With My Freeze Ray

"Audio scan complete. Vocal match 95%."

In the dark laboratory, the Trans-Universal Transponder's wide screen flickered to life. Crossing his gloved fingers, Dr. Horrible took several steps backwards.

A shower of white sparks erupted from the back, causing Dr. Horrible to throw his hands protectively in front of his face. As soon as the sparks subsided, he leaped towards the Transponder and began examining the wires.

"Oh no. Oh, come on. No, no, no. I thought I'd fixed that... there we go."

The screen lit up once more, to reveal a typical city scene--a young woman at a busy laundromat, loading clothes into a row of dryers.

"Penny," Dr. Horrible breathed.

Suddenly, the door to the laundromat swung open to reveal a familiar, yet hated figure.

"NO!" Dr Horrible struck the edge of the screen in frustration.

"Captain Hammer!" the Penny on the screen exclaimed. She flung her arms around him, oblivious to Dr. Horrible's torment. "I'd like to thank you again for saving me. I can't believe that

Billy was... was... Dr. Horrible."

"It was nothing," Captain Hammer boasted. "The moment his death ray exploded, I knew his game was up. Killed by his own incompetence--a fitting way to go, wouldn't you say?"

Dr. Horrible didn't wait for Penny's response. Seizing the Trans-Universal Transponder Remote Control from a nearby table, he forcefully toggled a thin silver switch, rendering the screen black and inert. Wearily, he turned his back on the machine to face a massive chart that plastered the opposite wall, and drew a red line through the number "U-1119837". Above it, matching red lines bisected the numbers U-111683, U-111682, U-115999... the list was well over halfway to the floor, and growing.

With a sigh of sad resignation, Dr. Horrible turned his eyes to the sixth number on the list. This was the only number with a green circle through it. U-11600.

Lifting the remote once again, Dr. Horrible faced the Transponder and twisted the dial to 11600, then toggled the switch The Transponder's screen lit up.

"Pinkie Pie, what are you doing!?"

Dr. Horrible stifled a chuckle. Although this wasn't the strangest universe he'd encountered, it was by far the most entertaining, and refreshingly free from the problems that plagued his own.

"Watching the ponies again?" A soft voice asked.

"Moist!" Dr. Horrible exclaimed, nearly dropping the remote. "You startled me."

“You should be more careful," Moist recommended. “The League won’t like it at all of they find you watching this. They’ll think you’re going soft. Hell, you’re lucky they even let you keep me around.”

Dr. Horrible was silent for several moments.

“Fifty-five universes, and not a single one where Penny is still single,” he said at last. “It always ends with her dead and me alive, or me dead and her with Captain Hammer. It’s depressing, Moist. But for some reason, this one always brightens my day.”

“Bad Horse wouldn’t like that,” Moist warned. “He thinks you’re over Penny.”

“I thought I was, too,” Dr. Horrible confessed. “But you know what the worst part about feeling nothing is? You can’t feel acceptance, either.”

***

From his techno-stable, Bad Horse watched the security feed and snorted disdainfully.

“It’s just as we feared," one of his cowboy henchmen declared. “Dr. Horrible’s gone soft. You want me to destroy the machine?”

Bad Horse snorted again and shook his head. Slowly, he slid a device towards his henchman--an identical copy of the Trans-Universal Transponder Remote Control.

“Sabotage.” The henchman pocketed the controller. “Perfect”.

***

“There it is--the ruin that holds the Elements of Harmony," Twilight said excitedly. “We made it!"

The six friends stood on the edge of a fog-shrouded cliff. A fraying rope bridge dangled into the chasm in front of them.

Pinkie Pie nudged the broken bridge with a hoof. “Now what?”

Rainbow Dash wiggled her wings. “Duh!"

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie remarked happily as Rainbow Dash dove into the gorge.

The five other ponies watched nervously as Rainbow alighted on the far side of the cliff, holding the loose end of the bridge in her mouth. Suddenly, the clouds on Rainbow’s side began to converge, cutting her off from her friends.

