The Lost Girls

I don't know what it is about standing in these caverns that makes me want to question reality. No matter how many times I have stood here before, which admittedly isn't that many yet, I keep wondering if this is a dream or some kind of horrible nightmare. It's not as if I'm a coward either. I have faced down some other scary situations before and laughed at it, so what makes this so different for me? Why does part of me simply refuse to accept this as reality?

The likely answer is that it's too different from what I've known before, and I don't want it to be true either.

I pause as my blood freezes when I hear the echo of my sister cry out in these caverns. Whether it is just because she's scared or because she just got physically assaulted plus she's scared, I really can't be sure. When the sting of that shocking information starts to fade, I feel my desperate sense of denial rush forward again. That voice cries out to me, “Ignore this. It's not real. It can't be real. Too much critical foundational knowledge of reality would have to be questioned for this to be real. That's too much to ask. Things really can't be this bad. It truly is impossible. It must be some sort of trick. Remember, you are dealing with at least one magician here. They are called illusionists for a reason.”

But, by necessity, I feel forced to reply to that voice, “And what if it is real? Dare I risk the health of my beloved sister? Of course not! I wouldn't even do that in a dream. Not if I'm myself enough within the dream to question my reality in the first place.

“Besides, even if some of this is fake, what guarantees do I have that this magician isn't also insane and/or a true sociopath? If she is, then all it means is she can make a greater spectacle of her sinister work. By 'pretending' to be vampony, when she's actually not, may not remove the fact that she truly did beat an innocent boy to death and apparently did it for fun. She can dress that up however she likes. It's still evil, even if it turns out that all of this was just some cruel, sick and deeply twisted joke. No matter what, I won't risk my sister falling to the same fate.”

While I paused, I closed my eyes as I wrestle with my rationality and my personal fears. However, upon hearing the sound of flesh being struck then the cry of my sister immediately following that, I do indeed panic despite myself.

My eyes fly open before I fly forward. I twist back and forth as I dodge cavern walls until I quickly arrive at the same altar where I saw the boy die two nights before. Here, I once again encounter most of the mares who are dressed in that same ShadowBolts uniform. The lone exception is Demise herself and my sister beneath the statue. I also see Demise standing directly on top of my sister who is held suspended in the air by rope tied to each leg which lifted her above the slab in an X pattern. Unlike before, Demise seems to be wielding nothing more than a common lead pipe. Notably, a bloody lead pipe. Upon sight of that, I scream in rage and lurch forward, but the other mares present surge to cease me which also reminds me that I'm not the only augmented individual here.

“Welcome-welcome, dear Sister of the Night,” Demise says in a grandiose way as she turns about to face me with graceful flourish. Her ultra thin dress swishes and sways as she turns. She's still standing directly on top of my sister as she turns to face me. Despite how dainty Demise looks, I can't convince myself that standing there like that isn't painful for my sister, especially since she has already delivered at least a few whacks at her already. “Please join us.” The hoof that isn't holding the lead pipe lifts to gesture towards me. “I see you finally got my message.”

I'm taken aback as I wonder what message she's talking about. I heard about all of this from the vampony hunter Doctor Horseling himself.

Then it occurs to me that Demise might have left a message elsewhere, like my home, but I haven't been back there in a while because I was too afraid and ashamed to face my sister in this condition.

But then I recall that I'm supposed to distract these ladies from his presence. I can't tip them off that he's the real reason I found out about all of this instead, so I lie by saying, “Yeah. I got your message. I rushed over here as soon as I could in order to stop you!” I growl harshly. “Why are you doing this anyway?”

“To complete your transformation,” Demise replies without missing a beat, and she punctuates that point by actually striking my sister again right before my eyes. Seeing that sparks an enraged frenzy in me again, but the mares holding me back are completely prepared for it since they very much expected that reaction. They only double down on me harder, and I'm vastly outnumbered here.

Demise waits for me to be relatively calm enough again to understand her before she resumes speaking. It is then that she says, “We know how painful this process can be for you because many of us went through the same thing. As your spiritual leader, it is my job to ease your transition as much as possible. In order to do that, you need to learn to let go of your former, weak mortal attachments. They'll only hold you back. Trust me, the sooner we rip off this band-aid, the sooner your true road to recovery can begin.”

“But you don't need to do this!” I wail.

Demise gives me a soft, seemingly compassionate smile as she says, “Of course I do.” Then she whacks my sister again. Both my sister and I cry out in response this time.

With the pain and fury of a raging demon, I summon all the strength I can muster, but it still isn't enough. Not only do the other mares here continue to block me, but they don't even look strained with the effort. Some of them are even giggling at me as if they think the effort I'm making against them is downright adorable. With all of them piled on me as they are, that's more than enough to hold me back no matter how determined I get.

After summoning that much raw determination and still failing, and that by an obvious margin, an equal amount of depression replaces it soon after. I lower my head as I start to question if the fact that I failed to overcome all of these mares is a sign that I don't love my sister enough to overcome this difficult trial. I start to wonder if this is my fault. For the life of me and her, I can't figure out how I could possibly love her more . . . yet somehow that still isn't enough.

But then, suddenly, the words the Doctor gave me rang through my head like a ray of hope.

“Even if that means they score a few hits on her. Just stay calm and keep them talking. Keep them monologuing.”

Fighting against them physically isn't going to work. Just standing here isn't working either. Demise is striking my sister either way, but talking to them might not just distract them from noticing the Doctor. Maybe they'll also stop attacking my sister too if it seems their words are starting to have an effect on me.

I growl because I resent being put in this position. I'm not a deep thinker or a diplomatic talker. At heart, I'm a fighter. I'm the kind of pony who recklessly rushes into danger. I usually meet every challenge I face with my hooves swinging and a daring grin on my face.

But, if the situation actually forces me to adapt to a more cerebral approach, I'll do my best. Like everything else I do in life, I always apply my best effort, especially considering the motivation I have at this moment.

“You really think this will turn me?” I growl hatefully as I lift my head and glare back at Demise. “Well you're half right. You'll succeed in turning me into an immortal, unholy spawn of the Night . . . but have you ever given any thought into what happens after?”

In response, Demise tilts her head at me. She seems curious what point I'm trying to make here. Meanwhile, the closest thing she does to striking my sister again is simply apply the lead pipe on my sister's body and lean on it with both of her forehooves on her side of the pipe.

“Turning me into a vicious killer doesn't ensure you hold a victory,” I go on. “Because the grudge I'll develop against you because of this moment will be equally unkillable. True, I'll be a fellow immortal, just like you wanted, but I will be an immortal ENEMY!”

“You think that's how this works?” Demise questions softly as she lifts an eyebrow at me.

Notably, getting her to talk to me like this means she's too distracted to actively whack at my sister again.

