//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: I Called Upon the Moon for a Little Consultation 
// Story: For Want of a Horseshoe 
// by PingZing 
//------------------------------//

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"No. But I have to do it anyway. You’ve gone over all the spells and helped me triple-check everything. We did a dry run earlier, and that went fine. I’ll be okay!"

"I still feel like I should be the one doing this. It’s my fault in the first place!"

"I don’t agree. Besides, even if it were your fault, as your teacher, it’s my responsibility."

"Ugh, you haven’t been my teacher for years. Just…come home safe, okay?"








For Want of a Horseshoe




I Called Upon the Moon for a Little Consultation




Queen Nightmare Moon stalked toward her chambers, in a black mood. This week had been an exercise in misery—nothing had gone right, starting with allowing that miserable fledgling alicorn to escape from her grasp, and ending with tonight’s latest indignity. Another assassination attempt! She had held the throne of Equestria for years now, and there hadn’t been a serious attempt on her life in a full year. If anything, that was what rankled the most: tonight’s "attempt" was hardly worthy of the name. A single unicorn had somehow snuck by her guards, and successfully held her at hornpoint. She had been too astounded to react. Surely, no unicorn was foolish enough to think that their magic alone was enough to harm her, let alone threaten her life? There had been a split second of fear, thinking that perhaps she had missed some trump card.

But no, the unicorn had succeeded in doing nothing more than leaving a blast mark on her helmet and wasting her time. He was in the dungeons now, and would be summarily executed tomorrow, unless he managed a truly sterling defense. 

So, she stomped onward to her bed, ready to be done with this night. Thankfully, her servants and guards were canny enough to read her mood and her path forward was deserted and quiet. She rounded a corner and found herself surrounded by stars. She paused for a moment, and closed her eyes, before letting out a long, slow breath. She was in a hall lined with enormous arched windows. The hall’s location at the topmost floor of the castle gave it an unparalleled view of the night sky, including her moon. It was the only way to reach her chambers, and it was on nights like these that she was very glad she had remodeled her tower to include the new hall. She opened her eyes, and simply allowed herself to be for a long moment. She took in another long breath and allowed her eyes to roam aimlessly over the sparkling motes in the silent void of her night, before settling on her moon again. She eyed the tricolor streaks discoloring it, and the darkened spots that appeared to form the shape of a unicorn’s head…or an alicorn’s.

Out.

And in.

And out again.

Feeling much calmer, she resumed her journey at a more sedate pace.

Perhaps no execution for the fool, she thought. Maybe a stay in the dungeons. A fool he may be, but he did best my guards. There could be something of value there. 

She opened her door, deep in thought. Although that does beg the question of how he made it past the guards at all. I’ll have to have words with those on duty—

Celestia was in her bed.

Her heart stopped cold before immediately resuming at the frantic pace of a hummingbird’s, pounding painfully. It was impossible. She was sealed hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, at the heart of Nightmare’s power, warded with every charm, binding and enchantment known to Nightmare, and surrounded with magical alarms, physical alarms, and even bells on strings for cosmos’ sake. 

She reflexively cast her mind away, checking the state of the wards and alarms. Nothing had triggered her senses. There were no klaxons blaring anywhere in the castle. All the emergency lighting was quiescent. Every single alert spell was responding and reported that it was in good health. She cast her telekinetic sense deeper and ran a sliver of magic against each of the trip wires and alarm strings. All intact, and still taut. She could even hear a faint jingling from the alarm bell in her bedchamber as its magically-linked twin on the moon was jostled. Simultaneously, she erected every magical barrier she knew how to cast, wrenched her door from its hinges and placed it between herself and the intruder. The barrier spells were so thick that their overlap was causing errant sparks where they rubbed up against one another. The density of spells caused a wavy, multicolored heat-haze to fill the air between herself and the intruder.

All this took place in the space of two seconds. 

Another two seconds passed, with nothing but the sound of fragments of the door frame gently falling to the floor, and the popping of her shield spells to fill it.

"Celestia is right where you left her," came a soft voice from the alicorn atop her bed.

It took Nightmare Moon another full two seconds before the words sank in. She checked the seals on her sister’s prison again, just to reassure herself. Everything was still intact. She took a moment to gather her thoughts before taking a second look at the intruder. 

She lay on Nightmare Moon’s bed with forehooves underneath her, facing away from the doorway, out the large window to the right of the bed. Her posture was perfect, the lines of her neck forming a gentle curve. A long, pointed horn emerged from her forehead, and a pair of wings rested against her sides. A sparkling, ethereal mane billowed out from her head, gently wafting in the aetheric wind, with a tail to match. There were only two ponies in existence that could even conceivably match such a description. Nightmare was one of them, and the other, her sister.

This was not her sister. 

