My Little Mages: The Nightmare's Return

by BrassHeart

The Beautiful Enchantress, The Loony Trickster

The walk into town, with Fluttershy’s help, took about half an hour. During this half an hour, Fluttershy refused to stop talking.

“How long does he sleep? What time does he go to bed? What time does he wake up? Does he snore? If he snores, does it sound like…” Fluttershy made a deep snorting noise in the back of her throat. “Or like…” She began to breath very heavily. “Does he ever breath fire when he sleeps? If so, how…”

“Oh look we’re here,” Twilight said, finally stepping out of the forest and into the outskirts of Magiville.

“But… I had so many more questions I wanted to ask, and…”

“And I’m sure that I can answer them for you later. In the meantime, however, I really have to go. Thank you very much for your help,” Twilight said.

“Um, okay. Will you be at the Celebration? Could we talk then, if you don’t mind?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes, sure. Have a nice day,” Twilight said, quickly walking away from the Druid.

“Y-you too,” Fluttershy said quietly. Twilight did not hear her. She had already rounded a corner and was out of sight. Fluttershy looked down at Angel. “Um, Angel, did I… did I just make a friend?” Angel just shrugged.

“Wow, whoever they hired to do the decorations is really good,” Twilight remarked as she walked through the plaza. There were banners hanging from the buildings, streamers forming spider webs between lamp posts, and dozens of other types of decorations, all in brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges to be reminiscent of the dawn.

“Excuse me,” Twilight said, stopping a passerby carrying a ladder. “I’m looking for the person in charge of the decorations. Can you tell me where she is?”

“She’s right over there,” The man said, pointing to a woman sitting at a table on the other side of the plaza.

“Thank you very much,” Twilight said, walking towards her. The man nodded, and went on his way.

“Excuse me, ma’am? Might I have a word with you?” Twilight asked. The woman held up one gloved finger to silence her.

“Just a moment, please,” She said. “I’m almost done with this lantern.”

Twilight looked over the woman’s shoulder at the table. It was covered in materials to make paper lanterns, emblazoned with Celestia’s insignia, the Eight-Armed Sun. The woman was holding one of these almost-completed lanterns, concentrating on it. There was a brief hum of magic, and the paper lantern took on a warm yellow glow. The decorator tossed it lightly into the air, where it hung unassisted. The decorator, obviously pleased with her work, gave the lantern a small push, sending it gliding off.

“There we are,” The decorator said, standing up and turning to face Twilight. “Now, how can I help you?”

To call her anything less than beautiful would be an insult. She had long, curled purple hair, obviously well cared-for, skin like a porcelain doll, and sapphire-blue eyes with matching eye shadow. She was wearing a golden crown with five gems, likely focus gems, a long white dress, a pair of elbow gloves made of some glittering fabric, and a magenta shawl.

‘Holy moly, she’s hot,’ Spike said. Twilight ignored that remark.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m here as representative of the Royal Court of Camelot to check up on preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. I was told that you were in charge of the decorations for the Celebration, and from what I’ve seen, it looks like you have it mostly under control,” Twilight noticed that the woman was staring at her with wide, fear-filled eyes. "Is something wrong?"

“Your... hair,” The woman said.

“Sorry?”

“Your hair!” Suddenly, the woman invaded Twilight’s personal space and grabbed her hair, inspecting it closely. “Oh, by the Goddess… ugh, split ends, knots… Honestly, it’s like you’re not even trying to take care of yourself,” The woman said, running a hand through Twilight’s long hair. Twilight brushed her hand away, and took a step back.

“Do you mind?” She said. The woman didn’t hear her, and she stepped back into Twilight’s personal space, grabbing her face and staring intently at it.

“You have a marvelous complexion, but there are some patches of dry skin. And it wouldn’t hurt to go outside a little, you know. A bit of a recluse, are we?” The woman asked, though it was obvious that she knew the answer. Twilight grabbed her wrists.

“Will you please keep your hands to yourself?” She said. The woman stared at Twilight’s hands.

“My word, you’ve never had a manicure in your life, have you? And your clothing…” The woman slipped her wrists out of Twilight’s grasp, and grabbed her sleeves. “Ah, a Whirly Willow original, I see. You’ve been wearing these clothes for almost two years now, haven’t you?”