“You think it matters how much of a grudge you develop against me?” Demise goes on. “You're no threat to me. I have a significant head start when it comes to feeding upon dark energy, and one way or another . . . you'll soon come to realize that the knowledge I've acquired across all these centuries is too valuable for even you to dismiss. Necessity breeds its own form of beasts, Miss Dust, and I've been at this long enough to know how this system works.” She shakes her head. “There are changes that are occurring within you that you can't fully understand or appreciate for the moment. These things take time to fully develop, and time is a commodity we have in infinite abundance. I can afford to play the long strategy in any situation. That takes time to master, of course.” She gives me a coy grin as she gestures to herself while saying, “Enough said.”

“But sometimes the risks aren't necessary,” I argue back desperately. I don't even care if I win this argument. I just need to keep her talking. I need to keep her from noticing the Doctor or from continuing to assault my sister. “Think about it! What does attacking her really give you? As a mortal, she was going to die anyway.”

“Exactly, so why not end her suffering now?” Demise counters.

“Because she's more valuable to me alive!” I cry out. “Yes, I know, she's ephemeral. Most ponies are, but I still don't care. I still want to spend what time I have with her. If you allow this, if you grant me this one mercy, I'll be indebted to you instead of holding a grudge against you.”

I pretend to realize something, or rather half pretend to. After all, the idea I have might actually be true.

“You claim you know the system,” I begin. “You claim you have centuries of knowledge and wisdom. That it makes you better than the rest of us somehow. Is what you are doing now part of that strategy? Are you just pretending to want to kill my sister so that you could bargain with me and earn my loyalty to you by pretending to spare that which you never intended to kill?”

Demise narrows her eyes at me as she replies, “Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you.” She then lifts up the pipe and quickly smashes at my sister again. Like clockwork, Charity cries out in pain again, but a bit more faintly this time because she is losing blood and strength. Demise points the pipe at me as she says, “I'm attacking her to make several points simultaneously. I want to make absolutely sure that you know that I'm not bluffing. That I'm not merely claiming that I might attack your sister. I want you to know that I'll actually prove I'm a threat by genuinely doing what I claim I'll do.” She strikes my sister again then asks, “Do you now believe me? Or do you need more proof that I'm not even close to bluffing?”

“NOOOO!” I scream which echoes very loudly in these caverns. I then break down and whimper some as I feebly tell her, “I believe you. There is not a doubt in my mind that you're willing to attack her.” My chin wrinkles as my face firms up. I stand a little taller as I ask her, “But to what end? I may believe you're willing to attack her now but that just makes me want to kill you even more. Regardless of all of your centuries of so-called wisdom or knowledge, it isn't a net positive to create a determined immortal enemy.”

“We're talking about dark magic here,” Demise counters. “Hatred is our strength. It helps us to channel it.”

My look turns to surprise as I ask her, “Then all of this is to merely teach me a lesson? You're trying to train me to master my new dark powers?”

“Correct,” Demise confirms with an emphatic nod to me. “Through you, the ShadowBolts will gain its greatest boon, but these things take time to fully ripen. Magic is always channeled through emotion, Miss Dust. That applies to all of us, not just the unicorns.” She shakes her head as she adds, “But emotion is merely the fuel. Focus and intention shapes that magic to its final form, so there needs to be a balance between raw, explosive fury and cold and calculating logic. The proper mix of hot and cold energy produces motion, Miss Dust. You must have worked with the weather enough to know that much at least.”

“There has to be a better way to accomplish this without attacking her,” I plead.

Demise points her pipe at me as she says, “The fact that you keep arguing for her survival proves to me that I must do this.” She applies the pipe back down as she continues. “If she truly was just some worthless trash to you, then yeah. I really would be wasting my time with her.” She shakes her head. “But no. You actually are invested in this one. The pain of her loss will be the catalyst to fuel the fire of your dark magic indefinitely. It wouldn't even matter if you later forget about her as the centuries roll on. By then, you'll still have mastered the initial lesson. That benefit will endure across all time. She will not.”

“Then why can't we just turn her?” I counter propose. I don't really want to resort to this option, but that's not the point. I have to keep stalling her. “With both of us turned, you'll have twice as many servants.” I nod to the statue behind her as I add, “She will have twice as many servants.” I tilt my head as I ask her, “You do wish to please her, right? Isn't that the whole point of these little get-togethers?”

Demise looks back at the statue behind her then back at me with a coy grin as she says, “Nice try there. Using my devotion for her to make your point is a clever strategy, but I experienced and practiced debates with some of the greatest philosophers of all time. You're not going to pull the wool over my eyes.” She cocks her head at me. “I'll admit, though, I didn't think you'd be desperate enough to even try that. That's not in character for you.” She straightens her head. “But then again, we're talking about your greatest attachment here. Love can evoke some crazy things in a pony. Believe me, I know.”

“Even if you established the motive of my words, does that, alone, invalidate my point?” I challenge her.

I'm shocked and amazed that I made a point good enough to cause her to just stare at me for a few seconds in silence. It's as if she's mulling over the point I just made.

But she keeps staring at me while she's at it. Maybe it's not that she's thinking over my point but rather assessing something else.

“What are you hiding?” Demise eventually wonders. “You're still no strategist, but you are up to something.”

“I'm trying to save the life of my sister,” I tell her while choking down the panic I feel because of how acute her observations are. I shake my head as I say, “I don't know why you'd call that a hidden motivation. I thought I made my intentions perfectly clear.”

“That much is obvious,” Demise agrees. “But you're stalling too.”

“I made that point from the beginning as well! I'm stalling you from killing her. I'm stalling her fate from death as long as I can. That way I can enjoy her compony longer.”

“No,” Demise shakes her head in denial, then rethinks that policy before she amends, “Well, actually, yes and no. Very little of what you're saying is an outright lie, but it hides another layer of truth.” She scans around her. “Be vigilant, girls. Something more is going on here.”

As soon as she said that, an explosion of activity erupts around us. Reflective crystal grows all around us and encloses upon us in two seconds flat. While it grew, potentially anypony, except my sister, could have fled from the prison before it got completed, but I think they just stood there, stunned, because it was so unexpected.

Before we know it, we are surrounded on all sides by an inverted spherical mirror, or more like a hemisphere. The ground beneath us is now reflective too, but it still remains flat while above us is domed. The results of all of this is a crazy set of infinite reflections. It's similar to what happens if a mirror faces another mirror, except in this case the mirror is all around us. Any source of light, like those billowing dark green and purple clouds on some sticks, reflect around us like a field of infinite stars. That light also bends and twists depending on the angle one views the mirror surface all around us.

It takes me a few seconds to notice that none of the vamponies trapped within this mirror prison isn’t casting any reflection themselves. As a result, it makes their true position a bit easier to tell. However, the same cannot be said about their uniforms. All around us, to the sides, below, and above us is an infinite reflective field of the clothes they are wearing in motion with apparently no pony wearing them.

