//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: I've Seen Decay // Story: For Want of a Horseshoe // by PingZing //------------------------------// "I want to make sure I've got this right. You called her a 'vain, pretty tyrant'? And then you teleport-flounced out?" "I—! I didn't flounce!" "Sure, I'll bet you just said something about doing something useful before making a dramatic exit." "Exactly!" "Pretty sure that's a classic flounce, Twily. I think your friend Rarity's rubbed off on you a bit!" "Hmph. You're not really helping, you know." "Well, way I see it, I guarantee she's been called worse. If she's set herself up as big bad queen of this other Equestria, she's a big girl. She can take it." "...I'm worried she can't. I don't think she had anypony she can trust. Not really. I was supposed to try to be that pony, but I made a real mess of that." "Well, then try again. You're the Princess of Friendship, and I know that if anyone can make friends with an alternate, evil Luna, it's you." "...you really think so?" "Twily, you became the Alicorn of Friendship—that's a capital F—and the fourth alicorn in history because being friends is kind of your thing. So yeah, I'm pretty sure." "You're right. You're absolutely right! Thanks, Shiny. I'm sure things will work out just fine." For Want of a Horseshoe I've Seen Decay The scope of her failure was staggering. Her kingdom had been in steady decline for the duration of her rule, and she had been the last to know. After returning from her fact-finding mission and regaining her wits, the first thing she had done was review the food and agriculture reports. She wanted to know for certain—had she been deceived, or merely blind? The answer, as it usually was for such things, turned out to be a little of both. The information had been there, but it had in small print, or hidden in dense tables of information with no previous results cross-indexed, or as in one infuriating case, concealed by understatement: "Farmers report yields below expectations". She had investigated the sources behind that report and discovered that 'below expectations' translated to 'complete harvest failure'. Her first step had been confronting her seneschal, a mare named Soft Whisper. Nightmare had burst into Soft Whisper's office, pinned her to the wall and demanded the truth. To Soft Whisper's credit, she had not spent long panicking; Nightmare had extracted a stammered confession and justification within minutes. At first, Soft Whisper had been afraid of Nightmare, and had just been looking for influence. Then, when the first reports of the Sun Days had come in, she'd been afraid of reporting failure. Now, at the end of it all, she'd been paralyzed by the weight of her lies and a fear of everything. Nightmare was disgusted with her now-former seneschal's selfishness and cowardice, and furious that she had allowed such a pathetic excuse for a pony a position of power under her. Before being thrown in the dungeon, Soft Whisper had claimed she had acted alone, but Nightmare couldn’t believe that. If it were true, it would mean that Nightmare had no one to blame for her blindness but herself. She swayed on her hooves, and her vision swam for a moment. Her head was pounding, and by her own reckoning, the late night had become an early morning. She gritted her teeth as another wave of dizziness swept over her. Even immortal alicorn queens had their limits, and it seemed that she had found hers. A cross-country teleportation tour and world-shaking revelations about one's rule were enough to drive any mare to exhaustion. She drew herself up one last time and focused on not dragging her hooves as she made the long walk up to her chambers. The journey passed in a hazy blur, and before she knew it, she was alone and free to collapse to bed. Several hours had passed. She was surveying herself in the vanity mirror. Her coat was matted and tangled and would make the quality of her sleep (had she slept?) apparent to anypony with eyes. With a frustrated grunt, she levitated a stiff-bristled brush from her bedside table and settled in. A rattling sound drew her eyes down and she discovered that the brush was trembling in her telekinetic grip. She closed her eyes and, as the trembling intensified, took a deep breath. After a long moment, she let it out, and the trembling abated enough to begin brushing her coat. She grumbled wordlessly; her sister would have had hoofmaidens for this. No hoofmaidens for the Queen of the Night, she thought to herself. Once groomed and presentable, she paused with one foreleg in the air, hoof poised inches away from her door. Another deep breath later, and she was striding down the hall, flanked by the wall-to-ceiling windows and, to her annoyance, a pair of guards. After Twilight Sparkle's dramatic departure the night before, she had reluctantly posted guards outside her bedchamber doors, and was already regretting the decision. Pragmatism had won out over pride however, and outside they would remain. She kept her gaze fixed upon the large double doors at the