of you.”

The filly quickly jumped up and puffed her chest out defiantly. “Listen, even if Tempy and Tirek think it’s okay for you to go alone, I don’t, okay? And neither did Starlight. So she cast some invisibility spell over me and sent me ahead of you. Y’know, to keep an, uh... eye on you--wow, yeah I hear it now, yikes.”

The changeling tutted and snarled at her. “Of course Starlight Glimmer would stoop so low as to use a child to spy on me, the baleful wretch that she is.” She buzzed her wings and held her head up high. “Well you can just go on and fly back to the castle now, can’t you? Now that her spell has been lifted.”

Cozy wilted and looked around at her wings. “I can’t fly that far,” she said quietly. “Can’t I just stay with you? I’ll be good, I promise.” She puffed her lip out and widened her eyes as far as they would go. “Pretty please?”

“No. Absolutely not,” Chrysalis protested. “As I said, this is far too dangerous and especially no place for a-”

She froze when she heard a quiet titter, and slowly looked over at Celestia.

Cozy did so as well and sheepishly waved at the former princess, who from the looks of it was desperately trying not to laugh. She held her hoof over her mouth--although that didn’t stop her smile from reaching her eyes.

Chrysalis’s eyebrow twitched. She held up a wing, hiding herself and her little comrade from view. “This is no place for a child,” she hissed. “And besides, I... I have something I need to attend to.”

“Is ‘something’ Celestia?”

There was a soft whack and a low pitched whine as Chrysalis’s hoof connected with Cozy’s head.

“Owww.”

“Be silent you little beast,” the queen rasped. Her gaze travelled over the filly’s back, specifically at her wings. “You can fly back, surely. You’re a pegasus, aren’t you?” she hissed.

Cozy shook her head. “Yeeeah, but I was raised by unicorns, so I never learned how to fly that well.” She fluttered her wings in an over dramatic fashion and sighed heavily as she glumly turned away, dragging her hooves through the dirt. “I guess I’ll just have to walk home. Golly I hope I don’t die on the way there. Would you rather starve to death or get eaten by a bear?”

She didn’t get more than a few centimetres away before Chrysalis groaned and relented.

“Ugggh... you hateful little... Fine. You can stay, on the condition that you do exactly as I say, when I say it.” She added as the filly’s face lit up. With a snort, Chrysalis shook her head and pulled herself up, freezing midway for a moment as a thought crossed her mind. “Does Tempest at least know you’re here? Or Tirek, for that matter?”

The filly cringed slightly as Chrysalis moved her wing. “Uhh, well, no. Starlight knew Tempy wouldn’t allow her to send me to spy on you, so she, uh... well... nopony knows I’m here.” She flashed a smile at the queen as they approached the former princess, and in an attempt to quickly change conversation, struck up a conversation with her. “Hi, Celestia.”

The corners of Celestia’s mouth became lopsided as she fought to keep her giggles under control. “Hello, Cozy Glow,” she said. “How are you? I don’t believe we have spoken much, have we?” She glanced up at Chrysalis with a coy smile, who in turn tutted and stormed on ahead, towards the mouth of the Hive.

Cozy shrugged. “Eh not too bad, not too bad. Chryssy says I can come with you.” She hesitated and looked the alicorn up and down. “Uh, are you okay with that?”

“Oh yes, by all means listen to her feelings on the matter, not my dire warnings,” Chrysalis grumbled as she stormed past.

Celestia smiled again and shook her head. “My opinion, Cozy, is that even though what we are about to do has the potential to be very dangerous... two Nightmare Knights are better than one.” Her eyes briefly met the changeling’s for a moment, in a knowing look.

“Yeah that’s what I think, too.” Cozy beamed happily, looking quite pleased she had gotten her way--and apparently swayed Celestia enough to agree with her. “Plus, y’know, I wanna be there when you two tear Bray apart.”

The princess’s smile grew tight. “Hmm. Yes, quite.”

She, of course, knew of Bray thanks to Twilight filling her in on the events of the Knights’ escapades in Saddle Arabia, and, more precisely, to ask for advice on the matter. The only advice she could possibly give was trust that the Knights, and Luna, knew what they were doing.

Chrysalis came to a halt and stared into the darkness of the Hive ahead of her. “Thorax!” she barked. When still nobody answered her, she sighed and hung her head. “Perhaps the wretch has taken what is left of his brood and fled,” she muttered, tapering off into a small tangent of indecipherable grumbling. “No matter. Come on. No time like the present.”

Cozy trotted forwards happily, doing her best to keep up with the queen’s long strides, while Celestia followed closely behind. Just before she entered the maw of the Hive, the Alicorn of the Sun looked up at the tall spires above, noting how foreboding and intimidating they were in the pale moonlight. A shiver ran down her spine before she spurred herself forwards, further into the darkness.

***

Deep, deep underground... a creature stirred, brought to life by the darkest and foulest of magics.

Her carapace, once sleek and beautiful, now misshapen and fetid, glinted in the pale light cast by her horn as it pulsed softly, commanding and directing her beloved subjects to where their simple, festering minds needed to go. Her chest rose and fell with painful, strained breaths.

Her withered and decayed lips pulled back into a wicked smirk, revealing her yellowed and cracked teeth, and her eyes--one pale green and one solid white--flashed with pure malice.

“She’s here...” she whispered. A dry, rasping laughter escaped her decaying throat. “But she is... not alone... No matter. Bring her to me, my children...”

Around her, her once dead subjects began to chatter and chirp among themselves as they scurried to obey. Their bone white chitins seemed to almost glow in the paleness of her majesty as her rotten and translucent wings unfurled, sending hordes of flies forth into the air, shimmering in the low light.

Very soon now her swarm would reclaim the world above, away from this dark place. Soon the world would tremble once more at her name.

She who dragged herself out of Tartarus itself...

She who would consume the world for her Hive...

The Pale Queen...

Imago...

Her bloated belly heaved and pulsated again as another round of eggs spewed forth. Changelings, born dead yet brought to life by wicked and tainted magic, immediately started to snap and claw at one another, eager to feed.

“Soon...” she hissed at them. “Soon my pets...”

The rotting queen raised her head and looked into the eyes of her latest prey, the so-called King of the Changelings, and grinned at him.

Thorax would have screamed, were his mouth not covered up by secreted bile. His eyes grew wide as they darted around the other cocoons, tracing the faces of those he had left behind when he went for help. In just a few hours, his Hive, his friends and his family, seemed all but doomed. Their fate, and his, lay in the hooves of who was once their downfall, their oppressor and tyrant. He could only hope that Chrysalis was ready.

And that she would hurry while they were still alive...

Knight And Day

Rain splashed softly against the stained glass windows of the palace at the centre of Equestria.

King Morpheus, the wise, benevolent ruler of all ponies and titled as the King of Dreams, sat on his throne, thinking of what to say. The sound of his hoof tapping lightly on the ground in an almost rhythmic fashion seemed extraordinarily loud amid the otherwise silent hall. His mane, enchanted to shimmer like a piece of the night sky itself and give him an otherworldly appearance, flowed about his head with a mind of its own.

His piercing eyes narrowed slightly at the two creatures standing before him. The first: his eldest daughter, the Crown Princess Celestia; his heir and future ruler of all Equestria. She who would one day become queen. She the reason for his disappointment and frustration on this particular day.

The second, and in a far trickier position than his own daughter: Chrysalis, the changeling daughter of his most hated and reviled enemy, Queen Imago of the Changeling Hive. Since he had taken her in as his ward, the nymph had become something of a sister to both of his daughters. More than a sister for Celestia, if the rumours were to be believed. Not that he minded at all, for he saw blossoming love as only a source of strength between two souls.

Both of them now hung their heads low as they waited for judgement.

A portrait of the princess’s mother, Queen Iris, hung on the wall, watching them with rainbow coloured eyes that seemed to shimmer with a light of their own as if she was still amongst them.

“Why?” the king said finally, breaking the deafening silence that had descended upon them all. “Why must I be burdened with such an arrogant, reckless and destructive daughter such as you, Celestia?”

Celestia bristled and twitched her ears. The young pegasus lifted her head slightly to look Morpheus in the eye and cleared her throat. “Father, if I could only explai-”

“Silence!” Morpheus barked. His deep, baritone and rumbling voice echoed around the hall. The few servants outside that had been listening with their ears to the door quickly scurried away to make themselves scarce, fearful of the King of Dreams’ wrath.

He raised a hoof to his head and sighed. “I seek to turn Equestria into the greatest kingdom on Equus, one that may yet even rival that of the Crystal Empire, and your only thought seems to be amusing yourself in trying to tear it down! Have I taught you nothing?”

As he paused and father and daughter glared at one another, Chrysalis inhaled sharply and stepped forwards. “Your majesty, I--allow me to speak plainly,” she said with a shaking voice. She raised a hoof to her chest and bowed low as the king turned to her expectantly.

“The fault lies not with your teaching, but rather with me. I goaded Celestia on and so I am the one responsible. I await whatever punishment you deem fit.”

Despite what others may have thought of her, and in spite of their race’s difference and her heritage, Morpheus was quite fond of the changeling in his court. She was smart, brave, and acted as something of an anchor to the often arrogant and brash Celestia. As such, he admired how she much put herself forwards. If only his own flesh and blood was as selfless as she was. He saw how Celestia’s lips tightened and her brow furrowed ever so slightly, and how her head turned a few degrees to the left, subtly attempting to hide her shame.

“Responsible. Hmm,” he murmured, rising from his throne.

He descended the steps to them and touched Chrysalis’s chin, raising her head up slightly to look her in the eye. As he smiled at her his stern and cold expression faded, then he turned his eyes to his daughter, and the cold disappointment swiftly returned.

“How is it that the Crown Princess of Equestria knows less of responsibility than one not even of the same species as her?”

Celestia grit her teeth and said nothing. Her pink mane--usually so well kept, now messy and unruly, much like how she was at times--obscured a portion of her face. That which wasn’t obscured, however, practically glowed with indignity.

“Do you know the meaning of that word, Celestia?” Morpheus persisted. “Responsibility?”

“Father-”

“And do you understand the task that your ancient birth right has laid out before you?” the king replied, starting to pace back and forth, keeping his head held up high and placing each hoof carefully before the other. “The ancient tradition that our family has upheld for generations--to safeguard the realm against any and all threats to ponykind?”

“I do,” Celestia grunted, grinding her teeth together.

Morpheus stopped in front of her and sighed again. He reached out to brush some of her hair out of her face and pursed his wizened lips. “When I pass into the next world it will fall to you and you alone to govern our kingdom, Celestia. Do you understand this?”

“Of course! I understand it all, father,” Celestia snapped, batting his hoof away and raising her head to look at him. “But one small accident is hardly enough to cripple a kingdom or undo centuries of tradition-”

“One ‘small accident’ may lead to another!” Morpheus suddenly and angrily declared, slamming his hoof down into the ground. Celestia flinched and stepped back, flattening her ears to her head. Chrysalis remained frozen, keeping her eyes fixed firmly on the ground.

“And then perhaps another, and so on and so on until there is nothing left! Actions like these, however accidental or minuscule, cast a shadow over you, Celestia. A shadow that frightens our subjects and weakens you in their eyes! Is that how you wish to be remembered?!”

Chrysalis kept her head lowered and stared at the ground as the king’s thunderous voice reverberated around the castle.

“You are a paragon of our people--the pinnacle of Equestrian society,” Morpheus continued, lowering his voice and his temper. “You must be a better example to them than you are now, else they will come to view you as a tyrant. You must not let yourself be led astray. Am I clear, Celestia?”

Celestia blinked away the tears in her eyes and said nothing. Chrysalis could feel the anger building up inside her, and could see how her cheeks flushed red with heat.

Morpheus hung his head and let loose a disappointed and dejected sigh. “You have my permission to leave,” he rumbled, waving dismissively at them as he ventured back up the steps to his throne and sat down, placing his head in his hooves.

The princess’s hoofbeats came hard and heavy as she stormed from the throne room, slamming the door behind her with enough force to rattle the chandeliers. Morpheus had the slightest pause and a flicker of regret passed over his face. Chrysalis swallowed and bowed to him once more, and turned to leave, only to then hesitate and turn back a moment later.

“My lord?” she said nervously. “If I may say something?”

The king pulled his head up and looked back at her with a stoic, yet curious expression.

“All... all Celestia wishes is to bring honour to your family’s name,” Chrysalis said as confidently as she could, trying to hide the shake in her voice. Though old and kindly, Morpheus was still an imposing stallion, and in truth the fear that had been instilled in her by her mother had never fully left her. “And I know she will live up to your expectations. In fact, I believe she will surpass them, if she is only given the right... opportunity.”

The king chuckled dryly and bobbed his head up and down. “Maybe. Maybe so. Perhaps you have something in mind?” he added coyly. “A certain... venture, shall we say, regarding the Morning and Evening Stars?”

Chrysalis blanched. Her confidence wavered. “I... u-um...”

A smile pulled at the corners of the King’s mouth. “Do you forget that I am the King of Dreams, dear girl?” he said softly. “I know an awful lot about what goes on inside the heads of all my little ponies. Including you. And, may I say: I can see, and have seen, that you are a good friend to her. A very good friend indeed.” He tapped his hoof on the arm of his chair and let out a heavy sigh.

“I...”

Morpheus’s eyebrow made an audible creak as it arched upwards and the nymph silenced herself. “You love her, is that it?” he said bluntly.

Chrysalis blushed and looked away.

The King smiled at her and bobbed his head understandingly and looked over to the portrait of the queen. “I know what it is like to love. You would do anything for them... worship the very ground they walk on for fear losing them... and should the worst come to pass, in that grief you lose yourself... and madness becomes the only possible course of action...”

The changeling lifted her head up slightly as he tapered off, noticing how his eyes grew cold and distant. “Sire?”

“Hmm?” Morpheus brought himself back around, and the sparkle returned to his eyes. “Ah, forgive me, young one. This old stallion does let his mind wander from time to time. In any case, I will take your words into consideration. Go on now,” he said with a wave of his hoof, dismissing her. “Best to hurry after Celestia and ensure that she doesn’t cause any more further trouble.”

Chrysalis gazed at him curiously before quickly bowing and nodding back at him. “Y-Yes, my lord. Thank you.”

She again turned and swiftly marched towards the big, heavy door of the throne room, only slowing to look up at the portrait of the queen. Her heart beat slightly faster in her chest as those beautiful rainbow coloured eyes met hers, almost as if they were watching her. Judging her.

She swallowed and hurried away, closing the big heavy door behind her.

The click it made, and her hoofbeats, sounded abnormally loud in the otherwise quiet palace as she hurried away in search of Celestia to fulfil the king’s wishes and keep her out of trouble...

***

The present. . .

In the dark tunnels that made up the intricate network that was the Changeling Hive, it was quiet.

Too quiet, for Chrysalis’s liking, as quiet often meant trouble.

Her horn glowed a steady green as it lit their way, although the light tapered off into the abyss after only a few feet.

She hated the silence.

Under her leadership, there would have always been noise; sometimes loud, sometimes not. Regardless of its source, there was always noise.

She remembered listening to the instructors training fresh young nymphs in the art of subterfuge and intrigue. She remembered watching the warriors of the Hive fight and spar with one another. A bitter tasting fondness found its way into her mind as she remembered hearing the delighted chirping the freshly hatched and mewling grubs made whenever she graced their presence. But when the Hive was silent, however, it was usually a sign that something required her undivided attention: a prisoner escape, intruders in the Hive, or a cave-in, perhaps.

Possible rumours of her mother’s resurrection...

Chrysalis curled her lip upwards as they pressed on. Her companions behind her were apparently having a conversation, not that she was particularly paying attention. Zoning back in to reality and pushing aside her intrusive thoughts, she decided to listen in to whatever inane drivel Cozy was talking about now, and cocked an ear outwards.

“Y’know, I was an alicorn once,” Cozy was saying, followed by the fluttering of her small wings.

Oh this should be good, Chrysalis thought to herself.

Celestia chuckled softly. “Yes, I remember. You were doing quite well to control and use that power at such a young age.” Her voice took on a harsh edge for a moment. “Until you nearly destroyed Equestria and my city.”

The queen smirked as she heard what she assumed to be Cozy choking on her words. Celestia simply laughed in that wonderful, sweet yet infinitely mischievous way she used to. “But yes you did very well for a filly your age. I, myself was eighteen when I ascended. Tell me, how did you find having a horn? It took me some getting used to, I must say.”

After Cozy managed to compose herself and saw the light-hearted joke for what it was, she shrugged nonchalantly. “Uh, well, y’know, it felt weirdly natur--Wait. Wait a minute, hang on. ‘Took some getting used to’? What, are you saying you were a pegasus?”

“Oh yes, like Cadance was. My sister, on the other hoof, was a unicorn like Twilight,” the princess chuckled. “If I recall correctly, I was quite the skilled flyer in my youth.”

Cozy whistled. “Huh... score one for us, I guess. I thought you would have been a unicorn.” She hesitated and wrinkled the end of her nose. “How’d you move the sun? In school we were told that you used your unicorn magic to do it.”

Celestia bobbed her head up and down with a tight smile across her lips. “Hmm. I’m afraid that is a simple embellishment propagated by unicorns that I never bothered to correct. Perhaps that is my error.” She sighed and shook her pink streaked mane. “And as for how, well... it involved a clever trick using solar winds, I had some help from my sister and... a dear friend of mine.”

Chrysalis could practically hear the grin spread over Cozy’s face. She could feel both of her companions’ eyes on her, and turned her head enough to look at them. Indeed the filly was smirking and furiously wiggling her eyebrows.

“I bet you two have loads of stories about each other, huh?” said filly wondered out loud.

Celestia made a small noise between a laugh and a snort. “I’m sure we do, Cozy Glow. Very much like yourself, or Tempest Shadow and Lord Tirek, for that matter?”

“Aha... yeah... Tirek has a brother, right? Scorpan. I used to read stories about them when I was little... well... littler... That’s where I got the idea to send him letters when he was in Tartarus.” The filly fluttered her wings gently and sighed. “And we became besties ever since. More than besties, really, he’s kinda like the dad I always wanted. If a bit grumpy sometimes.”

A few moments of silent contemplating passed, allowing Celestia to digest that little nugget of information before Cozy asked her next question.

“What was she like?”

“Who?”

“Chrysalis.”

“Oh.” The princess seemed taken aback slightly. “Well, she was...”

She paused.

Chrysalis felt a small chill run along her neck and shifted ever so slightly to look back. She thought about arguing against any sort of comment regarding how ‘she was’, or how ‘they were’, but her own curiosity was almost as insatiable as Cozy’s was at times, and she wanted to know what the princess would say now. She certainly remembered how she was. How they were.

“Well...” Celestia finally answered. “She was... different.”

A smirk started to spread itself across Chrysalis’s face. There she was, typical Celestia, playing the part of the diplomat, even when it was just them in this dark and dreary place. A far cry from the argumentative and heaadstrong pony she grew up with.

“We all were,” she muttered, a touch louder than she perhaps intended.

Cozy’s eyes danced between them both for a second.

“Huh.”

Chrysalis snorted and rolled her eyes. “No comment, Cozy?” she sighed, flicking her tail out sideways in annoyance. “No snide jab or childish teasing?”

The young knight shook her head. “No,” she said. “No, I get it. Sometimes ponies just change. Or, uh, weird, bug-ponies change, even.” She sighed and added, both bitterly and quietly: “I know some ponies I wish would change...”

Chrysalis’s glare softened as she cast her eyes down to her teammate. She was surprised by her apparent understanding and candidness... but she quickly realised she shouldn’t have been. It seemed they all had a certain amount of baggage to them these days, after all. As she glanced up she caught the sad twinkle in Celestia’s eye. The corner of her mouth twitched upwards into a smile for a brief moment, then she turned back and continued to face the darkness ahead of them.

An unwelcome, eerie quiet descended upon the group that added to the deafening silence of the Hive, and to Chrysalis’s growing discontent.

She felt strange. Those memories of days long past were painful and unwelcome, and yet... it was almost like there was some semblance of comfort in the pain, knowing that happier times like those in her youth may be possible again, and that, if the Nightmare Knights no longer needed her, she and Celestia could...

She stopped herself and started to blush, grateful for the fact she was ahead of them and they couldn’t see her face. Something Tempest had once said to her came to her in that moment:

’One day I’m going to book us all in for group therapy.’

She snorted quietly and smiled to herself.

Then her smile faded when she remembered why they were there. Needless to say, she would certainly need some form of therapy after this, and her mind was filled with doubt at the task before her.

Could she do it? Could she send Imago back to Tartarus? She swallowed and rustled her wings. Could she kill her own mother again? And what of the changelings? What diabolical scheme had her mother devised for them? The questions started to pile up again as she theorised on many different things. And Bray, was he here too? Was he the one responsible and if so-

“Chrysalis?” Celestia murmured, resting her hoof on her back.

Chrysalis blinked. she hadn’t realised she had stopped walking. She huffed and buzzed her wings, feeling their eyes on her again. “I’m fine,” she grumbled, shrugging off the friendly hoof and marching forwards.

She shook her head. She needed to focus. She needed to push aside her concerns for now and do her job. If not for herself, then for Celestia... and Cozy. And... begrudgingly... the changelings. Traitorous vermin they may be, she was sworn to protect all of Equestria’s creatures now.

Even if it made her stomach churn.

“Ugh,” she grunted quietly to herself in disgust as finally the tunnel they were in gave way to a large, circular chamber. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the familiar air, and rested her gaze upon a sore and sorry sight. Her throne, or rather what was left of it, lay close to the back wall upon a few steps, smashed to bits and left to waste away--most likely because they were afraid of touching or moving it, the superstitious fools they were.

Celestia and Cozy both flanked her and gazed around the room as she did, and followed her in, keeping pace as she strode towards what remained of her throne. She caught the looks they were giving her out the corners of her eyes, but she didn’t care. She traced a hoof along a ridge of rock. When she pulled it up and inspected it, she tutted and blew away the dust, and wiped her hoof on her front.

It was then that she realised she hadn’t materialised her uniform on, and that Cozy wasn’t wearing hers at all.

“Where’s your uniform?” she snapped suddenly, making the filly freeze.

“Uhh...”

“They’re a symbol of our status as Knights. You should have it on. What would Tempest say?”

“Well... you don’t have yours on,” Cozy fired back. “So how about that, huh?”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “Mine is magic,” she replied. With a bright flash of green fire, the jumpsuit of the Nightmare Knights materialised on her body. She readjusted the cuffs and smoothed her front down, and proceeded to scowl, for now that she was properly looking at the filly, she noticed how scraggly some of the ends of her mane were. And how dirty she was.

“Ugh, look at you, you’re a mess.”

Cozy scowled back and rustled her feathers. “Yeah, so? We’re underground, in the dark, about to chase off a bunch’a zombies and your dead-slash-not-dead mom, what does it matter what I look like?”

The changeling’s scowl remained fixed on her face as she leaned over to wipe some dirt off of Cozy’s cheek. Her eyes travelled downwards towards her hooves and she grimaced. “Are your... are your hooves covered in mud, too?! My word, girl what did you do while you were waiting for us? Play in a puddle?”

“No, I landed in a puddle, there’s a difference.”

“Hrrrrn, for goodness’ sake, Cozy. Well, seen as how I’ve already started to clean you I may as well finish. Stay still.”

Chrysalis’s horn began to glow again. She grabbed some of her tail in her magic and cut it off without a second thought. She folded it up like a makeshift towel then tapped the ground in front of her and cleared her throat.

“Ahem. Come here.”

Cozy sulkily ambled over and sat down. She stuck her tongue out and pouted. “I bet Tirek wouldn’t make me wash up,” she spat.

“Tirek’s not here. Now hold still,” Chrysalis grunted as she began to wipe the filly’s face. “At least your wings don’t need preening... For Tartarus’s sake, girl--hold still...” she muttered at the squirming filly.

“You’re scrubbing too hard!”

“Then sit. Still.”

Celestia’s nose started to tickle. The more she observed the Nightmare Knights, whether it was here in this underground adventure or at their castle, the more she couldn’t help but think there was more than some sort of friendly co-worker-slash-teammate banter at times. In fact, as peculiar as it may have been, Chrysalis right now seemed to be mothering the young filly, something that amused the princess greatly.

As such, a grin began to spread over her face.

Chrysalis paused in scrubbing the young Knight’s cheek and glanced up at the alicorn. She froze, and her cheeks turned bright pink. “What?” she snapped.

“Nothing,” Celestia chuckled as she idly investigated the remains of the throne, looking up at the ruins with a lopsided grin on her face. “You two seem... close... is all.”

The queen scowled and continued scrubbing. “Close has nothing to do with it. As Nightmare Knights we’re ‘representatives of our home and our sovereign nation’, so we should aspire to at least be clean when we do our job,” she sneered. “Surely you would understand that, Princess.”

“Ah ah. Retired,” Celestia chortled, wagging her hoof back and forth. “I’m not a princess anymore. But yes, I do understand. It’s just that I never expected you to take such duties as seriously as this. Tempest Shadow certainly has done her due diligence, hasn’t she?”

“You have no idea.”

Cozy bobbed her head in agreement as she let herself be scrubbed, lifting up her hoof absentmindedly as Chrysalis worked on her frog. “So, seen as how only old ponies retire, just how old are you, Celestia?” she asked innocently. “You banished Luna to the moon over a thousand years ago, right? So you gotta be over a thousand yeah we get that, but a thousand and what, exactly?”

Celestia’s smile started to shrink.

“I’m pretty sure the retiring age is sixty right?”

“It’s fifty,” the princess muttered.

Chrysalis began to grin as she noticed the alicorn’s eyebrow twitch and her expression turn sour. “You’ve never thought about it, have you?” she commented. “How old you are, Celestia.”

Celestia pursed her lips and cleared her throat, her eyebrow twitching dangerously. “Ahem. Forgive me, Chrysalis, but aren’t we the same age? If so, then there’s your answer,” she huffed before adding: “And shouldn’t a knight be in the business of not asking a lady her age?”

Cozy’s eyes flashed with mischievous glee as she gazed up at the changeling. “You guys are the same age? So what, you’re like a bazillion years old, too, Chryssy?”

The queen snorted as she ran a hoof over the child’s curly mane. “Yes, astutely put, Cozy Glow. A bazillion.” She narrowed her eyes at the filly and stood up. “Well, then. Now that you are at least in a somewhat presentable state, we should press on. Agreed?”

Having a desire to change the subject Celestia eagerly nodded. “Where to next, then?” she said, a touch quicker than she imagined.

Just as Chrysalis opened her mouth to reply, a sound like a hiss came from down one of the tunnels leading into the throne room, followed shortly after by a strange scratching sound. She snapped her head to the left to stare at where the sound had come from and stared. Celestia moved to stand beside her and followed her gaze.

“We are no longer alone, it would seem,” the queen growled. She helped Cozy up and ushered her backwards. “Stay behind me,” she told the young Knight.

Cozy scrambled to hide behind her leg. “Mhm. Yep, sure, Chryssy,” she mumbled.

The scratching grew louder still, coupled now with some chittering and harrowing shrieks. Chrysalis cracked her shoulders in a manner not too dissimilar the way Tempest did in preparation. “Celestia... are you ready?” she asked, shooting a concerned look over at the alicorn.

Celestia nodded. She spread her wings and planted one hoof in front of the other, and ignited her horn with a bright flash of gold. “I may be old, Chrysalis, but I remember how to fight,” she said with a cheeky wink. “However... are you?”

The queen levelled her gaze at the tunnel and exhaled through her nose. Imago’s magic was rampant through the Hive--she could feel it now, creeping towards her. How had she allowed herself to be so blinded by denial?

Unless...

She froze. Did Imago want her to know she knew she was there? Her pupils shrank as she stared as the scratching sound intensified. The Queen Mother of the changelings was always a master manipulator, always full of tricks; had she simply orchestrated the entire thing? Was their coming here all part of her sadistic web of intricate plots and desires? And another nail-biting thought crossed her mind then. Was the Thorax that begged for her help even the real Thorax? Truthfully, Chrysalis didn’t know if a changeling brought back from the dead could still ‘change’ in the common sense. Her lips pulled back into a snarl and her breathing grew ragged.

She looked over at Celestia again, at her beautiful eyes always so full of hope as she readied herself and flexed her wings, and then down at Cozy holding onto her leg. Something stirred within her then as she and the young Knight’s eyes met: a want--a need--to protect what was hers.

She growled softly and bared her fangs, and once again cast her intrusive thoughts aside. “I am ready,” she rasped. “Let them face the wrath of the living. Let them face the true Queen of the Changelings!” She slammed her hoof down onto the ground, just as the first of the wretches came into view and emerged from the darkness of the tunnel.

It was the same height as a changeling, same dimensions and all, but it was... wrong. Surrounded and bound by dark magic used to keep it alive; the foul stink of Imago practically oozed from the cracks in its carapace. Its eyes were pale and unseeing, yet they pierced into Chrysalis’s very soul with a hungry and hateful desire. The queen stared back at it in a mixture of horror, revulsion, utter loathing and a barely restrained hate.

“Is that one of the zombies?” Cozy asked as it stepped forwards with jerky, janky and broken movements. Its head quivered and shook from side to side in an odd, unnerving manner, like it was listening to them.

“It is,” Chrysalis snarled. “One of my mother’s brood.”

“Huh.” The filly tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment. “What do we call them besides zombies? Biters? Nah that sucks...”

“Does it matter?” the queen growled. “They’re going to try and kill us either way.”

“Well we give ghosts cool names: poltergeists, demons, spirits and stuff--why not zombies? So... deadlings? Nah that’ll never stick...”

Celestia cleared her throat and shot them both a look. “Perhaps some focus, Nightmare Knights?”

Cozy waved her hoof dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll come up with something better than ‘deadlings’ don’t worry.”

“What? That’s not-”

The solitary changeling approaching them suddenly stopped and unhinged its jaw. It raised a pale hoof towards the trio and pointed, and a dreadful shriek leapt out from its throat. From behind, in the dark tunnel, a series of similar shrieks and howls answered it as dozens upon dozens of more just like it emerged, clambering and slavering over one another in service of their dark queen.

Cozy’s resolve wavered as she quickly lost count of how many she could see. “Wow. Oh geez, that’s... that’s a lot of them,” she murmured. “You guys can handle that right?”

Celestia offered her as much of a comforting smile as she could muster. “Of course we can, Cozy. This wouldn’t be the first time Chrysalis and I were outnumbered.”

Chrysalis unfurled her wings to their full length and ignited her horn in a flash of green.

Time paused for a fraction of a moment as both sides braced themselves for the oncoming clash. And then, with another shriek that could shake a mountain, the first of the changelings leapt forwards, its jaw open and its pale, bony legs extended. Its blank, unseeing eyes lit up as a flash of green and gold fired forth from the alicorn and the changeling’s horns.

As it lay smouldering on the ground, its cohorts looked down at it. Their heads twitched and their jaws clacked, then they looked up with eyes swirling with malice. They shrieked and stamped their hooves and brayed for blood. Chrysalis and Celestia, standing flank to flank, shared a small smile and knowing look to their eyes as the swarm launched themselves forwards and the battle was begun.

***

Great flashes of gold and green light lit up the walls of the cavern, followed and accompanied by the hum and crackle of magic.

Scratches and bite marks pocked both Chrysalis’ and Celestia’s bodies, but still they fought. The former’s uniform in tatters, cut up and stained with blood, scorch and scratch marks. A pile of the seemingly unending number of undead changelings lay around the shattered throne, growing ever larger by the moment as more and more of the wretches poured forth from the tunnels leading into the chamber and fell at the queen and princess’s hooves, horns and magic.

“Three on your right, Celly!” Cozy cried frantically, pointing them out in between launching pebbles and small rocks where she could at the devils. “Chryssy, two on your left!”

Celestia deftly avoided the dreadful bites of their foes and jumped up into the air. She kicked out with her powerful back legs, shattering the jaw of one of them and sending the others scattering with a gust blown by her wings. She nodded at the filly in gratitude as she landed back down and ignited her horn again.

Meanwhile, Chrysalis spun around, cutting through a swath of them with a solid beam of pure energy firing from her forehead. Their smoking, crackling bodies fell to the ground one by one as she bared her fangs and snarled at them.

“I’m beginning to think we can’t do this forever,” Celestia jokingly said to Cozy. She noticed how the filly’s eyes travelled over a cut across her shoulder, and then how quickly her pristine white coat was turning red.

The princess winced, realising the cut was so fine she didn’t even feel it. She ignited her horn and cast a quick healing spell over it to stem the bleeding, then smiled bravely at the filly.

“Are you okay?”

Celestia heart melted at the concern in the girl’s voice. “It’s very kind of you to worry, Cozy Glow, but yes I am. I think I’m just out of practice.” She coughed and fluttered her wings in between breaths. “I haven’t seen this much excitement in centuries... not since the last time we-”

She tapered off as she looked at the back of Chrysalis’s head. A flashback of ages past came to her, alongside a lifetime of pain.

Cozy swallowed and looked down at all the bodies of deadlings, her face occasionally lit up by the flashes of magic from the changeling’s horn. “What do we do?” she said, her tone oddly serious for what was often the most jovial Nightmare Knight. “Celly... what do we do?”

The princess’s brave smile faltered for a moment and a flicker of concern passed over her face. For one of the few times in her long life, she didn’t know what words of encouragement she could offer to the young, wide eyed filly staring up at her. It seemed hopeless, as Imago’s horde seemed unending.

There was a break in the horde’s attacks as Chrysalis dispatched the last of the current bunch before they could regroup and try again. She stormed over to her comrades in arms over the bodies of the deadlings, and thankfully, she did know what to say.

“We cannot stay here,” she declared, apparently noticing Celestia’s red and white coat for the first time. She flinched as a pang of guilt flashed across her face and her mouth twisted into a snarl. “My mother’s magic gives these foul beasts unnatural strength, and she is stronger than I had thought.” She tutted in disgust and shook her head. “I should never have brought you here.”

A howl suddenly emanated from deep within the Hive--within the tunnel the deadlings had been pouring out of.

Cozy leaned around her leg with wide eyes. “What was that?” she croaked as more of the wretches emerged and began to gather around the trio.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and stared at the tunnel. “I should never have brought you here,” she repeated.

“I came of my own choice, Chrysalis,” Celestia snapped back, wiping some spittle away from her mouth on the back of her hoof. “And for what it’s worth I’m glad you asked me to. I’m... glad I’m here with you.”

“It was foolish of me. I shouldn’t have--you shouldn’t-”

Chrysalis glanced at the alicorn. For a moment, she saw the young, pink haired pony she had grown up with. The argumentative at times Crown Princess of Equestria. Her friend. The pony she had fallen in love with. Then the illusion vanished, replaced by blood, sweat, and reality as a loud stomping came from the horde’s entry point. Those deadlings that had gathered, instead of pressing another attack, proceeded to shriek and wail in a way that sounded almost like cruel, mocking laughter as they parted.

“Uh, hey, Chryssy?” Cozy murmured, a small stone in her hoof ready as a makeshift weapon. “What is that?”

“That, Cozy,” the queen spat as she turned her attention back to her mother’s army. She flexed her wings and swished her tail out sideways. “Is a praetorian. One of the Queensguard, I suspect judging by how hard its hooves are falling.”

“Is that like a bigger changeling?”

“Bigger. Deadlier. The Queensguard were the epitome of what it meant to be warrior. Their enemies did not typically survive their encounters.”

Cozy rustled her wings and swallowed. “Oh... okay...”

Chrysalis hesitated, and took her eyes off of the horde for a moment to see the palpable fear in the young filly’s eyes. Her face twitched with concern for a moment before she turned back, flattening her ears down to her head. She felt that perhaps truth, in all honesty, was not quite what Cozy wanted to hear.

Celestia, however, was not as content to leave it at that, and voiced her disapproval. “Chrysalis, shouldn’t we unsure that at least Cozy retreats to safety?”

“Hey, I’m a Nightmare Knight,” interrupted in the filly, shooting a glare up at the alicorn. “Just like Chryssy. And we don’t run away from anything. Right?” The stomping grew louder as the praetorian approached. She swallowed and rubbed her forelegs together nervously. “Although I wish maybe we could sometimes...”

The stomping grew louder still as it approached; until finally it emerged, breaking through the ranks of its lesser cursed brethren with a mighty and bellowing roar.

A giant changeling, twisted and warped by dark magic charged forwards, shaking the dust and debris off of its shoulders. Similarly bone white like its foul cohorts, lined with ridges and spikes and sporting a large rhinoceros-like horn on its nose. A crest of glowing green fire atop its head flickered and wavered with movement, trails of the baleful light weaving in and out of its eye sockets. Its jaw opened and a deep howl vibrated through the air and across the ground at the trio.

It scraped its foal-sized hooves along the ground and readied itself to charge, aiming its horn directly at the former queen.

But before it could charge, a mighty bellow sounded out through the cavern, reverberating off the walls and back at the trio like the crash and boom of thunder.

”Chrysalis!”

Chrysalis froze. Her pupils turned to pinpricks. “Pupa?” she breathed.

Cozy tilted her head slightly in confusion. “Who-pa?”

”Come... with... me!” the voice rang out once more, echoing around the throne room.

After a moment, the crackle of magic filled the air and with a flash and a pop, what appeared to be a doorway of sorts materialised behind in the air above the horde. Chrysalis roused herself out of her shocked state and flared her nostrils. “Go,” she ordered Celestia and Cozy, marshalling the filly and the princess to move. “Quickly.”

Cozy spread her wings and jumped into the air. “Come on, Celly!” she called.

Celestia gave the queen a questioning look and fluttered her wings. “Who...” she murmured.

Chrysalis grimaced and bristled. “I will explain later. Go now,” she ordered. “Please, Celestia.”

Despite her reluctance but seeing no sense in arguing, the princess pursed her lips and followed suit after Cozy. Chrysalis followed shortly after, but not before giving Imago’s swarm one final sneer as they shrieked and clattered forwards.

With a flash of green light, a crack, and a fizzle, the portal vanished, leaving those who remained enraged, incensed, that they had lost their Dark Queen’s prey.

A dark and terrible laughter answered them, drifting up from the depths of the Hive.

***

With a thud, Cozy landed in a heap on the floor of somewhere far quieter and far less threatening than the throne room of the Changeling Hive. “Ugh...” she groaned, slowly picking herself up. “So where are we now?”

Upon the silence that greeted her, she quickly looked around in a slight panic. “Chryssy? Cell--oh.”

She saw Celestia and Chrysalis behind her, both panting and looking rather worse for wear. She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled weakly at them, but noticed the trail of luminous green blood running off the end of Chrysalis’s hoof, and the red staining Celestia’s coat.

“Geez, guys,” she murmured. “Do you two need anything?”

Chrysalis picked herself up and dusted herself off before snorting derisively at her. “We are fine, Cozy Glow,” she grunted, flicking some of her mane out her eyes. “For now.”

“What do you mean for now?” Cozy asked worriedly.

Chrysalis didn’t answer as she scanned their surroundings, offering a hoof to the pony beside her.

Celestia took it gratefully and hoisted herself up, glad to be out of the frying pan, so to speak. She spread her wings and stretched, popping several vertebrae as she did so and wincing at her bruised body. “That was indeed... something. Now where are we?”

“Where is she?”

The princess’s ear flicked when she heard the changeling growl softly. She and Cozy flicked their eyes towards one another before going back to Chrysalis.

“Come on, come on,” the queen snarled. “Let us dispense with pleasantries and the theatrics. I know you’re here, Pupa, so speak.” She stamped her hoof to punctuate her point, crushing a rock in the process. “Speak! I demand you show yourself!”

Cozy tugged on Celestia’s mane, making the alicorn lower her head. “Who’s Pupa?” she whispered.

“I... don’t know,” Celestia whispered back.

A set of hoofbeats from up ahead made them both turn and look at the approaching figure. A slender but clearly old changeling as dark and tall as Chrysalis herself was, if not taller, ambled into the chamber. She had deep purple eyes opposed to Chrysalis’s green, the same coloured hair adorned with streaks of grey, a set of ragged wings on her back--and far more noticeably--was missing one foreleg. Despite her rather dogged appearance, the very sight of her set the queen’s teeth on edge.

“Pupa,” she said, spitting the plosives out like they left a bad taste in her mouth.

“Chrysalis, darling,” the newcomer said sweetly with a smile as false as they could be. Her voice was low and husky, tinged with excitement. Her eyes travelled down to the tattered remnants of Chrysalis’s uniform, and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “So good to see you again. You’re welcome, by the way.” She cocked her head to one side, letting some of her dark cerulean mane hang down over her eyes.

“Do you recall me asking for your assistance?” Chrysalis snarled as the pair began to circle one another like sharks.

“No, I did not. But you needed it all the same, yes?” the changeling, whose name was apparently Pupa, smirked. “So you are welcome for it.”

Cozy fluttered her wings and looked between them, thoroughly confused. “Uh... Celestia?” she whispered, tugging at the alicorn’s hoof. “What’s happening? Who is she?”

“I’m not... sure, Cozy,” Celestia answered truthfully, watching the changeling so similar to Chrysalis carefully. How they spoke and acted towards one another reminded her very much of how she and Luna used to, and sometimes still do, speak to one another.

“To me it seems like they’re... family...”

She stopped short of herself as Pupa came to a stop in front of them. She looked them both up and down and clicked her tongue in distaste. “Really, Chrysalis?” she tutted. “This is who you bring to deal with our unique problem? A retired monarch and a child?” She rolled her eyes and directed her attention towards the filly. “Tell me, young one: how old are you?”

“Eleven. No, twelve. I think.” Cozy scratched her head and grimaced. “Kinda lost track of time after being turned to stone for a year.”

Pupa arched one unimpressed eyebrow upwards at the filly, then looked at Celestia. “You I do not know, child, but your companion here... the one and only Princess Celestia.” She bowed her head respectfully in greeting. “Oh it is a great honour indeed to finally meet you, your grace.”

Celestia, though a touch confused, bowed her head back graciously. “The... honour is mine,” she said. “But I am afraid you have me at a disadvantage.”

“Oh worry not, your highness,” the changeling tittered, smiling a toothy smile at her. “After all, I have always admired the crown of Equestria. No matter whose head it sits upon.”

The princess felt a chill run along her spine as those purple eyes met hers. She subtly ushered Cozy behind her leg while maintaining her trademark sweet smile. “Well, I’m flattered, truly. The pleasure is all mine. How is it that you know Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis, however, was not as polite or as tactful as she was, and stormed over to put herself between the three before the three legged stranger could answer. A flash of green appeared around her and her uniform vanished, revealing a cracked and scarred chitin. “Enough. Pupa, keep your forked tongue behind your teeth,” she snapped in a menacing growl. “You speak to me, not them.”

“Oh come now, Chrysalis,” Pupa sighed, flicking some of her mane out of her eyes. “Must you be so aggressive? Have you no love for your dear old aunt?”

Celestia’s eyebrows skyrocketed. Cozy felt like time stopped for her as she digested the information presented to her in that moment. The young Knight’s jaw almost hit the ground it swung open that far. She floundered for words, choking, sputtering and struggling for cohesion until finally-

“Aunt?!” she squealed. “You have an aunt and a mom?! What--but--how?! D’ya have any sisters or brothers?”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes as she faced her teammate. “Did you assume I spawned from some strange talking log, perhaps? Yes, I have a mother and, unfortunately an aunt,” she grumbled, turning back to Pupa, who simply flashed a cocky and arrogant, toothy smile at her. “My mother’s twin, to be exact.”

“Really, dear, you never mentioned me?” Pupa chortled. “Not after all we’ve been through together. After the... sacrifices we’ve made?” She gestured to her missing appendage. “I’m hurt, Chrysalis. Truly.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed.

Cozy gulped nervously, her previous elation vanishing in an instant. “Wh-What happened?” she whispered.

“The last time Chrysalis and I spoke,” Pupa replied with a coy smile, not taking her eyes off of her niece. “Was shortly after she dethroned my dear old sister.” She cracked her shoulders and rustled her ragged wings. “I aided her in it, and in the fight that ensued, some of us lost more than others, if I do say so myself.”

“I am sorry that you lost your leg, Aunt Pupa, but do not forget it was your carelessness that led to it,” Chrysalis snapped. “Had you not acted so vaingloriously, perhaps things would have been different.”

Pupa simply smiled back at her. “Perhaps. Regardless, it seems that our efforts were all for nought anyway. For I am here, like you, because your mother’s... ‘retirement’... has been interrupted,” she continued. “And I wish to rectify that error by offering you my assistance once more.”

Chrysalis looked her up and down with a distasteful sneer, like the very presence of her offended her. “How can I trust you, Pupa?”

The wicked look in Pupa’s eye grew. A set of fangs peeked out over the top of her lower lip as her smile grew. “You can’t,” she said simply. “That is the nature of a changeling, though... isn’t it?”

With that, she turned, and started to march away to another chamber, bowing her head to stoop through a low archway and a ragged curtain.

After taking a deep sigh and grumbling under her breath, Chrysalis’s hoof shot out in front of Celestia and Cozy as they started to move.

“Stop,” she said. “I need to speak with you both.”

The princess reached out and touched her hoof with her own. “What is it, Chrysalis?” she said softly, giving the changeling a gentle squeeze. She, much like Cozy, knew how difficult family members could be at times, especially when they weren’t on good terms with one another.

Chrysalis tongued around the inside of her cheek for a moment before answering.

“She’s right. We cannot trust her. My aunt was... is... devious beyond belief at times. I have been told stories of in the court she and my mother were raised in, that she was a spymaster among spymasters. Even at a young age she had devised plots upon plots upon plots, earning her title as the Witch Queen.” She shivered before continuing. “And though she hates my mother as much as I do, I am certain that she has an ulterior motive for choosing to aid us here and now. So... I would ask both of your opinions of what to do next.”

The alicorn nodded back at her. “I understand. Well then, if she has the means, be it strength or information, any way that may help us defeat Imago, isn’t it worth hearing her out at the very least?”

Cozy nodded along in agreement. “Mhm, yeah. Plus, y’know, she did save us,” she added with a shrug. “So that’s gotta count for something right? Even if she is a... ‘Witch Queen’.”

Chrysalis scowled, but let out a discontented grunt and reluctantly nodded her head. “You may be right,” she grumbled. “And that is what I fear.” She fell silent for a moment, tapping her chin and seeming to grapple with her own self-doubts, before flaring her nostrils in frustration. “Fine. Let us see what my aunt has planned, then, and perhaps we may act upon it. But stay alert. Do no fall for her honeyed words or any of her foul tricks.”

The filly flapped her wings and rose into the air as they started to move. “Gosh... to think that all this time you had an aunt and a mom,” she murmured, on the edge of smiling. “Wow. Who’da thunk? You got a brother or sister we don’t know about as well? Some kids, maybe? How big is your family tree?”

The changeling scowled, marching onwards. “Be careful what questions you ask, you little beast. You may not like the answers.”

Celestia eyed her carefully and followed after her, pausing only to let Cozy rest on her back for a time.

As they stooped and passed through the same archway Pupa had, Chrysalis felt her gut start to twist itself into knots. Her aunt was humming softly, sitting on one side of a circular slab of rock adorned with several small figurines in shapes of things vaguely familiar. Spiders had strung several dozen cobwebs across the ceiling, and the pale light from a shining crystal up above reflected back in her eyes. She inspected her good hoof nonchalantly, although her eyes flicked upwards for a brief moment as the trio entered.

As Chrysalis picked up one of the figurines and saw it bore a striking resemblance to Princess Cadance, she quickly realised they were in the old council room of the Hive, a place she hadn’t been since she devised the attack on Canterlot... and her subsequent failure. Setting the figure back down onto the table with its kin brought back a wave of unwanted memories and a bitter resentment in her heart.

“So good of you to join me,” Pupa sighed. “Gather around. We have much to discuss.”

Chrysalis rested her hoof upon the table, trying not to think about the countless hours she would spend plotting the downfall of the pony beside her. That pony in question, Celestia, simply held her head up and steady, as she and the filly on her back watched and waited.

Pupa cleared her throat, eyeing them all carefully. “So...” she began, tracing her hoof idly over a crack in the table. “Imago. My sister. Your mother. What do you propose to do about her, Chrysalis?”

The queen blinked. “Find where she makes her nest and destroy her,” she stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Pupa sighed and shook her head. “That’s your grand plan is it?” she sighed. “My word, darling, it’s no wonder your invasion of Equestria failed with you at the helm. Had I only been there, I could have guided you into a swift victory.”

Chrysalis’s eyes shrank in fury and a deep red flushed across her face. “Watch it,” she growled.

“If only you hadn’t exiled me. Heh,” Pupa scoffed, laughing behind her hoof. “It is indeed a good thing I rescued you, then, if only so that then I could revel in your stupidity before the end.”

“You... abhorrent cur!” the young, by comparison, changeling raged. “You bring us here to offer your assistance, only to then have the gall to speak to me like that! I am Queen of the Changelings!” She slammed her hoof down on the table and glowered at her aunt. “I will not be spoken to like this in my own Hive, and certainly not by an exile as yourself, Pupa.”

“I am your aunt and your elder, and I may speak to you, girl, however I wish,” Pupa snapped back, dropping the kindly, sweet act in an instant. She stood up, her ragged and moth-eaten wings unfurling as she pulled her head up high and looked down her nose at her niece. Her eyes flashed and a tight, mean smile grew over her mouth. “Regardless, is this even your Hive anymore, my dear? From my understanding... it belongs to another now, yes?”

“You know nothing!”

The queen also stood, rearing up to her full height, ready to leap across the table and throttle her aunt--only for a soft white hoof to reach over and hold her still.

“Lady Pupa,” Celestia said sternly, drawing both of their gazes. She gave them both her best diplomatic smile and flourished her mane. “You are indeed wise and powerful, as we can see, to have eluded Imago for so long right under her very nose, but perhaps any faults you and Chrysalis may have with one another could wait until after this crisis is averted and Imago is dealt with, yes? Yes, Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis reigned in her temper somewhat as the princess’s eyes bore into hers. “She-” she growled.

“I know, Chrysalis.”

The changeling clenched her jaw. She took in a sharp breath of air between her teeth, then stiffly nodded. “Fine.”

Pupa gave them both a knowing look before she chuckled quietly to herself and sat back down. “Such manners, Princess. Such grace. It’s a shame my niece never learned any during your romps together.”

The princess’s face remained as steady as a rock while Chrysalis’s flushed deep scarlet. Cozy wrinkled the end of her nose and flicked her ear.

”Romps...?”

“But yes, you are right,” Pupa continued. “I offer you my apologies, Chrysalis, for I only half enjoyed slighting you. Indeed, I wish to offer you my assistance--an alliance, if you will. At least until your mother dearest is dead and where she belongs once more.”

Chrysalis bristled, spitting out her words. “What are your terms?”

“Terms, dear?” the old changeling giggled softly. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Don’t give me that,” the younger changeling grunted. “I know you want something, so out with it. What do you hope to gain from this excursion? What does the ‘Witch Queen’ want?”

Pupa’s eyes narrowed at her title and she ran a hoof down the length of her long, ragged mane.

“You and I both know what would happen should your mother’s power continue to grow,” she said quietly. “Not just for the Hive. Not just for Equestria. But for the world.” She sighed and looked Chrysalis in the eye, fixing her with an intense and cold stare. “I am not your mother, Chrysalis. I am not a creature of war. I wish only for peace in our time.”

“And free reign to weave whatever schemes you wish I suppose? Tell me what you want, auntie.”

Pupa sighed and rubbed her nose. “There’s nothing else for it is there?” she muttered. “Fine. If you must know... I wish to make amends with my only niece. We are family, after all, despite ourselves. Surely your pretty friend here would agree that family is important, yes? This--these are my ‘terms’ if you need such a thing.”

The queen glared at her and instinctively flexed a wing out over in front of Celestia, grinding her teeth together with such force she was creating a pain in her jaw. She knew she had to be careful with her aunt--just as careful as she had to be when dealing with her twin. Yet she could sense a true sincerity to her words.

Pupa was always nice to her before she left the Hive as well, if she recalled correctly.

“How... exactly can you help us, Pupa?” she growled, just barely able to restrain her frustration at the entire situation. She needed assurances--a promise, something. Anything that suggested Pupa was telling the truth. “What do you have to offer that’s stopping us from simply walking away from you?”

Pupa sighed in disappointment and sat back. “By all means go ahead. Feel free to wander the Hive, I’m sure you would find Imago’s lair eventually. In a week or so, perhaps. Long after the world has died and been resurrected in her image.” She leaned forwards with a smug look plastered across her face as Chrysalis glowered and flared her nostrils. “But I know where she has made her lair. I can lead you to her, and in a matter of minutes we can put an end to this ordeal once and for all. All I ask for is a chance, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis fell silent once more, weighing up the pros and cons of allowing her aunt to join and aid them in their mission. After looking into Cozy’s eyes and then Celestia’s, seeing how they looked at her both optimistically and cautiously, and knowing precisely what she should do regardless of her personal feelings, she she set her jaw and stiffly jerked her head up and down. “Fine. We have an agreement, then. If you lead us to my mother, Pupa... you can consider us... allies. We can discuss your terms later. However.”

She held her up hoof as her aunt started to speak, and faced her companions.

“Celestia. Cozy. You two are going-”

“With you,” Cozy stated firmly. She puffed her small chest out as far as it would go and waved her hoof. “I know what you’re gonna say, Chryssy: probably something like it’s ‘too dangerous’ or whatever. Doesn’t matter, we’re going with you. Right, Celly?”

Pupa’s smirk grew at the nickname she overheard for her niece, but still she kept quiet and refrained from saying anything.

Celestia levelled her gaze at Chrysalis and nodded in agreement. “We’re in this for the long haul, Chrysalis. Whether you’d like us to be here or not, we will be, because we care about you.”

The queen flinched. “You most certainly are not,” she scolded. “This is far too dangerous for either of you, my mother’s strength is already more than I feared and I cannot guarantee your safety. Therefore, there is no way in all of Equus that I am allowing you to come with me. You will remain here where it is is safe, and that. Is. Final.”

***

Chrysalis’s scowl only deepened as Celestia and Cozy strode on either side of her. The aunt of the Knight led the way after emerging from another of her portals, claiming to know the correct paths to take to avoid any possible deadling encounters and get to Imago the fastest route possible. Though she was old, even by the royal changeling family status, she was spry and had a spring in her step, almost as if she was happy.

Cozy tapped Chrysalis’s leg as they marched down another dark, dimly lit tunnel. “Hey, Chryssy? Why do you hate your aunt so much?” she asked.

Chrysalis glared down at her without a moment’s hesitation. “Must you always ask such personal questions?” she grumbled.

“Uh huh. We’re friends, it’s what we do,” the filly cheekily replied, sticking her tongue out at the changeling. “Sooo... what happened?”

The changeling glanced back at Celestia, silently asking for assistance with a swift and deathly glare.

Celestia chuckled and shook her head. “Cozy, if Chrysalis doesn’t wish to talk about her past, we should respect her wishes,” she said, only to add quietly: “I do wonder though why I have never heard of your aunt.”

“Because she is a liar, a traitor and a cheat,” Chrysalis growled, glaring daggers into the back of Pupa’s head.

Her aunt turned slightly, just enough to look at her with one eye. The corner of her mouth quirked upwards into a smile, indicating she was listening. She cleared her throat and turned back to focus on the path ahead.

“You would fault me for my nature, Chryssy?” she chortled. “Or your own? We are born to scheme. We revel in delight when our plots come to fruition, and we grow fat from the love we take from others. The same love you are positively dripping with now, Glitterwings.”

“Silence, witch,” Chrysalis snarled.

Cozy glanced up at Celestia and swallowed, sensing trouble. “Uhh... hey, so how much further is it?” she asked, hoping to change the subject away from Chrysalis as quickly as she could and give her teammate some reprieve.

“Not very,” Pupa replied with a sigh. “My advice to you all, darlings, should you wish to follow it, is to be cautious as we proceed.”

“How can you tell? Is it like a twin thing where you can always sense each other’s presence?”

Pupa stopped and smirked coyly at her. “No, child. My sister and I are not so gifted to be bonded with one another. Even if we were, I suppose that any bond we may have once shared was severed when I aided Chrysalis in casting her into oblivion. Unlike some, my sister is not as forgiving of my transgressions or slights against her. That was one of her many traits I always admired.”

The filly swallowed and looked down as Pupa aimed a cold and unnatural smile towards the princess. Celestia bristled and held her gaze firmly, keeping a false smile on her face. “Y-You admire her?” the filly mumbled.

“Oh, make no mistake, child,” Pupa nodded, earning a dagger-filled glare from Chrysalis. “I will never deny that I admired my sister, and may still do. Imago was ruthless and cunning. Brutal yet efficient. Some would have even called us friends once upon a time. In our youth, we would council and comfort on another in times of hardship.”

She shivered and rustled her wings.

“Unfortunately... there came a time when I could see a madness begin to grow in her mind. A darkness that shadowed her heart and set her against me.” Pupa’s ear flicked and she glanced towards Celestia with a grim, knowing look. “Surely you can relate, Princess?”

Celestia bobbed her head solemnly, saying nothing.

“Once I saw my sister’s madness grow too strong,” Pupa continued, “I was left with no choice. By that time, Chrysalis had returned from her life ‘abroad’, and so I chose to aid her in destroying my dear sister and ascension to the throne.” The old changeling arched one eyebrow upwards and bemused look came over her face. “Perhaps that is our true nature, eh, Chrysalis darling? To overthrow despots and tyrants.”

Chrysalis flared her nostrils and hissed softly at her, prompting Celestia to give her a gentle nudge and a caring, gentle look.

“And my reward, for performing my services?” the old changeling tittered. “Banishment. Excommunication. Cursed to wander the wastes, never knowing when I may next feed, doomed to die a slow and painful death--or worse: turn onto a feral, love starved beast.”

Cozy shivered, remembering how vicious Chrysalis had been on that Hearts and Hooves day all that time ago.

An odd, serene look suddenly crossed Pupa’s face as she tapered off, and Chrysalis narrowed her eyes.

“How did you survive?” she growled quietly.

“Hmm?” Pupa mused, rousing herself of her thoughts.

“A hiveless changeling in your condition should have perished centuries ago.”

The Witch Queen smiled at her niece. “Now that’s my secret, isn’t it, darling?” she said coyly. “Come along.”

Chrysalis glowered at her as they pressed on.

Pupa eventually turned her head, having apparently grown bored of the quiet, and the corners of her mouth curled upwards as she fixed Celestia with a wicked glint in her eye. “I must say... I am surprised Chrysalis sought you out, Princess,” she said. “Though not at all surprised you have come.”

The princess’s ear flicked as she looked right back at the old changeling. “What makes you say that?” she asked politely. “Chrysalis and I have had our... differences in the past, yes, but we have since reconciled. And I... have my own reasons for being here beyond a matter of helping my lo--my dear friend.” Her cheeks turned ever so slightly pink at her slip-up, but a tiny smile appeared on Chrysalis’s face for half a second before it quickly vanished as the old changeling chuckled softly.

The glint in Pupa’s eye grew. “Oh yes, I am well aware, Princess, of your history with my sister.”

The porcelain mask that was Celestia’s face cracked, revealing an angry scowl and a visage full of pain for a second before she caught herself and resumed her neutral, careful expression. Cozy looked between all the adults curiously.

“Wh-What do you mean?” she murmured. “What history?”

Pupa hummed and hawed to herself. “I suppose it’s not very common knowledge, is it? Lost to the annals of time, no doubt, the murder of the good King Morpheus.”

Cozy blinked. “King Morpheus? Who was that?”

“My father,” Celestia said in a dangerously low tone of voice.

The filly made an ‘o’ shape with her mouth in realisation. “A-And he was... murdered?”

“He certainly was,” Pupa went on. “And to my knowledge, the perpetrator was never caught, were they, Princess? And yet, so many speculate my sister was responsible. They were hated rivals, you see, child. Ancient enemies since the dawn of Equestria. The bane of each other’s existences. So when she made her appearance at his funereal to ‘pay her respects’, well... our family was always one for making a show of things.”

Celestia inhaled a sharp breath between her teeth and stamped her hoof. “Enough,” she stated, raising her voice just enough to be threatening while maintaining her poise. Chrysalis bristled, thanking her silently for it.

“In answer to your question, no. The culprit was never found,” the princess said. “And please, Lady Pupa, I ask you to refrain from speaking of such things anymore. This subject is...” She glanced up at Chrysalis for a brief moment and the two shared a telling look with one another. “Difficult... to talk about.”

Pupa bowed her head. “As you say, your grace. I meant no disrespect, simply to educate the girl on matters most serious. We have no quarrel, you and I.”

“I understand, Pupa,” Celestia replied. The mask she wore slipped again for a fraction of a second, and the hateful fire in her eye made Cozy wilt and shiver.

They continued on in silence for a while longer. Chrysalis walked stiffly, fighting off a wave of bitter memories. The death of King Morpheus was perhaps the biggest catalyst that had led to them separating, and many a violent and hurtful word said.

The princess walked beside her, sombre and quiet. Cozy walked between them, struggling to keep pace with their long strides, occasionally glancing up at their faces and trying to think of something to say to alleviate the sudden tension between them, only to remain quiet and focus on the path ahead.

Soon enough they rounded another corner and came upon a large antechamber with a circular door made of stone at the far end flanked by two moss covered statues of tall and imposing changelings. As they grew closer to it they saw the door practically oozing with a thick, viscous liquid akin to slime that dripped down the steps leading up to it. Pupa stopped and raised her hoof.

“What is this place?” Cozy asked, finally finding her voice as they gazed up at the etched runes along he door’s surface and along the walls of the Hive around them, and then at the statues. “Looks fancy.”

Chrysalis started on the spot and let her wings droop from shock. “She hasn’t...” she murmured as her blood started to boil and her temper began to rise. “Pupa... has she?”

“She has,” Pupa replied matter-of-factly.

The queen’s face contorted in anger. “That... horrid sow... that vile, evil cockroach!”

“What?” Cozy asked frantically. “What’s she done, Chryssy?”

Chrysalis ground her teeth together and jutted her chin towards the door. “This... this place, Cozy... is a crypt. A sacred place where we would bury fallen changelings--a way of returning them to the earth as per our ancient traditions. For Imago to make her nest here is...” She shook her head in disgust. “She makes a mockery of life and so she must defile our sacred ground too?”

The filly bobbed her head along with her. “Wow that’s... I didn’t know changelings did ancient traditions.”

“We are an old people,” Pupa sighed. “Though few, if any, alive today would know of the extent of how old, or comprehend places like this’ existence, or any other sacred sites like it.”

Cozy frowned. “Other sites? Y’mean there are more... places like this?”

The old changeling didn’t answer, and her horn began to glow. The rock door began to shift, rumbling slowly out of the way, shaking off the cobwebs and dust that had made themselves home on its surface. The group braced themselves for what lay beyond it, promptly gasping as a wave and stench of something awful emanated from within from the dark room.

Cozy gagged and her eyes started to water.

“What is that smell?” she said, pinching her nose in an effort to try and stop the stench.

Celestia said nothing, but she did wince and swish her tail from side to side. Her nose twitched and wrinkled ever so slightly.

“Death,” Chrysalis replied solemnly, stepping forwards to join Pupa and peer inwards. She took deep, slow breaths through her mouth to try and stave off the reeking smell. As she entered into it, the ancient magic that ran through the Hive responded to her, causing several braziers to ignite themselves to life and cast long, dancing shadows by the flickering flame.

Chrysalis scanned the chamber carefully, looking for any sign of trouble. Upon seeing nothing, she breathed out slowly and jutted her chin forwards. “Come on,” she grunted. “But be quiet, and be careful.”

They all crept forwards. Their hooves squelched and squashed the bile underneath them as it coated everything in sight.

“What is this stuff?” Cozy asked.

“A form of secreted bile,” Pupa answered, inspecting some on the end of her hoof. “Typically this is what should coat the walls of a Hive as a sign of territory. I suppose since their defection, your subjects have no need of it, eh, Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis scowled at her antagonistic aunt and marched onwards, coming to a stop near the centre.

“Where is she?” she growled.

Celestia flexed her wing and rested it gently on the filly as Cozy grimaced and squirmed. “Perhaps we should do with a spa day once this is finished,” she chuckled softly, hoping to alleviate the filly’s tension somewhat.

“Too right,” Cozy muttered, trying to wipe some of the bile away. “Oh, it’s in my mane, too? Gross.”

Chrysalis grimaced and shook her head. “How can your only thought be of your own vanity?” she snapped. “And not more important things, like where exactly Imago is, Pupa?” She rounded on her aunt, glaring at her.

Pupa sighed and fluttered her wings. “I said I know where she makes her lair, not where she precisely is-”

“So you have led us down here for what? As bait?”

“Must you think of me as so cruel? If I wanted you dead, darling, I would have watched as my sister’s legions ripped you limb from limb.”

The queen scowled and opened her mouth to bark back a response, only to pause when she felt a tug on her tail, and turned to see Cozy staring at something on the bile-covered wall nearby.

Cozy’s eyes went wide and her lip trembled slightly. “Hey--hey, Chryssy? Isn’t that-” she said, pointing a hoof. “Doesn’t that look sorta like Thorax?”

Curious, Chrysalis peered forwards, as did Celestia, while Pupa arched one unimpressed eyebrow upwards.

A figure in the vague shape of a changeling lay fused into the wall, coated horn to hoof in a dark, not entirely see through cocoon. And though faded and his image murky, his antlers and his size were unmistakable.

Chrysalis stared in horror as she realised what, and who, she was looking at. “It’s a cocoon,” she whispered, tracing her eyes over the unconscious King’s features.

“The same thing as you do?” the filly offered. “Like y’did with that bull-snake thing?”

“Precisely,” the elder Knight answered. “Only it’s... wrong.”

Sick was the word that came to her mind. Tainted, very much like the deadlings themselves: so very similar and yet so clearly not.

“Thorax?” she said.

Her voice sounded impossibly loud in the deafening silence surrounding them. She suddenly glanced around, feeling an ample amount of dread form in the pit of her stomach and an epiphany creep into her mind. She raised her horn, shining more light on their surroundings.

And sure enough as she started to suspect, she saw more of the cocoons embedded into the bile. Dozens upon dozens of them lining the walls and stretching up to the ceiling, all holding something. Someone. Vague silhouettes of changelings.

A Hive’s worth of changelings.

“By the stars...” Celestia whispered, seeing them as well. “The missing changelings... she’s... is she feeding off of them?”

Chrysalis couldn’t answer her. She recognised most, if not all, of who she could see.

There was Tarsus, Firefly, Carapace, Spindleshanks, Weaver, Cutter, Mandible, and Dave--just a few of those who were alongside her when she invaded Canterlot all those years ago. Even Pharynx. Once her pride and joy, and well on his way to becoming a member of the Queensguard if things had worked out differently. She swallowed and looked back at the king.

“Help me,” the queen hissed. Celestia moved forwards, earning a contemptuous snort from Pupa behind them

“We cannot waste time saving every stray we come across, Chrysalis. There will be time enough to save these wretches later, yes?” She dismissively waved her hoof at Thorax as he blearily looked around at all of them, like he was in a daze--or sleepwalking. “Besides, these changelings are traitors to your crown, are they not? I’m curious, why should you save them? Why risk your life for theirs?”

The queen narrowed her eyes and stepped away from Thorax while Celestia poked and prodded the cocoon.

“I will not allow my mother to use them--to string them up like this as trophies,” she growled. “Regardless of how I feel about them... I will not allow her to claim what is rightfully mine.”

“How altruistic of you,” Pupa scoffed.

Chrysalis bared her fangs and hissed at her. “I don’t care for your opinion, auntie, and I didn’t ask for it. Whatever it may be, the fate of the changelings of this hive will be the same as ours. Not this. Not for one moment longer.”

The sneer lining her aunt’s face receded for a moment, replaced by a curious look--one that was almost in admiration, of all things.

“I may not be their queen,” Chrysalis continued, holding her head up high. “But I am their Knight. Traitors, malcontents and putrid, verminous slugs though they may be, if I can protect them, I will. Especially from my own mother.”

As she finished, the silence that followed could have been broken by a pin dropping.

Cozy shuffled on the spot, puffing her little chest out as much as she could in pride while Celestia beamed with an equal amount. The both of them kept their eyes trained on Chrysalis. The queen turned around after fixing her aunt with a glare, and started to help Celestia pull away the cocoon holding Thorax.

“That was lovely,” the princess whispered, resting a hoof over the changeling’s. “Really.”