The same cannot be said about the Nightmare Moon statue, my suspended sister, the rope carrying her, the torches and its light, and even me. I see infinite copies of myself all around us, except there is one curious detail about that. My reflected images are partially faded about fifty percent. It makes every reflected image of me look transparent like a ghost.

Moments later, we're caught off guard by yet another surprise. My sister glows with a golden aura for a few seconds. Before any of us have the time to fully register that, she vanishes in a puff of showering sparkles.

In other words, mage teleportation.

I am relieved to see that my sister is now delivered out of harm's way, but that also raises a question within me. If Doctor Horseling could teleport all along, why did he need the rented pegasus chariot? Is there a limited range to the spell, at least for him? And if that is so, just where did he teleport her to?

Well, wherever she is now, it is likely a better than this place, at least for the moment.

“What's going on?” one of the demented mares around me cries out in panic. In fact, they all do to some degree. That is why I am now free from their direct restraint, but not free of the crystal mirror prison. As the Brood of mares, with the exception of Demise, rushes about like a chicken with its head cut off, I observe a curious sight. There is something strange about their movement I can't quite put my hoof on. I see them moving, but the infinite copies of their uniforms along with the twisted, reflected light everywhere confuses my naked eye to their true position.

Feeling curious, I venture my way to where I suspect the boundary of the barrier actually is. With the infinite reflections all around us, it is very hard to tell, but when I arrive at where one of the edges of the barrier is, I reach forward with a hoof and make an interesting discovery. My hoof actually passes right through the barrier. There appears to be more free space beyond it. As for the mirror itself, I feel a slight cooling sensation when my hoof passes through it.

With my newly discovered information, I decide to test a hypothesis of mine. I step through the mirror fully. In doing so, I notice nothing stops me. I don't notice the crossing of the threshold at all beyond a slight cooling sensation. What ends up happening, I think, is I arrived on the opposite side of the prison and thus still trapped inside the prison. In other words, these mirrors have effectively created a dimensionally inverted space. Stepping through any end of it will always cause us to arrive at the exact opposite end. We could trot or fly in any direction we want and we'll just keep repeating a loop of trotting or flying through the same physical space over and over again unless we collide with something else solid in here.

Now I assess the rest of the trapped occupants. Doing so teaches me that, besides me and Demise, everypony else is panicking and galloping about randomly. Some are flying too, but they just keep looping through the same physical space. Because of the visual effects in here, it's really hard to tell exactly how large this prison is.

Demise seems to be the only one calm here. In fact, she might even be more calm than me. Clearly she's not happy by the expression on her face, but she does not let it overwhelm her. Instead of that, she is simply assessing her new surroundings and taking everything in. She, too, notices how the other mares just keep looping through the same physical space unless they collide with each other or the statue. I then notice her studying my reaction to all of this. That probably informs her I was somewhat prepared for this surprise, but not completely. The Doctor didn't give me any of these details. Now that I'm seeing how powerful the results are, I am no longer questioning the strength of the spell or spellcaster. He's obviously a really darn good mage, but it also now makes sense to me why he'd need extra time to build a spell this advanced.

Then a grin grows on my face when it occurs to me what would probably happen if a bright light, like the Solar Flare spell, would do in a mirror environment like this.

“You!” Demise cries out as she points an accusing hoof at me. The very next second, I'm startled by the fact she suddenly zips up to stand next to me in the blink of an eye. She moved so fast that it's almost as if she teleported right beside me. Once she's in my face, she barrels down on me as she says insistently, “You know something about this spell.”

“Less than I'd care to know,” I truthfully admit. “And I know I'm now trapped in here with the rest of you.”

Saying that causes Demise to realize something. She looks about at the rest of us as she takes stalk of what is left within the prison. With my sister, Charity, now gone, there is a noticeable pattern to the rest of the “un”life forms that are left in this prison. A pattern that my presence actually supports. When she realizes this, she gives me another careful look as if trying to determine if I had something to do with this or if I'm simply another surprised victim.

Eventually another game-changing event occurs. Doctor Van Horsling steps through one of the mirrors to join us inside. As soon as he does, he wastes no time by already floating a crystal out of his trench coat that looks like Princess Celestia's cutie mark. I barely catch him giving me a brief nod before he ignites the energy stored within the crystal. Because of his earlier warning to me, I know to immediately close my eyes.

The very next second, I hear a dozen screams erupt from all around us. At the same time, I feel pulsating warmth penetrate through my hide. It feels just like the dawn of the natural sun. While it is relatively soothing to me, it's obviously causing agony to the others.

Even with my eyes closed, since I can still sense the energy of everypony around us, I cautiously move in front of the Doctor and ready myself to defend him. He told me earlier that they should be blinded and probably stunned for a short while. That gives me enough time to get into position.

“I healed some of your sister's injuries,” I hear the Doctor whisper behind me which causes me to shift an ear above my head in his direction. “And I transported her to a place where she'll recover. She should be safe for now. We just need to make sure that we survive . . . and that these abominations don't!”

I nod firmly as I slowly open my eyes and scan the others ahead of me. When I do so, I keep myself in tense battle readiness.

“So this is your choice?!” Demise asks me in relative astonishment. As she speaks, I notice she's the only one of her Brood that never screamed. She also stood her ground. She is flinching as if in intense pain and she has her eyes cracked open just a bit. She's occasionally shivering in pain too, but some of the others are on the ground entirely and writhing in agony. “You're siding with him? You brought him here to destroy us?”

“He gave me more options than you ever did!” I bark back at her harshly. “And, unlike you gals, he didn't attack my sister. He even saved her. I WARNED you that attacking her would only set me against you, but you didn't think much of that threat at the time.” I lean towards her hard as I ask in a grunt tone, “Do you think I'm a threat to you now?”

I visibly see great fury sink deep into her eyes. She also tenses in some places and clenches her jaw, but to her credit, she keeps firm control over her emotions. I can actually see her hot fury transform into a cold one. There is now a sharply calculating look in her eyes as she takes stalk of everything around her, including me, the Doctor, and the floating crystal causing the Solar Flare spell.

While she appraises the local situation, I see a familiar swirl of energy in her eyes that makes the edges of her iris and the rim of her entire eyes to gain a tiny dark purplish shimmering glow just like I saw when she was on stage at Pony Island. The primary difference is I can keep my focus this time without getting dizzy. Perhaps it is because I have become the same race as her now.

Despite how furious I am at her, and that for many reasons, I also feel a chill sink down my spine at the open demonstration of how masterfully Demise was able to reign in her intense furious emotions and visibly transform it into a cold weapon. I have never seen a pony more dangerous than her. She has earned my respect for that and, while I hate to admit it, also some fear. What I have seen from her just now proves to me I can never get under her hide enough to secure a psychological advantage against her.

