Radiant Hope’s leg was healed by the time Nightmare Moon returned. Said pony entered the cave with a piece of straw hanging out of her mouth, which she chewed on casually.

“I see you're feeling better.” Nightmare Moon noted, the straw falling out of her mouth in the process. She glared down at it for a moment, as if it was somehow at fault, before shaking her head and moving on. “Now, I know we both said some things we didn't mean.”

Radiant Hope blinked at Nightmare Moon, which she ignored.

“However! You and I, we're a team. We made a deal. A pact, even. So, even though you technically didn't hold up your end of the bargain, I'm willing to work with you anyway. That's just the kind of being I am, you know?” Nightmare Moon said, holding her head up high. “You can thank me later.”

Radiant Hope didn't say anything. Nightmare Moon, apparently expecting a response, also didn't say anything. This silent status quo persisted for roughly twenty eight seconds, give or take twenty five.

“Really?” Radiant Hope asked, voice trembling.

“Mhm… in case you couldn't tell, that was an affirmative noi–” Nightmare Moon was interrupted by Radiant Hope tackling her in a hug.

Nightmare Moon almost reenacted the leg-breaking incident from the previous day but managed to force down the instinct, leaving her trapped in the embrace without much of an idea of what to do.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, I just know we're going to save him, Moony!” Radiant Hope declared confidently.

“Do not call me that.” Nightmare Moon demanded, glaring up at the larger pony still trapping her in the hug.

“But why not?” Radiant Hope whined. “I need something to call you while we're around other ponies, otherwise news might get back to the princesses that the big bad Nightmare Moon has returned, and then we'd never get Sombra back!”

“But… Moony?” Nightmare Moon questioned.

“It’s cute!” Radiant Hope argued.

“I am not cute. I’m awe-inspiring, fear-inducing, hauntingly beautiful, and many other two word adjectives I switch out depending on the day.” Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes. “Cute is never included.”

“Well, that just makes it an even better trick!” Radiant Hope said, disengaging from the hug so she could give Nightmare Moon a wink. “Besides, I’d say you're pretty cute right now.”

Nightmare Moon’s dark blue face grew a shade closer to purple at that, and she looked away.

“Right. Well. I suppose it is an effective deception.” Nightmare Moon admitted, before straightening. “Very well. In public only, you may call me Moony. When we are alone, I expect you to refer to me by my actual name.”

“Of course, Nightmare Moon.” Radiant Hope accepted, giving Moony a deferential nod.

“Good.” Moony said, turning to the entrance of the cave. “Let's get going. Do you still know where the former king is?”

Radiant Hope took a deep breath, centered herself, and tapped into the ambient magic in the air. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and pointed toward the right wall of the cave.

“Straight line that way.” Radiant Hope stated. “We should probably take the roads, though. It'll be just as fast and save us from running into any… unfriendly creatures.”

“Sure. Let's go, then.” Moony said, walking to the entrance of the cave.

“Is it just me, or are you being a bit insistent on us leaving as soon as possible?” Radiant Hope asked, following behind.

“Oh, that's because I set fire to Derby Striker’s barn.” Moony replied casually. “If he's not going to murder that mare, I deserve to get at least some entertainment out of him.”

Radiant Hope took a deep, calming breath.

“Lovely.” Radiant Hope said eventually. “Let's get out of here.”

Sombra was quite bored in his prison cell. More of a dungeon, really. The stone everything, the heavy locked door, the undergroundness, everything pointed to his cell being a room ponies were thrown in as a… permanent arrangement.

From his experience with his old crystal mines, Sombra estimated he was close to one hundred fifteen feet underground, meaning he was almost certainly in a castle, as opposed to a standard, far less extensive prison. Determining which castle specifically required a bit more expertise.

Sombra's old castle in the Crystal Empire had, despite common peasant jokes claiming otherwise, stone dungeons like any other. Crystal dungeons were certainly nice to look at, but stone provided a hopeless quality one couldn't quite get with crystal. However, the stone used in Sombra's current prison didn't match that which was used in the Crystal Empire. His, or rather Princess Cadance’s, dungeons utilized slate, a perfect material for the variable temperature of the Crystal Empire. So, it couldn't be his old castle.

