She marched through the streets. Her first instinct had been to perform meticulously precise lines, but she had already tried that to little result. She was a robot. She was more than a robot or a golem. Tempo began going in new directions at unplanned times, looking where she knew she should not, when was illogical to do.

Tempo was more than the first instincts of her manufacture, and she would tolerate the shadowy menace no longer. The city streets were her home. She knew it intimately from her constant patrols. The guards that saw her offered salutes as they went about their duties. She ignored them. She wasn't on patrol, but a hunt.

There. Some of the darkness in an alley she would have ignored stirred. With hastening hooves, she approached it with determination to find out what it was, and what it wanted. "Reveal yourself."

The darkness laughed at her, a rumble like a distant thunderstorm. It swirled and then rose into a vague pony shape. "I had thought you without emotion for a time, but you've proven me wrong. To me delight, I note."

"I did nothing for your benefit." Tempo frowned at the shadow in the form of a pony. "What are you?"

"I am fear." The shadowy thing flowed to Tempo's side. "Uncertainty. A heart thundering in your chest, knowing your doom is—"

Tempo threw out a hoof, discorporating the smokey shadows for a moment. "A name would suffice."

The darkness laughed again as it reformed into a pony shape. It began circling Tempo, like a hungry beast might have. "I am Nocturne." The darkness bowed low. "And I will not leave simply because a toy tells me to do so."

Tempo sank to her haunches with a metal tap on the ground. "I am no toy. I am a hero of this city and its ponies. Your threat will not be tolerated."

"And how do you imagine you will fight against a nightmare? You cannot bring physical harm to fear." The darkness drifted to stand in front of Tempo. It loomed large, then shrank small, changing at random intervals, always shifting.

Tempo considered that. "You do not scare me. That is the first step to mastering a nightmare."

"Oh, but I do. Your child scared nicely, and I will visit her again, perhaps, after we finish this little talk?" The laughter seemed to come from all around Tempo, dark and unsettling in nature. "She'll enjoy that, surely."

Tempo stepped firmly forward, coming right to the edge of the shadow pony's shape. "You will not harm my family."

"I will do as I please. You cannot touch me." The shadow pony raised a hoof and tapped it against Tempo's side. "But I can touch you. It hardly seems like a fair exchange. If you won't leave, simply stay out of my way. This city belonged first to my kind, and it will again. That is justice. Surely you, hero, understand justice."

"Sombra was a villain. Your people are gone, leaving behind only ruins to a dead society. My children are in the here and now, as am I. This is our home." Her head turned to look the shadow pony right on. "Cease your unlawful activities." She felt things stir within her. "Defense mode initiated."

The shadow paused with confusion. "You were not already defending? What is the difference?" The pony shape faded back into a swirling mass of darkness. "And I will not cease my 'unlawful activities' until you leave, one way or the other."

Her eyes became beacons of light as hatches moved to reveal her weapons for use. "You are a threat to Cadance. This is unacceptable." With each word, more light spilled from her with additional weaponry moving into position, all trained on the shadow even as it swirled about.

"I see." The shadows laughed at her, a cruel sound. "But I remain unafraid. You can't harm me with your weapons. Your threats are hollow. Empty. A toy, pretending to be real." Their words proved to be false as a thin laser pierced the shadow and it evaporated instantly, to not reform.

Tempo huffed at where it had been. "False." She stomped a hoof with clear irritation. "Where is your true body? I will locate it." Her hunt resumed, weapons sliding away, her eyes dimming as her search mode reactivated.

***

"What did you say this thing was called again?" Cadance asked, holding up an old book. It pictured a pony made of shadows, the caption reading 'Nocturne.' "This?"

Tempo perked at the label. "That is the name they used. What does the book say?"

Cadance turned the book back to herself and made soft noises as she read quickly. "It says the umbrum are terrible shadow creatures that feed on fear and terror, much like the changelings feast on love. Their natural form looks either harmless or terrible." She flipped to the next page and showed it. On the left was an innocent enough looking shadow pixie. On the right was a pony made nightmare, with skin peering in unnatural places to reveal terrible wounds that didn't seem to bother it.

Tempo nodded at the information as it was given. "They are only vulnerable when they take corporeal form."

"That's what this book indicates." She looked up. "Have you had any luck finding it?"

Tempo tapped a hoof on the ground. "I know what works against their shadow illusions. I have not located their physical form, but I will. Advise the guards of the situation."

Cadance closed her book. "I will. And Tempo," Cadance paused with concern, "Please be safe. I would hate for you to be harmed."

Tempo smiled gently at her. "I will defend." She closed with Cadance to touch noses, metal to flesh. "I will keep you safe."