What's worse, the rest of her Brood crawls back up to their hooves and starts to get reorganized. I know that with every second they are being blasted by the magical rays from the crystal, they are constantly having their dark energy strength zapped away. Time is on our side, but we'll have to endure long enough for the spell to make a difference. In the meantime, I have over a dozen super powerful ponies in front of me who are all determined to cause me, and my partner, great harm. Having super abilities of my own doesn't feel nearly as good when it is measured against over a dozen who are my equals, or better, and who are also dead set against us.

I swallow hard because I know we're about to face the hardest part of this adventure.

Suddenly action explodes all around me. Movement blurs as I struggle to defend myself from many flying limbs. What is worse, as bat ponies, they don't need to touch the ground so they are able to swing all of their limbs at me almost at once. I can do that too, but I'm vastly outnumbered and maybe even outclassed here.

It's really hard to tell exactly what happened to me. All I know is I'm suffering from strikes all over my body, including some areas I successfully parried a blow. Their strikes are still so hard that some of the kinetic energy transfers into my hooves anyway, thus making them more pained and numb as the fight continues. I also barely register being tossed about like a ragdoll many times. I struggle to counter it and I don't even have time to think when I do. I just either try a counter flap to reverse my momentum or at least curve my course to dodge around a dozen blows thrown my way.

As for my partner, it's hard to tell how he is doing other than the fact I know the Solar Flare spell continues to endure. It's actually one of the most noticeable things trapped with us in this prison.

Most of the motion ends when I end up being tackled by my opponents. When that happens, things are still enough for me to pause and assess my situation for the first time since the fight started.

Demise never moved into combat in the first place. Instead, she's hanging back and continues to assess everything. It takes me a moment to also realize that she is constantly speaking, but the words she's uttering are subsonic. If it weren't for my vampony augmentation, I wouldn't have heard it. Even with my augmentation, I can't understand what she is saying. It's in some kind of other language. It sounds like a whisper and kind of sounds arcane. It's as if she's whispering some kind of spell.

I notice that I have eight out of twelve of our opponents on top of me aside from Demise.

Meanwhile four continue to attack my partner, but he seems to be holding out for several reasons. One, the mares seem to be in even more pain as they near him, or more accurately to say, as they near his floating crystal. Two, they have a harder time seeing him as they near his crystal. Three, he occasionally blocks with some kind of hemispherical shield which is made of light. This is being projected by another piece of jewelry that also resembles Celestia's cutie mark, only much smaller this time and made of both precious metals and gems. When the mares strike it, they scream in pain and withdraw their hooves which appear to be burned as a result of contacting the light shield. Sometimes he bashes the light shield directly against their bodies while they are briefly stunned with pain after they struck the shield themselves. The results are about the same. They recoil from him in horror. Their flesh is burned wherever he struck them and, noticeably, they are not regenerating wherever the burns are.

Doctor Horseling moves like a dispassionate, efficient machine. While most of his face is hidden by his hat, what parts I do see seem set like a stone mask. He, too, is keeping a professional control over his emotions also to the point of being scary.

On the other hoof, it's very clear to me that Doctor Horseling is moving significantly slower than his opponents. A few nicks and bashes against him are successfully delivered his way, but unlike his opponents, he doesn't recover nearly as fast. Seeing this proves to me why he normally is more patient with his opponents and tries to take them out one by one. He only has four out of thirteen on his flank and he's still overwhelmed despite all of his advantages.

Seeing this makes me realize that his strategy is not sustainable, and every blow he suffers also threatens his concentration. If that falls, it is likely the Solar Flare and the mirror prison will collapse simultaneously. And when that happens . . .

I don't want to think about it. These mares have already shown me how cruel they can be. I could only imagine how much worse they might be when they make a more determined effort. Now that I've fought them this far, no doubt the consequences of failure against them will be very severe.

It might not just be my sister that will suffer next time. All of Equestria will suffer in one way or another!

“This is for your sister,” I recall Doctor Horseling telling me. “When the time comes, lock that thought in your head and heart so tightly that you don't have room to feel anything else no matter how much you want to.”

Clarity suddenly sinks into me when I recall that. It reminds me that I don't need to overwhelm myself with the big picture. Saving just one pony is enough for me. She is why I quit The Washouts, and she's what I'm fighting for now. If I fall, she's next.

I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!

I steadily raise a scream of determination then hold it at the top of my lungs. I hold that shrill battle cry as I summon every inch of my strength, but unlike before, my opponents have been steadily weakening ever since the Solar Flare started. Rage blinds me as the love for my sister seems to keep on supplying me with the strength to continue this. This war of attrition very gradually swings in my favor, but I know I have to hurry! If Doctor Horseling falls, by far my most powerful ally in this battle, it's all over! Any blow he suffers may be sufficient to knock out his concentration.

I don't notice it at first, but a burst of red electricity starts to crawl all along my hide. It actually damages those “ponies” who are struggling to pin me down. They continue their effort, but now it's costing them more. At the same time, my screaming roar starts to become multi-tonal as if I'm a dozen monsters all roaring together.

They had all the leverage, too, but despite that, I eventually manage to crawl back on my hooves. Once I do, I shake them off by flailing my limbs enough to buck them off. Some of them I also manage to smash into the ground or into each other.

After that, there is another explosion of action, but this time I'm starting to win the upper hoof. I blast away from my initial position with a trail of red lightning of hate magic following my wake! I channel my fury and draw in every inch of dark magic I've accumulated since my recent transformation. I even channel the hunger I've been feeling across these past several days and use it to fuel my savage, animalistic instincts except I keep a clear focus on my targets.

I fly past Doctor Horseling and capture two of his assailants in my forehooves. As I continue forward, I loop to the other side of the bubble we're still trapped in. When I return to my original position, I chuck both of my trapped opponents at the remaining two that are attacking the Doctor. After I do so, he teleports away, but not far. He teleported himself back into a standing position and in a new area within the prison. Beyond that, little else has changed.

Several mares that I threw off me earlier now start to focus on Doctor Horseling. I zip around and curve back to them. Now my limbs are flying at them and, in addition, I flap strongly at some of them and use the wind projected from my wings to knock them off course. In doing so, I occasionally cause them to crash into each other.

This helps to remind me that there is one advantage I had over them all along, even as a mortal, and that is air superiority. They simply aren't as good of a flier as I am. They never had that focused training like I did. Now that that has come to my attention, I use it to start messing with them.

So I zip and curve around them, occasionally delivering chops and uppercuts as I do so. I use my momentum in my favor while my maneuverability outclasses their own. They try to keep up with me, but they just end up stumbling about. Even if they had half the flying skills that I do, they aren't coordinated as a group. They each are just doing their own thing which, more often than not, ends in their detriment.

So I continue to zip about and roundhouse kick one of them to collide with another. I grab another of my opponents and use her as a shield against yet another opponent. Following that, I bash my “living” shield against that same opponent before launching her like a missile at another opponent who tries to attack my partner. Doing that canceled that threat.

