//------------------------------//
// The Siege of Whinniepeg 
// Story: Ofolrodi 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//




“Y'know, Twi, there's one thing I could never quite put my hoof on.  Just how long did the Solar Civil War last?”

“The exact time-scale is lost to history, unfortunately, Rainbow.”

“Why's that?”

“Since the very moment that Nightmare Moon's invasion began, neither the sun nor the moon completed a full rotation.”

“Oh.  Whoah.  I... uh...”

“You didn't know that?”

“If I did, I totes forgot about it.”

“Afterwards—once Nightmare Moon had been banished and the fighting had completely stopped—scholars and astronomers took a survey of the stars in order to ascertain the true passage of time.  With the assistance of Princess Celestia—who was ultimately in control of both satellites now—they came upon an estimate.”

“And that was...?”

“Approximately six-to-eight months.”

“Luna poop.  Er... sorry.  That's sorta inappropriate timing on my behalf, isn't it?”

“Staying on topic—the Civil War lasted over half a year for certain.  And while other... less violent wars have transpired way longer throughout Equestrian history, none of those other conflicts brought the heavens to their knees quite like Nightmare Moon's attempted coup did.  It was like the Dark Side accounted for both halves of the plane for a short time.”

“That had to have screwed things up big time.  Like—all around the globe.  Sorta like that one Summer Sun Celebration a few years back, only—uhhh—times two hundred.”

“Yes, Rainbow.  And not just bad for ponies—but for all of nature as a whole.  The winter that followed immediately after the war lasted nearly two and a half years.  It was the worst conditions Equestrian citizens suffered since the windigoes that predated the foundation of the nation.”

“Why didn't Princess Celestia—I dunno—bring the sun closer to melt the winter away or whatcrap?”

“Because an alicorn's prime directive is to maintain harmony.  If she broke the equilibrium of normal day-and-night cycles, she'd be just as guilty of manipulating the balance of power as her younger sister.  It was Princess Luna's—that is Nightmare Moon's desire for eternal night that caused all the chaos to begin with.  The victory of the Celestial Equestrian Union would all be for nothing if our wise matriarch gave into temptation and ruined the pattern she was expressly purposed to manage.”

“And... uh... just how did Celestia's side end up achieving victory?”

“Not easily...”





A gray overcast sky stretched far and wide.  Thunder rolled over blackened mountains and shadowed treetops.  Waves of energy periodically rippled through the clouds.  The vapors parted ways, revealing slivers of perpetual twilight peaking down onto the stale countryside, but then the miasma sealed itself back up just as quickly as it had separated.

Bone white specks materialized high in the grim atmosphere.  In powdery layers, a precipitous sprinkling of ash fell from the sky.  They settled lightly on an expansive patch of dusty soil that clung to a sloping hilltop.

Another roll of thunder.

The soil suddenly started to move—one mound after another—lifting up with the slow pace of blooming flowers.  Layers of dust shook loose, inch by inch, revealing quadruped forms.  They were ponies—girded from head to tail in thick brown canvas armor.  Their heads were helmed with studded brass goggles that glinted the same gray as the haze that blanketed the horizon.

The soldier at the front held a hoof up, signaling to the others.  Then—unholstering a crossbow emblazoned with the solar crest—he trotted briskly forward in a hunched position.  Soon, two dozen more infantry warriors climbed out of the dust and slithered behind him.  The stealthy group made a solid line, clambering up the highest crest of the hill.

More thunder—much louder this time—and the falling ash danced wildly as more ripples of energy shook through the clouds above.  At last, the line of soldiers made it to the hill's peak.  Their goggles rattled with cacophonous vibrations—for just over the hilltop was a sarosian embattlement.

Nocturnal soldiers had dug in trenches tightly behind a line of artillery.  Massive guns crafted out of a silver framework that matched their armor were aimed towards the valley below.  One by one, the sarosians loaded massive shells into the firing chambers of the cannons.  Each armament was fitted with a glowing rune, and a respective cannoneer pivoted the weapon at the required angle before hollering monosyllabic commands into the enchantment receiver.

One by one, the large guns fired loudly—echoing thunder in every direction.  The clouds above split with brief screams of twilight, then closed—once again casting a grim blanket of darkness over a bloody valley below, overflowing with burnt forests, collapsed embattlements, and bodies upon bodies upon bodies upon bodies.  Off towards the northeast—past a sea of corpses and bloodsoaked farmlands—a vicious melee continued wildly between phalanxes of gold and phalanxes of silver.  Tattered banners with matching colors waved on both sides as the front wavered north-to-south-to-north-and-back-again.  It was in the thick of the gold line that the sarosian artillery's latest salvo landed.  Brief flashes of exploding moondust impacted the spoiled earth, momentarily casting a pale spotlight on the overcast clouds above.  Screams anointed the copper-soured air, and bodies—or pieces of bodies—flew for meters upon meters before baptizing the writhing carpet of fallen victims.

The stealthy team of soldiers wasted no time.  Taking the highest point on the hilltop, they formed a solid line, awaited the captain's signal, and fired a murderous line of crossbolts at the sarosian cannon line just a few meters below.

Legs, hides, and skulls were pierced all across the artillery camp.  Within a blink, half of the lunar soldiers had fallen.  In the next blink, the remaining loyalists spun with leather wings spread and returned fire—not with projectiles—but with a conjoined sonic howl.

This was enough to make the solar soldiers stumble.  Their reloading of their crossbows was delayed.

Such was all the remaining sarosians needed.  Many grabbed spears and scimitars and flew up at their attackers in leathery blurs.  Others rushed to the center, arming muskets with lunar runes and chanting into them.  A hot volley of silver-and-moonrock screamed uphill, impacting the enemy with hot splashes of scarlet.

By now, the hilltop had morphed into a vicious brawl—with solar and lunar warriors fighting hoof-and-hoof, sword-to-sword.  The sarosians were still outnumbered, but the few who stayed downhill were picking off the extra numbers of Celestial defenders with well-aimed shots.

It was then that a distorted flicker of light ripped open like a tear in invisible cloth behind them.  A tight unit of twenty unicorns materialized with a teleportation spell.  Bearing celestial gold quests, they waited for when the sarosian flank was most blind.  Then—with horns glowing through their canvas helmets—they launched a barrage of daggers and exploding shrapnel grenades at what remained of the artillery line.

Sarosians fell by the dozens.  Before the bloodbath could complete itself, the remaining fighters sent howling shrieks towards the heavens.  The solar soldiers weren't quick enough to silence them—and soon a thicker shadow spread over the hillside.  A sarosian airborne division swooped low, answering the cry for reinforcements.  They were still hundreds of meters away when they fired their first volley of rune blasts.

The solar soldiers fell in droves.  Those who remained rushed to join the unicorn flank.  Together, they formed a line and armed themselves with magical shields, bravely facing the diving enemy.  The air filled with song—a murderous hymn—as the sarosians descended with their serrated assault.  Within minutes, the battle for the hill would blend with the melee of the valley below as the front shifted once more... for the umpteenth time that day.





“There is almost nopony—historical or colloquial or otherwise—who looks back upon the Solar Civil War fondly.  It was an unbelievably violent chapter in Equestrian history, a holocaust that leaves little to no room for romanticism.

“Were there heroes?  Undoubtedly.  And you're going to hear about a couple of them.  But first...

“First it's important to understand that the cost for victory was paid almost entirely by the mortals who fought it.  Rather than the immortals who wrought it.  This—naturally—has garnered much cynical criticism throughout the past ten centuries.  Why didn't Celestia try ending it sooner?  Why didn't she break the rules of alicorn magic and manipulate the elements to help the solar army?  Why did she allow the war to go as long as it did... as horribly as it did... while all of her loyal subjects paid the price of her sister's transgressions...?”





A deep, shuddering breath.

Princess Celestia slowly opened her eyes.  Tears brimmed along the edges—but she blinked them away.  And then...

...then she smiled.  A very tender, bitter sweet thing.  She leaned her majestic neck forward and placed the gentlest of kisses on the bandaged brow of a freshly-blinded soldier.  He barely responded—simply stirred under the blankets weighing him to his blood-stained cot.

Princess Celestia stood up.  Her hoof rested briefly against a table, where she placed a velvet case that housed a heart-shaped medal.  Then—turning gracefully—she marched past a line of ten more identical cots... twenty... forty... eighty... one hundred and sixty...

The Castle of Trottingham had been converted into a field hospital, and it was filled to the brim with wounded soldiers in makeshift beds.  The air was thick with suffering—both the scent and the moans of misery—and Celestia immersed herself in the heart of it, listening patiently to weary field surgeons while exchanging words with military advisers who were scrambling to keep up with her.

She paused only once—to bow gratefully to the Duke and Duchess of Trottingham—before retiring to the war room.  There, she stood over a massive and constantly-evolving map of Equestria.  Generals and commanders spoke adamantly with her, all the while gesturing to the shifting front.  The sarosians were pushing the Celestial defenders south and east—bunching the solar army into the Canterlot Mountains and driving the bands of refugees into Dream Valley to the east.  Soon, marauding bands of Nightmare Moon's most brutal minions were going to converge on the unguarded citizenry.

If there was hope to be had in reclaiming any of the northern cities, Celestia needed to mount a retaliatory invasion just west of Canterlot.  Instead, she spoke with her most trusted generals, instructing them to send a defensive line southwest to the edge of Dream Valley.

Her advisers acquiesced, albeit with a trace of disappointment and exhaustion.  Once again, Nightmare Moon was on the offensive, and the forces of the Celestial Equestrian Union was forced into a tactical retreat.  Princess Celestia was being gradually forced into a long war.