That left three castles: Twilight Sparkle’s crystal castle, the Sisters’ stone fortress, and that newfangled thing in Canterlot. This was where it got difficult. All three castles were quite close to each other and shared a climate, so the builders almost certainly used the same materials for each. However, there were a few hints that narrowed it down.

Twilight Sparkle’s castle was, according to Starlight Glimmer, no more than a few years old. The dungeon Sombra was in, though, was covered in both cracks and tally marks which implied it had existed for far longer. Of course, Twilight Sparkle could've simply been horrible at maintaining her dungeons and also a frequent jailer, but neither of those traits matched what Sombra had seen from the princess. Well, he could believe the jailer part, but the other point stood. Strong evidence against Twilight Sparkle’s place of residence being his prison.

Next was the sister princesses’ castle. Or, their old castle? It was unclear to Sombra whether they had two castles or if the original was no longer in use. Regardless, the older castle was an option. Sombra had never actually set foot in the certified fortress, though in his youth he'd always wanted to. It was legitimately certified, Radiant Hope had shown him the certificate and everything. How she’d managed to steal it, bring it to the Crystal Empire, and return it without anypony noticing? Sombra had no idea. He appreciated the friendship anniversary present, though. It was kind of her.

His strongest, and only, point against his current prison being within the fortress was that there was a distinct lack of bones filling the room. One would imagine any millenia old dungeon worth its salt would have at least a couple skeletons, plus a few miscellaneous bones here and there. Yet, no matter how hard Sombra looked, he couldn't find even a single shard of bone.

All together, the evidence pointed to his prison existing in an old but not ancient castle, and only one fit the bill. Therefore, Sombra could say with near one hundred percent certainty that he was in the castle in–

“–Canterlot are so rude! Do they not know who Trixie is!?”

“No, dear, I don't think they do.”

“Preposterous! They should all be executed immediately.”

The door to Sombra’s cell swung open, and the Great and Powerful Trixie herself sauntered in. Starlight followed close behind, mid-wince at Trixie's furious remark. A royal guard stationed themself just outside the cell, almost out of view and what little could be seen appearing extremely uncomfortable.

“Sombra! Trixie is sure it is wonderful to see her–” Trixie’s self-aggrandizing declaration was interrupted as Sombra leapt up from the floor and shoved her.

“Are you kidding me!? I spent so long analyzing every aspect of this cell, just for you to come in and spoil my moment of investigative triumph!” Sombra shouted.

“Well, old man, maybe think faster next time, hm?” Trixie countered, not for a moment questioning the reasonability of his accusations. “It is not Trixie’s fault that you suffer from super-duper dementia.”

“You overeating rat–”

“Alright!” Starlight shouted, getting between the two. “Let's not do this right now.”

“Staaaarlight.” Trixie whined, breaking her staring contest with Sombra to pout at her marefriend. “Trixie was having fun.”

“Yeah, way to kill the vibe.” Sombra agreed, nodding. “Vibe-killer.”

“You two there is a guard watching us and I am not getting arrested because you refuse to act like normal ponies for five minutes!” Starlight hissed, glancing over at the royal guard.

The guard in question made eye contact with Sombra for a moment and shuddered, quickly looking away. Rude.

“Fine.” Sombra said, deciding to give the frazzled mare a break. “Anyway, not to be a disrespectful host, but why exactly are you here? Also, how? Maybe a bit of when and a smidge of what? Don't worry about where, though. I've already figured that one out.”

“Trixie was simply in the area and decided to stop by.” Trixie replied easily.

“She forced me to book the first available tickets to Canterlot about three minutes after Twilight carted you off.” Starlight revealed, ignoring Trixie's horrified look at her secret being revealed. “To answer your other questions: I'm the principal of the school of friendship, so ponies just kind of let me do things, it's about an hour until sunset, and I have no idea what you mean by ‘what’ in this context.”

“I suppose it's similar to ‘why’, which I feel you haven't actually answered either.” Sombra decided. “So, let's get down to it. Is this an interrogation? Torture? Extrajudicial execution? I'm not particularly fussed about it, but I'd like to get myself into the right mindset before we begin.”