Chrysalis forced herself to smile back despite how her insides churned at such ‘pony’ like behaviour she exhibited every now and then. “Let’s just free this miserable idiot,” she grunted back. “Then we can focus on-”

She stopped.

Her ear twitched and her tongue suddenly felt dry as she felt another presence, an older, familiar and dreadful presence, among them. She slowly turned to survey the room, her pupils rapidly shrinking.

“She’s here.”

A deep, rumbling and sinister laughter sounded out all around them out of the darkness, followed by words positively dripping with malice.

“How sssenti-men-tal...”

Chrysalis’s breath caught in her throat. Her heart pounded in her chest so the point she felt it might burst. Her pupils transformed into thin vertical slits, and her wings unfurled to their full length in a protective manner in front of Celestia and Cozy.

With the crackle and the hum of magic, a shimmering portal opened on the floor of the centre of the room, bathing everything in a pale, deathly light. From it emerged a colossal beast of bloated belly and ragged, rotten flesh, heaving itself up on rotten, crooked and broken legs. Cozy pressed her hoof into her mouth to keep from vomiting at both the sight and stench of it.

“Is that-” she hissed before turning to throw up.

The beast fixed its one good eye upon Chrysalis, for the other was nothing more than an empty socket, festering with pus and bile.

“Queen Imago...” Celestia breathed.

With a chitin as bone white and filth ridden as her vile creations, Imago lifted herself out of her portal and planted her hooves firmly on the ground, looking down at those who would stand against her. Her black, seething tongue ran over her rotten lips and blackened teeth when she saw them, and her eye lingered on her daughter.

“Chrysssalisss...” she hissed. “My beloved daughter... returned to me at last...” Her words oozed with malice and a contempt for all life, utterly dripping with venom. Not only that, but her voice came out as little more than a dying gargle, as if every breath she took pained her.

Her eye drifted over to the alicorn beside Chrysalis and what was left of her lips pulled back into a wicked smile. “My, my... such a gift... you bring to me, my daughter...” she croaked. “The great Princessss Celessstia...”

She bowed her head in a mocking fashion of respect. Celestia stared up at her in shock, even as Chrysalis’s outstretched wing temporarily blocked her view, no doubt trying to shield her from her mother’s gaze. “I have not ‘brought’ you anything, Imago,” she snarled. “Other than your demise. For I aim to destroy you, to rid the world of your filth once and for all!”

The Pale Queen raised her head and flashed a smile at her without saying anything, then directed her deathly glare towards the one of the group closest to her.

“And... dearessst Pupa,” she hissed gleefully, her eye lighting up. “It is ssso good to see you... alive, O sister mine. How long... has it been?”

Pupa simply spread her ragged wings outwards and bared her fangs, looking up at her with a fierce intensity. Her horn sprung to life in a deep violet aura. “Far too long, sister,” she hissed back. She lowered her head and tensed up her legs, readying herself to attack.

Imago’s grin spread across her face and she merely chortled back in response. “Ahh, good... a fight...” If her voice was as grating and hoarse as could be, her laugh was perfectly wretched and sent a shiver along Chrysalis’s back.

“You may begin... sister.”

Pupa charged, buzzing her wings as fast as they could. She dove one way and the other, lashing at her sister’s body with her horn, carving great swathes of what should be lethal wounds against the deadling’s side and splitting her cracked and decaying carapace. But Imago barely reacted, if she reacted at all, other than with a dry, haughty laughter.

Chrysalis stepped forwards intending to help her aunt, only for the Pale Queen’s horn to ignite in a flash of pale green light. “Ah, ah,” she crooned as the Knight found herself lifted up and pressed into the wall. “This is a sisterly dispute, O daughter mine. Do not... interfere...”

Imago’s eye flashed with malice as Chrysalis struggled against her bonds.

“If you do... then watch your pretty friend suffer...”

The queen twisted her head around to see Celestia in the same position, splayed against the wall as bile started to creep around her, conjured to life by Imago’s dark magic. In a moment of panic Chrysalis shifted her gaze over to where she thought Cozy was, only to see the filly was nowhere to be seen. She both breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn’t ensnared the same way she was, but couldn’t help but worry as to where exactly her young teammate had gotten to.

“Imago!” Pupa barked, coming to their aid. “Our dispute lies between us. Release them.”

“As you wish,” Imago chortled darkly. The magic and the bile surrounding her daughter and the alicorn released them, letting them breathe easy and drop to the ground.

“Pupa-” Chrysalis began, rubbing her throat and buzzing her wings to lift herself up.

The three legged changeling scowled and waved one of her back legs towards her. “Stay out of this,” she snapped. “This duel is not meant for you.”

Chrysalis opened her mouth to retort, but froze when she felt Celestia to rest her hoof on her. She looked into the princess’s eyes. Celestia held her gaze for a moment longer, until finally the queen reluctantly and begrudgingly nodded, and took a step back to join her.

Imago watched them all with a sick, beady eye. “How touching,” she mused. “The bonds we forge... as family... there are none stronger, yes?”

Pupa grunted and lunged at her, striking with magic, horn, hoof and fang where she could, streaking flecks of foul smelling blood onto the ground.

“Ah... but then again...”

Imago spread her massive wings, sending a horde of mites and filth showering into the air. Her horn, gnarled and crooked like the base of a great, twisted tree, ignited in a flash of pale, sickly light.

Celestia’s own horn ignited in response, throwing up a shield around her and Chrysalis quickly before another wave of foul magic washed over them. Pupa, however, was not so fortunate to have a companion gifted in defensive magic. As such, All Chrysalis could do was watch as her mother’s magic ensnared her aunt, lifting her up and grasping her tight.

“I tire of this... charade... sister,” Imago rasped. “And I tire... of you.”

Chrysalis stared in horror as the old changeling, her only aunt, struggled in the magical grasp enveloping her, firing wayward blasts of magic this way and that, growing more and more frantic by the second. Her once arrogant and antagonistic demeanour replaced by a frightened look of horror amidst as series of pained grunts and groans as the magic surrounding her tightened.

“What was it... they called you... sister?” Imago sneered. “Ah, yes... I remember... the Witch Queen.” She threw her head back and laughed as Pupa’s horn finally fell dull and her eyelids fluttered.

“Watch, Chrysalis,” the Deadling Queen said, gesturing to her daughter. “Watch, and learn how a true queen punishes those who betray her!” She turned and swung her massive abdomen outwards, scraping along the ground.

Chrysalis stared with wide eyes as Imago kept Pupa held in front of her like a doll. Her eye flashed with malevolent glee as she opened her mouth, and started to drain her sister of not just her love, not just her emotions... but her very life.

The old changeling started to age impossibly rapidly before their very eyes, withering away until she resembled little more than an anorexic skeleton as Imago absorbed her life essence. Her eyes sunk back into her head and her lips grew dry and taut, to the point where Celestia had to look away, comforted only by he fact that Chrysalis put a wing around her, refusing to look away and feeling her heart heave. Finally, the deed was done, and as Pupa’s dying gasp left her throat and her head hung limp, Imago dropped her, letting her pitiable body crumple to the ground in a cruel display.

“Ahhh,” Imago hissed, cracking her neck. She straightened herself up and flourished her mangy mane, having grown stronger form the strength she absorbed. “Deliciousss. Thank you for your contribution, O sister mine... Now...” She turned her attention towards the others who would stand against her. Her eye flashed with malice as her foul gaze rested upon them. “And now, my dearest Chrysalis... what to do with you? And your companion here?”

Celestia’s shield remained firm and steady, unwavering even in the face of such evil. She cast a quick glance towards Chrysalis, who nodded back firmly at her. The princess swallowed and dispelled her shield, letting golden flakes of magic land down upon them.

Imago grinned at them both as they stood side by side and tilted her head to one side. “Have you any words before we begin?” she teased.

“I do,” Celestia growled, spreading her wings out wide.

Chrysalis mirrored her, ready to attack at the first signal.

“Queen Imago of the Third Changeling Hive,” the princess proclaimed, speaking with the Royal Canterlot Voice. The chamber--nay--the entire Hive shook with the ferocity of her voice as she stared down the Pale Queen.

“For your crimes against Equestria and her people and those of this Hive, I order your immediate surrender into our custody, so that you may be judged accordingly.”

Chrysalis cracked her neck and buzzed her wings, daring to chance a look over at Pupa’s remains. Sorrowful guilt wrenched at her innards when she saw her legs coiled upwards like a dead spider and her eyes sunken and lifeless.

Imago, however, licked her lips--her long, lack tongue coated in the same bile covering the walls and the floors. “A promising offer,” she cackled. “However... I have a suggestion of my own, Princess.”

She pulled her head back and smiled, looking down at them both like they were nothing more than insignificant ants.

”Kneel.”

***

Imago’s voice, teeming with black magic, seemed to ripple through the air as she spoke. Chrysalis’s head grew heavy and her vision blurred, her mother’s command weaving and worming its way into her head, so much so that she didn’t even realise she had sunken to her knees. The princess beside her followed suit, and slumped down into the muck.

The Pale Queen chuckled. A hateful, horrible sound. “You are strong, children...” she crooned as her horn began to spark and crackle with black and green magic. “You discarded my warriors, my beautiful creations, like they were but flies. But they were but a test, and I am stronger. And now, there is only darkness that awaits you, as it does for all of Equestria. All of Equus.”

Chrysalis tried in vain to rise up from the ground and take a swing at her mother, only for her head to start to pound as her mother’s foul magic gained a foothold in her mind. She slipped, falling back down with a grunt and a groan, gritting her teeth together. Beside her, Celestia mumbled something incoherent, slipping in and out of consciousness in a similar manner.

“Only darkness...” Imago continued, with a sick glint in her eye. Her bloated, rotting corpse of a body shifted and pulsated. “And the beauty of death. These changelings you see around you...” She gestured to the walls and the cocoons lining them. “They are but the start of a new brood. Hybrid warriors born of life and death. With them at my command I will create a great army, one that could rival even that of the old gods of this world.” She leaned forwards and brushed some of Chrysalis’s hair out of her eyes. “And you will lead them, my beloved daughter. You will lead them into war... and conquest.”

“Hnnng...” Chrysalis groaned, fighting to keep her heavy eyelids open as a foul and wretched whisper pierced her mind.

The Pale Queen’s rasping, dry laughter grew quiet for a moment. “Together, we will conquer this world and feed on its remains. We will grow fat from the strength of others. And then, Chrysalis, when Equestria lies in ashes and the world basks in the beauty of death... you will have my permission to die...”

She opened her mouth and let her tongue slither out until it gently caressed the side of her daughter’s face.

“And be reborrrn...”

Chrysalis felt her willpower slip as her mother’s magic penetrated her mind, body, and her very soul. Her hooves started to feel like they were not her own. Her legs felt heavy and tired, and her body felt like it was being pushed down into the earth by a great weight. She wrenched her gaze towards Celestia, at how weak and frail the princess looked.

Pathetic.

Imago’s grin started to spread up to her eyes as Chrysalis felt a sudden bout of rage and anger build up inside her. “Yesss, my daughter... You understand now, don’t you? It is useless to resist.”

Hate.

Hate flooded into Chrysalis’s mind, turning her vision red. She could feel her strength returning to her, only it was wrong.

Sick.

Tainted.

Imago’s...

Shadows began to dance at the corner of her vision, like tendrils of a great beast creeping forwards. The hate of centuries of agony, of living on the edge of utter madness bubbled up inside her despite her best efforts to quench it, and despite letting go of it and reuniting with Celestia.

Celestia. The one pony she hated more than anything. The focus and subject of her current rage.

But there was something else, too. A want--a need--to protect.

“No...”

Her own voice surprised her, and in that momentary distraction she regained her senses, and realised how close to Celestia she had gotten.

The princess looked up to her with heavy bags under her eyes. “Chrysalis...” she croaked weakly. The magic pressing down on her kept her mostly still, but even still she stretched out a shaking hoof.

Destroy.

Chrysalis’s vision wavered and the whisper returned. Her sanity retreated back into the darkness permeating her mind. The shadows around the edges of her eyes crept forwards, obscuring everything until she could only see the pale white body of her hated foe before her, looking up at her imploringly. Her head shook and trembled like the deadling drones and she started to salivate, imagining sinking her fangs deep into this wretched pony’s neck.

“Please...” the princess whispered. “Help...”

Imago’s cruel laughter filled the void again. “Do it. Kill her,” she commanded. “Strike her down, Chrysalis, O daughter mine, and take your place at my side. Become who you were born to be. Be the monster Equestria will always see you as.”

Chrysalis’s limbs moved with stiff, jerky movements and a mind of their own. Her head was swimming with one singular thought: to kill. To destroy her enemy. To murder the one responsible for a thousand years of suffering and misery. She stopped in front of the princess and reared up on her back legs, poising her hooves for the final blow.

And then Celestia said something. Something that stove off the hate and the rage, and snapped her back to her senses.

“I love you...”

The Living Queen hesitated. Her heart set itself aflame with love. With power. Her power, born of a love not given or stolen, but shared between two souls.

The second purest form of love imaginable.

It was enough to break her free of the spell ensnaring her mind. With a grunt and a groan she ignited her horn and spread her shimmering wings, and pushed away the darkness closing in around her.

“Rrrrrraaagh!” she cried, creating a small shockwave of magic as she regained full control of her own senses. The air smelled different now. Cleaner, almost. She shot a glare up at her mother and offered her hoof to Celestia.

Similarly freed from the dark magic, Celestia coughed and grasped her hoof tightly, giving it a gentle but firm squeeze as she hoisted herself up.

“I will not... serve you,” Chrysalis rasped at Imago. “Not then. Not now. Not ever.”

She stepped forwards, letting go of Celestia, and spread her wings, shielding the princess from her mother.

Imago rolled her eyes, unimpressed at the defiant display. “Very well,” she crooned, smirking at them wickedly. “Have it your way, then.”

Her horn flashed like lightning and magic lashed out at both of them, quickly wrapping around both Chrysalis’s and Celestia’s necks.

The Knight’s eyes bulged and the air caught in her throat as Imago started to squeeze. She found herself hoisted up and pinned against the wall, and watched with a growing fear as Celestia was raised up like Pupa.

“I want you to remember, Chrysalis,” Imago said with a glint of glee in her eye. Celestia struggled and tried to free herself, but the dark magic that had penetrated her mind left its scars deep, and in her weakened state she could barely focus her own thoughts let alone conjure up her magic. “That what is about to happen... is entirely your fault!”

With a wave of her head, Imago lifted Celestia up higher, then brought her down. Hard. Time stood still for Chrysalis as Celestia bounced off of the rock with a sickening snap. The alicorn’s shrill scream of pain rang out, cutting her deeper than any sword of knife ever could. Imago lifted her up again, and brought her down. Again

And again.

The Knight wanted to scream back, to cry and bellow as her heart ripped itself asunder with each crash and each scream. But instead, in her horror, all she could manage was a gargled and fractured sound as she watched her mother murder Celestia.

Soon the screams of pain faded, drowned out by the insane laughter of Imago as she tossed the alicorn about like a rag doll, until finally she thrust her at the hooves of her daughter hooves, limp and broken.

The Pale Queen cackled as she looked down at the spawn of her ancient rival, at how fragile and broken she looked, and sneered in utter contempt at how yet she still lived. “Ah. I wondered what would break first, princess... your spirit... or your body.”

Celestia closed her eyes and took deep, pained breaths. No doubt she had a collapsed lung, and there was no question that several of her ribs were broken. She couldn’t feel her wings. She coughed, sending a trail of blood to trickle down her chin.

“Chrys... alis...” she whispered, opening her eyes at the changeling she had grown up with. Her first and only love.

She thought to herself that she was glad she came, even if this was how it ended. She was glad to finally tell Chrysalis how she felt, even after all this time and all they had been through. All she had done to her. She and Chrysalis’s eyes met once again as she slowly rose up into the air by Imago’s magic for what she supposed would be the last time. In too much pain to speak, her mouth quivered and a dying gasp left her mouth.

“It appears as if it will be your body. A shame. I did so enjoy breaking your father’s mind when I plunged that dagger through his heart.”

Celestia’s bloodshot eyes widened as Imago threw her head back and roared with sick, sadistic laughter.

“Although that strength... that love...” the Pale Queen continued, her laughter tapering off as she turned Celestia to the side, like one would inspect food on the end of a fork. “Such a waste if I were to not sample it. The life force of an alicorn, second only to god-flesh!”

Imago licked her lips and opened her mouth, ready to consume the alicorn’s life as she had Pupa’s. As her maw opened wide and time stood still once more, she paused.

A small ‘tink’ and scraping sound from up above caught the attention of all those present. She, Chrysalis, and the close to death Celestia all slowly looked to the source of it. Chrysalis felt a tear of relief roll down her cheek as she stared in amazement at the small, pink filly on the ceiling, trying her hardest to scrape away at the root of a stalactite, using a smaller rock as a makeshift chisel.

Cozy paused for the briefest of moments as she felt several pairs of eyes, and one unseeing socket, upon her. After inhaling a sharp breath, she cast aside her tool, spun around and started kicking. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!”

After her third kick, there was a crack.

The stalactite trembled, and came loose, plummeting down directly on top of Imago herself.

Chrysalis gasped for air as she was released and dropped to the ground, as was Celestia, as the queen tried her hardest to scramble backwards. Her thick, bloated body got caught in the way, however, and she fumbled over herself. The rock crashed into her, driving straight down onto her spine, causing her to shriek in pain. Soon after more of its kind followed, cascading down upon her in an avalanche. Cozy coughed and sputtered, waving a hoof in front of her face as dust rose up into the air.

“Sorry I didn’t say anything,” she coughed, floating down to them. “I needed you to keep her distract-” Her voice caught in her throat resulting in a small choking sound when she saw Celestia’s state, and she came to a perch on a piece of rock jutting out from the rubble, where all she could do was watch. “Oh... oh, jeez...”

Chrysalis, despite wanting to show her amazement and praise at how Cozy had performed, wasted no time in scrambling forwards to check on the princess’s body. Dread made its home in her heart as she slipped her hooves around that beautiful, slender neck and turned Celestia around to look at her. “No no no no...” she repeated over and over, brushing her mane out of her eyes. “No no no, Celestia... Celly... stay with me. Don’t leave me...”

Celestia took several long, pained breaths and her eyelids fluttered open. “Chrys...”

Blood trickled out of her nose and her mouth as she struggled to speak, prompting Chrysalis to wipe her mouth for her.

“Shh, don’t speak. Don’t say anything,” Chrysalis said softly, stroking her mane. “We’re going to get you out of here. Aren’t we, Cozy?”

Cozy started on the spot and nodded vigorously. “Oh--oh, yeah you bet we are!”

A nasty gash had opened above the princess’s eye and was staining her mucky coat red. Both of her wings were bent at an unnatural angle, and her eyelids were half closed. Her breathing was starting to come short and shallow, and only grew shorter and shallower as Chrysalis pulled her tight.

“Stay with me... don’t leave me...” the queen whispered, her eyes brimming with tears. “I love you.”

Celestia’s trembling hoof found hers and rested on it gently. The princess’s mouth twitched upwards, and her eyes sparkled and shone like stars.

“I--I love...”

Her hoof fell limp and her chest lay still.

The queen’s lip quivered, and when she whispered next her voice was hoarser than it had ever been as she gently touched the side of Celestia’s face, looking into her dull and glassy eyes.

“Celly?”

Suddenly the pile of rubble exploded, knocking Cozy forwards off of her perch. Imago roared and raged, her only eye glaring with all the furious anger she could muster at the filly who dared to drop a hive on her.

Cozy scrambled to her hooves as quickly as she could and made to dash away, only for a hoof the same size as her to block her path by slamming down into the ground.

“Oh...” she mumbled, nervously fluttering her wings. “Uh... hi?”

A cloud of dust rose up into the air after the queen’s blow. The young Knight waved a hoof in front of her face to clear some of her vision. She winced, casting a quick glance over to Chrysalis, who remained perfectly still, leaning over the fallen alicorn, touching their foreheads together in a silent, tender embrace.

“Chryssy? ...Help?”

Her heart leapt into her throat upon hearing a low hiss and a snarl.

She turned, and looked right into the cold and furious eye of Imago, framed by a sharp and jagged skull as a few flakes of her skin peeled away.

“Uh oh.”

“You...” Imago hissed viciously. “You dare... attack... me?! With my own hive?! Insolent child, I’ll split you in two!”

Her eyes blazed with an unholy, unnatural life as she made to close her jaws around the most impertinent child she had ever come across--some no-name pegasus no less. The audacity! The unbridled cheek of it! She snarled, growing only angrier with each second and thrust her head downwards, ready to sever the life of this insignificant flying rat.

With little else to do she did the only thing she could possibly think of.

She screamed.

“Mommy!”

She fell to the ground and buried her face in her hooves, waiting for the end and hoping it wasn’t as painful as being turned to stone. A strange, eerie coldness washed over her, but the fatal blow never did.

She opened her eyes slowly, thinking that was it and she was dead, only to see Imago frozen in place, her single, large and festering eye swivelling around in confusion.

The swarm of green fireflies surrounding her--the magic of a changeling--reflected off of her bone white carapace. And soon enough, her deathly gaze found its source.

“Chrysalis,” she hissed.

The Nightmare Knight’s lips were pulled back into a snarl as vicious as her mother’s. Her horn was glowing brighter than it had ever been, her cheeks were stained with tears and her hooves were marred with the fresh blood of one of Equestria’s greatest icons.

And now, after committing her most heinous act... Imago was threatening Cozy Glow now, too.

Chrysalis would not stand for it.

The first most purest form of love surged through her, giving her a strength not even she was aware of.

The love of a mother for their child.

“Get away from her you bitch!” she roared, temporarily pushing aside her sorrow to let rage, a devastating and righteous rage fill her very soul. With a wave of her head, she lifted her mother up and sent her hurtling through the rubble and debris with an almighty crash.

Her gaze wrenched itself down to Cozy for a moment or two. “Go. Move,” she barked, jutting her chin towards the motionless Celestia. “Stay with her.”

Imago emerged from the crater Chrysalis had thrust her into, her jaw snapping and snarling, dripping with venom and bile. Her sole eye fixed upon her daughter, and then at the filly beside her.

“Go!” Chrysalis barked, shoving the filly away. Cozy gulped and fluttered her wings, scrambling over to Celestia to crouch and hide behind her. Satisfied, the changeling cracked her neck. “And you. Mother. Look. At. Me,” she growled.

Her mother hissed and reared herself up, towering high above them all.

Chrysalis gnashed her teeth together and planted her hooves firmly on the ground.

Cozy’s mind conjured up images of a valiant knight facing off against a dragon to save the fair princess like in some fairy tale as she gazed at them both. She quivered and crouched low, resting her head softly against Celestia. The alicorn was still warm, thankfully, although she had no idea how long that would last.

“Come on, Celly,” she whispered. “Wake up. Chryssy needs you...”

Chrysalis spread her shimmering, shining wings and swished her tail from side to side. King Morpheus’s words came to her as clear as day in that moment as she and Imago stared at one another, waiting for the other to make the first move.

’In that grief you lose yourself... and madness becomes the only possible course of action.’

Madness was right. The intoxicating feeling of utter loathing, of utter hatred and the desire for vengeance filled every fibre of her being. She would avenge Celestia. Even the rotten miscreants that once called her their queen. Even Pupa.

Whatever it took.

Her breathing grew dogged and heavy, and her pupils transformed into fine slits as she prepared herself.

Imago curled her lip upwards into a vicious, cruel and jeering smirk. “You cannot hope to win, Chrysalis. Even as we speak my legions are flocking to my command, ready and eager to tear you limb from limb just so that I may put you back together again.”

Chrysalis gnashed her teeth and snarled. “By the time they arrive, mother... you will be dead once more and banished into the depths of oblivion. Where you belong.”

The Pale Queen eye narrowed and she lunged forwards, igniting her horn in a flash.

The Knight retaliated by doing the same.

Together, in the dark underbelly of the Changeling Hive, mother and daughter fought. Lightning of varying shades of green fired between them as they began their duel. Chrysalis channelled her fury, her anger and her rage into her attacks as she cast spell after spell, taking a step forwards after each one she sent out, backing off only when Imago started the offensive.

Cozy watched them with wide, frightened eyes as pale lightning fired over her head, hitting the ground around her and sending flecks of dirt and rubble into the air. She brushed some off of Celestia and gave her a gentle shove, hoping to stir her enough to wake up. “Celly, get up!” she hissed. “We gotta move!”

Celestia did not move. Not a single muscle of the alicorn’s twitched. Her wings were limp and bent at awkward angles from Imago’s attack, and even her mane and her tail had stopped flowing with a mind of their own.

The filly gulped and rested her forehooves on the alicorn’s body. A shiver ran down Cozy’s spine as a dreadful thought crossed her mind. “You’re not supposed to die,” she mumbled. “I mean... you’re Celestia for cryin’ out loud! You’re supposed to be immortal, right? If you die, then... who are we gonna use as an expression?”

She laughed once. A joyless thing, just about the only thing she could do in her current situation as Chrysalis and Imago battled, raging, snarling and snapping at one another as they slung their spells. Another set of stalactites came crashing down around them with the force of their blows. Some cocoons came free with each shake and lay about the ground, thankfully at a safe enough distance to not be crushed by the duelling matriarchs.

Cozy stroked Celestia’s flat, pink-streaked mane and let out a heavy, absent minded sigh. “And what’s gonna happen to Chryssy?” she added quietly. “She’d never say anything, but... I could see it. We all could. You made her happy...”

She sighed and nestle down by the princess’s side, and rested against her belly.

Imago roared and raged as the magic flying from her and Chrysalis’s horns clashed in a flurry of sparks.

Cozy glanced up despondently, wishing she could do more than she already had. A few more stalactites could probably help, she thought, but she didn’t want to hit Chrysalis.

Ba-dum.

The young Knight started on the spot and snapped her gaze towards the alicorn. She listened and held her breath for a moment longer, straining her ears over the sounds of crashing, snarling and battle, swearing she had just heart the tell-tale thump of a living heart. Celestia remained still, though, and she was starting to think it was just in her imagination.

Bad-um.

There it was! For definite, she heard it that time. Cozy’s eyes lit up and she thrust her hooves around the princess’s side, sniffling lightly. She looked over at her teammate, her eyes shining with relief, and fluttered her wings excitedly. “Chrysalis!” she whisper-shouted.

Chrysalis didn’t hear her, and she was losing ground. Her and her mother’s spells soared over one another, cracking into the ground and the walls between and behind them respectively. A few of the cocoons had been smashed, and the changelings inside still and unmoving, a fact the Knight was acutely aware of, and with each one she saw she felt a pang of guilt, but pressed on.

Her head twisted just enough so she could see Cozy, and noticed how close to the filly she was. One false move and Imago would-

She let out a grunt and broke off her latest attack to dart away, drawing her mother’s eye solely on her. Unfortunately, in her moment’s distraction, she didn’t realise how in striking distance she had gotten of her adversary.

But Imago did, and her eye flashed with malice as she swung her mighty hoof.

She was quick, quicker than expected for a creature of her size, and managed to clip Chrysalis’s legs, knocking her off course. In a slight daze, Chrysalis spun herself around, only for another of her mother’s legs to swing from the other side, this time properly connecting with her and knocking her down.

“I was wrong about you,” Imago hissed, spitting venom towards her daughter as Chrysalis attempted to pick herself up. “You’re not strong. You’re weak. You’re a weak, feeble excuse for a changeling--unfit to have ever been called a queen!”

She punctuated her words by slamming her hoof into her daughter’s side and kicked her away. Bright blood flew out of Chrysalis’s mouth as she hit the ground again, landing on her wings. She scrambled and flailed her legs in the air for a second as Imago struck again.

“You are but a child, an insignificant grub compared to my power,” the deadling continued. “You are nothing. A mere child was more competent than you, if only for a moment. You, O daughter mine, are a witless worm who does not know her place. Allow me to educate you.”

In a moment of desperation Chrysalis threw up a shield around herself as another of her mother’s hooves came crashing down. She gasped and grunted under the sudden strain. Shield magic was never her forte. She glanced over at Cozy out of the side of her eye; the filly was shaking Celestia, probably trying to wake her up. Poor thing didn’t realise that she was...

Again and again Imago slammed down onto her shield. Her nose started to bleed, the scent of metal filling her nostrils.

Images of Tempest came to her mind, of how the commander looked at her and smiled, treating her with respect and dignity. Then Tirek, and how often they would bicker about the most ridiculous things. And Cozy, how the filly would nestle in close to her late at night or mumble in her sleep.

She thought of King Morpheus, and how he would sit and read with her when she was little alongside Luna... and Celestia.

And then finally, her thoughts turned to that of Celestia... her dear, sweet Celestia. The pony who broke her heart. The mare that gave her life a purpose. That made her feel alive before it all went wrong on that long, terrible night. She flicked her eyes over to the alicorn again.

Her heart heaved with sorrow again, and the rage she felt subsided, replaced instead by a sudden burst of inspiration--that same desire to protect. Imago struck again, this time breaking through her shield. She collapsed, panting and gasping, feeling her head pound. One of her legs twisted the wrong way as she went down--but it didn’t hurt. She supposed that was due to the adrenaline pumping through her system.

Imago stared down at her, sneering and licking her lips in anticipation. “I have long waited for my revenge against you, O daughter mine,” she whispered. “All those countless years I languished in the pits of Tartarus, I envisioned this day. And to be frank, I find myself... disappointed.”

Chrysalis gasped in pain as Imago planted one hoof down on her, applying pressure. She hissed and bit and clawed at what she could, weakly snapping her jaw as the pressure on her chest grew, trying to ignore the taste of rotten flesh.

“Nonetheless, this is the end for you, Chrysalis. Goodbye, O daughter mine,” Imago taunted. “Perhaps in death you will only be half the disappointment you were in life.”

Again, the Knight gasped, her back legs kicking in the dirt and bile, using her front legs to try and pry Imago off of her. Her lips parted and a quiet whisper escaped her throat.

“Hmm? Some last words, perhaps?” the Pale Queen sneered, tilting her head. She tittered to herself and relented, removing her hoof. “Fine. If only to sate my own curiosity at what you might have to say. Speak.”

The Nightmare Knight took deep, gulping breaths of air, and held her throat. “I... may be... nothing,” she panted. “I may be, as you say... weak. Unfit to be queen. But at least... I am alive. You... you, dear mother...” She furrowed her brow and puffed out her chest as far as she could, glaring up at her mother towering over her. “You’re just... a thing. A heartless... wretched... thing.”

The Deadling Queen clacked her jaw and hesitated for a moment. Her face spasmed in anger, and a flush of rage crossed over her decaying features. “I have existed long before your time,” she sneered. “I dragged myself out of Tartarus, hold mastery over the forces of death itself. I am more than a mere... thing.”

Chrysalis chuckled dryly, relishing how quickly she had gotten under her mother’s vain skin. “No, mother... you’re just a thing. All you do is destroy. Take what belongs to others. You don’t create, you care about nothing other than yourself.”

Imago bared her rotten fangs and let her black tongue slither out towards her. “Are you dictating your obituary to me, girl?” she hissed. “Or is there a point to your useless last words?”

The Nightmare Knight spread her wings again and held her head up high, one final jab to get under her mother’s fetid skin. “My point... mother... is that you’re just a thing,” she repeated. “A creature of hate that will never know love. That will never know what it means to fight for more than survival. And for that... I pity you.”

Imago’s face contorted with rage. “You...” She grit her teeth and snorted, composing herself as her horn sprung to life. “You are going to die here, Chrysalis.”

A cold, deathly glow of magic surrounded Chrysalis and brought her close to Imago’s face.

Her eye narrowed and the side of her lip twitched. “I’m going to eat your soul, then I’m going to spit it out and use it to choke your world to death,” she whispered.

The sudden sound of skittering coming from the doorway nearby made them both turn their heads. Imago’s eye swivelled back to Chrysalis and she smirked triumphantly as a whole host of deadlings made their appearance, their pale, unseeing eyes gleaming in the light of the braziers around the chamber.

“An audience, for your last performance, Chrysalis. Do you see now, girl? I am inevitable. My legions will grow with every battle in the years to come. I. Am de-”

Fire, bright golden fire, suddenly lashed at her face, making her shriek and back away.

The Knight dropped to the ground as the magic holding her evaporated. She looked up at the tendril of fire weaving its way through the air, tracing her eyes along it to its caster.

Celestia stood, ragged, bloody, broken and bruised, but alive. Very, very much alive. Chrysalis’s heart soared with elated joy as her eyes tore across the princess’s face, as eerily calm and collected as it was. Imago howled and snapped her jaw, fixing the alicorn with a hate-filled stare.

“Worthless scum!” she bellowed, and jabbed a hoof at her minions. “Kill them, my children! Slaughter in your queen’s name! Bring me their bodies!”

The horde surged into the chamber, quickly forming a tidal wave of bodies, scrambling and clawing over one another to do as their queen commanded, their fangs dripping with venom. They shrieked and wailed, longing for the taste of love, flesh and blood.

“No,” the princess said calmly, turning her head to look at them. Her eyes flashed and the fire of her magic leapt over to them, spreading across and through them, cutting them down like a hot knife through butter.

Behind her, Cozy looked equal parts terrified and awestruck as she watched the scene unfurl.

The baleful shrieks of Imago’s horde turned into nothing more than a whispering echo as ash replaced their bones, and Celestia’s holy fire turned them into dust.

“Whoa...” Cozy breathed.

Imago already pale face paled even further. Her brow twitched and her pupils contracted. “You wretched-”

Holy fire exploded around her face again, cutting her off and making her howl in pain.

“It burns! It burns! Stop! Stop!”

Celestia’s focused and determined expression remained unchanging as her magic danced and lapped at the Pale Queen’s face and rotten carapace, setting her mangy mane on fire in the process.

Eventually she waved her horn again and stopped her attack, leaving Imago singed, smoking and gasping for air.

Chrysalis slowly pushed herself up, holding her hurt leg close to her chest as she limped towards Celestia and Cozy. She struggled and winced, in sore need of some rest and recuperation... and love.

“Celestia...” she breathed.

Celestia’s eyes flicked down to her. Her gaze was cold and alien, laced with the quiet fury only she could hold. “Imago,” she said calmly. “You claim to have killed my father. Is this true, or is it a trick? A lie?”

The Deadling Queen’s mouth quirked upwards. “Oh-ho-ho, princess... I would never lie about such a grandiose act.”

“How?”

Imago blinked, furrowing her brow ever so slightly. “How? My dear a good assassin would never-”

Fire exploded around her again, scorching her rotten flesh and filling the room with her stink. She wailed and cried in pain, until it stopped as quickly as it had started. Celestia’s eyes remained uncaring and ironically cold as her horn stopped glowing, and the flames faded away.

“Tell me how my father died,” she growled menacingly. “And I will ease your suffering.”

Imago snarled at her, clutching her hooves around herself for some semblance of comfort. She wasn’t supposed to feel pain. It wasn’t what was promised to her when she mastered life over death, and yet this fire... this purifying flame of hate seared her very soul. For the first time in her miserable, wretched life, or unlife for that matter, she felt a twinge of fear. But, refusing to let her emotions betray her, she allowed a smile to slowly creep across her lips.

“As you wish... your grace. Lend me your eyes and your ears, for I bring visions and words of loving enlightenment!”

The Pale Queen closed her eyes and breathed deeply. The green fires of a changeling sprung up around her as she changed her form, growing smaller--more mare-like. Until finally the fires died, and a beautiful mare stood in her place, with a shining golden coat, golden mane...

And rainbow coloured irises.

Chrysalis shivered and gawked, regarding the new mare with troubled eyes. “You didn’t...” she breathed in disappointment and disgust.

“Oh but I did, O daughter mine,” Imago cackled, running a hoof through her long mane. She took a few steps forwards, letting her hooves fall heavy and deliberate, a juxtaposition to her elegant and sleek form.

Celestia’s eyebrows skyrocketed and her pupils contracted into pinpricks. Her lips parted in a slight gasp of shocked recognition.

Cozy gulped, hesitantly and tentatively peering around her. “Wh-Who is that?” she mumbled. “Celly? Chryssy?”

“Who indeed, child,” the deadling chortled gleefully. Her words sounded like honey given a voice: infinitely sweet--an absolute treasure to hear. And yet it seemed so very, very wrong. “What’s the matter, Celestia? Have you no words for your dearest mother?”

Queen Iris flicked her mane out of her beautiful eyes and bowed low, sweeping one leg in front of the other like an actor on a stage.

She was a mockery, a cruel and jeering joke of Celestia’s mother. And the princess knew it. Her mane started to coil and furl around her with a mind of its own, flickering like the fires she had brought down upon the deadling just moments ago in her growing rage. She set her jaw and tried to compose herself, only for Imago to start laughing.

Imago held a hoof to her mouth and apologised. “Oh--Oh, I’m sorry, princess, but you should see your face! For you see, your father, the venerated King Morpheus, had that same look as I plunged that knife through his chest. The utter shock, the dumb confusion! I tasted every delectable emotion he felt when he thought I was her--the illustrious Queen Iris returned from the dead to reunite with him.” She lowered her hoof and inspected it, watching how it shimmered with a golden sheen with an ugly, sinful grin on her otherwise perfect face. “I suppose that, in a way... she has. Now hasn’t she?”

“Enough.”

Celestia’s voice was eerily calm. So much so that it gave Imago hesitance. Her ear flicked and she traced her eye over the alicorn’s face with a curious, mildly annoyed expression, bitter that she had garnered such a little reaction.

Cozy shivered and sensed something terrible on the horizon. The filly shrank backwards. Chrysalis noticed her and swallowed, inching forwards to be by her while Celestia flexed her fire-kissed wings.

“You are bold, Imago, to confess to such a crime...” the princess said, speaking through gritted teeth. Her eyes blazed to life with righteous fire. “And bolder still to boast.”

Chrysalis raised her hoof to her eyes and winced, as did Cozy. The Knights shared a quick glance before looking back at the alicorn. Her mane continued to furl around her until it burst into a flame of its own. The changeling started on the spot, but stopped and stared, unable to do anything more than watch.

Two glowing pools of amber glowered with the purest hate at Imago.

“I thought you were intelligent,” Celestia snarled. “I see now that Chrysalis is right. You are indeed a thing. I would treat ants with more respect than I would for one so boastful... and idiotic.”

Imago’s rainbow coloured eyes flashed and her lips twitched downwards.

“Keep speaking,” Celestia spat. “Every word you say, every action you have taken as an affront to my family and my friends will be kindling for your funeral fire.” She pulled her head back and held it high. “So I shall indeed ease your suffering, Queen Imago. By ridding the world of your filth.”

Imago narrowed her eyes and transformed back into hr usual, rotting self. “And who are you, Celestia, to make such bold claims? I know you ponies. You don’t kill your enemies. That is why you are weak-”

Her sneering, contemptuous words turned into a violent, vicious scream of agony as fire erupted around her once more.

“I am a pony no longer,” Celestia growled, her voice brimming with authority, dripping with anger. “I am vengeance. I am the Morning and Evening Star. I am the rage, fire and fury of the sun itself. I am Daybreaker.”

She reared up on her back legs. Imago stared at her and for the second time in her life, she felt fear. True, unadulterated fear coursed through her as the alicorn’s eyes burned and blazed with holy fire.

“And I order you, Imago,” Celestia roared, the fires of her mane and tail swishing and swirling around her as her fury grew. “In the names of my father and my mother, I order. You. To. Burrrrrn!”

With a flash of orange light, fire engulfed the Pale Queen. Imago screamed and fell to the ground, writhing around in a useless attempt to extinguish them. Then a quick as they had appeared, the fires evaporated, leaving her a smouldering, smoking body that heaved with pain.

“Curse you!” she rasped, glowering at the alicorn. “Curse you and all pon-”

Chrysalis winced at the heat washing over her, radiating outwards from her mother as Celestia called down another round of holy fire. The stink of singed, dying flesh filled her nostrils, making her retch. Cozy also retched, and pinched her nose as best she could.

Celestia strode forwards, clearing the cloud of smoke with one wave of her hoof. “Look at me, Imago,” she growled when the deadling lowered her head and cast her eyes downwards. “I want you to look into my eyes as you die.”

Imago swallowed her pride and lifted her head up. Her filth-ridden wings were starting to burn away like her legions had. In the end, all her power amounted to little in the face of such disastrous rage. In a last desperate bid to survive, she turned to drastic measures.

“Please...” she wheezed, startling Chrysalis somewhat. “Have.... have mercy.”

“Mercy?!” the princess roared, rearing up to bring on another attack. “Did you show my father mercy, monster?! Did you show the honour of my mother mercy when you impersonated her?!”

Chrysalis looked up at her face, and for a moment she saw not Celestia, not the pony she knew and loved, but a demon. A fiery demon born of rage and an all-consuming hate.

And scarier still... she saw herself.

“Celestia...” she whispered, slowly pushing herself up.

Celestia waved her horn this way and that, weaving a great firestorm around the Pale Queen. Flames lit up the entire cavern, burning paths this way and that across the bile until it reached the walls, where it then caught fire and the cocoons holding the captured changelings began to wither.

Those inside stirred, slowly starting to wake up.

Imago fell to the ground, writhing and wailing in pain. “Stop!” she begged. “Stop it! It hurts!”

The alicorn raised her hoof and dusted off her chest, looking down her nose with eyes like fine slits. “Good.”

The Deadling Queen snarled and twisted her face. “Filth! Wretched pony! Don’t underestimate meeeeeaaaaaaghhhh!”

She thrashed and banged her head on the ground in an attempt to stay the pain as fire consumed her body. Celestia’s snarl grew and her mouth started to curve upwards. It was then that Chrysalis realised she was enjoying this, and saw she had to put a stop to it.

“Celestia, stop,” Chrysalis snapped, rising up to her full height, holding her injured leg close to her chest. “This is wrong. She’s beaten.”

Celestia glared at her and deactivated her horn, the fires making up her tail coiling and twisting through the air. “After all she’s done, Chrysalis, you would deny me this?” she hissed. “You would deny us vengeance?”

“No! By all the stars above, no,” the Knight grunted, spreading her shimmering wings. The love she stored within herself had sealed up most of her wounds, yet blood and muck still marred her body. Her mane clung to her with sweat and bile, leaving her scalp feeling like it was crawling with dirt.

“Not a day has gone by in the past thousand years when I haven’t thought about all of the vile acts she’s committed. But this...” She looked down at the pitiable form of her mother, a withered and charred husk of a being. A spasm of anger and her own hatred flashed across her face, then she looked back at Celestia and her gaze softened. Her eyes shimmered.

“This isn’t you.”

“And what would you suggest, Chryssy?” the alicorn snapped, raising her head up high. “Lock her away for another thousand years in Tartarus? Where she may regain her strength and try again one day? I can end this, I can end her miserable, wretched existence, right here and now. The only thing stopping me is you. So step aside.”

Chrysalis shook her head defiantly. “You are not a killer, Celestia. You’ve never been a killer. Don’t let this fire consume you.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” the princess snarled. “Whatever trials and tribulations may follow this night, let them come. For I am stronger than I have ever been.”

“No... you aren’t.”

The fire in Celestia’s eyes flickered. The ragged, hoarse breathing of Imago gave way to laughter as she turned her blistered face towards them. “Touching...” she wheezed.

“Celestia,” Chrysalis said, ignoring her and stepping forwards. She reached down and took the alicorn’s hoof in hers and held her, firmly but gently. “Please. I don’t want to lose you again. Let go of your hate. Don’t become... me.”

The princess swallowed and shivered. She turned her head to one side and closed her eyes. The fires of her mane started to die down, and was soon replaced by solid pink. When she opened hr eyes they had also returned to normal, and she brushed a hoof through it absentmindedly. She inhaled a deep, shaking breath. “You always did know how what to say to calm me, didn’t you?” she murmured quietly.

The changeling stepped forwards again, still holding her hoof. She raised it up to her lips and kissed it, just barely pressing her lips into it, then closed her eyes and leaned forwards further, pressing their necks tightly together in a sweet and tender embrace.

“I’m sorry,” Celestia whispered. “I didn’t...”

“Ahh... love...” came the rasping hiss of Imago again. She pushed herself up on rotten, ragged legs. “Such a sweet... scent. But... alas, I believe... my time is finished here.”

“You are correct, mother,” Chrysalis said, pulling away from Celestia to face her. “Your time is indeed finished.”

Her body was fading, disintegrating away like ashes in the wind. The Knight realised she was dying, for good, and watched as she crumbled. Her horn began to glow, ready to open a portal to Tartarus, to cast this fading form back into the abyss and hope that in a thousand years she would be there, ready and waiting to-

A slow sound came from nearby, past the rubble and debris, breaking her concentration and putting an end to her inner monologue.

A dry chuckle--a taunting, teasing laughter.

“How truly... truly wonderful, darlings,” a familiar voice said as an equally as familiar, three legged changeling broke the top of the rubble, looking down at them all in utter amusement.

Chrysalis froze, staring up at her aunt. Her name teetered on the edge of her tongue as it turned heavy and dry like sandpaper.

“Pupa?”

Pupa flashed her a smile and flicked some of her mane out of her eyes. “Surprised, Chrysalis?”

Imago’s bloated, dying body pulsed and quivered as she started to laugh before tapering off into a hacking, wheezing cough. “Took... your time... sister,” she wheezed.

“Oh I was too busy enjoying watching this wonderful display, Imago,” Pupa tittered, hopping down to stand by her sister. “But fret not. I would have intervened should you have truly needed it.”

The Witch Queen’s grin spread up to her eyes as she flashed a smile at the Nightmare Knights and the princess.

“How?” Chrysalis croaked. “You-”

Pupa tapped the side of her nose and winked. “Now that’s my secret, isn’t it?” she said, mimicking her words from earlier. “Alas, Imago is right. Our time is finished here, yet I must thank you for that amazing performance, Celestia,” she added, bowing her head to the alicorn. “For it has been most enlightening. Imagine: the great Celestia, holding the power of the sun in the frog of her hoof. The possibilities such power might entail...”

Celestia paled and shivered, averting her eyes in shame.

The three legged changeling rested her hoof upon Imago’s forehead, petting and stroking her like a dog and much to the annoyance of her sister, however weak she may have been.

“Until our next family gathering, Chrysalis. Ta ta.”

Her horn sprung to life with a deep violet glow, casting a bright light around the room. With a bright flash and the crackle and pop of magic, they disappeared, leaving only dirt and dust in their wake.

Chrysalis sank to her knees, staring at where her mother and her aunt had just stood mere moments ago in a shocked, stunned silence. Cozy tentatively stepped forwards, first looking up at Celestia, and then at her teammate. Hesitantly and quietly, her mind burning with one question, she asked it:

“What happens now?”

Celestia placed a wing gently on her back, feeling heavy like a great weight pressed down on her shoulders and tightened her chest. Her mouth opened and closed for a few moments, until she decided that she had no words to say, and simply lowered her head.

Chrysalis remained perfectly still where she sat. Besides the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest, she did nothing--simply sitting motionless in the ancient crypt of her forebears.

And then a crack, followed by a series of others just like it, echoed around the otherwise silent chamber.

“H-Hey.” Cozy said, looking around at the source of it. “Hey, guys... look.”

The changelings started to wake up, freed of their slumber induced by Imago and her magic. Their cocoons, their prisons, began to break and come away, and they themselves started to emerge like new-born chicks. Many of their hivemates, however, remained still, unmoving in their pods. Celestia surmised hat whatever Imago was doing to them draining them of their life to fuel her army, had cost them their lives, and she silently offered her deepest condolences for them.

A few of the more alert ones started to help their friends and neighbours by pulling away the sticky bile surrounding them.

They quickly started to murmur amongst themselves, holding on to one another for comfort and mourn for their lost ones.

“Where are we?”

“Those... things that attacked us... what were they?”

“Are they gone?”

“Augh, that smell!”

“The nightmares... they’re over...”

A sharp gasp rose up out of them as several pairs of eyes found the trio, and then widened in awe, fear and wonder.

“Chrysalis? It’s Chrysalis!”

“What’s she doing here?”

“Is that Princess Celestia, too?”

“Princess Celestia? Hey, the princess is here! She’ll save us!”

Celestia swallowed and tried not to show her discomfort as they flocked to her, bombarding her with praise and questions, begging her to explain to them what happened and if they were safe. Cozy meanwhile trotted over to Chrysalis, saying nothing and simply sitting with her.

“Please, everyone, I need you all to relax. We are going to get you all out of here,” Celestia said.

“How? What if those things come back?” one asked her, quickly inciting a small panic amongst them.

The princess inhaled sharply and shook her head. “They won’t. The immediate danger has passed, but we still need to get you all somewhere safe.”

“Everyone,” said a shaking voice from behind them all, making them turn. The changelings gasped with relief as Thorax stood up on wobbly legs, supported by a few others and his brother. Pharynx kept his eyes fixed firmly on Chrysalis, watching her warily despite her despondent nature.

“What’s she doing here?” he grunted.

“I asked her to come,” Thorax replied, leaning on him for support as they hobbled over to the princess. “Hello, Celestia. Or, um... Princess Celestia.” He bowed low and rustled his wings. “I didn’t think... I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Chrysalis asked for my help,” Celestia said bluntly. The crowd gasped and shrank away from her, daring to look at their old tyrant. “She... it was she who saved you, Thorax. Not me.” She looked over to the queen, still sitting with her head hung low. She bit her lip, trying to dislodge the lump in her throat. “Chrysalis saved us all, in the end...”

“That has to be a trick,” Pharynx growled. “She wouldn’t just help us for the sake of it...”

“Celestia,” Thorax said, shooting his brother a disapproving look. “What happened to Queen Imago? Is she...”

Celestia’s grim face said it all. He bowed his head and nodded.

“Okay...”

His eyes bounced over to the dark changeling, and he started to move towards her. Pharynx grasped his leg firmly. “What are you doing?” he hissed. “She’s dangerous. She-”

The king interrupted him by giving him a reassuring pat and a smile. “Trust me, Pharynx,” he said calmly.

After a moment of hesitation and uncertainty flickered across his face, Pharynx reluctantly let go and took a step back, watching as Thorax walked over to Chrysalis, circling around and coming to a stop in front of her.

The crowd of changelings also watched and held their breaths. Celestia did too, and Cozy offered the briefest of smiles up at the king as he smiled back at her, then focused himself on the crestfallen queen.

“Chrysalis?” he murmured.

Chrysalis flinched and lifted her head, glaring at him from behind a part in her mane. “What?” she growled. Her voice was flat and emotionless, like all the love, joy hope and fear had been drained right out of her.

The changelings all squeaked in fear and shrank backwards as one like a flock of startled cats, except for Pharynx. The proud warrior bug started forwards to come to his brother’s aid, stopped only by Celestia’s outstretched hoof.

Cozy gently rested her hoof against her teammate’s leg, gazing up at her

“Thank you,” Thorax said. “I’m... I don’t know what to say. Thank you, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis’s nose twitched. She glared at him and raised her head up further, letting more of her face be revealed as she brushed her mane away. “What for?” she muttered. “We didn’t win. If anything, we lost, Imago... is still out there. Our coming here was nothing more than a waste of time.”

“Even so, you saved us,” the king said, resting his hoof over hers. “You saved us. That means something. Look at them.”

She did, and glared at the changelings quivering in her presence. Her eyes met Celestia’s, lingering for a moment before she looked away and grunted in annoyance.

“So... thank you.”

He shifted and bowed his head in respect and gratitude, going into a kneel before her.

For a moment nobody moved. Celestia’s eyes sparkled as she saw the significance of such a gesture, even if Chrysalis herself seemed nonplussed by it. There was a cough from the changelings, and Pharynx jerked his head towards his fellows, going into a bow himself.

“Whoa...” Cozy murmured as all the changelings, somewhere by her reckoning in the region of eighty to a hundred, all started to bow before who was once their tyrannical overlord.

Chrysalis’s face was unreadable as she gazed out at them.

’I may not be their queen.... But I am their Knight.’

After a few minutes of silent contemplation, her shoulders sagged and she stood up, brushing some dust off of her chest. “The structural integrity of the Hive is unstable,” she grunted, waving her hoof towards the entrance to the crypt. “We should make our exit before it comes crashing down on our heads.” She took a deep breath and rustled her wings, hiding how they shimmered from her former subjects.

“I will lead the way, as there may still be some deadling stragglers lining the tunnels.”

A worried series of murmurings rose up out of the crowd, with each one turning to the one beside them in fright. It was that reason that Chrysalis chose to omit the part about Celestia washing a majority of Imago’s forces away with holy fires of retribution, sensing it wouldn’t be prudent of her to lump the princess in with the most dangerous things she had seen that night.

Thorax deflated at how cold she sounded, thinking she simply didn’t care for his words, before he perked right back up and cleared his throat. “Right. Okay everybody, grab your emergency buddy and get ready to leave.”

“Emergency buddy...” Chrysalis muttered under her breath in disgust, drawing a quiet giggle from Cozy as both Knights moved towards the exit.

“What about the others?” came a quiet voice from the back.

The room fell silent.

Chrysalis stopped and turned around. Tarsus was the speaker: a well bred warrior bug, once a deep dark grey, now as bright as pink as Celestia’s mane was. Her eyes glistened and sparkled in the low light of their surroundings as she addressed the queen.

“We can’t leave them.”

Her voice was strong and steady. She always was a fighter.

Chrysalis looked over her at the wall, at the dozens of pods still full. Her heartbeat quickened.

Celestia, Thorax and Pharynx shared a quick, uncomfortable glance as the king cleared his throat “I’m-” he began.

“They are dead,” Chrysalis interrupted.

The changelings--Tarsus, Mandible, Dave and the others fell quiet. A soft weeping rose up from near the back.

Chrysalis bristled and flexed her shoulders. “They fell defending their Hive, defending you: their friends and families. The best thing you can all do is remember and honour them, the way we used to honour our fallen.”

Thorax breathed slowly outwards and nodded, looking around. “Th-This place is a crypt, right? One of the ancient changeling burial grounds?”

“It is,” Chrysalis answered, frankly surprised that he knew what the significance of this place was. She did remember he was far more studious than many of his peers in his youth, though... perhaps he had taken his duties as king more seriously than she suspected. “Their bodies will be returned to the earth here. Say what goodbyes you will, but make it short.”

***

Chrysalis paced back and forth, wearing a path in what remained of Imago’s bile coating the ground, deep in thought.

While they waited for the changelings to organise, her mind had begun to wander. In the span of a few hours, she had gone from thinking her mother dead and gone, to not only finding out that she was alive, but her aunt Pupa was as well, and that they had apparently set aside their differences to work together for some unknowable, insidious purpose. And now, she was to lead her former subjects, a group of miscreants and turncoats, to safety. And for what? For a measly, petty thanks she never wanted? For Celestia?

In her pacing she glanced at the alicorn standing tall amongst the crowd, occupying herself by talking to and reassuring them all they were going to be okay. Their eyes met, only briefly, both sets laden with guilt, and shame, before Celestia looked away to a young nymph.

Chrysalis sighed and let her shoulders sag.

“I know, right?” Cozy said, standing to one side and appearing to sense how she felt. “Y’ever feel like we’re just living in a sitcom?” She made an attempt to laugh and awkwardly sighed at how her teammate remained, silently pacing. “Tempy’s gonna wanna hear about everything. Are we gonna tell her about your, uh... Pupa?”

The queen scowled for a fraction of a second and stiffened her neck. She stopped pacing. “Yes, Cozy. We are,” she growled, adding with a snort: “And I suppose Starlight Glimmer will want to know how your ‘mission’ went as well?”

Cozy rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “Yeeeah, about that... um... I sorta... made her send me here.”

Chrysalis glared at her little teammate. “You what?”

“Don’t be mad, but Starlight didn’t send me like I said. Or... well, she did, but I only made her think it was her idea,” the filly blurted out. “It was Tirek’s idea, really, he suggested I try and follow you, ‘cause I’m small and not seen easily, b-but...” She wilted like a dying flower under the fierce glare of the queen. “Look, I just wanted to keep you company, a-and to make sure you’re okay.”

“Cozyyy...”

A flash of indignancy crossed Cozy’s face and she puffed her chest out. “Besides, you’re the closest thing I have to a mom, if you died, then...” Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed a bright red, her burst of sudden bravado vaporising in an instant.

Likewise, Chrysalis growing anger evaporated. She blinked.

The young Knight’s cheeks remained a steady crimson as she cast her eyes down. “You didn’t hear that.”

“Hear what?”

The queen reached down and laid a hoof on the girl’s head. She pushed out the inside of her cheek with her tongue and sighed. “Regardless of how reckless or stupid you were in following me, Cozy,” she said quietly. “I am... glad you did. And for what it’s worth... I...”

Cozy slowly looked up at her. Their eyes met and her lower lip trembled.

A short and polite cough from nearby made them both look around, and see Thorax approaching them. “We’re ready to go, Chrysalis,” he said softly. “Shall we?”

Chrysalis glared at him and twitched her eyes. “Very well,” she sighed, removing her hoof of Cozy’s head. “Tell your... changelings to follow me, then. And try to keep up. I don’t want to spend time here any longer than necessary.”

Celestia didn’t join the Knights as they started the long march to the surface, instead staying beside the young nymph she had been speaking with, whose parents were apparently amongst those that had fallen. Chrysalis was neither glad nor sad about the princess’s sudden cold shouldering, for she herself felt like she needed some space. Echoes of what had happened rang out in her mind. Seeing Celestia’s face twist into that of a demon. Seeing Pupa stand by her mother and them both escape.

She felt sick, and felt that little could help to ease her discomfort.

The journey through the tunnels was not as quiet as it was before, being accompanied by a few of the changelings talking to each other, some still softly weeping. Chrysalis felt nothing but a cold emptiness inside of her for them, even as something brush against her leg. She looked and saw Cozy’s head start to droop, veering herself off course and into the queen’s path.

The cold emptiness started to fill itself with something as Chrysalis quietly ignited her horn and levitated the filly onto her back, nestling her in between her wings.

She decided that when they got home and as soon as she was able, she was going to put herself to bed as well. It had been a long night.

And she suspected they would all have longer nights yet to come...

***

Some time later. . .

“And that’s the long and short of it.”

Chrysalis rested the blanket over the now sleeping Cozy, the young Knight haven fallen asleep long ago. Her words hung heavy in the air, bringing with them a sense of dread, like dark and unruly thunderclouds gathering in the distance.

The eyes of Tempest Shadow and Tirek flicked towards one another before the latter focused back on Chrysalis. “So your... aunt is working with your mother now?” the commander said slowly.

“Yes,” Chrysalis grunted, her mouth curving downwards. “The miserable cur. As to where they have both gone to, I... cannot say.” She sighed and rustled her wings, starting to pace back and forth. “But, what I do now of them, is that they could be anywhere, have anyone in their pockets--including Twilight for all her bluster. Pupa is the Witch Queen for a reason, Commander,” she persisted. “She was named after an ancient changeling god of trickery.”

“Isn’t that a touch redundant?” Tirek snorted.

The queen glared at him, not breaking her stride. “And Imago...” she continued, gritting her teeth, “Imago is ruthless. She will not stop until she has what she wants.”

“And she wants... you, right?” Tempest finished for her, regarding her with cautious, worried eyes.

“Indeed.”

The dark mare scratched her chin, the sound of her hoof touching her coarse coat the only sound as the first few rays of dawn broke through the nearby window. “So what do we do?” she asked finally. “Go looking for her?”

Chrysalis shook her head, slowing her pace to a halt. “And where would we start? Every graveyard in Equestria? A mass hunt for any and all burial sites no matter how grand or small?”

Tempest twitched the edges of her eyes at her.

“Are you suggesting, then, that we simply wait?” Tirek asked. “That we do nothing?”

“No you dull creature, but rather we keep doing what we are doing. We flit off to every and all corner of Equestria we can, defending its people wherever we are needed.”

“How noble,” the centaur grunted dismissively.

Tempest watched Chrysalis carefully. She sounded different. More sure of herself as a Nightmare Knight, more serious in her duties. A proud smile threatened to tug at the corners of her mouth. “What about Celestia?” she said. “Where is she? I thought she’d want to come back with you. Is she okay?”

Chrysalis flinched, having deliberately left out the part about Daybreaker once more. “Celestia has gone to Princess Twilight, with Thorax, to seek help in rebuilding their Hive, to... fix it.”

The commander murmured to herself and bobbed her head up and down. “Makes sense. How are you doing, Chrysalis?”

“Me?”

The queen inspected her hoof, now without any holes or patches.

“I am tired, Commander.”

“Go and get some rest,” Tempest told her. “Tirek and I can handle the next job if you want--something going on in Ponyville. Shouldn’t take too long, right, T?”

Tirek nodded along with her. “Yes, rather mundane in comparison.”

Chrysalis fluttered her wings gently. “A few hours is all I need.”

“Take whatever you want. The dead aren’t going anywhere.”

The Knights reminded her of a hive, Chrysalis thought. A family. More of a family than her own flesh and blood. She inclined her head towards the dark mare and stepped to one side to let them pass. Tirek gently brushed his fingers against Cozy’s mane, looking down at her thoughtfully, then glanced up at Chrysalis.

They shared a knowing, mutual agreement sort of look.

Tempest noticed it, too, and smiled to herself as she reached the door. “Come on, Tirek. Let’s go.”

In Hushed Whispers

The skies over Equestria were bright blue and full of sunshine on this particular day. A gentle breeze, one cool enough to make the heat bearable drifted over the quiet town of Ponyville and the wild trees of the Everfree Forest, rustling leaves and grass alike.

In a rare turn of events, business had been surprisingly slow for Equestria’s only ghost hunting organisation today.

And for some, more than others, the boredom was starting to set in.

Tempest Shadow’s eyelids fluttered as she struggled to stay awake, propping one side of her face up with her hoof. Accompanying the Nightmare Knights in their long and dull reprieve was the sounds of static as Jack, the group’s loyal and sometimes hard-working secretary, fruitlessly flicked between channels trying to find something to watch, and the occasional tink as either Chrysalis or Tirek moved their respective chess pieces back and forth.

Cozy, sunken deep into her bean bag chair, shifted and flipped some of her curly mane out of her eyes, sucking on the straw of a juice box and greedily eyeing the muffin the size of her hoof resting on the nearby table.

“Geez, it’s nice things have been quiet today,” she said, breaking the relative silence as she reached out for it. “Right, guys?”

The sudden sound of her voice made Tempest jerk herself awake. She yawned, stretched her legs out and reached out for a glass of water, and blearily muttered a response. “Eeyup.”

“Mhm,” grunted Chrysalis in agreement, holding a hoof to her chin as she planned her next move.

The filly of the group leaned forwards and fluttered her wings. “I mean, we all deserve a break sometimes, right?” When she got nothing from them she looked over at who she hoped would answer her properly. “Right? Tirek? What about you, Jack?”

“Mhm,” grinned the centaur as he leaned back in his seat with a smug look on his face.

“Eeyup,” said Jack, sitting comfortably on her own chair, also propping her face up with one hoof.

Cozy looked between them, and then at Chrysalis and finally Tempest with an exasperated look. She shrugged and chose to just lie down on her back to pick it apart and eat her prize.

“C’mon, Jack, can’t you just pick something?” she moaned after a moment as the red-headed mare kept flicking through channel after channel. “I’m getting old here.”

“You were just sayin’ it’s nice ta have a break weren’t you?” Jack replied with a sigh. “An’ besides, you guys are usually out by now anyway, so I don’t bother with the TV to begin with.”

Cozy pulled a face and popped another bit of muffin into her mouth. “Wait really? What do you all day when we’re out?”

“I read. A lot’a ponies back home used ta say I’m too intellectual,” Jack said smugly, watching out the corner of her eye at the not-so-subtle way Tirek glanced at her. “But I think it’s a fascinatin’ way ta pass your time. I also play racquetball.”

The filly hesitated a moment, then nodded to herself and focused back on her muffin. “Huh. Fair enough.”

“Aha!” Chrysalis finally made her next move and placed her pawn by Tirek’s bishop. “Beat that, you half-breed troglodyte!”

Tirek, without a word, swiftly moved his queen and picked up her pawn, then leaned back with another smug look. “And that’s checkmate, your majesty. What’s that, four to me? None to you?”

The changeling’s eyes grew smaller. She snorted in disgust and huffily folded her legs. “Ridiculous game. The only winning move is not to play.”

“Be that as it may, shall I reset the board so her majesty may try again?” the centaur mockingly asked her, a wide grin plastered across his face.

Chrysalis’s brow furrowed and she uncrossed her legs to lean forwards. “Fine,” she spat. “Go ahead, if only so that I have another chance to destroy you.”

“Fifth time is the charm as they say.”

Tempest started to smile as she watched them, and then as Jack changed the channel once more over to the Equestrian News Network they all got a glimpse of a moustachioed stallion smiling at the camera, accompanied by an elegant, slender unicorn mare at his side. Though the image was grainy and black and white, the couple certainly had a sense of airs and nobility about them.

“Hubba hubba,” Jack said, gazing at the stallion with hearts in her eyes. “Who’s the hunk with the facial hair?”

Tirek’s ears pricked up at that, and he paused in resetting the board to glance at the television, his expression quickly changing to disgust when he saw the aforementioned facial hair, and a hand subconsciously went up to his beard.

”...with a pleasant surprise today from the Canterlot Noble Society press conference,” the announcement voiceover said in a light-hearted tone as Jack turned the volume up, ”when Fancy Pants, one of Canterlot’s most prestigious and prominent figureheads, announced his engagement to long-time girlfriend and famed actress, Fleur de Lis. A source close to the groom-to-be, the one and only Prince Blueblood, had this to say on the matter.”

The heckles on the back of Tempest’s neck stood up on end. Across her face she could feel the rush of heat as a blush threatened to make itself known to the world. Staying stock still she managed to compose herself before it did, and flicked her eyes across each of her team’s faces.

The Knights, thankfully, appeared oblivious to her sudden change in demeanour, and either watched or listened while the reporter read out Prince Blueblood’s message.

”Ahem. ‘I am not one for speeches. But I will say this: I consider myself among a blessed few to know a couple that exudes such a beauty and grace such as they do. I wish them a long and happy life together, and I only hope that we should all be as lucky as they, someday.’ End quote. A wonderful sentiment from Prince Blueblood, are we sure that’s the same guy? Huh.”

Tempest’s mouth suddenly felt very dry, and she reached out for a drink of water.

“Prince Blueblood?” Cozy mused, watching the screen curiously as the camera panned over a large gathered crowd of ponies celebrating the couple. “I didn’t know we had any princes.”

“You’re forgetting Shining Armour,” Chrysalis pointed out, moving her first pawn, and looking down at it fondly. “He is most certainly a prince. I would know.”

“He’s the prince-regent of the Crystal Empire,” Tirek countered, moving his own. “Not of Equestria. Doesn’t count.”

The changeling rolled her eyes and moved her knight out. “Yes, yes, fine, you have a point Mr. ‘I-must-always-be-correct’ you can’t let anything go can you?”

Only Jack appeared to notice the commander’s sudden discomfort, and gave her a frown. “Hey, boss? Y’okay? Ya look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She chortled at her own joke, despite it going unnoticed by the other Knights. When Tempest still made no movement, she repeated herself.

“Boss?”

The commander finally regained some motion and tipped her drink a little bit too far back, and started to cough and sputter as some went up her nose. She quickly set her drink down and grabbed a cushion to dry her face on. “I’m fine,” she grunted. “I’m fine.”

“You sure? You know this Blueblood guy, or somethin’-”

“No. He’s just another Canterlot bigshot,” she said hurriedly. “Thinks he owns the place, which he probably does ‘cause he’s a prince.” She suddenly jumped up, her cheeks swiftly turning a darker shade. “Hey, is that the phone?” she said, starting off towards the door and the sound of absolute silence. “I’ll go get it. It’s about time the ghosts woke up.”

Tirek, Cozy, Chrysalis and Jack all raised their eyebrows at the back of her head as she shuffled away, taking long drawn out steps and hoping and praying that the phone did indeed ring and give her reason to leave.

It didn’t.

“Commander...” Tirek said slowly. “Am I correct in sensing that this... ‘Canterlot bigshot’ and yourself have a ‘history’, perhaps?”

Tempest stopped mid-step and closed her eyes. A low and pained groan escaped her as she slowly turned to face them. When she opened her eyes she grit her teeth and fixed them each a stern and fierce glare in response.

“Just a thought. Perhaps not,” he replied, quickly turning back around.

The filly amongst them tapped her chin and thought for a moment, looking back at the screen. “Blueblood... Bluebl... y’know there’s somethin’ familiar about that name,” she said before suddenly clapping her hooves together. “Ohh! Yeah, I’m pretty sure Bright has a poster of him in her room and has, like, the biggest crush on him.” She twisted her face in disgust for a moment. “Yeugh. How do you know him, Tempy? Don’t tell me you-”

“We dated,” Tempest grumbled, idly picking at a scrape in the floor. “It’s not a big deal. Okay?”