Meanwhile I notice my partner recovering a bit. He must have drunk a healing potion while I wasn't looking. In doing so, he's healing fast before my eyes as if he's resting for several days in mere seconds. Still, I need to keep in mind that kind of recovery is produced artificially. It's power will run out, and I don't know how many of those potions he has left. Supposedly he used some earlier for my sister to help her recover too. I'm not complaining about that, but that means he has less for himself now.

I hear the subsonic whispers of Demise pick up again. Very soon after that, the tactics of my opponents changes a bit. They basically continue what they've done before except they're now more organized about it. It is then that I realize she's been whispering strategy to them all along in a language I don't understand. Perhaps her words have empowered them in other ways as well.

Because of this change in tactics, I am momentarily put on the defensive again. My attempts to dodge and curve in the air remain above what they can do, but I end up on the receiving end of other mares as I do so since they are starting to anticipate my movements. It's like they are constantly trying to herd me into a trap between them and it does occasionally connect. However, because of my blind rage this time, I barely feel the pain. Not only that, I heal from the damage they cause only a few moments later.

As the battle continues, their augmented abilities continue to be stripped away. It gradually gets more noticeable as they fly at me more sluggishly, hit more softly even if they do connect, and recover more slowly when they are struck. I can see, from the way they are making labored breathing and have sweat pouring down them, that the symptoms they are suffering very closely resemble a heatstroke.

Still, they are determined, and they fight to their very best ability all the way down. It's interesting to see how they adapted during the fight and therefore slowed the rate of their tactical loss, but time is not on their side. Every breath is labored. Every swing of a hoof strains them. Every wing flap gets slower, and every blow against them gradually counts for more, especially if they happen to collide with Doctor Horseling’s energy shield.

As the battle noticeably wears down, I end up grabbing one of my opponents and flying in a straight line super fast. As I loop through the mirror prison over and over again, the opponent I've grasped gets burned with the red lightning of my own wake. When it weakens her, I end up shoving her face into the smooth mirror floor and press her against it with most of my weight as I continue to fly super fast. Doing so causes her face to disintegrate into a long bloody trail due to the rapid friction. When her whole head is gone, I stand on her body and basically use it as a surfboard in order to continue pressing her body against the bloody smear until about half her body is gone. After that, I kick it up and launch it at a whole group of her own allies, thus knocking them all down.

When I stop, I snap my gaze at another opponent who desperately launches herself at me, but clearly without the kind of strength or speed she started with in the beginning of this fight. When she gets to me, I duck a bit, grab her, then use her own momentum against her to launch her past me. Her speed instantly triples as a result. When she loops back at me from the other side, I spin about and violently kick her head. I end up spinning it one-hundred and eighty degrees with a sickening cracking sound. The kick also reverses her momentum and launches her right back at the rest of her allies who are busy trying to get themselves back up only to be knocked down yet again.

Finally there is another pause in the battle. During that time, I am heaving very heavily due to my raw hatred and effort I spent. I am initially in a crouched position but snap my gaze up at them and I glare at them with savage fury. In doing so, I saw them glow a bit, but I realize the red glow came from me somehow.

This time I crawl up to my hooves slowly then stalk my way over to them. My heavy breathing continues.

“Nightmare Night,” I chant to them as I gradually tower above them. “What a thrill.”

Down below me, the mares are now all shivering with fright. All except Demise who continues to stand and analyze me further back.

“Give me some-thing fun to KILL!!” I roar at them. My monstrous voice continues to be multi-tonal and rough when I do that.

“Lightning,” Doctor Horseling calls behind me. I snap my gaze back at him in pure fury but I calm down a bit when I notice who it is. He slowly shakes his head at me and tells me in a firm and commanding tone, “Enough.”

At first, I do not understand why he made that request, but then I gaze outward at my infinite other reflections of myself. When I do so, I see the red lightning cracking all over my body, especially my mane and tail. I also see it zapping between my eyes on occasion and there's also a red glow around the edges of my eyes and my iris. Moreover, I see myself in bat pony form. I have grown two long fangs in my upper teeth, my wings have turned into leathery bat wings, the shape of my head is a bit more angular, and the fur off the tips of my ears is longer.

Seeing that made me realize how dangerously close I came to embracing the dark potential within me too much. It helped for an emergency boost, but we clearly got the upper hoof now. Time to dial it back some before I fully lose myself. I certainly don’t wish to be stuck in savage mode.

So I close my eyes and crack my neck as I swing my head from side to side. I work to calm myself down. It feels like it works. I can feel myself physically transforming somewhat.

Then I gaze down balefully at the still shivering mares below me as I tell them with a biting edge of sarcasm, “Happy Nightmare Night.” I hind kick at them scornfully without really connecting then turn about to stalk towards the only vampony who hasn't fallen to her knees yet, their leader Demise. She is close to collapsing, though. As she backs off from me, I see her legs struggling to support her weight. I also see the heavy labored breathing she's making which is sometimes punctuated by a cough, likely due to both fear and a heatstroke.

I pause in my approach towards her, and she pauses as well, when we notice new activity picking up. I hear the tingle of magic behind me so I cautiously look over my right shoulder while still aiming a ear at Demise just in case she tries anything while I am not looking at her, but apparently what I am looking at has captured her attention as well.

What we see is one of the vamponies floating off of the ground, carried by the Doctor's golden magic. That vampony tries to struggle against the magic a bit, but by now she's too feeble to offer much resistance. I also notice the doctor forcefully spreading all of that mare's legs apart, thus making her a wide open target. When I hear a cocking sound, I look to the Doctor himself and notice he is floating some kind of crossbow ahead of him except it is armed with unusual ammunition. In this case it looks like a wooden stake, so maybe it would be more accurate to call that weapon a stake launcher.

I widen my eyes at the sight of this. Even though this is the first time I've ever witnessed something like this outside of a comic book, what it implies makes my stomach turn. It's one thing to read about this in a comic, and quite another to realize somepony is actually about to die soon because of this.

“I warn you,” I recall the Doctor once said, “they might look like old and decayed corpses by that point, but I assure you they could still regenerate if the spell stops and the proper steps aren't taken to finish them off for good.”

“Which is?” I checked.

“Leave that to me,” he instructed me grimly.

I shake my head to clear that thought. I feel uncomfortable merely recalling that concept.

“You're making a big mistake,” Demise warns me, which brings my focus right back to her. When she has my attention, she shakes her head as she says, “You don't know what you're giving up.” She winces as she asks me, “Do you think that everything here is all black and white? That we're the bad gals and he's the hero? Do you think we've done nothing across all these centuries except take and take?”

“Ahhhhhhh,” I wince one eye at her questioningly as I ask her, “Haven't you? I mean, you are the one who said the goal here is to do nothing other than ruling, feeding, torturing, and put Nightmare Moon in charge. I wasn't aware of any other goal beyond that. Certainly not a benign one.”