Starlight looked quite perturbed at that.

“That… that's not–” She started.

“All that and more, my friend!” Trixie interrupted, her horn lighting up. “Because I've got… this!”

Trixie removed from her cloak a metal lunchbox, the passionate motion making her cloak flare out behind her. Sombra squinted at the box, examining the odd characters printed on it. There was one which appeared to be a red earth pony engulfed in flames, another which resembled some sort of spider-pony thing, and Sombra stopped caring.

“Your lunch? I know I've said it before, but eat less–”

“Quiet!” Trixie shouted, levitating the lunchbox in front of her. “This may appear to be an ordinary lunchbox, but in reality it is so much more: a portal to an alternate world, where anything is possible!”

Sombra saw the guard tense out of the corner of his eye.

“It is Trixie’s most prized possession, one she has kept close since she was a filly!” Trixie unlatched the lunchbox, slowly opening it. “Are you curious? Excited? Positively awed?”

“I… guess?” Sombra said, glancing at Starlight, who seemed to be having a hard time deciding between infatuation and exasperation with Trixie and her showponyship.

“It is…” Trixie finished opening the lunchbox with a flourish and levitated out dozens of… cards? “Trixie's Ponyfenders cards!”

Trixie stood tall, waiting for the cheers to come in response to her grand reveal.

“Trixie, have I ever told you how much of an absolute disappointment you are?” Sombra asked.

The groan from the royal guard told Sombra he was not alone in his opinion.

Radiant Hope and Moony walked for much of the day, making slow but steady progress on the dirt roads webbing throughout the Equestrian countryside. The sun was now setting, bathing the sky in swathes of oranges, reds, and yellows.

The two ponies hadn't talked much since they left the cave, only occasional complaints from Moony and unintelligible mumbling from Radiant Hope interrupting the neverending chirp of crickets and rustle of trees.

Over the course of the day, they'd passed a number of farms and a few small cabins barely visible on the edge of distant forests, but not once had they seen another pony. Radiant Hope considered this normal, Moony did not, and this served as the source of a good fifteen percent of Moony’s complaints. The other eighty five percent mainly consisted of such things as food, water, aches and pains, and having to walk faster than Radiant Hope to make up for her shorter legs. None of these were things Radiant Hope could do anything about, and some unfortunately applied to her as well, so she had stopped responding after the second hour.

The unbroken solitude and general exhaustion led to the pair being quite unprepared for a pony to crest the hill they were nearing, pulling a wagon filled to the brim and beyond with what could best have been described as ‘stuff’. Both parties froze as they caught sight of each other, unsure of how to proceed.

The new pony broke the stalemate first, pulling her wagon down the hill and parking it on the side of the road. As she busied herself with undoing her harness, Radiant Hope and Moony cautiously made their way closer.

“Why is she stopping?” Moony whispered.

“We'll see, Moony.” Radiant Hope whispered back.

Moony’s left eye twitched, but she didn't comment on the nickname. That had been their deal, after all.

By the time they got to the pony, she had finished with the harness and now stood next to her wagon with a smile on her face. She was a light blue unicorn with brown hair done up in a bun, and her cutie mark was an open cardboard box. She had a pair of round glasses set on the bridge of her nose, though not in a spot where she would’ve been able to see anything through them.

“Hello, fellow travelers!” The pony greeted brightly, glancing between the two before settling her focus on Radiant Hope. “Can I assume that you two are some combination of hungry, tired, thirsty, or just in need of a cheap back scratcher? If so, you're in the right place! My name is Heart o’ Gold, that's ‘o’ then an apostrophe, and I happen to be a seller of quite a wide variety of goods.”

“She has food.” Moony whispered to Radiant Hope. “Should we kill her?”

“I have money.” Radiant Hope whispered back.

Moony glanced at Heart o’ Gold, then back to Radiant Hope.

“Not answering my question.” Moony whispered.

Radiant Hope shook her head and straightened.

“Alright, what do you have for sale?” Radiant Hope asked.

Heart o’ Gold took a deep breath.

“Well~” She sang.

