Child Of Misery

by Nebula Star

Chapter 3: The Nightmare

Child of Misery
By Nebula Star

“RARITY!”

Sweetie Belle charged into the boutique nearly breaking the door down with her haste. She didn't care though, she was in full panic mode now.

“Rarity, Rarity, Rarity, Rarity, Rarity!” She shouted again and again as she ran up the stairs to her sister's bedroom. She didn't bother knocking; she opened the door with her magic and charged right in. Rarity however was very soundly asleep it seemed and even the racket Sweetie Belle had been making hadn't woken her by the time the filly reached her bedside.

Taking a deep breath Sweetie shouted one last time with all her considerable volume. “RARITY!”

The result was a new air-time record for non-winged ponies as a particular white unicorn jumped up almost to the canopy of her four-post bed and proceeded to hang in the air screaming in such a display of defied physics that Pinkie Pie would have been proud. Finally the shock wore off however, and gravity once again worked causing her to flop back down on the bed, ending her scream in a pained grunt.

After a few moments lying there as her mind slowly woke the rest of the way up, Rarity finally lifted her sleep mask, opened her eyes, and instantly saw the source of her rude awakening. “Sweetie Belle! What in Equestria are you doing waking me in such a manner!?” She whined noticing how dark it was outside. “It's far too early!” With that she rolled over, pulling the covers back over her, clearly intending on going back to sleep. “Waking me before sunrise, honestly...” She muttered softly.

“It's not that early, sis!” Sweetie Belle objected.

“Look outside, Sweetie,” Rarity said dismissively.

Fed up Sweetie Belle yanked the quilt off of the bed, tossing it aside with her magic. “You look outside!” She shouted, her voice squeaking, and pointing with a hoof as Rarity looked about to scold her again.

Rarity truly looked at her then and for the first time realized how haggard Sweetie Belle appeared, and while her sister was often far from immaculate, she was rarely this bad. Realizing something must be wrong she finally got to her hooves and went to the window to see what it was that had Sweetie Belle so distressed. What she saw made her jaw drop. “Oh my, I didn't know there was an eclipse scheduled for today...”

“There isn't,” Sweetie Belle said drolly.

Rarity glanced down at Sweetie Belle then looked back out at the darkened sky. “Alright Sweetie, do you know what's going on?”

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath.
“IwenttothelibrarytoaskTwilightforhelplearninganewspellbutwhenIgottherePrincessCelestiawasthereandanevilalicornIdon'tknowandtheywerearguingandCelestiawastrappedinaspell.”
She paused only long enough to take another deep breath.
“ThensheimprisonedCelestiaeclipsedthesunturnedSpikeintoabigscarydragon, and I think she killed Twilight!”

Rarity's eyes widened. In truth she'd only caught a few words of what Sweetie Bell had said until the end, but the end was alarming enough. “Alright, Sweetie, calm down and tell me everything, slowly.”

Sweetie did, speaking at more of a normal pace though her voice squeaked more than usual. By the end of the retelling, Sweetie Belle was crying while her sister held her comfortingly.

“...and then she took off, flying toward Canterlot and the dragon followed her,” Sweetie Belle whimpered.

Rarity held her little sister a moment more. Part of her hoped that it was all just a bad dream Sweetie Belle had woken from without realizing it. But the unending eclipse outside was clear evidence to the contrary. And if What Sweetie said was true, then all of Equestria was in trouble.

“Sweetie, you sure that she left the library? That nopony is there now?” Rarity asked gently.

She nodded, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

“Then what do you say we go see what we can find out. See if we can figure out what's going on.”

Sweetie Belle's expression suddenly became more determined, though tears still filled her eyes, and she nodded.

They reached the library and found the door still open as nopony had bothered to close it. Rarity went in first.

Inside the library seemed almost normal, save for two details. A couple of shelves were broken just as Sweetie Belle had said, their contents scattered across the floor, and near the door there was a complex rune circle that appeared almost burnt into the floor near the entrance. She was careful to avoid touching the markings. It only took a glance for Rarity to realize it was magic far too advanced for her to make any sense of. But when she inspected it with her magic, she found that the spell itself was gone, only the markings remained.

“That's where she had Princess Celestia trapped,” Sweetie Belle said softly pointing to the rune circle.

“Some kind of powerful containment spell then,” Rarity said, thinking out loud. “When this other alicorn, Achlys you said, moved Princess Celestia, she must have moved the spell with her. There's no magic left in that circle.”