Though difficult to see through the haze of shield spells, it was plain that this alicorn’s coat was entirely the wrong color. Celestia’s virgin-white could never be mistaken for the intruder’s darker color. While the exact shade was obscured by darkness and Nightmare’s protective spells, it was something at the cooler end of the spectrum. And while the intruder may have shared the ever-flowing mane and tail with Celestia (and indeed, Nightmare herself), the colors were all wrong. Instead of an early morning dawn, they were those of the day coming to rest: a deep golden-orange at the edges, shading gently to a large field of darkest blue, with a single streak of brilliant violet in the middle. The intruder was also smaller than Celestia. She seemed to be the same size as Nightmare’s own weaker self. For a moment, Nightmare considered the possibility that it might be Cadenza, but the mane color was all wrong, and the attitude didn’t match what she knew of the jumped-up pegasus. 

Thoroughly off-balance, Nightmare slipped into what was natural when threatened. Anger.

"What is the meaning of this?" She hissed. "I could disintegrate you in an instant, worm!"

And then, before Nightmare could continue, the intruder’s horn glowed gently, and every single one of Nightmare’s protective spells vanished. They weren’t smashed, or destroyed or anything so vulgar—instead, it felt as though her connection to them had been neatly severed. Without a power source, each one vanished without any further fuss.

Nightmare’s openmouthed gape was punctuated with the sound of her bedroom door—now bereft of supporting telekinesis—clattering to the floor.

"I was hoping we could just talk. Would you join me, please?" the intruder asked—asked! As though she hadn’t just effortlessly dismantled Nightmare!—politely. "It’ll only be for a few minutes, and then I’ll go. If you’d like, I can just leave without disturbing you any further. I really would appreciate some of your time though."

Instantly suspicious, Nightmare scoffed. "You must think me a fool."

The other alicorn slowly levitated a small, silver ring over to Nightmare. "If it would make you more comfortable," she said, "You can use this on me. You’re welcome to inspect it."

Nightmare tilted her head in confusion for a moment, cautiously taking the ring into her own telekinetic field. As she slowly moved it toward her face for closer inspection, her eyes widened. Its purpose was abundantly clear—it was a magic suppression ring, meant to encircle a horn. She has never seen one so deeply-inscribed with runes of warding, however. This wasn’t some cheap potmetal ring that the guards used to bring in unruly unicorns. This was finely-detailed custom work, designed to suppress the magic of an immensely powerful creature, and produced with great care. 

Nightmare paused for a long moment, continuing to inspect the ring. "This is a magic suppression ring," she ventured. At the intruder’s nod, she continued, "You would permit this to be used on you?"

The other alicorn nodded again. "If it would make you more comfortable, yes." She turned toward Nightmare, and inclined her head slightly, silhouetting her horn against the night sky. "You’re welcome to put it on if you’d like."

Nightmare’s heart was still hammering a drumbeat against her ribcage. In a small, hysterical part of her mind, she was surprised that the other mare hadn’t heard it yet. She inspected the ring for a moment longer, before running a battery of scrying and inspection spells on it. Those few spells that weren’t nullified by the anti-magic enchantments and runes reported exactly what she would expect from a completely ordinary—albeit absurdly powerful—magic suppression ring. She took a deep breath. She could delay no further. The intruder had effectively put her into a corner. If she refused to use the thing, she left herself vulnerable to a being that had, moments ago, effortlessly deconstructed every single one of her defenses. However, if she did use the ring, then she would be admitting, both to the intruder and to herself, that she felt threatened enough to need the extra protection. That she was weak.

Still. There was pride, and there was foolishness. With no further fanfare, she slid the ring home onto the intruder’s horn. As she did, there was a quiet roaring in her ears, as though they had been blocked, and were suddenly cleared. Simultaneously, she felt a prickling all along her coat, and the small hairs along the base of her skull stood up. She repressed a shiver and took a second look at the intruder.

The intruder’s mane and tail now hung limp, deafened to the invisible flow of magic suffusing the air. They lost none of their radiance however, and the intruder retained both their horn and wings. That ruled out the possibility of illusion magic. A combination of practical disguises was still a possibility—a talented enough artisan could certainly craft believable-looking wings, and with enough care (and dye), one could conceivably achieve such a mane and tail. It would, however, be next to impossible to fake the effects of muting the intruder’s magic. There had been a true and palpable hush in the aether when the ring had slipped over her horn. The conclusion seemed inescapable—this intruder, despite all sense, was a fourth, heretofore unknown, fully-grown alicorn.

Nightmare wasted no time, and rushed the intruder, seized her telekinetically, dragged her across the room, and thrust her up against the wall next to the door. "Who are you?" She growled.

The intruder winced at the rough treatment, before favoring Nightmare with a sunny smile. "Hello! My name is Twilight Sparkle. It’s nice to see you again, Luna."