opposite end of the hall. Just beyond the spiral staircase that led down to the throne room, the doors occupied the entire far wall. Stained black and inlaid with a full moon bisected by the gap between the doors, they concealed her destination. She pushed the huge doors open, revealing a small platform, and the open sky. The platform had no railing, and jutted out from the castle's central spire, directly over the front gate. Any pony standing there would naturally be the center of attention. This was by design, as it was where Nightmare Moon raised the moon at the beginning of each day and lowered it again at the end. She stood on the platform for a long moment, staring at nothing while an errant gust moaned through a gap in the stonework. Then, with her horn alight, she teased the moon into motion over the horizon. She allowed the glow around her horn to fade and exhaled. Something more than breath escaped her as she did so, and she sagged. Your queen calls you to service, Equestria, she thought numbly. Awaken. It was time to begin the day and end her solitude. She walked inside and made for the stairwell, and her two guards fell in behind her, silent shadows drawn in her wake. Her path led to her office, a small unassuming room tucked behind her throne, with an expansive wooden desk topped by polished ebony. The front of the desk had a small white moon inlay that matched the crescent moon on Nightmare's flank. The top of the desk was kept immaculately neat. The only things atop it were an ebony jar filled with white quills, an inkpot, and a small filing tray. She turned to the guard at her right side, a gray bat pony stallion. "Send for the archwitch." The guard saluted wordlessly and left. Nightmare turned to the other guard, a dark pink unicorn mare. "I am expecting Captain Rainbow Dash as well. If she arrives, inform her that she is to wait outside for my summons." The unicorn gave a sloppy salute, but Nightmare had already turned away and closed the door. She spent a moment reviewing the profiles on the head witch of the royal coven and her captain of the guard. The archwitch was a unicorn mare named Violet Lotus. She'd been a senior professor at the Manehattan University of Applied Thaumaturgics and had been one of the first to express an interest in joining Nightmare Moon's newly-formed Royal Coven of Witchcraft. There came a knock at the door, and the bat pony guard opened the door to Nightmare's office a crack. "Archwitch Violet Lotus to see you, your majesty." "Enter," she said, rolling one forehoof. When Violet Lotus entered Queen Nightmare Moon's office, she was greeted by the monarch in question watching her through narrowed eyes, the queen's chin propped up on crossed forehooves. Violet Lotus gulped. What followed were a series of increasingly-baffling questions, however. Questions about agricultural yield, or the effects of intense sunlight on ponies of weakened constitution and finally—most confusing—the disposition of ponies with regards to her Queen's rule. Violet Lotus stared at her ruler blankly for a long moment, before she was forced to shrug. "I'm sorry your majesty, but my work doesn't really take me out of the castle. I would assume… good? The rest of the royal coven seems pleased enough, at least." Nightmare held Violet Lotus' gaze long enough for the smaller mare to begin sweating nervously and glancing around. Had she missed something? Finally, Nightmare sighed. "Dismissed, Archwitch. Return to your research." Violet Lotus blinked and bowed low before scurrying out of the room. Nightmare sighed and rubbed her temples. While it was a relief that her royal coven hadn't been engaged in conspiracy to conceal information from her or destroy Equestria (or both), she was troubled to find that an entire arm of her government was blind to concerns outside the castle and themselves. It was probably her fault, she thought, frowning. When she had first been establishing herself and rebuilding the castle in the Everfree, she had prized loyalty above all other attributes in those she recruited to join her. Anypony willing to devote oneself so quickly to what must seem like a conquering invader would require a certain moral myopia. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that her staff were unaware of, or unconcerned by the state of the rest of Equestria… Her thoughts were interrupted by a second knock at her door. The bat pony stallion opened the door a crack and said, "Captain Rainbow Dash, your majesty." Nightmare waved a hoof absentmindedly, and the door was swung wide, allowing Nightmare Moon's captain of the guard to enter. Rainbow Dash's stride lacked its usual swagger, and dark circles etched lines under her eyes, lending them a bruised appearance. Her mane, normally immaculately shaved to regulation length, had a thin fuzz of prismatic stubble along her scalp lining the central strip of mane. She stopped a short distance from her queen's desk and delivered a salute. "Captain Rainbow Dash reporting as requested, your majesty." Nightmare Moon peered at the captain for