“Two years, six months, and seven days,” Twilight said automatically. “But how did you…”

“The stitching is a bit worn out here. The stitching itself is good, but this kind of thread tends to get worn out after two years or so. Nothing too serious. It can be fixed in a jiffy by anyone with a sewing needle and a few minutes to spare,” The woman said. She stared at Twilight’s clothes again, this time seeming to stare through the cloth at something only she could see. “Let’s see… Cleansing, Anti-Wrinkling, Basic Physical Protection, Advanced Magical Protection… Very good Enchantments. They’ve started to lose potency, however.”

“I haven’t noticed any changes…” Twilight interjected.

“That’s because you’re not an Enchantress. You can’t see the Enchantments like I can,” The woman said. “Alright, I’ve decided.”

“Decided wh – Hey!” Twilight shouted as the woman turned her around and started to direct her out of the plaza.

“You, my dear, are in terrible, terrible need of a good makeover,” The woman said. “And I know just the place.”

“Aloe! Lotus!” The woman called out as she shoved Twilight through the front door of the small spa. The pink-haired woman sitting at the front desk looked up at the sound of their entry, and smiled courteously at them.

“Welcome, Miss Rarity. I did not know you had a session scheduled for today,” She said with a light accent that Twilight could not identify. Twilight’s kidnapper, Rarity, apparently, shook her head.

“It’s not for me, Lotus,” She said, pushing Twilight forward. “Look.”

“Ma’am, this woman kidnapped me…” Twilight tried to say. Naturally, she was ignored. Lotus’s eyes widened in fear as she looked over Twilight.

“Aloe! We have a Code Red-Seven!” She shouted into the back room. Another woman, almost identical to Lotus, except with blue hair, appeared. When she saw Twilight, her eyes widened in fear as well.

“I won’t lie: this might be the greatest challenge either of you have ever undertaken. Give her your deluxe treatment,” Rarity said. “And put it on my tab.”

Before Twilight could tell Rarity that her actions, while generous, were unnecessary, Aloe and Lotus vaulted over the counter and pulled Twilight away.

Soon, Twilight found herself in a position she’d hoped to never find herself in: stripped of her clothing, forced into a (very comfy) bathrobe, and lying face down on a table with green mud and cucumber slices on her face.

“What… What just happened?” Twilight asked. Rarity appeared at her side, holding Twilight’s perfectly folded clothing. Twilight, of course, could not see this because of the cucumber. “Spike? Spike, get help! I think I’ve been mugged!”

‘She’s even more beautiful up close…’ Spike mused from his perch on Rarity’s shoulder. Rarity, surprisingly, did not seem to mind his presence.

“You aren’t being mugged, dear. Aloe and Lotus are the best in the business, and I think that you sorely require their expertise. Now, you just relax, and I’ll be back in an hour with your clothes,” Rarity said, laying a reassuring hand on Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight tried to stand up, but was pushed back down by Aloe and Lotus.

“If I fall asleep and wake up in a bathtub full of ice cubes, then so help me…”

“Just relax,” Rarity said as she left, taking Spike with her.

“How can I relax?!” Twilight shouted after her. “Spike! Help me, you backstabber! By the time I’m done with you, they’ll…”

Twilight’s ranting stopped dead as soon as Aloe and Lotus began their massage. Everything escaped her. All her worries about the return of Nightmare Moon, all the stress, and all the tension in her body just faded away. In the space of one second, every muscle in Twilight’s body relaxed, and she practically melted into the table.

“Ohhhh... Thaaaat’s gooood…” She moaned. She couldn't see it, but Aloe and Lotus were grinning victoriously.

True to her word, Rarity returned to the spa an hour later, Twilight’s clothing and familiar in tow. She handed off the clothes to Aloe, who in turn brought them to Twilight, and a few minutes later, Twilight stepped out, looking like a new person. Rarity applauded at the sight of her.

“Marvelous! Simply marvelous!” She said. “See? Don’t you feel so much better?”

“Actually, yes. Thank you so very much for that, Miss Rarity. I really needed it,” Twilight said, giving a polite bow. “So, how much do I owe you for your work on the clothes?”