“No!” Moony screeched, getting into Heart o’ Gold’s face as well as she could. “We are not doing songs!”

“You sure?” Heart o’ Gold asked, looking down at the smaller pony with a slightly diminished smile. “It’s a pretty good one.”

“Considering it begins with ‘well’, I highly doubt that. That word is probably the most basic, least interesting way to segue into a song.” Moony responded, a mean smile growing on her face as Heart o’ Gold’s lessened. “Maybe take a few music lessons, then we'll talk.”

“Hm.” Heart o’ Gold looked down at Moony for a long moment, before turning to Radiant Hope. “Your foal is quite obnoxious.”

“I am a grown mare!” Moony shouted.

“Though, perhaps… yes.” Heart o’ Gold mumbled to herself, ignoring Moony completely. She jumped up into her wagon and rummaged through it, eventually hopping down to the ground with a carrot held in her magic. “This one's on me. Growing foals require their vegetables, after all!”

For a moment, Moony almost seemed to consider accepting the free food, but her pride quickly took over.

“Do you not know who I am!?” Moony thundered. “Mere merchant, I am the mare on th–”

Radiant Hope telekinetically forced Moony’s mouth shut.

“I'm really sorry about my friend.” Radiant Hope said, ignoring the furious noises coming from Moony. “She isn't great around other ponies.”

Heart o’ Gold smiled understandingly and shook her head.

“Oh, it's quite alright. You don't exactly meet normal ponies in this line of work, you know?” Heart o’ Gold joked.

“I'm sure.” Radiant Hope agreed, barely glancing at Moony attempting to pry her own mouth open.

Heart o’ Gold nodded, giving a slightly longer glance at Moony.

“You can undo that if you want.” Heart o’ Gold said casually. “She doesn't offend me.”

“Yes. Offending you. That is the issue here.” Radiant Hope lied, looking away. “Moony! If I let you go, will you promise not to… offend her?”

Radiant Hope threw in a wink, hoping the hidden message of ‘do not reveal yourself as Nightmare Moon’ was clear. Moony glared up at Radiant Hope but, eventually, angrily, nodded.

Radiant Hope released her magical grip, and Moony immediately started yelling.

“The disrespect! The indignity!” Moony shouted, marching over to Radiant Hope and rearing up on her hind legs so she could grab the sides of Radiant Hope’s head and force eye contact. “If you value your life, you will never do that again. Do you understand me?”

“Of course, Moony.” Radiant Hope replied simply.

“…good.” Moony said, letting go and returning to all fours. “Merchant! I demand your gift.”

Heart o’ Gold looked between the two, though what was going through her head was unclear.

“…sure.” Heart o’ Gold levitated the carrot over to Moony, who grabbed it with her hooves and quickly shoved it in her mouth. “Hm. Anyway! I don't believe I got your names.”

“I’m Radiant Hope, and my friend is Moony.” Radiant Hope said.

“Well, it's very nice to meet you, Radiant Hope.” Heart o’ Gold said. “Now, would you like to buy anything? I'm sure you're hungry too, and I’m unfortunately out of free carrots.”

“Oh! Um, give me a moment.” Radiant Hope magically searched the pockets within her cloak, eventually finding and taking out her coin purse. She then levitated out of the purse her entire wealth of coin, spreading it out in the air. “How much can I buy with this?”

Heart o’ Gold stepped closer and squinted at one of the coins. She then magically plucked it out of the air without asking and held it up to her face, analyzing it.

“These are tenth bits.” Heart o’ Gold stated flatly, looking up from the coin to Radiant Hope. “They went out of circulation eight hundred years ago.”

“Oh…” Radiant Hope hadn't considered that. “Well! That just makes them collector’s items, right?”

“Nope.” Heart o’ Gold replied. “When the Crystal Empire returned, the market was flooded with so many of these that you would have to pay me to take them.”

Radiant Hope quietly took back her tenth bit from Heart o’ Gold and put it and the rest of the apparently worthless coins back in her coin purse, then put the coin purse back in her cloak.

“I… guess I'm broke.” Radiant Hope said, smiling in the fragile way one does when there is little else to do.

