"Well, I was talking to Shiny about it earlier, and I guess I wanted a second opinion. It's not proper science unless you have as many data points as possible, after all!"
"Oh, well. I'm glad that you wanted my opinion. But um, why are you asking me?"
"I thought this sort of thing would be very familiar to you!"
"Right. Um, what sort of thing would that be, exactly?"
"The handling of dangerous, aggressive creatures who feel injured or vulnerable, and need to be treated with delicacy and kindness, of course!"
"Just so I'm clear, we're talking about the alternate timeline's Nightmare Moon, right?"
"Yep!"
"Um, right. Well, I guess you could try treating her like an injured bear. You have to make sure she never feels cornered or trapped. Keep your distance, and make sure she doesn't feel like you're forcing her to do anything. Make sure she has a dark, safe place to retreat to with plenty of fruits and berries."
"Great! That's good advice. Except for that last part, maybe. I'm pretty sure she keeps most of her food in the castle kitchens."
"Oh. Sorry. Just, um. Do your best to let her take the lead. When you're really invested in things, you can be kind of... intense."
"Oh. Really?"
"Really."
Captain Rainbow Dash of the Night Guard strode stiffly out of the interrogation room and waited for the door to screech shut behind her. After the echo of its closing had died away, she doffed her helmet and arched forward with a groan, her wings upraised and straining. A series of pops from too-stiff joints were followed by a sigh of exhausted relief as she slumped back into a more relaxed position.
"What news?" An equally tired-looking Nightmare Moon asked. Her stance was as rigid and unyielding as ever, but lines had gathered beneath her eyes, and her ears were drooping ever so slightly.
Rainbow Dash rubbed a hoof between her eyes in a vain attempt to soothe a growing headache. "Looks like the mare in the stolen armor led the assault, sort of. Name of Starlight Glimmer." Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at Nightmare Moon's brief look of surprise. "You know her?"
Nightmare shook her head. "By reputation, in a manner of speaking. Continue."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "She's been in the castle for a little while now. The rebellion somehow got their hooves on a set of Night Guard armor, and she snuck in during a shift change. Used some mental persuasion magic to throw off any suspicion whenever she got stopped. She managed to put that sleep spell into a rune on the inside of a lot of the Guard's armor. She just triggered it and pow!" She stomped a hoof for emphasis. "Most of the Guard out like lights. No long-term effects. She thinks," Rainbow Dash added with a growl.
"How did they get into the castle?" Nightmare Moon asked. "A single unicorn should not have been enough to disable the teleportation wards, even from within."
"That uh, may have been my fault," came an embarrassed-sounding admission from the violet alicorn standing next to Nightmare Moon. "When I... er, left, the other night, I put the teleportation wards back up behind me, but I did kind of a sloppy job. Sorry," Twilight Sparkle said, ducking her head. "I didn't expect them to do something so reckless! I even told Sunburst that they should suspend operations for a little while..." She muttered.
Nightmare grunted and said nothing in response. She turned back to Rainbow Dash. "Did she offer any explanation for their numbers? Surely they did not expect to face the Queen of the Night with such a paltry force."
Rainbow Dash grimaced. "That's where things get stupid. They sent her down here without any real way of getting a message back. They could send her a 'get out' signal, or a 'go now' signal, but that was it. She gets the 'go now' signal this morning and has no choice but to play her part. So, she sleeps the Guard, runs for the weak spot in the wards, and blasts a hole in the dungeon walls. Something about that's enough to open a hole in the wards big enough to get ponies inside. She still has no idea what lit a fire under their tails though."
Nightmare closed her eyes and huffed a sigh. "But then you questioned the others, and they told you that they saw the sunrise as a sign." She opened her eyes and met Rainbow Dash's surprised expression. "They expected to arrive in the castle just in time to render aid to my recently-escaped sister. Yes?"
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Uh. Yeah, pretty much ma'am. How'd you know?"
Nightmare turned and waved a wing for the other two to follow. "Call it a hunch," she muttered bitterly. After a moment of walking in silence, she continued, "Have any prisoners still in interrogation transferred to the cells. They are to be treated gently."
Rainbow Dash paused, frowning. "Ma'am?"
Nightmare stopped and turned to face Rainbow Dash fully. "They acted out of love and desperation, in the face of overwhelming and terrifying odds. They share our goal—a better Equestria. Ensure that the rest of the castle is aware of that, Captain."