several long, silent moments. After the silence stretched uncomfortably, she picked up several scattered papers on her desk and shuffled them together in her hooves. Finally, she looked away from Rainbow Dash as she set the papers aside. "Captain, would you describe yourself as hard of hearing?" Rainbow Dash's expression remained stoic. "Ma'am?" "Because," Nightmare continued, "I believe my precise words to you yesterday were to report to me 'first thing tomorrow'. Given that it has now been some time since the day began, I am forced to conclude that you simply misheard me. So—I ask you again. Are you suffering difficulties hearing, Captain?" Nightmare met Rainbow Dash's eyes again. The other mare was now visibly sweating, and carefully keeping her gaze just above and to the left of Nightmare's face. "No, ma'am, no problems with my hearing," she managed. "Good," Nightmare said, leaning back. "I would hate for the head of the Night Guard to be suffering from any physical malady. It does beg the question, however: what was so important that it kept you from an appointment with your queen?" Rainbow Dash shuffled nervously. "I was… flying some personal reconnaissance, ma'am." Ah. She had suspected as much, but it was good to have confirmation. "And how fare Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres?" Rainbow Dash blinked, and her expression shifted to one of naked surprise. "How did you…?" Nightmare sighed, exhaustion briefly clouding her features. "After what you heard last night, I would be surprised if you had done any less." Rainbow Dash tensed and took a step forward. "Is it true, then? All that was your fault?" Yesterday, Nightmare would not have let such blatant insolence pass. But after her own "personal reconnaissance" the previous day, it all felt like so much playacting. She sighed. "You are owed answers, Captain. But first, I will have something from you," she said. "Tell me why you joined the Night Guard." Rainbow Dash's expression was guarded. "We… talked about this yesterday. Lots of ponies join the guard to try to do some good. I'm not much different." Nightmare studied the blue pegasus for a moment. "I've seen your records. Consistently among the top achievers in your flight classes. A second-bolt black belt in the Gentle Feather style. Extreme personal ambition, with the drive to match. Prime Wonderbolt material before my return, and Shadowbolt material afterward. And of course, the only pegasus in living memory to have performed the mythical sonic rainboom. The life of a humble guard hardly seems," Nightmare paused, "fitting." Rainbow Dash scoffed. "I'm a guard captain, aren't I?" Nightmare held Rainbow Dash's gaze, unbothered by the pegasus' rudeness. "I'd like to hear it in your own words. This is my condition for the answers you seek." Rainbow grimaced. "Fine. When I was a filly, I saw a unicorn and an al—another unicorn fighting in the air. And I thought it was totally cool. Before that, all I'd ever thought about were the Wonderbolts. But after seeing that? I realized unicorns and fighting were pretty cool too. I started taking martial arts classes. I thought about joining the old Royal Guard a few times, but ugh, Canterlot." Rainbow shrugged. "I had a friend who moved to Ponyville, and they had an opening on their weather team. It wasn't really what I wanted, but hey," she shrugged, "it was a pretty cushy gig, especially because I was way overqualified for it." Rainbow paused and stared directly at Nightmare. "And then… you came back. "Suddenly here's this big new alicorn who's even cooler than the one from before, and she needs guards. I gotta admit, I wasn't really sure about you at first. But once you started rebuilding this castle here," she said gesturing at their surroundings, "you started clearing out the Everfree. My Ponyville friend sometimes went in there—still does, actually—and she got trapped by a pack of timberwolves. I heard her scream and showed up just in time to see you blasting the tar out of 'em like pow, bam, whoosh!" Rainbow exclaimed, gesticulating wildly with her forelegs and wings. She froze after a moment, coughed, and resumed a more formal stance. "Anyway, I figured anyone who saves a friend of mine can't be all bad. Joined up the next day. Few years later, here I am." Nightmare frowned thoughtfully. "I cannot say I recall that. Though she would've hardly been the only pony I rescued from an untimely meeting with the wolves around that period." She allowed a thoughtful silence to descend briefly before grimacing. "You have met my demands captain. Now, I shall uphold my end of our agreement." Rainbow Dash straightened, turning to face her queen completely. Nightmare stood and held Rainbow Dash's gaze. "In answer to your question: yes. All of what you saw last night was my fault." Rainbow Dash gaped for a moment before she begun sputtering incoherently. Nightmare Moon held up a hoof and closed her eyes. "For what little good it does," she said quietly, "the current state of affairs is the result of neglect. It was not my intention to destroy