Cozy and Jack both gaped and let their jaws swing wide open. “Hu-buh-wha?” the former stammered. “No big deal? You dated a prince, Tempy--how is that no big deal?!”

The dark mare let out a muffled grunt. “It was a... choice,” she muttered. “And it’s not like we ended on the best of terms, either.”

“I would certainly say it was a choice,” Chrysalis quietly chuckled into her hoof, drawing the dark mare’s stink eye. She swallowed and sat up straight. “Wh-What I mean is, Commander,” she hurriedly added, “it’s that you don’t strike me as the type to go on ‘dates’, let alone with a stallion of such well bred stock.”

“I’m as pony as everyone else, aren’t I, insect?” the commander growled as she sulked back over to them, standing by the edge of the sofa. “Besides, I’ve gone on dates before. Why do you all care so much about this one and none of the others?”

Chrysalis blanched at first then held her gaze with a slight smirk. “Because I believe we are all wondering how many of those dates were with a member of the royal family.”

Jack laughed and playfully punched Tempest’s shoulder as a growl left the dark mare’s throat. She immediately winced and felt her hoof start to throb, as punching Tempest Shadow--even playfully--felt very similar to punching a moody, dangerous rock. “Aw come on, boss, it couldn’t be that bad. What happened? C’mon, sit.” She grabbed her hoof and guided her back into her seat, almost pushing the grumpy mare down before sitting down next to her. “Give us the deets.”

“Yeah, Tempy, you gotta tell us!” Cozy chimed in after collecting herself. She widened her eyes and pouted slightly, putting on a face. “Pwetty pwease?” she added in as much of a child like voice as she could manage.

After a few moments of quiet whimpering as she made her lip quiver and tremble, Tempest finally grunted in annoyance and flicked the filly’s nose before folding her hooves across her chest and sinking low in her chair. “Fine! Fine, I’ll tell you,” she grumbled as Cozy rubbed her nose and silently hoof pumped in success. “But never do that again.”

Tirek chuckled under his breath. “It would seem even you are not immune to that, Commander,” he said.

“Noted.”

The commander rolled her eyes, inhaled between her teeth and started her story.

“Okay, so... after the Storm King, I took a little vacation around Equestria. I did some sight seeing, helped out here and there with what I’d done, y’know--try and make amends. When I came back to Canterlot, I felt like I was ready to settle down and go steady; get a real job, that sort of thing. Twilight told me I should get myself accustomed to the idea of friendship again as well, so, I did. And I decided that ‘cause it had been a while, I should... date.”

She licked her dry lips, feeling very much on the spot as the Knights peered at her, hanging on her every word.

Chrysalis grinned and moved another of her pieces. “Your first idea of friendship is to court?” she commented. “That’s hardly in the Equestrian spirit is it?”

Cozy quickly waved her hoof at her. “Shush! I wanna hear this,” she hissed, inching forwards and straining her ears forwards to catch every detail. “Go on, Tempy.”

Tempest rolled her eyes and continued on. “Uh huh. Well that’s when I met... Prince Blueblood.”

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as they watched her, eager and hungry for information.

“Look, he wasn’t my first choice, but I was fed up and ready to call it quits,” she grunted. “A lot of stallions and mares had either ran away as soon as they saw me, or given me a wide berth from the get go. So when this... reasonably attractive and well groomed stallion showed an interest, I... let myself enjoy the attention.”

The corners of Chrysalis’s mouth twitched into a smile, while Tirek thought about his next move. Jack and Cozy seemed to be thoroughly invested with her story, and shifted where they sat to get a better look at her.

“Was he like a regular Prince Charming?” the secretary asked her.

“Did you kiss him?” Cozy whispered excitedly, pushing herself into commander’s face. “Didja get married? Have you actually been a princess this whole time, Tempy?” She paused and thought for a moment. “Ooh! Princess of Scary Lightning Blasts!”

Tempest scowled and pushed her away. “Don’t be silly,” she snapped. “We ended up going to a restaurant and had dinner together, where we hit it off.”

She grew quiet after that. Chrysalis suddenly detected a trace of something different in the air, the wisps of a fragrance she was all too familiar with--emanating from the dark and usually moody mare if only for a brief moment. Her eyebrow arched upwards and the sides of her eyes twitched. “Hmm.”

Tempest’s ear flicked when she heard her and felt a shiver run along her spine. She was ready to be done with this conversation, and she could feel the blood rush into her face again. “I’ll spare you the details, but-”

“Aww what?!”

The commander glared the filly into submission for her outburst and cleared her throat. “I’ll spare you the details,” she repeated through gritted teeth. “But when it comes down to it... yeah, fine, I ‘dated’ a prince.”

Jack nodded her head, impressed, and whistled. “You go, girl,” she laughed. “I never knew you had it it in you.”

“What’s that--ugh.” Tempest groaned and dragged a hoof down her face. “Why do I tell you people anything about myself? First my name, now this?”

Cozy grinned up at her. “Because you love us really. What’d you do next?” she giggled, her eyes sparkling with curious amazement.

“We spent... a few days together. A week at most, I think. Then it got... complicated, and I...” The commander’s steady tone faltered, and she looked at the filly from behind her hoof. She huffed and straightened up, glaring at her. “I left. I left and I didn’t look back. Until now. Apparently. You happy now?”

“It’s a start.”

The young Knight kept grinning and leaned back. “Imagine. Princess Tempest Shadow... What about Princess Fizzlepop Berrytwist, that’s got a nice ring to it doesn’t it?”

Tempest let out a low, dangerous growl and turned her ears back as she glared at the filly.

Cozy raised her hooves and eased off, although her eyes still held a mischievous glint to them. “Okay, okay.”

Despite looking at her chess pieces, those that remained anyway, Chrysalis found herself distracted by another whiff of that certain sweet fragrance again. She steepled her hooves together in a thoughtful position and inhaled through her nose, breathing it in. “Hmm,” she murmured quietly.

“What?” Tempest snapped, turning sharply towards her. “That’s twice you’ve done that, what is it?”

“Nothing at all. Simply musing to myself,” the changeling replied with a sly wink.

The dark mare’s face twisted. “Well keep it to yourself, then,” she grunted. “Like I said we didn’t end on the best of terms.”

“Heh, what’d you do? Leave him at the altar or something?” Cozy giggled.

Tempest clenched her teeth together hard enough she felt like they were about to shatter. “Watch it, Glow,” she snarled. “Or I won’t hesitate to give you detention at the Ponyville schoolhouse until you’re twenty one.”

Cozy blew a raspberry and waved her hoof dismissively. “Pthppbt. Yeah, sure,” she chortled. “Good one, Tempy.” She trailed off into an uncomfortable silence when Tempest’s stone-cold gaze washed over her. She looked between her other teammates and as they averted their eyes, she swallowed.

“You’re bluffing... you wouldn’t do that to me.”

“Try me.”

The filly stared for a moment, then quietly sat up straight and looked ahead, clearly fighting the urge to pester.

Satisfied, Tempest ran a hoof across the front of her uniform and smoothed it down. She hated talking about herself, even to the Nightmare Knights. Especially to the Nightmare Knights. The suggestive look Chrysalis had in her eye gave her an uneasy feeling, like she knew something more than she was letting on--which the cunning thing probably did.

“Ugh.” Tempest snorted under her breath, glaring at the television the news having shifted to something else unimportant. “Now is there something else on?” she said, hoping to steer the subject away from herself for today. “Or can we-”

She cut herself off as the phone started to ring downstairs, its shrill cry a welcome sound to her ears and a sign of reprieve from interrogation.

Jack, all the while grinning from ear to ear, hopped up. “Well thanks fer sharin’ that juicy goss, boss,” she said cheerfully. “That’ll keep me goin’ fer weeks.”

Tirek absentmindedly stood up as she made to leave. They both paused and looked at one another, then their cheeks both turned slightly red. or redder than usual in his case. The rest of them remained in silence as Tirek lowered himself back down.

Soon enough Jack’s muffled voice came drifting up from the stairs in an unusually upbeat tone, spouting off their latest slogan.

”Nightmare Knights, if you’re haunted we want it...”

There were a few moments of silence as none of the Knights said anything to one another. Then, finally, Cozy couldn’t take it anymore, and threw her head back in frustration.

“Okay I gotta know. What was it about him, Tempy? D’you still think about him? Was he rich?”

Tempest shot her a glare. “I’m not answering any of that. And you are so on detention now.”

Cozy puffed her cheeks out and opened her mouth, ready to argue her case. Tempest simply raised her eyebrows at the filly, and that was enough to keep her quiet. She even--albeit sulkily--made a motion of zipping her mouth shut.

Chrysalis scoffed behind her. “Yes, and besides, it’s not like wealth matters, Cozy. For I would suppose that monetary value holds little sway over what Tempest sees in companionship, even if said companion was rich.”

Tempest blinked, surprised. “Thank you?” she said, unsure if that was a compliment or not.

Tirek as well snorted and picked up another of Chrysalis’s chess pieces. “Of course it wouldn’t. The commander is a strong mare; only a pony as strong and as capable a warrior would be her equal.” He held up the capture knight to inspect it. “They needn’t be rich or even a prince for that.”

Again, the commander blinked, her brow rapidly furrowing as she turned her head in his direction. “What?”

“A warrior? Please,” Chrysalis tutted, looking down her nose at her opponent. “You are aware she is not some centaur brute, yes? Tempest would require somepony of refinement, of a certain delicacy, bearing cunning and dignity.”

Tempest didn’t know what she couldn’t believe more: the fact that A) she couldn’t believe that two of Equestria’s biggest offenders were so brazenly discussing options of a suitor of all things for her, and B) the fact was that she was actually agreeing with them.

A strong pony; a warrior or a fighter, but also one who was clever and dignified.

She felt her heartbeat quicken in her chest and swallowed as a pair of luminous green eyes flashed in her mind, framed by thin trails of purple smoke. The bridge of her nose turned pink and she had to quickly look away to save her dignity, trying urgently to repress any such feelings or thoughts.

“Can we not?” she asked them as Cozy started to grin mischievously.

“In short,” Chrysalis went on, ignoring her. “Any suitor of Tempest would need a mind whose aligns with hers.”

Tirek looked the queen in the eye and moved another of his pieces. “I suppose like yours does with Celestia?” he grinned. “Your move, your majesty.”

A spasm of anger flashed across the queen’s face. She puffed her cheeks out and picked up one of his captured pawns, pointing it at him accusingly. “Are you a warrior, Lord Tirek?” she chided. “Or are you like this pawn? Beaten down into submission and forced to live amongst your enemies; one of which fawns endlessly over you for no good reason?”

The centaur’s grin faded. “Miss Inkwell does not fawn over me, you wretched bug,” he growled. He moved his queen to capture her bishop.

“Oh? Then, then does she simply admire your muscles and your rippling pectorals?” Chrysalis sneered as she moved to capture his rook. “We all see how you show off for her. You are not as subtle as you may think you are, Lord Tirek.”

Tirek’s face darkened to another shade of red. He hesitated for a moment, then moved his queen again and slapped the table. “Checkmate. Five to me, your highness.”

Cozy sipped on her juice and watched as Chrysalis looked down and stared at the board. Then she scowled and jumped up. “You cheated!” she declared, pointing her hoof at Tirek accusingly.

“I did not and I am offended you would think I would do so.”

“Liar! You goaded me on--distracted me! Deception! That’s cheating!”

“One: isn’t deception a changeling’s bread and butter? And two: I won because I am superior to you in almost every way. But don’t worry.” Tirek reached out to her and patted her on the head about as condescending as he could manage. “I am sure you will win the next one, your majesty.”

Chrysalis pulled back away from him before snapping her jaw forwards, hoping to bite one of his fingers off. She retreated back onto her seat and sank down into it, thoroughly in a huff. “Cheater.”

Cozy looked between them first, and then at the chess board. She put down her juice and fluttered her wings, drifting over to it. She picked up a rook to turn over and pass back and forth between her hooves. She looked at it, and then at Tempest, and winked as if to say ‘watch this’. “Say, Tirek, what’s Chryssy better at than you? Y’know if she’s inferior to you in almost every way?”

“Losing.”

Cozy broke out into a wide, devilish grin while Tempest gave her an exasperated look as the centaur ducked. The armchair launched by Chrysalis in his direction promptly crashed into the wall on the far side of the common room, just as Jack pushed the door open again with a wide grin on her face.

Her presence made Tempest quickly stand up, eager to get to work.

The secretary however, just moseyed on past her and into the kitchen, and while looking at her notes began to help herself to some food. Meanwhile, as Tirek stood up to retrieve the chair-based projectile Chrysalis had thrown at him, Chrysalis herself snatched up one of his pawns and crushed it into dust while he wasn’t looking.

Silence reigned as Jack continued to say nothing, instead making a sandwich, all while Tempest’s eyelid started to quiver.

“Jack?” she said, slightly exasperated.

“Yeah?” the secretary said without looking up.

“Ahem?”

Jack looked up at her strangely, then down her sandwich and clapped a hoof to her head. “Oh, sorry. Did you want one too, boss? Guys, how about you?”

“What?” Tempest frowned. “No--what’s-”

Cozy quickly fluttered her wings and clapped her hooves together, interrupting her. “Oh, can I get some with lettuce and ketchup on it?” she asked.

The secretary pointed her hoof at her before turned around to grab what she needed out the refrigerator. “Sure can, kiddo,” she chortled. “Chrysalis? How about you, hon?”

“Marmalade,” Chrysalis grunted. “No crusts. Please.”

Jack smiled to herself as she grabbed the marmalade jar as well and set everything down on the counter. “The Chrysalis special. What about you, T?”

Tirek looked up as he set the chair down and thought for a moment. “Mm. No thank you.”

“Y’sure? We got... what we got, we got: cucumbers, lettuce, tomato?”

The centaur shifted and shook his head firmly. “I’m not hungry. Except for perhaps my sixth victory in a row, if my opponent is willing.”

Chrysalis smirked coyly and inched forwards on her seat, having lost her own seat and moved over to where Tempest had been sitting. “So sure of winning, are you?” she sneered, wiping the dust of a crushed piece off of her hoof and onto the sofa. “Very well. Let us play again.”

While they reset the board and Cozy watched, none of them noticed Tempest start to massage her temple and drag a hoof down her face. “Jack?” she groaned, lamenting her fate. “Can you please tell me what the job is and where we’re going?”

“Oh, nowhere,” Jack said cheerfully. “Wasn’t a job.”

Tempest blinked, removing her hoof and furrowing her brow in confusion. “What? Then who was-”

“Twilight,” the secretary answered, happily making a series of sandwiches.

That caught the commander’s attention. “Twilight?” she hissed. “Princess Twilight Sparkle, Twilight?”

“Y’know any other Twilights?” Jack deadpanned. “Cucumber in yours, boss?”

The commander’s eyelid continued to twitch rapidly. “The princess calls and you don’t mention it straight away?” she demanded. “What if it’s something important?”

Jack waved her hoof again. “Princess schminschess, Twilight’s cool like that. Y’should see her play racquetball. Really lets her hair down.”

“Wait... you play racquetball with Twilight?” Cozy asked her.

“Uh huh. Every Thursday. Besides,” she continued, “she said she wasn’t in a hurry. I did leave her on hold, though, so when you pick it up, boss, just press the red button.”

Choosing to gloss over the fact that their secretary apparently knew the princess well enough to play a game every Thursday with her, Tempest turned swiftly towards the door. “Great. Thanks,” she grunted.

“You’re welcome! Remember, the red one, not the green one.”

“I got it, I got it.”

Hurrying down the stairs and lamenting the Knights’ secretary’s lack of decorum, Tempest made her way to the waiting phone.

She spotted Jack’s headset resting gently on her desk, and after taking a deep breath as she nestled into the chair behind it, she picked it up, placing it around her ears.

“Hello?” she said.

Silence answered her. She took the headset off and gave it a quick once over. “Oh, there’s the red button.”

She pushed it to release the call off of hold and placed the headset back around her ears. Twilight, oblivious to her presence, was humming a quiet song to herself.

Tempest cleared her throat. “Twilight?”

”Yah!” came the startled cry of the princess, followed by a quiet thud and the sound of lots of papers falling over. After a shuffle Twilight’s breathless voice answered her. ”Tempest is that you?”

Tempest winced and inhaled between her teeth. “Yeah it’s me,” she replied. “Sorry. Did I startle you?”

”Yeah, kinda,” Twilight laughed nervously, sounding somewhat embarrassed. ”Anyway, how are you?”

The commander flicked her eyes up the stairs and sighed. “It’s been a mixed bag,” she muttered. “How can I help? Is the library haunted again?”

”Is the library--oh no, gosh no,” the princess chuckled. ”I was just wondering if you’d like to be my plus one for a party I’m going to tonight?”

Tempest blinked, slightly surprised. “A party?” she asked. “What party?”

”Oh, it’s an engagement ball for Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis.”

The commander readjusted in her seat, trying to angle her hooves on the table like Jack did, only for the chair to nearly tip too far backwards. She quickly caught herself, and let her hooves rest on the ground like a normal pony. “Engagement ball?” she sighed.

”Yeah! What do you say?”

The commander readjusted herself and swallowed. She would very much not like to go to a fancy ‘engagement ball’ but at all. “Uh, well that’s... nice of you to ask me, Princess, but uh...”

”But?”

A few moments of silence passed between them. Tempest let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose, picturing Twilight’s face with wide eyes staring pleadingly at her.

“...I’d be happy to,” she relented.

”Great!” came Twilight’s happy cry as Tempest scowled. ”I can tell you’re scowling, Tempest, don’t!” she added with a light chuckle. ”There’s going to be dancing, a buffet, and fireworks. It’ll be fun!”

Tempest did her best to keep a straight face and not grimace. “Right,” she said, and angled the microphone away from her mouth for a moment to quietly add, “As much fun as a hoof in the eye.”

”What was that?”

“I said I hope there’s pie.”

”Oh. Yeah, me too! And there was... actually something I wanted to speak to you about, Tempest.” Twilight’s voice grew serious for a moment as she spoke reticently. ”About Cozy’s family?”

Tempest opened her eyes and sat up straight. “What about them?” she asked, instantly on edge.

From down the line she heard the princess sigh and rustle some papers.

”It’s just... well it’d be easier to explain in person. Tell you what, why don’t you get the next train to Canterlot? That way we can talk more before tonight. Okay?”

The commander rubbed her nose and nodded, her mind already at work thinking over what it could be. “Right. Okay, Princess.”

”Good. Meet you at the train station?”

“Sure.”

”See you soon, Tempest.”

There was a click and the line went dead as the princess hung up. Tempest took the headset off and dragged her hooves down her face, just as Jack rounded the corner and spotted her.

“Hey, boss,” she said cheerfully, balancing a plate on her hoof. “You didn’t say what you wanted so I gave ya a bit of everythin’. Here ya go.” She paused when she saw the commander’s dull expression. “Ooh, looks bad. Where ya goin’?”

“Canterlot,” Tempest replied glumly. She looked down at the sandwich and felt her stomach grumble. With a snort, she smiled and picked it up. “Thanks, Jack.”

Jack blushed and set the plate down. “Aw, it’s nothin’, boss,” she said. “I used ta do the same sorta thing all the time back home.” She held her hoof over the button for the bell. “Y’want me to get the guys?”

The commander shook her head, taking a bite. “No. I’m going alone,” she answered. “Twilight needs to see me.”

“Is the library haunted again?”

“She’s going to that noble couple’s engagement party tonight. Fancy and Fleur something. Asked me if I wanted to go as her plus one.”

“Oh, really?” Jack’s ears pricked up. “Good for her. I guess all of her A-list friends were busy, huh?”

The commander blinked back at her, her concerns over Twilight’s information fading for a brief period. “A-list? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jack giggled. “Well y’know, you’re not exactly like Fluttershy or Applejack. I’d rate you as one of her B-list friends, at least. Maybe C after Celestia.”

Tempest scowled, earning herself a playful push for her troubles.

“Aw c’mon, boss. I know you’re great,” the young mare laughed. “Twilight doesn’t know what she’s missin’.” Her eyes widened and began to shine even as Tempest’s scowl deepened. “Hey, are you gonna be tryin’ on dresses and stuff with the princess?”

The evolution of the commander’s scowl reached its final form, and swiftly gave way to a pained grimace. Her answering groan came from a deep, primal place within herself as she popped the last bite of sandwich into her mouth.

“Ah go on, boss, it’ll be fun,” Jack laughed, throwing a hoof around her to give her a gentle squeeze.

“Ponies keep telling me that,” the commander grunted.

“I ain’t never been ta Canterlot before,” continued the secretary without skipping a beat. “Y’know my Auntie Raven works at the palace? Gosh, I haven’t seen her in ages, not since she last came ta Manehattan for my ma’s birthday. I tell her about you guys’ cases all the time, as well, y’know. If you see her, say hey for me, would ya?”

Tempest managed to pry herself free of the Hooflynite’s grasp and smoothed down her ruffled mane. “Speaking of the guys, I need to tell them I’ll be going out,” she said, starting off towards the stairs again.

As if on cue, the entire castle rumbled with a mighty crash, followed by loud, if muffled, voices.

“Or... maybe not,” she muttered.

She and the secretary looked at one another with the same world-weary expression.

Jack smiled and scratched her nose. “Boy, lemme tell ya, am I glad this place is built like a fortress, otherwise I think it’d have fallen down by now.”

Tempest nodded in agreement. “You got that right. What did you say about cases? Is that what you call it when we have a job?”

“Uh huh. It’s ‘cause I used ta work for a detective agency. Whenever he had a job my old boss, Mr. Valiant, would call ‘em cases.” Jack snorted. “At least he did before he got the can and I had ta find a new job.” She smiled. “I’ll let ‘em know where you’ve gone. You headin’ out straight away?”

The commander rose her eyebrows in surprise. “I didn’t know you worked for a detective agency,” she murmured. “And yeah.” She swallowed, her thoughts turning to Cozy’s family again, and a concerned look began to grow in her eye.

Jack spotted it and reached out to touch her shoulder. “Is everythin’ okay, boss? Y’look like somethin’s botherin’ ya.” She winced and turned her ears back. “Was that stuff about Blueblood too personal?” she added with a whisper.

Tempest scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, but that’s besides the point,” she snapped before letting out a heavy sigh. “Truth is I don’t know if there’s anything wrong yet. Cozy stuff. Keep it between us, though, okay? I don’t want the Knights to worry.”

“Gotcha.” The red-headed mare made a zipping motion across her mouth. “Count on me, boss. I’m your o-ffic-ial con-fid-ant-e.”

The southern twang she spoke in made Tempest smile. “Thanks, Jack.” A thought came to her in that moment as they walked towards the door. “Hey, you don’t have to call me ‘boss’ all the time, y’know. Just Tempest is fine.”

Jack beamed at her. “Aw, thanks, Tempest, ya big softy. Y’know Val said somethin’ similar to me once.”

“Val?”

“Mr. Valiant. He was a class act, lemme tell ya. A real gentlecolt, if a bit cranky sometimes.”

Tempest glanced at her thoughtfully. “Did you help him out on cases at all?” she asked curiously.

“Well look at who’s wantin’ ta know about somepony else now,” Jack laughed, bumping the dark mare with her flank. “Tell ya what, why don’t we swap stories sometime when you get back? I can tell you about some of what I used ta do in Manehattan, and you can talk to me about boys.”

The commander bumped her back with a scowl but smiled all the same. “Alright, alright, fine,” she grunted, pulling the heavy wooden door open. The roar of rain met them, and in a matter of seconds a small puddle had already begun to form around their hooves as water rushed in. “Oh that’s just my luck, isn’t it?” she grumbled, letting out a heavy sigh. “I thought it was nice and sunny today?”

“We live in the Everfree Forest, whatja expect?” Jack said, holding out an umbrella for her. “Here take this.”

Tempest gratefully did, although she frowned curiously. “Where did you-”

“A good secretary is always prepared,” the young mare recited. “Ask my auntie about that sometime if you ever see her.”

The commander opened the umbrella and held it over her head. She took a deep breath, then stepped out into the rain.

“Good luck!” the secretary called. “And remember! Have fun! You’re goin’ to a party, after all!”

Tempest waved her goodbye and started her march to Ponyville. The Everfree Forest was an unruly place to live at times she thought, struggling to hold onto her umbrella through the harsh wind and the rain. And while she thought about the secretary’s words, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat anxious, both about meeting Twilight and finding out what she had uncovered, and attending this noble’s party. She let out a small groan and plodded on, leaving muddy hoofprints in the dirt behind her.

***

The famous Rarity of Ponyville was many things. Bearer of the Element of Generosity, a budding businessmare, a seamstress through and through, and patient--but to name a few of these things.

Patient up to a point, anyway. And her current client, one moody, sullen-faced mare who wouldn’t stop fidgeting, was testing that patience frightfully so.

“For goodness’ sake, darling, stop squirming!” she demanded as one of her pristine white hooves pushed up her reading glasses in frustration. Her indigo mane, so usually coiffed to perfection, was showing a few frazzled ends and had lost some of its waviness. “Honestly, I think only perhaps Rainbow Dash sits still less than you do, Tempest Shadow!”

Tempest inhaled sharply as the measuring tape went around her barrel again. There were several things she’d normally hate, she reasoned, that were probably infinitely better than this as the tape tickled a sensitive spot. “I’m. Trying,” she said through a set of gritted teeth, biting her her lip to refrain from losing her temper, especially in such company.

Twilight Sparkle giggled behind her hoof as she watched them. Though she appeared as regal and happy as ever and as if nothing was wrong, the subtle rings around her eyes indicated that she was tired. Not that Tempest could blame her, she had no idea what it took to run a kingdom after all.

With a huff and a sigh, Rarity seemed to finally be finished, or perhaps finally lost her patience, and moved away, muttering and mumbling to herself about measurements and what colours would match Tempest’s palette.

The fashionista friend of the princess was a pony Tempest had met a few times, namely when she was hunting them down during the Storm King’s invasion and then at the celebration after his defeat, but other than that they were barely on a first name basis with each other. The commander suspected it was only due to Twilight’s presence that she spoke so candidly.

“Yes, despite your fidgeting, Tempest and your reluctance to take that drab thing off,” Rarity said, gesturing to the Knight’s jumpsuit. “I believe I shall be able to create something worthy of a Knight-Commander, after all.” After clapping her hooves together to punctuate her point, she then frowned and started to circle her subject, like a shark circling the diver in the cage.

“But on such short notice even I might be hard pressed to create something truly mesmerising...”

Never once in her life had Tempest been called mesmerising. She didn’t like it, not one bit, but still she forced a smile out. “Thanks.”

The commander had been mostly quiet since arriving at the Canterlot train station, save for the odd word here or there and exchanging pleasantries with the princess. Their walk they had shared towards Rarity’s shop to get fitted for dress had been quiet as well, with only the general hubbub of Canterlot filling an otherwise awkward silence between the mares.

An uncomfortable, lingering tension had begun to fester between them, both of them knowing full well a difficult topic would come up sooner or later, yet neither of them willing to take the first step towards it.

All in all, if she had to rate today so far, Tempest would give it a solid five out of ten. Between being interrogated about her past love life, being party to an uncomfortable amount of tension, and getting fitted for outfits to attend a party full of Canterlot’s nobility, she much preferred fighting ghosts, she realised, than to all this... ‘pony living’.

Rarity hummed and hawed and examined Tempest’s hooves, lifting them up and inspecting them one by one. “Something practical, yet still fashionable,” she murmured, more to herself than anypony else. “After all, as it’s Fancy Pants’s engagement party you’ll be going to, you’d no doubt want to look your best to represent the...”

She hesitated.

That hesitation made Tempest’s ears prick up and her eyes narrow ever so slightly as Rarity came to a stop in front of her. They locked eyes. The tension grew--as well as the former’s headache.

“The, ahem... Nightmare Knights,” the white mare finished, making no attempt to hide the disdain in her voice.

Twilight’s smile faded and she cleared her throat. She gave Rarity a curt look and rustled her wings. “I’m surprised you aren’t coming, Rarity,” she said, quickly steering the conversation away from a certain trio. “I know you and Fancy Pants are close.”

Tempest was grateful for change in conversation, mainly because she didn’t want to get into a fight with one of the Princess of Friendship’s dearest friends. She untightened her jaw and flicked her tail slowly from side to side, watching as Rarity composed herself.

“Oh, we are of course,” Rarity replied, quickly changing her tune. “But goodness me no, I’m far too busy to attend, and the event is invitation only,” she added under her breath. “Besides, I suspect that one particular stallion will be there, a certain ‘Prince Charming’ whom I very much wish to avoid entirely for the rest of my life if I can.”

A sinking feeling began to develop in Tempest’s stomach. “Prince Charming?” she muttered quietly and sceptically.

Twilight quickly mouthed a ‘no’ at her and made a cutting motion across her neck.

“Yes,” Rarity sighed, dramatically raising a hoof to her head. “How did I ever let myself be such a fool for ever even dreaming of pursuing a boor like that Blueblood. Oh hush, darling,” she said when she spotted Twilight. “I enjoy talking about it to some extent, if only to ward off any young mares who would dare to pursue such a creature as he. Though those that might may perhaps be a bit...” She waved her hoof around her ear and pulled a face.

Feeling a touch indignant, Tempest remained silent on the matter.

If she noticed the commander’s reticence on the matter or quickly-forming scowl, Rarity didn’t show it, and continued on. “To cut a long story short, after he proved himself not the Prince Charming I had once envisioned him to be, but rather a royal pig, I told him exactly what I thought of him then and there.”

“Yeah, in front of Celestia and almost everypony else at the Grand Galloping Gala,” giggled Twilight, teasing and poking fun at her friend.

Tempest’s eyes softened. That’s what friends did, didn’t they? Poke harmless fun at each other? Maybe, she thought, she had been too harsh on the Knights for inquiring about her love life.

“And then you splashed him with cake.”

“That he used me as a shield for!”

Twilight covered her face with a wing and giggled as Rarity glared at her and stuck her tongue out.

“But, despite Blueblood being... Blueblood,” she continued, “I am glad to see that he holds somepony else in high regard other than himself these days.”

“You mean what he said about Fancy Pants and Fleur?” Twilight asked.

The dressmaker nodded. “Indeed. I dare say he sounded almost charming,” she added with a snort. “And the sentiment behind it was lovely I will admit. But even so, one lovely sentiment and some honeyed words does little to sway this mare’s opinion of him. That would have to take a real, heartfelt apology. Now, I shan’t speak any further of such garish individuals.”

Rarity swiftly turned and ignited her horn, using her magic to grab a few tuxedos and what looked like faux formal military wear. “And after all, I have long since learned that romance is not something to be pursued with interest like I had been doing, but rather it’s a spontaneous thing. That true love, as it were, is waiting just around the corner and comes from the most unexpected places.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “You’ve been reading those romantic novels again haven’t you?” she chuckled.

Rarity grinned back at her and winked. “Maybe.”

Tempest meanwhile, was busy with her own thoughts, as a pair of green eyes framed by purple trails of smoke flashed through her mind again. She swallowed and stumbled off of the podium, quickly catching herself before she fell face first onto the ground.

“Oh my goodness, darling, are you okay?” Rarity said, offering her hoof.

“Yeah. Fine,” the commander grumbled, shaking the blush from her face. “Are those for me?” she asked, pointing at the clothes. “All of them?”

The fashionista nodded. “Yes, we need to see what does and doesn’t suit you, you see.”

Tempest groaned softly and gave Twilight a weary glance, making the princess giggle softly. “She gets like this sometimes, Tempest. You don’t have to try them all on.”

Rarity quickly stepped up to the princess and flicked her nose. “Hush!” she barked. “Fashion is an art, darling, and you, Tempest, are my canvas.” She smiled at the commander, wilting slightly at her grimace. “But... fine, you don’t need to try them all, I suppose. Are there any in particular you like the look of?”

Tempest traced her eyes over the gaudy looking uniforms and fancy formal wear and bit her lip to keep herself from wincing.

She did, however, spot one dress out of the corner of her eye still resting on the rack: a sleek, black thing with a few sparkly bits on the back. her gaze lingered on it more than she thought, as Rarity followed her eye-line and spotted it. She used her magic to grab it and pull it out. “This?” she offered.

Tempest didn’t answer, looking at it up and down. Not all dresses had to be ruffled or frilly, she reasoned with herself. And as for clothes she thought about what she owned: her Nightmare Knight jumpsuit and her old armour. She could have just one dress, couldn’t she? She quickly realised they were looking at her and coughed.

“Yeah... I’d like to try that,” she said gruffly, pointing at the dress.

Rarity batted her eyelashes at her and held out her selected clothing. “Why Tempest, darling, I never knew you had an eye for fashion,” she cooed, much to the commander’s chagrin. “Come along now. The changing rooms are this way. If you’d like, Tempest, bring it out while you’re wearing it so we can see how it fits and and I’ll see if I can alter it for you before tonight, if need be, as well as add a certain panache to it. And Twilight, dear, seeing as how I already have all of your measurements already, I have something in mind for you. If you accompany Miss Shadow I’ll get it from my special collection in but a moment.”

“Special collection?” Twilight deadpanned, raising one eyebrow at her friend. “Is this your princess line again?”

“What can I say?” Rarity said with a cheeky wink. “Princesses sell. What kind of businessmare would I be if I didn’t try to advertise a new dress for the Princess of Equestria at a gathering of some of Canterlot’s most prestigious ponies?”

“Uh huh.”

Twilight made a silly gesture and rolled her eyes at Tempest, who simply looked down at the ground, stone-faced and neutral, imagining herself in what could be her new dress. A strange sensation she hadn’t felt since she was a filly began to well up inside her, bringing her back to a time when she and Glitter Drops would get dressed up.

Rarity shooed them on ahead and disappeared through another door, no doubt looking for this princess line.

The princess’s smile faltered at the lack of input. She swallowed and led the way to the changing rooms.

The pregnant silence that followed set Tempest’s teeth on edge. As soon as the door closed it was just them in a quiet corridor with only their hoofsteps for company. The calmness and usual joviality Twilight was exuding seemed to be fading rapidly.

“So...” the princess said finally. “How’re things?”

“Can’t complain,” Tempest replied curtly as they entered the changing rooms. Two rows of booths lined the walls. She picked the closest one and pulled aside the curtain. She took a breath to look over the dress for a moment before she started to unzip her jumpsuit. “How are you?”

“Oh, you know... busy. Other than that, I’m good, too.”

Neither of them said anything for a while as Tempest started to get changed.

“So...” the dark mare said, hoping to fill the silence with some semblance of conversation, preferably something away from her. “How come you’re asking me as your plus one? I thought you’d ask Celestia or... somepony else to something like this.” She bit her lip to keep from mentioning ‘A-list friends’.

“She heard Twilight sigh and ruffle her feathers. “Oh... well... Celestia hasn’t responded to any of my letters, so I figured she must be busy enjoying her retirement. Probably somewhere sunny by now.”

Going off what Chrysalis had told her of their time in the Changeling Hive, Tempest wondered herself how Celestia was doing. It had been a week since then and while Chrysalis seemed to be back to normal, she’d heard neither hide nor hair of the celestial alicorn. It occurred to her that Twilight didn’t know about any of that either, and she thought it wise to not mention it--at least not yet.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” she said diplomatically.

“Yeah.” Twilight let out a heavy sigh from beyond the curtain. “In any case, I asked you because I... we haven’t seen each other for a while. And there’s something I need to talk to you about anyway.”

Tempest fidgeted as she managed to wriggle out of her jumpsuit. “About Cozy’s family, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

She heard Twilight take a sharp inhale of breath before beginning. “So... since you guys came back from Saddle Arabia, and following the pointer Cozy gave us, I did some digging. Get this: the Glows are one of the oldest families in Equestria, along with the Apples and a few others. Not only that, but they’re linked to some of history’s biggest names, Gusty the Great and Princess Platinum to name just two. I think if not for Celestia and Luna, they’d be the royal family.”

Tempest felt a knot begin to form in her stomach. “Right,” she murmured. Was Cozy’s family really that influential? That was a surprise, and didn’t bode well if they ever had any unpleasant run ins with them--which she had no doubt would be coming.

“They even have a family name--that’s not very common in Equestria. But anyway, specifics and ancient history aside, I managed to arrange a meeting with them. Lord Borealis Glow, specifically. He’s Cozy’s... he’s her father.”

Another sigh. Another rustle of wings.

“At first I was a bit apprehensive, ‘cause y’know, what kind of family did Cozy Glow come from?” Twilight confessed. “But when I got there he was... nice. Very gracious and welcoming. And very happy to talk about his family history. He even showed me their library--Tempest--they have so many volumes of books long thought since lost to history. I’m talking like the seventeenth volume of Clover the Clever’s arcane writings. The library at the palace only has up to the fifteenth!”

Tempest didn’t answer. She cared about books about as much as she cared about trying on fancy clothes, which is to say not a lot. What she did care about was-

“And... I know she said not to mention her, but...” Twilight sighed again. “...but the subject of Cozy did come up. Specifically when we started talking about her mother, Lady Starshine Glow.”

The commander thought briefly about what Cozy had said about her parents and tried on another outfit. From what she knew of them, she disliked ‘Borealis’ Glow immensely so, but her mother? She realised in that moment that Cozy had never mentioned how her mother felt about her or treated her, other than that she was a unicorn as well.

“According to their extensive family tree, Lady Starshine is a direct descendant of Gusty the Great,” Twilight continued on, growing excited. “And then through her, Cozy is, her brother Dim is, and then her sisters Bright and Candle are.”

Tempest flicked her ear and looked at herself. Cozy hadn’t mentioned a Candle Glow before. She didn’t know if that was for better or for worse just yet.

“But I mean, I had no idea that bloodline was even traceable to this day, let alone to Cozy Glow of all ponies. It is strange she’s a pegasus though, with such a strong line of unicorns.”

The dark mare’s mouth twitched. “What did Starshine have to say about her?” she snapped, harsher than she intended.

Twilight went quiet for a while before answering. “Lady Starshine died when Cozy was born, Tempest. Lord Glow told me that because of her wings there was a... complication.”

And just like that Tempest understood. She pulled the curtain open and stared at the princess in horror. Twilight flinched under her fierce and intensive gaze and nodded glumly. The commander did her best to calm her rising temper, and burrowed her eyes into hers.

“You said ‘because of her wings’. Do they blame her?”

Tempest’s question was more of a formality than anything else. She already knew the answer, of course.

And the wince Twilight gave her said everything it needed to. “I won’t lie, Tempest,” she said. “It seemed that the animosity he had for his own daughter went deeper than just her... y’know, being a villain.”

The commander blinked slowly. Then her face started to twist into a deep scowl. “Animosity?”

The protectiveness Tempest had for Cozy, something all of the Knights shared over their young pegasus, reared its glorious, family sized head. “They bullied and tormented her, and you call it animosity?” she spat. “She told us what they did to her. Twilight, she’s just a kid. A smart kid, too, the Knights would be nothing without her. They’re her family and they-”

She stopped herself when Twilight simply looked at her, her eyes shining sadly.

Tempest pulled the curtain back across with a snort and returned to the mirror. Her tail lashed from side to side of its own accord like a cat’s would. She couldn’t blow up at the princess, she was only telling her what she knew--what she had uncovered. Still. That didn’t help the outrage she felt for her small friend. She glowered at herself, glaring daggers into her own eyes, and then at the dress hanging on the wall. With a grunt she grabbed it. Its softness, surprised her, and reminded her of Cozy’s wings when the filly had given her a hug at their first meeting.

’Hi! I’m Cozy. Oh boy I can tell we’re already gonna be real good friends. Right, Tempest?’

At the time, Tempest had thought that Cozy had no doubt been trying to manipulate her like she did everypony else--according to her Luna’s files on her. Now that she knew the filly, however, she suspected some of it may have been genuine.

“And, um...” Twilight continued after a heavy silence. “I told Lord Glow the truth about what we’re up against, Tempest. He promised his support--he said that whatever else we needed from his family, whatever resources or books or artifacts or anything else that they had, we could get. He only had one condition.”

Tempest snorted, rousing herself of her memories. “What condition?” she grunted. “Is helping the princess not enough for him?”

“Aha... ah, no,” the princess mumbled. “He wants to meet you. That’s why I asked you to come with me tonight, he’s going to be there, at Fancy Pants’s party.”

The commander hesitated. She took deep inhaling breaths, then exhaled slowly, trying to calm her seething emotions. “Why?” she demanded.

“He didn’t say. But I think... I think he wants to apologise to you.”

Tempest’s brow furrowed. “What? Why?”

“You don’t know?” Twilight asked.

“Know what?”

“Well... seeing as how Cozy was kinda-sorta on a reformation probation, and with how you’re in charge of her as commander, you’re technically her legal guardian until she’s finished as a Knight. Whenever that may be. I guess Lord Glow wants... closure, maybe? I’m not sure.”

Tempest’s nose twitched, feeling her anger fade as quickly as it had arrived. She was Cozy’s guardian? That was news to her, as she figured Tirek or Chrysalis were, what with them being far more parentally inclined than she was. “Huh,” she murmured.

The sound of rustling wings filled the air. “I know this is a lot to spring on you, Tempest,” Twilight said as apologetically as she could. “But I’m asking you as a friend, not as a princess, to do this for me. I wasn’t kidding when I said their library is huge--they could have just what we need in order to stop Bray. Any information they might have--however big or small--could be incredibly important.”

The commander nodded. “I get it,” she replied, running a hoof over her mane to smooth it down. “Fine. I’ll meet him. But I’m warning you, Twilight, if he says anything against Cozy, I’ll-”

“I know you will, Tempest. You’re a good friend. I know you’d do anything for them. Just... don’t hit him, okay?”

Pride oozed out of Twilight’s voice as she spoke. Though the curtain separated them both still, Tempest could tell she was smiling. She herself started to smile, and flared her nostrils. “Damn right I would.”

A short but heavy silence descended upon them after that as Tempest took the plunge and threw on Rarity’s dress.

She traced her eyes over the sparkly dress as it rested over her back. The word elegant came to her, making her snort. It fitted her quite nicely too, not quite hugging her form but not hanging loosely off of her either. Its colour, not in fact black as she thought but rather a very deep indigo upon closer inspection, matched her coat pretty good as well, she thought.

She snorted. “Who are you trying to impress, Fizz?” she asked herself under her breath in a chiding tone. “The ‘stallion of your dreams’?”

“Tempest?” Twilight said suddenly from the other side of the curtain, sounding hesitant and uncertain, and breaking through her thoughts. “If... can I say something?”

Tempest flinched at how upset she sounded. “Su--go ahead, Twilight,” she said, attempting to take the hardened edge out of her voice. “I mean... of course you can.”

“I think... I think Luna knew how bad it was for her. For Cozy, I mean. I think that’s why she made her a Knight. So you could be her family. The Nightmare Knights, I mean, not just you... you know what I mean.”

The commander paused and thought for a moment. Family? She asked herself, was the brotherhood, so to speak, of their profession close enough to warrant the use of the word family? If it was, they were perhaps Equestria’s most dysfunctional family ever.

And that made her smile. “Maybe you’re right...” she murmured as she pulled back the curtain, ready to reveal herself, and stepped out into the light. “What do you think?” she asked the princess.

Twilight perked up and looked her up and down as she stepped forwards. “Wow, Tempest,” she murmured, a small blush spreading across her face. “You look... wow.”

The commander smiled back at her, easily spotting the blush. She held her head up high and swished her tail. “Thanks. It fits well enough. Should we go, then? Rarity said to bring it out, right?”

The slightly pink-nosed princess nodded, still looking her up and down.

“Eyes are up here, Twilight.”

“I know!” The alicorn’s cheeks turned a deeper shade as she straightened up. She flashed a toothy smile at the commander and moved away, accidentally walking straight into a nearby wall. She rubbed her nose and scowled, even as Tempest fought to suppress some laughter.

“Well I’m glad to see you can still smile,” Twilight grumbled, pinching her nose before smiling back at her. “I was starting to think you’d forgotten how.”

Tempest fidgeted on the spot and rubbed the back of her head as they walked side by side. “I’m sorry, Twilight. Today’s just been... a lot, y’know?” she replied as they headed towards the front of Rarity’s shop. “And I’m gonna be honest, I can’t say I’m looking forward to tonight either.”

“I know. But it won’t be so bad. Like I said there’ll be fireworks.” Twilight turned to her and smiled, resting her hoof on the door. “You love fireworks, right?”

“Love is a strong word.”

“You know what I mean. Point is, I’ve heard Prince Blueblood has excellent fireworks. Even magic ones that turn into dragons made of fire. That’ll be cool to see, right?” The princess beamed at the commander even as the latter’s face dropped.

“What did you say?” she whispered. Her nose started to tingle.

Puzzled, Twilight’s smile wavered. “I said: ones that turn into-”

“No, before that. You said Blueblood?”

The princess nodded. “The ball tonight is at his estate. Why? Is that a problem?”

Tempest clenched her jaw. The tingle in her nose grew. Her pupils shrank and she shuddered. Then the moment passed and she collected herself.

“Tempest? D’you know Blueblood or something?” Twilight leaned in close. “Was he rude to you, too?” she whispered as Tempest pressed her hoof against the door.

“Not exactly,” the commander sighed, pushing it wide open. “He... proposed to me.”

There was a beat before Twilight responded, taking a second to digest.

“He what?”

The princess gaped after Tempest as she strode forwards into the boutique. The commander looked around, and seeing as how Rarity was nowhere in sight, she tapped the bell on the counter nearby. The shrill ding that rang out cut through the quiet of the shop.

“One moment, darling!” came the dressmaker’s sing-song voice from a side room.

The princess stumbled forwards, as if she was in a daze, and stared at the commander with wide eyes. “He proposed to you, Tempest?” she hissed. “How? When?”

Tempest shrugged. “About a year before I became a Nightmare Knight.”

Twilight leaned in close, her eyes wide and her pupils small. “And you said-”

“No,” the dark mare grumbled. She sighed and hung her head. “Look, I’m only telling you this so tonight won’t be... as awkward as it could be.” She took a deep breath and exhaled softly.

Twilight blinked, then pulled back and bobbed her head in understanding. “Yeah I can understand that, but... wow,” she breathed. “You and Blueblood, I never knew... does anypony else?”

“It got brought up before I left today,” Tempest grunted with a roll of her eyes. “But not to the full extent, and I’d rather keep it that way if you don’t-”

She stopped and cocked an ear out when she heard muffled voices from outside, followed by the clip clop of hooves. She flared her nostrils and looked at Twilight carefully, directly in the eye.

“I’d rather keep that just between us, okay, Twilight?”

It wasn’t really a question, and thankfully Twilight seemed to understand that.

The princess straightened up and folded her wings neatly to her sides. “Sure, Tempest,” she said. “I Pinkie promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“Thanks.”

Tempest felt hot under the collar, in more ways than one. But thankfully, before Twilight could ask any more questions, the voices outside turned from a muffled conversation to a loud laughter as the door swung open.

“...and here we are. Trust me, my friend, Miss Rarity is one of, if not the finest, outfitters in Canterlot, and one of the most generous, kindest souls I’ve ever--my word, Princess Twilight as I live and breathe!”

Tempest looked over at the speaker as a tall, white stallion with a thin moustache and a monocle stood in the doorway staring at the princess, one hoof still on the door. To her surprise, it was the same stallion from the television.

The shock plastered across her face from Tempest’s confession vaporised as Twilight also looked, and promptly broke out into a wide smile. “Oh, hello Mr. Fancy Pants,” she said cheerfully, stepping forwards to greet him.

Fancy Pants beamed at her and bowed low. “Hello, my dear, how are you? So good to see you again. I apologise if I’ve intruded upon your time at all-”

“Oh no, no, not at all, Fancy,” Twilight laughed, waving her hoof at him. “I wouldn’t want anypony to not do what they want to do just because I’m here.”

The well dressed stallion laughed and nodded, holding a hoof over his chest. “I thought as much--although I’d hate to be impolite and presume anything. A true treasure such as yourself, Princess, just like your predecessor, deserves the utmost respect.” He noticed Tempest then and smiled at her. “Hello, I’m afraid we haven’t the pleasure, miss...”

The princess rested a hoof on the commander’s back and pulled her forwards. “Fancy Pants, this is Tempest Shadow,” she said. “She’s a friend. Tempest, this is Mr. Fancy Pants.”

Tempest inclined her head towards him in a somewhat awkward manner. “Hello,” she said.

What was she supposed to say? ‘Hello, my lord’? Sir? Was Fancy Pants even a noble? Did she call him Fancy like Twilight did or something more formal like... Mr. Pants--Mr. Pants sounded rude she couldn’t say that. Regardless, she held out her hoof and gave him her friendliest smile, which to some would probably look more like a grimace than an actual smile.

Fancy Pants, however, never faltered or showed any signs of discomfort at all as he clasped her hoof in his. “A genuine pleasure to meet you, Miss Shadow,” he said earnestly. “Any friend of the princess’s is a friend of mine!”

The commander bobbed her head as he released her, feeling her hoof twinge a little bit. His grip was stronger than she thought it would be. “Uh, likewise, thanks. Congratulations on your engagement, by the way.”

“Why, thank you!”

Twilight nodded her head approvingly at Tempest, and gave her a small smile before turning back to the stallion. “So what brings you here, Fancy?” she asked him.

“Oh!” Fancy Pants cried. “Well, I came to see myself and my best stallion-to-be outfitted for the wedding, and I could think of nopony better suited for the job than dear Miss Rarity.” He stood up straight and turned around. “Blueblood, old fellow, don’t be shy! Come in and say hello to the princess!”

“Bluebl...”

Tempest locked up as Fancy stepped to one side and a tall, handsome pony emerged from behind him, sporting a coat as white as Celestia’s, an amber coloured mane and a rose compass cutie mark that seemed to almost glisten in the light.

A moment of panic flashed in Twilight’s eyes as she glanced at the commander.

Fancy Pants put a hoof around the prince and gave him a gentle squeeze. “Blueblood and myself are old friends,” he explained. “It was he, you see, who gave the confidence I needed to finally propose to my Fleur. ‘Never wait too long, else you may lose what you love’,” he told me.” He beamed and pulled back a little bit. “Well go ahead, old bean, say hello!”

Blueblood gave the princess a smile and bowed his head respectfully. “A pleasure to see you again, your grace,” he said to her before looking at Tempest and doing the same without missing a beat. “And Miss Tempest, of course.”

The commander kept her eyes fixed firmly on his piercing blues and stiffly nodded back at him, bowing as much as her tense legs would allow.

Fancy Pants blinked, a touch confused. “Oh, do you know Miss Shadow, Blueblood?”

“Not personally,” he replied, still locking eyes with her. “Though I know of her. One of the famous Nightmare Knights, yes?”

Twilight glanced sideways at Tempest and swallowed nervously. The dark mare stiffened her neck, then bowed back at him. “Yes, that’s right,” she said. Apparently he’d rather keep their past relationship as hush-hush as she did. That worked for her. “The princess here asked me to your party as her plus one.”

One of Blueblood’s immaculate eyebrows quivered.

Fancy Pants, meanwhile, clapped his hooves together, overjoyed. “Excellent!” he cried. “The more the merrier! Truth be told I would invite all of Canterlot if I could, but alas with the select few Fleur and I have chosen to invite to our little celebration, and their plus ones naturally, we hope to have a far more personal gathering.”

Twilight nodded and rustled her wings. “So who else is coming, Fancy?” she asked, clearly hoping to avoid any ugly confrontations between Tempest and Blueblood. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is-”

“Of course not, my dear. Let me see. Myself, Fleur, yourself princess, obviously, Blueblood, Miss Shadow here-”

As Fancy Pants rattled off a series of names Tempest either didn’t know or didn’t care about, she studied the prince’s face over the top of the groom-to-be’s head. Blueblood was a rock, however, and gave nothing away in spite of how his eyebrow quivered moments earlier. A stubbornly handsome rock, thought Tempest, before she realised she was admiring him, and quickly looked away and down at the ground. No. Stop that, she scolded herself.

“And last but not least, Lord Glow.”

As Fancy finished his list of guests, the last name seemed to bring Tempest around. “Lord Glow?” she repeated.

Fancy Pants glanced at her, surprised, and nodded. “Yes, Borealis, the old chap, and I share certain interests. Do you know him, perchance, Miss Tempest?”

“Not personally, but I’ve...” She realised she was repeating Blueblood, and bit her lip. “Heard of him.” The commander glanced at the princess and remembered their previous conversation. Twilight simply offered her a small, somewhat sad smile, and bobbed her head. “What ‘interests’ do you share with him, Mr. Fancy?”

The noblepony chuckled. “Ahh well you see, my dear, Borealis is an avid studier of history, unicorn history in particular, and I myself am equally as fascinated by the subject, so naturally we get along like a house on fire.”

The door to the back end of the boutique burst open as he finished. A rather disgruntled looking Rarity emerged carrying a bundle of clothes in her magic, and slung it on the counter. “Right!” she cried. “Finally, here is everything I have in your measurements, Twilight, dear, now if you’d kindly put some of these on so I can see what would suit you best-”

“Ahem... Rarity?” Twilight said quietly as she started to ramble and rifle through the pile.

When her friend simply continued, however, she cleared her throat and spoke in a higher than usual pitched voice, scraping away some of the aforementioned unmentionables from view.

“Rarityyyy? Aha... you have customeeers.” She gestured with her head towards the others.

“Hmm?”

The dressmaker’s eyes wandered over to those present, quickly lighting up in sheer delight.

“Fancy Pants!” she squealed, hurrying around the counter to greet him. “So wonderful to see you again, darling! Congratulations are in order, I think?”

Tempest quickly stepped out of the way as she surged forwards to give Fancy Pants a hug.

Fancy Pants hugged Rarity back with a mile-wide smile on his face. “Hello, my dear Miss Rarity!” he cried. “My, you’re looking as lovely as ever!” He gestured towards Blueblood as they pulled away. “You remember Prince Blueblood, don’t you?”

Rarity’s smile grew, a bit too wide, perhaps, to be natural, as she noticed the prince and bowed her head to him. “Of course I do,” she said through the smile, gritting her teeth together. “How could I ever forget Prince Blueblood?”

“Aha! I told you she would, old chap!” Fancy laughed.

The prince sighed, roused out of his thoughts for the time being. “Yes, quite,” he said, and raised a hoof to his chest. “Miss Rarity, permit me to say so, for I do believe I owe you an apology.”

Rarity blinked at him in confusion, her false smile waning dramatically. “An apology?”

“Yes indeed, and one long overdo at that. When last we met I was, to put it bluntly, arrogant, rude, and wholly deserving of the thrashing you gave me.” He bowed his head to her and stared at the ground, his words sincere and his tone grave. “And so I humbly offer my sincerest apologies for the abhorrent treatment I showed a lady of your significance.”

Tempest’s ear flicked as their eyes met for the briefest moment she swore she saw some flicker of recognition in them. Was he actually addressing her? Or Rarity?

Meanwhile Rarity picked her jaw up off the ground and collected herself as best she could. “Oh... w-well thank you, Prince Blueblood,” she said, clearly in shock. “Um... I don’t know what to say.”

Fancy Pants chortled softly and proudly put his hoof around the prince. “Blueblood told me all about that night, Miss Rarity. Did you know, he makes the claim that it made him a far better pony than he was.”

Blueblood solemnly nodded his head in agreement with his friend. “Very, very much so,” he admitted. “I aim only to improve myself now, for better or for... well I can’t be much worse than how I was, now can I?” he added with a quiet chuckle.

Albeit somewhat still in shock, Rarity laughed and nodded along with him.

Tempest felt her ears burn and her eye start to twitch. Was she jealous? Impossible...

“Oh my stars, Tempest, darling!” Rarity suddenly cried, looking right at her. “You look--oh, you look mesmerising!”

Tempest froze. She felt the soft fabric of the dress brush against her side. Oh no.

She had forgotten what she was wearing. And in front of him, no less. A deep red began to spread over her face as she lowered her head and tried to shrink away.

“Oh don’t be bashful, darling,” Rarity chortled, picking up her hoof and tugging her forwards into the light. “Why I never knew you had an eye for fashion, Tempest! It looks divine and fits you perfectly!” she cried. “That colour as well! I’ve been wanting to try out some darker colours for a while now but most ponies’ coats simply disagree with them. Yours, however, lends itself to a certain... je ne sa quois.”

Fancy Pants nodded alongside her in agreement. “It is a rather marvellous dress, indeed, isn’t it?” he murmured, looking the commander up and down. “What do you think--wouldn’t you say so, Blueblood?”

Tempest bristled and supressed a shiver as she felt Blueblood’s eyes on her. She fought to supress it even harder when he spoke softly, and almost sighed.

“Yes... divine. As the stars themselves...”

Rarity took one slow blink, and gave Twilight a questioning look. The princess rustled her wings and stared back at her without saying a word, keeping her head high and her eye-line steady. Meanwhile, Fancy Pants trotted over to Blueblood and nudged him in the ribs and wiggled his eyebrows. “Hold fast there, old boy,” he chortled. “There’ll be time for that later. Remember, we’re on a schedule.”

“A schedule, darling?” Rarity asked, still trying to discern what Twilight knew from the look in her eye.

“Indeed, there is much to do before tonight. Such as why we are here, in fact! Rarity, I was hoping to see if you would do us the honour of fitting us for our wedding attire? I’m sure Fleur will be along at some point as well, but alas, I was here first!”

The fashionista gave the princess one final look, then turned and broke out into a wide, warm smile at Fancy. “Oh Fancy, you needn’t even ask--but I am flattered you thought of me.” She gestured over towards the podium where she had fitted Tempest, then hesitated and seemed to remember something. Namely: Twilight. “I’m sorry, sirs, but dear Twilight here was next in line...”

Twilight jerked her head up and chuckled nervously. “Oh, no you don’t have to do that, Rarity,” she said quickly. “I’m happy to wait. In fact I was just saying to Tempest we should go out and get something to eat. Wasn’t I, Tempest?” She widened her eyes slightly and subtly gestured towards the door with her head.

The commander felt her eyebrow twitch and flared her nostrils as all eyes turned to her once again. “Ye-ah,” she croaked. Her voice caught in her throat. She coughed and swallowed. “I mean... yeah that’s right. I’d like to get changed first, though.”

Rarity nodded and gestured towards the door to the changing rooms. “Of course, of course,” she said with a smile. A smile that said I want to know everything. “I’ll bag that dress up for you and have it ready to be collected before tonight.”

Tempest nodded at her and made her way towards the changing rooms again.

“If I may, Princess?” Blueblood added quietly. “I should like to join you, if only for a moment. I’d like to ask your opinion of something... in private.”

Tempest clenched her jaw together as she pulled open the door, lingering there for a moment. Opinion? What opinion? And why in private? Once more her tail lashed from side to side and her ears began to burn. She glanced back, narrowing her eyes at the princess.

Twilight looked lost, and like her brain had transformed into spaghetti in that moment as she floundered for words.

“Twilight?” Rarity said, gently touching her.

“Huh?” The alicorn shook her head and appeared to snap back out of whatever inner crisis she was suffering. “Sure, Blueblood. I mean, that’s not a problem,” she said with a hearty, very forced laugh. “I’m always happy to help.”

Blueblood bowed his head respectfully to her. “Thank you, your grace. I shan’t take up much of your time, but it is a delicate matter.”

Fancy Pants chuckled to himself. “Ah Blueblood, you and your secrets. Well, Rarity my dear, it looks like I’m all yours.”

“It certainly does,” Rarity replied, giving all those present, bar him, a curious look.

The prince started towards the door to the front of the shop, pulling it open and stepping to one side. “Shall we, Princess?” he asked.

Twilight looked back at Tempest and flinched. “I’ll just meet you outside, Tempest?” she offered. “Y’know, once you’ve gotten changed.”

Tempest exhaled through her nostrils and nodded stiffly, her mind awash with theories over what Blueblood needed to speak to her about. “Sure.”

“Great. See you soon.” The princess’s smile widened as Rarity’s had, still too wide to be natural, and nodded politely to the prince. “Thank you, Blueblood.”

The bell above the door jingled as they left. Rarity began busying herself with taking Fancy Pants’s measurements, and Tempest made her way to the changing rooms again, her mind awash with thoughts and worries.

“What are you doing?” she hissed at herself. “You’re Tempest Shadow for storm’s sake!”

She flinched almost as soon as the words left her mouth. She hadn’t used... ’his’ expression in some time, and it left a bad taste on her tongue. A shadow darkened her face for a moment as she found the booth she had been using, and quickly got changed.

Soon after she was back in the front of the shop to where the dressmaker and her latest client were happily chatting away to one another about this, that and the other--too engrossed in their own conversation to notice her as she slipped past.

The bright, shining sun was dazzling, making her wince and raise a hoof to her eyes as she opened the door. She took a few short breaths and looked around, only to see Twilight and Blueblood were nowhere in sight. She breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed her head. “Well I guess I’ll just find a spot to sit and think for a while, then,” she muttered to herself.

“Fizz?” said a quiet voice from off to one side. “Is that you?”

She blinked and looked around, and her jaw fell open in surprise when she spotted a familiar face belonging to a familiar pony standing in the shade nearby, sipping the straw of a bright red slushy.

“Glitter Drops?!”

Her old friend beamed at her and waved her over. “It is you!” she laughed. “Y’know I thought it was? What’re you doing coming out of there?” She gestured to the boutique with her cup.

Tempest felt her cheeks flush with heat as she trotted over. “Oh... I’m, uh... going to a party,” she mumbled. “Need a dress for it.” Whatever the reason for Glitter’s sudden appearance, it wasn’t as if today couldn’t have any more surprises for her. “What are you doing here?”

“A party, huh? Well, you always did look cute in a dress.” Glitter smiled at her. “My boss and his friend are getting fitted,” she said. “He came out just a few minutes ago, actually, maybe you saw him while he was in there? Prince Blueblood? He was talking to Princess Twilight about something important.”

The dark mare rubbed her nose and sniffed. “Your boss?” she murmured, digesting the information.

She was wrong. Today had at least one more, and hopefully the last, surprise for her.

***

“Here y’are, ladies, two iced teas and a bagel--on the house.”

The pegasus waitress smiled as she set down two cups before Tempest and Glitter, sliding them across the table with the use of her wings. Her eyes twinkled and shone like stars, and with her pretty cream coloured coat, feathered hooves and long, dark brown mane she probably drew in a lot of attention from a lot of different ponies. But it appeared, right now, that she had eyes for Tempest Shadow.

The commander mustered up as much of a smile as she could as way of thanks as the admittedly attractive pegasus slid the last plate across, fluttering her long eyelashes at the commander. “Thank you,” she said awkwardly.

Glitter giggled quietly under her breath and watched as her old friend’s nose twitched.

“My pleasure, sugar,” said the waitress. “My name’s Soufflé Swirl, if you guys need me for anythin’ else just lemme know, ‘kay?”

She gave both mares a happy smile before turning to walk away, swaying her hips ever so slightly. Glitter wiggled her eyebrows at her old friend, watching her every move, and folded her hooves. “She’s cute isn’t she?” she asked, innocently batting her eyelashes.

Tempest glared at her and picked up her tea, downing it all in one long gulp, crunching the ice cubes in it as well just for good measure. She set the empty cup down and sighed. “Mhm.”

Glitter picked up her cup and took a sip.

“You and Blueblood must have had it real bad for each other, huh?”

“Hnng...”

The commander let out a long, drawn out sigh and leaned backwards, folding her forehooves over her chest, grateful that the café she and Glitter had found was more or less empty. The fewer witnesses to her current plight the better. She grumbled incoherently under her breath, muttering nothing in particular, just about her troubles.

Glitter Drops took a deep breath in an effort to keep the childish grin from spreading across her face, and leaned in across the table. “So tell me the truth. Did you like him?” she asked. “Like... like-like him?”

Tempest scoffed and waved her hoof. “Dropsy, you’re married and have a kid and I’m a Knight of Equestria. I think we’re a bit past saying ‘like-like’.”

“Heh... well, maybe. Did you looove him, then?” she cooed, batting her eyelashes.

The commander quickly scowled. “No. He was nice, and attractive, and it was sweet while it lasted. But he was...” She hesitated for a second before continuing. “...much more into it than I was. I liked him, yeah, but I never loved him.” She winced and turned her ears down. “I had to say no.”

Glitter took a sip of her tea and nodded sagely. “Yeah, okay, I get that,” she admitted. She smiled. “But still. A prince! You could be a princess right now if thing had gone differently!”

“Don’t,” Tempest grumbled. “I’ve had enough of that from Cozy today.”

“Okay, okay,” Glitter relented, still smiling. “So you told the other Knights about it, too?”

“Like I told Twilight, not the whole thing. If I let it slip that he proposed to me they’d never let me live it down.” Tempest leaned back in her seat and dragged her hooves down her face. Her heart pounded away in her chest, and she felt sweaty and clammy. And she suspected that the sunshine outside had nothing to do with it.

Glitter Drops sighed and poked around in her cheek with her tongue.

“Call me crazy... but I think you like him, Fizz.”

“What?!”

The sudden increase in Tempest’s voice and the sound her cutlery made as she banged the table made the heads of some the other café staff nearby turn their heads and briefly glance over. She quickly lowered her head and shifted where she sat, glaring daggers at Glitter Drops. “I do not like him,” she hissed. “I mean, I do--I did--but not that way.”

Glitter shrugged and grinned from ear to ear as Tempest scowled again. “I don’t know, when Frob and I first met I was just like how you are now. Nervous, worried, anxious about seeing him again, wondering what I was supposed to say-”

“You sure you actually like your husband?”

“Hush, you,” Glitter giggled as she leaned over and bopped the commander on the nose. “Point is, I know how what you’re feeling feels. So look at me.”

Tempest did, and rubbed her nose as she looked up. “What?” she grumped.

Glitter Drops smiled at her. “Tempest Shadow might be this tough badass who fights ghosts and monsters and whatever,” she said, “but to me, Fizzlepop Berrytwist will always be that cute little filly I knew in Nowhere who I practised kissing with, and who could never talk to boys. Whatever this is, you’ll get past it. It’s okay to be just a normal, regular pony for once, too, y’know.”

Tempest looked her in the eye, at her smiling face, and felt her emotions start to calm. There was something that put her at ease just by being around her. “Pfft,” she muttered, putting her hooves down on the table. “When did you get so corny?”

“Same time you became such a softie.” Glitter Drops stuck her tongue out and reached over to rest her hoof over one of Tempest’s.

They sat like that for a few moments in a short silence, just enjoying each other’s company, before she pulled away and returned to her drink.

“You’re kinda badass too, y’know,” the dark mare muttered, inspecting the lone ice cube left in her cup. “I remember how you charged in to fight that spider.”

“Heh, yeah...” Glitter chuckled. “It used to be I couldn’t even look at a spider without jumping up onto a chair, y’know. Now I swat ‘em before I’ve even realised it.” She looked down at her cup, at her own ice cubes floating in her cup, and twisted her mouth. “Is it just me, or is it weird I work for your ex?”

Tempest flinched. It did indeed feel a touch weird knowing that Dropsy was working for Prince Blueblood. Her old friend and her... ‘ex’, as she put it. She grimaced and pulled a face. “Today’s been kinda weird all over. How’d you end up working for him anyway?”

“I’m still not sure, to be honest,” Glitter admitted. “One day after dropping Fizzy off for school I went to grab a bite to eat, only I left my purse at home and came up a few bits short. Thankfully, the prince was passing by and like a true gentlecolt he offered to pay the difference. We got to talking after that and I mentioned that I was looking for a new job closer to Canterlot, so he offered me one as his PA, seeing as how his old one left.”

She smiled and tapped her hooves together as she spoke.

“It’s pretty easy to do in all honesty, I set up appointments for him, meetings with other nobles and stuff, sort out his business for the day.” She flicked her ear when she saw the strange expression crossing Tempest’s face. “Hey, it beats working in an office, right?”

“What’s he like? He’s not rude to you is he?”

The young mare blinked at the sudden protectiveness in her friend’s voice. “No, no he’s nice,” she answered, waving her hooves through the air to reassure the commander. “Very understanding, too. When I told him Fizzy goes to school in Canterlot he offered to pay for at least my travel expenses. I said no, before you say anything.” Glitter chuckled softly. “I can see why you liked him, Fizz, he’s very charming.”