Rainbow Dash donned her helmet again and gave an enthusiastic salute. "Yes ma'am!" She took to the air and sped off, already barking orders at the guards posted outside the interrogation rooms.
After watching Rainbow Dash at work for a moment, Nightmare turned away and resumed walking, pointedly ignoring her purple alicorn-shaped shadow.
Twilight Sparkle broke the silence. "You've changed," she said. When Nightmare didn't respond, she continued in gentle tones, like one would use with a crying foal. "What happened?"
Nightmare scoffed. "Spare me your false compassion, Twilight Sparkle. I can see the echoes of my sister in you and am no more moved by you than I was her."
"What makes you so sure it's false?" Twilight Sparkle asked, turning to look at Nightmare, her expression open and guileless.
Nightmare merely scowled and remained silent.
Nightmare had made her way back to her chambers, trailed by an unusually-silent Twilight Sparkle. Along the way, she had sent a runner to the archwitch with a brief summary of this morning's events. Between Archwitch Violet Lotus and Captain Rainbow Dash, she trusted the castle's rumor mill to do an adequate job of informing the rest of the castle staff. Indeed, she'd had two members of the Night Guard forming up behind her as she entered the throne room. While they didn't say anything, their looks of mingled concern and awe told her that Rainbow Dash must have already gotten to them personally. She had no objections if it resulted in a more diligent Night Guard.
"Are you sure about this?" Twilight Sparkle asked, nervously running a thread of magic through her mane, smoothing down flyaway strands.
Nightmare opened her mouth to respond to Twilight Sparkle, and no sound emerged. She closed her mouth and looked away. Her chambers were still and quiet. The late morning sun made them feel alien and oppressive, and the glare gave her a headache. Her eyelids itched, something that only happened when she was approaching exhaustion—it was a feeling she was growing uncomfortably familiar with. Her survey of the room drifted to the closet, and her thoughts stilled, considering the helmet hidden within.
She let out a slow sigh.
"Truly, Twilight Sparkle? I cannot believe this was not your goal from the start. Do not patronize me by claiming otherwise." She paused. "Besides which, it has become abundantly clear," she said, throwing a meaningful look at the other alicorn, "That Equestria's wounds are too grievous for my hooves alone. I have neither the reputation, nor the mien to do what is required. Now, silence. I must concentrate."
Nightmare closed her eyes and focused upon her link to the moon. First, was the manifestation chamber. A last resort should her sister have broken free, it was a hollow chamber deep within the moon, festooned with physical trip wires designed to alert Nightmare in the event that any were triggered. She ignored it for the moment, and moved on.
Next, the various magical charms meant to serve as alarms. Here was one that scanned for her sister's unique magical signature. Another that triggered upon detecting any solar magic. Another still that scanned for her sister's mane color. She snorted, and rolled her still-closed eyes at that.
Finally, the prison itself.
To her magical senses, it appeared as a vast web of multicolored, cruelly barbed strands wrapped tightly—chokingly—around a vast well of serene, gently pulsing power. Each strand was interwoven with its neighbor in a dizzyingly complex dance that paid no mind to the restrictions of three-dimensional space, or even good sense. Every single strand was deeply anchored within an enormous silvery shell that surrounded the entire construct. Nightmare had built the bars of her sister's cage into the magical matrix of the moon itself.
She pondered it for many long moments, tracing the intricate spellwork from strand to strand, casting her mind back to the prison's initial construction. She plucked at one of the strands, thinking to start from it and work her way inward. To her surprise, it gave a discordant twang, and a burst of magical feedback traveled back down the link, and she jerked her head back in surprise. She growled in frustration and moved elsewhere, applying more power this time. She was rewarded for her efforts with a sharper snap of feedback that actually hurt.
She grunted, gritted her teeth, and narrowly refrained from blasting a hole in the walls of chambers out of reflex. It would not do to lose her temper. Unravelling the prison was a delicate task and had to be undertaken with the gentlest of touches.
...wasn't it?
She frowned and took a second look at the magical weave, no longer seeking to understand how, but instead, to analyze what. She considered the prison as though she were an attacker intent on breaking it, rather than creator intent on carefully dismantling it.
And... that could work. She teased a few of the magical strands apart, widening a gap here, shifting a strand there, loosening a loop over there. Several moments' work produced a space empty of any strands at all that should be just wide enough for her purposes. She drew back for a moment and surveyed the spell as a whole. Yes, she judged, the collateral damage should be minimal.