Equestria by degrees. I have no desire to rule over graveyards and ashes." "Wh... how could you not notice?!" Rainbow Dash exploded. Nightmare sighed and looked away. "The same way you did, I imagine. Being busy and focused on one's own affairs. It did not help that one of my trusted advisors was intentionally keeping vital information from me. That does not excuse my own negligence, however. It is a poor queen who cannot protect her subjects." "Well you're gonna fix it, right?" Rainbow Dash asked, edging closer, a hint of whine creeping into the end of her question. "I intend to try. Captain," Nightmare said, voice regaining its ring of regal authority. "should you choose to remain in my service, I have one command for you. Attend me on the balcony at tomorrow's moonrise. In either case, you are at liberty for the remainder of the day. I hope to see you there. Dismissed." Rainbow Dash blinked, saluted, rose into the air and flapped out, looking slightly dazed. Nightmare remained standing until the heavy, very-definitely-soundproofed door shut with a click. A flicker of telekinesis saw it locked. Then, she collapsed back into the chair behind her desk and allowed her forehead to fall onto the desk before her with a hollow thump. She massaged her temples in a vain attempt to soothe her growing headache. After several minutes of this, she let out a slow, long-suffering sigh. And all at once, she stood, shooting to her hooves with such force that her chair was propelled backward, skittering dangerously close to falling over before settling again with a slap of wood on stone. She could wallow later. For now, there was a kingdom to rule, and she had groundwork to lay. Nightmare kicked the bedchamber door shut behind her with a rear hoof, stood still for a moment, and then… slumped. Her posture resembled a puppet with every string cut save for one attached to her withers. After her meetings with Rainbow Dash and Violet Lotus, she had spent the rest of the day furiously—in every sense—administrating. If she was going to fix her mistakes, a great deal had to be set in motion. With Soft Whisper's betrayal, she'd had no one to bear the brunt of the legislative burden, so she had done it personally. She had never felt suited to the kind of exacting precision such work required; when they had ruled together, it had always been her sister's forte. She dragged her hooves across the floor, shedding her regalia as she did. The last thing to be removed was her helmet. As she lifted it off her head, she paused and simply stared at it, lost in thought. She had rarely worn her crown. Her preferred royal headgear had been that of a more martial variety, befitting a warrior more than a ruler or a diplomat. It had suited her—she'd been the tip of the spear when she and her sister had forged Equestria. First into the fray against the tribalist holdouts who refused to unify with the rest of ponykind, and again when Discord's brief reign had scattered chaotic monstrosities throughout the young kingdom. A thousand years ago, she'd been the general of Equestria's armies, feared for her battlefield tactics and personal prowess both. When she had returned from banishment and taken her place on the throne, she had named herself both Queen and general, only to discover that her sister's Equestria had no armies. It hadn't fought a war, either internal or external, in centuries. Because it hadn't needed to. Her sister had maintained peace through diplomatic maneuvering and trade agreements and convincing the neighboring kingdoms that really, wars were messy, troublesome business anyway, weren't they? And of course, each kingdom believed that they had reached that same conclusion entirely of their own volition. Still holding her helmet, Nightmare cast the spell that would open a window to her sister's prison. After the usual cascade of energies stabilized, there was a window in space floating in front of Nightmare's face, and beyond it lay her sister. Nightmare tried to imagine her sister, white and unblemished even in defeat, wearing headgear such as she now held. It was difficult, even having seen her in the shining golden battle gear of old. Her sister had not taken to the field often, but when she had, the enemy's defeat had been absolute. Nightmare's powers of darkness had been inescapable, but darkness was a quiet, subtle thing. The sun's fury, in comparison, was violent, and absolute. There were old battle sites even now, well over a thousand years later, where nothing lived or grew. But her sister had never worn anything more than her crown, despite Luna's pleas to the contrary. A ruler should not hide, she had said. Luna had thought her foolish and told her as much. Symbolism was well and good, but it wouldn't stop a crossbow bolt to the skull. But Celestia had been right, hadn't she? In her sister's absence, she had conquered, and ruthlessly imposed her will over the entire kingdom. And she had done it all without spilling a single drop of blood. The bedchamber was silent, save for the gentle humming of the portal, and the