“Please, just call me Rarity. All my friends do. And don’t worry, Twilight, you don’t owe me a thing. I enjoy working pro bono,” Rarity said. Twilight was able to repress a shudder at the f-word.

“Then I am very grateful for your generosity,” Twilight said. A second later, she noticed that Spike was still sitting on Rarity’s shoulder, looking at her dreamily. “Oh, jeez. He’s been like that the entire time, hasn’t he? Has he been bothering you?”

“On the contrary, Spikey-wikey here has been a wonderful help,” Rarity said, giving Spike a tiny scratch under the chin. Spike almost purred.

“Sp-Spikey-wikey?” Twilight chortled, unable to contain her mirth.

“Well, I heard you call him Spike while I was leaving, and he’s just so cute,” Rarity said.

“I see. Come here, Spikey-wikey,” Twilight said, giggling as she said it.

‘I don’t want to,’ Spike said, lifting his nose in the air haughtily.

“Spike.”

‘Yes ma’am.’

In a single bound, Spike leapt from Rarity to Twilight, taking up his position on Twilight’s shoulder.

“Good boy,” Twilight chuckled. “Now, to business. The decorations…”

“Have been taken care of. No need to worry,” Rarity said.

“That’s good to hear. Thank you very much for your time, and for…” Twilight gestured at her hair and her clothing. “…For this.”

“No trouble whatsoever,” Rarity said, waving a hand dismissively.

“Still, thanks,” Twilight said, feeling that she had not been anywhere near grateful enough yet. “By the way, could you point me towards the Books and Branches Library?”

“But of course. Just take a left outside, head down the main road and take your third right. The library is impossible to miss; it’s the only building that’s a tree,” Rarity said.

“Great. Thanks,” Twilight said, making her way to the door. Rarity stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Before you go, I have to ask something important,” Rarity said, a look of concern on her face.

‘Please don’t ask about Blueblood. Please don’t ask about Blueblood. Please don’t ask about Blueblood,’ Twilight chanted in her mind.

“Have you met a girl with pink hair yet?” Rarity asked.

“Fluttershy? Yes, actually,” Twilight said, remembering Fluttershy’s endless stream of questions. Rarity shook her head.

“No, not her. I mean a girl with curly pink hair, that kind of looks like cotton candy, I suppose?” Rarity guessed. Twilight shook her head, which made Rarity arch her eyebrows in surprise.

“Really? You haven’t met her yet? That’s odd,” She mused.

“What’s odd?” Twilight asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Nothing. Never mind. You’ll… you’ll see. Probably,” Rarity said. “Well, I won’t keep you here any longer. Will you be staying for the celebration?”

“Most likely. And thanks again,” Twilight said, turning to leave the spa. Again, Rarity stopped her.

“One last thing,” Rarity said. “You’re familiar with the Royal Court, correct? Have you ever met...Prince Blueblood?”

Twilight’s eye twitched. “I’m terribly sorry. The name doesn’t ring a bell,” She lied. “Now, I really do have to go. Have a nice evening.” Twilight quickly left the spa, leaving behind a bewildered Rarity.

“Doesn’t know Prince Blueblood? My, she must be more of a recluse than I thought,” Rarity said to herself.

“Where did you get that?”

Billy kept his eyes, one of which was swollen shut, on the ground, not wanting to meet his mother’s glare. “I… fell down some stairs and hit a doorknob,” He lied. His mother bonked him on the head. It didn’t hurt, but he didn’t want her to do it again.

“Don’t lie to me, Billy. Was it those kids at school again?” His mother asked. Billy’s head barely even moved as he nodded. His mother sighed. “Did you fight back?”

“No! I couldn’t!” Billy said, lifting his head to see the concern on his mother’s face. “They… they have magic, and I… don’t.”

“So you just let them beat you black and blue?”

“It’s not like I could do anything back to them…”

Billy’s mother threw her head back and laughed boisterously.

“Kid, that’s the biggest load of pure grade-A bull crap I’ve ever heard!” She said when she was finally done laughing. “Look at yourself! You could pick up those kids and use them to juggle!”

Billy looked down at himself. He was much bigger than other kids his age. He was bigger than most of the older kids, too. And his muscles were… massive, to say the least.

Billy was thirteen. He was almost six feet tall, and his growth showed no signs of stopping.