The commander pushed her tongue into the inside of her cheek and grunted quietly. “Mhm.” She said nothing for a while, and then she had an idea. An awful, wicked idea, and gingerly touched the end of her nose. “Geez, Glitter I think if you hit me any harder you might have broken it.”

Glitter flinched and flattened her ears down to her head as she stood up. “Oh my goodness, do you think so? Here, let me have a look.”

The commander tilted her head back slightly and let her do her thing as Glitter circled around their table.

“I can’t see anything, but...”

The would-be nurse noticed the smile twitching at the beginning of Tempest’s mouth and stopped. “Oh you... rotten beast!” she cried, playfully batting her old friend on the side.

“Gotcha,” Tempest winked.

“You had me worried! I thought I’d hurt you, you beast!”

The commander stuck her tongue out and grinned.

Glitter flared her nostrils, then turned and slumped back down into her seat with a harrumph.

Tempest chuckled under her breath and leaned forwards, deciding to tuck into the bagel the cute waitress had brought her. After a short while she had another thought. “Hey, if you’re Bluebood’s PA... does that mean you’re going to the ball tonight with him?”

The hopefulness in her voice was clear as day. Glitter thought so too as her eyes lit up. “It’s a ball now?” she giggled. “I thought it was just a party. Look at you moving up in the world. But no, I’m not. I actually have the day off today, I just came to Canterlot to pick up Fizzy. Why?” She leaned in close and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Want your wingmare by your side in case anything happens?”

Tempest was starting to feel like if she rolled her eyes any harder she’d start to get dizzy. “No. But it would have been nice to see you. This feels nice, y’know? Me and you friends again.”

Glitter’s eyes began to sparkle and shine. “Awww, Fizzy!” she cooed. “You do care.”

“I take it back. It doesn’t feel nice at all and I’m glad you’re not going.”

The young mother let out a hearty laugh and sipped her tea. She glanced over at the clock nearby and grimaced. “Oh shoot, speaking of Fizzy, she’ll be finishing school soon,” she murmured. “Wanna come? She’ll be delighted to see her Aunty Fizz.”

Tempest grinned at the thought of being an ‘Aunty Fizz’, but a niggle of doubt pushed away those thoughts, and she let out a heavy sigh. “I’d love to, but I can’t. Twilight’s probably waiting for me, we’ve been here a while.”

Glitter looked disappointed but nodded as they stood up. “That’s fair. I’ll give her your best anyway. Also did you really just call the princess by her first name?”

“Sure. When it’s something formal I call her Princess or your grace or whatever,” the commander replied with a wave of her hoof. “But when it’s something casual like this, she’s just Twilight. She said she prefers it that way--like she’s everypony’s friend.”

Glitter blinked. “Oh, yeah, right. I guess that’s on brand for the Princess of Friendship, right?”

The friendly waitress who had served them smiled at them both as they made their way towards the exit. Glitter reached into her purse and forked over some bits. “Here you go. You can keep the change, too.”

“Thanks guys,” Soufflé Swirl said cheerfully, ringing them up. “Here’s your receipt. I hope I get to see you again sometime.” She fluttered her eyelashes at Tempest again as if to say ‘especially you’.

Tempest smiled back at her. Soufflé was indeed cute like Glitter said. And pretty. Her eyes went up around the girl’s mane and she felt a tingle in her nose.

“I like your mane.”

It just blurted out. She didn’t mean to say it, but she did, and her cheeks started to turn red.

Likewise the waitress quickly turned a similar red in the cheeks and bobbed her head before dashing away, squealing in girlish delight with some of her friends. Tempest felt the rush of heat leave her face and allowed a small smile play across her face as she followed her old friend out into the sun.

Glitter, for her part, kept quiet. But she did wiggle her eyebrows again.

“Ugh, don’t-”

“You’re so cute when you’re trying to flirt, Fizz!”

“Ugh.” Tempest pushed her face away as they started their walk back to the boutique. The knot in her spine and stomach had both long since faded by now, although she was quietly dreading tonight. She couldn’t exactly avoid Blueblood all night, could she?

Or could she?

“Hey,” Glitter said, bumping her with her flank. “Just try and have fun today, okay? You are going to a party, after all.”

The commander bobbed her head as they rounded a corner and spotted their destination. “Yeah... yeah, you’re right, Dropsy.” She sighed and rubbed the back of her head. “I’ll try. It’s just...”

Besides Blueblood, there was also the question of Cozy’s father, Lord Borealis Glow. The very thought of meeting the pony responsible for her little friend’s misery made her blood boil. She hated him already, and she didn’t even have a face to go with his uppity, pretentious-sounding name.

She let out a disgruntled sigh and hung her head. Glitter gave her a reassuring pat for comfort’s sake, and looked up as the jingle of a bell rang out across the courtyard. “Oh hey, it’s the princess,” she murmured, quickly stopping short in her tracks as a certain purple pony princess flexed her wings. “It’s the prin...” She paled and frantically started to see to herself.

“Oh gosh is my mane okay? Are my hooves polished enough? Do I bow? Is it your grace or your majesty?”

Tempest grunted and nudged her forwards, prodding her along with her horn. “I just told you Twilight prefers it casual. Just smile and say hello.”

“Hello. Right... I can do that...”

Twilight herself broke out into a wide smile as she spotted them walking towards her. “There you are, Tempest,” she said jokingly. “I was starting to think you weren’t coming back.”

The commander forced a smile out at her. “Sorry,” she muttered. “Have you been waiting long?”

Twilight shook her head and waved her hoof. “Not really. Blueblood really did just want a quick word or two, and when we got back Rarity had our dresses ready and waiting for us, so we’re all set for tonight.” The princess moved to one side and showed the small bag nestled safely between her wings. “See?”

Tempest bobbed her head. “Cool. Thanks Twilight.”

“No problem. Who’s your friend?”

The dark mare looked around at Glitter, and grimaced at how she was gawking. She cleared her throat, and closed the young mare’s mouth for her. “Twilight, this is Glitter Drops. Glitter, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Glitter shook her head and ran a hoof through her mane to try and straighten it, then bowed low before the alicorn. “H-Hello, Princess,” she stammered. “It’s a real pleasure to meet you.”

Twilight beamed at her and bowed back. “The pleasure’s all mine, Glitter Drops.” She tapped her chin and thought for a moment. “I hope you don’t mind me saying so but you look so familiar. Say, you wouldn’t happen to be Little Fizzy’s mom by any chance, would you?”

As Glitter stood up Tempest could practically feel the excitement radiating off of her.

“That’s right I am!” she practically squealed, teetering forwards on her hooves.

“I thought so, I can see the resemblance,” the princess laughed. “She’s doing so well for the youngest in her class. You must be as proud of her as I am.”

The commander tilted her head slightly. “You know Fizzy, Twilight? How?”

“I make it a habit to visit Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns every week,” Twilight answered happily. “Just to check in. Celestia did the same when I was there so I thought I’d keep up the tradit-”

“EEEEEEEE!” Glitter let out an ecstatic squeal of joy and hopped up and down on the spot, unable to contain herself a moment longer. “I can’t believe it, the Princess of Equestria is proud of my little girl! Just wait until Frob hears about this!” She surged forwards and pulled Twilight into a tight hug of her own, holding her there for a minute or so.

Tempest and Twilight both chuckled at one another as the princess patted her on the back.

It took her a second, but Glitter seemed to realise what she had done, and jumped back. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, your majesty!” she cried, sinking low before her. “Really, I didn’t mean-”

The princess’s warm smile only grew, however as she touched her shoulder and raised her up. “It’s really okay, Glitter. I’m only glad to know Fizzy has a mom as wonderful and supportive as you.”

The young mare’s eyes lit up again as she fought to contain her excitement, dancing on the spot. Tempest gave her a nudge and laughed quietly. “Easy there, Dropsy.”

“Dropsy?” Twilight looked between them in surprise. “Am I wrong or is that childhood nickname?”

Glitter nodded quite happily. “Fizzlepop and I go way back,” she explained. “She was my best friend when we were little, and she’s why my Fizzy is called what she is. Fizz, I mean, ‘Tempest’ here is her godmother, after all.”

The princess’s eyebrows rose up. “Wow. I didn’t expect that,” she said. “I’m really learning a lot about you today, Tempest,” she added with a wink.

Tempest shifted on the spot and looked down at the ground. She was sick of blushing today. “Yeah. You are, aren’t you? Speaking of... what did you and, uh...” She trailed off, and awkwardly rubbed her forelegs together. “How’s Blueblood?”

Twilight inhaled sharply and bit her lip. “He’s actually very nice,” she said. “Very different to how Rarity said he was, I truly believe he’s become a better pony now. As for what he asked me about, well... he asked that I keep it between us.”

Tempest bristled but nodded. “Uh huh, uh huh,” she mumbled. “Where... is he?”

“In there,” the princess replied, pointing to the boutique. “Rarity’s taking his measurements now. It shouldn’t be much longer I don’t think before-”

Before she had even finished speaking, the door to the dress shop swung open. Fancy Pants emerged first, looking as cheerful and chipper as ever, and behind him Blueblood followed. The former’s smile only grew as he spotted the trio of mares outside, and started towards them with a spring in his step.

“Hello, Mrs Glitter Drops!” he cried happily upon reaching them, giving the young mare in question a polite bow. “I hadn’t expected to see you here today, how are you?”

Glitter smiled at him and brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. “Hello, Mr. Fancy Pants. I’m pretty good. I was just passing by when I saw Fiz--Tempest here and I thought I’d say hello before I have to go and pick my daughter up from school.” As his brow furrowed ever so slightly in questioning, she answered before he could even ask. “We’re old friends, you see.”

“Really? I had no idea,” Fancy laughed, his brow rapidly unfurrowing. “What a small world we live in, eh, Blueblood?”

Blueblood nodded, his eyes lighting up with curiosity as he regarded his assistant. “Indeed. Hello, Mrs Glitter. Keeping well, I hope?”

Glitter curtsied and smiled at him. “Hello, sir, Mr. Blueblood. Very well, thank you.”

As the conversation lulled to a complete halt, she puffed her cheeks out and rocked back and forth. “Uh, well, I’d better be going,” she murmured, and turned to Tempest. She put a hoof around her and pulled her into a hug. “Is he looking?” she whispered into her friend’s ear.

Tempest’s eye shifted over to look at Blueblood. He was indeed looking, and appeared rather curious. “Mhm.”

“He’s super into you, girl,” Glitter giggled under her breath before pulling back, leaving the commander to grimace. “It was great seeing you again, Tempest,” she said happily. “Don’t be a stranger, okay?”

“Uh huh. Thanks, Dropsy--Glitter.”

Tempest snorted and turned her head. Why did she care if Blueblood was looking? She broke up with him! Oh, she thought, she sounded like a high schooler. She gave thanks to whoever was listening that Cozy couldn’t see her in this predicament.

Twilight smiled at Glitter as she turned. “Again, super honoured to meet you, Princess,” she said, bowing low before the alicorn.

“It was my pleasure,” the princess laughed, giving her a polite curtsy. “The palace doors are always open if you want to come in and say hello. And tell Fizzy I’m rooting for her, okay?”

Glitter struggled to suppress another squeal of joy as she bowed to both Fancy Pants and the prince, then started away, practically hopping down the street with elation.

Fancy Pants laughed quietly to himself. “Always a treat meeting Mrs Glitter Drops,” he said. “You’ve done well hiring her as your assistant, Blueblood, my lad.”

Blueblood nodded idly. “Yes. Very well,” he murmured, trying not to look at Tempest anymore. “Fancy, should we not-”

“Oh my, yes of course!” Fancy cried, clapping his hooves together as he turned to Twilight. “Princess, yes, what time might we expect you to arrive, my dear?” he asked her cheerfully.

Twilight blinked and twisted her mouth. “I hadn’t actually thought about that,” she admitted. “What time will the other guests be arriving?”

“Oh fashionably late I’d expect,” he chuckled. “Shall we say... nine o’clock? Blueblood, chap, what do you say? You will be hosting the event, after all.”

Blueblood nodded. “Yes... nine seems an agreeable enough time for the frivolities to begin.”

“It’s decided, then. Well, my dear Princess Twilight, it has been a delight, as usual, seeing you again, however we must take our leave of you now.” Fancy Pants bowed his head to the princess, who bowed back at him.

“Same here, Fancy,” she said.

He smiled, then bowed to Tempest. “And yourself, Miss Tempest. A true pleasure.”

Tempest stiffly nodded back at him. “The honour is mine, Mr. Fancy.”

“You are too kind, my dear. Come along, Blueblood, we still need to see about flowers for Fleur. Ha!” The noblepony laughed as he started to saunter off. “Flowers for Fleur. In Prench that would be Fleur por Fleur...”

Blueblood looked to Twilight and gave her a smile. “Until tonight, then, your highness,” he said with a bow. “And... you have my thanks for indulging me in that matter we spoke of.”

Twilight beamed at him as she nodded back. “I’m always happy to help a friend in need, Sir Blueblood.”

Sir Blueblood? Tempest thought. A friend? Just what exactly had they spoken about, she wondered.

The prince’s head twitched slightly as he looked the commander in the eye, and bowed to her like he had to Twilight. “Miss Tempest,” he said softly.

Tempest said nothing as she nodded back at him, and watched as he spun around to hurry after Fancy Pants. She realised she was holding her breath, and let loose a heavy sigh. She needed something to distract herself until she could focus properly tonight. Something to take her mind off of... him at east for a while.

“Racquetball,” she said quietly.

“Huh?” Twilight blinked at her. “Did you say something, Tempest?”

“How do you play racquetball?” Tempest asked her. “Jack told us that you play with her every Thursday?”

The princess blinked again, then broke out into a wide smile. “Ohhh yeah--she’s good,” she laughed. “Tell you what, seeing as how we have some time to kill before the party tonight starts, why don’t I take you down to where we play and you can see for yourself? The owner told me where the key is so we can have a quick one-on-one if you wanna get the basics.”

The commander nodded. “Sure. Okay,” she replied. She didn’t really want to, and nor did she particularly care about racquetball, but she figured it would be a decent enough of a distraction and would hopefully alleviate some of the tension in her neck.

***

Later that night, on their approach to Blueblood’s estate, Twilight was laughing as she and Tempest walked side by side up the cobblestoned path.

“Are you sure you’ve never played racquetball before, Tempest?” the princess joked. “You’re a natural.”

Tempest smiled a little to herself. “Thanks. I’ve always been good at sports, I just don’t like them very much. I can, uh... get a little competitive.”

The princess laughed again and nodded. “Applejack and Rainbow Dash are the same,” she giggled. “Those two knuckleheads are always locking horns, so to speak. This one time they wanted to do race in the running of the leaves--have you heard of it?”

“No.”

“Oh, well, it’s a Ponyville tradition that comes around every fall. So this one time they took off, and ended up getting so frustrated at each other while trying to knock the other out, they didn’t notice I’d already won just by trotting along at my own pace.” Twilight beamed with pride as she recanted the story and instance of her friends being friends.

“What about you?” she continued. “Do any of the Knights get competitive?”

Tempest thought about how Tirek and Chrysalis had their rivalry and snorted. “Yeah. You could say that. Except when Tirek and Chrysalis argue, instead of knocking each other out, they end up trying to kill each other.” She smiled again, remembering just earlier today how they had gotten over a few intense, short, games of chess. “But when it counts they’re good at what they do. Real good. I’m lucky to have them as a team.”

Twilight regarded her curiously. Her mane had been done up into a neat bun atop her head, and her crown rested neatly between her ears. Her long, flowing dress draped across her back and down her back legs, hugging her figure nicely yet still giving her wings enough room to breathe. “Huh,” she murmured quietly.

“What?”

“It’s just... I never thought I’d hear someone speak so highly of Tirek and Chrysalis,” Twilight confessed. “It’s like they’re totally different to the Tirek and Chrysalis I knew. Cozy as well. You’ve really done something special with them, Tempest.”

The commander smiled and lowered her head, picking up the pace as Twilight strode out in front. Blueblood’s estate loomed before them, full of life and light. Quietly dreading tonight’s proceedings, tempest’s smile began to fade.

Twilight appeared to notice and gently nudged her. “Hey. Are you okay?”

Despite the butterflies in her stomach, Tempest nodded. “Yeah,” she murmured. “Fine.”

The princess opened her mouth to say something else as they reached the top, but quietly closed it again as the door valet clipped his hooves together and bowed upon spotting them.

“Your majesty. Commander Shadow,” he said with a wide smile. “An honour to receive you tonight.” His horn lit up in a bright green glow as he pushed the doors open for them and stepped to one side. “My lord Blueblood gives his most sincerest regards, and apologises for his absence tonight.”

The butterflies in Tempest’s stomach started to settle down. “He’s not here?” she asked, a bit too quickly for her liking. “Why?”

“His grace offers you his deepest apologies, however, urgent business has called him elsewhere tonight,” the valet said, rattling it off like he rehearsed it. “He does, however, hope that any in attendance tonight might enjoy the food, particularly the wasabi.”

The commander glanced at Twilight. The princess looked disheartened and bit her lip like she was about to say something, but met her gaze and quickly perked up. “I’m sure it’s fine,” she said with a smile. “Which way do we go?”

“My lord’s banquet hall is past the doors down the end of the corridor,” the valet said, bowing low once again.

Almost at once the princess took to marvelling at how grand the prince’s mansion was. Tempest, however, looked rather nonplussed about it, aside from the fact it was the same as she remembered it. The same portraits of some famous Equestrians hung on the walls, the fanciful wallpaper hadn’t been changed nor the walls themselves redecorated, and the same red and gold carpeting rested underneath their hooves. She spotted a scuff in the red over on their right as they passed it by and she started to smirk, remembering how it got there.

Soon the sounds of music and ponies enjoying themselves began to grow louder and louder. Twilight nudged Tempest’s side and pulled a face. “Are we late?” she asked. “Sounds like there’s already a lot of ponies here. I don’t think we’re late, we should be early if anything, like Fancy said.”

Tempest just shrugged, unsure of what to say. “Maybe your clock is wrong.”

“Tempest my clock is the sun, it literally can’t be wrong.”

They pushed the doors open together and were greeted with a splendid, lavish hall, full of ponies bustling about to and fro, chatting, laughing, some were even singing--badly--very much deep in the throes of a party. Twilight gawked in disbelief.

“Ah, Princess Twilight,” said a well dressed stallion standing close to the door. He bowed low to them. “And Commander Tempest Shadow, of course. Lord Fancy Pants has been awaiting your arrival. Shall I announce you?”

The princess straightened up and nodded politely at him.

“Yes, thank you, sir.”

“My utmost pleasure, ma’am.”

Tempest glanced at her and cocked an eyebrow as he strode forwards. “Are we supposed to follow him?”

“Not yet. There’s a sort of tradition to these things,” Twilight explained. “They ask if you want to be announced, you say yes, you wait, it’s a whole thing.” She bit her lip and held her hoof out. “And you’re, uh, supposed to take my hoof.”

The well dressed stallion raised a hoof to the lapel of his shirt and cleared his throat. “And now presenting!” he called out. “Her royal majesty Princess Twilight Sparkle. And accompanying her: Commander Tempest Shadow of the Nightmare Knights!”

The room fell into silent reverence as Tempest and Twilight stepped forwards, the latter holding the former’s hoof.

Blinded by the spotlight suddenly shining down upon her, Tempest couldn’t see them, but she could feel the dozens of pairs of eyes on her as they descended. Beside her Twilight herself just smiled and looked rather nonplussed, giving off a feel that she was used to this sort of thing.

The commander did not feel the same. Even at this distance, her ear twitched as she overheard the whisperings of some of the partygoers; though many, if not downright all of them, seemed too focused on Twilight to comment on her appearance.

“...Her majesty always looks so elegant, doesn’t she...”

“...Princess Twilight in the divine flesh as I live and breathe...”

“...As regal as Celestia and Luna themselves...”

And so on. Tempest flashed anypony she met eyes with a quick smile and a courteous nod, giving Twilight’s hoof a squeeze as they reached the bottom. “Do you ever feel like they’re vultures?” she whispered.

The princess nudged her and smiled. “You get used to it,” she said quietly. “And besides for ‘vultures’, they’re not all bad. I promise.”

Tempest managed to just barely crack a smile back at her as a familiar face appeared and made himself known.

“Princess Twilight!” Fancy Pants cried, pushing through some of the other guests to greet them, a wide smile plastered across his face. “And Miss Tempest, how wonderful to see you both again. Might I say you are both looking positively radiant this evening?”

Tempest offered him a smile and bowed her head. “Thanks, Mr. Fancy.”

“Hello, Fancy Pants,” Twilight replied, bowing her head before him before glancing at Tempest and then at the room, then finally back at Fancy with an arched eyebrow. “I thought you said everypony would be fashionably late?”

The noblepony laughed and put his hoof over the back of his head. “Ah, yes,” he chortled. “Well when word got out that you would be in attendance, Princess, it appears that everypony else wanted to arrive on time or earlier. I’m afraid you’ve already missed the first round of dancing.” He grimaced, only for it to wash away as he spotted and waved over somepony in particular. “Fleur my darling, my love, come say hello to the princess.

A white mare dressed in a silver, sparkling gown approached and kissed him gently on the cheek, then bowed to the princess. “Hello, your majesty,” Fleur de Lis said softly, gracefully and as elegantly as she herself appeared. The diamonds in her earrings alone must have cost hundreds--no thousands of bits, thought Tempest. “It’s so wonderful to see you again.”

Twilight beamed at her as they kissed one another on the cheek in greeting. “And to you, Fleur. Congratulations on your engagement. You look amazing.”

Fleur chuckled softly. She ran a hoof through her long, silvery mane and smiled. “Thank you, Princess,” she said. “But my dress pales in comparison to yours and that of your companion. Commander Shadow, I do not believe we have had the pleasure.” She curtsied before Tempest and smiled at her.

Tempest realised she was staring at the bride-to-be, and quickly bowed. “No, ma’am, we haven’t,” she answered. “I consider it my privilege to be invited here tonight to meet you all.”

Fleur laughed again and touched her shoulder, raising her up to give her the same greeting she gave Twilight. “It is we who should consider ourselves lucky, Commander,” she said after kissing Tempest’s cheek. “It isn’t every day we get to meet a Nightmare Knight, after all.”

The commander gently graced her cheek with her hoof, feeling the moisture of Fleur’s kiss still linger. “You’ve heard of us?” she murmured.

“I like to keep up with current events,” Fleur answered. “Plus, I must confess it’s hard not to, the Nightmare Knights are the talk of Canterlot these days.”

Tempest grimaced and glanced towards a group of haughty looking nobles as they cast several disdainful glances towards her. “Yeah I can imagine,” she grumbled.

Fancy Pants glanced towards the same group and chortled softly. “My advice is to pay them no heed, Miss Tempest,” he said. “Some ponies will never be happy with what they have, and so look for flaws in everything and everyone else. But they aren’t all bad, I assure you.”

The princess nudged Tempest again and wiggled her eyebrows, stifling a giggle. The commander simply rolled her eyes and smiled back at him. “I’ll keep that in mind, Mr. Fancy.”

“Fancy, dear,” said Fleur, tugging at the groom-to-be’s leg and looking over towards an elderly mare near the buffet table. “I believe Madame de Gateau is attempting to spike the punch. We wouldn’t want her to cause a scene again, would we? You remember last time?”

Fancy sighed and bristled his moustache. “Aha,” he laughed drily. “No we most certainly would not my dear old aunt to cause another scene.” He smiled apologetically at Twilight. “I hope you don’t mind, Princess, but I’m afraid we will have to cut this reunion of ours short.”

“It’s okay, Fancy,” Twilight chuckled. “If you don’t mind I’ll come with you, though. I’m a bit thirsty.”

“Of course, of course. Would you care for anything for yourself, Miss Tempest?”

Tempest shook her head and scanned the crowd. “No thanks.”

“Very well.” He bowed and extended his hoof to Twilight. “Shall we, Princess? I promise to do my utmost to defend you from sycophants and naysayers alike. I’m joking, of course,” he hastily added when she raised a sceptical eyebrow. “Ahem. Yes, well.” He smiled sheepishly and gestured away.

Twilight broke out into a smile as she took his hoof and allowed herself to be led away. “Don’t cause too much trouble,” she said to Tempest on her way past, leaving just the commander and the bride-to-be alone.

The elegant mare suddenly sagged her shoulders and rubbed her neck. “Ugh,” she groaned. “I tell you, it’s exhausting acting like one of them all day.”

Tempest cocked an eyebrow. “Acting?” she asked, curious.

“Hm, I may be a socialite now, Commander, but I’m a soldier at heart,” the elegant mare laughed, smiling and bowing slightly as some nobleponies passed them by and offered their congratulations to her.

The commander just stared at her, mouth agape and with eyes widening so much they threatened to pop out of her head. “You’re a what?”

Fleur’s face took on a far more serious edge for a second. She straightened up, snapped her legs together and raised a hoof to her head. “Lieutenant Fleur de Lis of Her Majesty Celestia’s Royal Corps.” She smiled and laxed her rigid muscles, appearing once more like the soft-faced Canterlot mare. “Retired, though, now.”

Tempest blinked slowly. It clicked in her head then that while Fancy called her ‘Miss’ Tempest, his fiancée had only addressed her by rank so far. She continued to just stare for a moment, even as a small smile began to play over her face. Then she raised a hoof to her own head. “I didn’t know you were in the royal guard,” she chuckled.

“You wouldn’t be the first to assume otherwise.” Fleur clicked her tongue and sighed as she looked around at the crowd. “My past occupation hasn’t exactly done me any favours in this type of society.” Her lips pursed for a moment and her brow tightened as she glanced back at Tempest. “Something you can relate to, maybe?”

The commander’s smile faded, and Fleur appeared to sense she had made a mistake.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

Tempest simply raised her hoof and shook her head. “It’s alright... Lieutenant.” She smiled despite her now somewhat dampened attitude. “Besides, it’s not like you’re wrong.”

Fleur breathed a sigh of relief and brushed some of her silver hair behind her ear. “Be that as it may, I offended you and I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. And please, call me Fleur.”

The dark mare nodded. “Only if you call me just Tempest.”

“Deal. Just Tempest.”

Tempest rolled her eyes. “Har har. Very funny.”

Fleur let out a hearty laugh and rested her hoof on the commander’s shoulder. “Captain Shining Armour always did say I have a sense of humour.”

The dark mare frowned curiously. “Shining Armour? The prince-regent of the Crystal Empire?”

“I didn’t know you kept up with nobility,” Fleur chuckled. “Yes, the very same, though I knew him when he was the Captain of the Royal Guard.” A distant and far-off look appeared in her eye. “I do miss it sometimes you know? Going on patrols. Bunking with my squadmates. Tackling ne’er do wells into the mud.” She smiled as a posh looking couple passed them by and laughed quietly. “I don’t think I can get away with it now.”

Tempest bobbed along with her as she spoke. “What changed?” she asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I fell in love.”

The bluntness of her words sent a flash of green eyes in her mind and gave the commander pause. “Really? How did you guys meet?”

Fleur smiled. “I was freshly off duty and I’d decided to take a stroll through the park, when I came upon a couple of thuggish ponies I’d had a few previous run-ins with strong-hoofing a certain stallion into giving them some bits. Naturally I sent them packing, and that’s when I met him.” She cooed softly to herself and half closed her eyes, remembering it with no small amount of fondness. “Fancy Pants was so grateful for my assistance that he insisted on taking me out to dinner. And I’ll be the first to admit I was smitten. He was so charming and handsome--how could I refuse? Long story short, I put in my resignation from the guard after a few weeks after that and, as they say, the rest is history.”

She sighed in content and grinned, lowering her voice to a hushed whisper. “And, between us military girls. Fancy loves it when I wear the armour.”

The commander snort-laughed, quickly covering her mouth to hide her growing smirk. “You’re terrible.”

“Guilty as charged.”

It was strange, and extremely unexpected to say the least, but Tempest felt a fast friendship forming with the lieutenant-turned-socialite. If nothing else came from tonight, then she supposed she had made a friend. She smiled, more to herself than anything else.

“Lady de Lis,” a calm, but deep and rumbling voice, not unlike Tirek’s, suddenly said as a stallion approached them. “Allow me to offer you congratulations on your engagement. Might I add as well that you are practically glowing tonight.”

As Fleur extended her hoof to him, Tempest felt her blood run cold. From his finely pointed horn jutting proudly up from his neatly combed arctic blue mane to his cutie mark, a king chess piece in a deep maroon colour, emblazoned upon the soft pink coat of his flank, there was exactly one pony who he could be.

Her jaw tightened and she straightened her neck.

“Thank you, Lord Borealis,” Fleur said, smiling at him as he leaned down to take and kiss her hoof, confirming Tempest’s all but certain suspicions. “You are too kind.” She gestured to the commander beside her. “Have you met my friend, Commander Tempest Shadow?”

Tempest would have been touched by the gesture of her words, were it anypony else standing in front of her.

Lord Glow’s pale green--not scarlet like Cozy’s, she made note of that--eyes met hers. Despite his warm smile, she felt a chill run along her spine. “I have not, my lady,” he said, bowing to her as well. “Though I am deeply honoured to. Princess Twilight has already told me a great many things about her.”

Tempest glared at him, deigning to only incline her head precisely one eighth of an inch forwards. “Likewise. Lord Glow.”

Concern flickered across Fleur’s face for a moment as she watched them, however Lord Glow seemed unfazed by the commander’s almost hostile attitude. In fact, he seemed entertained by it from the way he chuckled as he stood back up.

“The princess also told me you might have a reaction to my presence, given the nature of your...” He paused, searching for the word. “...associates, Commander. More specifically, of the relationship you share with my daughter and her role within your organisation.”

Tempest flicked her ear and inhaled sharply. Her growing temper was starting to get harder to reign in, and threatened to rear its head when his face showed visible displeasure at the mere mention of Cozy. “Twilight said that you wanted to speak to me about something... Lord Glow,” she said, hoping to get him to the point and be done with him. “What is it?”

Lord Glow’s eyes flashed and a smile graced his lips. “Indeed I do, Commander. Though I hesitate to say, but I believe we share a concern over the actions of a certain... individual.”

Fleur’s ear flicked as she looked to them both curiously.

Tempest, however, widened her eyes in understanding and turned sharply to the lieutenant turned socialite. “Fleur,” she said quietly, “I hope you don’t mind us cutting our conversation short.”

“Of course not, Commander,” the bride-to-be said, nodding at her. “I understand entirely, and besides I believe Fancy requires my assistance,” she added, looking over to her fiancé as he conversed with a large mare. She looked back to the commander and smiled, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek in goodbye. “If you or the Knights ever need anything, never hesitate to ask, Commander. You will always have friends in Canterlot.”

It wasn’t hard for Tempest to smile despite the current circumstances. “Thanks. Sure, Fleur.”

Fleur beamed at her then curtsied to the lord. “Lord Borealis. Always a pleasure.”

“As it is for me, Lady de Lis.”

As she turned, her horn ignited and she plucked a tall glass of champagne off of a passing waiter’s tray.

The commander inhaled through her nostrils as she watched Fleur go. From the corner of her eye she could see Lord Glow looking directly at her. She sighed and faced him. “Where did you have in mind you wanted to talk?” she said quietly. “The garden?”

Lord Glow arched an eyebrow upwards. “I’m afraid Prince Blueblood’s gardens are under reconstruction, as I understand it,” he replied. “Otherwise a fine suggestion, Commander. But no, I had a far more public place in mind.”

Tempest frowned. “Public?” she asked, just as music suddenly, and as if on cue, filled the air. She watched several ponies begin to pair off and fan out into the centre of the room, taking each other by the hoof. The realisation of what he meant hit her hard when she saw Lord Glow with his hoof extended to her, and a devilish grin across his muzzle.

“Would you care to dance, Commander?” he asked her. “After all, this is a ball, is it not?”

She stared at him in complete disbelief and no small amount of shock.

“Come now, Commander,” he condescendingly chuckled upon seeing her hesitance. “Surely you have heard of the term hiding in plain sight?”

Tempest’s ear flicked, listening to the soft, gentle music playing in the background. She quickly regained her senses and sucked in some air between her teeth. It was all for a good cause, she told herself, as, with a tentative and forced smile, she reached out to take the lord’s hoof. “Alright. Let’s get this over with.”

“How charming.” Lord Glow smiled back at her. Tempest suspected it was as false as hers. She tried her best to ignore the bewildered looks from some of the other guests as they strode out hoof in hoof and took their places. “Have you ever danced a waltz before, Commander?” Glow asked her.

Tempest tensed up realising just what exactly she had gotten herself into as she saw them all take up positions and immediately start to dance.

He smiled, cocky and sure of himself. “If not, it is easy enough to understand,” he said, holding her hoof out to one side. “Follow my lead and do as I do. But the true aim of such a display is not to dance as one might think, but to create a spectacle so mesmerising ponies are more focused on what you are doing than what you are saying.”

The commander wrinkled her nose as they started to step this way and that in time with the gentle music playing in the background. “Hidden in plain sight...” she repeated. “I get it.”

“Precisely. You’re a fast learner, Commander,” Lord Glow chuckled softly. “I will add as well: I often find myself thinking that certain conversations are far more mesmerising than a fancy bit of hoofwork. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“What do you know, Lord Glow?” Tempest quickly asked as they moved, hoping to cut to the chase. “About Grogar and Bray? The princess said she told you everything-”

“Ah, ah,” Lord Glow cooed, tittering softly. “Patience, Commander. There is an order to these things.”

The commander grit her teeth and turned her ears back. Lord Glow was indeed as insufferable as she had imagined him to be. Why was he playing games now? He had her where he wanted, they were talking... and dancing--ugh--but sure, they were both here. What did he want from her?

“If you would indulge me, Commander, I have some questions,” he said finally.

Tempest clenched her teeth together and nodded stiffly. “Go on then.”

“Do you think Equestria is the greatest country on Equus?”

She stumbled slightly, caught off guard by his words. He quickly caught her, however, and flashed her a smile as he helped her straighten up--all while making it look like it was part of their routine. She took a breath to compose herself before answering. “I think that everypony is entitled to their opinion, Lord Glow,” she said curtly and firmly, “but I would never call Equestria the greatest as to not offend any other creature. In times like these we need as many friends as we can get.”

She arched one eyebrow up as he fell silent for a moment, regarding her curiously. “My, oh my, Commander,” he chuckled. “I had no idea you were such a politician.”

As the music picked up slightly he stepped forwards and lifted her hoof up and around her head, twirling her on the spot to the tune of some quiet gasps and oohs and aahs, before pulling her back into him.

Tempest flared her nostrils in irritation at him as they came to a stop in front of each other. She could see what he meant by the crowd more focused on what they doing than what they were saying.

Lord Glow narrowed his eyes slightly at her as they began to circle. “Though I will say: to each their own,” he smirked. “But I think it doesn’t hurt to be alert, now does it? For instance, I noticed the moment you walked in the room. Most everypony else was watching the princess, as rightfully they should she is divine, but beside her I noticed you, Commander Shadow.”

The commander felt a shiver run along her spine. “Oh?” she said, trying to hide her disdain.

“How could I not?” he replied, all while matching her gaze with his own. “You are a curiosity to many, Commander, and a matter of concern to no small few.”

Tempest bristled ever so slightly. “And what... am I to you, Lord Glow? A curiosity, or a concern?”

The old stallion chuckled again. She was really starting to hate that sound. “A little of both, if I must say,” he said coyly. “To think, the Knight-Commander of the Nightmare Knights, once an invader of our country, has become one of her heroes. Fate is a fickle mistress is she not? As for friend or foe, do you know who can be trusted?”

“Are you saying there are ponies here who can’t be trusted?”

“Don’t be naïve, Commander, I know you aren’t.”

Lord Glow’s face fell as they both twirled, clasping their hooves together. Tempest could feel the eyes of the other guests on her, and she could hear them whispering about her.

“The truth of the matter is, Commander,” Lord Glow continued in a low voice. “In the nest of vipers, we are all alone.”

Borealis let out a short sigh as they separated, taking a few steps back. He held his hoof out to her. Tempest looked at it, then him, and saw out the corner of her eye that they were alone on the dance floor now. Even Fancy Pants and Fleur, even Twilight, seemed glued to where they stood in awe of the dancing pair. Over Lord Glow’s shoulder, Tempest spotted a flash of a tall, white stallion, his piercing blue eyes meeting hers.

“Enough games,” she muttered as she took Lord Glow’s hoof again. “What do you know, Lord Glow? Tell me.”

He smiled at her. “It cannot have escaped your notice that there are certain ponies here, stallions and mares alike, that have their own machinations in play. Whether they be speaking with our beloved princess, or merely hoping to snag a rich and influential playmate.”

The commander snorted derisively. “I thought machinations were Canterlot’s number one sport. That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Mhm. Look.”

Lord Glow nodded to the crowd, in particular an older stallion wearing a hat adorned in ridiculously large feather plumage, and then at the young mare beside him gazing up at him in total adoration.

“That strutting peacock is Lord Commander Flash Heart of the Wonderbolts,” Glow said. “Do you see him? Long since retired, of course, but that doesn’t stop him from flaunting his status and wealth in any and all attempts to find a new beau when he grows bored of whoever currently hangs on his leg. Poor girl, she has no idea she’ll be as irrelevant tomorrow as last week’s pudding. And there.”

He pointed again, this time to the elderly mare Tempest had seen Fancy Pants attempt to deal with.

“Lady Baroness Chocolat de Gateau of Prance. Lord Fancy Pants’s own aunt. She came here in the hopes to use her nephew’s fiancée to further her own enterprises--an endorsement from Lady de Lis goes a long way in their hometown, you see.”

Tempest eyed them carefully, then glanced back at Glow. “What are you getting at?”

He stopped smiling as they twirled around the floor again. “We all have ulterior motives for being here, Commander. Aside from perhaps Lord Fancy and Lady de Lis. Even you and I, and dear Princess Twilight herself are not here to show our support for the happy couple. No, instead we are here to further our own goals, whatever they may be.”

“And what are your goals, Lord Glow?” the commander growled.

Lord Glow looked her in the eye as they came to another halt.

“I wish to make a trade.”

Tempest narrowed her eyes at him. “What kind of trade?”

“I have specialised information of your enemy’s plans,” he told her. “By which I mean, I have found a passage that dictates precisely what Bray may do in order to resurrect the dark lord. It goes without saying: you need my help, Commander. You need this information I possess. Without it you cannot possibly hope to succeed.”

The dark mare visibly tensed up. “And what do you want in return?” she asked him.

“My daughter. Cozy Glow will leave the Nightmare Knights and return to her family and continue her studies.”

The commander stopped dancing, leaving him hanging. “What?” she breathed, her pupils rapidly shrinking. “What did you say?”

Lord Glow sighed and pursed his lips. “Oh, please, Commander, one small girl is no cog in your great machine. Clever though she is, I do not believe my daughter is anything more than a hindrance to you. Allow me to take her off of your hooves so that you may-”

She swiftly took a step forwards and swung her hoof. The crack she made as she connected with his cheek rang out in the hall as the music abruptly screeched to a halt. Silence reigned supreme as he landed on his flank, holding a hoof to the growing welt on his face in appalled horror.

“Never. Insult. Cozy. In front of me,” Tempest hissed as she stood over him, her eyes blazing with fury.

Glow’s calm and condescending demeanour evaporated as he stared at her. “Commander, don’t be foolish,” he quickly snapped in disgust. “The information I have is extremely valuable. What is one child, a pegasus at that, for the safety of the world?”

Tempest’s rage got the better of her. Her eyes shrank even further as she took a few steps forward, winding her hoof back to hit him again. Fear flashed across the lord’s face as he tried to scramble backwards away from her. Just before she reached him, Tempest felt the warm touch of magic wash over her as purple swallowed her vision.

“Tempest what do you think you’re doing?” Twilight furiously demanded of her, spreading her wings to shield Glow from her wrath. They stood a mere few inches apart, more than close enough to smell each other’s breaths. “This was not what we talked about! Apologise at once to Lord Glow.”

Tempest flared her nostrils and scraped a hoof along the ground, too angry to explain herself. Too angry to say anything. Her horn crackled, showering sparks down around her.

The princess puffed her chest out, standing toe to toe and eye to eye with her. “Stand down, Commander,” she ordered coldly, her voice dripping with authority it send sent ripples of fear through the crowd. “Now.”

Tempest regained control of her senses and shifted her fierce gaze over at the alicorn. Her horn reluctantly stopped fizzing. She grit her teeth and clenched her jaw, raising her head up high as she backed down. “Fine,” she spat.

Seemingly satisfied for the time being, Twilight folded her wings back to her sides and spun around. Lord Glow slowly stood up with the help of some nobleponies, the aforementioned Lord Commander Flash Heart and Fleur among them. He patted Fleur’s hoof affectionately and gave the commander a nod. “Thank you, my lord and lady,” he murmured, gingerly touching his cheek and wincing in pain. When he noticed Twilight staring at him he straightened up and adjusted the collar of his shirt.

“It would seem, Princess,” he said in a little over a growl, “that the Commander is not as receptive to my bargain as you had hoped.” He looked at Tempest over her shoulder. “Though I will still uphold my end of it,” he sneered. “And share with you what I know for the safety of my country.”

Twilight let out a sharp sigh of relief and bowed to him. “Oh thank you, Lord Glow,” she said, moving to block his and Tempest’s eyeline to reduce any chance of another incident. “I’m so sorry this happened. Please, allow me to-”

“That will be quite alright, Princess. I will heal, and the damage appears to be non-lasting. And please, I beg that you do not bow to me. It is we who should bow to you.” As he spoke he bowed low. Behind Twilight Tempest snorted in contempt and cast her eyes away.

The princess smiled back at him as he stood back up. “Even so, Lord Glow, I’ll tell Director Starlight that the Knights owe you a fine at the least.”

He appeared hesitant, but nodded at her and bowed respectfully. “If it is your will, Princess.”

“It is. I insist.”

Quietly stewing in a rage that threatened to boil over again as she watched them interact, Tempest turned away. Out the corner of her eye she saw Twilight’s head snap towards her and subsequently felt a pair of violet eyes burrow into her.

She didn’t care.

She needed air. Space, something--anything--just a moment away from here to clear her head and think straight, to attempt to calm. Over to one side of the hall she spotted a large set of doors and, if her memory was right, they’d lead out to a balcony. The night air might help calm her seething emotions, she thought. As she marched towards them with long, heavy steps the crowd parted like waves before her. Each member of Canterlot’s high society avoided looking at her, but didn’t refrain from whispering about her.

“...Imagine acting in such a way in front of the princess...”

“...Wasn’t she the one who led the invasion of Canterlot a few years back...”

“...I heard she lingers with the most abhorrent malcontents imaginable...”

And so on.

Instead of being surrounded by vultures as she had told Twilight, she imagined herself now surrounded by hyenas, hungry to rip her apart and devour her. After what felt like a mile she finally reached the doors. She pushed them open with a forceful kick and strode out, quickly slamming them closed behind her. She rested her hoof against the door for a moment, trying to compose herself while shaking and trembling with fury.

With a grunt, she turned and marched towards the balustrade and gazed out over Equestria. Her home. Full of ponies who hated her. Hated her team in spite of what they did, of how they protect them from ghosts and demons and who knows what else.

She clenched her jaw and flattened her ears down as Bray’s treacherous words made themselves known in her mind.

And as she played back what Lord Glow had said about Cozy her blood ignited in her veins. “Who does he think he is, talking about her like that?” she snarled to herself. “His own daughter...”

Her ear flicked as she heard the doors open behind her. She sighed and stiffened her neck.

“Twilight, I’m not in the mood for a lecture,” she began, slowly turning to stare down the princess. “I told you, I wouldn’t-”

Only, it wasn’t Twilight who had come to see her. It was Blueblood. He arched one eyebrow upwards and regarded her curiously as he closed the doors behind him.

“You...” Tempest murmured. Great. That was all she needed now. Of all ponies to follow her out here, why him? She flinched and shook her head, realising she was staring, then turned back around. “What are you doing here?” she grunted.

“This is my home,” he answered as he approached her. “Am I not free to go where I please within its grounds?” He came to a stop just beside her, standing at least a leg length’s away from her.

The commander sighed and ran a hoof over her hair. “Yeah... I suppose you are...” She glanced at him out the corner of her eye. “The guy at the door said you wouldn’t be in attendance tonight.”

Blueblood scratched his chin. “Ah. Yes, well. When I saw you accompanying the princess to Miss Rarity’s dress shop I was... surprised, to say the least. I did not know what to say. Or do.” He sighed heavily. “I even asked the princess for advice regarding the matter, using a complicated metaphor of a ‘friend of a friend’.” He grimaced. “I think she saw right through me, however.”

The sincerity of his words made Tempest’s nose tingle.

“And even with her advice, I was still at a loss of what to do,” Blueblood continued. “So, perhaps childishly, I chose to occupy myself with my work, forgoing attending tonight’s event. Until I could bear it no longer.” He turned to face her completely. “I had to see you, if only for a moment across the room, and I am glad, most certainly, that I did not miss your...” His brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed at her. “Display.”

“Don’t,” Tempest muttered. “I’m gonna get an earful from Twilight--probably Starlight too, I don’t need one from you.”

Blueblood blinked, untensing his forehead. “Oh, no you you misunderstand me, Miss Tempest.”

The commander lifted her head up and wrinkled her nose. “What?”

“You see, while Lord Glow indeed has many friends here,” he replied, “I am not one of them. In fact, I think Borealis Glow is an insufferable arse who always lords his family heritage above the rest of us.” He sighed again. “When I say I am glad I saw your display, I mean that I am glad to see you hit him.” His face grew dark and he looked away. “In truth, when I saw you dancing with him I wanted to hit him myself. A lady such as yourself deserves a better dancing partner than that... blasted stallion.”

As Tempest looked right at him she could feel the anger was starting to fade--not entirely--but at least she could think clearer now.

“You look beautiful tonight, Miss Tempest,” Blueblood said in a little over a murmur, glancing at her with one eye. He started on the spot when he saw her looking at him, and turned his head to face hers in response.

Her eyes flicked down to his barrelled chest and his broad shoulders underneath his pristine white coat. Them, coupled with his chiselled features and thick wavy locks of hair made a small blush begin to creep across her cheeks. “You’re not so bad yourself...” she murmured back.

Blueblood seemed to swell with pride and beamed at her. “A compliment! And here I thought...” His face suddenly fell. “Well...”

Tempest sighed. There it was. The guilt. “Listen, it’s not that I didn’t like you, Blueblood, I did. I do,” she said earnestly. “It’s just I don’t... when you proposed I didn’t... feel it.” She looked down to the ground. “I’m sorry but I couldn’t say yes to you.”

He said nothing for a few moments, simply staring at her. Then he nodded sadly. “I understand. I can see now that it was sudden, overtly so.” He straightened up and clicked his hooves together. “I apologise profusely to you, Miss Tempest, for putting you in that position.”

Tempest stared at him as his head bowed so low he almost touched the ground. “You’re... please stand up,” she mumbled. “You’re apologising to me?”

“Am I not supposed to?” he said as he rose back up.

“I... well no,” she protested. “You asked me to marry you and I said no; you should... be sad, maybe? Furious? Is that what you were trying to do at Rarity’s?”

Blueblood’s blue eyes met hers again and he smiled. “I... suppose it was, yes, albeit it very poorly and not thought out entirely,” he replied. “And yes, I was sad. For a time. Heartbroken, one might even say. But after some consoling from those close to me I certainly realised my error. And so I apologise for putting you in that position. I hope you may forgive me, and that some day what we shared may be found again.”

She stared at him. Her ear flicked as an itch made itself known. At a loss for words, she didn’t know what to say. “I, uh...”

The leaves of a nearby tree rustled gently in the cool wind. She didn’t realise how close they had grown to one another. The pair of ponies gazed deep into the other’s eyes before leaning in closer to each other, so much so Tempest could smell the shampoo he used.

The sudden sound of doors opening followed by clip-trot of of a certain set of purple hooves made Tempest jerk back away from him and look away. Blueblood similarly stepped back and looked around. “Ah, Princess,” he called. “Wonderful to see you again.”

Tempest went as stiff as a board as she looked over to Twilight. She swallowed and raised a hoof to her head. “Princess,” she said curtly.

Twilight nodded at her and smiled at Blueblood. “Hello, Blueblood,” she said coolly. “I didn’t realise you were out here.”

“I managed to finish up my work early and so I thought I’d attend my own party,” he chortled. “Miss Tempest and I were just about finished, however, if you needed her.”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

“By all means, by all means.”

Blueblood smiled at Tempest and bowed his head again. “Until next time, Miss Tempest,” he said, raising her hoof to his lips.

Tempest bowed her head back at him, still unsure of what to say. Her heart pounded away in her chest and in her ears. All she could think was:

Dammit Glitter Drops...

As he returned to the party hall and closed the doors behind him, the tension grew between commander and princess.

“What were you thinking?” Twilight asked her. “I asked you to be nice to him, and you punch him? In front of everypony else?”

Tempest’s temper flared up again. “Twilight, he said he wanted Cozy,” she said, trying, and failing, to stay calm. “He wanted to take her away from the Knights. And I told you I wouldn’t be held responsible if he said anything against her. Well guess what, he did. So I punched him.”

The princess flinched as the dark mare stamped her hoof and rustled her wings. “I know, I remember. But if you remember, I only asked that you didn’t hit him. You’re my guest here tonight, Tempest, my plus one. Anything you do reflects off of me, and the last thing I need while I’m dealing with this Grogar stuff is a bunch of stuffed-shirt vultures breathing down my neck about ‘proper decorum’.” Her tone was serious but her eyes were friendly, alleviating some of Tempest’s tension.

The commander snorted. “Alright fine, yeah you did. But it’s not like it matters--you heard him in there, he’s gonna give you what you want anyway and uphold his end of the ‘bargain’.”

“Yeah thankfully,” Twilight murmured with audible relief. “With his help we just might be able to get a leg up on the bad guys.”

Tempest narrowed her eyes. “He said he has very valuable information. The kind where if we didn’t get it we couldn’t win.”

“Good. The more we know the better.” The princess shook her head but smiled all the same. “You leave it with me, Tempest, I’ll make sure that you won’t have to deal with him again.”

“Thanks. Can you imagine if Chrysalis or Tirek were here tonight? They would have killed him.” For daring to suggest taking away their filly? Of course they would, she thought.

“Don’t I know it?” Twilight laughed nervously. She looked up at the clear night sky and tapped her hoof on the cold stone beneath them. “Hey, Fancy Pants said that the fireworks were about to start. I think we have a pretty good view here for when the fireworks start, you wanna watch them with me?”

Tempest bobbed her head. “Sure, might as well, right?”

The princess trotted up next to her and took a deep breath of cool air, inhaling all the scents of the night. “I love it when it’s like this you know,” she murmured. “So nice and calm... and romantic.”

“Romantic?” As soon the word left her mouth the commander realised she’d taken the bait, and groaned inwardly when Twilight leaned in close to her.

“Yeah romantic,” the princess said, grinning from ear to ear. “Did you guys make up? You and Blueblood? I saw how close you were to each other.”

Tempest rolled her eyes and pushed Twilight’s face away. “Yeah, I guess we did. Sort of.” Truthfully her mind was still reeling from his reaction and his apology to her. “But I’m... glad we did.” Another truth, one less thing for her to worry about anyway.

“He’s crazy about you, Tempest,” the princess said softly, resting her wing across the commander’s back. “He told me so himself.”

The dark mare looked away and let out a low grumble. “Uh huh.”

“Alright, alright, grumpy,” the princess giggled, bumping her gently. “I’m glad things got sorted out, though. You’d make a cute couple.”

“Stoooop.”

Twilight’s infectious giggling filled the air and soon made Tempest smile as well.

“Speaking of couple, how are Fancy and Fleur?” she asked. “I didn’t ruin their party too bad did I?”

“Oh no, not at all,” Twilight replied, then immediately winced. “I mean, well kinda--a little bit--but Fancy has such a way with words everything went pretty much back to normal shortly after you came out here. To be honest when they started getting all cosy with each other I was starting to feel like a third wheel.”

“Yeah I’ll bet. And where’s Lord Glow?” the commander asked. “I figured he’d want to talk to you about your ‘deal’.”

“I thought so too but he, uh... went home,” Twilight grimaced. “Said he had some things to attend to. Did you know Fleur used to be in the royal guard like my brother? I had no idea, how cool is that, right?”

It wasn’t lost on Tempest that Twilight wanted to move on from Lord Glow. In truth, she did as well and was grateful for the opportunity to do so. “Yeah, she told me.”

“Neat, huh? She always seems so elegant, it’s hard to imagine her chasing criminals.” Twilight’s smile faded briefly as the conversation lulled and a rising tension grew between them. “Tempest, I want to you know--what happened in there--I’m on your side,” she said quietly. “It’s just I have duties... responsibilities. I didn’t want to tell you off in front of everypony like that, but what kind of princess would I be if I didn’t? And y’know, it’s not like I would let any of my other A-grade friends punch anypony.”

The commander sighed and heaved her shoulders, shaking her head slowly from side to side. “I know.” She cracked a smile at the princess. “But what kind of legal guardian would I be if I didn’t hit whoever’s trying to take Cozy away?”

Twilight’s smile returned as she stretched and flexed her wings.

“Wait a minute,” Tempest suddenly said, “did you say ‘A-grade’ friends?”

“Of course I did.” The princess gave her a rather confused look. “Did you think you were anything otherwise?”

Tempest couldn’t help but smile. “No. Not really. But Jack owes me some bits, I think.”

The first of the fireworks started to go up then, whooshing into the air with a loud whistle before popping and sprinkling sparks throughout the open sky, followed by more and more. Several oohs and ahhs came form some open windows as the party goers watched in delight.

Interlude Part III: Cabal

Borealis Glow stormed through the halls of his home in a quiet rage. The magic-held lamps cast long shadows around him, their lights reflecting off of the finely polished floors, walls, and even the ceiling, such was the lavishness of the Glow mansion.

As he passed by a portrait of his late beloved Starshine, he paused to pay his respects to her as he always did. Borealis closed his eyes and touched the tip of his horn to the base of her portrait, thinking back on the events of the night. The red welt on his cheek still stung and burned, more with indignity than pain.

He grimaced and cracked his shoulders, pulling his head away from the portrait, his eyes narrowing in anger.

As if tonight hadn’t gone badly enough.

First, his plans to acquire Cozy and prevent her from bringing any further shame to their family anymore had been put unexpectedly on hold, all because that disgrace of a unicorn, Tempest Shadow, had the gall to strike him across the face in front of all of the self serving, so-called nobility of Canterlot. And now... now he was forced to deal with...

Them.

The baleful wretches that deigned to make his ancestral home their safehouse while they schemed and plotted in the shadows.

To add a further insult, not only did they use his ancestral home as their safehouse, the mangy curs, but their leader had had the sheer brazen audacity to summon him. Him! In his own house!

Such it was that he was left with no choice but to immediately respond and excuse himself from Lord Fancy Pants’s engagement ball, if only so that these malcontents may learn their rightful place under his, and all of ponykind’s, hooves.

He turned swiftly and continued marching down the corridor until finally he came upon his study. After cracking his thin but muscular shoulders, he pushed open the door and surged forwards, scowling at the creatures within. “I will not be summoned like I am some mongrel pup,” he snarled, putting as much disdain and authority as he could into his voice.

The crackling fireplace was the only answered he received as a majority of the wretched creatures sullying his property silently glared at him.

The snow-white, pink-eyed earth pony mare flicked her tongue out in displeasure, swaying on the spot like a serpent. As he understood it, Borealis supposed that was a given due to her... unique nature.

Then on the other side of the room, the changelings watched him with the savage cunning he expected of their verminous kind, one sporting three legs and the other reeking of decay and rot. Borealis quickly composed himself to keep from gagging at the foul stench and pressed on, coming to a halt by their ringleader, and the primary source of his disgust: a donkey, of all things.

An ordinary-looking, mud brown donkey with long ears and green eyes, casually nursing a glass of his host’s finest brandy.

“Apparently,” that same donkey said, raising his glass to his mouth for another sip. “You will.” He smiled and looked up at the lord. “How are you, Lord Glow? Keeping well, I trust?” His eyes flashed as they travelled over his cheek. “Judging by that mark I take it you have met the good commander?”

His words were twinged with an almost sort of admiration for that wretched breakhorn. It sickened Borealis, and he let out a cautionary growl as his answer, levelling a hoof in the creature’s direction.

“Do not test me, Bray,” he snarled, spitting his name out like it left a bad taste in his mouth. “This is my house. It is by my will that you and your despicable cohorts are allowed to reside here.”

At the insult the earth pony mare let out a soft hiss while one of the changelings, the three-legged one, stifled a quiet giggle behind her hoof.

Bray simply looked at the lord with a calm, collected smile and gestured to the seat opposite from him. “Be that as it may, my lord, won’t you join me?” he said, raising up and balancing the glass he was tending to on his hoof. “Would you care for a drink? It really is delicious, I commend you for your taste.”

Stunned only for a moment by the donkey’s brazenness, Lord Glow soon felt his anger overcome him. With one swing of his hoof he batted the glass away, sending it smashing to the floor and causing the golden-brown liquid to seep into the carpet.

“Do not. Test me,” he repeated, lowering his voice to a growl.

The silence of the others grew heavy with tension as they waited to see what their ringleader’s response would be.

But Bray himself looked rather nonplussed, if anything only a bit disappointed. “A simple ‘no’ would have sufficed. What a waste,” he muttered as the scent of brandy wafted up their noses. He leaned back and again gestured to the seat across from him. “But no matter. Now... please. Sit.”

Not an offer but a command, the donkey’s last word sent a shiver to run down Borealis’s spine as he looked into the eyes of madness itself. A lower form of equine life though he may be, it was clear to Lord Glow that Bray certainly held no small amount of power--he had to, after all, given the company he travelled with. He swallowed his pride, and his fear, and reluctantly, begrudgingly, sat down across from him.

“Wonderful,” said Bray, the warmth quickly returning to his voice. “Now, first you must tell me, how fares the dear princess? Did she believe you will aid her as we discussed?”

“Yes,” Borealis answered curtly, turning his head to one side. “Twilight Sparkle remains none the wiser to my true allegiance.” He glanced at Bray out the corner of his eye and curled his lip. “But I highly doubt you did not call upon me for an update on the princess. Say what you will and be done with it.”

His unwelcome guest’s eyes flashed and he raised a hoof to his chest. “Your true allegiance, was that, Lord Glow? My, my, I never knew we meant that much to you,” he practically giggled.

A scowl formed along Lord Glow’s forehead. He immediately turned to face him and leaned forwards in his chair. “My allegiance lies with Equestria,” he growled, pointing a cautionary hoof at the creature. “A true Equestria, led by its rightful rulers. Not to you, not to a child groomed by Celestia to replace her, and certainly not to this... Cabal as you call them.”

A condescending smile spread across Bray’s face as he squinted his eyes. “Mhm. Be that as it may,” he said after a few moments. “You are correct, my lord, for an issue far more troublesome than that of Twilight Sparkle has arisen and I would discuss it with you.”

“Issue?” Borealis narrowed his eyes and slowly leaned back again. “What issue?”

“I believe you are familiar with an individual named Sacanas?”

The lord flinched, twitching his head to one side. “Sacanas?” he murmured. “Why? What of it?”

“He was a powerful lord in his time, no?” Bray continued smugly, watching for his host’s reaction. “Perhaps the greatest sage to have ever walked Equestria’s grass, the original founder and first emperor of the Crystal Empire and builder of its capital: Crystal Hills.”

Borealis swallowed. “I ask again, what of it?” he rasped. “Sacanas has long since fallen into myth and legend, and the city of Crystal Hills is enchanted to never be found.” He waved his hoof and stood up. “If you have summoned me simply to entertain rumours and myth then I am finished here.”

“I thought you couldn’t be summoned, my lord?” scoffed the three-legged changeling. The wheezing thing at her side hissed and croaked with a sick, twisted laughter.

Lord Glow rounded on her. “And who are you?” he sneered. “A crippled cockroach and her pet? Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth, insect, and know you place amongst your betters-”

“Enough.” Bray cleared his throat and spoke calmly. The smile he had been wearing had long since vanished, and a stern frown had taken its place. “Lady Pupa and her sister are my guests, Lord Glow, I will not hear you disparage them so. Now kindly apologise to one another so that we may continue in our conversation.”

Borealis’s eyes shrank and his breath grew hoarse. “Apologise? Your guests?” he rasped.

“Yes, Lord Glow. My guests. My friends,” Bray answered, fixing the lord with a stern glare, speaking similarly to how an adult talks down to a misbehaving child.

It was enough to silence Lord Glow into a quiet, seething rage. He grumbled something under his breath and sank back down into his chair, letting the crackling fire dance in his eyes.

Somewhat satisfied, the donkey turned his attention to the changeling, giving her the same look. “And as for you, Lady Pupa, I expected better from one such as you,” he continued. “Lord Glow is our most gracious host and you mock him in such a way? For shame.” He tutted and shook his head.

Pupa bowed hers and cast her gaze to the floor. “I apologise, Bray, and to you, my lord. I meant no offence,” she said quietly.

The hulking thing, her sister, apparently, growled softly and raised its ugly, wretched head. “Why are we here, Bray?” she asked. Her voice made Borealis clench his teeth, sounding like metal grinding on meal and as if it caused her great pain to speak. “Not to... hnng...” She grunted in pain and rustled her black, fetid wings, sending a horde of mites and filth showering into the air. “Not to bandy words and ‘play nice’?”

“Right you are, your grace,” Bray said, returning to his usual joviality in an instant. “Where was I? Oh yes, Crystal Hills, the fabled lost city of the unicorns. I have in my possession a key. Here.” From the folds of his cloak he retrieved a small, silver and ornately carved key with a ruby embedded into its head.

Borealis made a sputtering noise, his eyes fixed solely upon the sparkling piece of metal in the donkey’s hooves.

“It was gifted to me by my master for safe keeping,” Bray explained, turning it over in his hooves, seeming to delight in how his host’s attention remained fixated upon it. “To wait for the opportune moment. I was hoping that you, Lord Glow, being an expert on unicorn history, could tell us all exactly what this key unlocks.”

The lord’s gaze remained firm as his horn lit up and with his magic he retrieved a book from the nearby wall, planting it on his lap and flipping it over. “There,” he said, wrenching his gaze from the key enough to jab his hoof down onto the page detailing an ancient legend about what was once the seat of power in the Old Crystal Empire.

“That key is said to release the spell containing Crystal Hills and reveal it to the world. With it, its holder could unlock the gates Sacanas himself built and enter the old palace.”

Bray nodded thoughtfully. “I thought as much.”

“We must find it,” Borealis continued fervently. “Form an expedition of the finest mages, scientists and historians we can find-”

A grin started to spread across Bray’s face. “Oh? And why is that, my lord?”

“The untapped bounty of an entire kingdom rests within Crystal Hills,” the lord said, letting the book fall out of his grasp as he inched forwards on his seat. “Fame. Wealth. Power, not to mention the collection of artifacts Sacanas had collected over the years, including his-” He stopped himself short, fearing he had said too much already.

But Bray’s eyes flashed and his grin reached his ears. “Ah yes, the Crown of Sacanas,” he cooed, “said to allow its wearer to tap into the unseen weave of the world and commune with the very essence of magic, yes? The tool with which Sacanas built his empire.”

Borealis gave him a reserved nod and bit his tongue. Finding the legendary Crown of Sacanas was to be his life’s greatest achievement. Not only would he be the finder of Crystal Hills, he thought, but with it he could use it to reinstate the old aristocracy, and perhaps even rule Equestria in its entirety.

And not only that, he thought, he could even use its power to resurrect the dead themselves, and restore his beloved Starshine to life...

“What do you want with the crown?” he whispered, his eyes darting back and forth over the donkey’s face.

“My interests in it are purely academical, I assure you,” Bray replied sweetly, his smile resembling that of a devil more than a donkey. “For it is not the crown itself I care for, but rather the magic imbued into it. And, needless to say, once I have what I need from it I would gladly gift it to you as a show of gratitude for your hospitality. But, for now, Lady Pupa would you kindly...” He tapered off, holding the key out to the three-legged changeling.

Pupa bowed her head and ignited her horn, taking it from him.

Gritting his teeth and narrowing his eyes as he watched one of ponykind’s most hated foes hold such a precious item.

“Give me the key,” he whispered, looking at the silver object longingly--almost lustfully.

“No,” replied Bray as Pupa placed the key safely under her wing. Beside her her sister, Imago, rumbled and hissed softly, narrowing one weathered, yellowed eye at the pony and the donkey.

“What?” Borealis’s voice caught in his throat. He gripped the arms of his chair with such force his hooves started to turn white. “What do you mean?”

The self-called magician sighed half-heartedly. “Because Crystal Hills was lost to the world for a reason, my lord. Sacanas, for all his brilliance, was a fiend. I have no doubt that his last act of vanity was to ensure Crystal Hills, should it ever be found, is filled with countless and unimaginable horrors.” He chuckled softly. “And so I will not risk mine, nor any of my friends’ lives in venturing out to such a terrible place.”

The lord flinched and rose up once more. “So, what?” he sneered. “We hold the key to our future and you are content to do nothing?!”

“Calm yourself, my lord,” the donkey said, gesturing at him with his hoof. “For instead of ourselves venturing out into such a dangerous and wild place as Crystal Hills, I know of a few others who will do it for us. Rest assured, should, and when, they succeed, the Crown of Sacanas will be yours.”

The lord stared at the donkey. “Who?” he hissed, giving a quick glance around at the snake-mare and then at the changelings. “Your cohorts, I assume?”

“When you assume you make an ass out of you and me, my lord,” Bray chortled, breaking out into a wide grin at his own joke. “No, not my associates. But rather, our old friends the Nightmare Knights.”

The room fell quiet for a few moments, with only the crackling fire daring to break the tension.

Lord Glow stared at Bray in shock. The red welt on his cheek stung again, reminding him of the shame he had been subjected to earlier in the night. “You’re insane,” he said in a little more than a whisper. “You wish to enlist that thug Tempest Shadow and her... faithless allies, who we act in direct opposition to, might I add, in retrieving the Crown of Sacanas?”

“By now I believe an anonymous tip has already found its way to the ear of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire,” Bray replied smugly. “And with a prize such as the crown involved, I suspect that when met with the challenge of Crystal Hills, the Nightmare Knights will be unable to resist such bait. Why expend our own strength when our enemies, as you put it, will do it for us?”

Borealis saw his reasoning, yet was loathe to admit it. A strange, gnawing feeling had begun to form in the pit of his stomach. Was it guilt? Shame? He didn’t know. But to think, a breakhorn would set hoof in Crystal Hills before him. What a disgrace... He fell back with a sour expression and waved his hoof in resigned approval.

Bray arched one eyebrow at him before he stood up and cracked his shoulders. It was not lost on Lord Glow that when the donkey moved, the room, fell silent. Even the fire seemed to die down a touch, darkening them all in his presence. His entourage, the snake-mare and the changelings, all watched him in silent reverence, awe and with a hint of fear. Bray shook his short mane and glanced upwards out the window and at the moon. “And now that that matter is settled, my lord, I must be off.”

“Off?” Lord Glow sneered in contempt, flicking his gaze up at him. “And where will you go? What of your associates, am I to be their housekeeper while you are away?”

Bray laughed and shook his head. “Oh goodness me, no. Queen Imago will accompany me across the ocean, as will Lady Pupa, once she has delivered the key to Princess Cadenza, and Kiyohime will return to Canterlot to keep an eye out for our missing stallion. Won’t you, my dear?”

The snake-mare hissed and flicked her tail out sideways. “Of course, Bray,” she muttered. “And Drog.”

Bray’s face fell as he looked at her. “Naturally.”

Kiyohime’s eyes met his. Like a disobedient daughter and a disappointed father they glared at one another in silence.

Borealis meanwhile regarded the hulking changeling thing with utter disdain and a morbid curiosity. “Queen Imago?” he murmured.

“Ahh!” the donkey cried, roused out of his staring contest with the girl to suddenly clap a hoof to his head. “So caught up with plots and schemes I have forgotten my most basic manners, haven’t I? Lord Glow, allow me to introduce you to her grace: the Risen Queen Imago of the Third Changeling Hive, First of her name and the Bane of King Morpheus. And accompanying her, her sister: the Witch Queen Pupa, also of the Third Changeling Hive.”

Lord Glow felt a ripple and a shiver in the muscles along his back. “The Third Hive?” he murmured, musing over what he knew of changelings as he regarded both sisters warily. “The Third Hive went extinct over a thousand years ago. It fell to Queen Chrysalis and became the Fourth, if I am not mistaken, and then to Thorax and the Fifth.”