magical twinkling of Nightmare's magic. "I missed you terribly, you know," Celestia said. Nightmare started, and her expression twisted into a snarl. Surprise and embarrassment at being discovered warred within her. "And you were a fool!" she exclaimed. "Then and now, both!" She viciously cut power to the portal spell, and it flew apart, rattling all the loose furniture in her bedchamber. A pair of guards burst into the room, weapons drawn. "Your majesty, what's wrong?!" Nightmare buried her face in her hooves and let out a muffled scream of frustration. "It is nothing. Leave me!" Unseen by Nightmare, the two guards exchanged a concerned glance before retreating, and closed the door behind them. Nightmare let out a long-suffering sigh and, with a final look at her helmet, opened a closet, levitated the helmet inside, and shut the door after it. The next morning, Nightmare stood on the moon-raising balcony, filled with a sense of purpose that she hadn't felt since the day reconstruction of the castle had been completed. She was unable to completely suppress little tremors of anticipation from ruffling her wings. She turned at the sound of hooves on stone and beheld an approaching Rainbow Dash. As they made eye contact, Rainbow Dash abruptly stopped, stared, and blinked for a moment before continuing. Nightmare waited for Rainbow Dash to approach and salute before answering it with one of her own. She almost smiled at Rainbow Dash's poorly-hidden stare. "I'm gladdened to have you join me, Captain. Is something the matter?" Rainbow Dash's eyes widened before she looked away guiltily. "Uh, sorry your majesty. I've just never seen you without your helmet." Nightmare turned back toward the rest of Equestria. "Few have." After a moment's mutual silence, she continued, "Do you know why I've asked you to join me here, Captain?" "No, ma'am. I've been wondering." Truthfully, so have I. Her not-quite-command to the captain had been a spur-of-moment impulse. It had felt right, for reasons she struggled to identify. "I imagine the news of yesterday's edicts caused some stir within the castle." Rainbow Dash nodded. The queen's flurry of legislation yesterday had been all anyone would talk about. Huge withdrawals of forces from the borders, with the majority being redirected to agrarian areas, and a significant minority to larger population centers. Many of the Royal Coven's current projects had been put on indefinite hold in favor of medical and agricultural research. The establishment of several funds earmarked for use by pegasus cities for reconstruction. "I assumed it had something to do with what you told me yesterday. About fixing things." "That would be correct. What we're doing up here will be the final part of the initial effort," Nightmare said, turning her head slightly to look at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash frowned. "I don't think I get how raising the moon is going to help." Queen Nightmare Moon finally smiled. "That, captain, is because I will not be raising the moon." A corona of teal light shot through with streaks of gold wreathed her horn and began to pulse. And for the first time in years, a gentle golden glow slowly suffused the eastern horizon as a tiny slice of the sun peeked over it. A single ray of light escaped to strike the stones of the castle balcony. Rainbow Dash flinched, and years of Sun Days caused her to reflexively raise a wing to protect her face. Then, she paused, and cautiously lowered the upraised wing, peering up over the top of it. "Ma'am?" She asked tremulously, "Is this... a normal sunrise?" The multihued light around Nightmare's horn faded, and she took a deep breath. "Yes," she said quietly. "The night must end, Captain. It has taken me far too long to realize that. There will be an official announcement of the details tomorrow. But for today... I thought that the least I could give to our wounded kingdom was a new dawn." Nightmare turned to leave the balcony with Rainbow Dash just behind. Rainbow Dash maintained a thoughtful silence as she accompanied Nightmare down the stairs, the two guards silently failing in behind the pair. Finally, she said, "That's what all of yesterday was about. You're redirecting all our resources to growing food. Treating the sick." Our resources, Nightmare noticed. Not 'your'. "Among other things, yes." There was another thoughtful silence as Nightmare led Rainbow Dash into the office behind the throne room. The two guards took up their positions outside the door. "Ma'am?" Rainbow Dash began hesitantly. "There's... one more question I had, about the other night." After it became apparent that there was no more would be forthcoming, Nightmare prompted the captain. "Yes?" "The," and here, Rainbow Dash's face twisted up, clearly uncomfortable with the phrase, "other alicorn. The one that the prisoner called Twilight." Nightmare tensed. She had realized that her captain of the guard would have questions, but it had now occurred to her that she was completely unprepared to answer them. "Was she the same one that was here