“What’s going on?” Pinkie asked Twilight.

“I... don’t know,” Twilight replied with concern.

A trio of pegasi approached Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow...”

“Who’s there?” Rainbow Dash shouted, jabbing her hooves at the fog. “I’m not afraid of you!”

The lead pegasus stepped fully into Rainbow’s view. “We’re the Shadowbolts, Rainbow. We’re the best flying team in the Everfree Forest. And we want you to join us.”

Rainbow Dash beamed. “Awesome! Just let me fix this bridge, and--”

“No!” the Shadowbolt’s yellow eyes flashed dangerously. “It’s them or us.”

“Well...” Rainbow thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Thanks for the offer, but my friends are counting on me. I’d never just leave 'em hangin’.”

“Wrong choice,” the Shadowbolt deadpanned.

The last thing Rainbow Dash saw was a flash of purple and a surge of blue smoke.

“Rainbow!”

***

The remote control fell from Dr. Horrible’s limp hands.

“Bill,” Moist said. “Hey, Bill! What’s wrong?”

Weakly, Dr. Horrible faced his only friend.

“There’s no... sun,” he said at last. “No happiness. No friendship. Yesterday, this universe was thriving. But today... it’s just a shadow.”

“You sure you’re looking at the right one?” Moist asked.

Dr. Horrible fumbled to pick up the remote, then finally handed it to Moist. “I am. This is U-11600. It says so right here on the frequency dial.”

“Gee.” Moist stared at the remote, then gazed into the screen. “You’re right. Can you say ‘nighttime eternal’, or what?”

“I said,” he repeated, “can you say--woah! Doc! What are you doing?”

“Gearing up." With a threatening click, Doctor Horrible slid an energy pack into his new and

improved Death Ray, which immediately lit up and began to hum. “If Bad Horse asks, tell him I’m moving forward early in my plans to steal the Mona Lisa. Now hand me my Freeze Ray. I’m going to need it.”

“What about your plans for world domination?” Moist protested.

“Forget this world,” Dr. Horrible spat back, and lowered his goggles. “There’s another world out there that needs me to save it.”

***

The trip between worlds was a whirlwind of noise and color It was impossible to mark the passage of time; with nothing tangible to focus his attentions on, Dr. Horrible found himself worrying about the state of his own molecules. The Trans-Universal Transponder was a new invention of his, and although he’d technically designed it to transport energy and matter between universes, he’d never tested it on a physical object before. If anything went wrong, someone--probably Moist--would be cleaning up his remains with a plastic baggy.

***

Bad Horse whinnied angrily and slammed a hoof through the security monitor. Then he turned his rage-filled eyes towards the cowboy at his side.

The henchman shrugged helplessly. “Well, I didn’t expect him to do it, either.”

***

With a loud pop and burst of multicolored flame, the dimensional vortex spat out its cargo, sending Dr. Horrible and his homemade weaponry tumbling to the bottom of a nearby hill.

Dr. Horrible tried to stand, but tumbled once more onto his face.

“Four legs," he grumbled, after he noticed his new hooves. “I should’ve figured as much.”

He kicked his Freeze Ray with a hoof. “How am I supposed to carry this? Now I know why Bad Horse is so irritable all the time. I would be, too, if I couldn’t pick anything up. I guess...”

Gingerly, Dr. Horrible lowered his open mouth towards the device. As he did, he caught sight of his reflection in the shiny chrome. “I’m a unicorn! Finally, some luck! Now...”

He aimed his horn at the weapon.

“I command thee to rise!”

The Freeze Ray remained stubbornly on the ground.

“RISE!”

The Freeze Ray remained inert.

Dr. Horrible narrowed his eyes and focused. A vein twitched in his forehead. His horn tingled. Then, at last, a faint blue glow shimmered across the Freeze Ray’s reflective barrel. The gun hovered a few inches above the grass before the spell expired.