Imago growled and bared a set of jagged, rotten fangs at him, stopped from lunging forwards only by Pupa stroking her carapace gently. “Shh, sister,” the three-legged changeling cooed softly. “Shh, you mustn’t exert yourself...”

Bray cleared his throat. “You know your history, Lord Glow. But allow me to clarify. Queen Imago is Chrysalis’s-”

“Mother,” Imago rasped, keeping her eye trained on Borealis.

The donkey nodded. “And thus Lady Pupa is her aunt. An intriguing family, if I do say so.”

Borealis swallowed. So, he thought, this horrid abomination of life that reeked of death is Queen Chrysalis’s mother? The same Chrysalis that threatened Equestria once upon a time and now serves as its attack dog? Of course she was, only a fouler creature could produce such a hateful spawn as Queen Chrysalis. He stole a glance at Bray. The donkey simply smiled at him and clapped his hooves together.

“Well,” said Bray. “Family history and introductions aside, shall we?” He gestured to the changelings. “Lady Pupa, would you do the honours?”

Pupa bowed her head and ignited her horn. She looked up into the yellowed eye of Imago as it shifted onto her. What was left of the queen’s mane, of its singed, ragged edges, hung down like a clump of seaweed along her rotting skin. “Yes, O sister mine. Take us... hnng... to the sea.”

Whatever had left her in such a state, thought Borealis, would surely prove to be a valuable ally... or a terrible enemy.

“If I have need of you,” he said quietly as the two changelings and the donkey touched hooves. “What then?”

Bray blinked and looked around at him. He opened his mouth, but with a flash and a pop, they vanished, leaving only a bad smell, a smear along the ground where Imago had once sat and Lord Glow’s question unanswered.

Kiyohime chuckled softly under her breath and moved towards the door. “If it is all the same to you, my lord, then I will leave as well,” she said softly.

Borealis remained by the fire, half watching her go out the corner of his eye. He waved a hoof at her dismissively.

Pursing her lips, Kiyohime bowed and slunk away, silently slithering off to search for this ‘missing stallion’ and whoever--or whatever--Drog was.

The fire crackled and spat as Borealis watched it. He felt something inside of himself begin to rise up, until an unexpected laugh escaped his muzzle.

“The Crown of Sacanas...” he murmured. “Finally within my grasp... and all I have to do is wait?”

It felt like a dream. His thoughts turned to his Starshine, at how he may one day hold her again.

Another laugh left him. His laughter filled the otherwise quiet halls of the Glow family mansion, echoing off into the distance and the night as the moon shone down below like a watchful protector.

Interlude Part IV: I Dream Of Fire

Everything was on fire.

Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria, was burning, wreathed in the holy flame of the sun itself. Great smoke stacks rose up into the air, ironically blocking the light of the sun and casting long, dark shadows over the world.

She who was named as the Lady of Fire, the self proclaimed Supreme Empress of Equestria, spread her wings like a mighty phoenix and took to the skies once more, basking in the heat and rage of her flame. She threw her head back and let loose an angry howl as her fire-kissed hooves danced through the air, propelling herself onwards. Her mane and her tail, both great sheets of flame, lapped at the sky around her, scorching everything they touched.

Daybreaker paused in her flight, letting her blazing wings hold her still as she scoured her surroundings, scrutinising the cinders of her city for those who would oppose her--namely and chiefly--one individual in particular.

And then, she spotted the source of her ire: a lone figure scurrying in-between the fires far below. Like a hawk, she folded her wings by her sides and dove, driving her horn down towards her prey, her moth slightly opened, exposing her fangs for all the world to see and tremble at.

Her lips pulled back into a wicked, cruel smile as she descended to the earth like a falling star, shattering buildings that had stood for ages in one fell swoop.

As the dust settled and the surrounding fires danced and wavered, she heard coughing and sputtering from an assortment of voices.

“Holy moly, what was that?” came the first, quiet and nervous and belonging to a child.

“It’s her,” came the second, rasping and deep.

“Tirek, grab Cozy and get out,” came the third, relatively calm and collected. “I can-”

“No, Tempest. It’s me she wants,” came the fourth, focused and determined, and the source of the Empress’s ire.

Daybreaker flourished her head, sending the fires making up her mane cascading across the ground. Her mouth quirked upwards for a brief moment as the dust settled and she locked eyes with her prey, and then she lunged.

Chrysalis just barely managed to deflect her blow and backed up, shoving Tempest, Tirek and Cozy Glow all out of the way with a wave of her horn. “Celestia, listen to me!” she called as she spread her wings and took to the skies. “This isn’t you, you have to stop this!”

The elemental alicorn snarled and snapped her razor sharp fangs in the changeling’s direction as she too jumped up, spreading her wings once again to pursue.

“Celly, please!” Chrysalis pleaded. “You need to stop!”

Her words fell on deaf ears. Daybreaker’s vicious attacks fell again and again, fighting her and driving her back, blow after blow until her defences finally fell, and her assailant saw an opening.

With one swift movement, the alicorn’s hoof lashed out and caught the changeling on the nose with such force it stunned her, all but knocking her unconscious. The Empress’s horn ignited in a swift blaze of fury, and a lash of fiery magic ensnared Chrysalis’s throat. With one flap of her wings, Daybreaker called the magic of the pegasi to her and rose up into the atmosphere, growing ever closer towards her golden-beloved to dispose of her hated enemy once and for all.

“Cel...” Chrysalis croaked as she started to come around, gasping for air in her magical grasp. “Pl...”

Still, Daybreaker did not relent. She paused when she reached a satisfactory height, and looked down at Equestria so far below before lifting Chrysalis up and into her vision. their eyes met again for a moment. Daybreaker felt nothing but the purest hatred for her, nothing but the desire to see her burn in the fires of perdition itself.

Her mouth twitched into somewhere between a sneer and a smirk as she relished in the moment of pure defeat in Chrysalis’s face, and then she twisted in mid-air, angling her enemy towards the ground.

Daybreaker dove, driving both of them down, down deep into the ashes of Canterlot. She heard screams of ponies she knew bellowing her name, begging her to stop. Twilight. Cadance. Even Luna. But she didn’t care. They didn’t matter anymore. The only thing that did was the foul creature in her grasp.

The queen-turned-knight’s eyelids fluttered, and her hooves fell limp, fluttering along uselessly behind her. Her mouth opened in one final gasp, one last attempt to try and stay the solar alicorn’s hoof.

“I love...”

With the ground rising up to meet her, Daybreaker could taste victory on the edge of her tongue. Heat and fire scorched her vision, turning everything white, until finally she came to a screeching, crashing halt with a crunch and a crack-

“NO!”

With an ungodly shriek, the vision vanished. The heat and the choking air evaporated, and the screams of ponies turned into distant echoes as Celestia bolted upright, safe and sound in her bed of her Manehattan apartment.

She gasped when she felt the familiar, if cold and sweat-stained silken sheets of her bed, and fumbled around for the light, trusting her own hooves more than her magic these days. She found it and switched it on, bathing her bedroom in a comforting silver glow. She took in her surroundings carefully, glad to see she was home, and nowhere else.

After taking a few deep breaths and tugging the covers up close to her chin, she thought about her dream. Her nightmare.

The same one for... she didn’t even know how long now--since returning from her venture into the Hive with Chrysalis, everything just felt like a blur. Everything except the fleet of emotions and sensations plaguing her every night.

Rage.

Hate.

All directly aimed... at Chrysalis.

She fluttered her wings and shivered. The sun was near due to come up, in spite of how the pale light of the moon spilled through a break in her curtains. She could tell, for she never did lose that tingle-sense for when she needed to raise it--even after retiring--and she suspected she never would.

She looked over at the lamp casting its light over the room. Ironically, whenever she awoke during the night in the past millennia or so, this lamp provided her with a sense of comfort she hadn’t felt since she was a filly. The same comfort she had only felt whenever King Morpheus was nearby.

“Father...” she murmured, thinking about how he used to hold her. What words of comfort would he give her now? What, if any...

The shake in her voice made her tongue feel dry and heavy, and flashes of the rage she felt as Daybreaker coursed through her. For only a dream, it felt so real. For a nightmare, it felt so horrific, so awful... she didn’t think she would ever wake up from it. With a heave, she pushed her covers down and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, sitting for a moment with her head low and her wings hung loosely at her side, contemplating what to do.

“Celestia...”

The sudden volume of a quiet voice saying her name startled the daylights out of the former princess so much that with one swing of her hoof she knocked her lamp onto the ground with a crash, plunging the room into darkness.

But she knew that voice, and love plucked at the strings of her heart as calmness replaced her sudden fright.

“Luna!” she gasped, feeling a wave of elated joy wash over her. She peered into the darkness. “You scared me. Where are you? You know I can’t see very well in the dark.”

The darkness of the room lit up in a familiar glow of friendly, teal coloured magic that she knew and loved. Sure enough, her beloved baby sister sat in an armchair nearby, watching her. With a wave of her head, Luna’s magic ensnared and reassembled the lamp and switched it back on, casting a silver glow over both of them.

Celestia stared at her sister and swallowed, feeling her elation rapidly fade at the dark alicorn’s grim expression. “Luna?” she said hesitantly. “What’s wrong?”

Luna took a deep breath before answering. “It isn’t easy, is it?” she asked, her words twinged with sorrow. “Grappling with your inner turmoil...” She sounded tired. That was never a good sign for the Princess of Dreams. “...walking that fine line between monster and saviour.”

It occurred to Celestia that Luna knew exactly how she must have been feeling, possibly more so than any other pony ever could. The pale princess fluttered her wings and stood up, despite how tired she felt. Both sisters stared at one another for a moment more, before Luna also stood.

They each crossed the room in a few shot steps, and embraced in a tight and loving hug.

The immeasurable rock that was Celestia cracked, and the dam started to leak. She sobbed into her sister’s mane, clutching and grasping at her like she was about to fade away at any moment.

“Shhh...” Luna cooed, stroking Celestia’s back gently. “Shh, I’m here, Tia. I’m here. I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner.”

“Lu, it’s--I’ve been-” the elder sister stammered in between sniffles, clutching and grasping, fumbling around for her through a veil of tears. “Father--I...”

“Shh,” the younger sister continued to murmur softly, pulling away to look her in the face. She smiled weakly and wiped at Celestia’s eyes for her and brushed some of her pink mane out of her eyes. “I know, Tia, I... I know.”

Celestia shivered and leaned back slightly. “You... do?” she murmured. “How?”

The midnight alicorn sighed and turned her head enough so that half of her face was bathed in moonlight. “It’s a long story. In short, in my custody, there is a painter--Crane--who has been granted the gift of foresight, and with this gift he has been painting events of the future, all of which have come true so far. The Nightmare Knights retrieved him from Shady Hollow, if you remember, investigating the Headless Horse?”

Celestia sniffed. “Yes, I remember you telling me. What has he--what have you seen?”

Luna bristled. “Mad things. Terrible things. At first I thought it best to see he gets psychiatric help, and perhaps even Twilight Sparkle’s guidance and rehabilitation, but I realised that after one of my agents foiled an assassination attempt on his life, he would be safer elsewhere.” She nodded glumly while Celestia raised a shocked hoof to her lips. “So I took him. And, after some deliberation, I have determined that whatever acted through him wanted our attention, not as a threat, but a warning. From his masquerading as the Headless Horse, to the appointment of Starlight Glimmer as their Director, and a smattering of incidents involving the restless dead, including...”

She bit her lip.

“Queen Imago’s resurgence.”

Celestia went as stiff as a board and pulled away.

“Yes... I know of that creature’s return, sister.” The night princess’s face grew dark. “I saw she would be there, as would you, though I did not fully understand... I am sorry I couldn’t be there, also. What...”

A few moments of silence hung in the air between the sisters, the younger regarding the elder with hesitance and concerned curiosity.

“In the dark, under the Changeling Hive,” Celestia finally said, gritting her teeth to try and hide the shake in her voice. “Imago... it was her that... she revealed that she is the one responsible for murdering our father. Not... not Chrysalis like we had... like I had thought.”

Luna leaned back with a pained expression. Her heart pounded in her chest, almost bursting with sorrow. “I... see,” she murmured.

“That’s not all,” Celestia added quietly, the shake in her voice fading, being replaced by something tougher and angrier. “She confessed that she did it while she was...”

The solar sovereign hesitated again. Her tongue felt dry and the flush of heat under her coat was starting to make her feel itchy.

“While she was disguised as our mother.”

A low and dangerous growl accompanied her voice.

The heat she was starting to feel crept up and into her face, and for a moment she saw red.

Then she blinked. Tears started to well up in her eyes again when she saw how tense Luna had grown. “Oh, Luna... I didn’t...” she mumbled, turning her head away in shame. “I’m sorry.”

The younger sister leaned forwards and rested her chin on her sister’s shoulder. “I’ll ask again... it isn’t easy, is it?”

Silence answered her.

Luna swallowed again and reached out, cupping her sister’s face in her hoof to turn her towards her. “Tia... how did it... start?”

Celestia looked deep into her eyes and shivered before answering. “She... killed me, Lu,” she murmured. “Or at least... I’m sure I came very close to it.” She lowered her head and let out a shuddered breath. “She killed me, but I didn’t die--obviously. Instead I felt... angry. And then the fire came and I couldn’t... control it.” She grit her teeth and turned her head. “But I beat her, Lu. I beat Imago. I burned her.”

The midnight alicorn nodded sagely in understanding. “Rage is a special kind of anaesthetic,” she murmured.

The elder sister weakly raised a hoof to her head and scratched behind her ear. She could still feel her face flushed with heat from her dream--although in truth she didn’t know if it was still from her dream now or not. “I burned her,” she continued. “I would have killed her if...” She swallowed. “Chrysalis hadn’t stopped me. I wanted... I wanted to hurt her because of it...”

Celestia looked up, her face whiter than usual and her eyes ringed with red.

“I lost her once already, Lu--I can’t... I don’t want to hurt her.”

Luna regarded her sister carefully for a few moments, and was reminded very much of them in their youths after they had first ascended alicornhood--and a few magical mishaps. After taking a deep breath, she reached out and put her hoof over her shoulder.

“I know you don’t, Tia.”

Celestia let out a short and quiet sniffle, reaching up to touch her. She forced a smile out and turned her head to kiss her sister’s hoof.

They sat like that for a short while, simply enjoying one another’s company. And then as they both breathed out and seemed to relax, Luna let out a haughty snort.

“What?” Celestia sniffed.

“Oh, nothing,” the younger sister replied, removing her hoof and taking a look around. “It’s just that I see you’ve done the ‘Celestia Suite’ up a bit since the last time I saw it.” She pulled a face and stuck her tongue out. “I don’t like it.”

“You never do,” her sister laughed. Celestia rubbed her eyes and rounded on her with a playful smirk. “But I will say as much as I like it,” she added, looking around for herself. “It never could hold a candle to the Luna Suite could it?”

Luna laughed as she rolled her eyes and fluttered her wings. Or, well-

“Luna!”

Celestia’s smile vaporised in an instant, and she stared aghast and in utter horror when she saw movement of only one appendage on her sister’s back. “Your wing! What-”

She grabbed Luna and spun her around, inspecting the bandaged stump where one of her wings used to be. As her hoof hovered over it a fierce and protective anger rose up in her, wholly unlike the vengeful fury she felt in her dreams.

“What did this to you?!” she demanded.

The Princess of Dreams sighed and sagged her shoulders. “As I said, it is a long story, and before you ask I do not have time to explain,” she said, turning herself around and gently batting Celestia’s hoof away. “The truth is we are not safe. You, me, Twilight Sparkle--even the Nightmare Knights themselves--none of us are safe...”

As she half-listened, a dull sort of ringing appeared in Celestia’s ears. Something hurt her baby sister.

Someone. Hurt. Luna.

She wrinkled her nose in a growing anger, just as something dark and blue bopped the end of it.

“Ow?”

“Pay attention,” Luna said, scowling at her. “As I was saying: our enemy is gathering an army and allies, and so we must do the same. The Nightmare Knights will need help, and between us we... well... you were always better at diplomacy than I was, sister.” She forced a smile. “And this little mark is not-”

“Little mark?!” roared Celestia in disbelief. “Luna, you only have one wing! You’ll never-”

“Yes, I’m aware,” the younger sister snapped, gritting her teeth to try and hold her patience. “I very much felt it when it was torn away from me, and don’t you dare suggest I’ll never fly again as if I haven’t realised that.” She tutted and turned her head away, reaching up to massage what remained. “But the wound has healed, and besides, it doesn’t matter now, what does matter is that we succeed so that the Nightmare Knights succeed.”

Celestia quickly scowled back at her in disapproval. “You have always mattered to me, Luna. And why?” she demanded, growing impatient and frustrated. “Why them? Haven’t they suffered enough? Tempest Shadow and Lord Tirek, and Cozy--that filly deserves so much better than what we gave her, Luna. She is thoughtful and kind, and clever, and we turned her to stone at the drop of a hat--we didn’t even try! Not to mention Chrys-alis...”

Her voice broke and trailed off, her eyes quickly starting to shine with moisture again. A heavy silence fell between the celestial sisters.

Luna’s slender, pointed features twisted with sorrow. “I know they have, Celestia. But as unfortunate as it may be, Equestria needs them to suffer just a bit longer.”

“Why?” came Celestia’s sharp voice.

Again, Luna twisted her mouth. “The paintings Mr. Crane creates? All of them are of seemingly random events, save for one thing they all have in common. I have some copies here I wanted to show you. Look.”

The colour of her magic lit up the darkened room once more. From beside the chair she had been sitting she retrieved a long, rolled up case. She popped the lid off and drew one of them out while Celestia watched.

The elder alicorn quickly froze, her breath catching in her throat. She stared in horror at the image before her.

Canterlot, a city wreathed in flame, surrounded by flickers of shadow. The artistry was crude, but instantly recognisable. Though merely an oil painting, she’d recognise the tall spires of her beloved home wherever and whenever she saw them. And not just fire, but an intense and verbose scorching heat seemed to leap out at her from the canvas. It was unbearable. Like staring into a furnace. It was as if she was suddenly in a fog of fire and smoke, lost to the wanton destruction caused by her own hooves-

“This was the first,” came her sister’s voice, breaking through the fog. “Look at the bottom, Tia.”

The sound snapped the elder alicorn out of her trance-like state, enabling her to tear her eyes away from the fires and down to the bottom as Luna instructed.

She wrinkled her nose when she saw five figures standing side by side. Five? But the Knights were four. Unless...

“And here, another one,” Luna said, pulling out another painting.

This time it was of a great crater in the desert, half of a city to be precise. Celestia examined it carefully, recognising some of the architecture. “Is this... Saddle Arabia?” she said. “It is, I can see the mosque and the palace... and there...”

“Look at the bottom,” her sister repeated quietly.

Celestia did. Her eyes found four small figures, unmistakable in appearance, standing on the very edge of the crater.

She gulped.

“There are dozens, Tia,” Luna murmured. “Dozens more like this. All showing the Nightmare Knights standing as one, shoulder to shoulder, flank to flank. Sometimes there are more, sometimes there are less. Sometimes we are there, Twilight Sparkle and her friends as well, and sometimes we, and they, are not. Regardless, it is always the Nightmare Knights at the centre of these events. It is in they who we must now place our trust.”

Celestia rustled her wings and stared at the paintings. At the fire in particular.

“Teach me,” she said bluntly.

Luna blinked. “Teach you?”

“To control it. The fire, the darkness--whatever she is... You used to teach me so much about magic when we we little.”

The Princess of the Night started to smile and lowered her head as she started to fold up the paintings and put them back in their container. “I remember, yes, though you were not always a good student-”

“I’m not the arrogant, self-righteous filly I once was,” Celestia said fervently, rounding on her, her eyes sparkling with ferocity. “You know that. I’d do anything at all to keep Chrysalis safe. Just teach me. Please.”

Luna stepped forwards and cradled her sister’s face in her hoof. “Okay,” she said, leaning forwards to press their heads together. “I will. Though it may be difficult.”

The elder alicorn exhaled softly. “Anything to keep Chrysalis safe,” she repeated.

Luna appeared to perk up a little bit as they pulled away and aimed a playful punch towards Celestia’s shoulder. “I should hope so. I have worked hard on my Nightmare Knights. Should you destroy them I will be most displeased.”

“Ha.” The corner of Celestia’s mouth twitched upwards into a smile.

“And though I don’t like your apartment, I do like what you’ve done with your hair,” her sister added, reaching out to run her hoof through it.

A small blush began to creep over Celestia’s face. “So does Chrysalis...” she murmured bashfully.

Luna grinned at her. “I should have guessed. It remind me of when we were little.”

They shared in another moment of silence, simply looking at one another in the silver of the nightlight.

“Father would be proud of you, you know,” Luna eventually said.

Celestia flinched and her smile faded. “I’m not so sure.”

“I am. He would be proud of you, Tia.”

The solar sovereign sniffed and rubbed her nose. “So when do we start?” she asked, hoping to change the subject. The thought of her father’s face, of the horror he would feel if he saw her turn into Daybreaker again tore at her soul and made her heart ache.

“Now.” Luna glanced towards the window and pursed her lips as the first few rays of dawn began to creep through the night. “We’ve already spent too long here. Come on. I have a chariot waiting for us already.”

She and strode over to the window. Her horn ignited and magic gently wrapped around the handles, pulling it wide open. She raised a hoof to her mouth and let out a sharp whistle.

Silence reigned for a while until sound of beating wings filled the air, and two massive thestrals pulling a large, black chariot came into view, coming to a stop just outside of the window.

Luna jutted her chin towards it. “After you, then.”

Thestrals? Celestia swallowed and lowered her head. She quietly slipped past her sister and stepped out onto the chariot. After a slight wobble she readjusted and sat down. Like a natural, Luna practically glided across, sitting down across from her and turned her head.

“Doom. Gloom."

With a hearty snort and a low rumble of a whinny, the thestrals spread their leathery wings and took off, soaring high into the sky above Manehattan.

“Where are we going?” Celestia asked as she watched the city disappear beneath her. “And where have you been, anyway?”

“Somewhere safe,” Luna replied, similarly looking out over the world. “And an answer to both: Shady Hollow.”

“Shady Hollow?” The elder alicorn flattened her ears to her head. “Luna, I know the thestrals have always been your people, but what if they don’t... forgive me?”

“They will,” Luna said firmly. “Superstitious they may be, what’s ancient history is ancient history. And they helped me when I was struggling with my own inner darkness.” She gave her sister a reassuring smile. “And together we’ll help you control yours.”

Celestia swallowed. “If you’re sure. But the thestrals, didn’t they worship-”

“Nightmare Moon? Yes.”

The flat tone of her sister’s voice made Celestia wince. She resigned herself to silence, thinking about tonight. Her dream, Mr. Crane’s paintings, Daybreaker, her sister and finally... Chrysalis. Her Chrysalis.

A moment later her irises sparked with fire, reflecting back the rising sun cresting the horizon.

Goldenview

It was late in the afternoon as a butter-yellow sun draped itself over Equestria.

In Applewood, the home of the stars and Equestria’s number one tourist spot--more so than even Las Pegasus--the streets were packed with, what else, tourists, each one gawking in amazement at the sights and heights around them--at the skyscrapers taller than those in Manehattan dominating the skyline. The very air itself seemed to be filled with ideas of hopes and dreams.

And only the faint whiff of something unpleasant.

But for the Nightmare Knights, the city wasn’t anything that special, just the newest location of a haunt they were being sent to clear out. And as they plodded through the crowd, Cozy and Tirek both had their noses buried in brochures about the various locales Applewood had to offer, albeit one had a far more case-related reason than the other.

“So where is this place we’re supposed to go?” Chrysalis asked out loud, turning her face up in disgust as ponies scrambled out of her way. “And how can we get there fastest and away from these... verminous creatures?”

“It’s called the Goldenview Hotel,” Tempest replied, mustering up as much of a friendly outward appearance as she could for the throng of faces they were wading through. “And Jack only told us it was somewhere on the north side of the city, looking over the ocean. Tirek, does that thing have directions or not?” she asked, gesturing to the brochure in his hands.

Tirek snorted and lowered it. “Little to nothing useful, I’m afraid, only tourist traps and directions to celebrity houses. Who wants to see where Manes Bond lives for goodness’ sake?”

“Are you kidding?” Cozy gasped, wrenching herself away from her leaflet. “Tirek--Terry, my guy, we’re in Applewood! Tra-la-land! Tasseltown! The place where dreams are made and stars are born!”

“Is she going somewhere with this?” the changeling of the group snorted, quickly growing irritated at being jostled by the crowd.

“Yes, dummy! ‘Cause Applewood has all these stars, right? Incluuuuding...” Cozy flipped the brochure around to show a small image of a glamorous looking mare bedazzled in golden chains and bangles. “Señorita Bejewellica!” Her eyes sparkled and shone like the diamonds in the picture in pure, unabashed awe. “Can we go see her, Tempest? Please?”

Tempest sighed half-heartedly. “Sorry Cozy, but we’re only here for a case.”

The filly pouted and stood on the tips of her hooves. “Pleeeease, Tempest? I’ll never ask for anything again.”

“That’s a lie and you know it.”

“Alright yeah it is, but c’mooon when do I ever ask for anything?”

The other Knights glanced at one another in a knowing silence.

Cozy turned her ears back and bit her lip. “On second thought don’t answer. But really, c’mon what’s one little detour?” She huffed and folded her hooves, stuffing her brochure under one leg as she rose up into the air, beating her little wings furiously.

Tempest rolled her eyes and nudged her with her hoof. They hung back for a second, letting Chrysalis and Tirek go on ahead. “Cozy you know the rules. We do our job first then we have fun. Besides, we have fun while we do this,” she added with a chuckle. “Don’t we?”

The filly nodded unhappily. “I guess.”

The commander smiled, looking at her fondly and tousled her mane. Since her, ahem, ‘encounter’ with Cozy’s father, Tempest had been filled with a sort of big sister energy for the young Knight. She had, of course, told the others about his ‘proposal’, and rightly guessed it would have ended badly had they been there to witness it themselves. Chrysalis and Tirek had both near set the castle on fire with the rage burning in their eyes, and for once they looked in total agreement on what to do about Lord Glow.

Cozy sighed and trotted forwards, slowing down to a halt as they passed by a newspaper stand. Suddenly something caught her eye and she turned, leaning in to get a better look. “Hey look at this,” she said.

“Guys hold up a second,” the commander called ahead to Tirek and Chrysalis before they got too far away. “Cozy’s got something. What is it?” she asked the young Knight, leaning in to look as well.

Chrysalis and Tirek quickly re-joined them, both towering high above the crowd. The vendor behind the stand quivered and shook in his proverbial boots, staring up at the villains in terror, utterly lost for words.

“You see that ad?” Cozy said, pointing at the newspaper. “Wanted: fearless camerapony for adventures on exciting, adventurous T.V. show.”

Tempest frowned. “Yeah? Cozy, what’s this-”

“Look who its by: Flim and Flam.” The filly looked up at her. “Has their address too.”

The commander outwardly groaned and pulled a face. “What are you thinking?”

“If they’re in Applewood maybe they know where this Goldenview Hotel is.”

Chrysalis snorted contemptuously. “And force us to deal with those inane buffoons again? Please.” She flicked some of her mane out her eyes and seemed to notice the vendor cowering before her. She smirked and flashed him a toothy grin. He whimpered and shrank behind some stacks of unsold papers, making himself as small as possible.

Tirek scratched his beard and hummed and hawed to himself. “She has a point,” he said finally. “If they are serious about that show they make, they’d probably look for haunted locations, wouldn’t they? If the Goldenview is one such location, then surely they would know where it is, perhaps they may even be persuaded to take us there.”

Tempest rubbed her nose. “Yeah you’re right. Nice job, Cozy. Grab that paper and let’s go.”

“Thanks.” The filly beamed at her expectantly for a few seconds.

“Alright fine, if it doesn’t get too late we’ll go see Señorita Bejewellica, okay?”

Cozy hoofpumped to herself. “Yes!”

“But you’re paying for the newspaper. Knights, move out! Chrysalis, stop terrorising the populace.”

The young Knight grumbled under her breath and fished out a couple of bits from one of the pockets of her uniform and forked them over, lifting the paper off of its stand. As she and the other Knights drifted away, the vendor peeked out from behind his cover. Seeing they were gone he breathed a sigh of relief, and even chortled in a light surprise at the money left for him.

Only upon further inspection as he scooped them into his bit pouch, he noticed one was bent. Curious, he bit into it and was quickly met with the taste of chocolate for his troubles.

“A chocolate coin?” he grumbled. “Eh. I’ll take it.”

***

“The Goldenview Hotel?”

The Flim Flam brothers looked at one another in concern. “Why the place is deserted--abandoned, even,” Flim said. “Nopony’s been there in years.”

Tempest tapped her hoof impatiently. “Yeah, we gathered that. Can you take us there?”

The brothers’ office, if it could even be called an office, was little more than a studio apartment located above a pawnshop, and with the sounds of rushing traffic outside, a suspicious stain on the ceiling and a single lightbulb, it didn’t exactly look the most hospitable of places. A bunk bed lay pressed up against the wall and beside it lay a half opened cupboard full of blue and white striped vests, some of which were strewn about the floor. Across on the other side of the room lay a single vanity mirror and desk. And dominating the centre of the room lay a small table, along with an assortment of video cameras and recording equipment. It looked like they didn’t even have a bathroom--or seen the light of day for some time, judging by the blinds gathering dust.

Chrysalis took a long look around the room and scoffed. “You live like this?” she sneered.

Flim chuckled nervously, flicking his eyes away from Tempest and onto her. “Aha... if we had known we would be having company, dear Chrysalis, we would have tidied up.”

“Naturally,” Flam added, grimacing as a mouse squeaked along the desk. He quickly brushed off some of the leftover food wrappers and coughed into his hoof.

The changeling twisted her mouth in disgust and tutted softly.

Tirek scoffed, stooping to avoid scraping his horns along the ceiling and silently lamenting in general how short the insides of pony buildings often were. He leaned down to poke Cozy in the side. “You’d better not end up like this,” he warned her.

Cozy waved his hand away and fluttered her wings. “Hey, I’m not this bad,” she protested.

“So, Flim and Flam. The Goldenview,” said Tempest, fighting hard to keep the conversation on track. “Can you take us there or not?”

At that the brothers glanced at one another. “I see no reason why we couldn’t.” Flam started. “If...”

“If?”

“Ratings have been... not slow, per say, but dwindling since our last meeting, Commander,” Flim added. “And we’d be more than happy to help you...”

Tempest sucked in her lower lip and snorted. “If you come with us and film it?”

They perked up at that. “Why, what an excellent idea,” Flim cried. “Truly remarkable, why I never would have...” He trailed off as she just glared at him. “Ahem. Yes, well, give us one moment please, Miss Shadow, then we’ll be on our way!”

The commander nodded reluctantly. “Fine,” she grunted.

“Wonderf-”

“But!” She held up her hoof, silencing him. “When we get there, don’t get in our way. And at the first sign of trouble, you run. Understand?”

The brothers both nodded.

“Good. We’ll wait for you outside. C’mon, guys.”

“Ugh, gladly,” Chrysalis snarked. “One more minute in this dump and I think we may start to develop mould.”

If the brothers heard her they made no show of it, and began flitting about gathering up what they needed to record their show, eagerly chatting to each other about ratings and whatnot. Tempest sighed half-heartedly and shook her head. “Remind me to remind Jack that we need all the information on a case,” she grumbled, leading the way down the hall of the brothers’ apartment building.

“Sure,” Cozy replied, fluttering along beside her. “Is it just me, or did she seem kinda distracted? Oh!” she cried suddenly. “She was probably just thinking about her birthday, right?” she asked, turning to look at Tirek. “It’s like next week, isn’t it?”

Tirek scowled. “Why did you look at me when you said that?” he growled.

“I figured you’d know when it is.” The filly winked and grinned at him. “We should get her something.”

The commander thought for a moment, feeling guilty for the fact that she didn’t know it was Jack’s birthday soon. In fact she realised she knew very little about the Knights’ secretary other than what she had let slip. She pushed the door to the apartment building open and trotted down the steps outside. When she reached the bottom of she decided to take a break and sit down.

“Please, for doing the bare minimum?” Chrysalis scoffed, taking up a position opposite her on the path while Cozy sat down as well. “The actual bare minimum of her job description? And even then her social skills are woefully lacking.”

“And yours aren’t?” Tirek sneered, folding his arms tightly across his chest, standing off to one side. “Besides, none of you need bother, I’ve already-”

He cut himself off and his eye twitched as they all turned to face him. He closed his mouth and quickly turned his head away.

“Already what?” the former queen chuckled coyly, poking at him. “Have you gone soft, Lord Tirek? Planning something for your girlfriend?”

“Miss Inkwell is not my girlfriend,” he snapped, batting her away like she was a gnat. “I merely appreciate that her presence is useful to the Knights’ operation and would like to continue to keep her in our employ. And not that it’s any of your business, but yes, as a matter of fact I have.”

Cozy’s eyes shone like stars. She clapped her hooves together and leaned in. “I knew it. Whatcha got, Terry?” she asked excitedly. “Romantic walk by the beach? Dinner at some fancy restaurant? What?”

The centaur tongued around in his cheek for a moment, grappling with himself. “Stargazing,” he eventually muttered out the corner of his mouth, barely moving his lips.

While Chrysalis threw her head back and laughed at him and Cozy pressed her hooves into her face in excitement and let out an excited squee, Tempest couldn’t help but smirk. The magic-obsessed centaur and the young, plucky mare from Hooflyn, the unlikely couple. Almost as unlikely as she and Blueblood. Her smirk vanished and her cheeks turned slightly pink at that, not that any of them noticed, thankfully.

Some movement behind her made her turn, looking up as Flim and Flam appeared. The brothers had cleaned up in their absence it looked like, donning new freshly pressed vests and sporting a pair of newly coiffed manes--and one combed moustache.

“Guys,” she said to the Knights, pushing herself up. “They’re here.”

Chrysalis’s laughter cut off the instant she saw them. She stiffened her neck and assumed a stern, scowling expression, determined not to let any pony that wasn’t a Knight see her smile, or even worse let them know she was enjoying herself. Tirek harrumphed and faced way from her, ignoring Cozy’s prodding as much as he could.

“You all set, then?” Tempest said, addressing the brothers.

“Indeed we are, Miss Shadow!” Flim chortled happily. “Indeed we are and ready to move on.” He beamed at her as they sidled past. “I can’t tell you how excited we are to be accompanying you. Why, I’m even getting chills already.”

Cozy frowned for a moment and looked at him. “What, like its dangerous?” she asked.

“No dear filly, but the ratings!”

“And the ad-revenue!” Flam added, just as happily. “More viewers mean more ads, more ads mean more money, and our viewership skyrocketed last time you lot were on Bump!.”

“Us... ‘lot’?” hissed Chrysalis.

The brothers floundered for a moment between themselves in the face of a growling former queen.

“Ah, I mean of course, with all due respect, you Nightmare Knights,” Flam hastily added.

Tempest set her jaw and narrowed her eyes as the brothers trotted forwards, keeping a healthy distance ahead. “Glad to be of service,” she snarked. She jerked her head to her team and gestured onwards. “Come on. The sooner we can get this done the sooner Tirek can get back to his girlfriend.”

“She’s not my--even you, Commander?”

“Sorry, Tirek. Couldn’t resist.”

***

“And we are a-go in three... two... one!”

“Hello dearest viewers and welcome to another exciting episode of Bump!, I’m your host Flim and with me behind the camera is my brother Flam, world famous cryptozoologists and seekers of truth! Join us today as we take a look inside the dreaded Goldenview Hotel with our very special guests, the Nightmare Knights themselves!”

Tempest rolled her eyes as the brothers ran through their shtick and glanced around, seeing what she could before the setting sun disappeared completely. While certainly the oceanic view the hotel was named for was breath-taking, the scenery was fouled somewhat by the grim, run down derelict of a hotel.

Despite being tall and imposing, the Goldenview Hotel was a wreck. The windows were either all smashed or boarded up, what curtains she could see in them were matted and rotten, even the stonework making up the structure itself looked ready to crumble.

Flim and Flam had said the Goldenview was abandoned, but still she expected... more, in a way.

“What a dump,” Cozy murmured, perched on her back and peering over the top of her head.

To emphasize her point, a piece of rotted wood fell off of the hotel’s sign and landed with a soft thunk onto the ground.

“I think I’ve seen swamp caves that look more inviting,” Chrysalis muttered, glaring up at the dreary looking building.

“I agree,” Tirek rumbled, still sour from the earlier round of teasing he had been subjected to. “But regardless of locale, we have a job to do, do we not?”

He took a step towards the stairs leading up to the door, only for Flim and Flam to quickly dart in front and block his way.

“Whoa--whoa!” the moustachioed pony cried, lowering the camera for the time being. “Hold your horses there, Tirek, don’t you want to know about the legend?”

Tirek let out a dangerous growl and glared at him and folded his arms.

Tempest arched one eyebrow and came to a halt beside her teammate. “Legend? What legend?”

Flim offered her a weak smile and stepped away from Tirek when the centaur flexed his arms and glared down at the brothers. “Why, the reason the Goldenview has been abandoned for all these years, of course. Why it remains in such a ghastly state! Even before all of these ghosts and poltergeists appeared in Equestria, many a would-be renovator has been chased away-”

“Cast out,” added Flam, raising his camera.

“And driven forth by whatever evil lurks behind those doors.” Flim pointed up the stairs to the large, unassuming entrance.

Cozy stared up at them and swallowed. The shambolic, jagged bits of rotten wood hanging down above the entrance looked almost like teeth to her young mind. “What’s the legend?” she asked them. “What happened here?”

“I’ll tell you, young filly,” Flim continued. He cleared his throat and struck a pose while Flam raised the camera and silently counted down, finally gesturing for his brother to go ahead.

“The story goes that the Goldenview Hotel was to be so lavish, so luxurious and phenomenal, that even Princess Celestia herself would often comment on how grand it would be. The grandest in all of Equestria, too, even more so than the Chariot over in Las Pegasus-”

“Which is highly overrated, might I add,” quietly muttered the camerapony.

“-but on the night before the grand opening, a grisly discovery was made. The caretaker, his wife and their two children, were found dead. Authorities at the time suspected foul play, but with no suspects or leads the case went cold and later unsolved. The hubbub surrounding the scandal was enough for ponies to quickly lose interest in the Goldenview, and eventually the owners were forced to close. So it goes that the Goldenview Hotel was no more.” Flim adjusted the collar of his shirt as he paused for a moment before continuing.

“After some time and as the hotel fell into disrepair, rumours began to abound that the place was haunted; that the caretaker, his wife and their children remain there to this day, bound forever to this--the place of their demise. Although this is all pure speculation, as nopony’s ever seen a so-called ghost, or can even remember the caretaker in question for that matter.” He tapped his chin as he finished, and glanced across to the Knights. “Perhaps that might change now that you’re all here, yes?”

Chrysalis frowned. “And where are the owners now?”

“That’s the thing,” Flam said, swivelling the camera around to her. “The original owners sold this thing off years ago to an unknown buyer. It’s a derelict, for all intents and purposes. Unwanted. Forgotten... the perfect place for urban explorers and squatters alike. Only...”

“Only most who go in either don’t come out, or if they do... they aren’t themselves,” Flim chortled grimly.

Unsatisfied with their answer, Chrysalis suppressed a sneer and looked to Tempest. “And at whose behest are we here exactly, Tempest? Did ‘Miss Inkwell’ give us a name for this client or did she fail in that as well?”

As Tempest started to reply, the old hotel creaked, seemingly as a response. There was a loud click shortly after, and the door at the top of the stairs started to slowly open, inviting them in.

Flim’s eyes went wide and Flam raised the camera again.

Cozy tapped Tempest’s shoulder. “Hey Tempest?” she breathed. “Who did Jack say this case was from?”

“She didn’t,” Tempest answered flatly. She flexed her legs and flared her nostrils. “Well... nothing else to it, I guess,” she muttered. “I’ll check it out. You lot wait here until I say otherwise.”

The filly fluttered her wings and hopped down onto the ground off the commander’s back without a moment’s hesitation. The rest of her teammates stepped up beside her, watching both Tempest and the hotel carefully. Cozy looked up as Tirek’s shadow darkened her, and quickly retreated to hide behind one of his legs.

“Be careful, Commander,” the centaur warned.

Nodding as she moved, Tempest kept her eyes trained on the darkness behind the hotel doors. The hair on the back of her neck stood up on end as she treaded the steps leading up. Quietly she pulled out her EMF reader for a quick scan and waved it around. “Nothing,” she murmured to herself. “Maybe inside?”

Coming to a stop before the doors she took a deep breath and pressed one hoof against them, pushing them wide open, and peered inside. Despite the light outside, inside was filled with an oppressive, suffocating darkness. She squinted, only barely able to make out the foyer. Two sets of stairs led up, and in between them was the reception desk--long since used and collecting countless years of dust. Off to one side near the stairs was the rusted, worn out gate of an elevator, looking like nobody had used it in years. And in between the stairs and above her was a large, cobweb-covered chandelier whose crystals clinked in a faint breeze. She watched it carefully and took another step forwards over the threshold. Almost immediately she could feel a chill in the air, and the sudden beep from her reader accompanied by three lights springing to life made her look sharply down at it.

“Level three,” she murmured quietly. “I got something. Guys, get in here.”

The Knights made to quickly joined her, fanning out into the dark, dusty foyer, except Cozy who stayed close to Tempest. Tirek examined his own reader and scribbled something down in the small notebook he often used to determine what kind of ghost they were facing, ranging from banshees and phantoms to wraiths and revenants and everything in between.

Tempest glanced back to see Flim and Flam hadn’t moved, instead they were still doing their show. She rolled her eyes and called out to them. “Hey, Flim and Flam, you coming or what?”

“Yes of course, Miss Shadow,” called Flam. “Simply getting some establishing shots, be with you in a moment!” True to his word, after a moment he lowered the camera and trotted forwards, he and his brother both, but just as they reached the door-

Wham!

With a whoosh of air it slammed shut in their faces, plunging the Knights into darkness, save for the few slivers of sunset eking through the boards on the windows. Tirek, Chrysalis and Tempest immediately formed a circle around Cozy, their horns igniting in a flash and casting blue, orange and green lights at the surrounding darkness. Cozy herself spread her wings, her eyes wide and alert and looking for any sign of... well anything.

Silence, save for their breaths and their heartbeats, reigned in the abandoned hotel.

The magic from Tempest’s horn slowly started to fizzle out and she took a few slow, calming breaths. “Tirek, what are we dealing with?” she said quietly, her voice sounding abnormally loud in the quiet, tense atmosphere.

“I’m not certain yet,” he answered, also deactivating his magic for the time being. He checked over and flicked through his notebook. “Perhaps a revenant? We need more evidence before we decide who, or what, we are dealing with.”

“Remember what those idiots said,” Chrysalis added, scanning the dark with her glowing green eyes. “A family of four died here. Is it possible there is more than one ghost?”

“It is,” the centaur replied pulling out a glowstick from his vest pocket. He cracked it and gave it a shake, before throwing it down on the ground some ways away to give them some more light. “Though it is hard to say for certain, and how many are aggressive.”

Tempest stepped away from the group for a moment, towards the door. “Flim? Flam?” she called. A tense silence answered her. She pressed her eye against a crack and looked around. The brothers were nowhere to be found. “I think they’ve gone.”

“Good riddance,” Chrysalis grunted. “We have more pressing concerns than the safety of a pair of idiots toting their camera around like that.”

Tempest turned around. “Alright... Cozy, give us an idea, how do you think we should do this?”

Cozy was shaking like a leaf. “Uhhh...” she murmured, racking her brain. “S-Split up and look for clues?” she offered.

The queen rolled her eyes and flicked her nose. “Stop trembling like that at once,” she scolded. “You’re a Knight. Act like one. Don’t tell me a bit of darkness has gotten to you already?”

“Hey I’m only little,” the filly protested. “And it’s--it’s just... I don’t know...” She rubbed her forelegs together and shivered. “There’s something... weird about this place. It’s like walking into a party you weren’t invited to. Can’t you guys feel it?”

“I feel it,” Tempest replied. Perhaps it was the darkness surrounding them, perhaps it was something else, but she understood what Cozy meant. She took a few more steps towards the reception desk. “Okay, so we split up,” she told them. “Tirek, you and Cozy take this floor, Chrysalis you and I take the upstairs and--wait...” She stopped upon hearing a soft rattling. The others heard it too, judging by their curious expressions.

“What is that?” Cozy asked. “Sounds like-”

It was the clinking of crystals. The chandelier. Tempest looked up just as it started to shake more violently, and only barely managed to leap backwards as it came hurtling down, crashing down almost directly onto where she had been standing.

In the moment of deathly silence that followed and after a moment of contemplation, the commander picked herself up and inhaled between her teeth. “Like I was saying,” she said, looking a the busted old chandelier. “Chrysalis, you and I take the upstairs, and once we’ve done a sweep of the area we meet up back here and see where the elevator goes. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” they all responded in unison, throwing up a series of salutes to her.

“Good.” Tempest saluted back at them. “Go on ahead, Chrysalis, I wanna check the desk, might be some key or something.” She jerked her hoof towards the reception desk.

Chrysalis bobbed her head in acknowledgement.

She and Tirek looked at one another for a moment before parting ways. “Try not to die, Lord Tirek,” the former said sarcastically. “Though funny it would put a damper on our work.”

“Your concern is noted, insect,” the former grunted, waving his hand dismissively at her. “I would say the same to you, but your death would be less funny, more pathetic.”

Chrysalis only smiled sweetly back at him. “Cozy keep an eye on our centaur, won’t you?” she instructed the filly. “I think he may be distracted somewhat with thoughts of his girlfriend.” She stuck her tongue out at him and spun around to march up the stairs, grinning ear to ear at how he sputtered before storming off on his own.

Cozy rolled her eyes before hurrying after him as they went their own way.

Tempest shook her head and examined the desk. There were no keys like she hoped, but there was an old newspaper poking out of one of the shelves underneath. She picked it up and blew the dust off it. “Grand Opening! Applewood eagerly awaits the new Goldenview Hotel...” she read aloud.

Chrysalis snorted and peered over the banister at her. “Ponies often celebrate the smallest things,” she grunted. “I’m surprised there isn’t a mention of a-”

“Three day party to be held in celebration...”

The changeling rolled her eyes and snorted. “There it is.”

Tempest gently put the newspaper down on the desk. “Well it doesn’t exactly help, but-”

“He knows you’re here,” something whispered, nothing less than centimetres away from her ear. She jumped and spun around.

Chrysalis’s head immediately snapped to her. “What?”

“I heard... something. A voice.”

The queen narrowed her eyes. “Voice? What voice?”

“I don’t know, do I? Just a mare’s voice. She said, ‘he knows you’re here’.” Tempest shivered and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up on end again. She got a feeling like she did in Sweet Apple Acres, like she was being watched.

Chrysalis rustled her wings and gestured with her horn. “Our ghost perhaps? Come on. It wouldn’t do to have the others finish their search before we finish ours, now would it?”

The commander let out a short, joyless laugh. “I guess not, no. Alright, I’m-”

As she stepped onto the staircase she felt the floorboards creak and splinter, and all she could do was look into Chrysalis’s eyes before she fell, plummeting down into the dark below.

Chrysalis lunged forwards, missing her hoof by mere inches. “Tempest?” she called, rising up into the air on buzzing wings. Her eyes scanned the darkness below, searching for any sign of life. After a moment of silence and as her horror began to grow, she spotted a crackling blue light coming from far below.

“I’m okay, Chrysalis,” came the commander’s voice. “Yeah, I’m... I’m okay. There are some mattresses and stuff down here, they broke my fall.”

The changeling breathed a sigh of relief and prepared herself for a descent. “Good. Wait there, I’ll come down and-”

She saw the crackling blue light wave to and fro, like the dark mare was shaking her head.

“Don’t bother,” Tempest called back. “I think I’m in some sort of basement. Keep searching up there, I’ll meet up with you later.”

Chrysalis nodded and ignited her horn, seeing the glowsticks Tirek had left start to fade away. “Yes, Commander,” she said before adding: “But be careful. If you die I’ll be very disappointed.”

“Thanks, Chrysalis. I’ll meet up with you soon.”

With that, the queen landed on the ground at the top of the stairs, carefully eyeing her path forwards, now that she knew the floor was unstable and could collapse at any second. She heard the sounds of hoofsteps at the far end of the hall and stopped. There, staring right at her, were two ghostly white figures roughly the sizes of a filly and a smaller colt.

Flim and Flam’s story came to mind. The caretaker and his children.

Now Chrysalis knew that they were not always called upon to drive out a ghost; sometimes the restless dead only needed assistance in moving on. But even so, the chandelier nearly falling onto Tempest was no accident. She had to be careful, even she knew that, but her motherly instinct was creaming at her at her that they needed help like two lost grubs.

The filly raised her hoof and pointed down the hallway to their left without a word. The queen inhaled slowly through her nose and took slow, careful steps forwards. The filly also moved, starting off in the same direction she had pointed.

Chrysalis arched one eyebrow. “You wish for me to follow?” she said quietly, addressing the colt.

He flinched and looked up at her with big, sad eyes, and slowly nodded before pointing in the same direction his sister had went. Chrysalis looked down at him over the bridge of her nose and let out a sharp exhale of air.

“Then show me.”

***

“So I gotta ask... do you guys actually like each other or not?” Cozy asked, breaking the silence between her and her fellow Knight. Tirek grumped along with a furrowed brow, storming away from Chrysalis after her last remark.

The filly glanced back over her shoulder towards at where they had come from. The shock of being plunged into sudden darkness had faded and she had stopped shaking now at least, though she still had the uneasy feeling like they weren’t welcome. And that they were being watched.

Tirek decided to ignore her and strode forwards, pausing only when he reached a set of doors open ajar. He pulled out his own EMF reader and gave it a quick scan around. “Hmm.” He tapped his chin, checking his findings. “Low level, but...”

He gave the doors a push, swinging them wide open to what looked like a huge, grand hall, albeit as decrepit and as past its prime as the rest of the Goldenview. Tentatively he stepped inside, keeping a sharp eye out for any signs of danger.

“You and Chrysalis, I mean,” Cozy absentmindedly continued, following him in. “Y’know ‘cause sometimes I just can’t tell-”

“Be quiet,” the centaur hissed, rounding on her. His voice echoed throughout the empty hall, despite being little over a whisper. “Unlike you I am trying to do our job, and it would be infinitely easier if you ceased your incessant yammering.”

Cozy pulled a face and raised her hooves. “Alright, alright, geez. I was just askin’. Sheesh what’s got your tail in a knot?” She sulkily looked around and whistled when she saw where they were.

What were clearly once amazing murals and works of art of famous ponies still hung on the walls around the edges of it, though now they were as rotten as the rest of the place was. The tables, at least twenty of them by her count, maybe more, stacked up in rows along the walls, and all the chairs lay in a heaped mess off to one side. That didn’t stop her from fluttering over to grab one and drag it out, trying her best to ignore how it screeched along the floor.

Tirek shot her a filthy glare and pined his ears back. “Must you do that?” he growled.

“Sorry.” She smiled weakly at him and hopped up onto her seat. “So what’re you looking for?”

“The usual,” he answered in little more than a grunt, kneeling down to inspect the floor. “Tracks, signs of paranormal activity, maybe hoofprints? Something that would give us a clue as to what exactly we are dealing with.” His horns lit up as he spoke, and with his fingers he traced along the ground.

Cozy bobbed her head and watched him curiously. Centaur magic was different to pony magic, she thought. A unicorn would probably just cast a spell and be done with it, but when Tirek did it it always looked far more interesting and... involved, in a way. She wondered if one day she could ever do magic like that and had an idea. The rafters up above them creaked and groaned, making her glance up. “You got an idea of what kinda ghost is here then?” she ventured.

“I am not sure for certain,” Tirek replied. “Though if Flim and Flam’s story is to be believed then I would suggest a wraith. Perhaps a revenant if the deaths that occurred here were murders. Though there are some spectres that are drawn to particularly... violent crimes.”

“Uh huh, uh uh...”

The older Knight rolled his eyes, clearly aware she wanted to talk about something else--and he already had a pretty good idea of what exactly. “What?” he growled.

Cozy rocked back and forth on her chair. “I was just wondering... can you teach it?” she asked.

Tirek blinked in surprise and looked over to her. “Teach what?” he asked, taken aback by her request.

“That thing with your magic, y’know the ffsssshh...” She inhaled as if she was slurping. “The eating magic thing?”

Tirek’s surprise faded in an instant even as she grinned at him hopefully. “No,” he grunted.

“What?” she cried. “Aw, c’mon. Why not?”

“I said no.” A cold look appeared in his eye as distant memories dredged themselves to the forefront of his mind. “I am no teacher.”

“How come? I think you’d be a pretty good-”

“Enough!”

The sudden increase of volume and how harshly he spoke made Cozy flinch. She shrank away and bit her lip, thinking it in her best interest not to press the issue anymore. Not that issue anyway.

“Alright fine,” she said quietly. After a moment’s pause she squirmed in her seat. “How long have you been planning Jack’s birthday? Does she know or are you gonna surprise her?”

Taking a moment to calm himself, Tirek let out a quiet groan. But, eager to take the subject away from him teaching her anything and grateful for the opportunity to do so, he grunted a response. “A week. And yes, she does.”

The filly’s eyes lit up like stars and she gasped. He quickly rounded on her and levelled one finger in her direction.

“You will say nothing to the others. They know enough already, and now even the commander is ‘joining in on it’, if you can believe it.”

Cozy snickered. “Well you and Chrysalis did start talking about a ‘suitor’ for her, remember? When we asked her about Blueblood?”

He winced, turning his ears back. “Yes, that is true. I should apologise.”

The filly suddenly had a cunning thought. Her smile faded and she sighed. “Yeah, you’re right,” she murmured, puffing her cheeks out. “Well if you don’t wanna talk about you and Jack, I guess you don’t wanna know about Chrysalis and Celestia, either?” She put her hooves behind her head and leaned back.

“No I don’t,” Tirek grunted, returning to examining the floor and continue his runes.

“Yeeeah, you definitely don’t want something you can tease her about, right?”

The centaur hesitated then slowly glanced up at his small companion. She had her eyes closed, and an awfully smug expression on her face.

Cozy opened one eye and noticed him looking at her. “Yep. I’ll keep that to myself, I think. Don’t wanna go around spilling anyone’s secrets that someone else might use against them in retaliation, no sir.”

“You are an impossible child,” Tirek grumbled, picking himself up and marching away from her, fighting against his urge to ask and gather information about the antagonistic queen. He took a brisk walk around the hall, stopping to check more parts of the floor, the wall and even some of the tables every now and then as Cozy watched him. Her stomach suddenly rumbled, making him glare across at her.

“What? I can’t help being hungry.”

“You do realise that every single case we’ve had, you’ve thought about food at one point or another?” he snapped.

Cozy shrugged and rose up into the air. “I’m a growing filly, Trek, I gotta eat.”

“Hmph.”

Tirek shook his head, just as a sudden crash came from the end of the hall. With a flutter of her wings Cozy practically crashed onto his shoulder, also staring in the direction the sound had come from. “What was that?” she hissed, her pupils small and her tail swishing back and forth like an angry cat.

Tirek didn’t answer. Keeping his brow furrowed he started moving forwards, keeping his horns a steady glow to light their way. Soon enough they both spotted a set of double doors, and Tirek assumed the noise had come from beyond them. “Be ready,” he told his teammate.

Cozy nodded, flexing her wings in case she needed to fly away and get help. Or try and fight. One of the two. The centaur pushed the doors slowly open and took a long look around. It was a kitchen, they realised. A large cooking apparatus took up most of the floor, with pots, pans and dishes lining the shelves nearby, one of which lay in shattered pieces on the floor.

“Guess we know where the sound came from, then,” the young Knight mumbled.

Tirek snorted, stepping further in. “Now the real question: what caused it?”

Cozy looked around the room, searching for anything else out of the ordinary. None of the other pots or pans were disturbed and neither were any of the remaining dishes. “Maybe there’s a ghost of a chef in here,” she joked. “And they heard me talking about food?”

The centaur rolled his eyes at her and traced a finger along one if the counters. “I highly doubt any creature, living or dead, could satiate your appetite, girl. Besides, if there is any food to be had in this place I would not recommend eating it. Nobody’s been here in years.” He shot her a look as she drifted away from him. “Stay close to me,” he barked. “That plate didn’t fall on its own. Whatever caused it may linger still.”

Cozy bobbed her head in agreement and fluttered back over to him, pausing when she noticed something out the corner of her eye. A small book, wedged underneath the cooker. It looked like it had been discarded in a hurry, like someone was trying to hide it.

Curious, she lowered herself to the ground and picked it up, and blew the thick layer of dust off of it.

It had a plain brown cover sporting what looked like fire damage--strange, she thought, because nowhere else looked like it had been in a fire. Just old and dusty. “Looks like a diary,” she said, turning it over. She looked up at Tirek. “D’you think there could be something useful in it?”

“Possibly,” he replied. “Give it to me first.”

The centaur moved cautiously towards her , glancing from left to right for any sign of the noisemaker. He stopped just shy of her as she turned around, book in hoof. His horns crackled to life again and he raised his hand.

Cozy offered the book up to him. “Here. Whatcha gonna do?”

“Check for curses. I have read that some diaries can contain a fragment of their owner, which they might try to possess a reader with.” He waved his hand in front of it and drew a small rune in the air. “If we purify it first,” he explained, “then it nullifies the chance of possession.” The mark glowed bright orange for a moment then quickly fizzled away. “There. It’s clean. Read it.”

Cozy drew the book back to her chest and gazed up at him. “I think you’d be a pretty good teacher,” she said before flicking the book open, leaving him in a contemplative silence.

A lot of the pages were either practically unreadable, having been damaged overtime or full of inane, typical things one usually puts in a diary: today I had this, we did that, etcetera etcetera, but what really caught her attention was the last few entries, thankfully in a readable state, and the mention of the Goldenview.

“Aha! Hey, Tirek, get a load of this,” she said, scanning her eyes over it. “30th May. Friday. We-”

The door she and Tirek had entered from suddenly slammed shut, cutting her off and making her jump in fright. Tirek wasn’t startled so easily, and as she fumbled and dropped the book he marched to the door and went to grasp the handle only to stop and look. A layer of frost had surrounded the door, freezing it shut.

He thought for a moment, racking his brains as to what that meant.

“A trap,” he barked, backing up. “Cozy. Here, now.”

She didn’t need telling twice. The young Knight beat her wings and flew straight into Tirek’s arms as he crouched down, narrowly avoiding a dish as it rocketed itself over his head, smashing on impact with the wall. The pots and pans began to vibrate and shudder, flying off of the shelves with such force they left impacts wherever they landed.

“Yah!” Cozy squealed as the crockery and cookware whooshed around the room, crashing into anything and everything in an attempt to hit them.

Tirek remained motionless even as they thumped into him, determined to shield Cozy from the onslaught of crockery. The filly winced and covered her head. “Alright, alright, I won’t read your diary!” she cried out. “Geez, just stop, okay?!”

Her protector dared to glance up and spotted another door at the far side of the kitchen. “Hold on,” he told her, and rose up.

With a new target in sight, the dishware renewed its attack and hurtled into him, bouncing off of his arms and his back.

“Ooh,” Cozy winced, looking up for a brief moment. “That looked like it hurt.”

“I am fine,” Tirek grunted.

The filly crouched low in his hands, tucking herself into a ball as he marched. The other door was also locked, unfortunately, but that barely stopped him.

Tirek drew himself back then thudded into it as more pans flew around him. The door buckled but didn’t break. “Just--a while--longer,” he grunted, taking more blows.

Suddenly there was another sound to accompany the cacophony of crockery. A jingle of metal. Cozy peeked out from her cover and paled. “Uh, Tirek?” she mumbled. “Cutlery.”

“What?”

“Cutlery!”

Tirek glanced back to see a drawer full of cutlery rise up into the air. Knives, forks, spoons and even a spork or two aimed themselves towards him. With a renewed vigour he looked back at the door. His hands and his horns started to glow as he called his magic to him. An orange glow surrounded the door, ripping it off of its hinges.

He hurried forwards. The cutlery soared after him.

Cozy clutched onto him as he lunged forwards, only just barely managing to move through the doorway in time.

He set her down and quickly spun around, bracing himself against the door. “Stay behind me,” he ordered as all the knives, forks, spoons and even a spork or two thudded into his makeshift shield. When finally the barrage stopped after a minute or two, he straightened up, letting it fall to the ground.

The young Knight grimaced, seeing how far all the cutlery was embedded into it. Whatever was throwing it must have been doing it with some force, and if Tirek wasn’t there she had a pretty good idea what would have happened. “Phew,” she whistled, shifting her gaze to her teammate. “Thanks, big guy... I thought we were goners for a second there. You okay?”

“I am fine,” Tirek grumbled, flexing his arms. “Come on. We should not stay in this place any longer.”

“Why? What was that?” Cozy asked, fluttering her wings.

“A powerful spirit. A shadow. I knew it as soon as I saw the layer of frost on the door.” The centaur stepped out into the kitchen. It was a mess, looking like a hurricane had blown through. Thankfully it was as quiet as the grave now, save for his voice, as the spirit attacking them had retreated elsewhere. Cozy followed closely behind, making sure to stay close to him for safety.

“Though similar to a revenant,” Tirek continued, “in that they are brought to the land of the living through murder, they are very different.”

“How?” Cozy murmured, stepping over a broken pot.

“Because whereas a revenant exists to take revenge on whoever brought it into being, a shadow exists just to kill. To destroy. They delight in the psychological torment of their victims, causing hallucinations, fixations, bouts of madness, and finally death, typically by their victims own hand. Or hoof.”

The filly stopped. “That doesn’t sound like anything that just happened, though, how can you be so sure?”

Tirek also stopped and raised his hand. “Observe,” he told her, and snapped his fingers. His horns began to glow, creating a large flash of light, illuminating the darkness around them. Cozy put up her hoof to shield her eyes and winced as light poured down around her.

When it was over she lowered it, and noticed that the kitchen suddenly appeared neat and tidy, just as it had before they had entered it. “What?” she gasped. “But... I saw it!”

“You saw hallucinations, girl,” her teammate replied. “A trick.” He stooped to pick something up. The diary from earlier. He placed it in his vest pocket and sighed.

“So wait, were we in danger?”

“Oh yes, very much so. Well... you were. If you had been struck by one of those,” he went on, pointing to a pan. “You would have believed you felt it, and suffered the pain from it.” He tapped the side of his head. “The mind is a powerful thing, Cozy. Both to use and be used against oneself. You would do well to remember that.”

Cozy blinked, looking up at him. “Huh... how do you know so much about ghosts, Tirek?”

“I read. I learn. I conquer,” Tirek rumbled, kneeling and allowing her to climb aboard. “Now come. We should find the others before the shadow finds them.” He paused and shivered. “I hope for their sakes that they do not find themselves somewhere in the dark. Shadows, as their name suggests, tend to favour the dark places of the world as their lairs.”

***

As the door to the Goldenview slammed shut, Flim and Flam looked to one another. The empty lot and frankly abysmal scenery--not to mention the dreadful silence--gave them both an adequate amount of reasoning before they made their decision. Not even the promise of ad-revenue was enough to keep them there for long.

“Brother...” started Flam, speaking as low as possible to not interrupt the silence. “Shall we, perchance, run for our lives?”

Flim tipped his hat downwards and swallowed. “I... believe we shall, yes, dear brother,” he replied, equally as quiet. “Miss Shadow did indeed say at the first sign of trouble we run.”

“That she did, brother, that she did.”

The Flim Flam Brothers looked up at the old hotel, craning their necks to see the upstairs windows. The Goldenview seemed to grow and swell before their very eyes, towering over them. They paused only for a moment longer, then bolted, hightailing it as fast as they could back to safety.

***

Tempest coughed and waved the dust out of her eyes. Her horn crackled and fizzed, lighting up enough of her surroundings to make out where she was. Not in any immediate danger that she could see, she slowly pushed herself up and straightened out the hem of her uniform.

“Tempest?” called Chrysalis’s panicked voice from the hole she had fallen through.

“I’m okay, Chrysalis,” the commander called back. She looked around for a moment and saw she had landed on a pile of mattresses it looked like. “Yeah, I’m... I’m okay. There are some mattresses and stuff down here, they broke my fall.”

“Good,” said Chrysalis’s voice. “Wait there, I’ll come down and-”

Tempest shook her head. “Don’t bother. I think I’m in some sort of basement.” She glanced around again and spotted a door. “Keep searching up there, I’ll meet up with you later.”

“Yes, Commander,” came the queen’s voice again. “But be careful. If you die I’ll be very disappointed.”

The commander chuckled softly and moved towards the door. “Thanks, Chrysalis. I’ll see you soon.”

It was warmer down here than upstairs, she thought, but not by much. Maybe the boiler room? A series of pipes ran along the ceiling, something to follow, she guessed. She pushed the door open and stepped out into the dark basement. With shadows around every corner, she knew she had to be careful, as who knows what would be waiting for her down here--especially if whoever ‘he’ was was still watching her.

Her hoofsteps sounded loud down there in the dark as she walked down the thin corridor until she came to a small antechamber with a few paths leading away from it. She paused, listening for a moment as her hoofsteps carried on. No... not her hoofsteps.

Coming up right behind her-

She turned on the spot, her horn crackling and sparking. But there was nothing. Not even a chill in the air.

“Ghosts...” she muttered, shaking her head after a minute or two of silence, and turned back around. She looked at the other paths available to her: one leading off to the right, one straight down the middle, and one to the left.

“Keep going...” whispered the same voice from before.

A light down the end of the middle path flickered to life, glowing a steady pale red. A lure, no doubt, bu with little choice Tempest licked her dry lips and furrowed her brow, starting off down the path, keeping both eyes and ears alert and open.

With the flickering light of her horn she couldn’t see very far, and could only just barely make out the walls around her. “Gah... can’t see anything down here. Hang on,” she grunted, deactivating her horn and leaving herself in darkness. Like Tirek she had a few glowsticks ready. She gave one a shake and a crack and held it up.

And there, inches away from her face, was the pale visage of a mad-eyed stallion, eyelids peeled all the way back and mouth twisted into a rictus grin.

Tempest would not be ashamed to say that jumped in fright. In a moment of panic she stumbled back, letting darkness take the face away, and dropped her light. She held her breath and waited, fighting to regain her composure for a few minutes, and steeled herself against the pervasive darkness engulfing her.

She leaned down to pick up the glowstick and waved it around, checking her surroundings. The face had gone, as she expected, and nothing else seemed to be lurking in the shadows, waiting for her. After exhaling slowly she continued on towards the light.

As she approached it she heard the faint sounds of music, of all things. A soft, melodic tune that conjured up images of a warm summer’s night. Curious yet still wary, she followed the path some more, the music growing louder all the time until she came upon a door. She set the glowstick down and tried the handle. It jiggled and opened a crack, but not much further.

With a grunt she pressed her full body weight against it and gave it a hard shove. The door inched open a little bit more, though there was a pressure behind it--like someone or something was keeping it shut. “One more,” she said to herself, and reared back. Only, instead of bashing against the door, it swung wide open and she stumbled through, only just managing to catch herself from falling.

Thoroughly unimpressed, Tempest closed the door behind her and straightened the collar of her jumpsuit.

“Very funny,” she grunted at the presence toying with her.

The room she had entered into was some sort of office as far as she could tell, though very bare. Old and worn out papers lay scattered along the floor, a few broken picture frames hung on the walls and an empty bookshelf rested against one. Against another was a small desk, and on that desk was a single lit candle and the source of the music: an old gramophone. The record scratched to a halt as she approached it, leaving an empty silence behind.

Besides the almost bare room there was another door, and with nowhere else to go she quickly decided-

“He’s here!” came the familiar whisper once again, this time fraught with urgency.

A loud clang suddenly came from the door behind her like someone was bashing against it. Determined not to lose herself again, Tempest spun around, igniting her horn in a flash. The door bashed again and again as something clearly put a lot of force onto its blows. The door started to buckle and its hinges groaned against the strain, threatening to pop off. And then, both curiously and worryingly, it stopped. A thin layer of frost began to appear on her side of the door, creeping along the ground--held at bay by the light of the candle it seemed.

Tempest remained frozen like a statue, her eyes trained solely on the door, waiting for whatever was assailing it to burst through. She didn’t even realise she was holding her breath until her chest started to burn.