“Why's the door open?” A familiar voice said behind them and they both turned to see Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway. She looked surprised to find Rarity and Sweetie Belle there. “Oh, hey Rares, you come to ask Twilight what's up with the eclipse too?”

At that Sweetie Belle sniffed, clearly trying not to break down into tears again. Rainbow glanced between them and realized that something was wrong. “Rarity?”

“Rainbow, go get Fluttershy and Applejack; we'll get Pinkie Pie,” Rarity told her. “Something dreadful has happened.”

“What do you mean? Where's Twi?” Rainbow asked with confusion and worry in her voice.

“She... She might be gone, Rainbow.”

“WHAT!?”

“It's not good,” Rarity told her. “Please, hurry and get the others; we'll explain once everypony is here.”

“But... Twi? She can't be...” Rainbow breathed in disbelief.

“Get the others, we'll explain when everypony is here,” she repeated gently.

Reluctantly Rainbow nodded then hurried out the door, taking off the moment she was outside.

“Come on, Sweetie,” Rarity said softly, gesturing for her sister to follow.

Sweetie Belle sniffed once more but nodded and trotted after Rarity as they left the Library, closing the door behind them with her magic.

They hurried toward Sugar Cube Corner as quickly as they could. By now however, many ponies were venturing outside, wondering what was going on and seeking answers. And in recent years, the ponies of Ponyville had learned that when something strange was happening, there were six mares in particular that would probably know what was going on. So along the way they were stopped again and again by the frightened townsponies asking what was going on, to which Rarity would answer that they were trying to find out and didn't have time to talk.

Even so, it slowed them considerably. They'd almost reached Sugar Cube Corner when a familiar buzz came speeding toward them. Having often been involved or nearly involved in high speed collisions with the infamous crusader wagon, Rarity quickly located the source of the sound in case she had to take evasive action.

“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo called, skidding to a stop on her scooter; Apple Bloom riding in the wagon behind her. “We've been looking all over for you; do you know what's going on?”

“Howdy miss Rarity! Hey Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom called from the wagon. “What's with the eclipse?”

Before Rarity could respond, Sweetie Belle took a deep breath.
“AnevilalicornimprisonedPrincessCelestiaeclipsedthesun, and I think she killed Twilight!”

“What!?” “Not Twilight!” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom exclaimed over-top of each other.

Rarity looked around quickly to see if anypony else had heard. Luckily there wasn't anypony nearby at the moment. “Alright, girls, come with us please; and don't say anything about Twilight or Princess Celestia. We're not entirely sure what's going on and we don't want to cause ponies to panic.”

“But what...!?”

“Not here,” Rarity cut them off. “Now we have to get Pinkie Pie. So come along and please keep quiet. We'll talk at the library.”

Everypony looked up as Applejack, the last to arrive, entered the library. She'd gone out searching for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo when the eclipse had started to make sure they were alright, and so it had taken Rainbow a little longer to track down the farm pony. Then Rainbow had helped search for the two fillies only to find them already at the library when she stopped by to tell the others what was going on.

“There ya are, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said, hurrying over to give her little sister a hug. “Ah'm glad ya'll are safe.”

“Thanks, sis,” Apple Bloom said hugging her back briefly then returning to her friends. It was then that Applejack noticed how sad Rarity's little sister was. Sweetie Belle was leaning against her sister's side, with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo huddled around her, doing their best to comfort their friend.

“Well, now that we're all finally here, can you please tell us what the hay is going on?” Rainbow Dash said sounding impatient.

Applejack looked around. “Wait, where's Twilight? Ain't she comin'?”

Rarity shook her head sadly while Sweetie Belle let out a small whimper and held tighter to her side. “Twilight won't be coming...”

Their reactions were made it painfully clear that something was terribly wrong. “What's goin' on?”

Rarity looked down at Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie, darling, do you think you're up to telling everypony?”

She sniffed but nodded, pulling away and sitting up more on her own. Rarity put a fore-hoof around her comfortingly. “Just tell them everything you told me,” she said encouragingly.

Sweetie Belle nodded, then taking one steadying breath, she began to recount all she had seen and heard.

By the time she reached the end, Sweetie Belle was in tears again and Rarity held her comfortingly against her side, offering support. The library was silent except for Sweetie Bell's soft sniffs as she tried to hold back her tears, for several long minutes after she finished.