Moony, having long since finished her carrot, stepped closer to Radiant Hope and, when the internally panicking pony didn't react, kicked her in the side of the leg.

“We can still kill her.” Moony whispered, sounding almost like she was trying to… comfort Radiant Hope.

“No.” Radiant Hope whispered back, sounding less stern than she would've liked. “We can figure something else out.”

“How about we make a deal?” Heart o’ Gold offered.

Radiant Hope and Moony jolted and looked over to Heart o’ Gold, who was standing there with the same inviting smile she'd worn since the conversation began. The trees rustled as always, but it was only at that moment that Radiant Hope realized she couldn't remember the last time she heard even a single cricket.

“Explain.” Moony demanded.

“Well, just as you would've had to pay me to take those coins off your hooves, I have an item that I am willing to ‘pay’ you to take off of mine. The ‘payment’ would come in the form of food and drink, of course.” Heart o’ Gold explained, her smile beginning to… twist. “A good deal, is it not?”

“We have no need for vagueness.” Moony stated coldly, taking a step in front of Radiant Hope. “Tell us exactly what you want from us, now.”

Heart o’ Gold’s horn glowed, and she levitated from her wagon a small round bottle which held inside it a bright purple liquid. She hovered it next to her head, her smile worsening by the second.

“This, my fellows, is a potion. A very rare and very dangerous one.” Heart o' Gold brought the potion in front of her, gazing into it longingly. “In fact, it has the power to fell even a mighty Alicorn.”

Moony tensed, watching Heart o’ Gold carefully. Radiant Hope’s eyes never left the bottle.

“I will admit, I was quite stumped when I encountered a dark blue Alicorn calling herself ‘Moony’ on a random road in the middle of nowhere. Though her identity was obvious, I couldn't quite believe it.” Heart o’ Gold’s twisted smile grew. “Nightmare Moon herself, diminished though she is. Together with a crystal pony still lost in time when all others have integrated, plotting my death in whispers they believe I can not hear. It is quite fascinating. Quite unusual. Quite… villainous.”

Heart o’ Gold looked up from the bottle.

“I will not pretend to know your goals, motivations, plans, or anything like that. What I do know is that you have a bone to pick with the princesses of Equestria, same as I.” Heart o’ Gold levitated the bottle closer to the pair. “Take this, and bring them to their knees. Tear them from their pedestals, crush them beneath your hooves, and wither them away until they are nothing more than a faint memory of light in an overwhelming sea of darkness.”

Radiant Hope was… interested, but Moony seemed no less suspicious than before.

“What do you gain from this?” Moony questioned, eyes narrowed.

“I thought I made that quite obvious.” Heart o’ Gold said, her smile now holding none of its original warmth. “I despise the princesses. Everything they are, everything they do, everything they represent. I despise it all, and I want it, and them, gone.”

“Then why not deal with matters yourself? Why carry around a deadly potion with no plans to use it? Why allow us to obtain the revenge you seek?” Moony pressed.

Heart o’ Gold looked up to the sky, where faint stars were appearing in the quickly darkening expanse. For a long moment, it was silent. Then, she looked back down, a smirk on her face.

“Wouldn't you like to know, Moony?” Heart o’ Gold snarked.

“You disrespectful peasant–” Moony’s furious tirade was halted before it could begin by Radiant Hope taking a step forward. “Huh? What are you doing!?”

“We accept your gift.” Radiant Hope stated graciously, reaching out with her magic to take the potion.

Before she could, though, Heart o’ Gold pulled it back.

“Ah, this is for the Nightmare’s hooves only.” Heart o’ Gold said, shaking her head regretfully. “Though I sense darkness in your heart, I have no reason to believe you will do as I request. She, on the other hoof, has a proven track record. You understand, yes?”

Before Radiant Hope could so much as formulate a response, Moony cut in.

“Come on, do you really think someone like her would break a promise?” Moony questioned, rolling her eyes. “I don't even think she knows how to lie.”

Heart o’ Gold snickered at this, showing she had at least some amount of emotion somewhere inside her.

“Thank you for the passionate defense, Moony, but it's fine.” Radiant Hope said, eyes never leaving the potion. “I trust you with it.”

