Nightmare Light lighted on the ground, looking and listening through the open window. The princesses were all inside with more ponies and that draconequus.
“Luna, you’ve been trying for weeks,” Celestia was saying, her tone strained. “It’s time to turn to other options.”
“Sister, please, you don’t understand—”
“Enough!” Celestia’s voice boomed, startling Luna into silence. “Twilight, you have been searching for the counterspell, right?”
“Yes,” Twilight responded, though she looked sympathetically at Luna. “But, umm, what I found…well, if it’s going to work, we need both Nightmare Light and Lunar Rainbow here.”
Nightmare Light brought her hoof up to stifle her laughter. Her and the other one, in the same place? That wouldn’t happen. Not that their “counterspell” would do any good.
“I see.” Celestia turned to Discord. “Can you get Lunar Rainbow to stay in Ponyville from tomorrow on?”
“I will do what I can,” Discord assured, saluting her.
“Discord, we need her to stay,” Cadance chimed in, her voice stern. “You could make her stay if she doesn’t agree. It’s for her own good.”
“I promised I wouldn’t force her to do anything,” he admitted worriedly. This drew Nightmare Light’s eyes, and she noticed the concerned frown dragging his face down.
There was a strange groaning in the back of her head that she had to shake away.
“Discord,” Celestia sighed, raising her hoof to rest it gently on his arm, “some things are more important than promises.” A solemn silence fell across the assembled ponies. The pink one looked personally affronted by this statement.
“And what if Twilight’s counterspell doesn’t work?” he asked, shaking Celestia’s hoof off of his shoulder.
No way, Nightmare Light thought, staring at him. Does he…know?
The ponies in the room turned to look at Twilight, who was looking sheepish.
“Well, I can’t guarantee it will definitely work, but I’m confident that it should,” she muttered, flipping through the pages of a book she had with her.
“I’m afraid that will have to be good enough,” Celestia allowed, pacing across the room. “You’ve also found the spell to turn Nightmare Light to stone?”
“Yes. I’ve been practicing. Also the spell to undo it, so I can do either spell whenever it’s needed.”
“Then we know what to do when she shows up again.”
“But you can’t turn her to stone if her enchantment over Lunar Rainbow holds,” the timid yellow pony murmured from her spot next to Discord. “Lunar would be…”
“She’s correct,” Luna inserted, finding her voice. “You cannot sacrifice her that way.”
“If it comes to that,” Celestia began, looking down at the floor as her voice faded away. “If it comes to that, then we will do all we can to bring her back as soon as we can.”
“That—”
“Discord!” Celestia snapped, turning to frown at him. “That is enough! I don’t want this any more than you do, but sometimes, hard choices must be made!”
Nightmare Light had to respect her logic as a ruler. After all, she had her own hard choice to make.
What was she going to do about her mother?
As she was contemplating this, Celestia looked sharply at the window where she stood. Realizing her mistake, she shot into the air. Shouting erupted inside the library and ponies started rushing outside. Discord appeared first, right in her face.
Discord…?
Nightmare Light faltered at the soft voice in her mind, bringing a hoof up to her head. When she backed up, though, the groggy voice of the other one faded away.
“She almost woke up,” she muttered to herself. “I must accelerate my plans.”
As the ponies gathered before her, she grimaced.
“Midnight!” Luna called, flying up to her side. “I know you’re in there. You must stop this!”
“I do not listen to traitors!” Nightmare Light roared in the face of her mother, her Magick manifesting around her horn. When the princess moved closer, she released the energy in a blast, aiming for her. Luna defended herself with a shield and the blast backfired, burning her hind leg.
Nightmare Light’s scream resounded through town, waking the townsponies. Through her tears, she saw Celestia charging magick around her horn. Knowing that this would not be her night of victory, Nightmare Light teleported away.
The siren shattered the silence and the townsponies took only their most precious belongings, evacuating to the bunker. It was the sort of chaos Discord usually took delight it, but he couldn’t think straight.
“Discord?”
Fluttershy’s voice dragged him back to the present and he found her hoof resting gently on his paw. Her face was diffused with concern.
“I have to go see Lunar Rainbow,” he breathed, frowning down at Fluttershy, “now.” She nodded and removed her hoof from his paw.
“Do what you have to,” she murmured, stepping back.
Discord flashed directly to the balcony of Lunar Rainbow’s tower. As he expected, the doors were open, and whimpers were issuing from beyond the fluttering curtains. His chest constricted as he stepped inside, searching for a glimpse of her.
She had collapsed by an open chest. Her mane and tail were glowing, the rainbow hue shifting as they settled into the gentle curls that had become familiar over the past weeks. Her hind leg was badly burned and one of her forelegs rested over the edge of the chest. Once the glow subsided, he approached and saw that, within the chest, she had been reaching for a jar of burn cream.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to her bed. He lay her there and pulled the covers over her, leaving her burned leg bare, before taking the burn cream and spreading it over the wound. He was carefully wrapping bandages around her leg when she stirred.
“Discord?” she groaned, squinting at him in the dark.
“Nightmare Light was burned,” he explained. “I had to…I came to check on you. I…Lunar, this is my fault, I—"
He was cut off when she reached out, placing her hoof on the side of his face. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, her consciousness fading again, but she smiled. “Thank you.”
After that whisper, she lay back and slept again.