“You fool!” Demise accuses with a spat. “How narrow minded of you. It has always been a benefit to us to also strengthen the society we later intend to rule. Across all of these centuries, we've done far more than simply feeding upon the populace. That is only a small percentage of what we do.”

We both pause when we hear a click, a flying whistling sound, a thwack, then an abhorrent death wail that will very likely haunt my nightmares. How appropriate for a cult that reveres Nightmare Moon. They really do their job all too well, even in the jaws of defeat.

I flinch, but I also struggle not to turn my head and look back at the carnage because I know what I would see would do much worse than merely making my stomach turn. The Doctor was right. Punishing these cretins and defending ourselves from them is one thing, but actually killing them makes me deeply cringe. Nothing like this exists in pony society except in some works of fiction. It just feels so thoroughly antithetical to our most basic nature as ponies. I know we're only doing this to put an end to their killings, but still. I feel very uncomfortable right now.

Demise appears to need a moment to recover from this blow too, but when she does, she looks back at me narrowly as she continues her lecture. “The knowledge and wisdom we've accumulated across these centuries can be far more valuable to us if we do more than merely hoard it. There are many we learned from across that time by listening, interacting, and quiet contemplation in our coffins. Being as old as some of us are, we've witnessed the growth of entire societies like watching little children slowly mature, and we've nurtured that potential across that time in many ways. A few words here, a few clues there. Some of us are the muses that wisely avoided the credit. Some of the greatest philosophers, teachers, political leaders, revolutionaries, visionaries, artists, entertainers, and healers learned from our subtle tips to them. You think that the only thing we've ever done is take lives?”

Behind me, I hear the Doctor fire his crossbow again. The same chain of sounds repeats.

“We've given tips and clues to medical professionals as well across all that time,” Demise goes on. “Entire plagues have been halted because of our timely and subtle aid. Each instance of that alone more than makes up for the loss we caused. Any one of the ponies we secretly saved might be one of your ancestors or related to others that you care about. Are you getting what I'm saying? Your entire family line might not have even existed if it weren't for our help.”

Her new argument makes me pause in thought. If she's telling the truth, this fact feels important.

“And we've done this for more than selfish reasons. There was that too, I'll admit,” Demise puts forward. “Naturally any good farmer would not allow a plague to spread across his or her crops. If we allowed that to happen and continue to spread unabated, then there would be fewer ponies for us to feed upon.”

I narrow my eyes at her as I accuse, “Which is why you did it! You admitted that yourself!”

Behind me, another vampony bites the dust.

“Creating a stronger society benefits us too,” Demise quickly points out. “And, of course, some of us can also feel affection and pride in watching our livestock grow in a multitude of ways. When they create new art, we can enjoy it too. From paintings to music to theater arts to magic shows . . . all of it is more than enough incentive for us to help them grow stronger and to feel inspired. Of course what we've done benefits us, but it benefits them too. It is mutual growth which means we have twice the motive to continue our tactics. The mere fact that you can logically understand why helping these societies to grow also benefits us is also why you can believe me. If it makes perfect sense why we would do this, isn't it logical to conclude that I'm telling you the truth?”

Another vampony bites the dust.

At this point I happen to glance at one of the infinite reflections of Doctor Van Horseling all around us. At first it chills my heart to see his face remaining calm with stoney dispassion as he continues his grim work, but then I notice a detail I overlooked before. Upon closer inspection, I notice a single tear trail down his cheeks. Noticing that does very little to alter my perception of his outward appearances, but that one detail I caught totally changes my inner perception of him. It tells me that what he's doing now really does pain him, but he struggles to keep it down for the moment so he won't be distracted from continuing to do what he feels he must.

When I realize that, I suddenly don't feel as bad. It also makes me realize that, when he said he would deal the final blow to these wicked mares, I think the reason he said that was so that I don't have to deal with the guilt of performing the deed myself. He wants to keep my hooves clean and my soul as innocent as possible. As for himself, since he's already done the deed before, one more kill will indeed add to the burden of his soul, but he carries it bravely for the sake of protecting others in multiple ways.

Now I really respect him.

“So if you can reach the chain of reasoning based on what I've told you, can't you also reach the same conclusion? We are necessary for the preservation and growth of society,” Demise continues to argue. “When most other ponies read about history in textbooks, with the exception of the illustrious princesses, that is all they can draw from that experience. To the mortals, those words are merely lines in a book. We, however, have actually lived through that time and that carries a sort of gravity and weight to that experience that most others simply cannot fully appreciate. We are living records of our history and traditions. We carry with us the very spirit of everything that has come before . . . and HE IS KILLING IT AT THIS VERY MOMENT!” Demise screeches. “GET HIM TO STOP! PLEASE! HE'S KILLING YOUR BROOD, TOO.”

Another vampony bites the dust.

I growl at her as I ask tightly, “You think I care?”

“Of course you do,” Demise immediately counters. “It's written all over your face, and I know it's also why you've attacked us. You did it because you care about the mortals too. As misguided as your actions are, I can at least respect your motives because we feel that way too. We are the ones who were always there to remind mortals of the importance of certain decisions because we were there . . . standing beside their ancestors as they struggled with many difficult decisions. They prayed for guidance, and we answered. We saved the mortals so many times, so imagine the consequences of the future when that benefit suddenly and totally stops! What disaster looms on the next horizon that will hit them all with full force next time now that we're no longer there to help guide and protect them?”

I feel spooked now because she does kind of have a point. All of her arguments rely on the supposition that she's telling the truth, but she also explained her own motives well enough to sound convincing even on that front. When I simply imagine what a vampony could do in the most positive context, the results are staggering. Indeed, it's probably very difficult for a mere mortal to imagine without actually having to live throughout all of that time.

What if she, and her Brood, were there to halt the invasion forces of foreign hostiles? Maybe not a single other mortal ever saw that, which is the point. They want to remain anonymous because it draws less opposition against them. But, if the only witnesses there are the hostile invasion force, there's no reason to hold back anymore. Indeed, they'd go out of their way to completely destroy any potential witness there. If this was done at night, even a small hoofful of vamponies could thoroughly trounce an entire mortal army with ease if that army wasn't armed with the correct tools and knowledge to properly deal with the threat before them. After all, the vamponies are so powerful that they keep the giant eels around in these caverns to serve like mere guard dogs.

Thinking that through one step further, I also wonder what if next time those same vamponies aren't there to protect us from the next invasion force? How many deaths would occur then? How many have already been prevented by them in the past? Who wouldn't have even existed today without the aid they gave back then for both selfish and selfless reasons?

I'm really not accustomed to being a deep thinker, but I'll do it when the necessity calls for it, as this moment clearly does.

As I think on it further, death continues to be dispensed behind me, much to the escalating chagrin of their cult leader in front of me.