She took the burden of her decision in stride.  Remaining calm, quiet, collected.  All the while, her gaze always seemed transfixed on some unseen pocket in space and time.  As if she was gazing at someone.  Waiting.

Hoping.





“From the sound of it, Princess Celestia was more concerned with keeping her subjects safe.”

“You're right, Rainbow.  Celestia—above all—wanted to protect the peace and prosperity of the civilians suffering from the conflict.”

“But—like—if she instead attacked the Lunar Empire straight-on, wouldn't that have meant a faster victory?  Even at the cost of innocent lives?”

“Lives were going to be lost no matter what she did.  She sacrificed many mortal soldiers for the sake of preserving those who weren't fighting.”

“But you're making it sound like she was preparing for a long war.  At the rate at which things were going, all of Equestria's defenders would have been chipped away.”

“Not necessarily.  It was Celestia's advisers who interpreted her strategy as preparing for a long war.  The truth is—it wouldn't be that long.  Bloody?  Yes—but Celestia had faith that it wouldn't go on forever.  And she was right to focus on that intuition.”

“But just how did she know that?”

“Because, Rainbow, Celestia trusted that the culprit behind this invasion wasn't Princess Luna herself.  Her beloved younger sister had sworn her life, her power, her entire essence of harmony on defending Equestria and maintaining the moon to her last breath.  It just wasn't like Luna to ensure that the night lasted forever.  Something else was at the heart of this Betrayal.”

“Nightmare Moon...”

“Celestia may not have understood the vile taint that possessed her beloved sibling, but she was willing to wait the demon out.  What's more—she had reason to believe that the possession would not last long.”

“And what gave her that impression?”





Seated on a balcony...

...among what was left of the tattered and war-torn remains of the Castle of the Royal Sisters...

...Nightmare Moon perched like a gargoyle, flanked by silver-armored dream warriors in identical repose.  Below her, the Everfree Forest slept under a never-ending darkness, emboldened by the swirling cyclone of thick clouds gathered directly overhead.

Through the eye of the storm, a narrow channel of twilight bled through.  The stars above fluctuated and morphed, manipulated by enchanted tongues of moonwhinny carried aloft on ashen winds from all corners of the battle-torn countryside.  The constellations reformed, flickering into snapshot facsimiles of moon runes that descended upon the castle below, absorbing themselves into the dreamwalk—thereby informing the Mother of Nightmares of the latest news from the front.

At long last, Nightmare Moon exhaled, awakening from her deep meditation.  Obsidian vapors bled from beneath her blackened armor, curtaining around her in a vaporous cascade.

Twin eyeslits opened, bloodthirsty and twinkling with wrath.  Fanged teeth glinted as she leaned forward, howling into the lower fringes of the gathered tempest.

Dark tresses descended from the spinning thunderclouds—revealing to be the most elite of elite warriors gliding on leather wings.  The Dark Vigil spun around their Queen, chanting rhythmically with a vampiric cadance.

Nightmare Moon leapt into the song.  She spread her onyx wings, gliding east towards the next campaign.  Her scouts had caught sight of Celestial companies moving to converge at Dream Valley.  If Luna guided her army there before a full line could form, then her children just might harvest thousands of souls for the ravenous nightmare before the true fighting began.

At some point in mid-flight, a single tear ran loose—but evaporated as soon as it made contact with the tainted silver of Nightmare Moon's helm.  Vapors flickered around Luna's muzzle, and when they finally faded, the fanged smile of Nightmare Moon had returned.

She pressed onward to the next massacre.





“Nightmare Moon's greatest strength was also her greatest weakness.”

“And that was...?”

“Her armor.”

“Her armor...?”

“Yes, Rainbow.  The armor of Nightmare Moon.  It was forged in Ponymonium—built out of enchanted moonsilver.  But the source of that enchantment is what's important here.”

“How so?”

“It came from the same place the sarosians did.”

“You mean from the dreamscape?”

“The realm of nightmares.  A place that the sarosians came from—but could scarcely remember.  As you might recall, it was Princess Luna who personally channeled the sheer willpower to pierce the veil of subconscious reality and dredge the sarosians from their hellish imprisonment.”

“During that one eclipse.  The saros.”

“Right.  Anyways, you know Princess Luna better than the rest of us, Rainbow.  Does she seem so... nightmarish?”

“A little emo around the edges, sure, but pure as a purring kitten.  Just what are you getting at, Twi?”

“Many pony historians believe that when Princess Luna first ventured into the dreamscape, she found more than just the sarosians.”

“She... found Nightmare Moon?”

“That—or the essence of what turned her into Nightmare Moon.  Or—to put it more succinctly—some essence had found Princess Luna.  It affected her... it changed her.  And when she heroically robbed that essence off the beings who would become the sarosians, it's safe to say that it probably chose her instead.”

“Chose her for what?”

“I'd say the vessel that she became.”

“Nightmare Moon.”

“Or—more than likely—it wanted to become something even more powerful than Nightmare Moon.  In any case, this is what must have driven Princess Luna into such violent madness.”

“Yeesh... then all those years spent in the dreamscape, monitoring the nightly visions of Equestria—”

“—only exposed her more and more to the same influence that brought about Nightmare Moon.”

“You... uh... you think that sort of a thing would happen again?”

“Doubtful.  Both Luna and Celestia have walked those subconscious plains many time since.  And—for the most part—mortal creatures are able to survive the visions on their own.  No, Rainbow, I'd say that whatever poisoned Nightmare Moon has... more or less diffused from the get-go.”

“... … ...because of the enchantment used to build the armor.”

“Right.  Luna—lured in by the essence—created a shell for Nightmare Moon.  The armor.  The helmet.  The whole ensemble.”

“So, the armor is Nightmare Moon?”

“Not quite.  But Princess Luna communed with it whenever she put the armor on.  Do you remember when we confronted her?  In the ruins of the Castle of the Royal Sisters?”

“You mean that night that you first came to Ponyville—when we discovered the Elements of Harmony and rainbow-zapped her and crud?”

“Yes.  That whole night, Princess Luna was empowered by the spirit of Nightmare Moon.  That is—the spirit that still remained within her.  She morphed into an ethereal form.  She took on the shape of mist to outpace us.  She assumed the identities of the Shadowbolts to tempt you.  You remember all this...”

“Well, duh, of course I do.  But just what are you getting at?”

“That was Nightmare Moon we faced off against that night... but it wasn't the same powerful Nightmare Moon of the Solar Civil War.”

“... … ...because she didn't actually have her armor.”

“Right.  Her ethereal essence assumed the shape and construct of the armor—but it was a failed attempt to intimidate and outsmart us.  In the end—as Celestia expected—we found the Elements of Harmony and purged Luna of the spirit of Nightmare Moon before she could take control of them herself.”

“Which is something she wanted way back when—a thousand years ago.  During the War.”

“Right.”

“What if she did get the Elements?”

“She'd have the most powerful artifacts this side of the plane.  With control over both the sun and moon, she'd subdue the various nations of the world—starting with Equestria.  Then, after spanning the plane to reunite all of the exiled armies of the Dark Vigil—”

“She'd get the Harmonic Prism and it'd be game over.”

“Right.  But she failed now just as she failed in her Great Betrayal.”

“She had the armor—but not the Elements.”

“Right.  Throughout the entire war, Princess Celestia had the Elements.  And unbeknownst to her generals and advisers, Celestia foresaw what all Equestrian historians would later determine on their own.  And that's that the power of Nightmare Moon's armor was fleeting.”

“Really?  Like... couldn't Luna have just put the armor on at all times and been super-ultra-powerful?”

“No, Rainbow.”

“Why not?”

“Because wearing the armor for too long would completely detach her from the corporeal world.  She needed one leg in Equestria at all times—metaphorically speaking—in order to properly grasp the next victory to be had in her blood campaign.”

“So... there were times when she had to take the armor off?”

“Yes.  And they were growing more and more frequent as the connection grew more and more frayed.  Celestia sensed this—she had that deep a connection with her sister.”

“Heh.  That's pretty cool.”

“What's more... she knew that the only thing that could give Luna control over the transfer of Nightmare Moon's power was an artifact that—just like Nightmare Moon herself—was not of this world.”

“The Elements of Harmony.”

“Luna was growing more and more desperate in her attacks.  Her strategies were becoming impulsive, desperate, costly.  Remember—from the get-go—she still had far less troops than the Celestial Defenders.”

“Heh... guess the long war wasn't going to be very long after all.”

“It was never that simple, Rainbow.  Luna acquiring the Elements was a very real threat—something that could very easily have happened if Celestia didn't play her cards right.  But soon—Celestia knew—Luna would make the biggest gamble of all.  Something that Celestia herself—dedicated to the alicorn code—was never willing to do from the start.”

“And that's control the heavenly bodies...”

“Luna was not herself.  Celestia knew this.  She also knew that—in order to appease Nightmare Moon—Luna was going to commit an act of desperation.  Her only hope was to lure her into making that decision... of breaking the alicorn code first.”

“By summoning the moon—?”

“Right.  And once that happened, Celestia would have had one single opportunity to talk her sister down from the corrupted position she was in.”

“And if Celestia failed?”

“... … ...I think we all know that she did, Rainbow.”

“She... … ...truly never wanted to use the Elements of Harmony on Luna, did she?”

“It broke her heart to do so, but it was her last resort.  She knew the time was coming.  She prepared for it.  She prepared her troops for it.  A plan was devised—one that was acted out on two fronts.  The first—Princess Celestia would draw Luna to where the Betrayal first began: the Castle of the Royal Sisters.  There, she would not come out of the battle unless she had Luna saved... or banished.”

“And what was the other front?”