It was surprisingly Fluttershy who finally broke the silence. “Is Twilight really...”

“No!” Rainbow interrupted, her voice strained. “She... she can't be! We can't be sure; for all we know that other alicorn may have just banished her! It may not have even been the real Twilight!” It was clear she didn't want to believe their close friend was gone and never coming back.

A couple of the others nodded in agreement, apparently unwilling to accept that possibility as well. Rarity however decided not to indulge in what, deep down, she knew to be little more than clutching at straws. She shook her head. “Even if that is the case girls, it doesn't change what we have to do now.”

“Oh yeah? And why's that?” Rainbow asked aggressively.

“Well, darling, even if Twilight is still alive somewhere, we haven't a clue where. We do however know, at least in a general sense, where to search for Princess Celestia.” Rarity told her calmly. “Our first priority should be finding the princess and freeing her.”

“Darn right,” Applejack agreed. “If anypony knows what the hay is goin' on, it'll be the princess.”

“Exactly. So we need to get organized and get out there searching.”

“Um... do we have to do it all ourselves?” Fluttershy asked softly. “I mean, Everfree is an awfully big place... and dangerous... and scary.” The last was barely more than a whisper.

“That's a good point, Fluttershy,” Applejack said with an approving nod. “It's a lot of ground to cover. We'd have to split up in order to have a chance of finding the princess, and I don't recon any of us would like to face a pack of timber wolves alone.”

“I don't think we have a choice, darling,” Rarity said shaking her head. “By what Sweetie heard, Princess Celestia's time is limited. We need to find her quickly.”

“Well then, we'd best be smart about it.”

“We could ask the townsponies to help,” Pinkie suggested.

Rarity nodded. “We may have to, but I'm worried if word of this gets out, that ponies will panic.”

“Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd be just fine searching on my own,” Rainbow declared confidently.

“That's 'cause you can fly,” Applejack told her. “But me, Pinkie, and Rares don't have that advantage.”

“You're just scared!”

Rarity sighed as Rainbow and Applejack began arguing. Wanting something to distract herself for a moment, her eyes fell on the broken shelves and their contents littering the floor near the door. Getting to her hooves, she left Sweetie Belle with her two friends and went to do what she could to clean up the mess.

The shelves would have to be repaired, but the books she quickly levitated into a neat stack against the wall. Then she sighed as she picked up the jeweled case in her magic. She recognized it of course; it had been used to carry the Elements of Harmony ever since they had first recovered them in the fight against Nightmare moon.

She felt tears filling her eyes as she remembered that night. It had been the first time they'd saved the world; but more importantly to her, it had been the first night they'd all come together as friends. And Twilight had been the one that had united them. It was hard to believe she was gone.

Turning the case right side up she was about to place it on the table when she heard something inside shifting with the movement. She looked at the case surprised; she'd expected it to be empty. Curious, she unlatched it and opened the lid to see what was inside.

For a brief moment she thought it was the Elements of Harmony, but then she noticed that the necklaces did not bear the distinctive colored gems shaped like each of their cutie marks; instead they all had a simple cut diamond in place of the elements. What was more was that there was no crown; just six necklaces. Also tucked into the case with them was a sheaf of paper, appearing to be notes.

She set the open case on the table and levitated out the notes, looking over the first few pages. She recognized Twilight's penmareship and it didn't take her long to realize that the notes were far beyond her own understanding of magical theory.

“What have ya got there, Rares?” Applejack asked seeing what Rarity was looking at.

“I'm not entirely sure,” Rarity told her as everypony else turned to look as well. “I think this might be that project Twilight was talking about at the party.” She levitated the case and notes over to the rejoin the rest of them and set the box down in the middle for them all to see.

“They look kind of like the Elements,” Rainbow stated.

Rarity nodded. “Yes, I imagine Twilight used the Element necklaces as a starting point, but from what Twilight told us, I don't think they are quite the same as the Elements of Harmony,” she said then held up the notes in her magic. “These look like Twilight's notes concerning these necklaces; but I'm afraid they're a bit too advanced for me to understand.”

“Can I see?” Pinkie Pie asked suddenly appearing at Rarity's shoulder, making her jump and almost drop the notes. Pinkie didn't seem to notice the affect she'd had on her friend as she was focused on the pages of notes held in Rarity's magic. “Oooo, yeah, this is really advanced stuff!” Pinkie said sounding excited, then began mumbling to herself as her eyes scanned the first page. “Oh, wow, I never would have thought to try that... Oh, Twilight, you clever pony...”