The candle on the desk flickered. The Knight felt a bead of sweat run down her forehead and she released her breath. It hung in the air, matching the frost on the ground. “What are you?” she whispered. “What kind of-”

“Run!” hissed her unseen companion as the bashing started with renewed vigour and force. The wood splintered and chipped.

Seeing sense in not fighting this thing alone, Tempest grabbed the candle holder with her teeth and bolted. Behind her she heard a clatter as the door gave out as whatever had been trying to break through succeeded. Frost and darkness filled the room, freezing anything in its path.

The basement was a labyrinth. Twists and turns led this way and that, lit only by the faint fire of the candle as she ran through the dark. She dared steal a quick glance behind her and saw nothing but darkness. No, not even that, as darkness held some amount of light to it. This, whatever was chasing her, was the sheer absence of light. A kind of living darkness.

As she slid around another corner and braced herself against the wall, she paused to catch her breath, holding the candle out as steady as she could. Had she lost it, she wondered? Surely not, this was its turf. The candle flickered before her eyes, in danger of going out completely. She was running out of time.

And then a low rumbling filled out the silence, growing louder and louder. A grinding of gears and metal upon metal.

She swallowed, preparing herself for whatever came next, and turned to look at where the sound was coming from, down the corridor to her right. Her mind conjured up images of more demons and spectres come to fill the dark with their ghastly presence.

But to her surprise light suddenly started to spill out into the darkness. The warm golden glow of a lightbulb. It was the elevator, she realised. The gate shuffled open, inviting her in. Salvation!

She snorted and took a deep breath. If the hairs standing on the back of her neck were any indication, the entity down there in the dark with her was close. She ran, spitting out the candle towards the darkness behind her. The light snuffed out before it even hit the ground, and the darkness seemed all around her, almost furious she had eluded it. She could see out the corner of her eye the layer of frost was building, gaining on her.

Her hooves crashed against the ground as she galloped as fast as she could until finally she reached the elevator and rocketed herself into it and into the safety of light.

The commander sat there for a moment, panting and gasping for air, ignoring the sudden shooting pain in her leg. Patches of her uniform were marred with sweat and her mane clung to her scalp. But she was okay--at least for the time being. The layer of ice that had been right behind her remained along he ground, and she could feel the darkness it came with practically glaring at her from the edge of the elevator’s light.

With a quiet snicker she slumped down, staring back at the abyss. Unlike some of her team, she would refrain from testing it, she knew better than that. But still, she felt no small amount of satisfaction in having escaped it--whatever it was.

As she sat and caught her breath, a button on the elevator pinged to life, drawing her gaze. The grate began to close on its own just as it had opened and the elevator rumbled upwards.

Picking herself up on shaking hooves from her ordeal, Tempest shook her legs and cracked her neck. “What now?” she mumbled.

“Keep going...” whispered the voice, her only companion down here in the dark.

“Yeah, yeah I know,” She rubbed her throat and waited for the grate to open. “Thanks... by the way.”

Silence answered her. She sighed and shook her head. “I wonder how the others are doing...”

***

Chrysalis stalked the empty hallways of the Goldenview quietly and cautiously, the hexagonal pattern on the carpet beneath her hooves masking her hoofsteps. The wallpaper had decayed and peeled away in some places, revealing rotten wood underneath it. She tsked, curling her lip at it in disgust.

“What a wretched place,” she muttered to herself, casting her eyes ahead as she rounded another corner.

The ghostly children she was following always appeared just out of reach, at the end of a hallway or just around a corner, though the colt did seem to wait for her just long enough.

Door after door lined the corridors she had followed them through, and for the few with open doors she saw the same things: cobwebs, dust and empty, unused beds. It brought a feeling of sadness to her as she thought about the times when a hatching ceremony would go wrong, when a cluster of eggs wouldn’t hatch.

She shook her head, focusing more on the here and now instead of bitter memories.

The heavy silence surrounding her let her pick up on every creak of the wood above, every squeak of the floorboards under the carpet. Even in its prime, the hotel was nothing, she thought, compared to the majesty of where she grew up, and the old castle she now calls home.

She rustled her wings and flared her nostrils as she marched onwards, keeping her head low and horn ready. Her green, cat-like eyes gave her more than enough light to see in the dark with, but even so she didn’t know to expect.

Thankfully the hotel only had two floors it looked like, so she hadn’t have had to traipse up heaps of stairs or climb up an elevator shaft to follow her ghostly guides. Rounding another corner she spotted her guides, this time standing beside a door that read ‘STAFF ONLY’.

“Finally,” Chrysalis grumbled, coming to a stop by them. “Done playing chase, are we?”

They remained silent, simply staring at her. The filly raised her hoof and pointed at the door.

The Knight rolled her eyes and pressed her hoof against it. It didn’t budge under her weight, as if that would stop her. Her horn ignited with a small flash, illuminating the darkness as her familiar aura grabbed the wood and pulled, ripping it off of its hinges and carelessly tossed it aside.

She cracked her shoulders and stepped over the threshold into a small antechamber with two doors and little else aside from some old and worn out furniture. The first door had a few worn, childlike drawings on it, whereas the other didn’t. “The caretaker and his family,” she murmured, remembering Flim and Flam’s story about the place. She glanced at the ghost children and saw how their faces had changed from sad indifference, to ones of terror and quickly steeled her heart.

“What is it you wanted to show me?” she asked, not unkindly.

The colt tentatively stepped forwards and pointed his hoof at the door bearing drawings.

Chrysalis moved towards it and slowly pushed it open.

As she expected, it was a child’s bedroom. Two beds lay against the back wall, symmetrical to one another. Some toys lay scattered around, and some glow-in-the-dark stars had been stuck onto the ceiling, she could see. Strangely, sheets of paper, more drawings in fact, were fixed to the walls. It was all very dusty and disused. The owners mustn’t have even cleared it out after the scandal, she thought.

She stepped further in to inspect the room for whatever it was the ghosts were intending to show her. A clue, perhaps as to why they were fettered here. Sure enough, the drawings along the walls caught her eye, and she noted how they depicted a happy family holding hooves: a mother, a father, and the two children.

As she examined them she began to notice a pattern take place. The mother was wearing a necklace, and while most of the drawings showed the family together, in a few the father was distant. In some, a series of black scribbles were slowly starting to form above his head. In others, the mother had lost her necklace, and the father had a hold of it.

“An item of significant importance to the spirit of the deceased,” Chrysalis murmured quietly, remembering one of Tirek’s little seminars. The brute did like the sound of his own voice but she had to admit, begrudgingly, he did often know what he was talking about. “This necklace... could it be such an item, I wonder?”

The last few pictures she could see were of the father, alone, surrounded by the black scribbles taking up the rest of the page.

She glanced back at the ghosts. Silent tears streamed down their pale cheeks, and the colt’s eyes were wide and frightened. They had died scared, she realised. She grit her teeth so tightly she felt like they were going to smash against each other, and turned to leave.

“This necklace,” she said quietly when the filly stared at her leaving. “Where is it?”

The colt’s head turned sharply towards her. For a moment, the fear and panic on his face gave way to unabashed anger, twisting his small face into a gargoyle-like glare.

Chrysalis paused. “It may hold the key to your spiritual release,” she explained. “According to Tirek, sometimes an item that held significant importance to the deceased may be used to bind their spirit to this plane. A brooch, for instance. A bangle... a necklace. Do you understand?”

The children stared at her for a moment. The colt’s face soon returned to normal, at least as normal as a ghost’s face could be, Chrysalis thought, and he looked down at the ground. Then they both nodded. She understood why they were hesitant, angry even, if the necklace had been the cause of their demise and subsequent binding to the mortal realm, lending her theory more credence.

“Good.”

The queen moved back out into the other room and tried the handle of the second door. It jiggled in her grasp and showed no signs of budging, but after she pressed her shoulder against it and gave it one hard shove it moved and she was able to enter.

If the children’s room was dusty and disused, the parents’ room was no better if not worse. It looked like a small hurricane had come through, ransacking everything in sight. The chest of drawers had been emptied and turned inside out, long since moth-eaten clothes lay strewn over the floor and even the mattress had been flipped. The window had been smashed as well, like someone had thrown something out of it.

Had someone been looking for something, she wondered. The necklace?

“Possibly,” she murmured to herself.

The rotten curtains fluttered gently in the soft breeze blowing through what was left of the window, almost as if they were gesturing somewhere. Chrysalis frowned and slowly stepped forwards. Her hooves crunched over broken glass as she reached the window and peered outwards.

Down below she could see a large tree swaying gently back and forth in the cold night air. As the clouds parted and the moon shone down, she spotted a small glint of something shiny.

“Of course,” she muttered. With a flash of green she transformed herself into a bird and stretched her black and white wings. A magpie seemed fitting enough, she thought, and went to investigate the glint, flying out into the cold dark of the night.

After a few short minutes she had transformed back into her true form, and held up the necklace--a pendant comprised of a small opal gem embedded into a gold background--to her eye. It was exquisite, even she could see that, and when she looked into its gem she found herself suddenly overwhelmed with an intense, profound sadness.

“All of this place’s history... and for what?” she muttered, wrenching her gaze away from it. To her surprise, a few tears had started to roll down her cheeks. She wiped them away and stiffened her neck. Her eyes drifted past the pendant to the ghost children watching her. “Your suffering ends tonight,” she told them. “I swear it.”

They stared at her in a mixture of fear and sorrow. Slowly the filly nodded her head and took her brother’s hoof in hers. They both faded away, leaving her alone in the dark, empty hotel.

Chrysalis shook her head and gathered up the pendant’s chain, and fitted it into one of her jumpsuit’s pockets. “With any luck Tirek, Tempest and Cozy found something similarly useful,” she muttered, striding out of the room and back out into the hall to re-join her comrades.

***

Tirek paced impatiently, occasionally giving the hole where the staircase was a wary look. “They should be here by now,” he grunted.

Cozy shrugged and rubbed her forelegs together to try and keep warm. The light projecting out from a small orb of light he had conjured up cast long shadows around the foyer, adding to the darkness surrounding them. The wrecked chandelier remained untouched, despite how the young Knight expected it to be reattached to the ceiling and waiting for it to drop on them again.

The unnatural darkness of the shadow’s influence was rampant, and she could feel it watching them. “I’m sure they’re fine, Tirek,” she mumbled. “Tempest knows what she’s doing, and Chrysalis is... well, Chrysalis. Besides, she wouldn’t let anything happen to Tempest, you know that. Just like you wouldn’t let anything happen to me, right?”

“Hmph.”

The sound of grating metal and gears on gears made them both stand alert and ready, looking over to where the sound was coming from as light began to spill out into the foyer. The old elevator was moving upwards. They braced themselves, unsure of what they’d see, only, when the rusted grate appeared they spotted a familiar, if sore looking, figure.

“See?” the filly chuckled. “I told you they’d be... whoa.”

Tempest yanked the gate across and staggered forwards. Her mane was a mess and her eyes were wild, leaving them both to worriedly speculate what she had been through. Tirek couldn’t help but notice as well, that Chrysalis was notably absent, and tightened his jaw.

“What happened? Where’s Chrysalis?” he asked the commander. His eyes travelled over her shoulder to the elevator as the light bulb in it flickered and went out. “You weren’t in the basement, were you?”

“I told her to go on ahead” Tempest grunted. “And yeah, I was. The stairs gave out and I fell. Didn’t hurt anything, don’t worry.” She ran a hoof over her mane in an attempt to smooth it down before dragging it down her face. “There’s something down there, Tirek,” she murmured. “Something big. We-”

“We know,” he replied, holding up his hand. “It’s-”

“It’s called a shadow,” chimed in Cozy. “They’re like revenants, spirits brought on by murder, but they’re worse and like to torture their victims by psychological torment by making illusions and stuff.”

Tirek rolled his eyes and grunted in the affirmative. The commander blinked and gave her a strange look. “A shadow?” she murmured, musing over the irony of her, of all ponies, being chased by a ‘shadow’. “We haven’t seen one of them before, have we?”

“They are rare, by all accounts,” Tirek rumbled. “Even by restless dead standards.” He arched one eyebrow at her, noticing how she didn’t put her left hoof down on the ground all the way. “You’re hurt,” he said plainly.

“I’m fine-”

“Show me.”

The commander sighed and relented as Tirek knelt down to inspect her for damage. He gently took her hoof in his hand and lifted it up, making her wince.

“Where does it hurt?”

“Everywhere. My leg feels like it’s on fire,” she admitted.

“You may have pulled a muscle,” he said. “Were you attacked?”

“Yeah.”

“It showed itself to us as well.” With a flash of his horns Tirek raised his hand, projecting a small aura of light onto her leg. “Here. This should help, for the time being.”

Tempest smiled weakly at him and rubbed where it stung. His healing magic felt tingly, and strangely the taste of vanilla filled her mouth. “Thanks, big guy.”

Cozy flapped her wings and came to a land on the centaur’s shoulder. “Oh hey, Tirek, show her the book,” she said. “I didn’t get a chance to read it earlier.”

The dark mare cocked her head to one side. “Book? You found something?”

“Yeah, looked like a diary,” the filly replied. A sudden chill ran along all of their spines. She cast a wary glance over her shoulder towards a patch of darkness. Tempest followed to where she was looking and bristled.

“Keep that light handy, Tirek,” she murmured after a quiet few seconds. “It doesn’t like light.”

Tirek nodded, using his magic to increase the light source, to keep the shadow’s darkness at bay. Cozy spotted a small sliver of movement out the corner of her eye, like a figure in the dark was glaring at them. She shivered and side stepped around Tirek’s leg. “I’ma just... yeah,” she mumbled, trying not to look at where she thought the shadow was.

There was another pause. Tempest glanced at Tirek. “So this diary?”

The centaur before reached into his vest to pull out the small diary.

“Is it clean?”

“Yes,” he said, tapping it with his other hand as he held it out. “We think it may hold pertinent information about this place or the ghosts inhabiting it. Here.”

The commander took it from him gratefully and flipped it open.

“What’s it say, Tempest?” Cozy asked as she skimmed over some of the pages, keeping an eye on the darkness.

“Bits and pieces. No mention of the Goldenview, but-”

“Oh, try the last few pages,” the filly added. “I saw something in there about it earlier.”

Tempest did as was told and flicked to the last few pages. Sure enough she saw what she needed to and without further ado, cleared her throat and began to read.

30th May. Friday.

Myself, Torrent, Grace and Torrent Jr arrived at the Goldenview today. Oh my stars is this place gorgeous! Its real fancy, fancier than anything I’ve ever seen. And until the old caretaker comes in with the keys and the rundown of Torrent’s duties, we have the whole place to ourselves before the grand opening next Friday. So far, the children have spent all afternoon swimming. I’m glad they’re having so much fun.

31st May. Saturday.

Between last night and today I might have to say this is the best vacation we’ve ever had or going to have. Almost. Torrent was getting suspicious about that pendant I got for my birthday last week. I told him it was from my mother, but he keeps thinking it’s from an old boyfriend. Torrent can be so sweet but he gets jealous so easily. It doesn’t help that he never forgave me for that one time in Chicoltgo when I was young and stupid...

1st June. Sunday.

Sunday. Funny that, I think it’s the sunniest summer Applewood’s ever had. The kids are exploring the grounds of the hotel, going on wild adventures, fighting imaginary dragons and all that. Torrent’s been on edge, still thinking I’m in touch with my ex. I love him but he’s such a dummy sometimes. I hope he cheers up soon.

2nd June. Monday.

The previous caretaker--a friendly old stallion called Doc--stopped by today. He says ‘Doc’ is a nickname from the ‘old days’, whatever that means. I’m glad he’s here, since he started talking about work Torrent seems back to normal, kind of. He really perked up when Doc took him out to see the groundskeeper’s tool-shed. His eyes lit up like I’d never seen before when he saw that big fire axe. Boys and their tools I guess.

5th June. Thursday.

We’re going home soon and I can’t thank Celestia enough. Torrent barely speaks to me, and he’s just as cold towards the children. I think he’s had some sort of mental breakdown, he keeps muttering how I’ll never leave him. I’ve told him once we get back to Manehattan we can get him therapy, or help or something--anything. He just shakes his head. I would never leave him, I love him. Why doesn’t he understand that?

6th June. Friday.

Today’s the big day. The Goldenview is supposed to officially open in a few hours, only... when I woke up Torrent was gone, and I don’t know where he went. I hope he’s just f I haven’t heard from him in an hour, I’m going to call the hotel’s owner. They might postpone the opening, or something, I don’t know. The children are still asleep in their beds, I don’t want to wake them, but I’m frightened. It’s all this stupid pendant’s fault--I’ve decided I’m going to get rid of it, even if it is nice. I’ll tell mom I lost it somewhere. I only hope once it’s gone my Torrent goes back to his old self. I miss my husband.

After Tempest finished a pregnant silence descended upon them. She looked over towards the edges of the light and swallowed. “You think this pendant the diary mentions is important?” she asked Tirek.

“Most likely,” he replied, scratching his chin. He seemed undisturbed by the darkness surrounding them.

Cozy looked between them and shivered. “So we gotta look for it, right? I mean, right after we get Chrysalis-”

“I’m here,” came a sudden voice from up the stairs, making the young Knight jump.

The three Knights turned and looked as Chrysalis’s green eyes flashed at them from the dark. The queen fluttered her wings and hopped over the banister to re-join her teammates. When she noticed Tempest’s haggard appearance she flinched. “What in Equestria happened to you?”

“I went for a run,” Tempest drily replied before smiling. “Good to see you’re okay.”

“And you.” The changeling’s eyes wandered lazily over to Tirek as the centaur towered above her. “I see you’re still alive, then, Lord Tirek?” she scoffed.

“Sorry to disappoint.” Tirek scowled at her. “You were supposed to stay with the commander. What happened to that plan?”

“Are you suggesting Tempest is incapable of looking after herself?” Chrysalis sneered.

“No, of course not--but if something should have happened to her it would be on your head.”

Tempest cleared her throat and arched her eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t bother, Tempy,” Cozy sighed. “They get like this sometimes, you just gotta let ‘em argue.”

The commander knew her small friend was right, but her judgemental eyebrow stayed raised.

“Besides, while you were traipsing around in the dust and the dark,” Chrysalis continued, not listening to the ponies. “I was busy following a lead. You should try it sometime.”

“For your information, insect,” Tirek growled, “we have been busy. We determined what exactly the nature of the spirit we are dealing with is--and it’s a shadow, by the way; a dangerous and malignant entity, very much like yourself. What have you uncovered?”

Chrysalis’s horn ignited and with her magic she pulled out a small, but ornate necklace. “This,” she grunted, tossing it at him. “It holds power to it, I am sure. Care to explain?”

Tirek caught it without looking and turned his scowl down towards it, holding it in his palm. “The pendant the diary mentions?” he murmured.

The commander glanced at Chrysalis. “Where’d you find that?”

A sad look appeared in the changeling’s eye. “The ghosts of the children who lived here led me to it.”

“Really?” Tempest looked over at Tirek and the pendant with a surprised look. “Huh. The mother, I guess, helped me out in the basement.”

Cozy let her jaw fall open. “Wait, what?” she cried. “You mean you guys get friendly ghosts and we got the bad one? That’s not fair!”

“Since when is anything in our life fair?” Chrysalis grunted. She rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. “So, what of it, Tirek?” she said, gesturing to the pendant. “You’re not going to start calling it ‘your precious’ are you? I thought that term might be reserved for ‘Miss Inkwell’.”

Tirek simply stared at the opal in the centre of the amulet intently and traced a finger along its edge. Suddenly he saw something in his mind, a small figure, only just bigger than Cozy. His pupils turned to pinpricks and his trembling lips parted. A soft whisper left his mouth, just barely audible, but in the cold, quiet dark of the Goldenview they all heard him.

“Layna...”

Chrysalis blanched and rustled her wings. She knew what that longing in his voice meant. That forlorn hopelessness. She knew exactly what it meant, and stiffened her neck.

A few moments of absolute silence followed, broken only when Cozy tilted her head and asked what they were all thinking.

“Who?”

Tirek blinked, the action seeming to snap himself out of whatever trance the pendant was holding him in. His hand clenched into a fist around it and in one quick motion he pulled back his arm, and hurled the pendant at the ground, bringing his hoof down hard upon it after and shattering the opal at its centre.

Tempest, Cozy and Chrysalis watched in silent shock as the darkness at the edge of the light began to swell and grow.

The conjured up light vanished, plunging them into inky blackness.

And then all hell broke loose.

An ungodly, terrible shriek echoed throughout the old hotel as a blizzard formed out of thin air around them, kicking up a storm and chilling them to the bone in an instant. The ice i came with lashed at their skin and chipped Chrysalis’s carapace. The changeling Knight ignited her horn, shedding some light on them in order to try and protect them.

Tempest quickly waved Chrysalis and Cozy forwards, forming a small huddle to conserve warmth in the face of the icy cold assaulting them. “Tirek?!” she called.

Tirek stared down at the remains of the amulet. His hands were shaking and his eyes darted back and forth, looking but not seeing. He wasn’t there at all, thought Tempest. Lost in his own world, his own mind. Whatever he had seen, whatever the amulet had shown him must have been something, for lack of a better word, big.

“Tirek!” she yelled, hoping to snap him back to reality. “Tirek!”

It worked, sort of. His eyes flicked over to her, though the cold, empty stare behind his gaze sent a shiver down her spine unrelated to the sudden squall.

“Get over here! Now!”

He stirred and surged forwards, crouching down to join the huddle. He swallowed and raised his hand to his face.

“Had your moment?” Chrysalis scoffed. Despite her antagonistic tone, her voice held an ounce of compassion to it. And her eyes softened slightly as he raised his head.

Tirek scowled. “A momentary lapse of concentration,” he rumbled. “I apologise.”

“It’s fine,” Tempest grunted. “We’ll talk about it later, what do we do right now, though?”

“Nothing,” he told her. “There isn’t much else we can do now.”

“So we’re j-just gonna s-sit here and f-freeze?” Cozy said through chattering teeth. “Gee, great p-plan, Tirek.”

Tirek sighed heavily, looking down at the ground instead of her. “That pendant was being used to bind the spirits here to this realm,” he said. “Now it is destroyed, they are free to leave. Though I suspect some may have unfinished business.”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you suggesting-”

“I am.”

Three bursts of light suddenly struck the centre of the darkness, eliciting another howl and another shriek from it. The blizzard to a light shower of snowflakes, leaving just a layer of frost on the ground.

“Look,” Tirek added, pointing up to the stairs.

Tempest turned and watched as the shadow receded, the darkness faded and the three bursts of light landed where he was pointing. The commander twigged on what he meant and stared at them: a mare, tall, white and ghostly, flanked on either side by children. Her children. All of them had stern expressions and cold, steel-eyed stares.

“Fight fire with fire,” she murmured. “Okay. What do we do?”

“Stay low,” Tirek told her. “And keep quiet. It’s out of our hands now.”

Chrysalis glared at him. “So your solution is to simply sit and wait?”

“Yes. Now shush. And watch.”

The shadow reared up, swirling and roiling above them, spreading its darkness as far as it could, threatening to swallow them up whole.

The mare simply looked up at it and began to shine with bright, white light, making the Knights shield their eyes. The shadow howled once more and dove for her, driving itself down towards her. But the closer it grew to the mare’s spirit, more and more of the darkness surrounding it was ripped away.

“No,” said a gentle voice, the same voice Tempest had heard in the basement. It wasn’t a whisper anymore, but a firm and powerful command. The ghost of the mother lifted her head up and looked right at the darkness. “Torrent that’s enough.”

The shadow froze mid-air wit ha screech. Light poured over it, burning away the darkness, until all that was left was the silhouette that writhed in pain. An unintelligible whisper echoed through the foyer. Tempest didn’t know what it said, but to her it sounded sad, like a beg for forgiveness. Or an apology long overdue.

“It’s too late, Torrent,” repeated the mare firmly. “We’re leaving. All of us.”

Her two children on either side also looked up at the shadow. Their faces, sad and wide-eyed but also triumphant in a way.

Tempest swallowed, wondering just how long the shadow had been keeping them here. Their own father, no less. She glanced at Tirek, noting how haunted the centaur looked. She reached up to rest her hoof on his arm in a compassionate show. He didn’t look at her, but he did give her hoof a gentle squeeze back.

The shadow started shaking, fading in and out of existence, howling bloody murder with whatever garbled speech it had. The mare and her children remained firm, staring up at it, at him, watching as he was dragged kicking and screaming into the next world. He reached out for them, trying to drag his way through the air towards them.

And then with a sound similar the roar of thunder and a bright flash, the shadow vanished. After a moment’s pause the mother looked down at the Nightmare Knights and smiled.

“Thank you,” she said to them, bowing her head slightly. “Thank you all for freeing us.”

Tempest bowed hers in response. “Was it you who called us?” she said.

The mare nodded. “It was.” The children at her side tugged at her, eager to go. She smiled at them. “I know, my darlings. We’re going. Say thank you to the Nightmare Knights.”

The children turned their heads towards the group and smiled at them. Chrysalis flashed them a friendly smile back. “You know us?”

“All the dead know you,” the mare replied. “Knights who protect the living and help the dead.” She and her children bowed their heads again. “Thank you.”

With that, the ghosts of the Goldenview vanished, moving on to the afterlife.

In the minutes of silence that followed, the Nightmare Knights slowly turned to one another.

“Wow,” Cozy murmured. “So we’re famous with ghosts now, too?”

“I guess we are,” Tempest chuckled. She glanced at the centaur. “Tirek? You okay?”

Tirek nodded stiffly.

“We should leave this wretched place,” Chrysalis murmured. “Before it comes crashing down on our heads.”

As if to answer her, the old hotel started groaning and creaking. Something snapped in the rafters above, and a large crack started to form along the ceiling.

She rolled her eyes. “See?”

“Yeah we gotta go,” Tempest stated, warily watching the crack spread. “Like Chrysalis says before it collapses... run!”

As she turned something large suddenly wrapped around her, picking her up.

“What the-”

She twisted her head around to see what had a hold of her, finding herself pressed up against Tirek.

He tucked her under his arm and stood up, reaching over to pick Cozy up as well before turning on his hooves, stopping only for a moment to look at Chrysalis. With a grimace she buzzed her wings and jump up onto his back, draping her front hooves over his shoulders.

“This means nothing,” she told him. “Now mush.”

Strong enough to carry all of them, Tirek ran, and crashed against the door of the hotel, sailing straight through it just as parts of the ceiling started to collapse, thundering into the ground where they had just been standing. Soon the rest of the old, decrepit and derelict hotel came crashing down as well, until nothing short of a pile of rubble remained.

Tirek set down Tempest and Cozy and Chrysalis stepped down of of his back. “Nice job, Tirek,” the commander told him, still in a slight bewilderment of him suddenly picking her up. He strode forwards after and knelt down by some of the rubble.

Cozy whistled. “Boy... if we’d waited a second later we’d be pancakes right now, wouldn’t we?”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and clipped the back of the filly’s head. “Is all you think about food?” she scolded, pointing down the road.

“What? I wasn’t-”

“Yes, yes, move it, you stomach with legs,” the queen grumped, pushing her on. “We should return home before we are missed too much. Tempest?”

“Go on ahead, Chrysalis,” Tempest said, waving her on before gesturing to Tirek. “We’ll catch up.”

Chrysalis paused for a moment, letting her eyes drift over to the centaur. “Understood.” She and Cozy set off, with her pausing for a moment to roll her eyes to let the filly climb aboard.

Tirek remained silent throughout the exchange, still picking over some of the debris, like he was looking for something.

“Hey,” Tempest said, joining him. His eyes shifted over to her with a sullen, glazed over look about them. “You okay?”

Something rumbled in his throat. His eyes tensed up and his lips parted. Then he turned away without saying anything and continued picking through the rubble.

The commander just sniffed and wrinkled her nose. “If there’s anything you ever wanna talk about, Tirek. My door’s always open.” She gave him a gentle pat. “And Jack’s is too, I’d think. But you already know that, don’t you?”

He glanced at her again with a flicker of annoyance in his eyes. It was a thankful, familiar sight. Tempest just winked at him and smiled before looking at what was once the hotel. “So they’re really gone?” she asked.

“They are,” he rasped, looking ahead as well. “The shadow’s influence must have been keeping his family bound to him and to this place. When I broke the pendant it released whatever curse he had, either inadvertently or not, laid over it.” The old centaur scratched his chin, pausing for a few seconds before adding, “I would like to inform Twilight of what happened here.”

The commander gave him a puzzled frown. “Really? How come?”

“Some things just shouldn’t be forgotten,” he answered. “Perhaps the princess can have a monument or memorial erected to honour the family that died here.” Tirek sighed. “Perhaps she won’t, but I would still like to ask her.”

Out of all the Knights, Tempest thought Tirek was often the most level-headed of them. Cozy was still young, after all, and either didn’t care or didn’t know how much of the world worked. Chrysalis had a temper like no other. She herself was often hot-headed and headstrong. But Tirek? He was the thinker, and often the voice of reason within the group. Strange, she thought, for someone with his past to be so thoughtful.

Tirek knelt down to pick up and palm a small stone of the wreckage. He inspected it closely, turning it this way and that.

“A memento?” Tempest asked him.

“Something like that.”

She watched as he placed it inside his vest and stood up. “Chrysalis is right,” he rumbled. “We should return to the castle before we re missed too much.”

Tempest bobbed her head. “Yeah you’re right.”

“And... Commander?”

“Yeah?”

“I apologise. I did not mean to place us in jeopardy today, but I did. I will gladly accept any punishment you deem fit.”

“C’mon, Tirek, I don’t need to-”

“I also apologise for the comments I made regarding a suitor before you left for Canterlot last. It was not my, or Chrysalis’s, place to say.”

Tempest stared at him. She had forgotten about that. She narrowed her eyes slightly and flared her nostrils. “Three weeks public duty,” she told him. It wasn’t that serious of a punishment, but it was enough to let him know she wasn’t happy. Also none of the Knights particularly enjoyed the public; answering their questions, cordoning them off when they needed to and generally having to ‘deal’ with them.

Tirek bowed his head and thumped his hand to his chest. “I understand, Commander.”

The dark mare snorted and rolled her eyes, glad to see him accepting of it, then turned to go. She and Tirek walked off into the night together, staying silent save for their hoofbeats until-

“So stargazing, huh?”

Tirek rolled his eyes and groaned softly. “Hnng...”

“I’m kidding,” Tempest chortled. “I’m happy for you two. It’s hard to find time for romance when we do what we do.”

“Please.”

“Alright, alright you big lug. I see your face turning redder than usual.”

“I take back my apology. Why isn’t Chrysalis subjected to this same treatment?”

“Because you’re adorable.”

Tirek snorted quietly and gave Tempest a small shove. “I hate you ponies.”

“We love you too, Tirek.”

***

It was late. The Nightmare Knights had just returned home, and Jackdaw Inkwell sat in her bed, rereading the same page of her book for the umpteenth time. Her glasses lay halfway down her nose, her eyelids drooped and fought to stay open. Her bedroom of the old castle was smaller than any of the Knights’ were, but she didn’t mind. It was still bigger than her whole apartment in Manehattan after all.

Some heavy hoofsteps outside her door suddenly jolted her awake. This was the moment she had been staying up for. She held the book close to her chest and watched silently, fighting to keep from giggling like a schoolfilly as he knocked.

“C’min,” she called, unable to hide the glee in her voice.

The door swung open. Tirek stooped slightly to enter and closed it behind him. He remained there for a few seconds, resting his hand against the door. As soon as he turned around and she got a look at his face, however, Jack’s elation faded, replaced by worry. set her book down and scooched forwards on the bed.

“What happened?” she asked as he came to a stop by the foot of her bed, his hand gripping one of the posts tightly. “T?”

He remained quiet, and instead just looked at her with some of the most sorrowful eyes she had ever seen.

The secretary’s own eyes widened in alarm. She inched closer to the edge of the bed and gazed up at him. She didn’t know much about Tirek’s past, other than whatever the other ponies had said about him, but he was always a sweetheart to her. When he wasn’t playing the tough guy act that was.

This was most certainly not one of those moments. He looked torn up, bitter and like he was hurting from something.

“You want some cocoa?” she offered. “I can go get us some if you like-”

“No,” he rumbled. “No, I...” His eyes flicked up to her.

They didn’t say anything. He leaned down to take her hoof in his and just held it for a moment.

The red-headed mare reached out with her other hoof, resting it gently on his hand. “Alright we don’t gotta talk,” she told him. “Just know that I’m her for ya. ‘Kay? You wanna sit?”

He let out a heavy sigh and bobbed his head, planting himself down next to her. He was so heavy that Jack found herself lifted up a little bit as his weight pressed down on the bed. She didn’t mind in the slightest, as she saw it as an excuse to slide close to him.

They sat like that for a moment more in silence, hand in hoof, listening to the crickets chirp outside the window.

“I’m sorry,” Tirek eventually said. “I didn’t mean to disturb you like this, Miss Inkwell.”

“You kiddin’?” Jack chortled, nudging him. “Any time you come an’ see me, T, is a good time. Did somethin’ happen today with Cozy? Or Chrysalis?”

“Not the commander?” he answered wryly, glancing at her and arching one eyebrow upwards.

She waved her hoof and blew a small raspberry. “The boss can handle herself. She’s Tempest Shadow for cryin’ out loud.”

He snorted and returned his gaze to the ground.

Jack’s smile faded slowly. She leaned in and rested her cheek against his arm.

“I’ve never told anyone before,” Tirek murmured. “About my life in Nessus, before I came to Equestria.”

“Yeah?”

“They are not... fond memories, you understand. Bitter. Painful.”

Jack nodded along with him. “Everyone’s got somethin’, T. You don’t gotta share if you’re not ready.”

“I... want to. At least you should know.”

The pony watched as the centaur reached into his vest and pulled out a small talisman carved out of wood and wrapped up in string. He undid it and showed her, dangling it before her eyes. It looked like a smaller version of himself, only feminine. “Who?” she whispered.

“Her name was Layna,” Tirek explained. “She was my daughter. I lost her... and I saw her today, for a moment.” He took her hoof in his hand again and turned it over, lowering the talisman into it. “I want you to have this. It has always brought me... comfort, in a way. I hope it will do the same for you.”

Jack’s eyes began to water. “Oh, Tirek,” she murmured. She looked up at him and, overcome with emotion at the touching gesture, she leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you,” she said, lowering herself back down. “I’ll look after her don’t you worry.”

He smiled and gently grazed his cheek with his fingers. Jack clutched the talisman close to her chest, holding it tightly in her hoof like she was never going to let it go and rested her head against him again.

Soon enough, after roughly ten minutes or so of simply sitting, Tirek began to hear the soft sounds of snoring and looked down. Jack had fallen asleep on him. For a second he contemplated staying there all night as not to disturb her. But he quickly saw reason and decided against it. He carefully lifted her up and placed her back in her bed. He even pulled the covers over her for good measure.

He smiled and brushed some her mane out of her face, then turned and as quietly as possible, left the room, making sure to close the door gently behind him on his way out. Jack smiled in her sleep, her hoof still wrapped firmly around her gift.

Author's Note

Artwork provided by DenDoctor, go show some love :twilightsmile:

The Dead City

Amidst an endless expanse of pastel blue, peppered with puffy white clouds, the midday sun was shining brightly.

A light breeze carried the promise of relief from the mid-summer heat as it crossed the world, stirring leaves and grass in its wake. Nearby, the verdant trees of the Everfree Forest swayed gracefully, dancing to the rhythm of the wind.

On a hill beside a lone tree just outside of the sleepy, quaint little town of Ponyville, Tempest Shadow let out a long sigh of barely-disguised discontent. Beside her, Tirek let out a snort of his own, keeping his arms folded tightly across his chest, both of them thoroughly unimpressed as they looked up at the tree.

It looked ordinary enough. A bit gnarled here and there, and it was slightly unusual to see a large tree like this on its own way out here, but then again, they might have supposed that somepony could have planted it there deliberately--as a memorial perhaps. The area was quite scenic, after all.

But what had the Commander of the Nightmare Knights really concerned was the pony standing next to her, staring up at the tree with the fires of vengeance in her eyes.

Tirek broke the oppressive silence with a monotone voice, “So... Director...” His brow furrowed as he gestured to the tall trunk in front of them. “Correct me if I am wrong... but this appears to be a tree.”

Director Starlight Glimmer rounded on him, frantically waving her hooves. “No, no, no, no, no, Tirek, it only looks like a tree. I’m telling you, this--this dirty, rotten, no-good kite-eating tree is... it has to be something! Like... uhh, like a demon? Or maybe like a vengeful kite that got reincarnated into a kite-eating tree to save its brothers and sisters from being flown?”

Tempest’s face nearly gave way under her painfully weary grimace. “A kite-eating tree...”

She and Tirek shared a weary and cynical glance.

“Look, I know this sounds bananas, but you have to believe me!” the director said fervently, looking desperately between them. “Last year it waited all winter just so it could get my kite as soon as I came out here! I’m sure that sometimes it can control the wind, somehow, as well, and makes kites fly towards it. If you don’t believe me then just watch--just look at this.”

She used her magic to open the saddlebags around her barrel and retrieve a small blue and yellow kite, and Tempest forced herself to no sigh again.

Starlight shot a filthy glare up at the nondescript tree. “Alright, you lousy kite-eating tree, you,” she grumbled, unfolding her kite and unravelling its tether. “Do what you do best and show these guys how much of a monster you are.”

Tempest watched silently, wondering what went wrong in her life that led her here: to watching a mare try and tempt a tree into eating-

“Burárum!”

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt and her brain turned into spaghetti as the tree suddenly lurched sideways--just when Starlight’s kite flew passed it. In one fell swoop it gobbled up the colourful paper, twine and all, and spat out the end of the tether towards the ponies and the centaur. Afterwards it let out a sound like a sinister, gargled cackling.

“See?!” Starlight cried, gesturing towards it and giving both knights the wild eye. “See? See?! I told you! You saw it!”

A few seconds passed as Tempest struggled for both words and comprehension of what just happened. After another second or two she shook her head and cleared her throat. Beside he Tirek also stared strangely at the tree, watching its leaves rustle in the wind.

“Alright,” the commander eventually sighed. “Alright let’s... stand back, please, Starlight.”

The director obeyed silently and took a big step backwards while Tempest examined the tree.

“I don’t... feel anything,” she murmured, pressing her ear against it. She pulled away and tapped it a few times as her horn sparked. With a sigh she stepped back and looked to her teammate. “Tirek, see what you can do.”

Tirek leaned forwards, having gone from mildly--read: very--annoyed to very curious. “Hmm,” he murmured to himself as the director watched with bated breath.

“What is it?” she asked hopefully.

“I sense... something. A quite strong something, too,” the centaur said. His horns sprung to life and a chaotic swirling orb of magic appeared between them. He raised his hand and pressed it against the bark of the tree.

Both ponies noticed how the branches seemed to reach down towards him.

“Oh...” he whispered in a low hush, just barely opening his mouth. “Is that so? Hmm...”

“What’s he doing?” Starlight whispered.

Tempest shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. I just let him work when he does this.”

Meanwhile, the tree remained a tree and said nothing, continuing to do nothing. And yet, they felt like it was watching them.

Glaring at them.

“Huh,” Tirek hummed again and retracted his hand. “Yes... Yes, I believe so...”

Starlight shivered under the intense, eyeless glare the tree was giving her. “What?” she murmured, biting the end of her hoof and flicking her gaze towards the old knight. “What is it?”

“More like what it isn’t,” Tirek answered. His horns deactivated and the magic orb between them faded away. “For you see, Director, this tree is not actually a tree at all. I dare say it might even be the last of its kind, at least in Equestria, as it is indeed very old.” He rested his hand against the bark of the tree again and gazed up at the branches above. The tree shivered and shuddered at his touch and the leaves rustled despite how the wind died down, but then it lay still.

“Yes,” he murmured again. “Probably more powerful than it lets on, too. It’s a lucky thing for us that it doesn’t appear malevolent in nature-”

“Doesn’t appear malevolent?!” Starlight sputtered in disbelief, accidentally nipping at the soft part of her hoof. “Ow. It eats kites!”

“Kites aren’t sentient,” the Knight pointed out. “As much as you may enjoy them, Director. But yes, as I was saying: it’s lucky it doesn’t appear to be malevolent in nature--for a hostile tree spirit is a force to be reckoned with indeed.” He looked up into the branches of the kite-eating tree. He could feel it staring back at him, watching him like he was the oddity in this scenario. “How it came to be here exactly, is something I should very much wish to find out...”

Tempest sighed again and scratched the back of her head, keeping a wary eye on the vein growing on Starlight’s neck. “So what can we do?”

“Nothing,” Tirek replied, folding his arms once again. “Tree spirits aren’t ghosts per say, so it lies outside our jurisdiction. I would suggest penning a letter to the Equestrian Environmental Protection Agency if you wish to have it removed, although I strongly advise against that. Otherwise-”

“Nothing?!” Starlight practically shrieked once her mind had a chance to register what he had said. “You’re gonna let it win?!”

The Knights shared another weary look with one another in a not so subtle manner, prompting the former Headmare to cough awkwardly and run a hoof down her front. “Ahem... I mean...” she said, after taking a moment to collect herself. “So it’s a ‘tree spirit’, huh?”

Tirek nodded. “That is correct.”

Starlight glumly nodded back, her disappointment rampant across her face. “And there’s really nothing you can do about it?”

“Not a thing. Tree spirits are somewhat cornerstones of nature. To remove one would be to upset the balance of the natural world--in spite of what you ponies do with the weather and every winter and spring.”

“Right, right. Okay.”

Starlight sighed and brushed a wayward strand of hair out of her face. “I guess that’s it, then.” She glowered up at the tree, her face twisting into a vicious scowl on par with even one of Chrysalis’s. “Alright, you win, you lousy no good, dirty, rotten-”

“Director?” Tempest offered before she went on too long a tangent. “Was this all you wanted us out here for?”

“Huh? Oh.” The lilac mare rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “Uh... no. There was something I needed to talk to Tempest about.”

Tirek looked at her carefully, letting his gaze linger a moment, and then looked to Tempest with the same expression. He shrugged when she nodded at him reassuringly, and he raised his fist to thump his chest. “Very well. In that case I shall take my leave. Director. Commander.” After saluting to them both he turned swiftly on his hooves and plodded off towards the dark forest and the Nightmare Knights’ sanctuary within.

The commander waited until he was out of earshot before she turned to face Starlight. “So what’s on your mind, Director? Looks like trouble.”

Starlight groaned. “Am I that obvious?”

“Kinda,” Tempest said with a small grin. “No offence, but you’re easier to read than a pop up book.”

The former Headmare, despite herself, smiled and let out a short giggle. “Don’t I know it? When I’m arranging a birthday surprise for Trixie and Sunburst they always catch on way before it actually happens. Of all the ponies in Equestria, I just had to go and fall in love with the two whose birthdays are one day apart, didn’t I?”

Tempest smiled at her, cleverly hiding the reticent, cautious look in her eyes as Starlight sighed and ran a hoof through her mane. “Alright. So...”

The pink-purple mare took a sharp inhale of breath before beginning.

“I had a meeting with Lord Glow.”

Tempest’s warm smile faded. She didn’t say anything, but she clenched her jaw and held her neck a bit stiffer than before.

Starlight winced. “Twilight told me what happened between you guys at that party. And I gotta say-”

The commander’s forehead rapidly knotted together into a tight scowl. “If you’re going to berate me for punching that sack of slime, Director...” she began, raising her voice a touch and planting one hoof firmly in front of the rest of her body. “...then I’ll tell you what I told Twilight-”

“Whoa, hey, no, I get it, okay?” Starlight said, gently patting her on the chest. “I get it, really. After Twilight introduced us and after two minutes of conversation I feel like one punch was far too good for him.” She shook her head in disgust. “To think that there are still some ponies out there with such backward views. I can only imagine what Cozy must have gone through growing up in that house.”

Seeing a kindred soul in her dislike, if not outright hate, for Cozy’s father, Tempest allowed herself to relax and bobbed her head. “Yeah,” she grunted. “She doesn’t talk about it much, but when she does... it’s not great.”

Starlight shivered, dragging a hoof down her face and let out a heavy sigh. After a few seconds, she continued on. “So... besides me learning how bad Cozy’s dad is, I did manage to learn something important. You see, despite who and what he is, Lord Glow really does know a lot about Bray and Grogar, or at least, he act like he does, and he seems to think that there might be something in a place called Crystal Hills that Bray might want in order to help bring Grogar back.” She gave the dark mare a curious glance. “Does that name ring a bell at all to you, Tempest?”

The commander shook her head without a second thought. “Never heard of it. What is it? A city?”

“Try ‘never before found El Dorado-esque city lost to time’,” the director murmured, biting the end of her hoof. “I only ask because it’s supposedly where King Sacanas rose to power. Yeah,” she added upon seeing Tempest widen her eyes. “That Sacanas. The one whose staff the Storm King used to... yeah. Lord Glow seemed pretty insistent the place was real, almost like he had definitive proof or something, though when I asked he just waved his hoof and said I wouldn’t understand.”

Tempest’s brow furrowed as she nodded in agreement. “So he believes there’s something inside that Bray may want...”

If this something was anything similar to the Staff of Sacanas, a dangerous object capable of draining alicorn powers... she couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of the potential consequences.

“Did Lord Glow mention any specifics about what it could be?”

“Sacanas’s crown. He says it’s powerful. Like, more powerful than anything Equestria’s ever seen, and I for one don’t wanna find out how exactly powerful if Bray gets his hooves on it.” She grimaced, watching the commander’s face carefully. “Which brings me onto my other point I wanted to talk to you about. I think it’s time you guys paid Princess Cadance a visit. According to Lord Glow, Crystal Hills used to be the capital of the Crystal Empire, so maybe she’s heard of it? Sunburst usually has a direct line to her so I’ll see if he can pull some strings and get you guys a meeting.”

The dark mare gave a slow nod before turning to take in the beautiful view. A few pegasi could be seen darting around, batting at clouds to keep the sky clear and sunny. It was a stark contrast to the turmoil brewing within her. Cadance had been one of her victims during the Storm King’s invasion, and while she had made amends with Celestia, Luna, and Twilight, she still hadn’t met with the Princess of the Crystal Empire. The idea of doing so over business made her stomach churn uncomfortably.

“Right,” she said weakly. “I’ll see if Tirek and Chrysalis know anything about it as as well, they’ve both been around--maybe they’ve heard of something.”

“Good idea. We need all the useful info we can get at this point, even if some of it does come from ‘Lord’ Glow.” A few seconds of silence passed between them before Starlight had an idea. “There is also... one other thing we could try...” she said quietly. “If Cadance doesn’t have what we need.”

Tempest looked away from the working pegasi towards her and titled her head slightly. “What?”

Starlight bit her lip. “I know he’s not like you guys, he’s not a part of the team or anything, or even reformed fully--kinda, Luna’s notes were really vague--but... King Sombra might know something about Crystal Hills, Sacanas and his crown. Don’t you think?”

“King Sombra?”

Tempest felt a shiver run up her leg and into her back. A pair of green eyes flashed in her mind’s eye. Their duel over the skies of Saddle Arabia had been brief, but it had definitely left an impact on her... as had he, apparently, judging by how a small blush had begun to creep over her cheeks when she thought about him. Between that and the butterflies in her stomach, she realised, to her horror, that there was a small possibility that she was developing a crush.

“And from what Luna’s report about Saddle Arabia said, I gathered that he’s not on the best of terms with Bray, right?” Starlight continued, not noticing her discomfort. “D’you think there could be an enemy of my enemy is my friend situation?”

The dark mare slowly nodded, only half paying attention. “Yeah...” She realised she’d been lost in her own thoughts for a moment and snapped herself back to reality, quickly clearing her throat. “I mean yes, Director. Sorry.”

Starlight bobbed her head understandingly. “No, I get it. It’s daunting to think about, and I can’t imagine Sombra would be so enthusiastic to help, but it’s something at least.” She glanced up at the sky and sighed. “Well, I think I’ve kept you long enough, so go on, get outta here.”

Tempest raised a hoof to her head in a rigid salute before adding with a forced chuckle, “Before somepony discovers a ghoul in their attic or something, right?”

She was joking, but she had soon learned from her time as a Nightmare Knight that nothing was off the table, and she was grateful for the chance to leave before Starlight had a chance to notice she was blushing. It was bad enough when the Knights had interrogated over her past relationship with Blueblood--the last thing she needed was anypony suggesting she had a crush on Sombra of all ponies.

Starlight raised a hoof to her own head, though far casually than how Tempest did it. “Better you than me, Tempest. Imagine, a whole ghoul just sitting up there. Watching. Ugh.” She shuddered. “The thought of it gives me the creeps. Anyway, like I said, I’ll see if I can arrange a meeting between you guys and Cadance and let you know, but for now, you’re dismissed.” She grimaced. “Listen to me: ‘you’re dismissed’--that still sounds so weird, y’know? I’ve dismissed ponies before, sure, being a teacher and all, but military stuff?”

The commander snorted. “We’re not military, Starlight,” she said, remembering something Luna said to her once. “We’re sanitation workers. Janitors, just trying to do our job.”

“Way to make it sound glamorous, Tempest,” Starlight chuckled.

“I’ve been told I have a way with words.” The butterflies in the dark mare’s stomach had begun to settle, thankfully, as quickly as they had come on. “And to be honest, you’re doing pretty well, considering.”

Starlight beamed and puffed out her chest ever so slightly. “Thanks, Tempest. That means a lot.”

“Don’t mention it. See you soon, Starlight.”

Tempest bobbed her head and they shared a quick smile with one another, then she turned and began the walk back to the castle, following in Tirek’s hoofprints. She hadn’t even gotten that far away when from behind her she heard the tell-tale sounds of Starlight cursing out the kite-eating tree, followed shortly after by a loud pop. When she glanced back the tree was alone on its hill, undisturbed by ponies, and yet she still felt like it was watching her.

“Tree spirit, huh?” she murmured to herself, watching it for half a moment. “What a load of bunk. I guess Chrysalis is rubbing off on him more than he’d care to admit.”

She didn’t know what it really was, nor did she really care as long as it kept its eating habits to kites and kites alone, and turned back, away from its unseen eyes. Speaking of eyes, there was another flash of a certain stallion’s in her mind, causing another blush to spread across her cheeks. “Oh for Celestia’s sake,” she muttered, rubbing her nose. “Really, Fizz? A crush? Haven’t you got more important things to focus on?”

She groaned quietly and heaved her shoulders as she walked home, eager for a distraction and the Knights’ next case.

***

It had only been a few hours since Tempest’s discussion with Starlight, but the Nightmare Knights had already found themselves on the train to the Crystal Empire, hurtling along the tracks towards the Frozen North. Tempest let out a quiet sigh as she rested her face on her hoof, just watching the world go by, trying to ignore the itch at the back of her head. Of course in those few hours they’d been busy, as somepony did indeed have an infestation of ghouls in their attic. She just had to say it, didn’t she? It didn’t help either that one of those ghouls had fleas.

Sitting across from her, Chrysalis huffed again for the umpteenth time, quietly grinding her jaw. As far as Tempest understood it, she and the princess had a history. Just like she did with Twilight. And Celestia. And Starlight. And... too many to count, really. She could hardly hold it against her, however, also dreading her reunion with the Crystal Princess.

“Hnnng...” groaned Chrysalis, almost mirroring the groan Tempest let out inside her head.

“Aw c’mon, Chryssy it won’t be so bad,” Cozy offered, gently bumping against the queen’s leg. “I mean, it’s been how long since you imprisoned her, took over her wedding and tried to marry her husband? I’m sure she’s forgiven you by now.”

Chrysalis shot her a filthy look. “As if I care about that,” she muttered. “I’m merely lamenting the fact that once again I am forced into the servitude of my enemies. Cadance is only one step beneath Starlight in terms of how-”

“Yes, yes, we all know how you feel about the director. You sound like a broken record,” Tirek snorted while flicking through pages of a heavy tome.

The changeling flared her nostrils. “And you don’t? You are aware that murmuring ‘Crystal Hills’ over and over won’t make it magically appear on the page, aren’t you?”

“It might,” the centaur snapped, sulkily glaring at her. “Could be magically activated...”

At his side lay a small bag, stuffed full of books, scrolls and scraps of parchments, everything he could grab on short notice about ancient history in Equestria, and everything that even mentioned the slightest hint of Crystal Hills. After Tempest relayed what Starlight had told her, he had been almost fanatical in looking up what he could, with little to no success it appeared.

Tempest allowed a small smile to spread across her mouth as she listened to them argue and bicker. But, even as it sounded comforting in a twisted sort of way, she decided to interject before it went on too long. “Speaking of Crystal Hills, have you found anything, T?” she asked him.

“Nothing substantial,” Tirek grumbled, flicking between several pages. “Crystal Hills and Sacanas are mentioned here and there in bits and pieces and little more than what amounts to anecdotes. Our elusive, hidden city remains all the more elusive. I only wish I’d heard of it sooner.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t,” chuckled Cozy. “I mean, you’re the guy, y’know?”

“What does that mean?”

“Y’know. The guy.”

“I think she is referring to your ‘role’ in our little group,” Chrysalis muttered. When they all looked at her with quizzical, bemused expressions she just shrugged. “What? It makes sense. Tirek is the studious researcher, I’m the perfect one, Tempest is the tough, brooding leader, and lastly we have Cozy as the mascot.”

“Thought about this have you?” Tirek scoffed, flicking through some more pages while Cozy turned bright red.

“Mascot?!”

The sudden burst of volume caused several of the Knights’ fellow passengers to turn their heads towards the Knights, both to curiously gawk and to scowl at the disruption. Tempest noticed them looking and inwardly groaned, offering them apologetic smiles.

“Whaddya mean mascot?!”

“Would you prefer the clown?” Chrysalis sneered. “The comic relief, perhaps?”

The young Knight furiously puffed her cheeks out and turned her nose up at the changeling. “Hmph! I’m not talking to you anymore.”

The queen put on a pout as fake as possible and laid the back of her hoof across her forehead. “Oh no, really? You couldn’t do that to me, how would I ever miss your pathetic quips about food or whatever it is Tirek and his girlfriend get up to when he visits her room late at night?”

At that Tirek snapped his book shut as the three of them all fell into another round of bickering and arguing, because the grass is green, the sky is blue, nothing’s ever easy and the Knights... well they argued.

Tempest just smiled again and rolled her eyes as she glanced out the window, right as the train plunged into the dark of a tunnel. When it emerged a few seconds later she blinked and lifted a hoof to shield her eyes from the midday sun. Gone was the rain, replaced instead by the gleaming, shining ivory tower of the Crystal Empire.

Some of the other passengers aboard ooh’d and ahh’d excitedly. Many more were watching, and listening, to the three way argument between Cozy, Chrysalis and Tirek.

In the midst of it all, they didn’t even notice that the train had pulled in to the station. “Guys,” she said quietly, loud enough for them to hear but quietly enough for them to know she was serious. “We’re here. Put a cork in it and be professional.”

After murmuring a quick truce and a couple of quiet apologies aimed at the commander, the Knights’ heads turned to follow her view. Cozy fluttered her wings and peered out the window at the barren train station, devoid of all life it seemed. “I thought this place was supposed to be busy?”

“How many ponies are going to the Crystal Empire this time of year?” Chrysalis grunted. She stood up, as did the others, and looked around as their fellow passengers started to rise and get ready to leave. “This is likely busy by their standards.” She sniffed the air and rustled her wings. “Hmm. The air reeks of fear. I suppose the dear princess warned her subjects of our arrival.”

Tempest tried not to let it get to her. “Come on. Let’s find Cadance and find out what we can about Crystal Hills. With any luck we’ll be out of her hair soon.”

They hadn’t moved more than four and a half hoof lengths away when a host of soldiers rounded the corner and began marching towards them, their silver armour and spears glinting and gleaming in the sunlight. Their hooves crashed in a steady beat along the ground and their banners rippled high in the air, a purple flag with an embroidered silver snowflake.

Tempest and Chrysalis both groaned. Tirek bristled and straightened up, flexing his muscles and Cozy hopped forwards, raising her sun to shield her eyes from the sun glinting off of the guards’ armour.

The commander watched as the soldiers parted and a tall, serious-faced stallion strode forwards. Judging by how tall the plume on his helmet was she figured he must have been an officer, a captain or lieutenant maybe. He sized them all up and set his jaw, then stood to one side. All of the soldiers snapped to attention and a heavenly chorus began to chime in as a certain pink alicorn, adorned in rose gold regalia moved forwards to greet the Knights.

Tempest’s eyebrows rose up in surprise, as did Tirek’s. And Chrysalis let out an audible snort of disgust and looked away as none other than Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, known more to her family, friends and subjects as Cadance, came to halt before them all.

“Princess Cadance,” the commander said, going into a slight bow. “We weren’t expecting-”

“A royal welcome?” Cadance asked, tittering before broadening into a beaming smile. “What else did such esteemed guests expect?”

Taken aback, and frankly expecting the exact opposite, Tempest just nodded as the princess shifted her gaze to Tirek and offered him a polite nod.

“Lord Tirek. Might I say you’re looking well.”

“Thank you, your grace,” Tirek said, bowing his head with a just as bemused expression as Tempest had. “As are you.”

“You’re too kind. And this must be Cozy Glow, yes?” the princess continued, craning her neck downwards to speak to Cozy. “I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced. The way I hear it you’re very clever.”

Cozy smiled up at her and gave her a jaunty salute. “Wow thanks, Princess.” She gave her teammates a satisfied, smug grin. “See? Somepony thinks I’m more than a mascot.”

Cadance chuckled in that way adults often did when a child says something silly to them. “Yes, very clever.”

When she focused her gaze next on Chrysalis the air grew slightly colder.

“Chrysalis as well, of course, we can’t forget. How are you?” she said. When Chrysalis didn’t respond, Tempest cleared her throat before finally eliciting a grunt of acknowledgement from the queen.

“Delighted to be here,” Chrysalis hissed, her words practically dripping with venom.

“Wonderful.”

The princess continued to beam at them, her gaze roving over the group one by one. Tempest felt a small frown begin to form on her forehead as a chill ran down her spine. Was she sizing them up? It certainly felt like that. The guards on either side of them shifted in their armour, their eyes far colder than that of the princess’s. Was this really a formal, royal welcome? Or was it a threat?

“Well, now that we’re all introduced, shall we? I have a carriage waiting,” Cadance paused mid-turn and looked at Tirek. “Though, I suppose you would prefer walking? I’m afraid we don’t have carriages built for centaurs.”

Unable to shake the unease growing in her stomach, Tempest glanced at Tirek. The two of them shared a small nod, and she cleared her throat again. “Walking’s fine, Princess,” she said. “Gives us time to talk as well, doesn’t it?”

“Of course,” Cadance tittered. The laughter felt forced. With a final wide smile she turned and started to lead them away. The soldiers surrounding them shifted their stances and clicked their hooves against the cold stone floor, each one tightly gripping their spears as they kept a close watch on the group.

Tempest glanced back at her team. Chrysalis was still quietly grinding her jaw and looking like she was in a foul mood as ever. Tirek caught her gaze again and they shared in another silent look. At least he seemed to be on the same page as her.

The silence as they walked, flanked by a host of guards, was aggressively uncomfortable. As such, she decided to try and break it a little by conversation. “Princess,” she began. “I suppose you know why we’re here.”

Cadance bobbed her head without looking at her. “Yes, Starlight explained everything in her letter,” she said. “Although I should warn you, I don’t know much about Crystal Hills, I’m afraid. Only-”

“Rumours and stories?” Tirek rumbled behind them, tapping his fingers rhythmically on his bag.

After a second’s hesitation the princess nodded again. For a split second, Tempest thought she saw her mouth tighten and her smile flicker. “More or less. Once we’re inside we can talk properly.”

Tempest bobbed her head understandingly, fighting off the butterflies in her stomach. Maybe Starlight’s plan B was about to come into play after all, she thought.

“After all, it looks like it’ll be just us today,” Cadance continued.

“Hmm?” Chrysalis grunted.

The princess let out a soft chuckle, glancing back out the corner of her eye. “Well, Shining and I were going to take Flurry to visit her grandparents in Canterlot. Though, after I received your director’s letter, I thought it best if I decided to stay to give you all my undivided attention.”

Keep an eye on us more like, thought Tempest. She quietly glanced back at Chrysalis to see her seethe and lower her head, stalking along like a panther following its prey.

“How courteous of you,” the changeling growled.

“You’re very welcome, Chrysalis.”

Tempest set her jaw at the pink pony’s sweet tone of voice. Nothing about this sat right with her, nothing at all. She let out a small sigh, hoping they could just find out what they needed about Crystal Hills as soon as possible and get to it instead of all of this pretending.

None of them had anything else to say after that. Even Cozy, who cautiously glanced around at the empty streets. A few blinds twitched a second after she looked at them. She quietly tugged on Tirek’s leg and gestured. He simple stared ahead.

Some movement up above caught Tempest’s attention and she glanced upwards at a lone bird flying high in the sky, struggling against the wind. It wasn’t lost on her that she sometimes felt the same. Pushing back against something that hated her no matter what she did.

She internally grimaced and lowered her head back down, following the princess into the shadow of the Crystal Palace.

***

“Please, feel free to make yourselves at home,” Cadance said politely, stepping to one side as she ushered the Knights into a large, circular study. “I only ask that you don’t wander, but feel free to get comfortable. I’ve had some fresh fruit brought up just in case any of you were peckish.”

Cozy quietly flew over to one of the large velvet chairs towards the centre of the room and nestled herself down, sinking low into it, melting into a small pool of pure comfort. Chrysalis snorted contemptuously and slunk forwards, snatching an apple on the way past from the fruit bowl laid out for them.

“Don’t wander,” she muttered under her breath, mocking Cadance’s tone of voice and glaring at her from behind her mane. “Hmph.”

Tempest and Tirek stood side by side. The centaur was quiet, and seemed more alert than usual. His fingers kept rhythmically drumming against his bag.

One, two, three, four.

It sounded oddly therapeutic, something about it comforting the commander and helping to soothe her slightly perturbed nerves. She glanced over at the door to see a guard lean in towards Cadance and whisper something in her ear.

“Right. Thank you, sergeant,” the princess said to him before turning back to the Knights. “I’m sure you’re all very eager to get started, however, I will be but a moment. There is a small matter I must attend to first.”

“Anything we can do to help, princess?” Tempest asked her quickly.

“No thank you, Commander Tempest,” Cadance replied, maintaining her saccharine smile. “I won’t be long, I assure you. Please, make yourselves comfortable.”

She gave them all one final beam before she retreated and closed the door behind her.

A few moments of silence passed before Tirek turned to the commander. “I have a bad feeling about this,” he said bluntly.

Tempest bobbed her head in agreement. Ever since Saddle Arabia she had learned to trust his instinct. “I know. So do I.”

Tirek sighed and lifted his hand off his bag. The tapping stopped, leaving Tempest feeling a touch emptier without it. “I will confess, I do not know Princess Cadance all too well, but... I am under the impression we are not welcome here. More so than our usual places of work, that is.”

“Ya think?” Cozy asked quietly. “Did you see those guards? They looked ready for a fight.”

“Oh, please,” Chrysalis snorted. “If we were to fight them we’d crush them in a heartbeat.” She grumpily bit into her apple, sinking low into the chair beside the filly and let out a long, heavy sigh. “Oh, how I wish we were still evil so we didn’t have to abide by their rules and we could just take what we wanted.”

Cozy cocked an eyebrow and looked at her. “We are still evil. Technically. We didn’t pass Twilight’s friendship tests when Luna first freed us, remember?”

The changeling paused mid-bite and glanced at her. “I’d forgotten about that,” she murmured. She shook her head. “Well, as if we would ever pass any test she’d set out for us. Friendship test indeed, the very idea of it sickens me...”

Tirek snorted quietly with laughter to himself. “Yes... quite.”

“And did you see some of the questions?” Cozy added with a grin. “Talk about narcissism. Half of the answers were Twilight herself.”

Tempest was surprised, albeit nicely, at how they were being nice to each other for a change--though, she supposed, their common hatred of Twilight had brought them together in the first place. She began to slowly walk around the room, taking in where they actually were. Various portraits of finely dressed ponies looking awfully regal hung along the walls. Royal family members, she supposed. Among them was of course Princess Cadance with her family, all smiles and no worries. Another was a young mare, roughly her age she reckoned, similarly dressed in fancy clothes like the other nobles, but something set her apart from them. At first Tempest couldn’t tell what, but as she looked closer she saw the young mare had eyes that practically radiated warmth and kindness, and a somewhat sad smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“Radiant Hope,” she murmured, reading the nameplate underneath. “I wonder who she was...”

Whatever thoughts she may have had about the portrait were interrupted, however, as three solid knocks sounded out in the small room from the other side of the door.

Cozy fluttered her wings nervously. “That doesn’t sound like Cadance,” she murmured, glancing up at Tirek. “Did it?”

Tempest shook her head slowly. “No, Cozy. It didn’t.” A host of soldiers ready to haul them into the dungeons, maybe?

She glanced at her team. Chrysalis stood up, unfurling and flexing her wings, her eyes honed like daggers onto the door. Tirek likewise cracked his shoulders and prepared himself. Cozy fluttered her wings and rose into the air, watching eagerly and intently as Tempest wrapped her hoof around the handle.

When the door swung open, the tall, dark stallion staring back at her was most definitely not Cadance, nor was it a host of soldiers, and certainly not what, or who, rather, she expected to see. She recognised his grizzled features and black mane in an instant, and as his ruby red eyes bored into hers she felt a knot twist in her stomach.

Sombra.

King Sombra.

Her heart leapt up into her throat as time seemed to slow for a few moments. Why was Sombra here? Why, of all days? What sort of sick joke was fate playing on her now?

“Commander,” he said in a low voice that sent a certain kind of shiver down her spine as he clicked his hooves and bowed his head an inch towards her. “May we speak?”

He sounded urgent, and from how he glanced over his shoulder Tempest suspected he wasn’t exactly supposed to be there. Then again, that seemed standard for the Crystal Empire’s former tyrant. Tempest nodded stiffly without even meaning to and stood to one side. he stepped forwards, turning his head only slightly enough to meet her gaze for a split second, and Tempest felt her heart somersault inside her chest. Shut up, she told herself. Shut up, shut up, shut up.

As she closed the door behind him she heard a flurry of movement, and glanced over with a grimace to see Tirek attempting to hold Chrysalis back, the changeling sputtering all manner of curses at the dark stallion. Sombra looked past the commander as well and sighed.

“Hello to you too, Queen Chrysalis. You’ve aged,” he said drolly.

Chrysalis curled her lip in disgust and shoved Tirek away, marching up to the dark stallion to glower into his eyes. “And you look sickly and frail, Sombra,” she snarled. “Why are you here?”

“I wish to talk. If you’ll indulge me?” Sombra looked past her at Tirek, giving the centaur and the filly at his side each a firm nod. “Lord Tirek. Cozy... Glow, was it? You’re both looking a sight grander than your changeling.”

Cozy immediately fluttered her wings and came to a rest on Tirek’s shoulder for protection, watching the dark stallion carefully.

“Noted,” the centaur snorted, folding his arms tightly across his chest, patiently waiting for an explanation.

Sombra exhaled through his nostrils. “Crystal Hills,” he said with a grim voice. “I can only assume that you are all here because of its existence, and I wish to speak with you concerning the issue it raises.”

Oh, of course he wanted to talk about Crystal Hills, Tempest thought. Why wouldn’t he?

“What do you know about Crystal Hills?” Tirek asked suspiciously.

The shadowy stallion turned and flicked his gaze up at the portrait Tempest had been examining. His eyes twitched and his nostrils flared the tiniest bit. “I know the rumours and stories surrounding it are true, for one. That it is filled with untold riches from a kingdom long gone, for another.” A shadow darkened his eyes for a moment as his voice faltered. “And finally, there is not just treasure that awaits in Crystal Hills. There is something else, something that concerns me deeply.”

“You’re talking about the Crown of Sacanas, right?” Cozy said.

Sombra flared his nostrils and turned his head down towards her. “Yes, Sacanas’s crown,” he confirmed, his voice low and filled with an unsettling intensity. “And I can tell you for certainty that it is indeed a powerful and dangerous artifact, more dangerous than you could possibly imagine.”

Chrysalis twisted her face at him while Tirek stuck his thumbs in the side of his vest. “What make you so certain?” he rumbled.