“There was always the risk of a fate worse than failure.  Celestia loathed the idea of being defeated by Nightmare Moon, but she nevertheless had to draft a contingency plan.  If all else failed and Luna herself could not be dealt with... then the source of Nightmare Moon's strength—her armor—would have to be secured.  And—as it so happens—Luna chose not to bring the armor with her when she confronted Celestia.”

“Why not?  Seems like an edge.”

“This is why many still believe—myself included—that it was something speaking through the armor to Luna.  In confronting Celestia directly, she stood to risk damaging the armor.”

“That would seriously buck up the 'vessel'.”

“Right.  And Celestia must have gleaned this, which is why she cooked up a plan to deal with both her sister and the armor of Nightmare Moon simultaneously—in two places at once.”

“So... while Celestia went to confront Luna at the old castle...”

“...the Solar Army was sent to the functioning headquarters of the Lunar Empire.”

“Wait... do you mean—?”

“Yes, Rainbow, I'm talking about the Siege of Whinniepeg.”





A mother and her foal were shoved harshly to the muddied ground.  Wincing, the earth pony mare scrambled back on all fours and gathered her offspring close.  She had barely gotten her hoofing when she received yet another shove, forcing her to stumble into a faster trot.  The foal scrambling after her began crying as the mother scooted them both towards a line of anxious refugees.  The ponies were all being herded uphill by a gathered band of hovering sarosians.  Soon, the group joined even more lines of marching equines—all being funneled into a makeshift camp encircled by barbed sheathes of finely-carved moonrock.

Once fenced-in, the Lunar soldiers kept the ponies under close guard, intimidating the shivering prisoners with eye-slitted glares and glinting fangs.  Beyond the hilltop—along the edge of an alpine forest—a small town resided.  The outlying farmsteads and shops had been set ablaze, and the possessions of those who once lived there had been thrown into smoldering bonfires.  Deeper inward, a tall wall had formed around the heart of the city.  Constructed decades ago, it resembled a frontier fort more than a village, and sarosians were converging on the spot in droves—carrying supplies both looted and owned.  Ponymonium's finest reinforced the ramparts of a five-story brick-and-mortar keep, setting up spots along the high-scale walls with cannons, enchanted muskets, and all-manner-of serrated instruments.

Meanwhile, a caravan was being drawn through the front gates of the rounded walls and into the belly of the keep itself.  The security was tightest around one particular wagon—where members of the Dark Vigil flew closely together with shields and scimitars armed at the ready.  On top of the wagon was a large cubic container made out of moon silver, and the seams of its lids vented ethereal energy—like a blackened steam that twinkled with dim cosmic luminescence upon evaporating.





“Whinniepeg was a unicorn town—like most communities of the Northern Trots.  But that city specifically was home to several Lunar Empire loyalists.”

“I didn't figure there'd be traitors to Equestria on the ground.”

“The war was far from simple, Rainbow Dash.  Some of the ponies of Whinniepeg pledged allegiance to Nightmare Moon through sheer will.  But many others did so—compelled by blood.”

“Blood?”

“The town was founded generations previous by sarosian/unicorn half-breeds, much like those few who lived in Ponymonium.  Before Nightmare Moon attempted the coup, Princess Luna had briefed the chief families of Whinniepeg concerning her plans.  She had their assurance that they would assist the Empire's efforts.  Sure enough, after the first month of battle saw Nightmare Moon conquering the Everfree Forest, the loyalists of the Northern Trots staged a surprise attack on solar strongholds.  They joined up with the sarosian push from the south, and the combined campaign pushed Celestia's army into the Canterlot mountains and Dream Valley to the east.”

“And just what did these... uhhhh... unisarosiacorns get out of the deal?”

“Why, the pride and honor of securing Nightmare Moon's armor, of course.”





Slitted eyes of twinkling violet reflected a sheen of silver.  A fanged smile graced a unicorn stallion's fuzzy lips as he trotted slowly across the renovated throneroom of Whinniepeg Keep.  All around him, winged sarosians were stripping the once-lavish chamber to its barest essentials.

In the meanwhile...

...a large moonsilver container was opened by burly members of the Dark Vigil.  It took some effort, but they were finally able to pry the lid open.  The air filled with a high-pitched hiss—like pent-up screams—and a fountain of ethereal black vapor billowed out across the throne room.

The unicorn braced himself, his silver mane and star-speckled velvet robes being kicked by an invisible wind.  Once the wave of black vapors had run their course, he took a deep breath, then smiled in silent bliss.  This time his slitted eyes reflected something blacker than night.

With the container open, the helm and armor and hoofguards of Nightmare Moon stood naked before the throneroom's torchlight—absorbing all shine into its onyx finish.





“Nightmare Moon had begun her flight to Everfree—drawn by Princess Celestia and the Elements of Harmony.  She didn't know that the encounter would end in her defeat—and banishment.  For all the Betrayer and her Empire knew, the hour of victory was at hoof.  Nightmare Moon was about to summon the moon in a brave gamble to overwhelm her older sister and lay claim to the Elements of Harmony.  Once she was finished, she would have to return immediately to her armor and commune once again with the spirit of Nightmare that so enthralled her.  That's why half of her army needed to fall back to Whinniepeg and protect it.  They did so with all of their devotion, stowing the enchanted armor in the very heart of the town's keep, and making sure it was guarded by the strongest and most competent sorcerer in the Empire's service.”

“Yeesh, Twilight.  How come you know so much about this Whinniepeg stuff?”

“Because—Rainbow—my family happens to have had ancestors at that very siege.”





“Ooomf!”  A unicorn stallion grunted—his armor rattling as he was shoved hard onto his knees.  All four of his hooves were bound—in pairs—and bruises marked the exposed bits of his purple-coated body.  Seething, he looked up through sweat and black eyes at the unicorn pacing before him.  “... … ...I should hath known thou werest the prince of these accursed beasts, Lull Moon.”

“Thou shalt address me as 'Duke Ruse of Lull Moon,' Lieutenant.”  The pale-mane'd unicorn spat.  “Whilst thou still hath a throat to breathe thereupon.”  Ruse's slitted eyes narrowed harshly at the solar soldier being forced at spear-point to prostrate himself before him.  “Once the Mother of Nightmares hath finished her labors, Whinniepeg shall be her haven in Equestria.”

“Doth thou plan on bestowing mine eyes a tour?”  The Lieutenant managed a wry smirk.  “If so, avail me to thine gallows, for such becometh a better fate than suffering thine breath.”

With a flicker of telekinesis, Ruse smacked the Lieutenant's face with the handle of a scroll.  He glared at the bleeding soldier—snorting at the fact that he barely reeled.  “Thine guile alloweth thee little to brag about, Lieutenant...”  He paused to unscroll the parchment and squint at the runic moonwhinny etched thereupon.  “...Pulsar.”  His slitted eyes glared down at the solar defender once again.  “A most curious catch.  Thou wast captured with very little difficulty.”

“Travaileth upon me to ignore the woes and tribulations of mine fellow equines?”  Pulsar's nostrils flared as he shook against his restraints.  The poking of spears forced him still—but fuming.  “A pity more able-bodied knights found little resolve in their hearts to join mine charge.  A fitting folly—for it did rid thee of a dozen brothers and sisters, did it not?”

Ruse retorted with a brief shriek—a sonic salvo that sent Pulsar collapsing to his chest.  The unicorn loomed over him, threatening to strike with the scroll once again.  “Thou art nothing but a zealous fool.  But beneath all that insufferably stubborn meat there lieth the mind of a coward.  Such is that which I shall penetrate upon the return of the Mother of Nightmares.”  A fanged smile.  “With the Solar Deceiver defeated, the secrets held by thine dream self shall give the Mother's army the secrets needed to purge Canterlot and Dream Valley beyond.”

Wincing, Pulsar glanced at the exposed armor of Nightmare Moon—still dancing with ethereal black mists—then back up at Ruse.  “A fool thou art, Lull Moon, that the legacy of thine family shall forever be tainted with hollow feats at their most pretentious.”

Ruse hissed back.  “A soothsayer, then?  Save thine prophecies for when the dreamers render thee a screaming foal.”





“You... uh... you enjoy getting all melodramatic there, don'tcha, Twi?”

“Look, Rainbow, it's Lieutenant Pulsar of the First Celestial Legion.  Shining Armor, Spike and I were told this tale at bedtime at least once a week for years on end.  Forgive a proud filly for embellishing a bit, okay?”

“Pffft.  Sure.  Whatever.  So—what happens next?  Does Duke Ruse tie Pulsar to the railroad tracks?”

“No.  This was long before the invention of railroad tracks and—Stop laughing!”

“Pffffffft—hahaha!—sorry.  I'm Sorry, Twilight.  I just can't help it.”

“And... for your information... Pulsar was a very brave and cunning soldier.”

“Cunning enough to get captured.”

“Of course.  That's because he meant to be!  It was all his plan from the start!”

“Riiiiiiight...”

“I'm not kidding, Rainbow Dash!  Family records preserved his journal—even after over nine centuries!  Lieutenant Pulsar was ordered by Princess Celestia herself to find a way inside Whinniepeg.  Well, he accomplished that task with honors.  And after having set up a massive reputation and having slain many sarosians in defense of his homeland—Lieutenant Pulsar had convinced the leader of the Whinniepeg defense that he was worthy of being kept alive.  The enemies all expected his military mind to house the secrets to unraveling the eastern solar campaign, and once Nightmare Moon returned to put on her armor, she and her dreamwalkers would expose his consciousness—and subconsciousness—of all the information they could find.”

“Except that Nightmare Moon never made it back...”

“Except that nopony at the time knew exactly how things would go down, Rainbow Dash.  Remember, this entire operation was plotted by Celestia to take into account the possibility she would not be able to defeat her sister.  That armor had to be seized at all costs as a safety initiative to counter the rising power of Nightmare Moon.  That's why Pulsar allowed himself to be captured in the first place.  He had to get close to it.”