“As you should.” Moony said with a nod. “Very well, merchant. We accept your gift.”

“Wonderful.” Heart o’ Gold stated, levitating the potion over to Moony, who grabbed it out of the air with her hooves. “Let's get you two set up for your trip, hm?”

“Trixie hits face for eight hundred ninety seven life.” Trixie declared, triumphantly slapping down her final card.

“I only have six!” Sombra protested, looking among the cards on the field in an attempt to figure out Trixie's combo.

“Is that Trixie’s problem?” Trixie asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

Sombra grumbled.

“I want different cards.” Sombra said, throwing down his hoof of worthless junk. “All of these suck.”

“As a neutral third party, might I suggest not creating a deck solely based on the card art?” Starlight proposed, content to watch and, more importantly, not play.

“I have a reputation to uphold.” Sombra responded, gathering up his cards. “Whatever. Rematch?”

“Of course, old man.” Trixie said with a smirk, ready to add to her thirteen game win-streak.

It was deep into the night when Radiant Hope and Moony finally bid farewell to Heart o’ Gold. Now equipped with moderately-used saddlebags filled with non-perishable food, inherently non-perishable water, and, in Moony’s case, the potion, the pair set off. Their first obstacle: the hill.

Overall, not much of an issue. With a simple light spell from Radiant Hope, the hill was no more fearsome than its daytime form, which wasn't. Moony, of course, refused to cast a light spell of her own, arguing that it would defeat the purpose of her new wide-brimmed black hat, which Heart o’ Gold had given her to prevent other ponies from seeing her horn and realizing she was an Alicorn. It was easier to cover the horn than the wings, she'd successfully argued.

Soon after they made it to the other side of the hill and began to walk the flat road ahead, Radiant Hope stopped.

“Oh no.” Radiant Hope gasped, feeling at her cloak. “Where is it, where is it?”

She frantically looked through her pockets, pulling out random knick-knacks and stuffing them back in with the same panicked fervor.

“I know I brought it with me, I know I did! Did I drop it?” Radiant Hope searched the ground, but couldn't find anything. “It has to be around here somewhere. I know I had it just a bit ago.”

“What's got you…” Moony started to ask, pausing to yawn. “…so stressed?”

“My necklace!” Radiant Hope shouted. “Sombra gave it to me when we were foals, I can't lose it!”

Radiant Hope looked back at the hill.

“Moony–” Radiant Hope was cut off by a huff from the pony in question. “Nightmare Moon, I need to check back where we talked to Heart o’ Gold. Maybe I dropped it when I was taking out my coin purse.”

“Fine.” Moony said, sighing. “Let's go.”

“Oh, you don't have to come!” Radiant Hope assured. “I know you're getting tired.”

“Lies… and slander.” Moony claimed, blinking slowly.

“Here, just lay down for a bit.” Radiant Hope said, herding Moony to a nice-looking patch of grass on the side of the road. “I'll be back in a moment, promise.”

Moony resisted at first, but her willpower quickly crumbled.

“I am not doing this because you suggested it.” Moony claimed, testing the ground under her hooves. “I simply feel the need to rest, and your mistake is giving me a fine opportunity.”

“Of course.” Radiant Hope said, turning to head back to where the wagon had parked. “Be back soon.”

“Sure.” Moony said, plopping herself down in the grass. “Don't die.”

Radiant Hope quickly rushed up the hill, mumbling to herself worriedly. As soon as she crested the hill, and was thus out of sight, she slowed her pace and carefully lessened the light coming from her horn until it was completely gone. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, familiar to her after a millennium underground. Near the bottom of the hill was Heart o’ Gold’s wagon, meaning the salespony hadn't left yet. Perfect.

Radiant Hope made her way down the hill, keeping quiet. A faint light emanated from the other side of the wagon, pointing her to her target. As she crept closer, she levitated her necklace from the spot she'd left it and tucked it into its pocket.

Then, when she was as close to the wagon as she dared to be, so close she could almost hear Heart o’ Gold’s breathing on the other side, Radiant Hope stopped muffling her steps, lit up her horn, and casually circled to the other side.