With a long sigh, Dr. Horrible settled into the grass and began to practice.

***

Dripping with sweat, but with his gear hovering obediently behind him, Dr. Horrible approached the nearest town. As he trudged down the dusty road, a sign came into view ahead, welcoming him to someplace called Ponyville.

Dr. Horrible remembered Ponyville from his many days spent wistfully in front of the Trans-Universal Transponder. It was typically a happy town--peaceful, boring sometimes, but largely a pleasant place to live.

Today--or tonight--was vastly different. Ponyville’s streets were deserted, and the windows of every shop and home were boarded shut. Many buildings seemed abandoned entirely. Perhaps most eerily, a new statue stood in the town square. It was a rearing alicorn. Her long horn stabbed directly into the sky, pointing accusingly at the moon above her, and her front hooves clawed at the air. Her wings were spread as if to take flight; her expression was one of utter terror.

A few tattered papers blew in front of Dr. Horrible’s hooves, pages torn from books that had once been neatly organized in Twilight Sparkle’s treehouse.

The sight of such desolation filled Dr. Horrible’s heart with rage. Gritting his teeth, he continued through the town, looking for any building that had even a speck of light shining from under its front door.

After hours of searching, Dr. Horrible finally found one. He rapped sharply with a hoof, then retreated several steps, leveled his Freeze Ray, and waited.

“Who do you think it is?” A shrill whisper emanated from the building.

“Shh!” A second whisper, this one harsher, cut the first one off. “Let me check.”

Dr. Horrible gazed resolutely at the door‘s peephole.

After a few moments, the second whisper spoke again. “Can you please lower that... whatever it is?”

“Only if you promise to answer some questions. Please,” Dr. Horrible added.

The voices conferred again. Then the first, higher voice, asked, “Well... what do you want to know?”

“This world used to be vibrant, full of life. Now it it’s dark. Desolate. The status here is so far from quo, it disgusts me. And I want to know what happened.”

“You mean you don’t... you don’t know?”

The sheer helplessness in the speaker’s voice struck a melancholy chord in Dr. Horrible’s heart.

He lowered his Freeze Ray.

In response, a series of locks began clicking behind the door. A yellow pony with a red-and-white hat and matching bow tie opened the door. His green eyes darted wildly from side to side as he

scanned the streets for danger.

“You’d better come in.”

***

“Nightmare Moon has returned," Mr. Cake began. The three ponies were seated around the kitchen table in the Cake’s sweet shop, Sugarcube Corner, with Dr. Horrible’s two energy weapons on the table between them.

“Nightmare Moon?” Dr. Horrible asked. “You mean Princess Luna, right?”

“Nightmare Moon has not gone by that name in over a thousand years,” Mrs. Cake whispered.

“Princess Luna used to rule the night in peace. But over the years, she grew bitter. She believed that none of her subjects gave her the love she deserved. The truth is, she was loved, quite dearly! But she did not realize this, and tried to usurp the throne.”

“Princess Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to banish her to the moon,” Mr. Cake continued. “The thousand years that followed were filled with peace and prosperity. The ponies of Equestria barely remember Luna anymore.”

“But six weeks ago, Nightmare Moon escaped," Mrs. Cake finished. “Princess Celestia was no longer the bearer of the Elements, and so was powerless to stop her.”

“But what about Twilight Sparkle and her friends?” Dr. Horrible protested.

“Twilight...” Mr. Cake frowned in puzzlement. “Oh, you mean the new girl. She and her friends did try to stop Nightmare Moon. Twilight thought she knew where the Elements of Harmony were, so she led her friends together in a quest to find them. But none of them have been seen since they entered the Everfree Forest.”

Dr. Horrible suddenly felt as though he was falling from a great height. His legs wobbled dangerously, and the contents of his stomach threatened to erupt from his mouth. Although he had only seen them a few times, and never in person, the mere knowledge of Twilight and her friends’ wacky antics had always brightened his day.