A shadow passed over Sombra’s face, darkening his rugged features. “Because I have have seen firsthoof what the crown is capable of, Lord Tirek. Long ago, before my reign as King of the Crystal Empire, I learned of the existence of the Crown of Sacanas. Its power was said to be immense, capable of anything-”

Chrysalis scoffed loudly. “Please, spare us your dramatic tales,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “We’ve dealt with our fair share of powerful artifacts.”

Sombra’s gaze hardened, his eyes glowing with a faint ethereal light. “Oh, I have no doubt that you have faced many challenges,” he replied coldly. “But the Crown of Sacanas is not something to be taken lightly, Chrysalis. Despite the salvation the crown may promise it in itself is insidious, dragging even the strongest-willed beings into madness and destruction.”

Tempest watched the exchange between Sombra and her teammates with a mix of curiosity and caution. There was something about the way Sombra spoke, the weight behind his words, that made her believe he was telling the truth.

“What exactly makes it so dangerous?” she asked, her voice steady despite the pounding of her heart.

Sombra turned to her. The graveness in his eyes made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up on end. “When I say the crown gives its wearer the power to do anything, I mean no exaggeration, Commander,” he explained, his voice low and as serious as the grave. “Though it exacts a heavy toll. You see, those that wear the crown are assailed by the thoughts of its dark master, by Sacanas’s spirit himself, until his will becomes your own. Your body, heart; your very soul falls under his sway, leaving nothing behind.”

There was a tense silence as he finished, now that the Knights knew and understood what they were dealing with.

Chrysalis snorted, breaking the silence, though a flicker of doubt appeared over her face. “And we are to understand that you resisted it, did you?”

Sombra inhaled deeply and flared his nostrils. “I had no need to,” he stated flatly. “For while I sought it out, another came to wear it.”

Curious, Cozy fluttered her wings and leaned forwards. “Somepony else?” she asked. “Who?”

The dark stallion swallowed. Tempest spotted a small bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. “A friend,” he murmured, regret and sorrow lacing his voice.

Chrysalis scoffed. “A friend? You?” she tittered. “I find that hard to believe.”

Quickly composing himself, the former king scowled at her. “And I find it hard to believe that you are here, Chrysalis,” he snarled. “After all, I haven’t said Bloody Mary three times today.”

Tirek let out a delighted little snort of laughter and grinned from ear to ear.

Chrysalis scowled and rounded on him. “Is that a smile Lord Tirek?” she snarled. “Is that an expression of humour or are you constipated? Your face is already so hideous I can hardly tell the difference.”

The centaur’s smile faded. “He has a point,” he rumbled. “I am certain it is against our code of ethics to allow a pile of festering worms to wear our uniform, yet here you stand.”

Cozy laughed and clapped her hooves together. “Oooooh!” she cried gleefully.

Sombra sat back and watched as well, a small smirk playing across his mouth.

And Tempest looked up at the ceiling, letting a pained look of deep, sorrowful regret cross her face as they began to bicker back and forth like an old married couple who hated each other. “Sombra, this... friend of yours,” she said quickly as her teammates paused to catch their breaths, desperately hoping to get back on track. “Are they still alive? Is this a rescue mission?”

Sombra blanched and glanced at her for a moment before averting his eyes. “No,” he said after a moment. “I saw to it that they were spared any further suffering. No, finding and destroying the crown are my only goals in coming to you today.”

Sensing something more but not wishing to push it any further, Tempest bobbed her head. “Alright, so how do we do that? I’m assuming you have a plan, already?”

Sombra’s horn crackled with black lightning. From the folds of his cloak he retrieved a small, silver key and held it up to them all. “I do indeed, Commander. I know where Crystal Hills is, and this key is the only one of its kind capable of breaking the seal around the city, shielding it from the world,” he said. “I have it because it was given to me, and if the key has been found then that means there are others who seek Crystal Hills, and Sacanas’s crown, no doubt for their own purposes.”

Tempest thought about what Starlight had said, the warning from Lord Glow. “Bray,” she murmured in realisation.

Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy all scowled at the mention of the donkey’s name.

Sombra joined them and tightened his jaw. “Yes, the magician,” he growled. “The trickster in Saddle Arabia who poisoned my mind and used me for his own goals--I have not forgotten-”

He stopped.

Chrysalis’s wings suddenly unfurled and her pupils shrank. Her lip pulled backwards into a snarl and she bared her fangs, taking a long drag of air through her nose. “That smell…” she whispered. “Where did you find this key, Sombra? Who gave it to you?”

Sombra cocked his head out and gave her a strange look. “A three-legged changeling appeared on my doorstep carrying it, offering it to me,” he said. “Why? One of yours, I presume?”

Cozy glanced worriedly at Chrysalis. “Uh, I wouldn’t say that,” she murmured quietly, inching away from the changeling queen.

“Pupa,” Chrysalis spat, flicking her tongue out as if it left a foul taste. “I would recognise my dear aunt’s wretched stench anywhere.” She trained her eyes on Sombra, focusing on him like a hawk about to dive for a rabbit. “What business did you have with her, Sombra?” she asked quietly.

The dark stallion braced himself. “Little to none. When I demanded to know how she came by this key she refused to answer, beyond some cryptic nonsense, and left soon after in a flash of light.”

“Oh yeah she does that,” muttered Cozy, gently bobbing her head up and down.

Tempest, sensing Sombra’s confusion, coughed quietly and drew his attention. “Chrysalis and Cozy have met Pupa before,” she explained. “From what we know, and from what they’ve seen and said, Pupa--Chrysalis’s aunt--is working with Bray.”

Sombra blinked again in surprise. “Truly?” He thought for a moment, turning the key over in his magic. The ruby in its head glinted and flashed in the light, reflecting back in his eyes of the same shade. “Then it seems we have even more reason to work together in this matter, then.”

“I disagree,” Chrysalis said quietly. She lowered her head and grit her teeth. “If Pupa has involved her stinking hooves then I cannot help but ask why? Was it for her own benefit or that of her wretched master?” She scowled, twitching occasionally from anger. Then she paused and cast Sombra a wary glance. “Or perhaps she is yet amongst us now.”

Sombra rolled his eyes. “Do you truly suspect I am a member of your stinking race?” he sneered. “Take a good, long look, Chrysalis. You will see I am as pony as when we last met.”

Chrysalis did. She eyed him up and down, indeed taking a long look at him. After a short while of this she eventually snorted. “Fine. You are indeed you,” she grunted. “My point stands, however. For all I know, you are working with that pond slime I have the misfortune of calling family.”

The dark stallion flared his nostrils. “Think what you want, insect, however wrong it is, I don’t care,” he sneered. “Now leave the decision making to your betters, would you? After all, it is not you I am here to converse with, but rather your leader; it is she whom I would ask to aid me in this matter and she alone.”

Tempest blanched. Her? Why?

“The commander? Why?” demanded Tirek, suddenly on the defensive.

Sombra looked up at him calmly. “Is it not obvious?” he asked. “Who among you stands as a calm and collected individual? You, Tirek? Perhaps Chrysalis, or even the child? This mission, this... ‘quest’, if you will, requires those with only the strongest wills, and as a pony--nay--a unicorn whose horn was broken-”

The Knights blanched all at once. Their eyes darted over to the dark mare in their midst. Tempest’s nose twitched, then her eyebrow followed suit and her eyes hardened into a fierce glare. Not that Sombra noticed.

“-has absolute authority over all of you, I can see clearly that your leader is the only one capable of joining me.” He looked finally at the dark, scowling mare, suddenly very aware of how hot the room had gotten. He swallowed and lifted his head up slightly. “What say you, Commander?” he said softly, extending his hoof.

Tempest’s horn crackled once then stopped. Her features softened, though the bitter feelings remained. She realised he wasn’t being malicious, quite the opposite in fact, but still she hated--hated--being singled out for her broken horn. She raised her head and looked deep into his eyes. Her heart thumped in her chest again.

Chrysalis’s head turned sharply in her direction, the changeling’s nostrils flaring only slightly as she caught a whiff of something terrible and outrageous.

The commander thought for a moment, feeling her teammate’s eyes burning gazes upon the back of her head. Crystal Hills, and the crown, needed to be found, she reasoned with herself. And Sombra apparently knew where it was and how to reach it, and he was right--so was Starlight: if Bray or Pupa or whoever else they were enemies with found it first, then that could spell disaster for not just Equestria, but the wider world as a whole.

On the other hoof, she would be leaving her team behind, going into the unknown with only Sombra for company. Could she trust him? He saved her life once in Saddle Arabia already. He had sought them out--her out, specifically, and why? What if Chrysalis was right, what if he was working for or with Pupa? What if he was lying about everything? Could she really take that chance? Questions, questions and more questions mounted inside her mind, threatening to overwhelm her. She closed her eyes, taking deep, slow breaths. Stay calm. Focus, she told herself.

Easier said than done, when the door suddenly burst open, flying off of its hinges and slamming into the far wall with the faint traces of pink smoke surrounding it.

Tirek instinctively put one leg in front of Cozy and shielded her, readying himself for a fight for whatever it was, only to stand down as soon as a loud, bellowing voice roared a name in fury.

“Sombra!”

Still holding his hoof out to Tempest, searching her eyes with his, Sombra didn’t move even as Princess Cadance strode into the room, her usually gentle demeanour replaced with a fierce expression and clear hostility. She stood tall and formidable before them all, the very picture of an alicorn of Equestria, her wings spread out on either side of her regal form, not unlike either of her aunts, and her horn pointed upwards to the ceiling like a proud mountaintop.

She stared at them all, the Knights on one side, Sombra on the other and Tempest standing before him. Her wings rustled and returned to her sides.

“Step away, Tempest,” she said calmly, fixing her gaze upon Sombra. “Sombra is an enemy of the state and I am placing him under arrest. Nightmare Knights, if you interfere you will be treated in the same way.”

Chrysalis wrenched her glare away from tempest to the princess. She hissed and curled her lips back, but took a step back all the same, as did Tirek and Cozy. Cadance nodded at them, somewhat thankful for their co-operation, but with obvious hesitance. Behind her several guards shuffled, bustling forth into the room all clad in silver wielding spears tipped with crystal.

Tempest didn’t move, however.

“I won’t say again, Commander,” said Cadance, terseness creeping into her voice. “Step aside.”

The commander bristled. She was duty bound to obey any order of the Equestrian princesses when given, but technically speaking, Cadance wasn’t a princess of Equestria, she reasoned with herself. She shouldn’t feel guilty about this. Her tail swished from side to side. A bead of sweat formed on her head.

Cozy watched with wide eyes and bated breath. “What’s she doing?” she whispered, tugging at Tirek’s leg. “Tempy?”

Tirek waved his hand towards her and shushed her. “Commander?” he murmured.

After only a few short moments, Tempest’s intention became very apparent to everyone in the room.

Chrysalis tensed up like a cat about to pounce. “Tempest…” she hissed. Her voice shook slightly, probably with the realisation of a great and terrible truth. “Don’t you dare...”

Tempest slowly breathed in and out through her nose, locking eyes with Sombra. The princess and her guards stood to the right. Her own Knights stood behind her. She licked her lips. Cadance and her retinue started to move forwards, slow, deliberately, as if their presence might have set off a stick of dynamite.

Sombra’s fierce, attractively intense eyes burrowed into Tempest’s, silently willing her to take his hoof. To trust him and come away with him.

The bead of sweat that had been rolling down the side of Tempest’s face reached her chin, and fell, landing on the floor without a sound.

She lurched forwards with a burst of determination, grabbing the dark stallion’s hoof and pulled herself towards him. She heard the furious outcry, unsure if it came from Chrysalis or Cadance, and the world began to spin. There was a bright flash that surrounded both her and Sombra. The warmth of the Crystal Empire palace interior faded away, replaced by somewhere cold. Somewhere impossibly cold.

She raised a hoof to her eyes to shield her from the sudden, sheer whiteness of it all and squinted.

There was nothing around them, but the empty, howling wastes of the Frozen North, it in itself living up to its namesake. This place was a wasteland. Barren, devoid of all life except for the whistling wind as it ripped at their manes and their tails, billowing them out. It was then Tempest realised what exactly she had done, and put her head in her hooves.

“Oh, I shouldn’t have done that,” she muttered.

Starlight was going to kill her, or try to at least and then Chrysalis would kill her in turn. Twilight would be furious. Luna, wherever she was would likely also be furious. And Cadance, well... Cadance had just seen her disobey a direct order and dash off with just about the worst enemy of the Crystal Empire. And her team... the Nightmare Knights... she left them behind. How could she? Her tail beat the ground a few times, swishing back and forth in distress.

The sound of the crunching of hooves on snow made her look up in alarm. Sombra was already sauntering away, up a small hill without a care in the world. She stared after him and felt her eyebrow twitch. Yeah, said a small voice inside her head. She liked to imagine it was Chrysalis. Really shouldn’t have done that, should you? She furrowed her brow and stood up. Giving in to her own self despair wouldn’t do now. She had a job to do, and now that she was here she might as well do it.

“Hey,” she called out. “Wait up.”

He turned slightly and looked at her, unimpressed as she stumbled through the thick snow, trying to match his hoofprints. For such a big stallion he was oddly light and left little imprints.

“Mind telling me where exactly we are?” she asked, panting only lightly from the small workout. The snow was thicker than she thought, and Sombra was bigger than her, though not by much. “Y’know, seeing as how I may have just thrown my entire life away by joining you?”

Sombra arched an eyebrow upwards at her. “Crystal Hills,” he answered. “Or thereabouts. Just beyond this hill, by my reckoning.”

Tempest grunted in acknowledgement.

“I do appreciate it, also,” he continued. “That you should throw your life away for the likes of me and mine.”

“Save it for when we’re done,” Tempest grumbled sulkily. “Maybe by then I’ll manage to salvage something--if we survive.”

“How very optimistic of you,” the dark stallion chortled grimly.

The commander shot him a look. “The Nightmare Knights don’t deal in optimism. It’s a luxury we can’t afford.”

Sombra paused for a moment. “Are the Nightmare Knights knights, or philosophers now? No matter. Come. Up this hill we should be able to see it.”

They climbed in relative silence, save for the snow crunching under their hooves. Once Tempest lost her footing and slipped, but Sombra turned and grabbed her, holding her steady while she caught her balance. She only just managed to stave off the blush creeping up under her coat around her face and thanked him quietly, hating how her voice sounded small--like a filly with a schoolyard crush. For Celestia’s sake pull yourself together, she scolded herself.

As they finally reached the summit, they both stared down at the city below.

The darkness surrounding it was suffocating, swallowing any light that dared to shine through. The few tall buildings that emerged from the shadows only added to the feeling of unease. It was as if a thick layer of foreboding had been smeared over everything, growing larger and more suffocating with each passing moment. The longer she looked, the more intense the sense of dread overwhelmed her, making her heart race.

“I know,” Sombra said curtly, glaring down at the shadow-drenched city as if he could read her thoughts. “It was not always like this, I assure you. Once it was beautiful, the true capital of the Crystal Empire.” His face seemed to brightened as he spoke. “Often times I would come to this hill to simply sit and gaze down upon it, listening to the sounds of children playing in its streets, smell the aromas of delicious food wafting through the air, or even just to simply bask in its glory.” He shook his head and his eyes hardened. “Now all that remains is a mere husk of the Crystal Empire’s former glory.”

Tempest glanced towards him. As soon as her gaze averted from Crystal Hills she felt a sense of elation, like a great weight had been lifted up off of her shoulders and she let out a short sigh of breath. “And the crown is in there, is it?”

“Yes, at the palace. At the far end.”

Sombra turned away. “There is a cave further up this hill,” he said. “We may rest there and gather our bearings if you so wish.”

Tempest nodded in agreement, grateful for the suggestion. The biting cold of the Frozen North was starting to seep into her bones, and she couldn’t deny the fatigue that was beginning to take hold of her. The thought of finding some shelter and a momentary reprieve from the harsh elements was enticing, and her mind was still reeling from the sight of the desolate city below.

She followed Sombra as he led her towards the cave, their hoofsteps muffled by the thick layer of snow. The wind howled around them, biting at their exposed skin and seeking to drive them back, like the Frozen North itself was telling them to turn away.

“How could anypony live up here?” Tempest wondered out loud as they stepped into the cave. “Aren’t you cold?”

Sombra shrugged and ignited his horn. Instead of black lightning as before, a warm, soft pink glow illuminated their faces before conjuring a small fire. “I do not feel the cold as you Equestrians do.”

He lowered his head and pointed the fire at the ground.

The commander snorted and sat down near it, warming her hooves up. She coiled her tail around her for warmth, and quickly realised just how cold she actually was. “Must be nice,” she muttered grumpily, trying to stop her teeth from chattering despite the fire’s heat.

Making no show that he heard her Sombra remained silent. He sat for a moment, staring into the fire. It danced and flickered, reflecting back in his ruby red eyes.

“I can offer you my cloak, if you wish,” he eventually said, tearing his eyes away from the flames to look at her.

Tempest started on the spot. “What?”

“For the cold.”

The feeling of heat welled up in her cheeks. “No thanks,” she muttered.

He hummed quietly and turned his attention back to the fire.

Tempest couldn’t help but steal glances at Sombra as they sat in the warmth of the cave. There was something about him, an air of enigma and power that fascinated her. She had always been drawn to strong, independent stallions, but Sombra was different. His dark past and his unyielding determination to reclaim what he had lost intrigued her. And yet, she couldn’t deny the conflicting emotions within her.

As the fire crackled and popped, casting dancing shadows on the cave walls, Tempest found herself lost in thought. She wondered how she had ended up here, aligning herself with a pony who had once threatened to bring darkness to Equestria. It went against everything she believed in as a member of the Nightmare Knights. But something deep inside her told her that there was more to Sombra than met the eye.

“Tell me,” Tempest began, breaking the silence. “Why did you choose me to join you on this mission? It has to be more than the Knights respecting me, right?”

“Do you find that hard to believe?” Sombra chuckled, his laugh sounding unfamiliar and almost foreign as if he rarely allowed himself to do so.

The commander wrinkled her nose. “I guess not.”

“Something tells you otherwise?”

“Yeah. I get the feeling you’re not telling me everything.”

“Hah. You have good instincts.” Sombra stood up briefly and stretched before lying down in front of the fire, holding himself very regally despite current circumstances.

At this angle Tempest got a good look at his sheer mass and imagined what rippling pectorals hid underneath that cloak of his. Over on his flank she caught sight of something that resembled a scratch mark over where his cutie mark would have been and frowned, curious as to what it could be. You’re doing it again, said the small voice inside her head. Focus.

Sombra looked her up and down. “I must concede to you, however, and admit that you are right,” he said. “Your ability to command your Knights is indeed impressive, though there is something more that catches my attention.”

“Like what?” Tempest said quickly.

Sombra’s gaze intensified as he spoke. “It is your resilience, Commander. Your unwavering determination to protect Equestria and its ponies, even in the face of insurmountable odds. I see a fire within you, burning bright despite the darkness that is surrounding us all. I asked you here alone because... because like Luna I believe you may yet save us from what is coming.”

The commander’s tail swished along the floor. “What do you mean?”

Sombra shook his head. “I will explain, you have my word, but only after we are finished here.”

“Why can’t you tell me now?”

“What would I have to bargain with then, Commander?” he replied slyly.

Tempest felt her eyebrow twitch. She couldn’t deny the intrigue that Sombra’s words had stirred within her. There was a part of her that wanted to push for answers, to demand them right then and there. But the other part of her, the part that had learned patience through years of hardships, understood the importance of playing the long game.

“You keep your word?” she asked.

“Upon my life,” Sombra answered.

“Fine,” the commander muttered.

The crackling fire filled the quiet as Tempest’s thoughts drifted away. It had been ages since she had simply sat and waited, hadn’t it? She and the Knights were always rushing around or battling some monstrous threat; she rarely took time anymore to just be still and unwind. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly when, but a sudden weariness overcame her. Her heavy eyelids started to droop in the cave, and before long, she had fallen into a deep and much-needed sleep.

***

Tempest stirred awake, her vision slowly adjusting to the dimly lit surroundings. She let out a yawn and clicked her tongue in slight confusion, realizing she was on an unfamiliar floor in a cold, damp cave. With a jolt, she sat up and scolded herself for dozing off, quickly remembering where she was. How long had she been asleep? And where-

Sombra wasn’t there, she realised, taking a quick look around. The fire had gone out as well. A cold, sinking feeling began to grow in her stomach as she crept cautiously towards the mouth of the cave, half expecting Sombra to be long gone, leaving her for dead in the Frozen North wilderness. It was night now, too. Stars and nebulas dotted the clear night sky, and snowflakes like little stars themselves fell down to gently rest upon the ground. If she didn’t know where she was, she’d have thought it quite peaceful, tranquil even.

And as she stepped out into the cool night air she spotted Sombra, sitting some ways away on a ledge overlooking the city below. His head was low and his cloak pulled across his shoulders, but it was definitely him. Tempest breathed out a quick sigh of relief and made her way towards him, crunching the snow under her hooves in the process.

He twitched his head in one direction and glanced at her with one eye that cut through the dark like a blood red spotlight. “You’re awake, then,” he said gruffly.

She flinched. She must have slept for hours, she realised. “Yeah,” she murmured. “Sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

Sombra waved his hoof. “It doesn’t matter. In truth I took the time to prepare myself as well, and had I known you were tired enough I would have suggested resting until nightfall anyway.” He paused for a moment and looked her over as she sat down next to hm. “When was the last time you had a proper night’s rest, Commander?”

Tempest pulled a face. “What are you, my doctor?” she grunted moodily.

“When was it?” he persisted.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

Sombra hummed quietly. “Might I suggest-”

“I can sleep when I’m done,” the commander snapped. Waking up from a nap, however long or short, always made her cranky. Cozy had learned this the hard way, as now Sombra did, apparently. That, and coupled with the indignation of falling asleep on the job--in front of him as well...

But Sombra simply arched an eyebrow at her. “Yes, of course,” he said quietly. “Well, seeing as how we are both ready, shall we proceed with our mission, then?” He gestured towards the city.

Tempest smoothed the front of her jumpsuit down and shivered again, though this time not because of the cold. Crystal Hills once again loomed before them, somehow looking larger than before, more intimidating. She swallowed and narrowed her eyes. “Yeah,” she said firmly despite the cold grip fear had a hold of her heart. “Yeah let’s get this over with. What’re we walking into down there?”

“Do not know,” Sombra answered. “But I assure you, Commander, it will not be a walk in the park.”

The commander blinked. “Was that a joke?”

The stallion’s eyes glinted with a hint of amusement. “Would it surprise you to learn I have a sense of humour, Commander?”

“Kinda, yeah.”

“Well... it surprised me to know that you talk in your sleep.”

Tempest’s face turned beet red and her jaw clamped shut. He flashed her a smile and stood up, offering her his hoof as he rose. After a second, she scowled and made it a point to not touch him, nor even look at him as she helped herself up, willing away the heat in her face to leave. “Mhm,” she offered him curtly.

Sombra watched her for a moment longer then turned to go, a small smile over his face.

The moon shone brightly in the sky, watching over them it felt like. Tempest glanced up at it, wondering where Luna was, wondering if she had planned for them to meet at all like this at some point. She snorted quietly. If she did, she had a lot to answer for.

But speculation would have to wait, she told herself, as would this crush she had.

Crystal Hills and its ever-daunting presence beckoned them forth, keeping whatever its dark secrets may be hidden within its icy streets. Tempest squared her shoulders in determination. She had a mission to complete, a responsibility to Equestria and its ponies. She couldn’t afford distractions in here, not when they were so close, either. And with Sombra’s presence beside her, despite his ominous past and his... infuriatingly handsome smile, a strange sense of confidence was instilled within her. She’d get him back for that remark, she promised herself. How or when she didn’t know, but she would.

But even so, she thought, a little levity no matter what, often helped in situations like this, and it often fell to Cozy to inject a bit of humour into their lives. Maybe the young Knight’s role as the ‘mascot’ was more apt than Chrysalis had initially thought.

As they made their way down the snowy slopes towards Crystal Hills, the silence between them was heavy with anticipation, like they both knew what was coming. Each step echoed in the quiet night, the sound muffled by the thick layer of snow beneath their hooves. Soon enough the gates loomed before them like a set of iron teeth belonging to a great beast, and two towers rose up into the sky on either side of it, looming down on them like oppressive sentinels.

Tempest couldn’t help but feel a surge of trepidation as they approached, the weight of their mission pressing down on her with each passing second, and slowed to let Sombra pass. The dark stallion led the way with a certain grace, his steps measured and deliberate. The commander followed closely behind, her senses on high alert, scanning the battlements of the walls for anything and anyone, friendly or otherwise. There was nothing but ice and wind to answer her. She didn’t know if that was comforting or not

Sombra shifted and produced his key once more, holding it up to the gate. The gates joined in on the pulsing, radiating a dim red light before suddenly coming to a halt.

“What-” Tempest began, when suddenly, with a loud groan and an ear-piercing screech, the doors slowly opened, scraping against the icy ground. The sound was almost unbearable, cutting through the stillness of the night like nails on a chalkboard. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity had passed, the gates came to a stop and silence settled back in.

Sombra looked down at the key in his hoof, nonplussed at how loud the sound had been. “There,” he muttered. “The way is open. And this key no longer serves any purpose.”

“What do you mean?” Tempest asked, stepping up beside him and rubbing her ear. “It’s a key, right? Couldn’t you just lock it back up?”

“It isn’t that simple,” Sombra replied. “I have broken the enchantment containing Crystal Hills. Now it is, in a way, free; never to be sealed away again.”

“That doesn’t sound very reassuring.”

“It isn’t meant to be. We should hurry,” said the king cryptically as he strode into the archway, leaving Tempest with more questions than answers.

“You said we need to go to the palace, right?”

“Indeed. If memory serves the fastest way there is down the main road. It runs all the way through the city.”

“Well then after you, your majesty,” Tempest said with a slight bow.

Sombra frowned at her. “Bowing does not suit you,” he murmured quietly.

The commander frowned back at him. “I don’t care if it suits me or not,” she said. “It’s proper protocol, I’m a knight and I am in the presence of ‘royalty’ after all. Aren’t I?”

After a moment a low groan of irritation escaped the dark stallion’s throat. “Yes, well. Onwards, then,” he grunted sulkily.

More than a bit pleased with herself, tempest followed after him. The shadows of the night seemed to intensify as they walked through the darkened streets, hiding who knows what just out of sight, and with just their hoofbeats as the only sounds around, Tempest felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

She paused for a moment and cocked on ear out, swearing she heard another set of hoofsteps that weren’t theirs.

“What is it?” Sombra asked her quietly, keeping his head low and his eyes alert and sharp.

“I don’t know. I feel like we’re being watched.”

The dark stallion nodded. “I feel it as well. Be on your guard, Nightmare Knight.”

Tempest nodded back at him, sensing the time for snappy remarks was over.

Plodding on through the dark, cold and narrow streets, they eventually came upon a town square of sorts, where the road opened up.

To say the square was desolate would be an understatement. The cobblestones under their hooves lay covered in a layer of snow, untouched by any pony for years. Tempest’s gaze swept across the area. It seemed as though time itself had forgotten this place, leaving it to decay in its own sorrow, and yet strangely there was an unmistakeable beauty to it, that whoever built this place did so lovingly. She wondered what it must have looked like in its heyday. She could practically feel the weight of the past lingering in the air, as if the forgotten memories of those who had once called this place home were whispering to her. The wind carried snippets of laughter and joy, mixed with the melancholy echo of despair.

As she looked around Sombra took a few steps forward, his hooves crunching through the snow. His gaze flickered towards a worn and faded statue in the centre of the square. His breath shuddered for a moment and he stood still, staring up at it with a hollowed and pained expression. Tempest quietly joined him, taking a few more careful glances around before she looked up at the statue as well. The statue was a mare, clearly, her face, while worn, was etched forever into a smile--a kind smile. A somewhat sad smile, too? She looked familiar for some reason, but--oh! The mare in the portrait she had been looking at in the Crystal Empire.

“Hey I think I recognise her,” she murmured. “Radiant Hope, right?”

She blinked and suddenly the square was alive with ponies, as, seemingly, real as herself and Sombra, all an array of bright colours--reds, greens, blues, yellows, all the colours of the rainbow. Some children scampered past them, laughing and playing amongst themselves without a care in the world, paying no heed at all to the strangers in their midst. It was just as she had imagined it moments ago: a vibrant city, full of life and energy instead of the desolate ruin they had entered. And another thing... it was warm. It was so warm, like Ponyville in the height of summer. Tufts of green grass poked up through the cobblestones beneath them, and the sun shone down from high above, spreading its warmth and joy over the world, from what looked like a shimmering shield.

Tempest couldn’t believe her eyes. It had to be a vision of some sort, but why? How? She glanced at Sombra again, and at the statue. The mare depicted in stone seemed to be smiling kindly now instead of sadly, as if she was witnessing the revival of her beloved city through Tempest’s perspective.

“What is this?” the commander whispered incredulously, barely audible amidst the newfound sounds of life.

She blinked again and just as quickly as it had appeared, it all vanished. The warmth, the noise, the colour--gone. Replaced by the cold emptiness of Crystal Hills in its current state. Sombra let out a long, drawn-out sigh and lowered his head.

“We shouldn’t linger,” he said quietly. “This place holds many memories, none of them pleasant.”

Tempest looked at him for a good long while after that before finally nodding in agreement. They moved away form the square, taking it slow through the dead city’s streets. She glanced back once more at where they had come from, still unable to shake the feeling that they were being watched. Shadows moved in the corners of her eyes, and when she looked at them properly there was nothing but inky blackness staring back at her.

As they ventured deeper into Crystal Hills, the streets seemed to grow tighter, narrower, and the ruined buildings taller until they had to walk single file. Their hoofsteps clipped loudly along the stones making up the floor, where the snow hadn’t fallen. Soon they came upon a small patch of frozen grass and a few dead trees in what looked like some sort of playground--long since dilapidated like the rest of the city. They got about halfway when Tempest had another vision, and for a moment she once again saw greenery, the trees covered with white petals and the playground, once rusted and terrible now clean and new, and children’s laughter filled the air.

“Commander,” came Sombra’s sharp voice.

She blinked and looked around, realising she had strayed from their path at some point and quickly made to re-join him.

“What did you see?” he asked her, quite serious.

Tempest shook her head. “Nothing, really. Just... how things were before whatever happened here, happened. Why? Do you see it, too?”

“I have seen nothing else since we arrived.”

Sombra turned to go, but the commander reached out to stop him, grabbing his shoulder firmly. “What?” she asked. “What do you mean? You don’t see the ice and the snow--the ruins?”

He shook his head. “No. I know how it really looks, I know it isn’t real, and yet I see it how it was. How she saw it.”

“She? Radiant Hope?”

“Yes.”

At the bitterness and sorrow in his voice, Tempest made a small ‘O’ with her mouth. Another thought occurred to her. “She was your ‘friend’, wasn’t she? The one you said put on the crown?”

Sombra nodded stiffly. “That is correct, yes.”

The wind whistled down the narrow street, rustling their manes and tails and bringing with it an icy chill. The dark stallion looked up at where it was coming from and frowned. “This far north, where there is wind a blizzard soon follows,” he grunted. “We should find shelter and wait for it to pass. This way.”

Tempest let him go, watching after him for a few moments, then hurried to join him. The flashes she was getting were unsettling enough, to see a world that was once, but for him she couldn’t imagine how difficult it must be. And questions began to mount in her mind again: what exactly happened to Crystal Hills? How was Sombra connected to it all? Why was she getting these visions, what did it all mean?

She furrowed her brow as they walked, shivering in the cold of the howling winds.

***

The blizzard arrived just as Sombra said it would, tearing through the narrow streets with blisteringly cold winds.

They kept their heads low and their bodies close together, conserving any amount of warmth possible. Tempest felt a different kind of heat rise up into her face when he first put his hoof around her, guiding her onwards. For somepony who, as he said himself, ‘didn’t feel the cold’, he was shivering an awful lot.

“Almost there,” he said through gritted teeth.

Tempest just nodded, barely able to keep her teeth from chattering together. She didn’t know here they were going exactly, but shelter was all she needed to hear. That and that they were close. They came to a crossing and a break from the oppressive alleyway, but the wind made it difficult to see anything.

“Straight ahead,” Sombra said into her ear, not quite shouting but loud enough to be heard over the gale. “I will lead the way. Stay close and do not stray.”

“How?” Tempest grumbled, clenching her teeth together. “I can’t see anything.”

“Here.”

Sombra’s horn began to glow, creating a protective bubble around them of a shimmering magic shield. As they trudged forward, the dark stallion led the way while the commander stuck close behind him. The warmth from his magic spread through her body, giving her a small sense of security.

But despite that, the blizzard seemed to grow in intensity, raging at the pair who dared try to defy it. Sombra winced. Tempest noticed he was struggling and bit her lip. She’d never been able to cast shields thanks to her horn, and lamented that all she could do was brace herself against him, keeping him steady.

He was so warm, she thought. Surprisingly soft too.

Stop it, she told herself. Focus.

The storm was a fierce opponent, fighting against them with each step they took, nipping at their noses and ears even through the protective bubble. Tempest’s heart sank as she noticed the magic flickering once or twice. “Don’t stop,” she urged Sombra, prodding his head with her nose. “We’re almost there.... right?”

“Just... ahead,” he grunted between breaths. “Just... there!”

He pointed a hoof towards a large stone building, similar to the others they had passed, all crumbling from years of neglect in Crystal Hills. Tempest couldn’t believe it; they must have only just crossed the road, but the unrelenting storm made it feel like they had been wandering for miles. With no time to waste, they both rushed forward and pushed against the door. After a small amount of effort, the ice surrounding the frame cracked and they swung open. The ponies hurried inside together and quickly closed the heavy doors behind them, grateful to be shielded from the brutal elements outside.

As they took a minute to catch their breath, Tempest couldn’t help but look around curiously. It appeared to be some kind of abandoned bar, with tables and chairs strewn about the floor, and the faint smell of mildew in the air that made her wrinkle her nose.

“Well done, Commander,” Sombra said suddenly, brushing some snow off of his shoulders and out of his wavy mane. “I see why your comrades respect you so.”

“Hey you’re my only ticket out of here,” she replied, rubbing her frozen hooves together to try and warm up. “If you freeze to death, so do I.”

“Hmm. Yes I suppose so.”

They both chuckled softly, their breaths only just visible in the cold air. Sombra’s laugh managed to warm Tempest’s heart more than any magic shield ever could, and her cheeks began to turn a nice rosy red as a result. She quickly coughed and reaffirmed herself. “So where are we anyway? What is this place?”

The stallion looked around them and let out a short, bitter sigh. “The Crystal Rose,” he told her. “It is a tavern. In my youth I... found work here.”

Tempest’s eyebrows rose up. “Doing what exactly?” she teased.

Sombra hesitated and twitched his head towards her. “My father was the innkeeper, it was not uncommon for me to help him by clearing tables.”

The dark mare couldn’t help but smirk at the image of Sombra as a young colt, clumsily carrying trays of food and trying to balance dirty dishes. It was a far cry from the image she had of him as the fearsome King Sombra. “I never would have guessed,” she said playfully. “But I suppose everyone has their humble beginnings, don’t they?”

“Quite."

Sombra examined their surroundings. “Yes, a lot of memories were forged here," he murmured, and strode towards the bar counter. He circled around it and situated himself on the other side of it, then rested with his forehooves on the counter top. “May I offer you a drink, Commander? Free of charge, of course. I’m sure my father won’t mind.”

The commander stared at him incredulously. “You want to have a drink?” she asked slowly. Here? Now? In the middle of this dead city, she wondered? He must be mad.

But Sombra simply shrugged. “Something to warm the soul as much as the body, wouldn’t you say?” he said with a sly grin.

Tempest paused, considering the offer. The blizzard roared outside, relentlessly attacking the door and windows. It didn’t seem like it would let up anytime soon. Maybe he was right; one drink wouldn’t hurt too much. She gave in and took a seat at the bar, facing him. “Alright,” she conceded, “but just one. I’m still on duty.”

“Of course.”

Sombra’s horn lit up once again, this time with crackling black lightning, and a bottle, accompanied by two small glasses, lifted themselves up into view and deposited themselves on the counter at his behest. “Crystal vodka,” he declared, examining the bottle. “Perhaps the last bottle ever made. I remember my father was keeping it for a special occasion...” He trailed off for a moment before adding, in a far sombre tone, “An occasion that never came to pass.”

He looked down at the crystal clear liquid in his glass. Tempest did, too, noticing how it glittered and sparkled like a diamond. Cool trick for something called crystal vodka, she supposed.

“Well.” Sombra leaned against the bar and raised his glass in a toast. “To Crystal Hills,” he said, slinging his drink back and downing it all in one go.

Tempest raised hers and watched as he drank it down. “To Crystal Hills,” she murmured before slinging it back just as he had. The vodka burned a trail down her throat. She coughed, her eyes watering as she tried to catch her breath. “Wow,” she wheezed, looking into the empty glass.

The dark stallion chortled softly, having already poured himself another. “Care for another?” he asked.

The room began to spin almost at once. Tempest saw spots and blinked rapidly a few times. “Did crystal ponies drink this for fun?” she said, her voice hoarse. “I mean, it’s good. I think. But wow...”

She glanced at the bottle. It was nice. Very nice, in fact, after that initial kick. The warmth spreading through her chest stemmed from it trickling down her throat. She nodded.

Despite Sombra’s smile as he poured her drink there was pain etched onto his face, a deep sadness that seemed to weigh him down. Had he always had it and was she just noticing it now, or was it new, brought on by the memory of this place?

They sat for a moment in silence, listening to the sounds of the wind and storm battering against the old tavern.

“It was here,” he began suddenly, breaking the short silence. “That I first laid eyes upon Radiant Hope.”

Tempest adjusted herself on her seat and crossed her hooves. “Yeah? Who was she--somepony important, I’m guessing to get her very own statue and portrait?”

“Important is an understatement,” Sombra chuckled drily, taking a short sip of his drink. “She was the Princess of the Crystal Empire.”

“No kidding? Lucky you,” Tempest politely scoffed, feeling something suspiciously like jealousy swell in her chest.

“Yes, lucky me indeed,” continued Sombra, appearing to not pick up on her tone. “She was not first in line for the throne, mind. No, that honour fell to her sister, Amore.”

“Hey I know that name.”

The dark stallion’s eyes narrowed. “What and who you know by that name is a pale imitation of the true Crystal Princess,” he grunted. “Even if they share the same name, Mi Amore Cadenza and the Amore I knew are entirely different.”

“How so?” Tempest asked.

“Amore was cunning. Ruthless. Unafraid to do what needed to be done. Cadenza would rather sit on her gilded throne and let the task fall to others. You. Her husband. Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps even myself, through sheer inadequacy.” He snorted and swirled his drink around. “But I digress.”

The commander nodded, trying not to feel indignant on behalf of the princess. “What was Radiant Hope like?”

Sombra’s gaze turned distant as he recalled memories from long ago. “Radiant Hope was a radiant soul,” he began, his voice laced with a hint of wistfulness. “She had a heart that could rival the sun itself, warm and full of compassion. She had this way of making you believe that there was always hope, even in the darkest of times.”

Tempest leaned in, captivated by Sombra’s words. “You loved her,” she murmured in realisation, feeling a sudden tightness in her chest, and another bout of foolishness.

There was a slight pause before Sombra answered. “Yes.” He took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on the empty glass in his hooves. “Even from an early age, as soon as I saw her I knew that I loved her.”

The commander felt the tightness in her chest constrict and slowly nodded.

“But as a mere commoner I knew that I stood no chance,” Sombra continued. “I was only a servant, destined to a life of obscurity. That hardly stopped me from admiring her from afar, watching as she carried herself with grace and kindness, effortlessly commanding the respect and adoration of everypony around her.”

“So how did you actually meet her then?”

He snorted, chuckling softly with a twinkle in his eye--like he had been waiting to tell his story. “As luck would have it, the king had called for a tournament, the prize being a sponsorship from the princess herself into the royal academy. It seemed inevitable that I would attend, and that through sheer force of will and determination, and a natural affinity for magic, of course, that I would win.”

Tempest couldn’t help but smile when she heard him speak with such pride. “What kind of tournament was it?”

“A series of duels,” Sombra explained. “Between unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies alike, from the noblest high born to the lowliest peasant, myself included, any and all were allowed to attend, encouraged, even.” He grinned with pride. “I defeated them all, bringing down veritable giants, those who had trained from birth to hone their bodies to perfection, until at last it came to just myself and one last opponent, an old rival of mine.”

Tempest found herself on the edge of her seat, enraptured by his story. She wondered how many ponies had heard it, or remembered stuff like this. None, she supposed, besides Sombra. “And you won, I’m guessing?” she said.

Sombra nodded. “It was a hard fight, and Blueblood was a fierce opponent indeed-”

“Blueblood?” Tempest’s eyebrows shot up. She started on the spot where she sat, falling directly off of her stool and landing on the floor with a hard crash.

“Are you alright, Commander?” Sombra said, helping her up.

The commander quickly dusted herself off and resumed her seat, coughing into her hoof in embarrassment. “Sorry. Slipped. I’m fine,” she said. It occurred to her that maybe telling Sombra she’d dated a descendant of a rival of his wouldn’t perhaps be the bets thing right now. “It’s just... there’s a Blueblood in Canterlot. The nephew of Celestia or something, didn’t expect to hear the name.”

Sombra raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Is that so? Well then I am glad to see that noble bloodline has survived after all these years.”

“Yeah,” the commander murmured. “Uh, but besides, what happened?” she said, hoping to steer away from this point of conversation as much as possible.

“Hmm? Oh, yes, Blueblood was a fierce opponent, but I was indeed victorious. The princess granted me her reward as promised and I was enrolled in the academy to begin my training, but more than that, Hope saw something in me, some sign of greatness. Afterwards, we... well.” Sombra chuckled softly again, remembering something very fondly indeed, again missing the flicker that passed over Tempest’s face. “We became close during my time in the academy, and later, after I had completed my training, I was her Royal Protector: the princess’s personal bodyguard.”

He sighed wistfully, his smile fading fast. “Our happiness was short-lived, however, as a mere two years into my service, Crystal Hills was struck by a plague. It ravaged us, and while Amore concerned herself with matters in the south, Hope remained in the capital, determined to find a cure. She was always a healer, always skilled with healing magic. It was she who taught me most of what I know now. But she soon became obsessed, delving deep into her studies of various healing methods. After her father, the king, succumbed to the illness that was destroying his people, she came to me one night with news that she had discovered something crucial, a miracle, by all accounts, and that I alone could be entrusted to retrieve it. Would you care to venture a guess as to what she meant, Commander?”

The commander gave a knowing look. “The Crown of Sacanas...”

Sombra nodded. “The very same. I had heard the rumours, as we all had, of the Crystal Empire’s first king, of the power he had once held. The Empire itself, even that which stands today was built upon the foundations he had laid, after all. His crown seemed almost too good to be true, the solution to all of our problems, should we find it.” He grew quiet for a moment. “Ironically, if we hadn’t, perhaps the Crystal Empire may yet have been saved.”

Tempest leaned in, across the bar. “What happened?” she whispered.

Sombra sighed and lifted his drink to his mouth. He paused before drinking it, as if bracing himself, then slung it back and set the glass down before laying both his forehooves on the counter top. “Following Hope’s direction, I ventured north, further north than even the yaks of Yakyakistan travel, and there, nestled deep within those frigid peaks, I found it. I returned home to my princess as quickly as I could travel and presented her with this greatest of prizes. By then, most, if not all of our citizens now suffered from the disease, and even Hope herself was showing signs of infection. Our time was running out, but as weak as she was, she still recalled the incantation that would save us. Amplified with the crown’s power, she could create a cure, she wold save us.” His breath caught in his throat. He paused for a moment, narrowing his eyes. “But Sacanas had other ideas.”

The commander frowned. “Sacanas? What do you mean?” What Sombra had told her in Cadance’s palace suddenly rang out in her ears.

’...Those that wear it are assailed by the thoughts of its dark master, by Sacanas’s spirit himself, until his will becomes your own. Your body, heart; your very soul falls under his sway, leaving nothing behind...’

It dawned on her, causing a feeling of utter dread to wash over her. “Oh...” she murmured quietly, finally understanding Sombra’s predicament.

Sombra nodded and inhaled sharply. “After Hope placed the crown upon her head and began her spell, her voice, that which I knew and loved, became another’s, and what was to be a spell of life became a spell of death. Those who suffered from plague were cured yes, but they, along with the hundreds of other souls that resided within Crystal Hills, were destroyed. The great barriers that shielded us from the Frozen North fell, the cold swept in, and those who survived the plague were left to die, to freeze.”

Tempest felt a chill run down her spine as she listened to Sombra’s harrowing tale. That explained why the city was in such the state it was. The Knights had dealt with cursed objects before, but something as powerful as this crown seemed like it would be more than a difficult challenge. It sounded almost impossible... She remembered something else he had said in the palace. “Back in the Empire, you said you spared your... friend any further suffering,” she murmured carefully. “Did you...”

The dark stallion nodded again, curling his lip upwards. “I did,” he answered, his voice hoarse and ragged. “And while I may have spared her the weight of realising what she had done, I was too late. By that point, Sacanas was all that remained, taking command of a lifeless body.” He shook his head, his hooves tensing and untensing along the bar’s surface. “I begged. I pleaded with him to undo the spell, to take me in their place, to grant me the power to restore our Empire to glory--something--anything, so that Hope’s sacrifice meant some-thing.”

His voice broke. Tempest noticed a twinkle in the dark stallion’s eye and saw a single, solitary tear roll down his cheek, and she felt her heart heave for him.

“But no. Sacanas would not grant me such a boon,” Sombra rasped, wiping his eye with the back of his hoof. “Not freely, at least.”

“What did he ask for?” Tempest asked, her voice rife with apprehension.

Sombra’s eyes met hers and a chill ran up her spine. “That I become the vessel for his darkness. That I become a tyrant to rule over the Crystal Empire in his name.” The whites of his eyes turned green, and magic suddenly sprung from his eyes, taking the forms of purple trails of smoke, framing his face in shadow. He pulled himself up, standing to his full height. “That I use my magic to enslave the world in his name, that I become King Sombra, the Herald of Sacanas!”

He looked quite imposing, the true tyrant the Crystal Empire knew and feared. But while the likes of Cadance might have been afraid, Tempest wasn’t. As he stared down at her she simply looked back at him, listening to her heart pound in her chest.

The magic receded just as quickly as it had appeared and he looked away in shame. “If I were to succeed, Radiant Hope would be restored to life, and the ponies of Crystal Hills may yet live once more. If I failed, I would lose her forever.”

He paused for a moment, a shadow darkening his face once more. “All was going to plan as well. Until of course...” he muttered, “...two alicorn sisters stood against me. The rest, as they say, is history.”

He reached for the bottle once more and poured himself another, apparent final drink, as the last few drops spilled out into his glass to his disappointment.

Tempest stared at him, her breath coming out short and heavy. Now she knew. Now she, perhaps and only she, knew the truth about Sombra’s origins. And what? Did she pity him? Did she see herself making the same decisions? What lengths would she have gone to if she were in his shoes?

She bit her lip and tensed up. She wanted to reach out to him, to pull him close and tell him that it would all be okay. But she didn’t. What could she do? Nothing, she concluded, sitting silently, as did Sombra, in an old, empty tavern in the middle of a dead city.

And as she at there, she began to slowly notice Sombra was staring curiously at her, or rather, at her horn. She bristled, feeling like an animal in a zoo under his gaze. “My eyes are down here, Sombra,” she snapped.

He flinched and raised a hoof in defence. “I apologise, Commander,” he said hastily, quickly shifting his eyes down to hers. “I mean you no offence, but it is a rare thing, you see, for a unicorn to survive their horn breaking. In the time of the Empire all we could have done would be to make you comfortable.” He hesitated, then gestured to her. “May I?”

“May you what?” the dark mare growled.

“Examine it?”

Tempest blinked, her defensive aggression fading fast. “What, my horn?”

“Yes.”

She blinked again, hardly believing what she was hearing. “Why? What do you want with it?”

Sombra clicked his tongue and tightened his brow for a moment, like he was trying to find the right words. “Nothing untoward, I assure you. Unicorn healthcare was something of a speciality to Hope, and she taught me most, if not all of what she knew.” He gestured with his hoof again and flicked his eyes up. “So... may I?”

The dark mare gave him a withering glare. She felt like telling him off, that she wasn’t some medical experiment to be examined... but curiosity quickly got the better of her. She lifted her head up, holding her horn as high as she could. “Come on, then,” she grunted. As he stood up and moved around to her side of the bar she raised her hoof in warning. “I say stop, you stop.”

“Naturally.”

Sombra drew near and extended his hoof, causing Tempest’s heart to race with excitement, more-so when he cupped her chin and lowered her head gently, forcing her gaze down at his rugged chest. He leaned forwards, peering closely at her horn. “Remarkable...” he murmured softly.

Tempest felt a jolt of electricity fire through her body when he touched it, grazing his hoof gently against the jagged edges of her horn. This was humiliating, being poked and prodded like this. Why was she letting him do it then?

“How old were you?” Sombra asked.

“Ten. Eleven. Cozy’s age,” she answered, staring ahead at nothing, trying not to focus on his muscled chest.

“That young? A child? How, if I may ask?”

Tempest sighed. She remembered it clearly, as if it happened that morning, as she always did. “An ursa major,” she said quietly.

Sombra jerked back and gave her a concerned look of surprise. “An ursa major? And you survived?”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised,” the commander snorted. “I was good with magic before I lost my horn. Really good, I knew how to defend myself. But yeah. I survived, but not before it gave me this.” She traced her hoof over her scar, feeling the familiar but faint ridge of old scar tissue. She turned her head away from Sombra’s hoof and flared her nostrils. “The pain went away, eventually, but I never forgot their words, or what they called me. Breakhorn.” It never got any easier hearing it, even when she was the one saying it.

Sombra quietly pulled up a chair and sat down beside her, listening intently.

“It didn’t take long but after, I... left,” Tempest continued. “I ran away from home. Left my friends behind. Everything.”

“What of your parents?” the dark stallion asked.

The commander shrugged. “I never knew them. My grandpa raised me. I heard he died a few years after I left. I always meant to go back, but... stuff got in the way, y’know?” She glanced at him and let out a faint chuckle. “Yeah I guess you do.”

Sombra gave her a soft smile. “Where did you go?” he asked.

Tempest shrugged. “Anywhere. Everywhere. Until finally I found someone who I thought I could trust, who I thought cared about me, about what I could do, and it didn’t matter that I was a breakhorn or not.”

“The Storm King,” muttered Sombra with disapproval.

“Exactly.” Tempest let out another deep sigh. “He offered me a deal. Work for him, help him get as much magic and power as possible and in return he would restore my horn.”

Sombra’s brow furrowed but he didn’t say anything.

“Deep down... I knew it wasn’t possible,” the commander went on, sensing his apprehension. “But I had to believe him, right? I had to try, there had to be some sort of relief in the world so I could fit in like everypony else. So I became Tempest Shadow, the Storm King’s lieutenant, the commander of all his armies and led the charge in his name, seeking magical artifacts all over the world--anything he could use to grow his ‘brand’.” She tutted and shook her head. “That’s when we found out about the Staff of Sacanas.”

The dark stallion’s eyebrows rose up. “Sacanas’s staff you say? Where?”

“The hippogriff kingdom, in the vaults of Mount Aris.” Tempest winced and grimaced, curling her tail around one of the legs of the stool she sat on. A guilty, sick feeling began to grow in the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t thought about the hippogriffs for a long time. “When we found them we... I... ransacked their city until we found it. Then I led the Storm King to Equestria and he used it to drain Celestia, Luna and Cadance of their magic--Twilight too when I caught her.”

“Caught her?” Sombra frowned. “I don’t follow.”

“Well... yeah,” the commander said, puzzled. “You haven’t heard? When the Storm King’s army invaded Canterlot, Twilight managed to escape along with her friends. I chased after her all across Equestria, right up to the base of Mount Aris itself, until I caught her and brought her back like a bird in a cage.” She flicked her tongue. The words coming out of her mouth felt like a foul tasting poison.

“You chased Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic herself?” Sombra asked incredulously. “What of the others?”

“Them too, but at the time Twilight was the only one that mattered. She was the princess, after all, the only... alicorn left.” Tempest felt her gut twist with guilt along with a hot bile rise up in her throat. She took a deep breath through her nostrils, accidentally, or perhaps not-so-accidentally, getting some of Sombra’s musky scent as well. The feeling quickly subsided.

Sombra marvelled at her. “And to think, I thought you and Princess Twilight Sparkle fast friends, not former enemies.” He chuckled softly. “You are not so dissimilar from your comrades in arms after all, then.”

The commander winced. “I guess not, no. You’d be right at home with us, a team of former villains, if you joined us.” She blanched. She didn’t mean to say that, but it was like she couldn’t stop herself.

Sombra scratched his chin with a knowing look in his eye. “Perhaps,” he murmured. “Regardless, I apologise for interrupting.”

“It’s fine,” Tempest sighed, somewhat relieved he seemed at least open to the idea of joining them. The idea of that, seeing him all the time, made her hooves tingle for a moment before she squashed that train of thought down again. She swallowed, taking a moment to compose herself, then continued on.

“So I caught Twilight, I brought her back to Canterlot where the Storm King was waiting. He drained her magic, along with Celestia, Luna and Cadance, and just when I thought I could get what I wanted after all those years... it all fell apart. He never intended to restore my horn after all. He’d been lying to me just to get what he wanted. I felt like I lost everything all over again, my entire purpose gone, like that.” She hung her head and rested her chin on her chest. “And then it happened. Twilight offered me her friendship, a place to belong even after everything I’d done. The very same pony I’d chased, hunted down and dragged back in chains, she treated me like a pony. Not a weapon, not a tool... but a pony just like her. And I was ready to sacrifice myself for her for it. Heh… I guess that’s why she says friendship is magic isn’t it?” She tapered off, unable to stop her leg from shaking, bouncing up and down on the cold, hard floor.

Memories of a life lived flashed before her eyes, all her deeds laid bare, all her sins brought to light. Her chest began to rise and fall rapidly and a sudden tightness took a hold of her head, threatening to overwhelm her with the guilt she had tried to hard to supress.

After a moment more of this, Sombra leaned in, placing one hoof on her twitching leg. “You really are a remarkable creature, Commander,” he said, his voice low and gravelly. “You have faced many trials and tribulations, and yet you still stand here, unbroken. As strong as you are beautiful.”

Beautiful? Tempest’s heart did a somersault. Her tongue felt dry all of a sudden as he leaned slightly more forwards. She did too, until she could smell his breath, his rich, musky scent that smelled vaguely of burnt toast.

They said nothing, their gazes speaking volumes, and for a moment, Tempest wondered what it would be like to kiss him then and there, to give in to her schoolyard crush and indulge herself for once. Then reason kicked in and she quickly jerked back, reasserting herself as to where she was and who exactly she was with. She turned her head away, but not before noticing how Sombra did the same, his dark cheeks holding only the faintest trace of red to them. Did he think of her like she thought of him?

“Uh, so should we get going, then?” she stammered out, eager to distract herself. “Storm’s eased up, looks like.”

Indeed the windows had stopped rattling, and the howling winds outside appeared to have quietened down. The still, calmness of it all was almost unbearable.

Sombra quickly stood up, facing the door. “Yes, it appears so,” he rumbled. “And we have a king to deal with, we should not get distracted.”

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s--yeah.”

The commander slipped off of her stool, her legs sore and stiff from sitting for so long. With a quick stretch and cracking of a few joints, she shook her head and stepped towards the door, praying her pounding heart wasn’t loud enough for him to hear. Sombra, however, remained still, lost in thought for a moment, before quickly moving to follow her back out into the cold.

The cold air bit at their skin as they stepped out into the night, the ruined city before them transformed into a winter wonderland due to the fresh blanket of snow covering everything. The crunch of snow under their hooves echoed through the eerie silence, only broken by the faintest whisper of howling wind somewhere else in the world.

Beside her, Tempest saw Sombra looking off into the distance as they walked, his gaze inscrutable and thoughtful. On top of that, Crystal Hills didn’t have anything else to show them apparently. No flashes of green or warmth.

Just the cold. And the dark.

They walked without saying anything, without barely even looking at each other either, up towards the palace where Sacanas was waiting for them.

***

It wasn’t too long after they had left the Crystal Rose that Tempest and Sombra arrived at the palace, or rather, what was left of the palace.

Years of neglect and decay had taken a heavy toll on what was surely a once grand building. The once majestic palace now stood as a haunting reminder of a time long gone, its elegant spires cracked and coated in icicles. Whatever enchantment that protected Crystal Hills from the cold in ages past long since faded.

Tempest’s reminiscing of what could have been was cut short, however, by an impossibly loud screech as Sombra pushed open the frozen gates, they themselves stretching up over their heads like a set of jagged teeth. When he finished he turned to her and gestured inwards with his head.

She followed him through the imposing gates, right up to the ornately carved doors of the palace. They pushed together, cracking the ice sealing them shut for centuries on end, revealing a pitch black interior.

Tempest hesitated for a moment before stepping into the darkened palace, the air thick with icy tendrils that seemed to reach out and chill her to the bone. She could feel Sombra’s presence behind her, a comforting yet unsettling weight in the darkness.

As they ventured further into the dilapidated halls, their hoofsteps echoed ominously, the sound bouncing off decaying tapestries and shattered statues. Like its exterior, the once grandeur of the palace was now nothing but a mere shadow of its former glory, haunted by whispers of forgotten memories. Their hooves echoed against the marble floors, creating a haunting melody that seemed to reverberate through the empty corridors.

The oppressive darkness enveloped them as they ventured deeper into the palace, each step taking them closer to the dark spirit that infested this place, what, or rather whom, had turned Crystal Hills into the ruin it was today. Tempest clenched her jaw, her senses on high alert as she scanned their surroundings for any signs of danger. The frigid air seemed to seep into her bones, chilling her to the core despite her jumpsuit.

Sombra’s silhouette loomed beside her, a shadow in the darkness that seemed to move with an otherworldly grace, both reassuring and disquieting. His horn glowed faintly, casting a dim light that flickered against the ancient walls, revealing glimpses of intricate carvings and faded murals that told stories of a bygone era. The air was heavy with the scent of dust and decay, a tangible reminder of the palace’s long abandonment. His hoofbeats rang out louder than hers, like every step he took was laced with more and more determination.

As they navigated through the labyrinthine corridors, Tempest couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Shadows danced at the edge of her vision, whispers brushed against her ears like icy fingers. She didn’t need any of her ghost hunting devices to tell that they weren’t alone. Faces seemed to form on walls out the corner of her eye as they moved forwards, silently screaming at her, begging and pleading with her to stop, to go back and save herself, but when she looked at them they were gone—if they even existed or if the darkness was getting to her. She huffed and shook her head.

“Almost there,” Sombra said gruffly, his voice breaking the otherwise impenetrable silence.

“How can you tell?” Tempest asked.

The dark stallion’s eyes glowed faintly in the darkness as he turned to face her, his expression unreadable. “I can feel it,” he replied cryptically, his voice echoing through the desolate hallways. “I can sense him.”

Tempest stared at him for a few seconds, taking in every detail of his face. She eventually nodded, though the unease settling in her stomach grew with each step in the eerie, unnatural darkness of the palace. As they passed by a window she saw the moon shining high in the sky, and what looked like a dozen hooves pushing up out of the darkness, keeping its light at bay.

The air seemed to grow heavier as they progressed forwards, laden with a palpable sense of malevolence. One thing was certainly clear to Tempest: they were not welcome.

On and on they walked, for what felt like miles through the thick mire of dark magic, until they rounded a corner and came to a halt. Before them stood a massive doorway, its ancient wood adorned with intricate carvings that seemed to writhe and twist in the dim light cast by Sombra’s horn. The air around the doorway hummed with a malevolent energy, sending goosebumps prickling along Tempest’s skin.

“This is it,” Sombra muttered, glaring up accusingly at the door and its carvings. He turned to face the commander. His muzzle twisted with concern. “Should you chose to, Commander,” he added, “I would not think any less of you for choosing to turn back now. I do not know what awaits us and you have already done far more than what is considered reasonable.”

Tempest stared at him in disbelief. “What?” she snapped. “You think I’m gonna back out now, after all this?”

“It would perhaps be the smart thing to do.”

“Yeah, well, the Knights aren’t known for how smart we are,” she grunted, shaking her legs and cracking her neck. “We’re known for getting the job done, no matter what. ‘We come, we see, we kick their flank’, that’s our motto.”

Sombra smiled grimly at her. “And I am grateful for it,” he said.

“Be grateful when we’re done. Now come on,” Tempest grunted.

The nerve of him, she grumbled quietly to herself as she looked away, down where they had come from. The cheek. She had half a mind to order Chrysalis to turn him into a purse next time she saw him for... for what? Looking out for her? She grimaced, her stoic expression fading. Maybe he was right, she thought. Maybe they should both turn back, forget the world and everything in it and wash their hooves of this weirdness--ghosts, demons, dead sorcerer kings and all.

But no, she also said to herself. She was a Nightmare Knight. She couldn’t turn back, she couldn’t quit, and she couldn’t rest. That wasn’t in the script.

She glanced back at Sombra as he stepped forwards and rested his hoof against the great door. He hung his head and shuddered, tensing up again and again as if he was about to push, but couldn’t. Then Tempest had a thought, and stepped up to join him. She pressed her hoof against the door, just only barely touching his.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said firmly. “Not without you, at least.”

He remained silent.

Tempest felt a chill run up along her spine under the intensity of his stare. It was like he was on the verge of saying something, telling her some great and dark secret. “What is it?”

For a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of something in his eyes as his mouth twitched. But then it was gone, replaced by his usual stoic expression as he steeled himself and shook his head. “I only wish to say… I am glad you are here, Commander.”

They smiled. Even there, in the midst of darkness and on the precipice of the unknown, they smiled at each other. The commander cracked her shoulders. “Let’s get this done,” she declared. “Three, two, one.”

The door creaked and groaned, the ancient wood protesting against their efforts to breach the threshold. A rush of stale air billowed out from the darkness within, carrying with it a musty scent that made Tempest wrinkle her nose. As the door swung open fully, they stepped forwards, staring into a seemingly endless chamber shrouded in so much darkness they could lose one another in only a few hooflengths.

“Sacanas!” bellowed Sombra into the chamber. “I have returned to see you destroyed, once and for all. Cease this charade, and let us face one another once more!”

Absolute silence answered him.

Tempest squinted into the darkness, watching and waiting for something—anything to happen.

Suddenly, a low chuckle echoed through the chamber, causing the walls to tremble ever so slightly until it tapered off and a guttural growl replaced it.

“Sombra…” an almost sultry voice chuckled from out of the darkness. “Finally, the prodigal son returns…”

Tempest felt a chill run down her spine at the sound. It was a voice that seemed to crawl into her mind, sending shivers through her very core. Sombra stood tall and unwavering, his eyes fixed on the darkness ahead as he clenched his jaw in determination.

“Sacanas,” Sombra’s voice reverberated through the chamber, tinged with a mix of defiance and caution. “Show yourself.”

The air around them seemed to thicken, suffused with an oppressive aura that made it hard to breathe. The shadows taking up space in the chamber began to withdraw, receding, coalescing and twisting until they formed a tall figure cloaked in shadows sat atop an ornate marble throne at the centre of the room.

A fierce blast of frigid air ripped through the throne room, bringing with it a bone-chilling presence.

As the shadows began to shift and swirl, a pair of luminous green eyes emerged, their irises glowing like emeralds. Glints of familiar, purple smoke danced around them, adding an eerie aura to their already piercing gaze. With a vicious grin, a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth materialized, framed by a chiselled face adorned with a long, curved horn, both beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.

“Approach,” he said with a wave of one shadowy hoof that flickered like fire he gestured out towards them.

It wasn’t a suggestion, but a command. One Tempest found herself compelled into obeying. Her vision swam, her head began to pound as her hooves moved of their own accord and marched her right into the room, right up to the throne and the king sitting atop it. Then the sensation passed and she came to, Sombra standing beside her in the same state.

Sacanas’s grin seemed to grow with cruel glee as he looked the dark stallion up and down, then turned his attention towards Tempest. “And who is this?” he purred. “A slave? A servant of your own, Sombra?”

“She is no slave,” Sombra spat. “This is Commander Tempest Shadow of the Nightmare Knights, my equal in every way.”

Tempest felt her heart flutter slightly. His equal in every way?

Sacanas’s eyes flashed malevolently. “Truly?” he crooned. “Tell me, then, Tempest Shadow? Do you trust Sombra?”

Tempest narrowed her eyes at the shadowy figure on the throne, the oppressive aura around him pressing down on her like a heavy weight. Despite the unease creeping through her, she stood tall and resolute, refusing to show any sign of weakness.

“I do,” she replied firmly, her voice steady despite the wariness gnawing at her insides. “I trust him enough that we’ll stand together against you.”

Sacanas’s wicked grin widened. “How touching,” he chortled. “But do you truly know him, Commander? The depths of his darkness, the shadows that cling to him as if they were his own?” He turned to Sombra. “Remove your cloak, Sombra,” he commanded. “Show this mare where your allegiances truly lie.”

Sombra stared up at him in defiance, motionless. Tempest flicked her eyes towards him. True allegiances, she wondered? What did he mean?

“No?” the shadowy figure mused, his eyes glinting maliciously at Sombra. “Tut, tut, Sombra. I thought you had learned your lesson. Well then, allow me to demonstrate to you, Tempest Shadow.”

His horn began to crackle and glow with black magic.

“Kneel.”

Sombra’s body contorted in agony, his sudden cry of pain echoing through the empty chamber air as he collapsed to the ground. His limbs thrashed and twisted as if controlled by an unseen force, while Sacanas’s cruel laughter filled the space around them. Without thinking, Tempest raced towards him, desperate to help, but he managed to wave her away with a trembling hoof.

In his twisting, his cloak fell to the ground, revealing his flank. Tempest’s eyes widened in horror. Where his cutie mark should have been, a pulsing rune glowed with dark magic, carved into his very flesh. She recognised it from some texts Tirek had once shown her about binding rituals, and her blood ran cold at the realisation that Sombra had been subjected to such a torturous spell. Rage and fear coursed through her veins as she turned towards Sacanas, ready to unleash her own brand of justice upon him.

“That’s enough!” she roared.

“Is it?” Sacanas taunted, his teeth flashing white against the darkness of his face. “Do you think so?”

The smell of burning flesh filled the air. Sombra continued to writhe. Froth began to form at the corners of his mouth and spittle dribbled down his chin. His eyelids fluttered. The commander felt a fleeting panic rise in her gut and prepared herself.

Her horn crackled and lightning arced through the air, striking Sacanas directly in his face. He cried out in shock and Sombra stopped writhing. The dark stallion panted and gasped for air while Tempest rushed to him, covering him with his cloak. “You’re okay,“ she cooed softly. “You’re fine, Sombra, I won’t-”

“You vermin!” howled Sacanas, rising up from his throne. There was a soft thump as he moved, and for a fraction of a second Tempest saw a figure inside the shadows. Her blood ran cold and her skin began to crawl as she had a faint idea of what—or rather who—said figure was.

The shadowy Sacanas advanced on her. “How dare you strike at me,” he hissed. “You, a filthy breakhorn—how?”

“She is more than that…” spat Sombra, a faint trickle of blood leaking out of his nose. “She is better than you. Stronger. Better than me…”

Tempest rested a hoof over his and gave him a gentle squeeze, then turned her attention to Sacanas, noticing how his taunting, jeering nature seemed to have evaporated. There was a mark where she had struck, like the crack of a mirror on his dark skin. It quickly reconstructed and repaired itself as he pulled himself up, towering above her.

“Who. Are. You?” he growled, all pretence of niceness lost from his voice.

The commander puffed her chest out. “I am Tempest Shadow,” she declared. “Commander of the Nightmare Knights. We come, we see, we kick their flanks—your flanks, Sacanas—you and every other ghost that dares try and hurt Equestria and its people in any way shape or form.” She paused to take a deep breath. “And as a representative of Equestria and a Knight of her majesty Princess Twilight Sparkle, I am hereby ordering you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return to your place of origin forthwith. Failure to comply will result in your immediate exorcism, and banishment from this plane of existence.”

Sacanas’s eyes burned with malice and his lips curled into a cruel smirk. “Sombra,” he commanded, his voice dripping with venom. “Kill her.”

Tempest’s heart raced as she watched Sombra rise, his strange gaze locking onto her. Her body tensed up.

“Sombra?” she whispered, confusion and fear creeping into her voice.