about a week ago?" Nightmare suppressed a wince. She would have preferred to avoid the topic altogether, but it was clearly too much to have asked for. "In a manner of speaking, yes. You recall what she told us about time travel during her original visit?" At Rainbow Dash's nod, Nightmare continued, "The alicorn you met last night was the same you met previously but separated by a gulf of years. I am uncertain precisely how many." Rainbow Dash visibly hesitated again before opening her mouth. "I'm... pretty sure that last week wasn't the first time I saw her." Nightmare Moon stared. Blinked. "Expla—", she began. She was, however, rudely interrupted by heavy tremors running through the stones of the castle, followed immediately by sound of an explosion. Nightmare shot to her hooves and wrenched the office door open with telekinesis. "Report!", she barked. Instead of the expected pair of alert and combat-ready guards she expected, what she got was a single guard lying in a crumpled heap on the ground. Rainbow Dash darted forward, skimming scant inches off the ground. She crouched next to the fallen stallion for a moment, checking his breathing and pulse before straightening. "Alive, steady breathing, no sign of injuries." She turned to Nightmare. "Magical?" Nightmare approached and ran a cursory diagnostic spell over the unconscious guard and nodded. "Sleep spell, from short range. Powerful." Rainbow Dash nodded. "Dispellable? Might be able to tell us about his attacker." Nightmare... hesitated. A month ago, she might've said 'yes' without a second thought. Now... "No, not safely. Removing the spell matrix now could cause mental trauma," she said. And, after another moment's consideration added, "And from a caster this powerful, it might have dangerous failsafes built in that would only trigger on a forced dispel. No, we search for the explosion," she concluded. "With me!" Nightmare galloped out her office, combining her long stride with bursts of speed granted by flaps of her great wings. A surprised Rainbow Dash spent several crucial moments gawping before taking to the air and matching Nightmare's speed. "Where are we going?" she asked. "The dungeons," Nightmare replied grimly. Between the angle of the tremors and an instinctual suspicion that circumvented conscious thought altogether, she was certain that was their destination. The trail of magically-sleeping guards leading toward the dungeons was a strong hint too. "TO ARMS!" she boomed, her use of the Royal Voice lending a percussive ring to an already-legendary talent for vocalization. "INVADERS WITHIN THE CASTLE!" She skidded around a corner at speed, metallic hoofguards kicking up sparks as she did so. At the end of the hall, a surprised-looking dark pink unicorn mare barded in the armor of the Night Guard, was frozen in the act of emerging from the dungeon stairwell. A pit formed in Nightmare's stomach and she bared her fangs. "Betrayal... " she whispered. "Wait!" Rainbow Dash whispered urgently, still hovering at Nightmare's side. "She's not one of ours. I'd recognize her if she was!" Nightmare's eyes widened. "An infiltrator." And narrowed. "Well, then..." she added, baring her fangs in a smile this time. By now, the unicorn had recovered, though her eyes were still wide with fear. She'd been exposed at the top of a narrow stairwell, and while the hallway they were all standing in was wide enough to comfortably accommodate five ponies standing side-by-side, she had no cover. The nearest rooms that led off the hallway were halfway between Nightmare and the unicorn, with nothing but empty space in between. The unicorn, unwilling (or unable) to retreat, instead opted for audacity. She took several quick steps forward and fired a rapid volley of raw magical blasts. Nightmare raised a shield contemptuously and was surprised when the hastily-constructed bolts hit her shield with enough force to stagger her. A powerful spellcaster, then, she noted. She shored up her shield before pumping it full of enough energy to withstand several powerful blasts, then anchored it several paces ahead of her. It was no longer tied directly to her, and she was free to work at other spells. All she needed was a few seconds. While the unicorn hammered away at Nightmare's rapidly-depleting shield, Nightmare prepared a spell of her own. She waited for a brief lull in the blasts of energy pounding away at her shield before abruptly dropping it and launching a coruscating ball of energy from the end of her horn. The unicorn shrieked, raised a shield of her own, and covered her face with her forelegs. The ball of energy that Nightmare had launched was intentionally oversized, swirling with streaks of teal, dark blue and poisonous green. Instants before it impacted the unicorn's shield, Nightmare wrapped herself and Rainbow Dash in a thick, opaque shield spell. She waited for the tremor of detonation to pass before dropping the shield and sighting on the unicorn's position. Despite appearances, Nightmare's spell had been intended to stun—it had unleashed a blast of concussive