With an audible hiss, the black mists of Nightmare Moon's armor fountained outwards—rippling towards Ruse of Lull Moon, reacting to his proximity.

The nefarious unicorn casually dipped a hoof into the trailing miasma.  His slitted eyes flickered like crescent moons.  He smiled as he paced around the heart of the throneroom, fangs peeking through.  “The Mother of Nightmare's moment of victory arriveth soon.”  Ruse strolled slowly around the mounted armor, continuously admiring its immaculate black surfaces, wafting with shadows.  “Verily, I await thine witness to her triumph with bountiful anticipation.  Thine dreams shall be cloudy indeed to hath suffered such rapid diminishing of hope.”

Lieutenant Pulsar said nothing.  He leaned forward in his restraints, his angry eyes narrowing on the armor, the helm, the billowing essence of Nightmare Moon.  Unbeknownst to Ruse, the tip of the solar soldier's horn was glowing—ever so faintly.

“Doth it fall on the will of Mother to annihilate thee?”  Ruse slowly shook his head, continuing his circle under torchlight.  “I shan't pretend to declare.  But suffice it to say that her almighty will entaileth the peaceful envelopment of all equine beings under nightfall—not death.”  The half-sarosian sorcerer spun around to glare down at the manacled soldier.  “There hath been no need for this war.  Nay, no need for this killing.”  His slitted eyes flickered once again as a tongue of shadows leapt from the armor and evaporated against his figure.  “She simply wisheth to shepherd us into her most perfect dream.”  He slowly shook his head.  “Why doth that present such an obstacle to ye solar-savoring fools?”

Pulsar did not answer.  He tilted his head in such a way that Ruse—even with his sarosian eyes—could not notice the faint glow to his horn.





“I always admired Pulsar.  It's hard not to.  I mean, besides being an excellent servant of the Court of Canterlot, he was Shining and I's great-great-great-great-great-great—”

“Yeah, I get it, Twilight—”

“—great-great-great-great-great—”

“Yeah, I ge—I get it, Twilight!!!:

“... … … but I just had two more generations to go.  Thirteen in total.”

“Yeah.  Awesome.  It's super cool that you remember that.  But you don't need to friggin' count it out to tell me all this.”

“Sorry... … ...”

“It's okay.  Just—like—tell me what the heck Pulsar was even planning on doing?  He was captured by those creeps, kept alive as a pet monkey in the heart of Whinniepeg—but for what?  To listen to endless monologues?”

“Well, before going in, Pulsar knew enough about Ruse of Lull Moon to realize the servant of Nightmare Moon had a huge ego.  One that could be entertained in such a way that Ruse would spare him.”

“Yeah.  I can believe that.”

“Really?”

“I fought quite a few just like him between Darkstine and Rohbredden.  A dime a dozen, those melon fudges.”

“Some things never change, Rainbow Dash.”

“But—for real, though—what was Pulsar's plan?”

“Everything that I've told you.”

“... … ...his plan was to hang out at Whinniepeg Keep within view of the armor and listen to that Lull Moon creep prattle on?”

“Well, there's one thing that Ruse and the rest of his subordinates did not expect.  Something that Pulsar was hiding from all of his captors.”

“And what's that?”

“... … ...he had a twin sister.”





A pair of violet eyes opened wide.  A serious face with a light-blue coat and a matching horn.  A horn that was dimly pulsating every other second.

With nimble forelimbs, the mare slipped on a gold-tinged helmet.  She spun about and marched down a narrow wooden interior—ducking below criss-crossing support beams fastened by thick plates of iron.  The chamber she was in rocked and creaked, with the lanterns hanging overhead dangling loosely—casting a swaying beam of amber light across the rustic hovel.

She passed soldiers in matching solar armor who were busily arming cannons aimed out numerous portholes into a windy sky.  A few ponies saluted as she passed by, and others shuffled aside to give her room to gallop up a steep flight of steps.

Soon, the mare emerged upon a wide-open deck.  Gusts of air kicked at her exposed tail and mane hair under her armor.  Voices shouted at one another as deckhooves galloped back and forth.  Meanwhile, the unicorn soldier made a beeline for the bow of the vessel.  Off the edge of the deck, treelines and mountains and rivers loomed far below.  A gust of air—squadrons of armored pegasi soared by, swinging into tight formations with several other airborne platoons.  Several meters away, a matching zeppelin flew north at even pace with that vessel.  Then—beyond that—was another airship... then another... … ...then more.

No less than five dozen aircraft glided over the hills and valleys of Equestria, making way for the Northern Trots, with pegasi guardians filling the hazy spaces in between.  A few smaller dirigibles floated above and below, with massive brass drums pounding—sending a battle beat throughout the atmosphere that spirited the entire armada forward.

At last, the ancient relative of Twilight Sparkle reached a well-decorated mare in a shiny gold uniform.  She knelt low, spoke a few words, then gestured to her glowing horn.

The aged admiral stared down at her, nodded, then sent shouting commands to her subordinates across the ship.





“Captain Dawn Glint—younger than Pulsar by a few hours—but higher in rank by more than a few stars.  The two were a priceless pair in most of the later engagements of Celestia's Solar Army, courtesy of an age-old family spell that connected the two in their youth.  Throughout their schooling, Pulsar and Dawn Glint communed with a familial sensory spell, allowing them to perceive each other's stimuli from across long distances.”

“Huh.  Did you and Shining ever practice that kind of magic?”

“That's... … ….not been a thing for centuries, Rainbow Dash.  Besides, it's almost only ever worked with twins and historically required so much concentration and hard work that implementing it today is tantamount to committing foal labor.”

“Huh.  Yeesh, unicorns are weird.”

“Jee.  Thanks.  Anyways—by tradition—Dawn Glint and Pulsar were practitioners of this type of connective magic.  It's something that was never truly mastered by sarosians—even the unicorn hybrids.  The practice existed before Princess Luna's 'children' ever manifested in the temporal world, and they never bothered to pursue it.”

“Sounds like your ancestors had an edge.”

“Indeed.  Dawn Glint and Pulsar planned the entire debacle together.  Pulsar—the rougher of the two—”

“By that, I bet you mean 'awesomer.'”

“Sure.  Pulsar volunteered to be the one captured by the defenders of Whinniepeg.  By situating himself as a 'guest' of Ruse of Lull Moon's capture, he was able to convey the condition and location of Nightmare Moon's armor at all times.”

“Snazzy.”

“For one, this confirmed that the armor was in Whinniepeg.  Beyond that, it would help Dawn Glint zero in on its exact whereabouts so that they could endeavor to capture it.”

“And that's what the armada was for?  That's so friggin' cool.”

“The final battle of the Solar Civil War was underway.  With Celestia squaring off with her treacherous sister in the heart of Everfree, the Celestial defenders were ready for a full-on assault of the Northern Trots.”

“Is this where explosions begin?”

“Rainbow—you know as well as I do that I'm awful at making sound effects.”

“That's A-Okay, Twi.  I'll fill in the blanks.  Ahem...”





KAPOW!!!

THOOM!!!

KABLAAAM!!!

The air above Whinniepeg burst with flak and exploding cannonshells.  Clouds parted as enchanted ordinance sailed high from their artillery encampments in the forested fringes of the occupied city.  The keep of Whinniepeg and its surrounding ramparts were still a grazy haze along the bumpy northern horizon, but visibility was further limited by the constant explosions looming closer and closer to the encroaching armada until—

POWWWW!!!

One zeppelin within a stone's throw split in two, its dirigible shredded to billowing rags.  Screaming bodies fell every which way as the chunks of the airship plummeted towards the rock-hard earth below.

Captain Dawn Glint clenched her teeth, gripping the railing of the deck.  Her eyelids fluttered with each resounding cannonburst.  She peered over the side in time to catch a volley from the lower decks firing into the north.  Half-a-minute later, chunks of forest flew sky high.

Nevertheless, the sarosian bombardment did not cease.

Another zeppelin burst into flames off the starboard side.  The admiral hollered to a deckhoof to her right.  The soldier flipped the shutters on a bright torch, aimed off starboard.

A platoon of pegasi signaled back.  With streaks of gold armor, they sailed after the collapsing zeppelin in an effort to rescue as many bodies from the collapsing craft.

The admiral shouted more and more commands, gesturing with her hooves.  The officers around her signaled to the surrounding armada.  Several airships lifted altitude with burning ballasts.  Meanwhile, the remaining pegasi squadrons flew into action.  A third of them dove low, approaching the southern edges of Whinniepeg straight on.  The other groups flew east and west, swooping around to attack the flanks of the sarosian defense.

Dawn Glint's body shifted with the force of her ship's rapid climb.  She watched as the enemy artillery bombardment exploded low—out of range.  Then her vision caught sight of the forward-attacking pegasi bravely facing the immediate onslaught of the sarosian defense.  At the same time, the flanking solar airship flickered with distant specks of yellow light.  The forces had lit multiple manatorches, and were sweeping by at full speed, performing an aerial bombardment.  Within the next minute, the pegasi vanished beyond naked sight.  In their place... several dozen spots of flame gradually lit up—roaring into a blazing wildfire.  The artillery embattlements had been encumbered by the fiery assault, and it was clear that the very forests of Whinniepeg would soon be a blazing inferno.

Such was the cost of this massive assault, among other things.

The artillery bombardment lessened—but not just because of the firebombing.  With the pegasi squadrons sent to occupy the defenses, the air between Whinniepeg Keep and the Celestial Armada was undefended.  A dark cloud billowed between Dawn Glint and the target below.  A cloud colored like velvet fur.