“But… if I do that, then I’ll be just as bad as they are,” He said.

His mother snorted. “Billy – Iron Will, you listen to me and you listen good. Have you ever heard the saying ‘an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’?”

“Y-yeah,” Young Iron Will said. He was always thinking about that saying. It was what he kept in his mind when he was being beat up.

“Well, forget about it,” His mother said. “They start a fight, you show ‘em your bite.”

“But I…”

“No buts, young man. You’re too tough to let yourself be treated like a doormat,” His mother said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t forget that.”

“…Yes, mama.”

“Good. BRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGG!”

“Huh?”

“BRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGG!”

“…Oh!” Iron Will slapped his forehead. “That’s the alarm clock!”

“BRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGG!”

“Alright, alright, you infernal machine! Iron Will is waking up!”

Iron Will forced himself into consciousness and delicately silenced the clock on his bedside. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he sat up.

“Big day today,” He said to himself, swinging his legs out of bed. He stood up without thinking, and accidentally hit his head on the ceiling.

“Quiet down there!” Came a muffled shout from the apartment up above.

“Sorry!” Iron Will bellowed at the ceiling. “IRON WILL!” He flexed his biceps for an imaginary crowd. “Did not mean to wake you up!”

“QUIET!” The rest of the building’s tenants shouted.

“SORRY!” Iron Will yelled back, raising his voice so that everybody would know he was sorry.

With the daily shouting match concluded, Iron Will continued on with his morning ritual. He took a shower, brushed his teeth, flossed, had an omelet and a glass of orange juice for breakfast, read the morning paper, sharpened his battleax, went over his leather armor with a soft cloth, and did his morning stretches.

Iron Will looked fondly at the picture frame on his bookshelf, the final part of his morning ritual. “Won’t be long now, baby,” He said tenderly, brushing the picture as if doing so would allow him to be drawn into it. “IRON WILL!” He struck a muscle-accentuating pose. “…Is going to fulfill his promise to you soon. Just one more job, and we can finally be together. Just you and IRON WILL!”

“KEEP IT DOWN!” The ceiling shouted.

Iron Will grumbled, and took the picture out of its frame, tucking it lovingly into his armor. “Pretty soon,” He whispered, glaring at the ceiling, “Iron Will!” He struck a more subdued pose. “…isn’t gonna have to deal with you anymore.”

After that, he left the apartment building, somehow managing to squeeze his way through doors that were not meant for eight-foot-tall mountains of muscle and machismo.

A quick glance at his pocket watch told him that if he didn’t hurry it up, he wouldn’t reach the pick-up spot in time. He had been told by his secretive employer that if he was even a minute late, he could start looking for different contracts. It was an odd condition, and the man who had given him the contract was more than a little shady – dressed from head to toe in black – but Iron Will was in no position to complain.

He was a mercenary, and for what these ‘Shadow Blades’ were paying him, he’d lay siege to Camelot under the command of a vengeful demigoddess intent on ruling over Mystica with an iron fist.

Theoretically, of course.

‘…And she has a little sister named Sweetie Belle, and a cat named Opalescence that I think might be evil, and…’

“Alright, Spike. I get it. You think she’s the bee’s knees,” Twilight said, cutting off her familiar’s ranting.

‘Sorry, Twilight. She’s just so amazing…’ Spike sighed. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“You have such a one-track mind,” She said.

‘I think I’m in love, Twilight,’ Spike confessed.

“Really? What about Moondancer?” Twilight asked.

‘That was just a boyhood crush.’

“That was yesterday.”

Spike made a show of ignoring Twilight for the rest of the walk to the library. Sure enough, Rarity had been right. It was a tree. But that didn’t really have Twilight’s attention at the moment.

The front door was slightly ajar.

“That can’t be good,” Twilight said to herself, checking the door for any signs of forced entry. None.

‘Think it’s a robber?’ Spike asked, peering into the dark library.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Twilight said, slowly pushing the door open. It creaked ominously. Twilight summoned her staff to her hands out of habit.

‘Maybe it’s haunted,’ Spike suggested.

“Spike, why would the Princess send me to stay somewhere haunted?”