It's really hard to say how history would have unfolded had these ShadowBolt cultists not been there. Those they have killed could have been equally important and, moreover, that is a cost that I know will continue if they are left alone. Is it worth feeding off the milk of a beast if one knows they'll occasionally have to sacrifice their young for it? Not to mention how horrible the deaths they caused were. It feels even worse to imagine allowing that to continue over and over again, or to think about all those who suffered by these cultists hooves before.

I shake my head and coldly focus on Demise as I say, “The questionable help you've ever done, or could do, does not justify the horrendous slaying of the innocent. Anypony who beats on the innocent and the defenseless doesn’t have the luxury of also calling themselves a hero. Instead, they are complicated at best. Did you even try to make these same arguments to that boy you slew? And even if you did, do you think he would realistically say, 'Okay. You made a valid argument, so please take my life in the most violent and painful way possible.'”

“I'm not the one who made this world cruel!” Demise barks back.

I shake my head again as I say, “Nor are you the one who made it better either. As long as you and your kind live, you are indeed an unforgivable burden overall, so it is high time you and your filthy ilk die. Now it is your turn to make this sacrifice for the greater good of the world.” I lift my head up high and narrow my eyes as I scoff, “It doesn't feel so good . . . does it?”

“That includes you,” Demise retorts more desperately. “Are you so eager to march to that chopping block too?”

“I have an alternative,” I reply. “An option you forsook long ago. But, even if I didn't, I'd rather die than allow myself to kill others over and over again, especially in the overwhelmingly evil way you do it.” I shake my head. “I simply refuse to become a heartless monster like you. I'm so determined to make sure killing doesn't become pleasurable, or even comfortable, that I'd sooner give up my own life first. Are you also noble enough to say the same and actually mean it?”

In response, Demise hisses at me as her face transforms more bestial and bat-like. After that, she retreats in the reflection of the Nightmare Night statue. Curiously, she does not reappear after that.

“What the . . .?!” I exclaim, startled. I scan about to find her, but she seems to have utterly vanished.

Huh. I guess that makes sense the more I think about it. I can trust a trained magician, especially one with centuries of practice, to know the basic art of a good disappearing act. Given those facts, I'm going to assume she is still in the mirror prison but hidden somewhere.

Feeling a bit lost, I check on the progress the Doctor is making. When I do so, I see that he has six more mares to slay before he's finished. By then, those remaining six look like old and decayed corpses already. However, they are in far better shape than the other six. Those six disintegrated so much that they are nothing more than dust.

I find this observation interesting because that says something about how much dark magic their leader has. While these remaining six look like old and rotten corpses, Demise not only looks alive, but is able to move and talk. She was under that same constant pressure of the Solar Flare spell and for the same amount of time, but there is an obvious difference in results.

I screech, startled, when I feel a sudden explosion of dark energy nearby. I whip my head to look at the source. What I see is huge waves of blackish clouds swirling around the Nightmare Moon statue.

No! Wait. Actually the center of the activity is more localized behind the statue.

“Oh shit,” I hear my companion curse. “I should have known.”

Before I know it, two inky, lance-like bolts of energy curve around the black maelstrom and plunge into two nearby targets. One is the crystal the Doctor was hovering over him, and the other is at the caster himself. When the black lance strikes the crystal, it instantly shatters. When that happens, there is an intense explosion of light so bright that it just instantly incinerates the remaining ShadowBolt mares he hasn't gotten to yet.

Beyond a grunt of pain, though, I can't tell what happened to the Doctor himself because of the overwhelming flash of light and the intense wave of heat that passes through me. All of that only lasts a second though. When it passes, I scan about me to reassess the situation. To my dismay, the dark cloud of swirling energy still spirals behind the statue. Apparently the statue itself acted as a shield from the worst of the solar bomb's effects.

When I see that, it suddenly occurs to me where Demise was at. When she trotted into the image of the statue earlier, she must have looped around and hid herself behind the statue from my original perspective. Also, because she is a full vampony, she does not cast a reflection herself. At most, only her clothes would show up but, in this case, it is a black dress against a black background. That is one clever mare.

As for the Doctor, he collapses onto the ground and is cringing in pain. He crawls to one of the cave walls and rests his back against it. I see dark energy swirl around his body but, for some reason, it doesn't fully sink in. It's as if there is some kind of invisible barrier keeping the full impact of that type of attack from affecting him. Nevertheless, his loss of concentration also means the mirror prison spell has now collapsed. Because of that, Demise is potentially free.

Alarmed by that realization, I give an angry, frightened, and determined look over to the statue. It seems to me she is currently gathering the stored amount of energy from the statue. That just might be the only reason she's not fleeing right now. No doubt this means she is recovering all of her depleted strength at this very moment and then some. I had better stop her now before she has a chance to gain any more. Besides, that type of energy is likely to augment me as well. Maybe I can at least even the playing field.

But, before I charge into the black energy storm, Doctor Horseling calls out, “No! Come back. Don't get near that thing or you'll be swept inside.”

“But if I don't stop her now then-” I argue but he interrupts.

“It's already too late for that. All we can do now is prepare for what happens next. Come here,” he commands me.

I sigh in frustration but I also acquiesce. I crawl back next to him and ask upon arrival, “Are you going to be okay?”

“Going to be?” he emphasizes. “Probably, but I'm not okay right now.”

“How can I help?” I ask in a tone of alarm.

For the first time I have ever seen, he undoes the double buttons of his trench coat. Once he does, he looks down at his dark brown chest as he inspects himself. Upon doing so, I gasp when I notice the same mark he blessed me before I came into these caves is on him as well. It is currently glowing pretty brightly too, but it seems to be struggling to do so. A swirl of dark energy, which continues to float around his body, seems to be trying to attack his protection. As time goes on, the dark energy seems to weaken, but by then, it may have already done some damage.

“You're like me!” I gasp. “You have the mark on you too?”

He sighs before he admits, “Yeah, kid. It was given to me by my predecessor who then went on to teach me the ways of vampony hunting.” He shakes his head as he goes on to say, “By then, let's just say I had plenty of motivation to learn.”

“They tried to torture your loved ones too?” I guess sympathetically.

“Tried and succeeded,” he says with a very pained frown.

He then lets loose a very long breath and bonks his head on the cave wall behind him before saying, “Pony feathers. Sweet Celestia, what was I thinking? I should have known to go after the leader first! Shame on me.”

He gives a long, ashamed and frustrated growl. Meanwhile I just wordlessly remain beside him, uncertain of what to say in this situation. Already I have so much to mentally and emotionally process that I feel overwhelmed.

“Actually, I know what I was thinking,” he recalls. “I was waiting for the leader to weaken more before focusing on her. Doing it too soon might have been a waste of energy, and my concentration was already strained by that point. In the meantime I was focusing on her lackeys so she'd have less to fall back upon, even if something like this,” he nods to the statue, “happens.

