//------------------------------//
// Verse 36 
// Story: The Nightmare Knights Become A Band 
// by SwordTune 
//------------------------------//

“She’s pushing it to tomorrow?” 
Being asleep just a few minutes ago didn’t slow Lightning Dust down. After Tempest had zapped her awake with a spark of magic, the pegasus was flustering and fluttering around the studio from Luna’s news.
“Is it that hard of a decision?” Tempest wondered. “Just give it to the Changelings.”
“Twilight is weighing both options, and doing so with heart and mind.” Luna absentmindedly stress-ate from Starlight’s bag of popcorn. “The dragons are Equestria’s allies as well. Giving them nothing jeopardizes that relationship.”
“But the Changelings are actually, you know, different now. With the dragons, the Bloodstone Sceptre can compel them to do almost anything. If another dragon became the Dragonlord, we’ll be back to square one.”
Lightning Dust paused her back-and-forth hovering and planted her hooves on the cloud carpeting. “You could try to have a little optimism. I don’t think the Dragonlord’s giving up her job anytime soon.”
Tempest shrugged. “Sure, but you never know.”
Luna shook her head. “No, Lightning’s right. Dragons are long-lived, and Dragonlords don’t change for hundreds of years at the least.” She looked at Lightning and her frayed mane. “I have done everything I can. Twilight is an excellent scholar and mediator. I can’t come up with a compromise that she hasn’t suggested. If the delegates continue to filibuster, Rainbow Dash will have to put up with skipping the concert.”
“Rainbow Dash?” Tempest looked at Lightning for a moment. “One of Twilight’s friends, right? The fast one.” She paused, waiting for some pony to correct her in case she was wrong. “I thought you hated her guts. Are you two friends now?”
Lightning lowered her gaze, turning away from the band. “So what if I’m doing Dash a favour? We’re awesome, it’s only natural she’d want to see us perform.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“Nothing happened,” Lightning protested. “I just think it’s good publicity if a Wonderbolt was at our show.”
Starlight smirked at her. “Face it, you’re just being a simp.”
“A what?” Tempest demanded. 
“A simp.” She shrugged, hesitating before she tried to explain it. “Just something I heard my students saying to each other. Not sure what it means though.”
“Then don’t use it!” Lightning complained. “Because I’m not a simp.”
“Oh just drop it,” Luna muttered.
She walked around them and dropped onto one of the chairs. Even in retirement, she kept up her composure most of the time. It was unusual, for any of the Knights, to see their lead member spread out in an unflattering sprawl. Her legs and wings stretched out like a ragdoll’s, and for a moment Luna simply laid motionless on the orange beanbag. 
“I thought I could come up with something if I went with Twilight.” Luna let her exhaustion become evident as she rubbed her temple. “It’s funny, they still called me a princess and acted almost as if I wasn’t retired. The dragon even expected me to side with them, after our actions in the Crystal Empire. I couldn’t. I wanted to, but I couldn’t.”
“If you wanted to, there must’ve been a reason,” Lightning said. “Maybe listening to your gut is the way to go.”
Luna shook her head. “What am I supposed to do? I can’t deny my reputation, but is it right for me to accept responsibility? Today wasn’t anything like the Crystal Empire. No heroics, no fighting, just governance. It was just work.”
She combed her hooves through her flowing mane, pushing the loose strands off her face. “And I don’t think I can do it well.”
The others stared at her, unsure of what to do next. Every pony was present, but it was clear to all of them that they weren’t going to get more practice tonight. Lightning picked up her drumsticks and spun them on her hoof. They spiralled off, and she paid so little attention that she let them bounce on the floor before picking them back up again.
“It’s fine,” she said, not taking her eyes off of her sticks. “Playing princess is probably super boring anyway. Let’s just put on a good show and make Dash wish she was there.”
Tempest leaned in and inspected Lightning’s expression. “You really are obsessed with her, aren’t you?” She might’ve been slow to make friends, but that didn’t mean she lacked the skills to read ponies. Tempest’s attention was sharp and alert, only becoming sharper after all her time in the northern wastes of the Crystal Empire. And as she spoke, Lightning’s agitated snarl told her more than enough.
“You’re one to talk.” Lightning Dust clutched her drumsticks between her hooves. “I see you spending all your time with Glitter Drops, if anyone’s a simp it’s you!”
Suddenly a beaked face shot peaked through the studio’s front door. Silverstream spoked her head through, scanning around to see if she was in the right building. “Luna?” she asked when she spotted her crashed out on the beanbag. “Oh thank goodness! You’ve got to help me get General Seaspray to propose my idea to the conference.”
Luna lifted her head, seeing the young hippogriff shaking off the flakes of snow clinging to the tips of her feathers, which melted the moment she stepped into the studio. Her face screwed up in pained frustration, knowing already that she’d accept, despite the words that were leaving her mouth.
“But I don't wanna!”