‘Twilight, have you forgotten some of the other tests she’s given you?’ Spike asked. For a moment, Twilight shuddered.

“Good point,” She said. The door slammed shut behind them, leaving them in complete darkness.

‘Ghosts! Panic!’ Spike screeched.

“It was just the wind, Spike,” Twilight whispered.

‘That’s what they want you to think.’

“You read way too many ghost stories, Spike,” Twilight said, feeling along the wall for a light switch. After a few moments, she found it and flipped it without a moment’s hesitation.

The room was empty, without any sign of a burglar. Twilight sighed in relief.

“See, Spike? I told you this place wasn't haunted,” She said.

“Yeah, this library isn't haunted! Well, there was a ghost in this spooky old abandoned house just down the block a few years ago, but it turned out it was just Mr. Jenkins wearing a bed sheet,” A pink-haired woman standing next to Twilight said.

Twilight stared at her.

Then screamed.

The woman screamed back.

Then Twilight screamed even louder.

The woman, not to be outdone, screamed even louder than that, and right in Twilight’s face, nearly breaking her eardrums.

“Were we having a screaming contest? Did I win? I bet I won, because I’m really, really good at being loud!” The woman said.

“Wh-who are you? How did you get in here?” Twilight demanded, holding her staff at the ready as she looked over the strange woman.

The first thing that caught Twilight’s eye was the woman’s hair. It was pink, and looked like fluffy cotton candy. It was only barely contained by a twin-tailed jester’s cap on the woman’s head, emblazoned with three balloons. She was wearing a dark pink overcoat with puffy pink sleeves, and a pair of white frilly gloves. The woman was wearing a simple leotard under her jacket, leaving her legs bare except for the curly toed shoes she wore.

“I’m Pinkie Pie! Hi!” The woman said cheerfully.

“Okay, Pinkie Pie, what are you doing in here?” Twilight asked. Pinkie Pie creased her brow, as if she was deep in thought.

“Good question,” She said, shrugging. “I can’t remember!”

There was only silence.

“…You can’t remember,” Twilight repeated, looking at Pinkie like she was insane, which she very well might have been. Pinkie’s eyes widened, and she clicked her fingers.

“Waitwaitwait! I remember now! I was waiting for you in here because I got tired of waiting for you out there!” She said, obviously proud of herself for remembering.

“Waiting for me? Out there? What are you talking about?” Twilight asked.

“Tingly foot,” Pinkie said.

“What?”

“My foot felt tingly this morning!” Pinkie said without any further explanation.

“…And...?”

“Whenever my foot gets tingly, it means one of two things! Either somebody new is coming into town, or my foot is asleep! And I knew it wasn’t that my foot had fallen asleep, because I was wide awake, and why would my foot be sleepy anyway, so I knew that it must mean that there was somebody new in town! And you know what that means!” Pinkie Pie said. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“What does that mean?” She finally asked.

“It means that I simply have got to be the first person you meet when you get into town! So, bright and early, I went down to the road to Camelot to wait for you, and I knew you would be coming from Camelot because it was my big toe that woke up first. So I was waiting there for a few hours, since I figured that if anybody was going to be coming, they would be coming in on the road, but I guess I was wrong, so eventually I just got bored and decided to go to the place you would be staying!” Pinkie said, the words tumbling out of her mouth like water from a faucet.

“Wait, how did you know I would be staying here?” Twilight asked. Something in the back of her mind was telling her that she should really be a bit angrier at Pinkie for breaking and entering, but what this madwoman was saying raised so many questions it was hard to resist asking.

“Oh that’s easy! I knew you would be staying here because I ate a fortune cookie!” Pinkie said, producing a small slip of paper.

“Hold on, a fortune cookie told you that I would be staying in this library?” Twilight clarified. Pinkie Pie nodded. Twilight snatched the paper from her and read it aloud.

“‘Today you will find the person you are looking for’,” She said. “But that doesn’t say…”

“It came true, didn’t it?” Pinkie asked, taking the paper back from Twilight.

“But… it doesn’t even make any… I don’t even…”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

Twilight rubbed her temples to relax her aching head. She created a new corner for information in her mind, labeled it ‘Pinkie Pie’, tossed what she had just heard inside it, and then forgot about its existence. “Okay then, now that I’m finally here, why were you waiting for me?” Twilight asked.