She gathered her focus, made a few final adjustments, and added a vitally-important link to her current location to the spell she was maintaining. Then she took her power, melded as it was with her connection to the moon, and swung it like a hammer. It connected with a colossal magical crash that shivered all the way down her horn.
The results were tremendous, and immediate.
Up on the moon, the manifestation chamber collapsed in on itself, triggering all the tripwire alarms. An enormous plume of moon dust heralded the birth of a new crater on the moon's surface.
Half of the alert charms went off immediately, while the other half simply failed, overloaded by the sudden influx of magical energy.
And most importantly, her chambers exploded.
There was a tremendous flash of light, a blast of furnace heat and, curiously, a sound akin to an enormous cork popping free of an equally-enormous wine bottle. Her sister burst into existence in the room at speed, skidding across the stone floor in an enormous shower of sparks. Swirling particles and excess magic came streaming off her coat like water. Some quirk of physics had imparted a small degree of rotation to Celestia as she reemerged into reality. As a result, her long skid across Nightmare's chamber floor included a slow turn that ended with her facing the direction she'd come from—staring right at Nightmare.
Celestia's eyes were wide, pupils shrunk to tiny, terrified pinpricks. Her legs were splayed wide, her wings half-flexed. Her mane and tail were frizzed and twice their normal volume as though she'd been struck by lightning, and her mouth was open in a tiny 'o' of surprise.
Nightmare looked at this shocked, frazzled apparition of her sister, her fluffed-up white coat and frazzled mane and tail giving her the appearance of a polychromatic puffball; a multicolored marshmallow. In that moment, it was impossible for Nightmare to see the thousand-year vision of perfection and tranquility that had guided Equestria for centuries in her absence.
Instead, for a moment, all she saw was her older sister who had been the victim of a prank most epic.
The laughter came spilling out of her like a breached dam. She gasped, and guffawed, and howled and snorted. Her laughter turned to chortles, then to snickers and giggles, and those giggles gradually morphed into hiccups. Then those hiccups became sobs, and were shortly joined by twin trickles of tears. Before she knew it, she had her hooves wrapped tightly around her sister, and an overwhelming sense of relief flooded through her.
Celestia cradled the teacup close to her chest in her hooves, savoring its warmth. She took a sip, then set it down with a musical clatter as her shaking hooves rattled cup against saucer. "That is everything?"
Nightmare grimaced. "Hardly. A full accounting must come, but that suffices to explain the essentials of what has transpired in your absence."
"You're sure this is what you want to do?" Asked the table's third occupant. At Nightmare's glare, Twilight Sparkle ducked behind her coffee cup, also held in hooves. "It's a legitimate question when confronted with a questionable course of action," she grumbled.
Celestia turned an appraising look toward the younger alicorn. "My apologies. Things have been so busy, I failed to make your acquaintance properly. I am Celestia of Equestria, Princess of the Sun," she said, inclining her head to the younger alicorn. "You are...?"
Twilight Sparkle stared for a long moment, and blinked. Finally, she gave a little start. "This is weird..." She muttered under her breath. She drew herself up and graciously inclined her head to Celestia. "I am the Equestrian Princess of Friendship. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Celestia," she said, smiling.
Celestia's eyebrows rose. "The Princess of Friendship?" She said, eyeing Twilight Sparkle's wings and horn. "And I don't believe I caught your name?"
Twilight Sparkle's smile turned nervous, and she glanced away. "Ah, no. That would be because I didn't give it. Sorry, bu—"
"Her name is Twilight Sparkle. She is from an alternate future where I lost," Nightmare cut in calmly, looking down at her cup of coffee.
Twilight Sparkle gasped and shot a glare at Nightmare. "Luna!" she hissed.
Nightmare rolled her eyes. "She would have wormed it out of you eventually. I know my sister. She is not one to allow little mysteries to remain mysterious."
Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes right back. "Please. I've got years of practice at avoiding a certain one-princess Celestial Inquisition."
"Do you speak as her long-held confidante, or as a powerful unknown player upon the board?" Nightmare shot back.
Twilight Sparkle raised a hoof and opened her mouth to counter, then paused. She lowered her hoof, and frowned thoughtfully. "Hm."
Celestia had been watching this byplay with slightly-wide eyes. "Little Twilight Sparkle?" She whispered.