Everypony was staring at Pinkie as she continued on to the next page of the notes, then the third, and fourth... She was already on the sixth page by the time anypony managed to express what they were all likely wondering. “Uh, Pinkie, darling, do you actually understand this?” Rarity asked indicating the notes.

“Not all of it. Like I said, this is really advanced stuff! But I can get the general idea,” Pinkie told them not seeming to notice how stunned they all were. “It looks like Twilight started out trying to recreate the Elements of Harmony. She wasn't able to though, but she did manage to make those necklaces...”

“Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on; Pinkie, how the heck do you know advanced magic?” Rainbow interrupted.

“Oh, I've been studying magic for years,” she said with a dismissive gesture.

“You have?”

“Yep, ever since the first time Trixie came to town. You see, I was so amazed when I heard about how Twilight handled that ursa minor – still bummed I didn't get to see it myself, by the way – but anyway, I was so amazed, I decided I wanted to learn about magic. So I scheduled it into my study time, right in between cake theory and advanced balloon animal engineering.”

Everypony just stared at her for a few moments after this revelation. That Pinkie Pie had a scheduled study time was hard enough to believe even if the other subjects she spoke of made a certain amount of sense for her. For her to have also been studying advanced magical theory just didn't seem possible. Finally Rarity managed to speak again.

“Uh, exactly what fields of magic have you studied?”

She shrugged. “Oh, I studied a little bit of everything: Illusion, levitation, manipulation, conjuration, teleportation, transfiguration, and mummification,” Pinkie told her cheerfully.

“Pinkie, darling, mummification isn't a field of magic,” Rarity corrected automatically.

Pinkie Pie blinked looking confused. “It isn't?”

“Uh, no, but you have really studied all those fields of magic?” Rarity asked truly intrigued now.

“Uh huh! And a bit more too. But that was mostly theoretical stuff that didn't really fit into any established field.”

“So you can understand Twilight's notes?”

“Mostly. A lot of her work is theoretical, but I can get the general Idea,” Pinkie said with a confident nod.

“Then can you tell us what these are?” Rainbow asked pointing to the necklaces still in the case.

Pinkie nodded. “Yep. Like I said, Twilight started out trying to recreate the Elements of Harmony, because you never know when some big meanie is going to try to take over Equestria. She wasn't able to, but she was able to make these. According to her notes, the necklaces will allow the wearers to tap into the amity arcanum...”

“The what now?” Applejack cut in.

“The magic of friendship,” Pinkie clarified. “Okay, so you know that feeling you get when you're with your friends; like you can do more than you normally can? Well that's because you actually can! That's the amity arcanum! So these tap into the magic of the friendship between the ponies wearing the necklaces and amplify that effect. Basically they let a group of friends feed energy into each other with their friendship.”

“Which does what, exactly?”

“Well according to Twilight's notes, it will enhance everypony's natural abilities,” Pinkie told them.

“Enhance? Like how much enhanced?” Rainbow asked sounding a little excited.

Pinkie frowned looking over a section of the notes again. “She wasn't sure; but according to her theory, it would depend on the ability being enhanced and the strength of the friendship between those wearing the necklaces. She did postulate that magic would likely be enhanced the most.”

“So if we all wear these, then we'll all be better at everything?”

Pinkie nodded. “That's the theory. According to her notes Twilight never did finish testing them, but she was pretty certain that was how they'd work.”

“Sweet! I've got to try this out!” Rainbow said swooping down to the case and taking one of the necklaces, putting it on without hesitation. “Hey, everypony put one on!”

“Rainbow, aren't you forgetting something,” Rarity said, realizing that they'd all gotten distracted from more important matters.

“Like what?”

“Oh well, maybe just a couple little things; such as an imprisoned princess and an Alicorn taking over Equestria perhaps?”

“Oh, yeah... right.” Rainbow said rubbing the back of her neck with one fore-hoof.

“These necklaces of Twilight's...”

“Amity Arcanum Amplifiers,” Pinkie provided. “Or you can call them AA Amps.”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, these amplifiers, are all well and good, and may come in useful if we do have to face the alicorn Sweetie Belle saw, but right now we need to focus on finding Princess Celestia so we can figure out a way to free her.”