“Because I don’t know you, and since I’m friends with everybody, and you count as an everybody, that means I have to make friends with you, and in my book (available at your local bookstore) there’s only two good ways to make a friend, but we can’t do one of them because it involves getting hammered and having a fistfight with the guards and I’m not allowed within a hundred meters of the bar anyway, so that leaves only one way I can make you my friend and that’s…” Pinkie jumped up, threw her head back, and spread her arms, as if she was trying to give the entire room a hug. “A PARTY!”

If there were any crickets with a good sense of timing nearby, they would have chosen that moment to start chirping.

“Um, what p-” Twilight was interrupted when Pinkie Pie screamed like a banshee.

“OH CRAP I SPENT SO LONG WAITING I DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO PLAN THE PARTY!” She screamed. “Oh man, oh man, I’m so sorry! I swear, this has never happened to me! Just – just give me an hour or so, and I’ll be back with some streamers and some confetti and some balloons and some ooh I know what to do!”

‘I think we might be standing in the presence of the village idiot,’ Spike remarked as Pinkie reached into one of her pockets, her arm vanishing up to the elbow.

“Lessee… no, no, maybe, yes wait never mind, no, no, maybe later, oh, there we go. Ta da!” Pinkie said, pulling her hand out of her pocket. She was holding a rubber chicken. “Hold on, that’s not it.”

“Why do you have a rubber chicken in your pocket?” Twilight felt obligated to ask.

“Cuz the living chickens struggle too much,” Pinkie said, cramming the chicken back into her pocket and continuing to rummage around in it. “And any good Trickster Mage has got to be prepared for any occasion, so I’ve got lotsa stuff in my pockets! But, whenever there’s any need for me to set up a party in a jiffy, there’s one thing that I rely on!”

“I’m almost scared to know what it is,” Twilight said.

“Don’t worry, it’s perfectly legal, or at least until the Mayor passes that new law! BEHOLD!” There was a pop as Pinkie pulled something out of her pocket, and a heavy thud as its two pink, flower-decorated wheels hit the floor. Twilight’s eyes almost fell out of her head. “My PARTY CANNON!”

“How… how did that fit in your pocket?” The logical side of Twilight had to ask.

“Not a clue!” Pinkie said carelessly, producing a lit match from thin air and lighting the blue cannon’s fuse. “But I’m not complaining!”

“Waitwaitwait!” Twilight lunged forwards and quickly blew out the fuse. Pinkie Pie pouted pitifully. “Are you insane?! No, don’t answer that. Why on earth would you think about using that thing in here?”

“Oh, do you want the party outside? We can do that! I like outdoor parties!” Pinkie squealed.

“I don’t want a party!” Twilight shouted. Pinkie stared at her as if she had just said that she enjoyed kicking puppies.

“Can you run that by me again?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.

“I… do… not… want… a… party,” Twilight said slowly. Pinkie apparently understood what Twilight was saying this time, because she stuck out her lower lip and her eyes started to water.

“Bu-bu-but… but I always throw parties for new people in town,” She blubbered. “Because n-new people don’t know anybody in town, and pa-parties are great ways to get to know people, and make friends, and be happy…”

“Oh no. No. Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry,” Twilight begged, stepping forward to try and comfort Pinkie before she really turned on the waterworks. Too late. Pinkie threw her head back and wailed like a child, literally crying a waterfall.

“BUT YOU DON’T WANT A PARTY! AND THAT MAKES ME SO SAAAAAD!” She sobbed. Twilight grimaced, realizing what she would have to do to get Pinkie to stop crying.

“Okay, you can plan a party for me!”

Pinkie immediately stopped crying. “Did you just say that you want a party?” She asked.

“Yes,” Twilight groaned. Pinkie grinned at her, and started to bounce up and down happily.

“Oh goody! This is gonna be great! We can have punch, and streamers, and confetti, and piñatas, and balloons, and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, and…” Twilight held up a hand to stop Pinkie’s list.

“Just… one favor,” She said. “Do you think we could have it after the Summer Sun Celebration?”

‘But we’re going straight back to Camelot after… ohhhh.’