A moment later and one of his hard and heavy hooves crashed into her face, sending her sprawling to the ground. She saw stars for one moment, and in the next she saw a few droplets of blood on the cold floor.

“No, I don’t...” Tempest trailed off in disbelief before noticing the glowing mark on his flank. A surge of dark magic engulfed him, causing her to furrow her brow in concern as Sacanas settled back onto his throne with a smug grin.

“Do you see now?” he sneered, eyeing Tempest with disdain as she pulled herself up. “Sombra is mine to command, Nightmare Knight.”

With a crack of her neck and shoulders, Tempest braced herself for another attack from Sombra, determined to snap him out of whatever hold Sacanas had over him.

“Come on, Sombra,” she pleaded with him. “I know you’re better than this. Fight him.”

But he remained silent, only responding with a menacing step forward.

“Alright,” Tempest murmured, steeling herself as Sombra took another step, his horn crackling with dark magic. “Alright let’s do this the hard way, then.”

Sparks flew from her own horn. The duel had begun.

A Dark Deal

Chrysalis was furious.

She was often furious about a great many things, but this took the proverbial cake. And she. Was. Furious. Not only had that snake Sombra informed her that Pupa had put her one good, measly hoof in the mess that was Crystal Hills and its forbidden prize, not only had Tempest deliberately disobeyed and forgone her warnings and flitted off to who knows where with said snake, but now Cadance, one of the three most insufferable ponies she hated the most, was currently in talks with Starlight Glimmer over what to do about them.

She was so furious, in fact, that she appeared outwardly calm and collected.

“Hey, Chryssy?” Cozy said, tapping her side.

“What?” she grunted in a deep growl.

The filly slumped down next to her, forlorn and worried. “Tempest is gonna be okay, right?” she murmured. “I mean... she’s Tempest right?”

From the other side of the room Tirek huffed and turned the page of his book. “She’ll be fine,” he said gruffly. “As for when she returns, however…” He looked up briefly, meeting Chrysalis’s stern, cold gaze with his own.

Cozy looked between them and winced, fluttering her wings gently as she made herself comfy. The room they had been confined to while Starlight and Cadance drew up some ground rules was small, but not too small, and they had been provided with comfortable enough seats—ones that had, almost inevitably, been hurled away out the window by Chrysalis. And so Cozy made do on the floor, sitting beside her changeling compatriot.

Said compatriot’s icy glare could freeze a volcano, however, her mind a whirlwind of anger and concern for Tempest. Beneath Chrysalis’s composed exterior, a storm brewed, threatening to unleash its fury at any moment. The mention of Tempest’s name ignited a spark in her eyes, a mix of fear for her safety and frustration at her recklessness.

The young Knight’s innocent question pierced through Chrysalis’s façade, causing a flicker of vulnerability to flash across the changeling’s features before vanishing like a shadow in the night. She wanted to reassure the young filly, to promise that Tempest would return unscathed, but the uncertainty gnawed at her insides like hungry beetles.

And Tirek’s gruff reassurance did little to ease the tension in the air. His eyes held a glint of something unreadable as they locked onto Chrysalis’s, a silent exchange passing between them like lightning in a stormy sky.

As the minutes ticked by in a heavy silence, broken only by the distant murmur of voices from the adjoining room where Cadance and Starlight continued their discussion, Chrysalis’s patience wore thin. The weight of the impending unknown pressed down on her, mingling with the memories of past failures and betrayals that haunted her. She clenched her hooves, the sharp edges of her exoskeleton digging into the floor, scraping up splinters.

Cozy shifted uneasily beside her, sensing the turmoil radiating from Chrysalis like a palpable aura. The young pegasus opened her mouth to speak, perhaps to offer some words of comfort, but Chrysalis’s steely gaze silenced her before any sound could escape. The queen’s focus was unwavering, locked onto some distant point beyond the confines of the room.

Tirek, sensing the escalating tension, closed his book with a deliberate snap. The sound echoed in the stillness, drawing both Chrysalis’s and Cozy’s attentions, his hooves landing with a heavy thud as he stood up and stretched his arms. He ran a hand over his head and through his beard, and peered out the shattered window at the Crystal Empire going by.

“How long have we been here?” he grunted.

“Two hours,” Chrysalis snorted.

“Is that all? It feels longer.”

Cozy pricked up her ears when she felt some familiar vibrations along he ground. “Hey,” she murmured. “Someone’s coming.”

With renewed interest Tirek turned around to face the door, resting his back against the wall.

The door swung open and Starlight entered, followed closely by a stone-faced Cadance.

The Director of the Nightmare Knights flashed the remaining Knights a quick smile. “So… we’ve been talking.”

“No. Really?” Chrysalis sneered.

Starlight bristled only slightly. “Cadance and I both agree that it’s for the best that, after today, the Nightmare Knights never set hoof in the Crystal Empire again.”

The changeling tsked and pushed herself up, towering high above the young mare, glaring daggers at Cadance beside her. “Is that all?”

“Well… that, and-”

“Tempest Shadow is now considered an enemy of the Crystal Empire,” Cadance said coldly.

A tense silence fell upon the room. Starlight grimaced and looked away, a mixture of bitterness and acquiescence on her face.

Chrysalis’s wings slowly began to unfurl, stretching up high behind her. “What?” she murmured.

The Princess of Love looked at the changeling who had once tried to ruin the happiest day of her life, holding her gaze firmly. “If and when she returns, as a courtesy I will grant her leave of this Empire, on the grounds that she never returns again.”

“As a courtesy?!” the changeling raged.

“It’s as best as we could do,” Starlight said, stepping up in front of Cadance. “And it’s final, so back off Chrysalis.”

Tirek snorted quietly and shook his head.

Chrysalis’s eyes blazed with a fierce intensity, her anger simmering just beneath the surface as she towered over both Cadance and Starlight. The weight of their words hung heavy in the air. She felt the sting of injustice burn within her, a fiery determination igniting in her chest.

“Tempest Shadow has risked everything for us,” Chrysalis’s voice cut through the silence like a sharp blade. “She has proven her loyalty time and time again. And this is how you repay her?!” She jabbed one hoof out the window. “Even now she fights for you, to save you wretched ponies, and you label her a villain—for what?”

“Sombra is very much still a very real threat to the Crystal Empire, Chrysalis,” Cadance snapped, thrusting her face into Chrysalis’s. Lightning flew from each other’s eyes as they glared at one another. “Even if it was a temporary alliance, Tempest defied my orders in my own kingdom and leagued herself with him. I cannot let that slide, and you will respect my authority, or suffer the consequences if you don’t.”

“Hang the consequences!” screeched Chrysalis. “I have half the mind to incinerate you here and now for this!”

Tirek suddenly stamped his hoof with a heavy bang, drawing her attention. “Chrysalis, enough. What’s done is done and there is no use bickering about it.”

“She-”

“What would Tempest say? Hmm?” he sneered. “Would she stand to see you here threatening a princess in the heart of her own kingdom?” The changeling cast her eyes downwards for a few seconds. Tirek snorted again and continued. “I thought not. The best thing we can do now is wait, and trust in Tempest that she will return alive and unharmed.”

Cozy fluttered her wings and rose up into the air beside him. “Couldn’t we look for her?” she said hopefully. “I-I mean… there has to be something-”

“There isn’t,” Chrysalis grunted, her voice laced with defeat. She sighed and shook her head. “For once, Tirek… I agree with you.” She shot the centaur a filthy look and levelled a hoof towards him. “But if Sombra dares to hurt one hair on her head-”

“I will help you skin him myself,” Tirek replied, taking her hoof in his hand. His voice just as low and grave as hers, full of seriousness and yet twinged with a slightly mournful tone as well, for he too wondered and worried about Tempest, alone in who-knows-where with the likes of Sombra, of all ponies.

Cozy grimaced as the three of them drew close. “Trust in Tempest,” she said quietly.

Chrysalis muttered something under her breath, the only audible word being ‘trust’.

Tirek nodded along with them. “We must. We cannot let our quarry go unchecked while we wait for her to return. Yes?”

“Yeah,” Cozy said, smiling at the former queen. “C’mon, Chrysalis. Ghosts aren’t gonna beat themselves, right?”

Chrysalis glared at her, her bright green eyes almost glowing with intensity. “Agreed,” she growled before adding quietly, “I cannot wait to hit something…”

Starlight stared at the three of them in almost awe. And no small amount of amazement at the hold Tempest had over them all. She glanced at Cadance and saw the monarch’s hardened gaze drop slightly, watching the exchange with a mixture of concern and resignation. They met eyes briefly when Cadance spotted her looking at her. The princess coughed into her hoof and cleared her throat.

“We will trust in Tempest, for now,” she said, her voice firm. “But know that the safety of the Crystal Empire is my top priority. I cannot afford to let my guard down, especially as when Sombra has been bold enough to waltz into the Empire unchecked.”

Chrysalis’s sharp features softened for half a second, her unwavering loyalty to Tempest breaking through her distrust and dislike for Cadance.

“We can understand that, Princess,” Tirek said respectfully.

Cadance bowed her head back at him. “Thank you, Tirek.”

Starlight let out a soft sigh of relief. “Alright, Princess, we’ve taken up enough of your time. The Nightmare Knights and I will go back to Equestria. Would you let me know when Tempest comes back?”

The princess nodded, turning to face her. “You will all be the first to know,” she affirmed them. “And then I will send her home.”

“And what of Sombra?” Chrysalis hissed.

Cadance paused for a moment. “I will deal with Sombra if he dares to show his face here again, Chrysalis. You have my word. He will face judgement for his crimes.”

“Hmph.”

The snort was derisive, but the flicker in Chrysalis’s eye said all it needed to. They weren’t enemies then in that moment, watching one another.

They were mothers, each standing on the same side of the line in the sand that they had drawn together, albeit very reluctantly and under more than strenuous circumstances.

The princess then bowed her head to them. “I must take my leave as well. I believe there are a few guards whom I must give a very stern talking to about our sudden lapse in security. Goodbye, Nightmare Knights. Tempest has every bit of faith from me as she does from you. I only hope that she does not need it.”

***

A monstrous storm was forming across the depths of the Frozen North, bringing with it a tempest of icy fury and ominous clouds that devoured the sky like a looming nightmare. The eye of the storm coalesced over the desolate ruins of Crystal Hills, the very air itself humming throughout the city’s empty streets as bolts of lightning crackled in a chaotic dance above the remains of the once-glorious city.

“Come on Sombra, snap out of it!”

In between breaths, a tired, battered and bruised Tempest Shadow called out in desperation, willing the stallion perpetrating the battering and bruising to break himself free of the dark enchantment that had a hold of him.

Sombra fought like something out of a nightmare. Every strike, every lash of his spells wracked the commander’s body when she blocked them, and even more when she didn’t. Hurling herself away to one side she only just barely managed to dodge another attack, watching as a crackling bolt of magic tore through the far wall, exposing them to the elements. The winds howling reminded her like tortured souls, whipping through their battlefield.

She knew she couldn’t keep this up for long, but what choice did she have? Even if she was getting tired, pushing herself well beyond her limits, what could she do but try?

“Sombra, listen to me! This isn’t you! This isn’t what you want!”

Again she called out to him, refusing to simply lay down and accept her fate just yet. If there was a flicker of him in there, of the stallion that told her his story in his father’s tavern, even the smallest, tiniest bit, then maybe, just maybe, she could reach him.

A cruel chuckle filled the hall in answer to her pleas. her eyes travelled upwards past Sombra and came to rest on the source of the offending, mocking laughter.

Sacanas watched the battle unfold with amusement, apparently revelling in the spectacle of it all. The former rage and anger at the audacity of her precious strike long since faded, replaced by a smug, arrogant grin. “Have you not realised by now, Breakhorn?” he sneered. “It is by my will that Sombra acts. What he wants is irrelevant.”

Tempest, her horn crackling with magical energy, quickly manoeuvred around Sombra to dodge another attack.

Sacanas was lying, she told herself. Sombra wouldn’t do this, he didn’t want to do this, surely. No, it was that mark burning against his flank. She had to break the connection somehow, but how?

She ducked low, almost flattening herself onto the ground as Sombra aimed a bolt at her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end as energy crackled past, missing her by a hair’s length.

What did she know about binding rituals? Trying desperately to recall the specific details as she bobbed and weaved, she vaguely remembered reading something about a seal, or some sort of written contract. That wasn’t enough. If only Tirek was here… if any of the Knights were here…

As the minutes of their duel crawled by, Tempest could feel her energy draining away. It was already very clear to her that she was losing, as every attack she tried Sombra either didn’t care for or batted harmlessly out the way, and while she struggled for breath and footing, Sombra himself seemed to grow stronger with every strike.

She caught a glimpse of Sacanas’s eyes, both glowing with malevolent energy, his mouth pulled back into a sadistic grin. Sombra was like a puppet on a string, dancing to his dark master’s whims.

Desperation consumed her as she fought to keep up with Sombra’s relentless onslaught. Every spell they exchanged, both defensive and offensive, crackled and surged, scorching the ground beneath them and creating an ominous aura that filled the air around them. She couldn’t beat him—them—alone. She needed to try something else.

With a quick twist and darting movement, Tempest evaded one of Sombra’s attacks and retaliated with a powerful blast of magic that shot towards his head with blinding brilliance. The impact knocked Sombra back, stunning the stallion for a brief moment.

Tempest saw her chance and darted forwards again, reaching out to grab his hoof. “Sombra, snap out of it!” she cried, her voice laced with urgency. “Is this what Hope what have wanted?!”

Behind him, she spotted Sacanas’s grin widen.

The stallion’s head slowly turned towards her.

“Remember her, Sombra?” Tempest pleaded. “Remember Radiant Hope?”

His lips moved wordlessly for a moment, parting ever so slightly, then he suddenly leaned forwards and tried to headbutt her. The commander pulled back just quick enough to dodge it and felt a sudden surge of anger. “Sombra I’m trying to help you, you big, dumb idiot-”

She plunged her face forwards, locking her lips around his with a cocktail of fury, panic and overwhelming emotion swirling in her gut. She kissed him like she’d wanted to kiss him in his father’s tavern down in Crystal Hills. For a fleeting moment, there was nothing else in the world but them. Aside from the fact that she was in the middle of fighting for her life; for that one blissful moment, Tempest was happy.

She held it for a couple of seconds longer before pulling away and looked deep into Sombra’s eyes. She placed one hoof on the side of his head and lowered her voice to a hushed whisper.

“Come back to me…”

Sombra’s cold, glass-eyed stare pierced right through her, however, as his horn crackled again. The fleeting, happy moment evaporated, and Tempest barely had time to shield her eyes before she was tossed away by the magical burst he released. Her body slammed against the wall with a crack and a pained, mournful cry escaped her lips as she fell to the floor, dazed and disoriented and hurt—in more ways than one.

The air suddenly stilled. The palace was silent, as if even the stones themselves had caught their breath and were watching, waiting. When she looked up, she saw Sombra slowly approaching, his eyes blank and his expression hollow.

Sacanas cackled loudly. “Try as you might, Breakhorn,” he taunted. “It is useless to resist. Sombra is mine and mine alone.”

“Sombra…” Tempest wheezed, reaching out to the stallion. “No… don’t…”

She’d kissed him. She’d put everything she had into it, and it had done nothing. So much for love being the strongest magic of all, she guessed.

Sombra raised his hoof, ready to bring it down on her neck and snuff the life right out of her, when Sacanas’s voice suddenly rang out through the hall.

“Wait…”

The dark stallion paused and turned his head towards his master.

Sacanas waved his hoof with a malevolent glint in his eye.

“Bring her to me, Sombra,” he said, almost whispering with excitement. “I wish to… dispose of her myself.”

Exhausted, beaten and bruised black and blue, Tempest let out a grunt of pain as Sombra bit down on the scruff of her neck and lifted her up, dragging her away towards the throne before forcefully pushing her towards it with his head.

The thunderstorm raged outside, tearing its way through Crystal Hills and bringing with it a blizzard of icy cold winds and thick, black clouds that blotted out the sun.

The dark mare looked up at Sacanas, meeting his intense gaze. The ghostly king leaned in closer, his eyes fixed on her. “Do you understand what it means to have your fate stolen from you, Nightmare Knight?” he jeered. “I do. I was not always as you see me now, no. Once… I was nothing, just like you. But it was when I caught a glimpse of power, real power, that a thirst was ignited, and I knew that my destiny was meant for greatness.”

Tempest locked her gaze onto him as he spoke, listening both curiously and warily. So he was going to monologue at her, was he? Great.

Sacanas extended his dark hoof and examined it for a brief moment before shifting his attention to her and made a disapproving sound. “Tell me, Tempest Shadow,” he said with a low voice. “Have you ever truly experienced it? Genuine power? Where you may hold the very fate of the world in your hoof?”

The commander felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of her face. Maybe it was blood. She didn’t answer and quickly averted her eyes, but a memory of what the Storm King had done with Sacanas’s own staff: turning the sun and the moon into his personal playthings, bubbled to the surface of her mind.

The dark spirit paused, deep in thought. He lowered his hoof, placing it back on the arm of his throne. “I thought not. I trust then, at least, that even a lowly creature like you has heard of the wonders of Grogar?”

Tempest froze and her eyes went wide. Her heart pounded in her chest as the name echoed through the hall, sending a chill down her spine. She certainly knew about Grogar, alright, about the efforts Bray was taking to try and bring him back, and the effect it was having on the veil between worlds. What did Sacanas know about him? Was he in cahoots with Bray himself? Questions began to fire off inside her head, each one more haunting than the last.

Sacanas slumped back in his throne, a twisted grin etched onto his shadowed features as he observed Tempest’s reaction. “Yes, Grogar,” he drawled, savouring the momentary terror that flickered across her face. “The very same being who once reigned supreme over all creatures great and small, called the Father of Monsters, Lord of the Dark and the Light, the Emperor of Tambelon and Equestria. And I? I was a common street rat. A beggar and a thief, destined to die forgotten in obscurity.” He scoffed quietly. “By chance one summer’s morning, Grogar himself took a walk in the village where I lived, disguised as an elderly mare. I saw a target, an opportunity, and I took it, and for my boldness and brazenness, Grogar the Almighty took me as his own, another of his ‘children’ as he called them.”

Children, Tempest thought? Bray, the snake-mare and the troggle. Was that what they were? Were the ones she’d already met ‘it’, or were there more, others she didn’t know about?

“I joined their ranks and became Grogar’s loyal servant,” Sacanas continued. “An unwavering champion of his divine right. And for my loyalty, like the others, he granted me that which I craved most: power. Specifically, the power to change my fate, so that I may not die in obscurity like my mother and father.”

He straightened up, eyes glinting with a faraway look. “With the power and the gifts that Lord Grogar had given me, I ascended to become King of the Crystal Empire, First of my Name! Sacanas the Imperishable! My Empire extended far into the north, carving out a piece of this world that was mine and my own. I had wealth. Fame. A horde of consorts to sire my offspring with so that my dynasty may grow and last forever...” He paused again, and something in his eyes changed. When he next spoke, his voice dropped to a menacing growl and his mouth twisted into a snarl. “But... in the end... it was not to last.”

Tempest swallowed and forced herself to stand on shaky legs. “Why was that?” she murmured. She needed to keep him talking. She needed information on her enemy, no matter where it came from.

“Why, you ask?” Sacanas growled, fixing her with an intense gaze. “Because my power had become so great, that I began to rival even that of Grogar himself! Because he and his minions, those I called my brothers and sisters, feared me, saw me as a threat! I had become a deity in my own right, adored by my subjects yet feared by all who dared oppose me!”

The room shook with his thunderous voice, rattling the very stones beneath Tempest’s hooves. Even so, she stood her ground in the face of such fury. This ancient and terrible creature before her knew Grogar, personally no less, and from the sound of it held no love for him, or Bray, so the question remained, as loathe as she was to think it: could she use that in the Knights’ fight against the mad donkey?

Sacanas huffed and fell back against his throne once more. “But… as I came to stand against Grogar,” he continued darkly, “I was betrayed. By one of my own children, no less.” He fell silent for a moment, letting his words hang in the air. “To think… my own sorry excuse for a daughter was my downfall… as if she could not have brought more shame to my name by being born a pegasus...”

“A pegasus…” Tempest quietly repeated with a disgusted grimace. A daughter born as a pegasus, to the shame of a cruel bigot. Where had she heard that before? This mystery mare, whoever she was, and Cozy had a lot in common. But who was she? She’d never heard of a pony joining up with Grogar before.

Sacanas snarled and shook his head. “A pegasus!” he spat. “I thought little already of her, but, because of her betrayal, the Dark Ram penetrated my defences and stormed my castle in the blink of an eye.” He slumped down in his throne, consumed by ancient fury. “It was then that I realised I had been deceived all along, for while I had indeed grown powerful as he had promised, the magic Grogar commanded far outweighed and outmatched my own. He overpowered me, stripped me of my mortal form... and imprisoned me.”

Tempest swallowed. She needed to be careful. “Imprisoned you?” she said curiously, glancing up at him.

“Hah...” Sacanas chuckled grimly. “Allow me to show you…”

His horn started to glow, causing the shadows surrounding him to part.

A shiver ran down Tempest’s spine as she gazed upon the skeleton nestled deep within, its hollow eye sockets seemingly staring right at her. A lump formed in her throat. This was the body she’d seen inside Sacanas’s swirling mass when he had moved. This… was all that remained of Radiant Hope. It had to be, if Sombra had told her the truth; that he had ended her suffering by killing her, only for her remains to become a vessel for Sacanas to possess.

The commander squinted as a flash of red caught her eyes, from the small circlet of iron sitting atop the skeleton’s head. It flashed again, and she noticed the bright, shining ruby in its centre, watching her like a great eye. It was his crown, she realised. Sacanas’s crown, the thing she and Sombra had come here to destroy. This was it, this was her moment! All it would take is one well placed burst of lightning and that ruby would shatter… but…

Bray’s smug face rose up to the forefront of her mind, him and his dark master. There was so much she, Starlight and probably even Luna didn’t know about their enemy, but Sacanas was there. He saw it all for himself. If he could be persuaded to help them, then…

She bit her tongue and held her magic back, glaring at his crown, at the ruby staring back at her. She hated the uncertainty surrounding her mission. She wondered what Chrysalis would say. What Tirek or Cozy would say. Would Luna be able to make this choice?

Her brief window of opportunity closed, however, resigning her to whatever fate she may make for herself now, as the shadows surrounding the crown soon returned and melted back into Sacanas’s face as he glared down at her.

“What you see here, Breakhorn, this form I have shown to you, is but a fraction of my majesty,” he said. “For it is within this gem that my spirit is encapsulated. In but another cruel jest in a line of many, Grogar thought it amusing to imprison me in that which I coveted for so long, rendering me to nothing more than a formless shadow.”

He grunted quietly and shifted in his seat, regarding Tempest coldly and uncaringly. “Now…” he murmured as his horn, instead of emitting light, began to draw in in towards it. “I have entertained you for far too long, Tempest Shadow,” he said, almost bored—like this was just another day to him. “Take comfort in knowing that your death will be swift-”

“Wait,” Tempest said quickly, raising one hoof. “Wait, Sacanas, I… I wish to make a proposal.” The words sounded like venom on the edge of her tongue even as she spoke them.

Sacanas grinned. “Do you now?” he asked her. His horn continued to draw in light, warping and bending it around it. “Speak, then.”

The commander licked her lips, keeping a way eye on his horn. “I think... I think we can help each other here,” she said slowly. “I can see clearly that you hate Grogar for what he did to you, I can understand that. Well, there’s a donkey—Bray—who’s trying to bring him back. If he succeeds, the world will be in danger and I can’t let that happen.”

The dark spirit’s horn stopped drawing in light. His eyes went wide and his pupils shrank. “Bray?” he whispered. “That vile wretch lives still?!”

“Yes!” the commander cried out, eagerly nodding her head. “He’s going to a lot of lengths to bring back Grogar, and we’re trying to stop him to save Equestria, to save the world. You know Grogar, you know his forces, his plans, what he would do if he returned. If you could help us, ally with us, then anything you say could help us fight him and stop Bray.”

Sacanas watched her, deep in thought. His shadowy form flickered and wavered as more lightning flashed outside, followed by a deep rumble of thunder. Tempest thought that for a moment, he would accept. That they would have gained another ally in their fight against Bray, albeit a mad, cruel and wholly demented one.

“No.”

His one word answered reverberated through the ancient castle. The storm even appeared to quieten down for a moment or two, letting it sink in.

Tempest stared, opened mouthed at him as abject horror spread across her face.

Sacanas twisted his mouth into a cruel, sadistic grin right back at her.

No.

He’d said no.

Even if he really did hate Grogar as much as he said, he still wouldn’t work with her. Why? Because she was a breakhorn? Because she’d dared defy him or strike out at him? Was he really that arrogant and self-centred?

She began to frown, tightening her brow into a scowl.

She opened her mouth to protest, to demand answers, but an explosion of dark magic rocked her body as the dark spirit’s horn began to draw in light for a second time, then quickly showered her with a wave of energy. Black bolts of magic snaked through the air like sorcerous lightning, and tore through her insides, setting every nerve they could find on fire in the process.

“What could you offer me, Breakhorn, that I do not already have?” Sacanas jeered, driving his magic forwards as Tempest screamed in pain. “A kingdom? Wealth? Power? I have all of this and more, you miserable cur!”

The commander fell to the ground and writhed in agony. It was like nothing she’d never experienced before, not even losing her horn hurt this much. Thinking of her horn for a brief second, she tried to call as much magic as she could to her side in the hopes of repelling Sacanas’s assault. Initially, her attempt at a shield was successful, deflecting a few of the bolts towards the ground around her, but then the strikes came at her again and again with such speed and power she felt her shield break. In the end, she could only shrink, convulsed with pain.

“I c-can f-free you...” she said in between gasps of pain.

Sacanas growled softly and drove another attack forwards. “Free me? You think you, a mere child, could break an enchantment placed upon me by Grogar himself?! Do you take me for a fool, Tempest Shadow, or are you arrogant enough to make so bold claims of your own abilities?”

Tempest screamed again as more lightning wracked her body. She coughed and sputtered, spitting mucus, blood and spittle all over the floor beside her head. “W-We can,” she stammered. “With o-others… I-I c-can… t-talk to th-them… in ex-change-”

“And in exchange I swear myself to you, is that it? I am not some common slave to be bargained away with, Tempest Shadow,” Sacanas snarled. “I am a king. King! And compared to the likes of you I am a god! I will not be bought so easily.”

It all seemed so hopeless. Obviously Sacanas had no intention of believing her or allowing her to live. She’d been so, so stupid for daring to think otherwise. And Sombra… she’d been a fool to come here alone with him. Chrysalis was really going to kill her for dying so stupidly…

She looked up at Sombra imploringly, clenching her teeth so hard she feared they’d break. He looked down at her, his eyes cold and hard, uncaring, unfeeling. He was her only friend in this dead, wretched place, and even then he wasn’t here. She’d fallen for him, and he was just standing by while she was dying, unable to free himself, unable to save her from Sacanas’s spell.

“Sombra… please…” she implored. One last ditch effort to reach him before…

The attack suddenly halted. Lying on the ground, she wondered if she’d died because it had ended so quickly.

Sacanas looked down at her in disgust. “You’re going to die here, Breakhorn. Do you understand? You are going to die.”

The commander glared back at him defiantly, panting heavily. She wasn’t going to beg for mercy. Not now. She’d look death itself in the face and spit in his eye, right up until the end. She let out a slow exhale through her nose, waiting for it, and glanced up at the dark stallion beside her, at his blank and emotionless face. What was going on inside his head? Was he even aware of what was happening? For half a second, maybe less, she swore she saw the corner of his mouth twitch.

Sacanas’s piercing eyes that seemed to cut straight through her as he channelled his dark magic once more, releasing it in another shower of darkness.

Tempest writhed in pain, striking her hooves against the ground until they were red and bleeding as black, sorcerous lightning tore at her body again and again.

“Sombra…” she gasped in between wracks of pain. “Please…”

***

Deep in the heart of the Everfree Forest, at the Castle of the Two Sisters, lingered the remaining Nightmare Knights, awaiting further orders after another job well done.

Normally, they would have been partaking in their usual forms of banter: arguing, bickering, sharing anecdotes from the day’s hunt, and so forth. But not today. Today the castle was silent, despite its particular set of occupants, all because Tempest Shadow was not there.

Cozy, to the surprise of some, felt her absence the most. The young filly often felt like Tempest was the only one who treated her like an equal, not just a child, despite still being protective over her. Like a big sister, she thought. She’d always wanted a sister like Tempest.

She continued to drift through the castle’s hallways aimlessly, quietly humming a small tune she’d heard Tempest hum once or twice before, tracing her hoof over the cracks in the wall.

“Mm mmhm hm hm…”

She sighed heavily, letting her hoof drop, and paused mid-flight to look out the window. From this high up she could only just see above the trees and the world beyond. It all looked so far away, and yet the Knights had been all over, even to another continent. She wondered, briefly, if they’d go to more when Tempest gets back. If they’d take a trip somewhere, no ghosts or anything.

A sudden chill ran along her spine as a cold draft blew in. Despite the renovations, the old castle was still centuries old, and the occasional draft was nothing new. This time, however, it felt different, like there was a cloud suddenly hanging over her. It gave her a deep-rooted sense of dread, like something really, really bad was going to happen, or already happening.

Her ear twitched as the sound of raised voices muffled by the walls and the distance. It was Chrysalis and Tirek again, because of course it was. Regardless, she felt like she needed to tell them her bad feeling—now! She rubbed her forelegs together and beat her wings as fast as she could, darting back down where she had come from, towards the sounds of arguing. As she grew closer the voices became more distinct, clearer.

“And I told you no!” Chrysalis was raging. “If Tempest was here-”

“She would understand, you dull thing!” Tirek snapped back. “This is something I must do! Surely you can understand that?”

“I understand perfectly what you want to do, and I’m telling you-”

As Cozy burst open the door to the castle’s common room, the argument ceased. An uncomfortable and eerie silence hung over the room and the creatures within.

Chrysalis’s mane was messy and her pupils were the size of pinpricks.

Tirek was over by the sofa, bouncing one of his legs up and down quickly. When he saw Cozy he stood up and brushed his hands on his vest. “We’ll finish this discussion later,” he grunted towards the changeling.

The queen tsked and shot him a filthy glare. “Fine,” she muttered grumpily.

Cozy didn’t know what they were arguing about, but whatever it was seemed serious. Maybe she should have waited and listened—no, hang on, it wasn’t as serious as her bad feeling. “Something’s wrong!” she cried out.

“No. Really?” Chrysalis scoffed, using her magic to pick through a nearby bowl of fruit. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Just shut up and listen, okay?” the filly snapped. “I can’t explain it, but I think something’s wrong with Tempest.”

Tirek slowly walked towards her, huge and towering. “Like what?” he rumbled.

“I don’t know,” Cozy replied, shaking her head. “But bad. Real bad. Don’t you guys feel it?”.

Chrysalis let out a noise between a hiss and a grunt as she selected a nice, juicy red apple. “N0,” she said bluntly. She paused for a moment, turning the apple over in her hoof. She blinked, and her cold exterior faded, the mask she wore slipped, and a deeply worried expression crossed her face for a moment. In the next it was gone as she sunk her fangs deep into her fruit. “I will say this, though,” she said in between bites, “if Sombra’s hurt her, I will not be held responsible for what happens to him.”

The young Knight rubbed her head. “I think it’s worse than Sombra,” she said quietly. “I think they found Sacanas’s crown.”

“And you know this how?” Tirek said. The centaur folded his arms across his broad chest. “All you have to go off is this ‘bad feeling’ is it?”

“Oh, like you don’t do the same?” she retorted.

“I am older. I have a sense for-”

Cozy’s face turned bright red. “You always treat me like I’m just a kid. Well I’m not just a kid, Tirek!” she cried out, startling both him and Chrysalis with her sudden outburst. “I’m a Nightmare Knight, same as you. So just listen to me, I’ve got a real bad feeling about Tempest right now. Like there’s a storm coming. Pegasi can feel it in their wings, or something, when something big’s on its way. Wherever she is, whatever she’s doing, she’s in trouble and we need to help her!”

There was a brief pause as the others contemplated. Chrysalis and Tirek shared a weary and tired glance, like they’d been saying the same thing for a while, but to no avail. Then the centaur snorted and turned his head away, walking towards the door. “Perhaps you are right… you are undoubtedly right, but what then?” he sighed. “Princess Cadance has already made it perfectly clear that we are not welcome in the Crystal Empire. What do you suggest, that we anger her further?”

Cozy winced. “W-Well, no,” she mumbled, lowering herself to the ground. “Just… I wanna help… Tempest needs us…” She sniffed and hung her head, covering her eyes with her curly mane.

Tirek’s face softened as he paused and turned back to her. Her studied her for a moment, then noticed the tear rolling down her cheek and quickly stepped forwards. “I understand,” he said calmly, placing one hand on her head as he buried her face into his leg. “We all do.”

Chrysalis spat out the core of her apple and nodded in agreement. “The one thing we can all, perhaps, agree on, is that we miss our Tempest,” she murmured.

“Our Tempest?” Tirek coyly said.

The former queen rolled her eyes and waved her hoof at him. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, Tirek. You, me, Cozy and Tempest. We are a hive in our own right, to use a changeling term. When one of us fails we all do.” She paused and thought for a moment as Cozy sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “Isn’t that what Luna told us?” she asked. “None of us can swim, so let’s all drown together?”

“That isn’t what she meant, but yes,” Tirek grunted.

Cozy let out a quiet laugh. “Boy, Luna really sucks at motivational speaking, doesn’t she?” she chuckled.

The feeling of dread was still there, gnawing away at the back of her mind, but it had been quietened at least by her team. Her family. Wherever Tempest was, whatever she was doing, she hoped that the thought of them all waiting for her would bring her some small amount of comfort.

The door opening suddenly interrupted the quiet moment. In strolled the Knights’ own secretary, holding her notebook. “Heya guys,” she said glumly, giving them all a weary smile.

“Hey, Jack,” Cozy sniffled. “What is it? We got a new case?”

“Nah nothin’ too fancy,” Jackdaw Inkwell replied with a shake of her head. She adjusted her glasses and looked down at her notepad. “Boss wants ta see yous in Canterlot is all.”

Chrysalis made a disgusted noise in her throat. “As if we don’t have enough to contend with,” she grumbled, storming over to and past the young, red-headed mare. “Now that little creature wants to speak with us?”

“Yeah. She didn’t sound too happy, neither.”

“Is she ever?”

Jack shrugged. “Probably. I mean even you are sometimes, right, Chryssy?” She flashed the changeling a grin and winked.

Chrysalis clicked her tongue and scowled.

Tirek flicked his eyes between them both carefully, watching the interaction. The changeling shot him a look over her shoulder. “Well aren’t you two coming, then?” she snapped.

Cozy sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Do we have to?”

“Yes.”

“But Chryssy-”

“We should eat,” Tirek added. “Something to take our minds off of our… situation, for a moment, at least.”

A light appeared in Cozy’s eye. “Can we get some ice-cream?” she asked, tugging at Tirek’s hand.

Chrysalis snorted. “Oh yes, by all means, you two go on ahead—enjoy yourselves,” she said sarcastically. “And leave me to deal with Starlight Glimmer alone.”

A wicked glint appeared in the centaur’s eye. “Alone? With no witnesses?” he mused. “What a dreadful idea.”

The former queen scowled at him, though the same glint appeared in her eye as well. “Perish the thought...”

Jack snorted quietly and shook her head. “Alright, before I hear anythin’ too incriminatin’, I’m outta here,” she said, walking back towards the door. “Yous guys should get goin’ too.”

The Knights all grunted in acknowledgement as they trudged after her. Tirek appeared sullen for a moment as he looked down at the red-headed mare. She smiled up happily at him before she turned to go.

Chrysalis caught him looking after her and raised her eyebrow again.

He quickly noticed her looking and stiffened his back. “I will think on the matter,” he told her, making sure Cozy was out of ear shot. “And make no decision until after Tempest has returned. You have my word.”

***

The sun beat down mercilessly on the crowded arena, the heat rising in waves as the tense atmosphere crackled with anticipation. The earth rumbled beneath the hooves of the roaring crowd, their cheers thundering through the air like a stampede.

The herald’s voice boomed over the chaos, commanding attention as he raised a hoof to silence the masses. Every eye turned towards him, waiting with bated breath for his announcement.

“My fellow stallions and noble mares,” he began, his words cutting through the hush that had fallen upon the crowd. “After countless fierce battles, we have reached the final duel of this year’s grand tournament, all thanks to our honourable king.” He gestured towards the royal box where the king and his daughters sat, watching intently.

“And now,” he paused for dramatic effect, “it is my utmost pleasure to declare our champion!”

The crowd erupted into a deafening roar of applause and cheers once more.

At the centre of it all stood Sombra, his dark coat glistening with sweat as he panted heavily. Before him lay his opponent, a towering stallion whose coat was as pale as his was dark. Blueblood had put up a hard fight, but still, he had fallen as the rest of them had. Sombra was victorious, and now he waited to hear what he wanted to hear for so very long.

“All hail... Sombra!” the herald cried out, igniting a chant that swept through the masses like wildfire.

Amidst the celebration and adoration, Sombra lifted his head high and basked in his hard-earned victory, knowing he had made his father—a humble tavern keeper—proud.

He looked up at the royal box, matching the gaze of the princess he had fought for. She stared back at him, watching him with pride and joy.

As she opened her mouth to offer congratulations, a blood-curdling scream ripped through the air. The world twisted and contorted, transforming into a nightmare before Sombra’s eyes. In an instant, he felt centuries older, burdened with ancient knowledge and a deep sense of regret. He grimaced as his princess let out gut-wrenching screams of agony, unable to do anything but watch helplessly as she writhed in pain before him.

Hope’s screams pierced the air like a knife, but her voice became distorted and unrecognisable, changing into somepony else’s entirely. “Sombra… please!” she pleaded.

Sombra heard his princess’s agonized cries reverberating off the walls. But it wasn’t Hope lying on the ground in front of him. It was a different figure, with a dark coat and a shock of reddish-pink hair. A jagged scar marred her face, and where a horn should have been, there was only a shattered stump.

Sombra’s voice caught in his throat as he recognized the mare before him, writhing in agony. With fear and disbelief warring within him he started to recall what had happened.

He and Tempest had entered into Sacanas’s lair, faced him down. She’d struck out at him, managed to wound him, or his pride at least. Then what? Sacanas had called out to him, overwhelmed him with a sense of authority, and ordered him to do the unthinkable.

He’d hurt her, he realised. Tempest had pleaded with him, stood by him, trusted him… and he’d hurt her. Sacanas ordered him to kill her and he’d dutifully obeyed without a second thought. The fresh memory of his hooves striking her added to his already soul-crushing amount of guilt.

The conversation they’d shared in his father’s old tavern came to him, of how she listened with empathy and not judged him for his actions of his shameful past, of how she told him of her origins. There had been something else, too, a moment between them where he felt a spark of something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

And there was another thing, too, some warmth on his lips, mixed with an unfamiliar taste and accompanying wetness. In his mind’s eye he saw them kissing, her firmly pressing her lips against his in the heat of battle, and she begged him, whispered to him…

“Come back to me…”

Like being awoken from a long slumber, Sombra felt his senses fully return to him. His mind became his own again, free of Sacanas’s influence. His hooves, though heavy and sluggish, were his and his alone to command. He swallowed, feeling sweat run down his head, and made a silent, solemn vow in that instant.

Tempest Shadow will live.

The mark against his flank still burned as it always did, as a constant reminder of his own atrocities, but the authority Sacanas once held over him seemed like a distant, terrible nightmare. He knew he had to be quick in order to save Tempest as he watched black tendrils of lightning lash at the writhing mare. He had failed to save Hope in time from her desperate folly. He had failed to save his empire, his home… but he wouldn’t fail her.

As quick as he dared and as quietly as he could he inched towards Sacanas, not that his master was paying attention. The spirit’s face was the picture of glee, his teeth bright and jagged against a dark ,shadowy form as magic lashed out again and again from his horn, each strike eliciting another anguished howl from the mare suffering his wrath.

Sombra knew that once he attacked, Sacanas would not tolerate another failure, nor would he allow such a transgression. This may have been, no, this was his only shot, his one solitary chance at redemption. He had to try, not for himself, not for Hope… but for Tempest. He exhaled slowly, then focused himself.

His horn began to glow, crackling and bubbling with green and purple energy. The familiar sting of his dark magic returned as purple smoke framed his eyes and with one swift movement of his head, he dragged a blackened piece of crystal up from the ground beneath the throne.

Sacanas let out something between a shriek of surprise and a grunt of anger as he broke off his attack on Tempest to try and stop Sombra’s attack, but it was too late. In a matter of seconds, the crystal formed around him, encasing him in it.

A second later the crystal shattered and Sacanas emerged, hoisting himself up and off the throne to tower above the dark stallion.

“I should have expected this of you, Sombra,” he sneered. “You have only brought me failure after failure. And now this insolence.” He raised his hoof and batted away each attack as Sombra conjured up more crystals to his side, hurtling them at the dark spirit. “First your princess, then your master? Tut tut, Sombra, is there no end to your treachery?”

“Enough!” Sombra snarled. “I will bow to you no longer, Sacanas!”

“You would choose death, foolishly throw away your life, for what?” Sacanas taunted. “This mare, this breakhorn?”

The dark stallion stamped the ground and flared his nostrils. “There is no pain no suffering in all of Tartarus that I would not endure so that she may live.”

Tempest stirred slightly on the ground, curled up like a new-born foal. Smoke rose from her charred and wounded body.

“Is that so?” Sacanas sneered mockingly. “Then let it be known that your doom is near, and all the efforts you have made will amount to nothing in the end.”

Sombra attacked again and again, but for each one, Sacanas harmlessly batted them away. His horn crackled to life with black lightning and lifted the stallion up, slamming him into the ground. Dark magic sprung out of Sombra’s eyes, and his horn began to crackle and bubble with green and purple magic. With a burst of magic, he teleported away and came at the spirit from another angle.

“You dare use my own power against me?” Sacanas laughed as he parried again. “Bold, Sombra. Who gave you that magic? Who first showed you how to wield it? You are but a mere shadow of my majesty.”

His horn began to glow a deathly pale. Sombra suddenly felt weak in the knees and stumbled backwards.

The dark master’s laughter echoed through the room, chilling him to the bones. “And just as I gave you my magic,” he jeered, “I can take it away.”

With a sudden realization, Sombra felt his connection to his magic faltering, slipping away like grains of sand through his hooves. A cold dread washed over him as he struggled to maintain his grasp on the dark energy that had been his ally for so long.

Sacanas advanced, a malevolent glint in his eyes as he observed his weakening state. “Do you feel it, Sombra?” he taunted. “The power draining from you, leaving you defenceless. You are nothing without my magic coursing through you.”

A surge of panic fired through the stallion. His mind raced, trying to come up with a plan, a way out of this dire situation. He couldn’t let Tempest down any more than he already had. But what could he do?

He hardened his gaze and set his jaw, striving against the sudden weakness that overcame him, and summoned as much of his own strength as he could, calling a different kind of magic to his aid. His horn began to glow a soft, warm pink, and with a fierce growl he lunged forwards, ignoring the mocking, cruel laughter of his dark master.

The room filled with crackling energy as he lunged and stabbed with his horn, with his light, and as Sacanas blocked or countered with his own darkness.

“Although I was your servant once, I will not be confined by your shadows any longer,” Sombra hissed through clenched teeth. “I am my own being now, Sacanas, entirely mine and no one else’s!”

“Your arrogance blinds you,” Sacanas sneered, his voice dripping with venom. “You think to defy me, the one who granted you power beyond your pitiful existence? You are nothing without my dominion over you, a mere puppet on a string. You were nothing when I came to you, just like your Crystal Empire—both insignificant specks in the vast expanse of eternity. But I, I have endured, my immortality an unbreakable chain that binds me to this world and guarantees my ultimate victory.”

He raised his head and began to draw in light to his horn. “Where I live, Sombra. You. Will. Die.”

A low hum began to fill the air, stopping him in his tracks.

Sombra looked past the dark spirit in a mixture of confusion, wonder and amazement all at once to see the commander slowly rising up, standing on shaking legs, lifting her head in defiance as her horn throbbed and pulsed with raw energy. He caught a glimpse of concern in Sacanas’s eyes as Tempest stared him down, her eyes still as bright and fierce as ever despite her injured at his hooves. It was a sight to behold, thought Sombra, both mesmerizing and frightening at the same time.

There was a beat, and then she unleashed an almighty blast at Sacanas.

The blinding light erupted from Tempest’s horn, engulfing Sacanas in a radiant explosion that shook the very foundations of the throne room. Sombra shielded his eyes as the intense brilliance pierced through the shadows, casting a brilliant glow that banished the darkness that once cloaked them all.

Sacanas screamed in agony, his form writhing within the searing light. His once imposing figure contorted and twisted, unable to withstand the pure magical energy unleashed by Tempest. The malevolent spirit’s taunting laughter turned into desperate cries of pain as he struggled against the overwhelming power bearing down on him.

The air crackled with magic as the room filled with an ethereal glow, illuminating every corner and crevice with raw, bright blue light. Sombra could feel the surge of power emanating from Tempest, her determination and strength merging into a force beyond comprehension, uncaring, unflinching in driving the dark spirit back.

Sacanas lowered his horn and aimed it at her, summoning enough strength to counter her attack and defend himself.

He twisted his mouth and snarled. “Here me and tremble, you vile little ponies,” he rasped even as Tempest’s magic assailed him. “I am Sacanas. I am eternal. And I have had enough of you!” He reared up, finally releasing his attack and pushing back the light. Tendrils of darkness, each one clawed and hungrily searching for purchase began to snake out from his body, grasping for the ponies that dare attack their master.

Sombra began to scorch them away with a blast of light here and there where he could as Tempest maintained her attack.

“Hnng…” she grunted.

He glanced at her, noticing a trickle of blood leaking from her nose. This was killing her, he realised to his growing horror. Strong as she was, it was too much; her horn couldn’t handle it. She was burning up from the inside. “Commander,” he said, stepping up beside her as the tendrils reached them.

“The… crown…” she grunted. “Hurry…”

Sombra looked back at Sacanas. If he left her his shadows would reach and torment her once more. If he didn’t, she would burn up—consumed by her own magic and die right before his eyes.

“Som…bra…” she whispered. “The… crown…”

He nodded and flared his nostrils. He jumped forwards and galloped towards Sacanas, his hooves hitting the ground hard and fast. From behind him he heard Tempest cry out and dared not look. The stream of her magic ceased. Sacanas took a step forwards, using her pain to his own ends. He didn’t appear to see the pony charging towards him, until it was too late.

The dark stallion lunged, reaching up to the spirit’s head, through the darkness, until he felt the infernal, cursed thing resting there.

With a swift motion, Sombra tore the crown from Sacanas’s head, a blinding flash of light erupting from the artifact as it disconnected its malevolent master from its unfortunate host. The room shook with the force of the release, knocking Sombra off his hooves and sending him sprawling across the marble floor. He could feel the overwhelming power emanating from the crown pulsating in his grasp, the bright red gem at its centre staring back at him like a lidless, unblinking eye. He quickly dropped it as it began to shake and tremble violently, rattling along the ground as Sacanas let out an anguished scream of fury.

“No! No!” he bellowed. “I will not be dismissed! I am Sacanas the Eternal! I will not!”

His form contorted and writhed in agony as the darkness that once surrounded him began to dissipate, being pulled towards the gem. Without the crown’s influence, his once formidable presence wavered, revealing a grim figure that set Sombra’s teeth on edge.

“Hope…” he murmured, tracing his eyes over an ancient skeleton as Sacanas was ripped away form her, unable o puppet her body any longer. She… the skeleton, for he had mourned Radiant Hope a long time ago, fell to the ground in a heap of bones.

Sacanas roared and raged, slamming his shadowy hooves on the ground, but to no avail. His terrible gaze found Sombra once more, staring with a burning and intense hatred.

“You think you’ve won, Sombra?” he hissed, spite dripping from his words like venom even as he faded from existence. “This curse that shackles me will not hold me forever, and when I am free your world will burn to ashes... and you with it.”

He flashed a final, wolf-like grin at Sombra before vanishing entirely, the last of his essence pulled into the crown’s gem. The room fell silent, save for the stallion’s heavy breaths. He looked around and saw, to his horror, a motionless Tempest lying on the floor. Ignoring he crown for the moment, he started towards her. He stumbled when he reached her and fell to the ground.

“Commander?” he whispered.

No response.

He held his head down, tilting his ear towards her mouth. He couldn’t hear her breathing.

“Commander?”

A cold chill ran along his spine as he looked down at the dark mare.

“Tempest?”

***

The large grandfather clock in the corner of the room ticked loudly.

The sun was getting low, casting rays of orange light through the sky and the window of the Nightmare Knights Director’s office. Starlight Glimmer was tired, annoyed, afraid and irritated all at once. Why, oh, why did Luna ever choose me, she thought, for not the first time. Her most recent headache, a hefty fine for destruction of public property, stared up at her from her desk. She winced, looking it over again.

“Am I ‘free to go’, then?”

She glanced upwards at the speaker, at Chrysalis, who sat across from her with an unamused, uninterested expression.

The queen flicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes. “Or did you just bring me here to waste my time?”

“You tell me if there’s a problem, Chrysalis,” Starlight snapped, sliding the envelope across the table. “Take a look for yourself and tell me if two thousand bits worth of damage is a problem or not.”

The changeling picked up the bill with her magic and scanned her eyes over it. The clock ticked loudly still, breaking the almost unbearable silence between the two. After a couple of seconds she snorted and dropped the bill. “Is that all?” she sighed.

Starlight felt a vein in her forehead throb. “No. Actually. It’s not,” she said slowly. “Since Tempest went missing you guys have been recklessly causing needless destruction of property. Besides this, there’s that poor couple that you almost-”

“Tempest isn’t missing,” Chrysalis snapped, interrupting her. “We know exactly where she is, we just don’t know how to get there because she ran off with Sombra.” She rustled her gossamer wings and flicked a strand of mane out of her eyes. It wasn’t lost on Starlight that the former queen of the changelings looked a lot… healthier lately. Not as many holes in her legs or wings.

The director inhaled between her teeth. “And don’t I know it?” she replied. “D’you know how many meetings I’ve had with Cadance and Twilight because of Tempest’s actions?”

The changeling tsked and turned her head away.

“And I asked for all of you to be here today. Where are Tirek and Cozy?”

“Getting ice cream.”

Starlight’s brow furrowed. “Getting-”

“Cozy’s not well,” Chrysalis grunted.

“Oh.” Starlight fidgeted for a moment. “Well I hope she feels better soon.”

“So do I.”

The former Headmare ran a hoof through her mane as she watched the changeling. She may have looked healthier, but there was an air of sadness about her. She was worried, plain and simple. Of course she was worried, Starlight was as well, and so was Twilight when she found out. “How long has it been?” she asked. “Since Tempest went--disappeared?”

Chrysalis stiffened her neck before answering. “Two days.”

Starlight bobbed her head and leaned across the table, putting her hoof as close as she dared to her former enemy. “She’ll be fine, y’know. When she comes back.”

“Hmph,” Chrysalis snorted derisively. “Oh yes, I know she will be,” she grunted. Her face softened and she looked the mare in the eye. “It’s what comes after that has me worried.”

“What do you mean?” Starlight asked curiously. “With Twilight and Cadance? I’m sure once we explain everything to them, she’ll be-”

“No. Not that.” The changeling leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling.

Starlight bit her lip. Did she dare push her luck with the one creature in Equestria who she definitely knew wanted her dead and stuffed? “You can tell me, you know. I was a school counsellor, I’m a good listener.”

“As if,” Chrysalis grumbled. She looked back down at the director and sighed. She held the stare for a minute or two in an aggressively uncomfortable silence. “Sombra. What will happen to him when they return?” she asked.

Starlight wrinkled her nose. “Sombra? Well, unless he runs again, Cadance will want him extradited to the Crystal Empire--if they come to Equestria, that is. Then I suppose he’ll be tried and sentenced for everything he’s done.”

The changeling twisted her mouth and thought for a moment. “And Tempest?”

“Whatever the equivalent of a court martial is for you guys, I guess. I don’t know exactly, Luna didn’t exactly leave every folder labelled when she left.”

Chrysalis twitched her wings and let out a long sigh. “Have you heard anything of her?” she said.

“Who? Tempest?”

“No, you miserable cretin. Luna.”

Starlight bristled at the needless insult and frowned. “No. And I’ve asked you before please don’t throw insults like that around. I’m your boss now, remember?”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes at her and huffed, straightening the collar of her jumpsuit. “Yes, yes, I remember." She made a show of bowing in her seat. "My deepest and most sincerest apology to you, oh beneficent Director.”

The mare sat across from her had never seen Chrysalis this amicable before, even if it was just for show. It wasn't nice, not really, more... unnerving. She must have been really worried about Tempest.

Chrysalis snorted again and stood up. “Well, if that’s all, then? Am I free to go now?”

Starlight bobbed her head. “Yeah. Just… please be careful. I know you’re all worried and stressed about Tempest, but still.” She gestured to the fine on her desk. “Any more like these and I don’t think I can keep them off our backs.”

The changeling thought for a moment before nodding. “I’ll consider being more careful next time,” she said.

“Thanks.”

The awkward silence returned as enemy-turned-ally stared at one another. The grandfather clock ticked loudly again, filling the silence with its impossibly loud noise. Chrysalis turned to go without another word, quietly closing the door behind her as she left.

Starlight leaned back in her seat and blew her cheeks out. She looked out the window at the setting sun and sighed. “C’mon, Tempest,” she murmured softly. “You can do this. Just hurry up, okay?”

***

There was a ringing in Tempest’s ears as she woke up, roaring its way like a clarion call from Tartarus through her head, accompanied by a wretchedly intense headache.

She sat up and looked around, gazing at the empty, inky blackness that surrounded her. Strangely, she felt light, floating, almost, like she was in the air or in a pool of water. “Hello?” she mumbled, her voice echoing in the silence around her. “Where am I?”

There’s nothing anymore, Fizzlepop, her own voice said back to her, inside her head. You used yourself up. Charge is all gone.

“What?” she said, shaking her head. The ringing and the pounding headache intensified. She winced. “What do you mean the charge is all gone?”

And then she remembered it. Sombra had come to her aid, snapping himself out of Sacanas’s control. She’d cast a spell, more magic than she’d ever used before. It hurt, and her head felt like it was on fire for the longest time… then nothing. She looked down at her hoof strangely. “Does that mean…” she trailed off.

You already know. You’re as much of a ghost as the Knights’ enemies are now.

Tempest scowled. “I’m not dead,” she told herself, speaking aloud to her inner monologue, as strange as it felt and sounded to think about. “You hear me? I’m not dead!”

The first step is always denial.

“That’s grief,” she muttered. “Not death. Now c’mon, snap out of it Fizz-” She slapped her cheek. “-you’ve got a job to do—the fight’s not over yet-”

Fight? Hah… Fight’s over, Fizzlepop. It’s been over for a while now, longer than you’ve been here.

A great, bright light appeared up in the distance, shining down on her like a spotlight. She raised a hoof to shield her eyes and squinted. “What’s that?” she asked. It felt strange, almost comforting, in a way. She felt like she had to walk towards it. Maybe this really wasn't the end after all.

Ignore it, said her inner monologue. Have a rest. You’ve earned a rest, haven’t you? The darkness behind her seemed to almost invite her back towards it.

Tempest bit her lip and turned her ears back. She was indeed very tired. And hungry. After all, she’d gone without food or sleep for what, a day, now? Two days? Three? It all blended together. Was this how Cozy felt all the time? It’d be wrong to say she hadn’t thought about calling it quits before many times, but… she couldn’t. No matter how much she may have wanted to, she just couldn’t. And she said as much while taking a step towards the light. “I can’t.”

Why not?

She shivered and thought for a second. “Because… because if we don’t do our job, what then? If a ghost is haunting the local library or zombies are springing out of their graves, who’s gonna come calling? Besides… Bray is still out there,” she said finally. “Wherever he is, I doubt very much that he’s taking a day off from trying to resurrect Grogar. I can’t just quit. I can’t go into the light.”

But you’re so tired. Aren’t you? The others can handle it, right? Why don’t you just lie down…

The darkness surrounding her seemed to close in just a bit more. The light shone brighter for a second or two.

She bit her lip again. Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy were very capable yes, and they’ve been holding down the fort while she’s been away, she hoped, but… but there was something else. Something deep within her soul that said no, I won’t give up, I won’t give in.

She squared her jaw and pricked her ears up, facing them forwards.

“Because I’m a Nightmare Knight.”

She crackled what was left of her horn to punctuate her words. It reminded her of how she picked herself up and carried on even after losing it. The darkness surrounding her faded and the light in the distance grew.

What does that mean?

“It’s a promise,” she said. “Not just to the ponies of the world that I’d protect them, but to myself—that no matter what I wouldn’t give up or give in.”

The light in the distance shifted, growing bigger and brighter.

Then keep going, Tempest Shadow, her inner voice said, except now it sounded different, somehow. Firmer. Not as taunting. Get up, it told her. Get up, stand on your own four legs, and fight!

Tempest felt a surge of energy fire through her as the light grew and grew, until finally it swallowed her whole and the strange inky blackness of the place she had been in faded away entirely, replaced by a blinding, brilliant white that moved back and forth before her eyes.

“...Temp…” said a familiar voice, fading in and out of audibility. “Com… der… an… y… hear me?”

She blinked, and stared up at Sombra’s familiar face, turning double, then triple, then back to normal. The blinding headache she had struck again, pounding inside her skull accompanied by the infernal ringing. But it didn’t matter. She was alive.

Sombra smiled and set down a tray of food on the table beside her. The stallion looked as worn out as she felt. She sat up, clutching at her head.

“How long was I out?” she said.

“A few hours,” Sombra replied, offering her a cup of water from the tray. “To be expected when somepony suffers injuries as grievous as yours. Here, drink this.”

The commander took the drink. The cold, clear liquid splashed down her throat, soothing her headache somewhat. “Thanks.” She glanced around at the… bedroom? She was in a quaint little, tidy bedroom, of what looked like somepony’s house.

The light behind Sombra’s head framed him like a halo. He had bruises and scratches on his face, his muzzle looked greyer than it did and his eyes were heavy, laden with sleep-deprived bags. “How do you feel?” he asked her.

Tempest put her head back on the pillow and inhaled deeply. It hurt to breathe, and some of her skin was raw to the touch when she moved under the sheets. ““Alive,” she muttered. The corner of Sombra’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Where are we?”

“My home,” he answered, setting the glass down and resting his hoof on the bed. “A small homestead on the edges of the Crystal Empire.”

Tempest blinked. “A homestead? Like a farm?”

The dark stallion nodded. “Yes. It has belonged to my family for generations.”

The commander glanced out the window at the sea of white snow, picturing the former king tilling the fields. They must have been in the middle of nowhere. And only Sombra knew where exactly. She swallowed, noticing he had a red stain on his hoof. Was it his own blood, or hers, she wondered? She shuddered involuntarily.

Sombra appeared to notice her sudden discomfort and retreated, stepping back from the bed. he turned his head away from her. “Rest, Commander,” he told her, gesturing to the plate of food on the bedside table. “And eat. It will help you recover your strength.”

“We need to get back to the Empire,” Tempest stated, studying his face. She realised her heart didn’t flutter quite as much anymore when she looked at him. Had going through that recent ordeal meant her crush was over? She didn’t know whether she felt relieved or disappointed if that was true. “I need to tell the Knights-”

“You need to rest,” Sombra said sternly, turning to look her in the eye.

She felt a streak of anger suddenly fire through her, a familiar spark of defiance. “I can rest later,” she snapped. “The Knights need to know what happened with Sacanas, and the crown-” She froze, save for her eyes darting around the room. “Which is... where is it, exactly?”

The stallion stiffened his neck. “I destroyed it,” he said flatly.

Tempest blanched. “Oh…” she murmured.

Sombra narrowed his piercing gaze at her. “You disapprove?”

“No, but-”

“The crown was dangerous, Commander. I know that perhaps more than anypony. It had to be destroyed.”

The commander nodded sheepishly. So that was it, then. Sacanas was gone for good, and his information about Grogar and Bray with him. “Yeah… yeah, of course,” she murmured, holding a hoof to her head.

Sombra’s scrutinising gaze left her feeling like a child with her hoof caught in the cookie jar. “And while I agree with you, that your Knights should be informed of what happened as soon as possible,” he continued, “there is the matter of your health. Should you die of overexertion, the Nightmare Knights would be left leaderless, wouldn’t they?”

Tempest opened her mouth to retaliate, then closed it a second later. She knew he was right, of course. She was in no condition to travel or make any brash decisions or long-winded explanations in her current state. The pain in her body was a constant reminder of that fact. And, in truth, perhaps she feared facing the Knights again after her actions. She sank back into the pillows, her muscles protesting with every movement.

“Fine,” she murmured, reaching out for the plate of food beside her. Despite feeling ravenous, she found it hard to muster an appetite, and only nibbled at a slice of toast. “As soon as we can, though, we’re going to the Crystal Empire.”

“Upon my word.”

Sombra watched her for a moment, his eyes never leaving hers, then, seemingly satisfied, he nodded and turned to go.

The commander bit her lip. “Sombra?” she called after him as he reached the door.

He stopped and turned to face her again. His ruby red eyes stared back at hers, ancient, tired and caring.

“Thanks,” she said. “Not just… for looking after me, but…” She winced, feeling a sudden hot flush when she remembered kissing him in the middle of their battle. She looked down at her hooves to try and hide her blush. “Thanks.”

Sombra’s face softened. “You are welcome,” he replied gravely. “Though I must thank you in turn, for if you had not fought as you did, I have no doubt I would still be under Sacanas’s spell.” He turned slightly, showing her his flank. The brand Sacanas had once seared upon it was dull and lifeless, though it skill scratched out his cutie mark entirely. “For the first time in over a thousand years, I am my own pony,” he said. “For that I thank you.” He hesitated, and a flicker of pain spasmed across his face. “And if I am to trade my newfound freedom for the cells of Cadenza’s dungeon, then so be it.”

“I can talk to her,” Tempest said quickly. “And Twilight on your behalf-”

“No, Commander,” he replied, raising his hoof in protest. “It is high time I suffered the consequences of my actions. I will run no longer from them.”

Tempest, despite her earlier thoughts about her crush, felt her heart leap up into her throat when he smiled sadly at her and simply turned away again. “Now rest. I know you’re anxious to return to your duties, Commander,” he began, his voice gentle but firm. “But you must allow yourself time to heal properly. The Nightmare Knights will understand.”

Tempest felt her face burn red with heat. She nodded gratefully and continued to pick at her food. Soon she felt the exhaustion creep up on her again, and she closed her eyes.

Sleep came surprisingly easy, and for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, she let herself relax, if only for the moment.

On the other side of the bedroom door, Sombra slumped down against the wall. With his patient recovered he felt his own exhaustion overtake him, plunging him into fell deep asleep, uncaring about anything else in the world, only that she lived.

As he exhaled, a wisp of purple smoke escaped from beneath his eyelids, floating around his head before it disappeared.

***

In a dark, musty corner of a long forgotten library, somewhere deep within the earth, far away from Equestria and across the great oceans, sat a donkey, on an old and worn out chair, reading a letter by flickering candlelight. The letter in question was a report of the latest happenings in Equestria, gathered by his spies, fellow members of the lost and forgotten, thanks in no small part to Lord Glow’s patronage.

Bray sighed and ran a hoof over his long ear, scanning his eyes back and forth over the yellowed paper. “So… Tempest Shadow found the crown, did she?” he murmured. “I had expected as much. But to destroy it instead of retrieving it, this I did not-” He looked up suddenly and twitched is nose. “Ah. My Lady Pupa. To what do I owe the pleasure? Queen Imago’s recovery goes well, I hope?”

A tall, slender figure emerged from the darkness behind him. Her pale green eyes shone in the dark, and her aged, ragged wings buzzed lightly as she hobbled forwards on three legs. “Lord Bray,” she crooned, bowing her head. “I do not mean to intrude, and yes, my sister’s health is returning slowly but surely.”

“Excellent.” Bray smiled even as he waved his hoof. “But I am no lord, Lady Pupa, as I have said before. I am a mere servant of a higher and greater power, and we are all friends here, are we not? How can friends intrude upon one another?” He flashed her a toothy grin.

Pupa smiled sweetly right back at him as she leaned against his writing desk. “They cannot, of course.” her eyes wandered over to the letter on his desk. “What news from Equestria?”

The donkey held it up for her to take. “See for yourself.”

Pupa picked up the letter with her magic and lifted it to her aged eyes. “My niece has chosen her allies well,” she said after a moment. “This Tempest Shadow you are so fond of is resourceful indeed. Though, as I am to understand, your plan revolved around her simply finding and retrieving the crown, was it not? Not to destroy it.”

Bray smiled. “Yes,” he sighed as he leaned back in the old, creaky chair. “Perhaps Tempest Shadow is not the scalpel I had hoped she was, but a hammer instead.” He reached up to his neck and toyed with the small glass vial hanging there. The thick, red liquid inside trickled this way and that as he turned it. “Though, a hammer does still have its uses...” He trailed off, leaving them in silence.

The flickering candlelight danced over Bray’s face, casting eerie shadows in the dimly lit library. Lady Pupa studied him for a moment before speaking, her voice hushed with reverence. “And what of the others, my… friend? What of Chrysalis and Tirek, and the child. My sister very much wants to see-”

“Cozy Glow is of no concern to us, and has already been promised to her father,” Bray said, cutting her off and letting go of the vial around his neck, the vial which carried the filly’s own blood, the blood of his ultimate enemy. His mud brown eyes gleamed with a sinister light as he leaned back in his chair. “And as for Lord Tirek and your dear niece, they are playing their parts perfectly. The Knights will rise, and then they will fall.”

Pupa nodded, her expression betraying a mixture of both concern and anticipation for what was to come. She hesitated before asking her next question. “And what of Luna?” she said quietly. “She is still missing, is she not?”

Bray’s smile widened, revealing a wide set of teeth in the wavering candlelight. “Curious, aren’t you, Pupa?” he murmured. His tone was not friendly.

Pupa rustled her wings gently and narrowed her eyes. “I meant no offence,” she stated, before flashing him a smile as fake as his own. “But I apologise, all the same. Being curious is simply my nature.”

Bray let out a heart chuckle and shook his head. “A sentiment I understand, Lady Pupa, but rest assured, Princess Luna is of no concern to us for the moment.”

Even as he chortled, the three-legged changeling detected a hint of fear in his words, and strove to supress a smug smirk from spreading across her face. She cleared her throat and straightened herself up. “Well, I suppose that will have to do now, won’t it? Now I must say goodbye, however. I am to return to Equestria at my sister’s behest and prepare our hive for her return.”

Bray bobbed his head, fiddling once again with the vial around his neck. “A noble goal. Would that I were able to be of any further assistance, you would have it, my lady.”

Pupa bowed back at him. “And we would most graciously accept it, Bray. To aid my sister is to aid life itself.” She smiled at him. He smiled back and a shiver ran along her spine. Most living creatures gave off a certain scent, especially when their heart was full of love, as he so claimed his was. In reality, however, Bray gave off nothing but fear and hatred. His ‘love’ for Grogar wasn’t love at all, it was something… sick. A need—an obsession. One she unfortunately understood all too well.

“Well if that is all, my… dear friend,” she said. “Then I shall take my leave of you.”

Bray bowed his head back to her and twitched his ear as some rip-roaring laughter echoed in from up above.

“Yes,” the donkey chortled as he stood up. “And I must return to our host. If this is to be our farewell, Lady Pupa, then let it be so.” He extended his hoof towards her. “Though, not forever, I hope?”

Pupa’s lip twitched in irritation for a fraction of a second as she sat down and gave him her good hoof, unable to stand on two legs. “Not at all,” she replied sweetly.

Bray bobbed his head as she turned to go, eager to leave this place, and him, and that strange creature up there, cackling with mad laughter. His was a name she hadn’t heard before, not in any history book or written word anywhere. But perhaps there was one in Equestria who did: that centaur her niece is so fond of.

Perhaps a visit to Chrysalis was needed, she thought to herself as she ascended the stairs, a flicker of a grin spreading across her aged face as yet another Machiavellian plot began to form in her mind. If Bray was allowed to have his secrets, then so was she. Yes, a short visit to her niece, disguised of course, and a simple whisper of that mad creature’s name should be all she needed...