Twilight Sparkle groaned. "See what you've done now?" She muttered to Nightmare. Nightmare just grunted in response.
Fortunately, Twilight Sparkle was saved from further prying questions by the arrival of Captain Rainbow Dash. The captain knocked twice on the door, before pushing it open without waiting for a response. "Everything under way on this end, your majesty."
Nightmare stood, and nodded. "Thank you, captain. Join us, as your presence will be required."
Rainbow Dash saluted and joined the others at the table, and carefully avoided staring at the newly-returned princess. Celestia merely drained her teacup, set it down and let out a satisfied breath. "Ready."
Nightmare nodded. A flash of teal, and the four occupants of the room were gone.
With a final flare of magic from her horn, Nightmare finished weaving the individual threads of spellwork together into a cohesive whole. To magical sight, they appeared as pearlescent strands of light vanishing into the distant horizon, glimmering and swaying under the wash of aetheric wind from the late-morning sun. For an absurd moment, Nightmare was put in mind of enormous magical clotheslines.
From her right came a violet flare, and Twilight Sparkle's own exclamation of "Done!"
And from her left, a golden flare, and the familiar sensation of her sister's magic—spring grass, hot iron, vanilla—sent a shiver up Nightmare's spine for reasons too complex and jumbled for her to begin to contemplate. After freeing her sister, Nightmare's feelings had chiefly been of relief. There was a healthy dose of trepidation in there, to be sure, but mingled with notes of satisfaction and frustration. She shook her head. There would be time to untangle that web later. For now...
"I am finished as well," said Celestia. "I confess to being quite impressed with the structure of this working, sister. I wish I had thought of something similar. It would certainly have made life here a bit easier!"
They were in the Canterlot palace, in a small antechamber just before the grand sun-raising balcony. Nightmare had explained her plan, and Celestia had agreed, albeit with some trepidation. Currently, they were working on a vital piece of spellwork for the scheduled afternoon announcement.
A muffled snort caused both elder alicorns to turn to a snickering Twilight Sparkle, who had one hoof over her mouth which failed to conceal a grin. "Nothing!" She squeaked. "Just... reminded me of something similar somepony once said to me." A raised eyebrow from Celestia, and she continued, "I uh, set up something pretty similar, and when I showed her, she shouted 'That's it?! I could have done that years ago!' It was kind of out of character for her, is all," she said. At the continued staring from the other two, she ducked her head. "I uh, guess you had to be there, heh."
Nightmare rolled her eyes and turned back to tying their spellwork together. "I laid the foundation shortly after my return. This is a simple matter of changing the focal point."
Rainbow Dash chose that moment to join the three alicorns, saving Twilight Sparkle from further awkwardness. "Princess Cadenza and Captain Shining Armor have left the palace. I also got word from the castle; the prisoners have been released except for the two still being treated for injuries."
There had been a tearful reunion between Celestia and the royal couple. Celestia had cooed over Cadance's swollen belly, and Shining Armor had visibly been holding back tears. There had been some concern over how gaunt Cadence had become, but she assured her aunt that she was perfectly fine to be up and about, thank you very much.
One of the conditions for their cooperation this afternoon had been the unconditional release of the members of the rebellion involved in the attack on Nightmare's castle. To their surprise, Nightmare had readily agreed.
It seemed that all their preparation was done. Now, all that remained was the waiting.
"You look unwell."
The waiting was wearing poorly upon Nightmare's nerves. She was staring out the open doorway, where the spires of Canterlot glittered in the afternoon sun. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the local weather team had ensured that the sky remained utterly cloudless. The babble of a growing crowd drifted up from below, the shared efforts of Cadance, Shining Armor, and the remnants of Celestia's secretarial staff having successfully spread the news. Twilight Sparkle had disappeared somewhere, and Rainbow Dash waited without. Her growing tension showed in the tightness along her wing-shoulders, and a clenched jawline. Most ponies would not have noticed the signs, but her sister was not most ponies. Nightmare had forgotten what it was like to be read so transparently.
She felt her face twist into a grimace. She spent long moments considering her words, and avoided turning to look at her sister. She knew what she would find there. Compassion. Concern.
Pity.
Finally, she ground the words out. "I do not know how you can stand to look at me."
