"Halt!" Drill Sergeant Stonehoof called out. At the order the trainees stopped, standing at attention. All kept their eyes forward as the earth pony walked past them.
All except one.
Dinky blinked rapidly, trying to keep her eyes from closing. Despite her efforts, the filly let out a wide yawn. She clamped her jaw shut as soon as she noticed she was being looked at. Her gaze flicked to glance at the drill sergeant before staring forward again.
"That," Stonehoof said, "Was pathetic. The worst I've seen from you grunts in weeks. It was slow, it was sloppy, and it was disgraceful! You are training to be in the royal guard. That means strength, focus, and discipline. I saw none of that today. it was like watching a bunch of foals playing soldier. If I see another performance like today, half of you will be doing mile runs with full packs and the other half will be cleaning latrines with toothbrushes. Understood?"
"Yes Drill Sergeant!" the trainees called out.
"Well lucky for you grunts it's chow time. Dismissed!"
With that, the trainees broke formation. Almost all of them cantered toward the cafeteria, trying to get there as quickly as possible. After all, they only had an hour for lunch before they needed to continue with training.
Dinky was planning for lunch as well, but not as strictly since she was finished with the military training for the day. She stifled another yawn as she started heading back to the castle.
"Cadet Hooves," Stonehoof stated, stopping Dinky in her tracks. She turned and looked back at him as he approached. "You especially were performing below your standard capabilities. I expect to see you do better tomorrow."
"Yes, Drill Sergeant," she said with a salute. It was quickly returned before the stallion turned to leave. She watched him go then returned to heading toward the castle.
She arrived in the dining room in time to see both princesses sitting down and beginning to eat.
"And what have you been up to, my student?" Celestia asked. "Luna tells me that you were not in your room last night. So I went to check on your room while you were at training, when I noticed that your bed had not been slept in and that a certain costume was not in the closet."
Dinky felt her face heat up in embarrassment. She had been planning to tell Princess Celestia about what occurred the night before, but had really been hoping there was more to tell than she had. A thought suddenly crossed her mind.
"None of the guards reported chasing a filly in a purple costume last night?" she asked. The look on Celestia's face was answer enough that yes, in fact, somepony had. Dinky let out a sigh.
"Okay, so you know I took my costume and snuck out last night. I was hoping to find the pony who was causing the lightning and stop her. I found her, but couldn't stop her. She called herself Shadowbolt and-"
"Shadowbolt?" Luna interrupted, bumping the table as she stood up. "Tell us what she looked like!"
The outburst startled the filly, making her mind go blink. She shook her head, shifting her body nervously as she tried to remember anything that she had been talking about. It took her a while to remember the question and then to figure out the answer.
"I didn't see much of her," the filly finally replied. "She was wearing what looked like a Wonderbolt costume, but with black and purple..." She stopped talking as Princess slammed a hoof against the table, letting out a cry of frustration. Worse, she let it out using the Royal Canterlot Voice.
"Sister?" Celestia asked in confusion. "What is wrong?"
"When we..." Luna paused and shook her head. "When I was Nightmare Moon and attempted to... dissuade Twilight and her friends from gathering the elements, I created an illusion of stunt flyers called The Shadowbolts to tempt Rainbow Dash away from her friends. We... I have seen the outfit only once since, which was when Rainbow Dash wore it for her costume during Nightmare Night after my return. She even went around and pranked many ponies by creating thunderclaps using a cloud to startle them."
"But Rainbow Dash wouldn't be here," Dinky said, "and even if she was, she wouldn't actually hurt anypony."
"Indeed," Celestia agreed, "But I do not think that the possibility is what provoked such a reaction from my sister."
"Nay...No. It is more...The Shadowbolts were a creation of Nightmare Moon. Rainbow Dash created a costume similar, but I believe her too busy pranking to have told anypony. As such it seems ... unusual to come across another pony, especially here in Canterlot, to be using the same name and garments. Yet I cannot believe that such a thing could simply be a coincidence."
"What do you think then?" Dinky asked.
"It is... difficult to say." Luna shook her head rubbing a hoof against one side of her forehead "But it is... worrisome as it introduces the possibility that portions of Nightmare Moon separate from me still remain in Equestria. Excuse me. I... I need to get some sleep and do some contemplating before raising the moon." With that, she left.
"Is... Is that possible?" Dinky asked, turning toward Celestia, "Could Nightmare Moon still exist?" She watched as her teacher seemed to consider this for a long moment.
"I guess," she said, "the most accurate would be 'not truly.' Nightmare Moon is now believed to partially be a separated entity that possessed Luna when she had become lonely and jealous. However, a part of what she was came from being a part of Luna. Should this entity take over another, it would be a different creature.
"What this sounds like is not Nightmare Moon, or the entity which combined with Luna to create her. It sounds more like... maybe a fragment of Nightmare Moon that had a memory from Luna creating The Shadowbolts found a host here in Canterlot."
"What does that mean?"
"...I don't know..."