“After the Summer Sun Celebration? That’s gonna be a tough act to follow, but okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie Pie rubbed her hands together as she began to laugh darkly. “I’ll show them what happens when you try to plan a giant party without my help. Ohh, I’ll show them.”

“I’ll… leave you to it, then. But right now,” Twilight faked a yawn. “Oh wow. Today has been really tiring for me. I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open. I’m so sleepy.”

“I can get you some coffee, if you want! I work at Sugarcube Corner, and they have the best coffee you could ask for!” Pinkie Pie offered. Twilight shook her head.

“No, thank you. I just think I’m going to turn in for the night. As in, right now,” Twilight lied.

“But it’s only…”

Twilight yawned again.

“Wowzers, you are tired!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Okay, I’ll let you get some sleep! See you right before sunrise?”

“Of course you will. Now, could you please leave before I fall asleep right here?” Twilight asked politely.

“Good idea! You never know when a nap can strike!” Pinkie said sagely. “Buh-bye, then!” And with that, she cartwheeled out the door, which Twilight quickly closed and locked behind her. She let out a sigh of relief.

“Spike, take a letter,” She said. Spike hiccupped out a scroll and quill. “Dear Princess Celestia, the preparations are taken care of. Signed, Twilight Sparkle. Post-script: Everybody in this town is completely insane. Post-post-script: I still think Nightmare Moon is going to return. Send.”

Spike finished scratching out the letter, rolled it up, and blew a short stream of green flame, burning the scroll and not even leaving behind any ashes.

‘All done,’ He reported. ‘The Princess is going to get here in the Alicorn in the morning, right?’

“Just before sunrise, yes. So, we’ve got a few hours,” Twilight said, looking around the room at the numerous shelves of books. “Time to do some reading.”

‘About what?’ Spike asked.

“The old stories of Nightmare Moon, of course,” Twilight said. “I’m especially interested in finding out how she was defeated. The old stories just skipped straight over that part, for some reason. I’ve also been wondering about that last line in Delphi’s prophecy. ‘The last light in the Dark answers Harmony’s call’. I’d like to see if there’s anything in here that might shed some light on that. Also…”

Spike tuned out Twilight’s voice, his thoughts turning back to the beautiful woman they had met earlier.

The light of the candles seemed pitiful in the dark room, but the man dressed in black, kneeling in the center of the room, did not care. It was the inevitable fate of light to be swallowed by the darkness. This was the truth that the Shadow Blades had always been taught.

“O mighty Queen, I am thy servant,” The man intoned reverently. “In the path of the darkness, thou hast shown us the way. I am the eyes through which thou see. I am the hands through which thou act. I am the feet through which thou walk. I am the blade through which thou strike. I am a Shadow Blade. My life is thine, to use as thou see fit.”

There was a familiar deep roar in the back of his mind. The Queen, the Mage in the Moon, was choosing to speak with him. Words began to form out of the ceaseless roar. ‘IS EVERYTHING PREPARED?’ It spoke.

“Yes, my Queen. The Necromancer has raised an army of the dead numbering nearly a thousand for you to command, and we have secured the loyalty of a pack of werewolves. We have also secured a suitable candidate to lead an elite flight team, and I took the liberty of hiring a very powerful mercenary."

'AND WHAT OF CELESTIA?'

"We have our eyes on the Alicorn, and will follow it the moment it leaves Camelot."

‘GOOD. DO NOT FAIL US. WE REWARD THOSE THAT ARE LOYAL, BUT WE HATH NO PATIENCE FOR FOOLS. SERVE US ON THIS NIGHT AS THOU AND THY FAMILY HAVE FOR A HUNDRED YEARS, AND THY ORDER WILL BECOME LORDS AND DUKES IN OUR NEW COURT.'

“I need no reward, my Queen,” The man said, bowing his head. “My reward is the fruition of the work of my father, and his father before him.”

‘THY HUMILITY SERVES THEE WELL. WE SHALL SOON MEET FACE TO FACE. DO NOT DISAPPOINT US,’ The Queen warned, and the roar in the man’s mind faded away. He stood up and exited the room. Several other men, dressed in matching black all-concealing clothing, stood at attention outside the room.

“You all know what you must do. Get to it,” The man ordered. The other Shadow Blades bowed.

“Yes, Grand Master.”