light and sound, temporarily blinding and deafening those subjected to it. Instead, as the dust cleared, Nightmare found the unicorn looked dazed, but unharmed. In front of her, were a trio of unicorns with their eyes tightly shut and streaming tears, but maintaining powerful, interlocked shield spells. "They must have come out just after you put up your shield," Rainbow Dash groaned. "Looks like they got a face full of your blast though, hah!" That was when pegasi began streaming out of the dungeon stairwell. They formed up above the unicorns, thin plates of light armor flashing in the light. Nightmare scowled and weaved a spell to increase the local gravity above the enemy pegasi. Several tumbled to the floor immediately, while two remained in the air, wings laboring to keep their suddenly-increased weight aloft. "Captain," Nightmare grunted through the effort of maintaining the spell, "Deal with any pegasi that break through. I will handle the rest." "Yes ma'am," Rainbow Dash said, and moved above and ahead of Nightmare. "No way any of them get through me!" Her assertion was soon tested, as two of the still-airborne pegasi struggled through the high-gravity zone, and broke into the open air beyond it. Rainbow Dash didn't wait for them; instead, she streaked out into the middle of the hallway to meet them on her own terms. Nightmare winced at the sound when Rainbow Dash collided with her opponent—a muted clung! followed an abbreviated squawk of surprise. There was a complicated moment, full of rapid motion from Rainbow Dash, then the enemy pegasus tumbled out from the air and fell, senseless, to the floor below. Without wasting an instant, Rainbow Dash aimed a powerful flap of her wings at the other pegasus, who was still on approach. Rainbow Dash was propelled backward and upward, and the other pegasus swooped downward to avoid the blast of turbulent air. Rainbow Dash, now with a height advantage, arrowed her body toward the other pegasus, leading with a single rear hoof. She connected with devastating speed directly between the other pegasus' wing joints, sending him tumbling to the ground with a surprised yelp. He rolled bonelessly for a moment before coming to a stop in a groaning heap. "Who else wants some?!" Rainbow Dash cried, resuming her guard position above and before Nightmare. Meanwhile, two other unicorns had emerged, and joined the dark pink infiltrator in lighting horns in an effort to counter Nightmare's gravity spell. A yellow mare, one of the newcomer unicorns, allowed her horn to fall dark for a moment. The rebel party all flinched, as the increased weight bore down on them once again. The unicorn mare then shouted, "Left side, drop the shield!" to her comrade. The still-blinded unicorn maintaining the shield at the front complied, and the leftmost section of the shield rippled and vanished. The newcomer unicorn immediately seized the fallen pegasi still lying in the center of the hall and yanked them into the relative safety of the rebel formation with her telekinesis. "Up again!" she shouted at the shield unicorn, who immediately complied. The yellow unicorn rejoined the effort of neutralizing Nightmare's spell, and the entire rebel party stood straighter as the force bearing down on them was reduced once again. "Captain," Nightmare ground out, "I can deal with these insects alone, but you will need to remove yourself. There will be... collateral damage." Upon hearing this, one of the pegasi who had been struck down by the gravity spell frantically struggled into the air and beyond the gravity spell, desperately winging toward the dark queen. "Yes ma'am!" Rainbow Dash said, darting forward. "Let me just swat this one for you and I'll get outta your way!" Then, everything went wrong. The rebel pegasus abruptly doubled back before Rainbow Dash had made it halfway down the hall. The unicorns at the front of the rebel formation dropped their shields simultaneously, allowing a clear view of what lay behind them. The dark pink unicorn had not been countering Nightmare's gravity spell, but instead, had been building up an enormous ball of rippling, dark teal magical energy. In order to conceal it from Nightmare and Rainbow Dash, she had extended her magical field behind her. As a result, the growing ball of energy had, instead of forming at the tip of her horn, formed just above the floor, behind her rear hooves. As a result, it had been concealed by the distortion of the shields, and the rebels' own bodies. The infiltrator unicorn, straining with effort, heaved the pulsing ball up and over her body, to the tip of her horn. Then, before Nightmare or Rainbow Dash could react, carefully applied a powerful pulse of magical to the ball, and sent it streaking forward. Straight toward Rainbow Dash. Nightmare's eyes widened, and her concentration faltered. The gravity spell sputtered and failed, but she had eyes only for her captain of the guard, and the sizzling, spitting ball of magical death that was on a rapid collision course with her. Out of time, she shoved energy into her horn