“Did you know them?” Mrs. Cake asked kindly.

“In a way," he responded weakly.

“Here, sit.” Mrs. Cake brought up a chair. “And let’s move these things off the table. We’ve still got food in the cellar; I’ll get you something to eat.”

***

Though stale, the Cakes’ pastries did wonders for Dr. Horrible’s constitution. After draining his third glass of milk, he was finally able to think clearly once again, and was even recovering from the exhaustion of using telekinesis for the first time.

“If you don’t mind my asking...” Mr. Cake began.

Dr. Horrible nodded for him to continue.

“How could you not have known about Nightmare Moon’s return?”

Dr. Horrible struggled to think of a way to respond.

“Where I’m from doesn’t matter,” he said at last. “I came here to stop Nightmare Moon, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Stop Nightmare Moon?” The Cakes gasped in unison. “How?”

“With these.” Dr. Horrible pointed his horn at the two weapons that now lay on the floor.

“Death... Ray.” Mr. Cake read. His green eyes bulged wide.

“That one is only for last resort,” Dr. Horrible explained quickly. “The one next to it is my Freeze Ray. Hopefully, I can use that to trap Nightmare Moon long enough to save Twilight and her friends. Then Twilight can find the Elements and banish Nightmare Moon once and for all. But first, I need to know where she is.”

“Er... Like we said, neither Twilight or her friends have been seen since they entered the Everfree Forest,” Mr. Cake repeated. “I’m afraid I can’t be of any more help.”

“There is one more thing, though,” Mrs. Cake piped up. “There is an ancient castle located in the heart of the Everfree Forest. It was the old capital of Equestria, and Nightmare Moon has made it her home ever since her return. If you want any chance of stopping Nightmare Moon, or... or...” she looked at the Death Ray and shuddered. “That’s where she’ll be.”

“Then that’s where I’ll be going.” Dr. Horrible stood. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake, I thank you quite kindly for your hospitality.”

***

If Ponyville was dark, then the Everfree Forest was nearly black. The trees grew in thick bunches, and the bunches were so close together that neither the moonlight nor the starlight could reach the ground. It was only by the glow of his horn that Dr. Horrible could see where to place his feet; and, novice as he was at telekinesis, his magic was starting to wear thin.

After hours of walking, Dr. Horrible leaned his weapons against a tree and plopped to the ground. He opened his saddlebag and pulled out his dinner--a single bun, the last one the Cakes had left.

Dr. Horrible quickly swallowed the bun, and after a few moments of thought, realized that he was totally lost. He was far from Ponyville, he had no idea where Nightmare Moon’s castle was relative to his current location, and he barely even remembered which direction he’d been walking in before he sat down.

A trio of eerie, blue lights flickered in the distance, and Doctor Horrible decided that coming here was the most unwise decision he had ever made.

He stood, powering up his Freeze Ray as he did. “Twilight?”

The lights blinked out, then reappeared on all sides of him.

“You think that puny stick will help you defeat Nightmare Moon. How cute.”

“Not Twilight, then," Dr. Horrible grunted. “Show yourself!”

“The unicorn wishes to gaze upon the Queen of Darkness! Pitiful foal. I shall grant you this one request.”

The three lights rushed together, converging into the shape of a terrible alicorn. She wore gilded, blue armor; her purple mane drifted regally in an invisible wind, and she snorted disdainfully as

Dr. Horrible gazed into her slitted eyes--not unlike Bad Horse, he thought.

Suddenly, Dr. Horrible realized that he had never liked Bad Horse. He’d respected him, maybe.

But he had never liked him.

With a twitch of his telekinesis, Dr. Horrible squeezed the trigger.

The alicorn’s silhouette burst apart. In the same instant, Dr. Horrible felt something frigid press touch his skin.

“Illusion," NIghtmare Moon hissed as she pressed her horn against his neck. Then Dr. Horrible’s world went black.