In place of the shelling, there arose a nightmarish chorus.  A bloodlusting chant, intensifying in volume.

The Dark Vigil was on an intercept course, and within minutes even Dawn Glint and her fellow deckhooves could make out the impenetrable glint of their incoming fangs.

Schiiiiiiing!  Dawn Glint unsheathed her scimitar and readied herself.  She stood tall and ready in golden armor, watching as the sarosians drew closer... closer...





“Hey Twi.  How do you like my sword impression?”

“Honestly, Rainbow, can't you just let me tell this story like normal?”

“You mean like how your mom or dad would by the fireplace?  Cuz that sounds sooooooo exciting.”

“Rainbow...”

“Yes yes.  Go ahead, Twi.  Dawn Glint was about to get medieval on sarosian hine-y.  Literally.”

“Well, we all know that was inevitable.  The truly grueling task was up to Lieutenant Pulsar.”

“Back in the castle?”

“Yes.  He had to occupy Ruse's attention.  He had to give the leader of the sarosian defense a reason to stay put—what's more, with the armor of Nightmare Moon left visible and vulnerable.”





“V'lyshymma l'vynyk!”

In droves, sarosians rushed through the heart of Whinniepeg Keep.  Their bodies were black blurs under wavering torchlight as they grabbed every available sword and poleaxe from the armory before making a blinding rush for the battle outside.

“V'lym'al!  V'lym'al!  W'symml lym th'lysym'yl wyl'mym!”

A roll of thunder.

The invasion's latest cannon barrage landed closer and closer.

The Keep shook from foundation to ceiling, raining dust and sediment across Lieutenant Pulsar's shackled body.  He winced as the dust showered over his exposed cuts and bruises.  On either side of him, burly guards shifted nervously—antsy to go out and engage the solar attackers.  Pulsar watched as the soldiers looked pleadingly at the Duke.

“Nym'sym.”  Ruse of Lull Moon shook his head, glaring at the two guards.  “Vy'fynym syly'ssa dym m'symmal dyl H'Luun.”

With deep breaths, the two guards stood tall—remaining at their post.

Pulsar braved a weak squint in Ruse's direction.  “Hast thou no honor?  They shall live the rest of their winters in shame knowing they fought not in the Empire's losing battle.”

“Thine frail imitation of confidence is too threadbare to warrant humor,” Ruse said, standing closer to the armor.  His slitted eyes narrowed as he aimed a glowing horn at the vaporous surfaces.  “Verily, this stronghold wath chosen by the Mother of Nightmares herself.  With wisdom, cunning, and guile of otherworldly merit didth she establish dominance hereupon.”  The shadows surrounding the armor danced wildly under his examination, and he gave the solar soldier a sideways smirk.  “To attempt landfall here is to secure one's own grave.  I would weep for thine brothers and sisters in arms were it not for their exceeding foolishness.”

“Art thou ready to die for thine overconfidence?”  Pulsar raised an eyebrow.  He tilted his head back to obscure the faint glow of his horntip from Ruse.  “An Empress who wouldth lead her children into eternal night is tempting blindness on a massive scale.  Perhaps she hath the foresight to pass the gap ahead, but dost thou?”

“I would most happily die for my Queen,” Ruse said.  As the Keep shook again, he gestured in the nebulous direction of the sarosian chants.  “All of mine siblings of the night would—gladly—in a heartbeat.”  He pointed down at Pulsar.  “That is why all the defenders of the Celestial Deceiver shall know nothing more than failure.  Thou art too obsessed with living.  But oblivion...”  His eyes narrowed.  “...the substance of terror that preyeth upon us all?  The Mother of Nightmares hath made us well acquainted with the unsightly price of possessing consciousnesses.  And a fitting audience we have made—having been bred in the pit of despair, between worlds bereft of thine ill-valued sun.”

“Thou speakest of oblivion,” Pulsar said.  “And yet—even now—thou bearest the sightly burden of the vessel that prattleth to me thusly.  It is a gift—fleeting, yes—but an eternal shame that in thine hollow superiority thou wouldst ruin the bliss of awe and discovery for everypony.”

“Everypony... is nothing,” Ruse said.  “The Mother of Nightmares is everything.”  With a twirl of his starry cape, he gestured gallantly at the armor, still-frothing in shadow.  “Thou and all thine kind will soon learn to bow to her glory...”  A furrowed brow.  “...even if it taketh eternal slumber to lower your heads.”

Pulsar remained calm.  He channeled the tiniest bit of magic into his horn.  Seeking.  Connecting...





“And Dawn Luster was listening in on all this?”

“Dawn Glint, Rainbow.”

“My bad.”

“And—it wasn't quite that she could listen in.  She had something of a mental picture of where Pulsar was located... and that he was talking to somepony of great lunar prestige.”

“So she just put two and two together.”

“Precisely.”

“What was she planning on doing next?  What were the both of them planning on doing?  Seems like there was one heck of a battle raging.”

“There was.  And the whole reason the armada pressed forward the way it did was because Dawn Glint needed to eliminate the distance between herself and Pulsar in order to bridge the gap.”

“Bridge the gap?  What—you mean a teleportation spell or something?”

“Very good, Rainbow.  The entire operation depended on the two reuniting.  Pulsar was giving direct access to the heart of the Keep where the armor of Nightmare Moon was being kept.  The Siege—while noble and ambitious—was just the outward shell of the mission.  The key to victory was getting Dawn Glint inside.  Once the Solar Army could lay claim to the armor, the sarosian cause would fall.”

“Sounds too good to be true.”

“Well, I'm only telling you this so you could know what my ancestors witnessed.”

“So she did reunite with Pulsar?”

“Not easily...”





P-POW!!!

More shells exploded on either side of the lead airship.

The admiral gnashed her teeth.  After shouting commands at her fellow deckhooves, she made a gesture to Dawn Glint.

The Captain readied herself closer to the bow.  A quartet of armored pegasi joined her side, forming a tight circle.

The admiral motioned towards both the port and starboard cannoneers.  The guns swiveled forward, facing the wall of leather and fangs flying inbound.

Dawn Glint's eyes reflected a sky full of flak and smoke.  But—all of a sudden—the entire world turned even darker.  A collective gasp flew from the mouths of everypony on board.

The sun had gone completely dark—replaced by a brilliant full moon.

Nightmare Moon had to have been engaging Princess Celestia at that very moment.  Now was the time.

The admiral hollered, flinging her hoof forward.

BL-BLAMMM!

A barrage of cannonfire emanated from the airship.  Soon, the rest of the armada fired in matching blasts.  A wave of fire and metal surged northward, straight into the incoming mass of sarosian warriors.

The Dark Vigil was quick—and nimble—they split east and west, allowing the mass of ordinance to sail through their center where they had been previously flying.

But the Solar Army anticipated this.  No sooner had the initial salvo ended that the armada's guns went silent.  The sarosians—slowed and split up by the incoming fire—attempted to continue their intercepting flight.  They were blind to the gold-armored pegasi flying up on their flanks, returning from their swift firebombing of the Whinniepeg battlements.

Within a minute, the air clamored with clashing swords and showering sparks.  Splashes of blood and flashes of fangs kissed the moonlight.  The sarosians broke formation, morphing into a berserker melee as they fought their feathered opponents with shrieks and serrated silver.  Soon, the entire air was a hideous large-scale bloodbath, blotting out the starlight.

The admiral shouted, and the flagship dipped low to avoid the bulk of the midair battle.  Dawn Glint grimaced as the deck was showered with blood and bodies.  A few sarosians swooped low, attempting to pick off the deckhooves on board—but crossbows and sword swings made ragged meat of them.

The ship pierced through the main battle, and soon the soldiers on board could see Whinniepeg once again.  The city was now on fire, with the southern wall of the Keep battered in multiple places.  A few more ships lowered past the melee, and they pivoted so that their port guns were fully-focused on the lunar encampments below.

Thus began the next round of artillery barrage—with both sides exchanging shells and sending shrapnel flying in every direction.

Another command from the admiral; the flagship fired a fierce volley into the heart of Whinniepeg for thirty seconds straight.  Before the onslaught ended, she turned to Dawn Glint—her aged eyes reflecting the Captain's glowing horntip.  She nodded, gesturing boldly into the fray.

Dawn Glint nodded back.  She shouted to her pegasi comrades.  The four of them held her tight, galloped forward at full speed, and leapt off the bow of the airship.

With precise timing, the admiral called off the cannonblasts.  A solid channel of unencumbered sky welcomed the five ponies.  Captain Dawn Glint was carried swiftly through the air—still smelling of gun powder and burning metal.  There were flashes from down below as runic weapons discharged, targeting the five targets out in the open.

Dawn Glint would have conjured a shield spell, but she had to concentrate on her connection to her brother.  Thus—the pegasi bravely sped her forward, using sheer agility and guile to outfly the moonrock projectiles.

The weapon blasts zipped by them, filling the winds with dark enchantment.  Dawn Glint's horn glowed brighter and brighter.  She focused on the Keep ahead.

Foul shrieks.  Dawn Glint saw velvet coats and glistening fangs in her peripheral vision.  A pair of bloodied sarosians flew in to stop the squadron.  Two of the pegasi on Dawn Glint's right savagely beat the lunar soldiers back with armored hooves.  One to her right reached over and sliced one attacker's neck before his partner was bucked off in a splash of blood.

Dawn Glint's armor rattled.  Explosions were going off above and below them.  The lunar cannons were firing—filling in the space that the armada's artillery no longer made.  Within seconds, the five solar agents would be blown to bits.

The pegasi closed in tight, clinging to Dawn Glint.  They tightened their wings, allowing gravity and inertia to carry them forward.  There was only one last means of conveyance now.