Cadance returned the fond nuzzle. "Keep yourself safe too, all I'm asking. I don't want you throwing yourself away for me. Very romantic, but I'd cry way too much. Neither of us wants that."

"Understood." Tempo withdrew and turned. "I must go to the public school. The children are about to be released from their educational facility."

Cadance nodded, waving. "I will inform the guards as promised."

She marched from the room even as she replayed that conversation in her mind. She had been a little too mechanical at times. "This is getting to me." Golem or not, the threat to those she cared for was wearing on her, just displaying in uniquely automaton-like ways. "I will conclude this."

Tempo arrived at the school as the children came out. Beat and Pulse were the last to exit, both waving to their teacher.

The stallion called after them, "Have a good day!"

Both were surprised that Tempo was already there, but rushed her the moment that passed, each wrapping around a forelimb.

"Hello," they chorused. They looked up at her with wide eyes.

"You look like something's wrong. Are you worried?" Pulse's eyes had shifted from their normal blue to red. "Can I help?"

Beat nuzzled in at her mother. "If we can, we want to. We're your family too."

Tempo considered the odds, imagining different scenarios where her children attempted to move against Nocturne. "I appreciate your willingness, but the chances of your injury are too great to allow that course of action. You will proceed as normal. Do not go anywhere without company and be aware of what's going on around you. You should not be hurt." She pulled her foals into a hug. "Let us return home."

The two grumbled at being shot down, but followed after her. Pulse skipped ahead. "Mother, I learned a new trick. It's the same trick, but I'm getting better. Watch." With the sound of metal sliding along and against metal, his form changed quite dramatically. False fur rose up on sheets and soon he was almost a normal pony, if one didn't look too closely.

Beat blinked with surprise. "Oh, you got so good at it! I need to keep up my practice too!" She smiled at Pulse. "Do you think you could teach me how you're doing that?"

Tempo shook her head at Beat. "That is Pulse's unique programing. I am uncertain you can replicate it. However, you will develop your own, I feel certain. We will be just as jealous of where your life leads you."

Beat's face lit up and she hurried over to hug Tempo again. "I didn't realize I was getting my own programs! That is amazing. What do you think it will be, mother?"

Tempo kept an arm around either of her children, one fuzzier than usual. "I cannot say. All I know with certainty is that it reaches to fill a need that you feel deep inside. I wanted to protect, so badly. My program is to protect. Pulse wants to fit in, to understand the life that his many friends lead. His programming adapted."

"I just want to help." Beat sat back, looking thoughtful. "How could I help?"

Tempo laughed softly. "It'll come naturally. The first time mine triggered, I was so confused. But, in that moment, I knew what it was and I used it. I defended your aunt." She thought back to the first time she entered defense mode, fighting the changelings. She waved at their home as they arrived at it. "Complete any homework tasks given to you."

Beat grumbled and walked over to a pile of books, taking some out and carrying them off. Pulse waved after her. "I'll leave you alone so you can concentrate. Mom, I did have a question though."

Tempo closed the door behind her with a smooth and precise motion of a hind leg. "I will answer to the best of my abilities."

Pulse's eyes dimmed. "I want to be useful, mom. Do you think we could do something special? I'm getting better with my shapeshifting." He puffed out his chest. "I can pretend to be a normal pony and be an appealing target."

Tempo did not have a heart that beat in her chest. Still she felt it tighten at the thought of Pulse putting themselves in direct harm's way like that. "That is a dangerous idea. You could become—"

"It's just scary." Pulse extended a metal tongue. "Beat got scared. I won't be, because I know you're there. No matter how dark it gets, knowing my mother is there is all the light I'll need."

Tempo looked at him with confusion. "That is a terrible pun, but your words warm me. What do you suggest I do?"

"I can look like a filly and play somewhere in town." Pulse changed to assume the form, becoming smaller than Tempo would have figured was possible. "Like this." He even sounded like a filly, though the hints were there. It was as if Pulse were a filly, rather than a new filly created from nothing. "I'll go somewhere all alone. It'll be too tempting."

Tempo ran through a series of likely outcomes, the most obvious of which was a simple 'attack.' She began running simulations on what the Nocturne might think and do, watching as she won again and again. "The only difficulty is winning against their true form." She clacked her teeth together. "I will take a high position. You will need to be brave as I locate the true form that controls the fake. Then we win."

Pulse jumped in excitement, his mane bouncing behind him. He rushed over and threw himself against Tempo with a resounding clack of metal. "I can't wait. Let's go, let's go!" Despite appearing and sounding like a filly, they were still metal on the inside and weighed as much as they always did.

Author's Note

Little shapeshifter, will you be key to attacking Nocturne for real?

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