Celestia, at least, did her the courtesy of not pretending to confusion. She followed Nightmare's gaze, looking over the Canterlot skyline, and sighed. "Truthfully? I do not know what to feel. I am... elated to have you back. To be able to talk to you without rancor." Nightmare scoffed, and Celestia could not resist a tiny smile. "Minimal rancor, then. When you returned the first time, even full of frost and fury it was... a relief. I could finally answer for my own crime."
At this, Nightmare turned to look at her sister. Celestia remained staring forward, her mind far away. "You would consider my imprisonment a crime?"
Celestia shook her head. "No. My crime—my failure—was in allowing things to progress to that point at all. Your banishment was... necessary. I had to prevent—" Celestia cut herself off with a wince.
"...what I did anyway upon my return," Nightmare continued, bitterly.
They shared a painful silence.
"To answer your question," Celestia said, eventually, "I hold myself equally accountable." Nightmare turned a questioning look upon Celestia. Celestia answered it with a sad smile. "You were always the better fighter, sister dear, but not by that much." She sighed. "My heart was not in our fight, upon your return. To have you back, only to be forced to strike you down with my own power? It was too much to bear. That is my crime; I allowed selfish sentiment to rule me, rather than pragmatism. Equestria suffered for it. I even tried to groom a young student to find the Elements of Harmony and defeat you, rather than do it myself."
"She failed, I take it?"
Celestia gave a mirthless chuckle. "Worse. She denounced me, and ran away to another world. I haven't seen or heard from her since. I took that, and my inability to find a replacement as a sign that I would have to do it myself. And when the time came I... failed."
Nightmare sagged. "Blame yourself for your decisions if you must. Do not blame yourself for my actions. I bear the weight of those alone."
Nightmare jerked in surprise at the feeling of a warm muzzle against her cheek. Her sister held the nuzzle for a long moment. "You're not alone. Not anymore," she whispered.
Nightmare held herself rigid and focused on breathing. Her eyes burned, and she could feel her mouth twisting. She closed her eyes and took a long, shuddering breath, trying to hold back her trembling with an effort of will.
A knock sounded from the doorway behind them, and Celestia's old secretary's voice drifted inside. "Your majesties? It's time." The secretary, a mare well acquainted with the strangeness attendant in serving immortal royalty, didn't bat an eye at the scene in front of her.
Nightmare allowed herself the luxury of one last deep breath. Then, she straightened and turned to nod at the secretary. "Thank you, Miss Inkwell." She faced her sister. "One way or another, this will be over soon and Equestria will be able to move forward."
Queen Nightmare Moon stepped onto the Canterlot palace's grand sun-raising balcony, and surveyed the gathered crowd. Ponies of every color and tribe crowded the square below. The air above had been kept free, save for her Night Guard. In the crowd below, the hastily-reassembled Royal Guard mingled uneasily with their Night Guard counterparts, doing their collective best to keep the peace.
Heralded by a susurrus of raised voices, a wave of silence swept over the crowd as they noticed the dark queen standing upon the balcony. Nightmare before she swept a long, searching look over the gathered ponies while she waited for quiet. Then, she flared her wings and ignited her horn. She ignored the gasps from the crowd, and activated the spell that she, Celestia, and Twilight Sparkle had prepared earlier.
The pearlescent strands leading into the horizon, visible only to magical sight, erupted into brilliant, sparkling teal.
And Nightmare Moon's face appeared throughout Canterlot, magically projected above the streets. Elsewhere throughout Equestria, the foundational spells she'd laid years ago activated, and did the same. Her visage would now be visible in every major Equestrian settlement, and all of Equestria would be able to hear her speech simultaneously, and in real time.
"Citizens of Equestria," she began, her amplified voice booming throughout the city, and across the kingdom. Her tone was somber, and carried none of its usual grandeur. "I am here to make several important announcements.
"First: the Sun Days are no more. The sun and moon will return the their previously-designated paths across through the heavens. As part of this effort, significant numbers of personnel have been redirected to agrarian communities. They have been instructed to assist local farmers in planting and growing, and local weather teams in keeping conditions ideal for farming. Efforts will be made to extend the growing season for as long as possible, in order to combat the ongoing famine. These ponies will also be accompanied by medical staff, who will assist in treating those in your communities who are in need of care."
She paused, to allow her words to sink in. There had been some scattered cheering when she announced the end of the Sun Days, but now the crowd had fallen to confused muttering.
Until a voice emerged, in a ringing shout. "Good! All this is your fault anyway!"
