Frigid Gale closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
She sat alone in her room, a large chamber which would have been an opulent spectacle to behold, had it not been for the fact that the thestral mare had everything originally held within either removed or destroyed.
The massive circular bed with the downy feathered pillows, the oversized vanity, the gilt dressers and armoire, the immaculate, hoof-stitched maroon carpet, the magical chandelier, and several expensive knick-knacks and curios from an age long since past.
All gone and replaced with a simple cot, a few sconces for lighting, a large wooden desk stacked with mission reports, personnel files, a few personal books the mare enjoyed during the brief interludes between work, and both unsent, and received mail.
The room had once been Celestia's, and now it was Frigid Gale's.
It was no better than the room they had kept the poor colt in. Frigid Gale could see why Shining would have had issues with such a setup, but she herself didn't mind it personally.
After all, it wasn't like she spent a lot of time here during the day, or even at night.
She was always somewhere doing something, and usually at the recommendation of the voice in her head. The voice telling her to meet certain creatures, make certain allies, and crush certain enemies to the cause.
It was that little voice in her head that started her down the path she now trotted, and Frigid Gale couldn't have been more grateful for it.
It had given her insight, saved her life more than once, allowed her to do some real good in the world that she wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.
It had helped her master her own unique magic and filled in the gaps of her own race's history that her own village's Elders hadn't even known.
The voice in her mind did all of this, and so much more. At times the mare felt bitter, relying so much on the voice in her head to guide her to such an extent.
At times, she felt as though she was being manipulated, and if she was being honest, she never completely stopped feeling that way, but she set that feeling aside.
She suspected the voice of manipulation, and she was certain the voice knew of her suspicions, but that didn't matter. None of that mattered because both Frigid Gale and the voice in her head shared a common end goal.
They both wanted to see Celestia's downfall.
It wasn't until she had left that old fool behind that Frigid Gale began to hear the voice, and at first she was scared. She thought herself crazy, and her mental health suffered from it... at least, for a time.
Then the voice revealed itself for what—or rather, who—it truly was.
Frigid Gale, in her youth, traveled from place to place, surviving on what she could. She did things she hadn't wanted to, or ever thought she would do, all for the sake of her own survival.
Scared though she was, she had been desperate enough to listen to what the voice had to say. For the longest time, she did so grudgingly, but then something happened that changed all of that.
One stormy night, as she lay huddled in a dark, dank bedroom beneath the hole riddled roof of a rundown old castle deep in a scary forest, she dreamed.
She dreamed of a mare.
The mare was large, imposing, imperious, black as the night sky, and bedecked in lavish silver full body armor. A horn three times the length of the average unicorn, and wings to put any pegasus to shame adorned her frame.
What struck the thestral filly most however, were the starry mane and tail that flowed with a life of their own, and the same ice blue predatory eyes that she herself was born with.
Whereas Frigid Gale's eyes held fear and awe in equal measure, the mare's held unfathomable power and unshakable confidence.
The filly knew who this mare was.
She knew this was no ordinary dream, she knew this mare was the same that spoke to her in her waking hours, and she knew what the legends and history of her race said about her.
The Mare of Dreams, The Mistress of the Night, the Lunar Princess, the Moon Eternal, the Boon of the Thestrals, and countless other names were given to this mare by the Elders of her village, but none did her justice as much as the name she herself had given to the thestrals so long ago.
Nightmare Moon.
When the alicorn had first revealed her identity to Frigid Gale, the filly had been completely stunned—shocked and ecstatic that Nightmare Moon would speak to her, give her advice, be there for her when no one else would.
And so it went for years afterwords.
Nightmare Moon would remain a constant in Frigid Gale's life from then onward. Over time the filly grew into a mare, and with Nightmare's presence, she went on to do things, both great and terrible, all in the name of the vengeance they both desired.
Of course, Frigid Gale made sure not to draw too much attention to herself with her deeds in the beginning, always staying in the shadows—there one moment, and gone before anyone noticed.
Though as time went on and she gained more allies, she could afford to branch out, make bolder moves while staying beneath the notice of the Sun Princess and her Guard.
With Nightmare Moon's guidance, she had even obtained a base of operations right under Celestia's muzzle.
Before she knew it, she had a growing resistance, connections in high places, a steady source of income from less than reputable sources to fund her rebellion, and far more magical power than any average unicorn could ever hope to have.
All this with the help of Nightmare Moon and her own conviction.
The one thing Frigid Gale didn't have, was a name for her resistance. It had honestly never occurred to her to make one, and no one had ever really brought it up.
Perhaps that would change, but it wasn't high on her priority list at the moment. What was high on her priority list was both finding the lavender filly, and finding out what had happened to her subordinates.
Frigid Gale had thought to ask Nightmare Moon, and so retreated to the privacy of her own chamber late at night to do just that.
It wasn't so simple however, not anymore at least.
In recent years, Nightmare had begun speaking to Frigid Gale less and less, and it was getting to the point where she'd only speak when Frigid Gale addressed her.