Dawn Glint clenched her teeth.  A high-pitched hiss emanated from her throat.  Her horn brightened like a second sun.  Then—just as a shell of moonrock flew furiously towards them—she bridged the connection with her brother.  A bright gold portal opened up before the five of them, revealing torchlight and stonework and Lieutenant Pulsar's prone figure.

Duke Ruse of Lull Moon was speaking:  “—even if it taketh eternal slumber to lower your heads.”  His slitted eyes widened upon the sight of the sudden portal.  He stumbled back into Nightmare Moon's armor.  “V'myrma h'luss!!!”

“Rrrrrnnnghhh!”  Dawn Glint and the four pegasi barreled through the portal.  She somersaulted, stood beside her brother, and telekinetically unsheathed two gold broadswords from her sides.  Schiiiing!  “HAAAA—”





“... … ….”

“... … ...well?  Twilight?”

“Just seeing if you were paying attention.”

“I am!  I friggin' am!  What in fuzzballs happened next?”

“Meh.  Spike's not here.  He was the one who always liked the fight scenes.”

“Twiliiiiiiight...”

“Heheh.  Okay.  Anyways.  So yeah.  They dropped in on Duke Ruse of Lull Moon.”

“And?”

“Aaaaaaaand—”





“—AAAAAAAAUGH!”  Dawn Glint spun with both blades swinging.

SCH-SCHUNKKK!

The two guards flanking Dawn Glint reached for their weapons, but couldn't use them.  It's not that they weren't trained to fight, but rather they had just lost their heads.

Duke Ruse's leafy ears drooped as his slitted eyes reflected the bubbling blood of his fallen comrades.  “H'ymal thym'sym...”

“Rrghhh...!”  Lieutenant Pulsar stumbled to stand up.  A swift sword-swing by his sibling cut the bindings on his fetlocks, and finally he could stand upright.  “Punctuality becometh thee.”

“Stay thy tongue.”  Captain Dawn Glint tossed the broadsword towards her brother—who caught it in a telekinetic grip.  “A lone moon riseth.”

“Our moment is at hoof, thusly.”  Pulsar cracked the joints in his neck and stood at ready beside his sister and the four solar pegasi.  “Nightmare Moon's armor—”

“—shalt never be seized!!!” hollered Ruse, before tilting his muzzle towards the torch-lit ceiling of the throneroom.  “SKREEE-EEE-EEE-EEE!!!”

The siblings and their fellow soldiers winced.  They made to rush the Duke—

—but caught sight of a throng of sarosian warriors rushing into the chamber, answering their leader's call.

“In the Name of the Mother of Nightmares!”  Sch-Sch-Schiiiiing!  Ruse of Lull Moon levitated a rotating fan of silver knives from beneath his starry cape.  “Slay them!”  He pointed at the targets in question with the first of many-many blades.  “Slay them verily!”





“Captain Dawn Glint and Lieutenant Pulsar charged the Duke and they... fought for the armor.”

“Twilight... … ….”

“Euggggggh... fine.  Captain Dawn Glint and Lieutenant Pulsar galloped—”





—forward at full speed, raising their levitating broadswords and deflecting the first onslaught of thrown knives.

Cl-Clank!

Clank!

Dawn Glint hollered through the resulting sparks.  “Hold off the attack!  My brother and I shall dispense with the Duke!”

“Haaaaaugh!”

“Raaaaaugh!”

The pegasus soldiers of the solar army met the incoming Dark Vigil with a clash of armored hooves and scimitar swipes.  Shrieks, hisses, and clanging metal filled the chamber from wall to wall.

Meanwhile, the Duke...

“Hrrrrtt!  Hrnnngh!  Haaah!”

...backtrotted up toward the raised dais that housed the armor of Nightmare Moon, all the while flinging serrated slivers from his floating fan of knives down at the solar siblings.

Lieutenant Pulsar led the charge, raising the flat side of his broadsword vertically like an enormous buckler.  He squatted low to the ground and raised his haunches—

“Yaaaaaaaaugh!”

—for Captain Dawn Glint to properly vault over him, sailing towards the Duke with a violent downswing.

Ruse leapt backwards with a pulse of telekinesis.

THUNKKKK!!!  The length of Dawn Glint's sword slammed heavily into the raised steps around the dais, loosening craggy chunks of masonry.

Ruse's eyes pulsed in time with his horn as he sent the airborne bits of rock sailing back at Dawn Glint.

“Hrttt!”  Dawn Glint twirled her sword.  Clank!  She deflected one rock.  T-tink!  And second and—THONK!—the heaviest chunk of rock ricocheted hard off her helmet, sending cracks down the gold finish.  “Aaaaaugh!”  Dawn Glint reeled back.

“Deceiver's teat mongrel!!!”  Ruse flew half of his remaining daggers at the mare.

“Rrrrrrrrr—!!!”  Pulsar came charging through with his broadsword cutting ahead of him.  Crk-crk-crk-crkkk!!!  He sliced through the steam of blades like butter and swung hard at Ruse.  “Aaaaa—!”

Ruse side-hopped the swing, twirled, and flung his entire cape at the stallion.

“Oooomfmmfff!!!”  Pulsar's flailed wildly, blinded by the fabric.

“Begone!”  Ruse fired a stream of burning mana straight at the stallion.  Bzzzzzzzz!!!

The cape encumbering Pulsar caught flame.  The stallion hollered in pain and fright, dropping his sword and falling backwards down the steps.

Dawn Glint gasped as his brother's body rolled past her.  Gnashing her teeth, she spun and flung her fractured helmet at Ruse like a missile.

The unicorn's slitted pupils shrunk.  With a pulse of his horn, he teleported away—

—and meanwhile Dawn Glint's helmet flew through his previous position and slammed full-force against the armor of Nightmare Moon.

CLANGGG!!!

The shadows of the room rippled, intensified, and receded.  By the time the Duke had materialized at the far end of the throne room, tendrils of distorted dark energy emanated from the armor of his violent matriarch.

“SKREE-EE-EE!!!”  He shrieked in dismay, fangs flickering in the torchlight.  “No!  Cease thy desecration!”  His look of horror melted into bitter cold hatred, and soon he was galloping towards a pile of tomes across an alchemy station.  “I shall dispense with thy impurity forthwith!”

Meanwhile, Pulsar was on his back, kicking and thrashing about in a desperate bid to shake the burning robes off of him.  He wasn't anywhere near successful—until Dawn Glint rushed over and yanked the fabric off with her teeth before stamping it out with armored hooves.

“Kafff!  Koff koff!  Hckkkt!!!”  With smoke-stained tears, Pulsar squinted up at her sister.  “Dawn Glint!  The armor—”

She smacked him atop his frazzled skull.  “Clumsy knave!”  She hissed through her teeth.  “That's twice tonight that I have saved thee!”  She turned towards the Duke.  “Never take thy eyes off...”  Her words drooped out a gaping muzzle.

Both siblings watched as Duke Ruse of Lull Moon ran back to the dais, levitating several arcane books around his figure.  Runic symbols of lunar origin materialized above his horn as his eyes glowed.

“From the blackest heart of nightmares...”  He opened one book wide and aimed it down at the siblings like a cannon.  A ring of spinning sigils burned outward from the mana-brimming pages.  “BE CLEANSED!!!”

PHOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSH!!!

The solar siblings gasped.  Pulsar grabbed his sister close and shot a beam of telekinetic energy down point blank at the floor of the throne room.  A crater formed beneath them as they were both propelled awkwardly above a burning swath of violet-tinged magic.

Across the room, clashing sarosians and pegasi looked towards the source of bursting energy.  They gasped with their last breaths—PHWOOOOOOMBBB!!!—before falling as skeletons aflame.

Ruse gnashed his teeth.  The silver tips of his billowing mane caught fire as he twirled another arcane book and aimed it high at the airborne pair of siblings.

PHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSH!!!

Dawn Glint and Pulsar kicked against each other.  With quick levitation spells, they glided in opposite directions.  Meanwhile, the latest violet discharge burrowed a swath of destruction through the ceiling and far wall of the rumbling throneroom.

Chunks of stone and masonry fell.  The remaining sarosians and pegasi galloped—screaming—in a desperate attempt to outrun the collapse.  Bodies became pulpy puddles of viscera and the howls of anguish filled the rattled halls.  A massive groan thundered across the Keep's foundations; its southern wall toppled over in agonizing slowness.  Moonlight flooded the dusty interior, demarcated haphazardly by the shadows of distant airships and winged soldiers fighting in the night sky over Whinniepeg.  More and more cannonshells landed all around, bringing their violent echoes inward as Dawn Glint and Pulsar regained their hoofing—pacing wearily across from Ruse upon the dais.

“Pretenders of a false light...”  Ruse seethed, tossing the last burnt book and rotating a fresh one in its place.  As new sigils brightened with luminescent menace, they revealed fresh lesions forming across his velvety flesh—leaking with hot blood, much like his muzzle and ears.  “...thine Princess' last sun hath set!!!”  He hollered into the surrounding conflagration of the lunar empirical stronghold.  “The Age of Eternal Night cometh!!!”

“Surrender thy heinous arts, Duke!” Pulsar hollered back.  His eyes darted between his sister and his enemy as he nervously levitated his broadsword by his side.  “Behold!  It consumeth thee so!  What Matriarch of the Night blesseth her children with such a bevy of curses?!?”

“Thou canst not stop the Nightmare!”  Ruse hissed.  His slitted eyes took on the same color as the weaponized tomes.  Porous holes formed in his leather wings as he outstretched them with his remaining ounce of intimidation.  “Our future hath been found written on the endless walls of before-birthing!  Blessed H'luun found it!  Thy Solar Deceiver wisheth only to snuff it out!”