What she saw on the other side was no salespony, though. It was a monster nearly twice Radiant Hope's height, a beast whose smooth dark body reflected the light cast onto it by her spell. It stood on four legs, but in a way that felt somehow mocking. Odd bends and sharp turns, bones noticeable where they shouldn't have been and nowhere to be found where they should've, and gaping holes which seemed to have no effect on the thing's ability to hold itself up. Its mane, or at least the thing that served the same purpose, was a stringy, tangled length of cerulean that reached almost down to the ground. On its back were a pair of transparent torn wings, appearing completely non-functional but almost certainly working just as impossibly as the rest of the creature. Its horn was long and twisted, ending in a sharp, curved point resembling the blade of a knife.

Radiant Hope recognized the being before her, a creature thought to exist only in ancient legends and the nightmares of foals: Queen Chrysalis, matriarch of the changelings.

The two stared at each other, wide-eyed and frozen. Eventually, though, Queen Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed into a fearsome glare.

“You saw nothing, pony.” Queen Chrysalis hissed, wings twitching angrily.

With Queen Chrysalis's mouth open, Radiant Hope had a full view of the sharp fangs within. She considered, for a moment, that Heart o’ Gold’s smile made a lot more sense when imagined onto this creature’s face.

“Oh?” Radiant Hope questioned, taking a calm step forward. “Because I'm pretty sure I'm looking at the legendary Queen Chrysalis herself. Please, let me know if I'm mistaken.”

Chrysalis looked down at Radiant Hope, opened her mouth as if to reply, then quickly spat a large blob of some sort of mucus at her. Radiant Hope summoned a bubble around the projectile, halting its momentum as it splattered against the inside of the bubble. She let the bubble pop, watching as the mucus smacked against the ground a few feet away from her and quickly hardened.

“Hm.” Radiant Hope hummed, looking back up at Chrysalis, who was staring at the mucus in disbelief. “I'm not here to fight, and I have no plans to inform anypony of your existence. I simply wish to speak with you… your grace.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” Chrysalis spat.

Yet, she did not go for another attack.

“I'll keep that in mind. Now, let us get down to business.” Radiant Hope said, matching Chrysalis’s glare with a flat stare. “I want a potion.”

“You already have one.” Chrysalis countered.

“If I remember right, and, again, you may correct me at any time, that potion was ‘for the Nightmare’s hooves only’.” Radiant Hope replied dryly. “No, I want one.”

“I'm all out.” Chrysalis stated.

“No, you're not.” Radiant Hope countered simply, not believing her for a moment.

“Even if I did have another, why would I give it to you?” Chrysalis questioned.

“Because otherwise, you'll have a bit of a harder time making sales from now on.” Radiant Hope answered, clearing her throat and dipping into a carefree tone. “Oh, mister policeman, I saw a big scary monster on the road heading north! It was dark and had holes all over and I think I even saw it transform into a pony! I'm just so scared, won't you please hunt it down?”

“Are you…” Chrysalis stalked over to Radiant Hope and snapped her head down to the pony’s level with a loud crack. “threatening me?”

“Of course not, your majesty.” Radiant Hope replied. “I don't make threats–”

“–you make promises, yes?” Chrysalis finished dryly, lifting her head back up. “Unoriginal. Sombra's been using that barb since he came onto the scene.”

“I’m well aware.” Radiant Hope said.

Chrysalis was quiet for a long moment, seeming to analyze Radiant Hope.

“A crystal pony who has refused to integrate with modern society and who quotes the tyrant king.” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “Are you a fangirl?”

Radiant Hope looked up to the night sky, filled with hundreds and hundreds of stars. Then, she looked back down to the changeling queen, an innocent smile on her face.

“Wouldn't you like to know, Chrysalis?” Radiant Hope said.

Chrysalis bristled at Radiant Hope's omission of her regal title. After a tense moment, though, she turned away.

“I only have half of a dose.” Chrysalis stated. “It takes time to synthesize, especially since I must travel throughout Equestria to harvest the ingredients.”

“Oh, that'll do just fine.” Radiant Hope giggled. “My Alicorn’s only half of a pony, after all.”

Author's Note

With the way I have the story planned right now, there should be three more chapters.

We'll see.