Even then she wouldn't always respond right away. This was the main reason Frigid Gale no longer trusted the alicorn like she used to. Even back when she was growing up and had nothing but admiration for the mare in her mind, there was always an air of mystery and suspicion.
Frigid Gale had always felt like there were things Nightmare Moon wasn't telling her about, and now, more than ever, that feeling was present—a growing problem that had been causing a rift between the two.
At first Frigid Gale didn't care as long as their goals aligned. As long as they continued to work towards the same thing, Nightmare Moon could have her own agenda, but lately Frigid Gale had started to wonder.
The long silences, the curt replies to some of Frigid Gale's own inquiries, the cryptic comments Nightmare made to herself, and worst of all, the mistakes Frigid Gale herself had made due to Nightmare's own instruction, or rather—as Frigid Gale was beginning to suspect—misdirection.
It was becoming clear that whatever hidden agenda Nightmare had was beginning to interfere with the plan they had both come up with together.
Frigid Gale inhaled, held her breath for a moment, then exhaled softly. It was an exercise she went through every time the stress became too much to handle, and she was certainly stressed.
As suspect as Nightmare Moon was, Frigid Gale couldn't afford to worry about it now. One of her best field agents had left on a mission and hadn't reported back in three days.
It wasn't a terribly long time to be out on a mission normally, but with Fell Wind, it was a different story. She wasn't like other pegasi, she was fast—much faster than any pegasus should be, efficient, ruthless when she needed to be, and loyal to a fault.
With her, this mission should've been completed in two days at most, and—whether or not she actually found the filly—she should've been back at the base by the morning of the third day.
It was now the morning of the fourth day, and she hadn't heard a thing from the dark green pegasus.
If that weren't bad enough, she had just received a report stating that the two operatives she'd sent to Canterlot to retrieve an important artifact had gone missing as well.
The report suggested some kind of large scale incident, the ramifications of which put Canterlot on even higher alert than it already was.
The report went on to say that the incident in question was caused by none other than Red Storm himself, an exceptional agent comparable only to Fell Wind in terms of loyalty and skill.
What had become of the unicorn and the griffon operative Abern remained unknown, but given the circumstances, capture was a very likely possibility.
Just thinking about that report was enough to make Frigid Gale's blood boil, and she had to take another few deep breaths to stop herself from turning everything in the room into blocks of ice.
The air around the mare was already several degrees lower than what it should've been. The atmosphere itself was cold enough to allow a fine cool mist to roll out from beneath her locked door and out into the hallway.
Add to this the fact that she had been trying to get in touch with Nightmare Moon for the last half hour without success, and she was almost ready to snap.
Another deep breath.
She opened her eyes and stared at the door directly across from where she was sitting. She didn't have time for deep breathing exercises, nor did she have the luxury of wallowing in her own frustrations.
She had a job to do—several jobs in fact now that this report had come in.
With Fell Wind possibly MIA and Red Storm and Abern possibly captured, she had no other operatives who'd be able to take on the tasks that needed to be done.
The rest of them either weren't up to snuff, or were off on other missions. That left her to take care of things personally—Nightmare Moon be damned.
She turned to look at the opened files on her desk and gave one last snort of frustration before briskly trotting towards the doorway.
An icy blue glow encased the entire door, and with a muffled click it unlocked and swung open, startling the two shivering unicorns guarding the entrance.
"Something important's come up," Gale announced in a curt tone, "tell Astrid to clear all of my scheduled missions and appointments for the next two weeks."
"B-But, Ma'am didn't y-you have to—"
The dark grey unicorn mare snapped her muzzle shut and froze at Frigid Gale's look. The other unicorn, a lime green stallion, remained quiet, attempting to will himself as deep into the background as possible.
"Like I said, this is extremely important," Frigid Gale said in a low, dangerous voice, "none of what I have to do in the following couple of weeks is nearly as urgent as this, so let Astrid know that I'll be back in two weeks, got it?"
"Y-Yes, Ma'am, s-sorry, Ma'am!"
Frigid Gale nodded once and continued on her way.
She wanted to head to Canterlot first, as the situation there certainly demanded immediate attention, but it was too risky to attempt any sort of rescue now—at least it was without any competent backup.
Frigid Gale had received an earlier report that Celestia planned to spread the Guard out past Canterlot and into the areas beyond. She'd need to be careful not to arouse any suspicion or notice as she traveled, meaning she'd be traveling by night a lot of the time.
A prospect she had no issues with whatsoever.
A sudden urge to check in on Shining Armor overcame her for a moment and she paused in confusion. The colt would already be deep into his Light Magic studies by now, and she decided against it.
Still, the desire had come out of seemingly nowhere and, while that baffled her, she put the thought aside, chalking it up to simply not having seen the colt in awhile.
In any case, she needed to hurry and find Fell Wind so they could both get in and rescue Red Storm and Abern before their situation got any worse.
She also made a mental note to try and contact Nightmare again when she got a chance. They both had some things they needed to discuss.