“Now hold on. Let's not just dismiss these AA thingamajigs, though,” Applejack cut in. “We were talkin' about how it would be dangerous searching the forest by splittin' up; but dependin' on how much they enhance our abilities, that may not be a problem so long as we wear these.”

Rarity shook her head. “But they work off of the bonds of friendship which means they probably won't work if we split up.”

“I don't think you have to worry about that!” Pinkie said looking over another part of the notes. “Twilight included an equation to estimate the range of the amps based on how super duper of friends you are; and since we're all really, really super duper friends, we'll get a really, really long range out of them.”

“Alright, well we can try them,” Rarity finally gave in. “But we still need to focus on finding the princess. Even if these amplifiers do enhance our abilities enough that we feel comfortable splitting up to search the forest, we'll still need some way to communicate with each other in case we find something.”

“We can communicate with these!” Pinkie said excitedly as she quickly put a necklace on each of them. Rarity was stunned to feel a surge of strength as well as heightened senses when pinkie placed one on her. “Twilight made them so that they'd also use the bonds of friendship to create a communication link between us. All you have to do is tap the diamond twice to start broadcasting,” she explained then tapped the diamond in her own necklace to demonstrate. “See! Twilight thought of everything!” She said and they all heard an echo of her voice coming from each of their necklaces.

“Sweet, lets go test these babies out, then we can go search for the princess!” Rainbow said, clearly excited.

“Applejack and I will test out the amplifiers,” Rarity told her firmly. “The last thing we need is for the townsponies to find out what we're doing. They're worried enough as it is, if they find out Princess Celestia has been imprisoned, they may just panic. So the last thing we need is you calling attention to yourself by doing multiple sonic rainbooms over the town. Don't bother denying it, it was obvious that that was precisely what you were thinking.”

“But...”

“No,” Rarity told her firmly. “If they work well, you'll get a chance to try them out soon enough when we're searching the Everfree. But for now, stay here and try to think of a backup plan.”

Rainbow pouted a bit but nodded reluctantly.

Satisfied, Rarity turned to Applejack. “Shall we? I think it would be best if we go out to the edge of town, somewhere where we won't be seen.”

Applejack nodded. “I have an idea of where we could go.”

“Well let's get going then. I hate to think what that awful alicorn might be doing with each moment that passes.”

A scream of pure agony echoed across the courtyard of Canterlot castle as a sickly green-gold flame swirled around an armored pony, burning away his coat and flesh even as his armor began to glow from the heat. Then, as quickly as it had appeared the pillar of flames vanished leaving the charred corpse to collapse to the ground.

“Now,” Achlys said as the glow faded from her horn. “Does anypony else wish to accuse me of trespassing in my own castle?”

Many of the other members of the royal guard standing before her stared in stunned silence at what remained of their captain, while the rest cowered under the gaze of not only an alicorn, but a vicious looking dragon as well. Finally though one of the guardponies, a lieutenant, seemed to try and gather his courage as he turned to face Achlys. “This is the castle of the royal sisters; Celestia and Luna...”

Achlys smiled wickedly and his voice failed him. She was, in fact, impressed by his courage considering what he'd watched happen to his captain after he'd said much of the same. She considered incinerating him as well but then decided to spare him as she saw a shadow appear behind the members of the royal guard. “Oh, I think you'll find that there's been a change in management,” she told them instead. “Isn't that right, Lady Moon.”

“Indeed it is, my queen,” an elegant voice answered from the depths of the shadows, making the members of the guard turn toward the darkness behind them. Then a pony stepped out from those shadows. A pony most of them had never seen, but recognized all the same due to generations of nightmare night stories. Her coat black as a moonless night, her mane and tail clouds of magic appearing like the night sky and flowing endlessly with power, and dressed in decorative armor made from the finest blue steel. There was no mistaking who stood before them.

“Nightmare Moon!” One of the guards gasped.

The lieutenant knew his history, he knew who Nightmare Moon had been, who she was. “Princess Luna... what...?”

Nightmare Moon's ethereal mane lashed out, grabbing him by the throat, cutting him off. Then she stepped closer, lifting him into the air as she did. “Do you see a Princess Luna here?” She demanded coldly, then, without waiting for an answer, she dropped him to the ground. “Celestia's always been a trusting fool,” she said as she stepped past them, approaching Achlys and bowing deeply.

“When I awoke to find my powers restored, I knew that you had returned, my queen.”

Achlys smiled. “Yes, I thought you might like that. You may rise.”