“Mercy hath run out for thee,” Dawn Glint said, glaring with steely eyes.  “Both fate's... and mine.”

Pulsar glanced at his sister.

Dawn Glint aimed her sword up at Ruse.  “We give thee one last chance to drop thy stubborn defense—”

“Drop thy putrid bodies!!!”  Ruse spat blood, pivoted fully towards her, and aimed the now-burning-book.  “V'samma vynlm H'luun!!!!”

Pulsar held his breath and galloped over to his sister.  Sliding into a locked stance, both siblings held their swords up in a criss-cross of gold metal.

FLAAAAAAA-AAAA-AAAASSSSSH!!!

Pulsar and Dawn Glint strained against their telekinetic grip of their swords.  Nevertheless—through sheer strength and determination—they managed to brace their weapons against the punishing stream of black magic.  The air around them bristled with violet mana, nipping at their fur and limbs.  Wounds formed magically across their flesh.  Their armor cooked, burning hot red and forcing the two to shirk the metal slabs off one by one as the cone of damaging energy fountained closer and closer to their shuddering centers.





“Wait wait wait...”

“What, Rainbow?  I thought you wanted the exciting version of this.”

“There's no friggin' way two mortal equines—talented unicorns or not—could have withstood that much concentrated black magic for that long.”

“So?  You've survived worse.”

“Of course I have!  I'm awesome!”

“Eunghhh...”

“But your ancestors—”

“They were awesome too!”

“I'm not saying they weren't, Twilight.  But somehow I get the feeling their goose was simply cooked.  Which is impossible, because you and your family know so much about this tale.”

“Well—if I didn't make it clear from the get-go—Dawn Glint and Pulsar weren't in a battle against the Duke or his sarosian allies for that matter.”

“They weren't?”

“Nope.  They were in a battle against time.”

“Against time?  I... … ….wait.  Waaaaaaait... I know where this is going.”

“An adventurer with experience you are, Rainbow.  Anyways—there were Dawn Glint and Pulsar, defending themselves against Ruse's onslaught of Black Magic.  Their hooves—”





—scraped against the floor, forming shallow grooves, as they were forced back by the constant deflection of their conjoined broadswords against the energy stream.

“Rrrrrrrrrrghhhhh...!!!”  Ruse sneered wickedly, his fangs fitted to a malicious smile.

A new steam lit the air.  Dawn Glint and Pulsar looked up to see the gold hilts of their weapons melting.  More and more streams of violet energy was pouring through the spaces in their defense.  Both soldiers tasted the unmistakably bitter taste of blood forming in their mouths and throats.

“Brother...”  Dawn Glint wheezed, her tears evaporating.  “...n-now, more than ever, it prevaileth upon me to tell thee—”

“Preserve it for our reunion with Mother and Father in the Harmonic Plains, beloved sister,” Pulsar grunted back.  His eyelids fluttered—preparing to shut against their inevitable demise...

...when the shadows above them—above Ruse, above the throneroom, above all of Whinniepeg vanished entirely.  Gone was the moon... the stars... the twilight... the murky clouds and permeating miasma of the sarosians' enchantment.

In its place, there stretched a blue sky—crisp and lively and bright.

Ruse gasped.  He instantly stopped his spell, dropping the charred tome in question before him.  With a slack-jawed expression, he gazed up at the blinding sunrise.  His wounded face winced as blood-stained tears trickled down his mouth.

“H'Luun...”

A sad shudder.  His ears drooped and his squeaking voice joined a rising chorus of high-pitched mourning that resonated across all corners of the Northern Trots.

“H'Luun thym'll sym thym...”

“She did it...”  Pulsar shuddered, gaping at the blue sky as songbirds and cheers filled the void left by the dissipating air battle.  “...our wise and radiant Princess did it—”

Dawn Glint shot up, jumped over him, and flung the remains of both broadswords at Ruse.  “Yaaaaaugh!”

“!!!”  Ruse barely had time to react.  Schlunkkk!  One of the flung swords sailed into his chest, protruding outward from his upper flank.  “Hrtttt!”  His eyeslits turned blood red as he flew back from the savage impalement—

Th-Thappp!

—and landed in a bloody heap besides Nightmare Moon's armor.  The dark mists surrounding the blackened silver billowed and danced wildly, as if enraged at the sudden departure of its host.

“Foul traitor!!!”  Dawn Glint spat at the wounded Duke.  “Thou hast lost!!!”

“Grkkkt... I... I have...”  Belching bile and foam, the seething Duke turned his head towards the ruined floor of the Keep.  His crimson eyes caught sight of one remaining tome.  “But... shall... n-not...”

“Wait—!”  Pulsar winced, hobbling up to his hooves.

“...f-fail!!!”  Duke's horn pulsed.  The tome flew into his grasp.  He opened its pages and pressed them hard to his eviscerated chest.  “M'shrynmh L'fynym thym'ym H'Luun...”

“No!”  Dawn Glint galloped up the steps towards the dais.

As the book brimmed with runic energy, it lit up Duke's lacerated insides.  A silver glow billowed out his ears, eyes, and gaping maw.  “H'RUHN'MALLL!!!”

His body smoked like a snuffed candle.  A ring of silver light sliced into being around the armor.

Dawn Glint leapt for him—only to be intercepted by Pulsar's charging body.  The two siblings barreled sideways in the direction of Pulsar's inertia... away from the dais—

THOOOOOM!!!

—as it imploded into an infinitesimal pinprick of light.  What was once Duke Ruse's living body ribboned outward into a pulpy cocoon that spun several scarlet revolutions around the central nub of energy before exploding outward in a spray of meat, bone, and viscera.

POWWWW!!!

In the next blink of light, a perfectly spherical swath of the Keep had vanished—armor and dais and all—teleported cleanly far away.  As the thunder settled for miles in every direction, Pulsar and Dawnglint could only gawk helplessly at the absence of their target.  They spent the next few minutes leaning against one another, catching their breaths, drinking in the measure of their failure amidst an overwhelming aura of victory.





“Within hours, the entire sarosian army had been driven out of the vicinity of Whinniepeg.  There were no prisoners.  It's not that the Solar Army took no quarter.  Any remaining soldiers or wounded victims of the sarosian defenders at Whinniepeg took one look at the rising sun and took their own lives by any means necessary.  They had failed their Mother of Nightmares.  They'd rather face the eternal dark than subservience to a mortal foe in the 'Solar Deceiver's light.”

“Yeesh.  That sure is one emo army.”

“A dedicated one, Rainbow Dash.  Dedicated in both blood and spirit—in a way that nopony left to celebrate a liberated Equestria could possibly understand.”

“Doesn't make it right.”

“It was a tragedy, Rainbow Dash.  A tragedy with wounds that still run deep today.  In all my foalhood years of being told the tales of my ancestors' bravery, I never once liked the sarosians.  But I couldn't bring myself to hate them either.  They were as much a victim of the spirit of Nightmare Moon as Princess Luna was.  Only—while Luna was banished to the moon—an entire civilization of lost children had to deal with their own exile.”

“So—ultimately—they made off with the armor of Nightmare Moon.”

“That's the general consensus, yes.”





Somewhere...

In a dimly-lit cabin... …

Swaying and creaking with the waves of some deep ocean... … …

… the blackened silver of Nightmare Moon rested on multiple pedestals.

Tendrils of shadow rippled off its polished surfaces.  The helm, the barrel plating, the fetlock guards.

And—with each passing moment—those shadows grew fainter and fainter.

For its bearer was long, long gone.





“With his final breath, Duke Ruse of Lull Moon teleported the armor he was tasked with guarding far... far away.  Where, exactly?  For months, nopony knew.  There were search parties: bands of Celestial airborne warriors sent to hunt down any remaining bands of sarosians.

“It wasn't until half-a-year after the end of the Solar Civil War that a band of scouts discovered a crater in the center of a snow-filled valley outside of Torontrot.  Gathered around the deep impression left in the earth were chunks of masonry that masked the missing foundation materials belonging to Whinniepeg Keep.  A battalion of the Lunar Imperial army was known to be camped in Torontrot at the time of Nightmare Moon's defeat.  So—the safest hypothesis was that those sarosians seized the armor, secured it, and carried it with them as they fled the Solar Army.

“The Exodus of the Dark Vigil was no secret to Equestria and its inhabitants.  It was more than obvious to everypony—soldiers and citizens alike—that Princess Luna's children were swiftly fleeing the nation as one collective group of refugees.  Even pioneers in the outlying colonies bore witness to their flight.  From all of the collected observation, the sarosians were witnessed heading eastward—traveling by air, boat, earth... any means that they could achieve to put as much distance between themselves and Princess Celestia.

“Beyond that—well—you know the rest, Rainbow Dash.  Or perhaps it's safe to say that we now know the rest.  The sarosians kept going and going until they reached Rohbredden and the Edge of the world.  There, they split into two groups: the 'Seventh Tribe' at Bleak's Plummet and the Dark Vigil who would cross over to the Dark Side and become the 'Bloodwings.'

“Thanks to Xarchellus, we now know that the Bloodwings are the ones who still possess the armor of Nightmare Moon.  They also have the Book of Saros—another priceless icon of sarosian culture.  Unlike the sarosians of Bleak's Plummet, these members of the Dark Vigil have been living in the dark for generations.  Literally.

“For them, there was no escape for the Mare of the Moon on the Thousandth Year.  For them, Princess Luna never reformed and stood once again at Princess Celestia's side.  For them, the Mother of Nightmares is still an exile on the moon—banished for her 'passionate heroism' in the Solar Civil War.