***

A myriad of colors danced before Dr. Horrible’s eyes as he slowly regained consciousness. His white coat was stained with mildew from the floor. He shivered; the stones beneath him were colder than anything he had ever touched. But the colors before him were entrancing. There were blues, purples, cyan, even a hint of red. He extended a hoof to touch them.

ZAP!

“Ouch!” Dr. Horrible cried. He scurried backwards, only to be zapped again. He was completely surrounded by an energy shield, one that was just barely tall enough to let him stand.

Nightmare Moon stood before him. His Freeze Ray and Death Ray casually orbited her, enveloped in their own shrouds of her magic.

“Do you know what I did to my elder sister?” Nightmare Moon asked.

“Did you put her in a cell, just like you did to me?” Dr. Horrible spat.

“Better. I turned her to stone and put her on display in the town square.”

She circled her conjured shield, forcing Dr. Horrible to turn in the confined quarters of his prison, or lose sight of her. “What’s your favorite stone, hmm? Granite? Marble? Normally I’d turn you into slate, but I’m feeling generous today.”

“Why are you doing this?” Dr. Horrible asked. “The ponies of this land have done nothing wrong to you!”

“Funny you should ask,” Nightmare Moon replied. “The last ponies to visit me asked me exactly the same question.”

Nightmare Moon stepped, revealing a long, crumbling hallway. At the end of it, six stone statues stood in a ring. “They might have been a threat--after all, they were the bearers of the Elements--but I took them one at a time. Divide and conquer, isn’t that right?”

“This isn’t the way!” Dr. Horrible protested, steeling himself against the rush of emotion. “You rule over nothing! Don’t you see? Your subjects are terrified of you!”

“They never loved me before; why should they love me now?” Nightmare Moon shot back.

“They might, if you gave them a chance.”

“What’s this?” Nightmare Moon raised one of Dr. Horrible’s guns. “Oh right, it’s a ‘Death Ray’. You must be quite enamored with me, to bring me my very own Death Ray. You’re early, though; Hearth’s Warming Eve isn’t for another five months.”

She turned her back on her prisoner and began to stalk out of the room. “Normally, I’d turn you to stone. But I think think this time I’ll just let you starve.”

“Night--” Dr. Horrible tried again. “Princess Luna.”

The figure halted. “Nopony has called me that in a thousand years,” she hissed.

“I have also turned to hate in search of love," Dr. Horrible began, “and I know that there are many, many worlds out there that are full of evil people who need to be punished. But this is not one of them, and I promise that if you continue down this path, you will never find the love you’re looking for.”

The crumbling hall filled with silence.

“Tell me...” Nightmare Moon said haltingly, “tell me your story.”

“Only if you drop the ray guns," Dr. Horrible returned.

First the Freeze Ray, then the Death Ray clattered to the floor.

Dr. Horrible sat, with Nightmare Moon standing before him.

“Her name was Penny...”

***

A single tear fell from Nightmare Moon’s eye. “Tell me you murdered him.”

“I wanted to,” Dr. Horrible confessed, “but when I saw Penny bleeding, I just... couldn’t feel anything. Not love or hate. Only emptiness.”

“Emptiness,” Nightmare Moon repeated, and the tones of her hollow voice quickly faded into the stone walls. “A feeling I know too well.”

“Out of every universe I’ve visited, I haven’t found a single one with a happy ending,” Dr. Horrible said. “I can’t bring Penny back. But you still have a chance to fix what you’ve done.”

Nightmare Moon stood silently. Then she turned away, to hide the fresh tears welling in her eyes. The luminescent shield surrounding Dr. Horrible vanished. “I have released my sister. She will be here soon.”

Dr. Horrible shook out his legs, trying to get rid of the cramps that had set in while he was telling his story.

Nightmare Moon faced him again. “Will you join me?”

“Of course.”

He followed her to the end of the ancient stone hallway, then to the edge of a chipped, stone balcony. The two stood side by side as the orange rays of a new dawn spread over the Everfree Forest.