“This is the castle... of the royal sisters...” The lieutenant started again. Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. They could hear in his voice how much he was trembling with fear.

“Stand down lieutenant,” she told him coldly, then lit her horn threateningly. “Unless, of course, you truly wish to join Captain Iron Sentinel. I can certainly arrange that.”

Unable to hold back his fear any longer, he finally backed down.

“Leave us,” Nightmare Moon commanded and in moments the courtyard was cleared of the royal guard as they seemed to decide it would be best to obey her. She had once been Luna after all; one of the princesses they were sworn to protect.

“It's good to see mortals properly fearful of alicorns once more,” Achlys said with a satisfied smirk.

Nightmare Moon turned back to her. “Yes, though they do tend to have some courage in the most annoying of times. The guard will likely cause some trouble, but I will do what I can to make the transition go as smoothly as possible.”

She waved a hoof dismissively. “We have nothing to fear from that pathetic rabble.”

Nightmare moon nodded. “I gather from the eclipse and your being here unchallenged that you've already taken care of Celestia?”

“I haven't killed her yet, if that's what you mean,” Achlys said with an amused smirk. “But she's certainly not enjoying herself.”

“Good,” Nightmare Moon said coldly. “She deserves to suffer. A quick death would have been too easy. And what of Princess Twilight Sparkle? She is young, but surprisingly powerful.

Achlys couldn't help but to laugh. Nightmare Moon blinked in confusion, not understanding what she found so funny. Finally Achlys explained; “I was Twilight Sparkle! She was my disguise while I recovered. She didn't know of course, but she was me the entire time.”

Nightmare Moon's eyes widened. “Truly? You were Twilight Sparkle? But then why did you help defeat me? Why...?”

“Understand, my true self was hidden away in her subconscious at the time. Twilight Sparkle was a kind of alternate personality, a substitute soul, that I hid behind. I really had no control over her actions and in fact, I was not even consciously aware at the time.”

“I see... Then both Celestia and Twilight are out of the way, Cadenza is no threat, it should be a simple matter to take control of this land.”

Yes, and I will be taking the title of queen myself; Queen Achlys, I do like the sound of that.”

“Of course, the title suits you,” Nightmare Moon agreed, though it was clear she would have preferred to have the title herself. “But what of our bargain? I know that I was unable to carry out my part of the deal...”

“Yes, yes. I know the whole story; you were banished to the moon and couldn't free me as we had agreed. And when you did finally return, you were stripped of the powers I had granted you, so you did what you had to in order to maintain your freedom. That sound about right?”

“Had I known where to find you, I would have done all I could to help you.”

“I can hardly blame you for not being able to find me. I went to great lengths when hiding myself so that I wouldn't be found,” Achlys told her. “Our deal stands. Though my plans didn't go exactly as I had intended, I can hardly blame you for that. I miscalculated after all. I truly didn't believe the Elements of Harmony were capable of such power.

“In any case, while I will take the title of Queen myself, rule of Equestria is yours. So long as I have all the servants I desire and can do as I please, I won't interfere. I have no interest in running a country.”

Nightmare Moon bowed again. “Thank you, my queen.”

Achlys smiled and nodded. “Just make sure that the ponies of this land suffer to some extent. After all, what's the fun of ruling, if you don't get to crush a rebellion every few years.”

“Indeed,” Nightmare Moon said with a wicked smile as she rose again. “I assume you will be taking Celestia's chambers as your own; do you wish for me to show you the way? Or perhaps you wish to go to the throne room first? Undoubtedly you wish to make yourself known to your new subjects.”

“Later,” She said shaking her head. “First, there's something hidden away deep in the royal vaults; an ancient and powerful magical artifact." Her eyes became fierce. "I want it back.”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Of course, my dear sister was far too trusting. I have full access to all of the vaults. That will be no problem.”

“Excellent,” she said then looked over her shoulder at the dragon. “Deimos, go ahead and have some fun in the city; eat a few nobles if you want.”

Deimos nodded and took off, quickly climbing above the castle, seeming to head toward the peak of the mountain the city was perched upon. Achlys frowned; it wasn't like Deimos to pass up a chance to feast on ponies. She shrugged it off though; perhaps he just wasn't hungry. Turning back to Nightmare Moon, she gestured for her to lead the way.

“There are several vaults, so it may take some searching to find what you want,” Nightmare Moon said as she started into the castle.

“I don't mind. Once we find it, there will be nopony that could ever stand in my way again.”