“For them—undoubtedly—the only feasible purpose in life is to seize the Harmonic Prism from the Midnight Armory and use it to somehow restore their Queen and Matriarch to the Nightmare Moon persona that they worship and bring eternal night to the world.”





Rainbow Dash stood, contemplative and cool, atop a pile of crumbled stones along the fringes of Blobstain.  All around, the foundations of the earth rhythmically thrumped from the incessant beat emanating from the blood-pink ocean lingering just a few blocks curveside.  A twilight veil of stars twinkled overhead, partially obscured by the aura of torchlight kindled by the dihmers and goblins milling about the ram-shackled town.

The spirit of Twilight Sparkle levitated just a few feet from her anchor—just as she had been for the past few hours.  She continued speaking:

“But the true aspect of the Bloodwings and their aspirations are... foreign to me, Rainbow Dash.”  Twilight swallowed.  “Nevertheless, I've told you all that I know about the sarosians—as a race, as a culture, and as a long-lost-army likely still thirsting for vengeance.”  She looked at Rainbow with a foalish expression.  “It may not sound very humble, but—just short of having an actual elderly scholar of the Canterlot Library magically here and present—this is the most information you could possibly ever receive about the ponies you are planning to meet up with.”  She put on a hopeful smile.  “But then you've one-upped all of that.  You've known Princess Luna personally for so long.  You've likely had more conversations with her than any other mortal in over a thousand years.”

Rainbow Dash nodded thoughtfully, gazing off.

“If there's any expert set to prepare you for the task ahead... it's you.”  Twilight's eyes narrowed.  “At least—perhaps—you'll have been a bit more properly informed about their history so as to make better judgments.”

“Hmmmm...”  Rainbow exhaled.  “Ancient history.”

Twilight gestured.  “From what we witnessed from the sarosians of Bleak's Plummet, those emotions and feelings from the Equestrian Exodus still dig deep.”

“Yeah, but Xarchellus' flock weren't battling creepy armies for over nine centuries,” Rainbow Dash said.  “Lexxic... Nat'rdo... the rest of the Bloodwings?”  She slowly shook her head.  “They can't quite be dancing to the same dance... … … can they?”

Twilight also shook her head.  “I'm afraid I can't help you there, Rainbow.”

“Well, you've helped me enough.”  Rainbow's wings flapped as she paced in mid-air.  “If... … … and this is a big 'if'... … … IF the Bloodwings still remember the history of the Solar Civil War—albeit their side of it—maybe I can try to convince them... s-somehow... that Princess Luna and the spirit of Nightmare Moon were never truly one-and-the-same!  That Nightmare Moon influenced and perverted their Matriarch to create the 'Mother of Nightmares' out of bogus pretense!”

Twilight Sparkle sighed long and hard.  “And exactly how are you going to achieve that?”

“How else?”  Rainbow tilted her neck up and pointed at her ruby lightning bolt pendant.  “With the enchantment that Princess Luna put into the Element of Loyalty!”

“You can't make that your 'get-out-of-jail-for-free card' forever, Rainbow.”

“No, of course not!  All I'm saying is—”  Rainbow Dash paused in mid-gesture.  She turned, blinking, to her right.

Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were all bunched up in an ethereal line, staring beady-eyed at Rainbow.

“... … ...what???” Rainbow grunted.

“Uhm...”  Fluttershy fidgeted.  “We were just wondering... uhm...”

“When are you going to go to the Herald and tell them of your decision, already, darling?” Rarity chanted.

“In a minute!”  Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  “Yeesh.  Can't take a moment to think without you impatient melon fudges biting my tail off!”

“Y'all been gabbin' about elementary school information for a good while now,” Applejack said.  “Reckon it's time to get a move on?”

“Hey!”  Rainbow frowned and slapped her own chest.  “How long have I been farting about without giving stuff a second thought, huh?  Longer than you guys have been conscious enough to roll your eyes at me, that's for sure!  I mean—sheesh!  Gimme a friggin' break!  I've earned this!”

“It's okay, Dashie!”  Pinkie Pie waved with a gleeful smile.  “What's another two years?”

Rainbow turned to face Twilight.  “So, anyways, I was thinking—”  She stopped.  She turned to squint icily at Pinkie Pie.  A beat.  Two beats.  Rainbow cleared her throat and faced Twilight yet again.  “I was thinking... what if Princess Luna's enchantment could coax a reaction out of Nightmare Moon's armor?”

“How so?”

“I mean—that stuff was designed for one host and one host only.”  Rainbow gestured.  “Princess Luna.  She's the 'vessel,' yes?”

“Right...”

“Well... I'm willing to bet that if I got the Element of Loyalty close enough to the armor that Ruse of Lull Moon defended, there'd be an observable reaction.  Cuz... like... if Luna put her magical essence into my pendant, then the armor's gotta recognize that, right?  I mean... duh, no of course the armor won't recognize anything.  That's stupid.  Because it's metal.  Dumb metal.  But that power of Nightmare Moon that resides within it.  I mean... that's gotta go splish-splash as soon as I get close, ya think?”

“That's... … ...more than a long shot, Rainbow.”

“Yeah.”  Rainbow bore a devilish smirk.  “More like a 'moonshot.'”  She giggled raspily.  “Am I right?”  She turned and held her hoof up to Pinkie.  “Up top!”

“Woooohooo!”  Pinkie made to high-five her but her spirit went sailing through.  “Whoah—!!!”

“Rainbow, we've been over this.”  Twilight Sparkle shrugged.  “What worked with Xarchellus and the saroians of Bleak's Plummet probably won't work here!  What empowered Luna's enchantment in your pendant was contact with direct moonlight.  Well—we've been robbed of that for untold months now!  Here—on the Dark Side—there's no telling if the spell will have the same effect!”

“Not on the Bloodwings themselves, maybe, but on Nightmare Moon's armor...?”  Rainbow looked at Twilight with a playful smirk.  “I'd say it's a sure-fire bet.”

“It's a gamble, is what it is.”  Twilight brushed her mane back and sighed.  “But so is this entire crazy idea.”

“Whew-wee...”  Applejack took her ghost hat off and fanned her ghost freckles.  “...flyin' up to the Bloodwings' very own doorstep.”  She shook her head.  “Still can't believe yer mullin' over it, Rainbow.”

“Oh, let's not kid ourselves, Applejack.”  Rarity gave a melodic sigh and looked at their anchor.  “The decision's already been made.  Hasn't it, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow took on a tall posture in mid-hover.  “I gotta give it a chance, Rares.  If not for our sake—or Urohringr's sake—but for the Bloodwings' sake as well.”

“Rainbow, I'm all for you bein' all heroic'n'all...”  Applejack fidgeted, plopping her hat back on.  “But are ya sure that these here Bloodwings can be saved?”

“They were the ones to open the door first, Applejack,” Fluttershy stated.  “Thanks to this... 'dream council' there is an invitation.”

“Yes.  That's what frightens me.”  Rarity shuddered all over.  “Everything about this just screams 'trap.'”

Pinkie Pie popped up, her muzzle scrunched in fuchsia confusion.  “But what would the evil batties want with silly ol' Dashie?  Aren't they after the defeat of the love-bugs and emo-shards?”

“Her pendant.”  Rarity pointed at Rainbow.  “It's an Element of Harmony—the only one that exists in its physical form.”  She brushed her mane back, exhaling thoughtfully.  “Maybe they sense it and feel it could give them an edge in retrieving the Harmonic Prism.”

“They've got enough fetch quests on their plate!” Pinkie Pie rasped.  “What with the 'pricks-of-Endrax' or whatever it is they're all mad for!”

“Dun mean they won't grab anythang else of value,” Applejack said.  “Especially in a scrap that's been goin' on for this long and this bloodily.”

“I know that the Bloodwings are terrible,” Fluttershy said.  “But they're obviously quite desperate.  And—contrary to popular belief—I find that desperation has the power to bring out the best in ponies... not always the worst.”  She smiled calmly at the others.  “Maybe what they see in Rainbow Dash is hope—a glimmer of a faulty past, perhaps, but that at least gives Rainbow Dash a platform to reach out to them.  This Nat'rdo individual sounds like a very kind pony.  I think we should give her a chance.”

“T'ain't Nater-whoever that I'm concerned with,” Applejack said.  Her emerald eyes narrowed.  “It's Lexxic.”

The whole group shuddered.

“Right there's a proper pile of rotten fruit.”  Applejack tilted her hat back.  “It seems awfully sketch to me that he's bein' reduced to errand boy just for diplomacy and such.  Seems the kind of feller more privy to wranglin' than messagin'.”

“But isn't that a good enough sign...?”  Fluttershy blinked at everypony.  “The Bloodwings' most notorious has been forced to lay down arms for a show of good faith.”  She smiled.  “If the Dark Vigil of Nightmare Moon is willing to humble themselves, then why can't Rainbow?”

“Traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap...”  Rarity sing-songed.

Pinkie Pie whistled innocently.

Applejack folded her forelimbs and glared off towards the Blob.

Twilight sighed.  She turned to face Rainbow.  “In the end, Rainbow... we trust you.”  A gulp.  “You and your judgment.”

The group—albeit mixed in their mood—collectively nodded.

“So...”  Twilight Sparkle floated closer to their anchor.  “...what do you say?  Are you still gung-ho about this...?”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes.  A long... withery breath.  “... … ...aw Luna Poop.”  She flapped her wings hard and glided towards the heart of the dihmer settlement.  “Let's just tell the Herald already.  I'm bored out of my friggin' skull.”

“Thatta girl, Dashie!”  Pinkie hoof-pumped before being dragged along by the lavender force field.  “When it doubt, lethargy-it-out!”

“Eugh...”  Rarity folded her arms as she was dragged along through the torchlight.  “...how I do abhor backtracking.”