Smolder spent the evening with her friends studying, but she eventually closed up her textbook and called it a night. She was at her limit with theories of kindness and Wonderbolt history. And the paper she had to submit was barely beyond an outline.
Ocellus had woken up halfway through their study session, but the changeling was too drowsy to comment with her usual trove of memorized facts. Instead, she lounged around the library for the last hour, nodding her head whenever Smolder asked if a sentence in her essay sounded good or not.
They were young, but far from home, and that made them their own students. They were responsible for their success and their failure. And they were also responsible for their own balance between work and life, a balance that was wildly thrown off by impending tests.
At her wits’ end, Smolder gathered up her friends. Yona and Sandbar were less exhausted, they had managed to distract each other as much as they had studied. Even so, they were just as willing to take the rest of the night away from books and notes.
“Seriously,” Smolder said, flapping her wings around the library, looking behind every crack, crevice, nook, and cranny. “ Where in Equestria are those two? If we have to sit here and study our butts off, they should too!”
“We could check around Ponyville,” Sandbar suggested. “Like I said, I saw Gallus leaving school after class. Even if they’re not hanging out, we’ll at least have one of two, right?”
She doubted there was much to see or do around Ponyville, but it was worth a try anyway. They packed up their books and swung by the dorms, dropping off their bags and checking if Silverstream or Gallus were just hiding out in their rooms. But both were empty.
“Hey, looks like I was right!” Sandbar came out of Gallus’s room with a hoof full of paper scraps. “He’s over by the Sugar Cube Corner.”
“How can you tell from those?” Ocellus picked up and unfolded one of the crumpled snippets. They were receipts, each one marked at the top by the Sugar Cube Corner. “Oh, I see.”
“Is this invasion of privacy?” Yona asked as they looked. 
The others paused. Sandbar quickly gathered up the receipts and shoved them back onto Gallus’s desk, shutting the door behind him as rushed out. “Yeah. Let’s not tell him we went through his stuff.”





Ponyville at least had its fair share of spectacles in the night. Pegasi teams had prepared light snow for the evening, and a few loose snowflakes were still trickling down from the clouds. But on the whole, the winds were silent and the sky was clear. The students could all see the Ponyville sky.
“I never thought about it,” Sandbar said, “but when we went to Fillydelphia, the sky wasn’t nearly as bright as it is in Ponyville.”
“Should see night sky in Yakyakistan,” Yona retorted. “Yaks have best night sky.”
The streets as well were bright and lively. Houses and shops clashed with the weather, the lanterns hanging by the doors casting orange glows that were reflected by the snow. A few stores were still sporting their Hearth’s Warming decorations, although most had replaced them with posters and banners for winter sales. 
They didn’t really have a plan. Ocellus stuck close to Smolder, who lit a small blaze in her mouth to keep the changeling warm. For the most part, their insect-like physiology did not hinder changelings very much. Winter jackets were enough to stave off the chill, but Ocellus underestimated how much snow the weather teams had poured down onto Ponyville, and so had just a light scarf and beanie.
“Wanna check out the arcade?” Sandbar pointed down the street to a building with bright video game titles blinking through its windows. While the brick and wood foundations were old, the sign fixtures hanging above the windows were clean and brand-new. Even the door had been replaced with an automatic slider. It almost looked like a building ripped right out of Manehattan.
“Was that always there?” Smolder scratched her head. “Damn, we need to get out more.”
“You’re not seriously thinking of playing arcade games, are you?” Ocellus asked.
Smolder shook her head and gave Sandbar a disappointed glare. “As much as I’d like to crush your high score, we’re looking for our friends, remember?”
He shrugged. “They might be inside. The arcade’s where I would go if I was trying to avoid studying. Just look at it. Is there anywhere else they’d be?” 
“Sounds fun,” Yona stomped. “Want to forget about Wonderbolt history. And friends can still check for Gallus and Silverstream.”
“Why don’t we split up?” Ocellus suggested. “You two start with the arcade and cover this side of town, and Smolder and I will check out the other half.”
“Yes!” Yona cheered. She hooked Sandbar up off his hooves with her horns and charged for the arcade, the young stallion clinging onto her back. “Yaks best at games!”
The thump and wub of music could be heard as Yona rushed through the door. The arcade’s colourful flashing and electronic music filled their senses, even from afar. Sandbar was at least right about it being an attraction.
“We’re not getting Yona and Sandbar back,” Ocellus concluded, “are we?”
“Nope,” Smolder replied. 
A flutter of wing flaps passed above them. Neither noticed it at first, plenty of birds flocked around the town at night, picking up dropped fruits and bread crumbs from throughout the day.
But this one paused and hovered above them. “Back from what?” Gallus called down to them.
“Gah!” Smolder, startled from his sudden voice, nearly jumped out of her scales. She slipped on the icy slick road, falling to her back. Facing up at the sky she just barely made out the silhouette of a young griffon. His feathers, bright blue in the day, convincingly matched the muted dark hue of the night’s sky.
“Wha— I don’t— Have you out here this whole time?” She leaned on Ocellus, standing up slowly so she didn’t slip again.
“She means we just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” the young changeling clarified. “You weren’t at the library today.”
“Oh, that,” Gallus chuckled. “Sorry, I meant to tell you all but I was in a bit of a rush.” He landed on a clear patch in the road, and visible on his back was a bright pink pastry box, wrapped and packaged with Hearth’s Warming ribbons. “I gotta drop this off, but we can catch up back at the Sugar Cube Corner when I’m done.”