***

“I see you have chosen to end your reign of terror over Equestria,” Celestia remarked warily.

She, Doctor Horrible, and Nightmare Moon all stood together in the same hallway, with Twilight and her five friends cowering fearfully behind her.

“As unlikely as it may seem, this unicorn has shown me the error of my ways.” Nightmare Moon nodded in Dr. Horrible’s direction.

Princess Celestia raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Twice now, you have turned against Equestria. Your actions thus far show promise, but I no longer trust your word.”

Nightmare Moon did not respond. Instead, she lowered her head; her horn glowed as she magically removed her helmet, dropping it at her sister’s hooves. She did the same with her breasplate; piece by piece, Nightmare Moon’s blue and silver armor clanked to the floor, until she stood completely unadorned. Her black coat shone in the morning sun, and her indigo mane flowed regally behind her in an invisible, intangible breeze. She’s beautiful, Dr. Horrible found himself thinking.

“I hereby abdicate all claims and titles,” Nightmare Moon declared. “Henceforth, I shall enter exile, until such time that I choose to peacefully return.”

“Luna,” Celestia began, “One thousand years was long enough. You need not do this.”

Nightmare Moon silenced her with a hoof. “Forgive me, if you wish. I cannot live in Equestria until I have forgiven myself.”

Celestia closed her eyes and inclined her head. “Canterlot Castle will always have an empty throne waiting for you, sister. I will keep my eyes on the moon.”

Nightmare Moon smiled faintly. It was the first time Dr. Horrible had seen her smile, and unusual as it was, he thought it suited her well. “Do as you wish. But I shall not be there.”

Celestia’s eyes blinked back open. “But if not the moon, then... where?”

Still smiling, Nightmare Moon looked at Dr. Horrible. “I would like to see more of your world, if you

would let me.”

“Mine?” Dr. Horrible’s hoof flew to his chest, and he felt his heart pound excitedly.

“Why not? You seem an excellent companion, and according to your story, your world has no shortage of villains who deserve punishment. For the first time in my life, I would like to use my dark powers for good.”

A wide grin spread across Dr. Horrible’s face as he lifted his emergency Trans-Universal Transponder Remote Control out of his saddlebag. “Then saddle up, Princess. We’re going home."

***

A burst of cold, iridescent fire filled the laboratory as the dimensional vortex spiraled open once more. Before Moist even had a chance to throw his hand in front of his face, the rip in space had already closed. Dr. Horrible, holding one ray gun in each hand, stood in front of the Trans-Universal Transponder, and beside him...

“What in the hell is that?”

“Who,” Nightmare Moon corrected icily.

Moist squeaked, causing both Nightmare Moon and Dr. Horrible to burst into laughter.

“Seriously?” Dr. Horrible asked, once his hysterics had subsided. “I had to turn into a pony when I went to your world, but you get to stay exactly the same when you visit mine?”

Nightmare Moon shuffled her wings in what Dr. Horrible realized was a shrug. “I suppose being the Queen of Darkness comes with certain advantages. You look ridiculous, by the way.”

“Doctor,” Moist interrupted.

“Why, you lucky little...” Dr. Horrible’s voice trailed off.

“Doctor!”

“Yes, Moist?” Dr. Horrible faced his longtime friend and assistant.

“You need to look at this.” Moist pressed a (somewhat sticky) remote into Dr. Horrible’s gloved

hands. “As soon as you left, I started scanning the frequencies, looking for you. This being experimental technology, I thought there might be a chance you ended up in the wrong universe, so--”

“I understand,” Dr. Horrible cut him off brusquely. “What’s the problem?”

“Well, the Transponder only shows the one universe,” Moist panted.

“What?!”

“Try it.”

Dr. Horrible pointed the remote at the Trans-Universal Transponder, but not matter how much he twisted the frequency dial, the image on the screen remained the same. When he did the same with his emergency remote, the image changed obediently.