The crowd fell into a shocked silence, and Nightmare did not miss the way every member of the Night Guard turned to her for direction. She'd known this was coming. She closed her eyes momentarily before opening them again and straightening further. She nodded at the crowd. "The state of the kingdom is dire. And only I can be held accountable for it. The blame lies with me."
The crowd resumed its earlier confused muttering at higher volume, and even many of her Night Guard looked askance at her.
"For the past several years, I have ruled Equestria as I believed was my right. During that time, our fair kingdom has languished. Crop failure leading to famine. Harm to the young, heatstroke for the sick, the elderly, and the pregnant. I emerged from my thousand-year banishment enraged, and full of righteous fury. I thought to force ponies' love for my night, and by extension, myself.
"However, I have been forced to confront the truth: I have failed to lead Equestria in nearly every way imaginable. As such, it is past time that Equestria be led by somepony more suited to the task."
Nightmare stepped aside and turned to face the archway behind her.
From it, her sister strode, limned in golden light. A hush fell over the crowd.
"Hello, my little ponies."
And just with that, a great roar rose from the crowd. Relief, bewilderment, joy, exultation, and more emotions too complex and confused to name were contained in that wordless shout, doubtless being echoed across the kingdom. Celestia stood there, and let it wash over her, mane flowing gently in the breeze, simply allowing herself to see and be seen.
Eventually, she raised a hoof for silence, and the crowd obliged. "However, while I have returned, there is one final piece of business that must be concluded before the reins of power can properly be transferred. Sister, if you would?"
Nightmare nodded, and moved to stand side-by-side with her sister. "From this moment forward, I..." She paused, swallowed, and cursed her own weakness, "I relinquish my claim to rulership of Equestria. Queen Nightmare Moon is no more."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was always going to be the hardest part. This was the part that made it real, made it irreversible. She had spent more than a thousand years deeply immersed in her connection to the moon. Now, she carefully collected all but the tiniest pieces of that link until the magical pressure of it felt like an iceberg balanced at the tip of her horn... and released.
Her incisors lost their predatory edge, dulling into something flatter, and less imposing. Her body physically shrank, her once-imposing stature diminished. Instead of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her sister, she now only came up to the elder alicorn's chin. The black that had stained her coat for the last millennium drifted up and away like ink in water before vanishing, revealing deep blue underneath, only the black dappling around her cutie mark remaining. Her mane and tail lost much of their ethereality; instead of being patches of the night sky brought to life, now they were merely a star-studded, shimmering blue edged in violet. Finally, she opened her eyes to reveal that their catlike slits had been replaced by more familiar rounded pupils.
"Nightmare Moon is no more," she repeated. "All that remains is Luna, penitent sister to Celestia," she said softly.
Luna stepped back, ceding the floor to Celestia once more. Celestia continued, "Luna has acknowledged her misdeeds. In light of this, and her honest remorse, there will be no immediate punishment. Rest assured, there will still be an accounting of her actions. But what Equestria needs right now is not retribution, but peace and healing. You have all been sorely tested in my absence, and I am proud of all of you," she said, smiling at the gathered crowd.
The crowd however, was not smiling back. It had, in fact, began to mutter angrily. Luna's legs felt weak. She had begun trembling almost as soon as she had reversed her transformation. When she had risen from her submersion in the moon's power, the mental shock had been like stepping from a hot spring into an icy wind. In an instant, her simmering resentment had been stripped away, and she found her thoughts clearer than they had been in years.
They were not pleasant ones.
After the initial shock had worn off, she had simply done her best to empty her mind. This would be over soon, and she would be able to break down in peace.
Then, from the crowd below, she saw a single pony near the back of the crowd stand tall on hind legs. He was holding something in his forelegs, and every member of the Guard, both Royal and Night erupted into motion simultaneously. But even the closest one was several long strides away.
"That's not good enough!" The lone pony shouted. "Death to the tyrant queen!"
Fractions of a second later, the pony was dogpiled by guards, but it was too late. In the instant before he'd gone down, there had been a twang and Luna realized that there was now a crossbow bolt headed straight for her forehead.
Ha, she had time to think, after all those times I warned Celestia about not wearing a helmet.
Rainbow Dash was at the rear of the crowd, coordinating with Shining Armor when she felt the atmosphere change. She hadn't been paying much attention to the speech above them—she was already familiar with the broad strokes—but any guard worth their salt knew how to read a crowd, and this crowd had just gotten dangerous.