“Still, though, with the presence of the statue also being caught within the mirror prison, I should have kept in mind that it always remained an option for her.” He shakes his head. “All of those years of stored dark energy sitting right there, ready for her to take advantage of it.”

He sighs again before looking at me and says, “Let that be a lesson for you too, lass. No matter what profession you pursue and how long you've been at it, there is always room to grow, and there is always room to make mistakes. Being old simply means remembering more of that.”

“Why did she not do this sooner, then?” I query. “Why wait this long? She just stood there while you picked off members of her Brood one by one. One would think she'd resort to this sooner if she knew she had access to it all along.”

“She was saving that energy for something else,” he answers me, “and she didn't store enough energy for that purpose yet.” He nods to the statue again. “That energy was being accumulated for the express purpose of restoring Nightmare Moon herself.”

I widen my eyes in shock as I ask in horror, “They were planning on using that stored energy on Princess Luna to turn her back into Nightmare Moon?”

“Probably,” he says as he floats out his bubble pipe. Using his hooves, he also pours more soap into the pipe before putting the bottle back under his coat and floating his pipe to his lips. He proceeds to blow some bubbles from the pipe for a few seconds which visibly seems to calm his nerves. No doubt this is some sort of ritual for him to relieve some stress.

“If she knew that they didn't have enough energy stored there for the purpose she intended it for, what would she accomplish by using it now?” I question him.

“Desperate blackguards are pushed to use desperate measures,” he answers. “By using and absorbing the stored energy now before it was fully ready, she is basically abandoning, or better to say postponing, its original purpose.” He gives me a firm and grim look. “Or perhaps I should say that her plan has taken on another course. By absorbing the energy herself, she is now the new target of the spell instead of Luna.”

“Which means?” I ask nervously.

“We're about to face an imperfect copy of Nightmare Moon,” he tells me in a tone of exhaustion. “Or, more to the point, you will face that. I have to retreat right now.”

My eyes really explode widely as I ask, “Excuse me?!”

“It has taken most of my magical strength to resist the cursed energy bolt that struck me earlier,” he informs me. “If I remain, I would be a liability to you anyway.”

“Then where are you going to go?” I ask him in concern.

“To holy ground,” he answers me. “From there I can recharge myself faster and recover from the damage already inflicted at the same time.”

I shrug as I say with acceptance, “That sounds efficient, but in the meantime, what am I supposed to do about her?”

“Stall her,” he answers. “And survive. Wait for me to return and back you up. When I do, I'll make sure to be more prepared. Also remember that, wherever you lure her, make sure it is free from any other innocent targets. The canyons above should suffice for that.”

I nod as I say, “Uh-huh. And?”

“Take this,” he replies as he fishes something else out of his inner coat pocket. What he gives me appears to be a potion vial. When I look at it, at first I think it is zap apple jam, but then I notice it is too bright for that. The rainbow colors in the vial also swirl somewhat even if I keep the vial perfectly still.

“What is this?” I check with him.

“Pure rainbows from Cloudsdale,” he answers then shrugs. “Or maybe from Winsome Falls, but the exact location is beside the point. What is important for you to understand is this is basically concentrated light magic. It might as well be dew drops from the Tree of Harmony itself. If substances like this manage to hit her, she’ll react as if it’s made of acid.”

When I hear that, I privately berate myself for not recognizing this. I should have known this is the pure essence of rainbow. I spent quite a bit of time in Cloudsdale. Shame on me.

However, what I didn't know is that it could be used as a weapon against vamponies. After all, I didn't know these are concentrated essences of pure light magic.

Come to think of it, does that, in any way, explain why it's so spicy?

He firmly applies a hoof on me to lure back my attention. Once he has it, he tells me, “All I want you to do is stall her until I get back, but while I am gone, you need to know that your greatest weapon against a being like this is light magic. Things like that don't just come in potion vials. It's also here.” He presses a hoof to my heart. I glance down at his hoof for a second before looking back at him. When I do, he goes on to say, “Your transformation into a vampony was never complete. It's also been suspended thanks to the mark I gave you, but you drew upon that magic earlier anyway against those other mares. I do understand that you were desperate at the time, and for what it's worth it did work, but ultimately it cannot be your primary weapon against a fiend like this. If you dare to use dark magic against her, you're only feeding her more of what she needs to thrive. Pain, fear, anger . . . all of it. Any magic fueled by negative emotions produces dark magic. Such a thing is a snack to the likes of her. Keep that in mind.”

I nod as I gain a distant and thoughtful look. Inwardly I'm also struggling against a sense of panic.

“To use light magic . . . you must focus on those you love,” he informs me. “Whoever they are or whatever they are, it does not matter as long as you have warm feelings for the subject. Keep that in your heart and draw it close to you. If you do this, you may yet find the strength necessary to face a demon like this.”

“Anything else I should know about her?” I check with him. “Some physiological or psychological advantage I can exploit?”

“Physiologically, she's still a vampony, unlike Luna,” he tells me. “That means she has all the strengths and weaknesses of such. Keep both of those points in mind.

“As for psychological, know that you'll be facing an aspect of Nightmare now, not Luna or Demise. As for Nightmare, she is a supreme narcissist and megalomaniac. You might get an advantage if you stroke or taunt her ego, but keep in mind that might only be reliable once because she's also not a stupid mare. As soon as she catches on to your tricks, she'll work to circumvent it. Nightmare Moon also frequently and deeply underestimates her opponent, but there tends to be an obvious reason for that. With her, you'll be facing off against a great deal of power. As you do, try your best not to feel intimidated. This one feeds off of fear like it's a delicious snack. That's partly why she is called Nightmare Moon.”

“So face off against overwhelming evil and power and not be scared at the same time? Something tells me this is going to be a very long Nightmare Night,” I groan wearily.

“Courage is the defense against fear,” he informs me in a very serious tone. “And love is the fuel for courage. Constantly remind yourself precisely why it is important for you to remain strong as you face her. While you do that, know that time is secretly on your side. If not from me, then at least due to the soon rising dawn.”

“Right,” I acknowledge as I swallow my fears and gaze at the Nightmare Moon statue. By then, I notice a great deal of the energy that was swirling around that area earlier has since consolidated into a tighter, mostly pitch black ball of energy with small swirls of crackling red energy within it. The center of the black ball also looks like a sideways evil eye.

“We don't have much time,” Doctor Horseling realizes grimly when he beholds the same sight. “That dark egg is about to hatch.”

“Does this at least mean all their hopes for poisoning Luna's soul are now dashed?” I ask with desperate hope as I look back at him.

“Delayed at the very least,” he answers me. “If we can actually defeat this one, then that plan is further delayed indefinitely.”

“Good to know,” I say with a nod of acknowledgment as I look back at the black ball that has grown even more cracks of crimson energy. “Score one for the good guys, I guess.”

“Every step towards victory is important to acknowledge, but we cannot rest on our laurels until the battle is fully won,” he tells me.