“Bad Horse," he muttered darkly. “He must have thought I was going soft. If I didn’t have this emergency remote in my bag, I might never have been able to come back.”

“That’s who I thought of, too,” Moist said. “He found the one version of the pony universe that ended badly, and gave you a dummy remote that could only access that specific frequency. To  cut out your heart, so to speak.”

“Excuse me. Bad who?” Nightmare Moon cut in.

“Bad... Horse.” Dr. Horrible suddenly realized he might be walking on unsteady ground. “He’s... well... a horse.”

“I’m a horse. This won’t be a problem, will it?”

“It’s just..." Dr. Horrible fumbled. “In our world, horses can’t talk or do magic. I’m a member of something called the Evil League of Evil, and Bad Horse is...”

“Your boss?” Nightmare Moon guessed.

“Exactly.”

“Let me get this straight,” she repeated. “I’m in a world full of monkeys, in which all of the smartest villains have chosen a non-anthropomorphic horse as their leader? A horse that doesn’t even have the magic to lift a cup of tea?”

“We didn’t really choose him,” Dr. Horrible began.

“He’s smarter than he looks,” Moist finished.

Nightmare Moon burst into a fresh fit of laughter. “This is going to be so easy!” She forced herself to take a calming breath. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to offend. But you had no idea what I’m capable of when you brought me here, did you?”

“It was something of a gamble,” Dr. Horrible admitted.

Suddenly, the laboratory’s double doors burst open. Bad Horse appeared, flanked by four of his cowboy henchmen, each holding rifles that suspiciously resembled Dr. Horrible’s Death Ray.

“Looks like it’s about to pay off,” Moist said nervously. “Hopefully.”

The lead cowboy cleared his throat, unfolded a letter, and began to read. “Bad Horse has determined that you no longer possess the moral fiber necessary to remain a member of the Evil League of Evil. Leave now... or die.”

“Really?” Nightmare Moon asked acidly.

The cowboy paled slightly, but maintained his resolve.

“What, no rhyming today?” Dr. Horrible protested.

The cowboy cocked his ray gun. “Bad Horse has also determined that rhymes make ineffective threats. Death Rays, on the other hand, do not.”

As one, the squad of cowboy assassins opened fire.

Moist screamed as the volley of lasers ricocheted off Nightmare Moon’s magical shield. Sparks sloughed off the shattered Trans-Universal Transponder as smoke gradually began to fill the dilapidated laboratory.

The assassins lowered their weapons in amazement.

“Run,” Dr. Horrible suggested.

They did.

Only Bad Horse remained.

Dr. Horrible leveled his Freeze Ray. “I’ve never liked you,” he began, “and now you’ve destroyed my greatest accomplishment. Not to mention, you just tried to murder me and my friends.”

Before Dr. Horrible could fire, however, a beam of purple magic enveloped Bad Horse. The leader of the Evil League of Evil screamed and reared as his flesh transformed into slate.

Dr. Horrible stared at Nightmare Moon in amazement. Cold, glowing steam drifted from her horn.

She shrugged. “Like you said, he tried to kill us. I thought he deserved something more permanent.”

“No, it’s just...” Dr. Horrible lowered his Freeze Ray. “I think I’m in love.”

“In that case..."

The room suddenly filled with a blinding whirlwind. When the sparks of magic finally faded, Nightmare Moon had the form of a tall, slender woman. She wore a black nightgown trimmed with silver, with matching silver heels. Her mane of black, indigo-streaked hair hung nearly to her feet, and drifted eerily as she tilted her head.

“How do I look?”

Dr. Horrible dropped his Freeze Ray, all thoughts of the Bad Horse statue forgotten. “Gorgeous.”

Nightmare Moon extended a hand. “Shall we conquer the League, then?”

“The League first,” Dr. Horrible agreed, slipping her hand into his own, “and then the world.”

Nightmare Moon laughed. “Lead the way.”