"Air. Go. I've got ground," Shining Armor said, eyes narrowed, already moving.
Rainbow Dash was airborne by the time he was halfway done speaking. She scanned the crowd and—there!—spotted the troublemaker at the opposite end of the crowd, and recognized the weapon in his hooves immediately. She was off like a shot, along with rest of the Night Guard, racing to drop the stallion before he could—
twang
Her body changed course before her mind had time to react. Her wing muscles screamed at the hard change in course, and her vision faded to black at the edges. As she leveled out, she felt the blood pounding through her head with each heartbeat, and the darkness in her vision pulsed in time. Each breath boomed in her ears, and each flap of her wings seemed to come too slowly.
Beat. Breathe in.
Flap. Push.
Beat. Breathe out.
She risked a glance sideways, her mind finally catching up to her actions. She was headed to the same place the crossbow bolt was,
her queen's head
and she'd resolved to bodily throw herself in front of it. Now that she was caught up with events, she noticed that everything, herself included, seemed to be moving in slow motion. She could hear the bolt whistling through the air, and see the crowd beginning to react, rippling outward from the shooter.
No. She couldn't focus on that. She refocused on her goal. She had to reach the queen before the bolt did. Whatever happened after that, happened. She just had to stop that bolt. She tossed her head, and her helmet went tumbling away. As the wind tore it free, she felt herself accelerate infinitesimally, now free of the helmet's drag. There was no time to shuck the rest of her armor, so she leaned forward further, trying to flatten herself, willing herself to move faster, to push harder against the unforgiving air. Her eyes were closed to slits, and the wind began to pull tears from them as they tried to protect themselves from the rushing air. The air had begun to feel like a wall, pressing against her front hooves, so she pushed harder. The wall had to give, she still wasn't going to make it in time, the bolt was still going to get there first.
And then the wall gave way, and all was color.
There was a sudden lack of resistance, and Rainbow Dash shot forward, now unimpeded. For the first time since takeoff, a jolt of fear shot through her—if she overshot...
She couldn't overshoot.
She flared her wings and flipped upright, holding all four legs wide, braking with both wings and body.
Then, she was in front of her queen. She twitched her wings slightly, and was rewarded with hideous pressure as her forward momentum was viciously translated into rotation. She came around, faced the crowd, and braced for the hammerblow of pain.
Instead, she found a still-spreading circle of polychromatic light, and a glint of metal high above, that after a moment, resolved into the head of the crossbow bolt, torn free of the shattered shaft, tumbling away at high speed.
And the entire crowd staring at her. Many in the front rows had been knocked clean off their hooves.
Well, okay. She could work with that.
"What," she began, in her parade instructor voice, amplified by her proximity to the projection spell, "are you morons thinking?! You wait until after she's stepped down and started fixing things to go around shooting at her?" The strain of maintaining a hover was beginning to take a toll on her recently-abused wings, so she landed, and planted her forehooves on the balcony's parapet.
"Yeah, she may have screwed up letting things get this bad in the first place! But she totally owned up to that! You know what she did the second she found out just how bad everything was? She brought the sun back!" Rainbow Dash said, stomping a forehoof. "The plain old normal, regular sun! Know how she got repaid for it? A bunch of ponies from the rebellion showed up and tried to kill her!" She paused, took a moment to scan the crowd. She continued more quietly, and allowed the amplification spell to carry her voice. "I almost died. She saved my life. She took a magical bomb meant for me. She imprisoned the rebels afterward, because that's what you do to ponies that try to kill you. You know what she did after that?" She paused and leaned forward. "She let 'em go. Told me it was because they just wanted a better Equestria, same as her.
"The first thing—the first thing!—she did when she found out just how bad everything was, was spend all day putting things in order to move the entire kingdom to start fixing all the stuff that had gone wrong. Is that something you do if you just wanna see ponies suffer? Is that what you do if you're some storybook tyrant? She transferred almost the entire border force to the kingdom's farms! She has the entire Royal Coven working on medical stuff! The first thing she did was try to fix her mistakes! And you try and shoot her?!
"I think she deserves a second chance. Princess Celestia thinks she deserves a second chance! Yeah, she screwed up, but she's trying to fix it! Tell 'em, ma'am!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, turning and gesturing behind her.
But there was nothing there but a small pile of neatly arranged, silver-blue regalia. The former queen was gone.