and released it in the form of the world's messiest, least efficient teleport. There was a moment of disassociation and then she returned to reality, in front of Rainbow Dash, staring down a ball of arcane destruction. For a split second, she locked eyes with the infiltrator unicorn mare, and saw vicious triumph in them. Then, she was out of time. The ball was an incredibly simple construct—a thin shell of solid magic that contained and compressed an enormous amount of raw, magical energy. Upon contact with a solid enough surface, the thin outer shell would break, allowing the energy inside to return itself—and anything unfortunate to be caught within a several meter radius—to a lower energy state at a terminally rapid rate. Any ordinary, unshielded magic user would be immediately vaporized by the ensuing explosion. If, somehow, they avoided immediate incineration in the resultant ball of heat, the force generated would be enough to send them hurtling into unforgiving stone at speeds no mortal body was meant to withstand. Fortunately, Nightmare Moon was neither an ordinary magic user, nor did she possess a merely mortal body. Just before impact, she leveled her horn parallel to the ground, flared her wings, and braced her hooves. She gritted her teeth as the impact shoved her several inches backward, hoofguards scraping against stone. The ball of energy now balanced on the edge of her horn strained, trying to come undone. The energy within vibrated through her, setting her whole body abuzz as the energy within crackled and spat like a thousand lightning bolts. She closed her eyes and focused her magic, and she poured every iota of her magical reserves into maintaining the outer shell's integrity. It felt like attempting contain a tsunami with nothing but a thin blanket. And every moment she held it, the pressure grew worse. A heartbeat into her effort, Nightmare realized that it was futile; there was too much energy to absorb or dissipate. She opened her eyes and was surprised to find an expression of mounting horror on the infiltrator mare's face. In a flash she realized that the spell had been formed with very specific intent; the longer she spent allowing it to grow, the more destruction it would cause. And with Nightmare's efforts at control unwittingly pumping energy into it, it had grown beyond her attacker's expectations. But the attempt had bought her precious instants, and when obstruction would not suffice, then perhaps redirection would... A bare flicker of her eyes to the left to confirm her location, and she wrenched her head right, willing the ball of magic to remain planted at her horn's tip. Then, Nightmare heaved to the left with her entire body, ending with a whistling flick of her horn. The ball of magic was launched away at speed into the open doorway to her left. Nightmare allowed momentum to carry her, continuing her spin away from the doorway and flung a foreleg over the still-braking Rainbow Dash, bearing her to the floor. Nightmare followed, desperately throwing up the strongest shield she could muster. The ball of magic, finally removed from any containing force and with outer shell frayed beyond any salvation, sped into the small room and out of sight. For a moment, there was stillness. Then, the ball's outer shell snapped, contracted, and dissipated with in inaudible pop! and eagerly unleashed its explosive payload. Light and overwhelming pressure hammered against Nightmare's still-forming shield, transferring terrible force to Nightmare herself. She felt the hammer blow of force in her gut, before it rattled up through her hooves. She poured more power into her shield, the only thing standing between herself and the leviathan pressing against her. Finally, after interminable moments, the pressure abated to something bearable. Without wasting a moment, Nightmare rapidly expanded the shield, feeling several heavy somethings slide off the growing dome before crashing to the floor with reverberating thumps. She dismissed the shield to survey the situation. Stone dust filled the air, reducing visibility and rendering the distant shapes of the rebels into hazy silhouettes. The hall's left wall was entirely gone. So was the leftmost wall of the room beyond, exposing the interior of the castle to the cool night air and the forest beyond. At the upper corner of the new hole in her castle, surrounded by shattered stone and broken timberwork, Nightmare saw the sagging corner of her moon-raising platform, now bereft of support. She turned, to find the area behind her littered with fallen stone blocks, shards of broken wood, and scorched bits of carpet and tapestry. And one shell-shocked purple alicorn, motes of violet energy still dissipating from her form, the swirling vortex caused by her arrival already vanishing. Her eyes were wide, and her mane windswept—or, more accurately, blastswept—and her wings were flared with surprise. "Is... this a bad time?" Twilight Sparkle asked. In the silence that followed, the castle's moon-raising balcony finally tore free and crashed to the ground.